kagoscuba

Oh, don't worry, your outburst is normal and to be expected. I know I've had similar issues with my three irugamus iratamus and also once with my wife eating "my" food. Since I can't eat anything else in the house, I get a tad tense when the only thing I can eat is suddenly gone, and I've been waiting 4 hours to eat it. Daddy didn't like missing a meal before, and he SURE AS HELL doesn't want to miss one now.

Well, you know God can't create organs twice...that'd be too difficult and tiring after creating the universe. *wink* Just like God made the mid-western flooding happen because he disapproved of river-boat gambling...like he just couldn't have hidden the dice.

I'm not sure how much was put in my band, but from looking at the monitor and seeing how much the barium flowed pre-adjustment, compared to how much barium flowed post-adjustment, it looked like a 90% difference. I'm sure that's not reality, but it sure was what it looked like.

I have home equipment and joined a gym. I have three little ones who barely see daddy as it is, so I go to the gym during lunch, get in 30 minutes of cardio, then twice a week I go after work for back and legs training. The other days I get home at a decent enough hour to see my kids for about a .5 hour before they go to bed. I then go and do weights in the basement for awhile. I also have an elliptical for weekends.

:whoo:Down 30 pounds in 20 days! :Banane35: The pounds are coming off slower now that I am progressing towards a "normal" diet, but I'm still pretty happy. Even though I just got my first fill yesterday, the lap-band has already been a life-changer. For example, I can bend over to tie my shoes, and I don't feel like I'm going to pass out; I can walk up stairs without getting overly winded, and I played golf on Sunday with no knee or ankle pain. My interim goal is 50 pounds by Jan. 1 2008. The first few pounds I've lost before...now comes the hard part!

No difference so far, except the liquids satisfy me quicker than before. There is no difference in swallowing so far. However, when the doctor closed me off completely this morning, I DID feel that. Very weird to just have the barium just sitting up top waiting to go down. My personal way of being able to lose before I was restricted was to buy a lunch-box and pack Breakfast, lunch, and dinner in it and eat those meals at work, and only drink liquids and snack on diet popsicles at work. That way I never felt neglected, and was able to keep on losing. Weekends were tougher, but I usually made it through those without cracking, although I did eat hard-boiled egg whites before I should have last weekend. :cool:

This is just a guess, but I'm guessing some doctors are more aggressive with some patients than others, and doctors that don't do flouro are less likely to give a big fill, as they aren't sure when the stoma is closed. From my appointment this morning, I watched my doctor block all liquid getting through my band and then crank it back a "couple of notches" so some liquid made it through...not a lot though. I know this is my first fill and I've got a lot of experience to go, but I don't honestly see how he could fill my band much further (although he said he could restrict me more, if I wanted).

Yeah, my doctor followed #11 this morning. I watched the barium go down and come to a screeching halt, then he removed just a little bit a of saline, and a tiny little squirt of barium was going through. To scale the difference, I'd say the difference between what could flow through a typical dinner water glass and what could flow through the inside of a ball-point pen. It looked that drastic.

Thanks and good luck!! Two things I did not mention before. 1. Now, after "eating" full liquids for a week, I am really hungry today on clear liquids. 2. My port is directly under my sternum, which is different than a lot of people here who desribes theirs as on their left or right side. I guess I now know why sleeping on my side was so easy. :cool:

I went in this mornign for my first fill. Just a pinch for the numbing needle, a slight burn when the nerves got turned off, and then painless. I got to watch the monitor as my barium went down and went through the unfilled band pretty easily. Then, I watched as we tried a few different things. The coolest was when the barium went down and came to a complete halt. The doctor said, "Yep, I think that's a little too filled." I felt like saying "Ya' think so doc?" So, he finally adjusted everything until there was just a little squirt of Fluid going through the band at a time. Now comes the hardest part. Starting the diet all over again. My doc recommends 3 days of Clear liquids, 1 week of full liquids, 1 week of soft foods, then progressing on to small portions of solid foods. Geez, and I just got to eat my first small dry tuna-fish salad yesterday. :cool: One bonus of the diet I've been on is the barium tasted ok. It's a hell of a lot better than "Isopuke." My stomach has now gone back to gurgling a lot...I'm a one man band again!!

My doc uses x-ray...that's a nice little extra $178 for the radiologist. (plus $200 for the fill) :eek:

Don't feel bad Sue. BC/BS turned me down with a BMI of 39.1 AND two co-morbidities (high blood pressure and sleep study diagnosed sleep apnea). They said because I didn't have 5 years of written proof I was overweight they were denying me. Lovely people.

