Carsons_Mommy

Ok, so I had the first fill on the 9th. THAT was a weird experience, let me tell you. There wasn't any pain involved except for the numbing shot of lydocaine. That was a real JOY to experience!! Sheesh!! I will say this, however: getting the actual FILL is a very strange feeling. I liken it to when my son started kicking me in utero. You don't feel any pain, per se, but you feel this weird pushing, digging around, moving feeling. Then, when he began to push the saline through, I could actually feel a weird little twinge in the band area itself. What hurt more than anything, though, was the saline needle injection site. That hurt later in the evening and was a little bit bruised. I bruise like a summer peach, however, so that's not surprising. I can definitely feel more restriction now. I've actually lost 1 lb since the adjustment - likely because of having to do fluids and purees for that first 24-48 hours afterward. All in all, it was not a bad experience. Fingers crossed now that I'll start losing again - but not too quickly. I don't want to have all of that hanging flesh that comes from losing weight too fast. High 5's to all!!!!! WOOHOO!!!

Hey Longhorn! Does getting the fill hurt? That needle that he showed me was a tad intimidating.

Hey Everyone!! I haven't posted in a while. Just popping in to give an update and to read about how everyone's doing. I'm down a total of 32 lb since this whole process began. I feel GREAT! My pant size is down from a 26/28 to a 22/24 which is stunning! I'm down from a 3X to a 1X on my shirt size. I haven't even had a fill yet! Incredible! I was supposed to have my first fill on 12/28/07, but I was REALLY sick with this nasty, "hangs on forever!!!" cold that's been going around. Now I'm rescheduled for next week on the 9th of Jan. I'm actually glad I had to wait, because my inicision area just didn't feel *completely* healed. Now it looks and feels "ready for the needle invasion" by my surgeon. Does it hurt???? <eek!!> The holidays were great! I did gain 1 lb, but considering what I used to pack on, I'd say that's definitely progress. Hehehe... Sending you all lots of well wishes, positive energy, thoughts of success and great health!!!! This New Year is going to be amazing!!! :-) :-) :-)

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to you, too!!!! :whoo::clap2: That's so totally awesome!! I'm so proud of us for doing this, aren't you?!!! I feel so great about myself and my future. <we truly are TWINS> Now if you tell me that you're 5'7", red hair, green eyes, I'll be really freaked out! Hehehe!! Way to go, Kristin!!! <<HUGS!!>>

I've lost 20 lbs since being banded on 11/9/07 - a total of 30 lbs since I started the whole process on 8/22/07. I'm trying REALLY hard to eat as though I'm at full restriction. I'm focusing on small portions, small bites, chewing reeeeeeeeeeally slowly and not drinking fluids with my meals. I don't have my first fill until 12/28/07, so I still have some time to wait. I think hitting the 280's on my weight is what was the big motivator to stay on track. Then, this morning, I weighed and for the first time in, oh FIFTEEN YEARS, I'm below 280. That's the best Christmas present I could have ever gotten!

Absolutely! But on the plus side of having time to think about things, it helps you prepare not only your body but your brain for the big change that's about to come - eating a LOT less and still managing to survive. LOL! Who'd have thought you could actually SURVIVE on so little food. Ya' know, in the first week, I was starting to think, 'This is the DUMBEST thing I've ever done to myself. I feel like crap. I'm in pain. I'm starting to get hungry and am TOTALLY missing food...' I actually think I was getting a bit depressed and starting to grieve over the loss of food. "She" was a grand old friend and she served me well o'er the years... Now that I'm feeling just about back to 100% and I'm actually seeing the changes to my body that losing just 27 lb can produce. I've changed my mind about the whole "dumb" thing. LOL! I'm now in agreement with all of the people who've posted notes saying, "This is the best decision I've ever made!" and I haven't even had my first band adjustment!! That's coming on 12/28. A little nervous, but excited. I'm hoping that my oldest sister will see my great results and will become motivated to have the surgery herself. She's an equestrian and hopes to ride in the Olympics some day. I know she can do it! She's truly amazing and this would be SUCH a great thing for her to do, but she's never had any kind of surgery. She's pretty freaked out at the thought of it. I'll ease her into the idea. :nervous I'm sure glad to have met you and everyone else that's been on this site. It's been such a tremendous source of comfort and support...

