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loopylou

LAP-BAND Patients
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Posts posted by loopylou

  2. Posted

    I'm so sorry about your dog :) All I would say about the riding, is if you choose to do it be very careful getting on and of - I would use a mounting block for sure. I am about three weeks out too, and I think I could perhaps ride if I went slowly and was, like I said, REAL careful getting on and off. I hope you find your dog and he's ok.

  3. Posted

    Dont Stress Ruthie!! I am sure everything will be fine! I dont even know what kind of band I have. My doctor showed it to me and it looked more like the VG in the article that Dr Hekier directed us to, but it didn't have the join. I remember him pointing it out and saying thats why he used that particular band because the restriction could be 360'. But I dont have any fill or restriction atm, and wont get any for a while sadly. But I'm hangin' in there. Its sounds like your doctor was just frustrated by lots of potential-patients running off to mexico and unfortunately you caught it! try not to take it personally honey!

  4. Posted

    My cousin's wife is the most lovely and amazing BBW and her and my dear cousin are trying desperately to have a baby. They are currently trying fertility treatments and she has apparently been trying to lose weight. All of this I have heard through the 'family grapevine' and I haven't talked to her myself in a while (as we live different sides of the country), but I must admit that I hope to have her ask me about the band, simply to give her another option for assisting her fertility. I couldn't bring it up with her but I would have absolutely no trouble pointing her in this direction if she asks. I am hoping said 'family grapevine' works for 'good' as well as 'evil' and she will hear about my band and ask about it.

  5. Posted

    Today I recorded my food consumption on Fitday.com and after dinner things were looking pretty good. So why did I then go and eat more? I wasn't hungry:( . But I felt compelled to eat; I have a pain in my chest because I ate a sandwich and several biscuits on top of my dinner!!! I feel like an idiot. If it didn't start hurting I would not have stopped eating.

    I know that up until that point I was doing great - for someone without a fill - and I thought ‘Wow this is starting to come together’ and then ..... :) BOOM!!! The rebel in me kicks in and takes over. 'You are not doing the right thing again are you?' she says, and I try to throw her off the scent, but she knows, things are going well and she says 'Sh*t if we want to survive we had better stop this quick smart, conforming means disappearing, conforming means dying, conforming means belonging to sMother again - and THAT is not an option - ever again!!!' :) So she leads me into the kitchen and off I go eating more and more, or being distracted from my exercise, or house cleaning or whatever I am 'supposed' to be doing. I know she is scared and is trying to 'save' me but really she is killing me. How do I get her to calm down and stop fighting my good intentions? How can I create a sense of self that is so secure that I (and my Rebel) wont fear my sMother any more - or any other 'helpful' person?

    I know why I rebel. I rebel because my sMother has always tried to control me, using the 'sweetest' emotional blackmail. And now when someone tries to be helpful or 'sweet' or encouraging - I rebel, I fight as if I am fighting for my life. And in a way I am. I have very little sense of self. I am the sort of person who is always changing to suit the situation or company. I cant seem to hold myself steady. My weight and eating have been things that have defined me - i.e. 'I am not my sMother, because I eat like a pig and she starves herself' or 'My sMother hates me being fat, therefore if I was thin I would become just what she wants me to be - a part of her - so I must stay fat to be myself'. It’s like the fat gives me space, holds me to the ground and makes me real - not just some dream of my sMother's. I am frightened of 'floating away', when I think of being thin I think of being 'weak, exposed and insubstantial'. How can I get past this? :think

    My sMother now lives on the other side of the country, but still she haunts me. And my DH gets the 'death stare' if he even tries to suggest or help or even encourage my weight-loss or exercise program. If I read anyone on the forum say 'you must do...' or 'you shouldn't do...' I immediately want to do the opposite, almost automatically and compulsively. :angry

    I am in therapy, I just haven’t seen my therapist in a few weeks, but I have an appointment with her on Sept 6th. What can I do ‘til then? I know I am at risk of hurting my band, but that fear is not as strong as the other fear of disappearing. I have often felt as if I don’t really exist and this, I think, is an extension of this feeling. But I know that if I don’t ‘find myself’ (to use a crude and overused cliché) in a hurry I am going to fail with the band. I am probably not psychologically ready for it, but now its too late. What should I do? :tired

    P.S. Any advice you give me I will probably ignore :rolleyes (f*ck it! I’m damned if you do and damned if you don’t – crappy cliché #2), but perhaps if you could tell me about your own journey of ‘self discovery’ (ugh! crappy cliché alert #3) then together we can trick that part of me that baulks at taking advice.:alien

  6. Posted

    Sorry guys, I've just discovered green tea and I love it, and my hubby makes the best coffee ever. But you have my support of course!! Getting through the first 3 days is usually the worst - keep up your other fluids and you should do fine. And Rica, I find that artificial sweetners and MSG both make me very hungry, I try not to touch them at all these days. I have decided that I would rather have the occasional spoon of sugar than fill myself with chemicals.

