HeatherA

I've mentioned this several times. My mother got one when she had her hysterectomy and she offered hers to me, but since she's me at my goal weight I didn't think it'd fit :-) That would have made recovery so much easier!

Hang in there Justin! You'll get through this. I'm now 18 days out and am feeling much better. By day 10/11 I was back up and ready to get moving at a more normal pace. I went to work at day 14 and every day has been much better than the last.

I've had the band for two weeks... I'm no more gassy than I was before the band... and I've had NO constipation. The only things I've noticed so far are that I tend to have random single hiccups throughout the day that I never had before, and my tummy rumbles quite a bit. Since I'm just now moving onto mushy stage food the rumbling has slowed to just a few times a day. It's definitely not anything that bothers me.

Hi! Congrats on your recent banding! I was going to go through the program at Mt. Carmel also and I loved Dr. Choban after meeting her at the seminar, but I chose to go with the Fresh Start program and Riverside due to their excellent after care program. It's a bit more expensive than Mt. Carmel, but Dr. Myers is amazing and my surgery on December 18 went without a hitch! Good luck with your journey!

Today is my first official day on mushies. Yesterday as a treat I had a mushie dinner (I took the idea above and had a pureed Thanksgiving meal of turkey/gravy and mashed potatoes.) Total serving size was 1 cup and after eating it I was so delightfully full for about 5 hours. It saw me through my son's birthday party/New Years Eve party and I had no interest in any of the food sitting out on my counters... including the ginormous cupcakes I bought him from costco. Today I'm easing into mushies with a half liquid/mushie diet. I just had a bowl of Weight Control oatmeal made with milk and will have another Thanksgiving special for dinner. My biggest hurdle will be getting through the final family Christmas dinner I'm going to in an hour... I am not looking forward to it at all... it's so much easier to do this when I don't have to sit and watch everyone else eat things I wish I could be eating...

I lost 12 pounds in my first week. However, in my second week I've gained almost 2 pounds of that back... and I just truly start mushies today. Needless to say I'm not very happy.

I dropped 12 pounds in the first week after my surgery. I'm still on liquids until tomorrow... however I've noticed the scale is fluctuating up a few ounces every day. I'm terrified what will happen as soon as I add mushies tomorrow... I don't want to gain back what I've lost.

That is a great idea! I might just have to try that myself. I think I can handle pureed meat if I think it's just gravy on my potatoes! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

I was planning on going back to work at about 9 days and I just wasn't ready. I'm now planning on going back at day 15 and even though I'm feeling much better I wish I had another week off. I work at a desk job and sitting straight up and down is still not comfortable for me thanks to port pain.

Ohhhhh, keep the ideas coming... I start mushies on Tuesday and I can hardly wait. I go back to work on Wednesday and I'm trying to figure out what I should take with me for lunches. I'm dreaming about an omelet! It sounds sooooo good.

I wasn't up to driving until yesterday... 10 days out.

I felt awful for the first 5-6 days... slept a lot the first 2-3 days thanks to the pain meds. Once I got off of them and on to Tylenol I started improving. However, I was also dealing with a lot of nausea so it really wasn't until at least a week out that I started feeling more myself. I'm now 11 days out and am feeling much better. I'd say probably about 90%. Take all of the help you can get! I was so lucky that my kids are teens and on break, they have done so much to be helpful while I recuperate... even though they've not had the most exciting break.

I'll admit it... I had a few licks of PB yesterday that I completely turned to liquid in my mouth before ingesting. I just had to taste it straight. Then I added it to my smoothie w/a full banana, 1/2 cup of 1% milk and 1/4 cup SF FF van. ice cream and I was in heaven and got in 13 grams of Protein. At least that's one way to get some PB and not break the liquid rule...

I was banded 12/18 and have had a tough time with my post-op recovery. I had nausea for several days that has finally seemed to go away. I'm not real interested in most of what I can drink, but I am definitely more up to eating today that any other day so far. My biggest complain today is my port pain. I keep getting twinges and am very sore in the area to the left of my belly button and just above. I wonder how long until the port pain subsides? Oh and I'm starting to get the itchies on areas near my incisions. I'll take those any day over how I was feeling for the last week. Now I'm just dying to EAT FOOD! Chewing sounds like such a dream to me right now... 3 more weeks!

Have lap-band surgery the week before Christmas! Yep... I've lost just over 12 pounds since surgery... that's the only upside to recuperation at this point!

Thanks you guys. So far today I'm feeling better and was able to make some cream of wheat today and ate about 4oz of it in a pretty runny state. It tasted terrific. I've found that eating peppermint altoids is helping quite a bit with the slight nausea. Here's to a happy Christmas eve!

Hi Aimee, I was banded the same day as you and as of this morning I'm down about 7.5 pounds... most of that is simply because I can not stomach eating anything. I'm mostly surviving on Water and less than 200 calories a day because of nausea. I am sure once I can get my calories in I will quickly stabalize. Don't worry about weight loss right now... just focus on healing. :-)

I was banded on the 18th and I am still having a horrible time getting anything other than Water down. The pain has gone down considerably and is tamed with just tylenol these days. The nausea is a semi-constant companion and the crying and second guessing has started today. I pray that I wake happier and healthier tomorrow because my holidays have sucked pretty much so far. I have two days of Lovenox blood thinner shots left to take and THEY SUCK SO BAD. The one today had me shrieking and then bursting into a half-hour crying jag. Not something I'm normally known for. My poor husband felt so bad... but they freaking hurt. My legs look like pin cushions! So that's my update... at this point I almost wish I'd just decided not to do this and stay fat.

I must be very lucky. I was banded on the 18th and other than waking up a little raspy and with chapped lips I had no indication I even had a breathing tube in. I am so glad, because it was one thing that really scared the heck out of me prior to surgery.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I will keep all of them in mind because I do not want to throw up with this band inside of me!

Almost at the same time as I read your message, my step-father stopped by with some Emetrol for me. Unfortunately he got the cherry (ICK!) but it appears to have worked with just one dose. I'm feeling much better now and was able to drink a cup of chicken ramen noodle broth for dinner.

Does anyone know of any good over the counter nausea medicines? My doctor prescribed one for me and the price tag is $700+ before insurance and about $100 after. I just don't have it in my budget right now to fill that prescription. Is there anything over the counter that might help me? I need to shake the nausea to feel normal and start getting my calories and proteins in. Thanks for any advice!

I'm not having pain in my throat or anything, but I am constantly feeling nauseous. None of my protein drinks taste good to me anymore... they are all too sweet. I don't feel like eating, drinking or doing much of anything. However, today my pain level is much better. I haven't had to take any liquid tylenol (YUK) since 11:30 last night. Now if the nausea would just go away... I feel like I may be this way forever. AUGH!

I was banded about 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Today's the first day I'm feeling "ok". My pain level is a lot lower but I don't know if that's healing or because I've been consistent with taking my narcotics :-) I've decided to switch to Tylenol today because I think the pain meds are making me feel worse than I would without them. I have almost no appetite and and I've had to force myself to drink my Water. I hope today to increase my intake of both calories and water. I am not good with pain or discomfort and this is the part of banding I've dreaded the most. I want to be back on my feet quickly, but I'm forcing myself to stay quiet and heal without pushing myself.

I'm right with you in getting banded. I go in to surgery at 1:30 if all goes well. We had a girl quit at work today so I ended up working instead of getting things done at home and that helped to keep my mind off of it. Seems like the day got here so quick. I'll keep you in my thoughts and I hope things will go smoothly for you tomorrow and we'll be back here announcing we're banded on Wednesday!