Hi Everyone! I went in for my 2-week post-op appointment yesterday. I'm down 14 lb since my surgery finally feeling HUMAN again. My surgeon, dietician & fitness guy were all very pleased with my progress. I'm SO proud of myself for doing so well WITHOUT any restriction. Although, I have to say, maybe it's just how I'm built but I swear I feel some restriction if I try to eat too much or too fast. I go in for my first fill on 12/28/07 <Merry Christmas to me!>. I'm excited but a little nervous to experience what it's like to truly have my stomach pouch begin to be the "size of an egg". So proud of us all for doing this! Yay!!!!

You know, Tracy, I've had several surgeries before too - gall bladder, appendix, c-section, on and on and on... but these have all been emergency surgeries. None that I've actually PLANNED, ya' know? So I was nervous just because of that. I'd had all this time to think about the surgery, watched it online, prepared my home and my recuperating "space", wait, wait, wait... Next thing I know it's time to go to the hospital! The others were slice & dice events were like, "Hey! Just going about my day. Enjoying life. Whoa! What's that pain?? Uh-oh... I'd better go to the ER... Surgery? What???" For me, it was the whole waiting game that was torture. Then when I got to the hospital, there was an emergency procedure ahead of me that delayed my appointment by over an hour and a half. <sigh> But now it's all over and done and I feel great. YAY!!! Hey! I see you're in Washington State. Me too!!!! What hospital did you go to? I was at Valley Med in Kent/Renton. Had my surgery on the 9th.

ANTELOPE???? Whoa! Ok, so I have to ask: where do you live that you're able to eat antelope? That's SO interesting!!! I think the most unusual meat I've eaten is ostrich, but that was when I was working in a fine dining restaurant years ago. I haven't done the chew and spit it out technique, but that would have definitely been my action too if I hadn't been able to tolerate regular food. I see absolutely NOTHING wrong with doing that. LOL! It gets the temptation out of the way and the craving out of your head. Very cool!!

Hey Everyone! You know, my Dad and I were talking right around my Post-Op Day 8 - the day I got my "hunger pangs" back. I was so discouraged and frustrated because the thought of having yet ANOTHER Protein shake was disgusting! He reminded me of something: I'm a very creative cook and I know what I can and can't eat and what I should and shouldn't eat. I need to give my body the chance to decide if it can tolerate certain things and that's when I decided to take the plunge into trying new things like mashed potatoes with cottage cheese or pureed beef stew over a half a piece of dry toast. After I tried these things, I realized I was ready to start eating actual food again. There was a posting that I read a week or so ago. This person was expressing the very same frustration that I was - needing to feel like they were EATING again and not just slurping some new cup of pureed "baby food". Their suggestion was this: when you're finally allowed mushies or soft foods, try eating something real - healthy, but real and just chew the hell out of it before you swallow it. For example: 1 scrambled egg on a piece of wheat toast w/ lowfat margarine. Take SMALL bites and chew each bite like crazy. Have some fluids on hand in case it feels like it's not quite moving smoothly. Wait a few minutes and try another bite. Do this until your hunger is gone. If you FEEL like you're full, DON'T take another bite because it could be that "one more bite" that harms you, overfills your pouch, etc. Once you start easing yourself back into real food, remembering the whole time to chew, chew, chew, it makes SUCH a difference. Since my surger on 11/9, I've lost 14 lbs. I've been back on real food since, oh, I'd say 11/19/07. These are obviously just my findings for myself. Don't go against the advice of your doctors, but DO listen to your own body. Stay in tune to how you're feeling and take care of your needs. Good luck everyone!!

Hey Kristin! Be glad the hunger hasn't come back yet. It's a struggle at first, but then, just when you think, "If I don't eat a Big Mac, Large Fry and a Chocolate Shake soon I'll die!!!" the feeling passes and you're back to your 'normal' self. LOL! I tried some Maple/Brown Sugar Cream of Wheat for breakfast this morning... um... YUCK!! Unless you had a taste for the disgusting nerdlies known as "wheat hearts" before your surgery, don't do it!! It's so grody!! I'm sticking with my oatmeal topped with cinnamon apple sauce for breakfast. Good grief!! I hope you have a TERRIFIC holiday. Be sure and tell me how it goes with trying a "bowl of blended Thanksgiving", or in your case "blended pot roast". Sounds FABULOUS, actually!!! Happy Holidays! Hugs!! ~ Andie