I was two weeks post op yesterday and like you, I have not been too hungry. During the clear liquids week I wasn't hungry at all. Now I am eating full liquids, I do get the occassional hunger pang, but that is easily negated by Crystal Light or a cup of coffee. I am getting my first fill this coming Monday, which came as a shock to me. From reading here I would have never thought I'd get my first fill within 18 days of the surgery date. Something must be working though, as I am fitting into my "2 years ago" pants as of this morning. They are a little snug, but they button, and that's a lot better than barely getting past my thighs three weeks ago. :cool:

I haven't tried that, as I am averaging 100g of protein a day already. Since I drink caffeinated coffee, I think that helps keep the hunger away already. I will try the protein in the coffee though, if the other protein gets boring and I need a change. Thank you for the suggestion! :cool:

Being on a clear liquid and full liquids diet so far has not really given me the chance to worry about variety, but it has opened me up to potentially being hungry. However, I'm not, and I think it's all because of the new coffee maker I bought for work. I bought a Keurig K-cup maker to put on my desk, and I have one cup in the morning, and one cup around 3:30, in addition to my meals, and I am not hungry during the day!! Last weekend I didn't have coffee at home, and I had a nagging hunger all day. Maybe it is psychosomatic, but it works for me!! The K-cup machine makes it soooooo easy to get that cup of coffee I need too. Lots of flavors break up the monatany too. :hungry:

Today is exactly two weeks since my surgery, and as of Monday I had lost 23 pounds. I'm pretty sure it's 25 by now (I force myself to only weigh myself once a week), and it's all been clear or full liduids diet for me. Since I am getting my first fill on Monday, I will not be progressing to the next stage of my diet, and my doctor requires I restart the entire diet cycle after the fill. Therefore, I will not be eating "real" food until the second week of November. Of course, the one good thing about that is I'll probably lose 50 pounds, in total, by Thanksgiving. That'll leave me with "only" 35 more pounds to lose. As far as family living with you, my wife was CERTAIN I was going to be a grade-A A-hole on this diet, and I could not haev agreed with her more. I got what she referred to as "serious food PMS" when I did not eat for awhile. However, since the surgery she says I am the happiest I have been in years, and I feel that too.

You look amazing! Congratulations and best wishes for future success as well! :clap2:

Oh, I should mention I have a Tempurpedic bed, so that may help a lot, as it conforms to my body and is pretty darn comfortable, surgery or not.

Results may vary, but I was sleeping on my side in 2 days and on my stomach within another couple of days. Having a pillow to support me from the front side, while sleeping on my side helped a lot.

I'm sure you will be fine. If you are worried about the pain, for a lot of us, the pain never got above a 4 on a 1-10 scale. Personally, my pain stayed around a 2. I thought my stomach was going to hurt, but it was gas in my shoulder that took the pain crown, which is the only time I got up to a 4. liquid Roxicet knocked that right out though. I'm 13 days post op and can barely even tell I had the surgery. I am on the elliptical machine daily (since last Friday), and I have been doing crunches since Monday. Last Sunday I even played golf...all on the go-ahead from my surgeon of course. Your recovery may or may not be as swift. If your concern is hunger, that also varies. I was not hungry at all during my Clear liquids stage. Now that I am eating full liquids I do get the occasional hunger pang, but a sugar free popsicle or Protein shake takes care of that too. Motivation? For me, my motivation is I've lost an entire 2 year old child (almost 25 pounds) hanging off of my sides and I'm cinching my belt in two notches more than 2 weeks ago. This morning I put on a pair of pants I haven't worn in a year. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!! You'll do GREAT! :confused:

Supernatural BS explained: Jesus walking on water: It was not recorded by him personally; as a matter of fact not one word of the Bible is written by Jesus. It is all written by others, and as such is suspect. Virgin Birth: Angel gets her pregnant; this is a direct correlation to mythology, whereas the Gods routinely got mortals pregnant. This story was written at time when the ones being told the story would be comfortable with the story from their cultural roots. God somehow protects those who believe: Tell that to 500,000 Rwandans, 6 million Jews, or 20 million Russians (World War II) Cast out of the Garden of Eden: Ok, so God is going to punish billions of people for the frailties of one person? That makes God vindictive, which makes him flawed, which makes him a contradiction of himself. I can't really go with that. Other examples also exist. Belief and faith only go so far. Perception and reality coexist for a reason.

Burn in hell? Well, hell, me and my wife get that, and we BELIEVE in God. :fish2: I'm Unitarian and my wife is Jewish. I can't count the number of times the "forgivers" have dropped the "hell bomb" on us. Our mantra is: Religion is not the truth; God is the truth. Anything given by man is suspect. Any book that was vetted by man, had entire books (chapters) discarded by man, has been translated many times, and was argued about 600 years after its lead protaganist was killed should not be considered the infallible word of God. A revelation is a revelation to the first person god tells it to. Anything after that is hearsay. It's like the grade-school tell a sentence at the beginning of a line and have everyone whisper it back and see what the last person has to say was the original sentence. Usually, that is a far cry from the original message.

I agree mostly. I'm a Unitarian, if you had to put a label on me. God directs no influence on the earth, and all the supernatural stuff taught to us is BS. I do believe in a higher power though, and I believe he will one day reward those who lived a good life. However, he's not going to save one person on this earth who is in trouble. I'm reading Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason" right now...a most excellent book on this subject...George Bush should pick up a copy.

The muscle milk tastes very good. It has an odd texture (very thick) for pudding, but the taste is top-notch. I have the chocolate flavor...I'm not even sure if they have another flavor. I've been drinking the Banana Scream flavored shakes from Chamption Nutrition, and I like those a lot...of course I love bananas too.

Can you mail order to France? I will get 98 grams of Protein today from the following: Dannon Yogurt Muscle Milk Protein Pudding: Cytosport - Home Champion Nutrition Pure Whey Protein Shake: www.champion-nutrition.com Myoplex Carb Sense Shake: EAS.com | ENERGY-ATHLETICS-STRENGTH Hope this helps