Hey Kristin! Be glad the hunger hasn't come back yet. It's a struggle at first, but then, just when you think, "If I don't eat a Big Mac, Large Fry and a Chocolate Shake soon I'll die!!!" the feeling passes and you're back to your 'normal' self. LOL! I tried some Maple/Brown Sugar Cream of Wheat for breakfast this morning... um... YUCK!! Unless you had a taste for the disgusting nerdlies known as "wheat hearts" before your surgery, don't do it!! It's so grody!! I'm sticking with my oatmeal topped with cinnamon apple sauce for breakfast. Good grief!! I hope you have a TERRIFIC

Hi Kristin!!!! So glad to see you're feeling so good. I'm finally at the "feeling good" phase. I had a rough 1st week post-op only because of my shoulder pain, but that's pretty much 98% gone. Whew! Ya' know, the whole "I'm just not hungry" feeling stuck with me for about 5 days or so. Then my husband came home with McDonald's for my son and himself (argh!!). That's when I felt hungry for the first time. By the weekend, I decided I needed to feed my hunger so I took some of the beef stew I made and blended up a bit of it in the food processor. I poured that over mashed potatoes and it was AWESOME!! I only had about a half cup but it was MORE than enough! So weird. I don't have any restriction yet, except for whatever bit of swelling there might still be and I feel full after having such a small amount. It's just a trip!! I've already lost 10 lbs since the 9th. Now I just need to be careful about eating ENOUGH! I'm finding that I just don't have the interest in food that I used to have. Especially now being back at work, food is less "available" than when I'm home so it's even harder to remember to eat those 5-6 times per day. What kind of "creative eating" are you doing?

Elizabeth, are you being careful about not drinking fluids while you eat? That will definitely allow for more to get through, hence, more calories in that you thought.

Hi Everyone! I'm back! I haven't been on the chat forum for a while - life stuff, recovery, blah, blah, blah. So far, my recovery has been "OK". I say that in quotes because I've had some minor ups and downs. The pain in my shoulder got to the point of being almost unbearable. I'm not sure why it was so bad for me, but truly the only thing I could do was lay in bed, propped up on pillows, heating pad over my shoulder and good pain meds going down my gullet. That all seems to have subsided and I'm actually feeling pretty great now. By Day 4, I graduated out of clear liquids and ventured into the world of "anything pourable" like tomato soup, runny mashed potatoes, runny (blended) oatmeal. I've been able to tolerate *everything* I've consumed so far which is SO encouraging!! I've lost 10 lbs since my surgery on 11/9 which is AMAZING!!! I was able to be off all of last week. I have the best boss ever!! I went back to work yesterday and that was a little tough. I was so exhausted at the end of the day, but I made it through. I slept like the dead, though. Unfortunately, I think I'm coming down with my toddler's nasty cold. On Thursday, almost a week after my surgery, I felt a sneeze coming on and went into a bit of panic. The thought of sneezing after abdominal surgery - not cool!! But I'm flushing so much water through my system, I think I'm gonna breeze through the cold with minimal suffering. :-) So, I made a completely WONDERFUL discovery over the weekend. I had made my husband some of my fabulous beef stew and GEEZ!! By the time it had finished its little crockpot cycle 8 hours later, it smelled SOOOOOO good! So I thought, 'Ok. I can enjoy this too. I'm gonna run a couple of cups of this stuff through the food processor <so that I have some for dinner now and some for meals later> and I'll pour it over mashed potatoes - like gravy!' It - was - THE BEST MEAL EVER! And it was so nutritious because it was everything in the stew - the beef, carrots, onions, mushrooms, etc! I'm telling you guys this because it's a great solution for Thanksgiving! For those of you that are eating mushy foods now, you don't have to be deprived on one of the best eating holidays known to man!! You can blend together some turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, yams, green bean casserole or whatever you usually like to have on your plate - pour a little gravy over it and enjoy a little hodge-podge bowl of mashed Thanksgiving! You can even put a small amount of your blended YUMMY on a small amount of mashed potatoes, pour a little gravy over that and VOILA! Thanksgiving in a bowl!!!! Anyway, sorry I've been away for a bit but I'm feeling somewhat human again and can tolerate sitting at my computer. So glad to see that everyone else is doing so well!!!!!