  7. Posted

    My port is way below my bra line.... about 4-5inches, so it is no problem for me. I couldn't wear an underwire for about 2 weeks though because of the tiny top incision, and I had to keep it covered because I was (and still am) on blood thinning meds and the bra rubbed a bit - it didn't hurt but it kept making it bleed.

  8. Posted

    I had a funny dream a couple of nights after I got my band. All it was was me looking down at a plate of these big slabs of cheesecake and me picking them up with a fork and stuffing them in my mouth. They were very yummy, but suddenly I remembered "oh no I have a band - I shouldn't be eating like this" - but then I realised that I was dreaming and I said to myself "enjoy it while you can," so I did. I laughed when I woke because I thought that was the best thing ever - I dont even have to miss out on stuffing myself with cheesecake cause I can always dream about it LOL. And the best thing is that "dream Cheesecake" has no calories!!! Yah!!!

  9. Posted

    Hang in there 'Flower,

    Its been 3 weeks for me too and I have the same problem. I lost 11lbs early on and nothing since. I am trying not to worry about it though because basically without a fill its very like being without a band. It may be that you are putting on muscle (which is heavier than fat) which will counter any weight lost or that you are not eating enough. I know that if I ate 1000cals a day my metabolism would just shut down and hang on to every bit of fat it could. So I would say, give yourself some time, dont panic and trust in yourself, your surgeon and your band. You will be fine :rolleyes:

  10. Posted

    hmmm, I dont know Chunk! I have only been banded for 3 weeks and haven't yet vomited. But I know that if I do too much my port sides aches. And I would imagine that vomiting would be considered 'doing too much' even after you're well healed. I would suggest giving it a day or two and if you have no improvement I would call my surgeon. Hope this helps a little.

  16. Posted

    ummmm.... Now please dont get frightened but I think I better tell a little about what happened to me.

    When I came out of surgery I too had trouble taking a deep breath, basically because it would hurt where the surgeon had dug around - ie. the port area, slightly under my ribs and my diaphragm. I used my spirometer and that really helped me get used to taking big breaths - it still hurt a bit - like a stretching feeling. All of this was completely NORMAL!

    However, on the Wednesday night (I had surgery on the Monday) I quite suddenly got short of breath. I thought it was just a little asthma so I used some ventolin spray and waited a while - but it didn't seem to work. I was still short of breath a few hours later, and I knew something wasn't right. DH called the hospital and the sugeon wanted to see me first thing in the morning - the nurse thought I may have pneumonia. But, when I came in, my doc did a chest X-ray and Barium swallow - and pneumonia and band slips/problems were ruled out. But because I couldn't take a deep enough breath the X-rays couldn't rule out a pulmonary embolism (or PE - blood clot in the lungs) so he sent me to another hospital for a lung scan. The lung scan revealed that I probably (not 100%) had several small PEs.

    Therefore I was readmitted to hospital for one week, during this time I had lots of medication, injections and blood tests to make sure my blood was thin enough. Now, 20 days post-op, I am still on anti-coagulant drugs and will be for the next 2-5mths. My surgeon will not give me a fill until I am off the medication because that could cause bad complications with my port.

    BUT, my point is this, if you are short of breath, not 'its painful to breathe deeply', but 'I am unable to take a full breathe' then please contact your surgeon! PE's can be life threatening!!! Remember that PE's are only dangerous if you dont know you have one! (Also look out for localized swelling in the legs which could indicate a blood clot - also very dangerous as they can move to your lungs).

    Please note though that this is not a 'band' complication but a general surgery complication. And my surgeon was not shonky or anything - he gave me blood-thinning medication before surgery and had electrode thingies on my legs during the surgery - it was just 'one of those things'. I was his first patient to have this problem and he has done over 1000 bandings. So it is rare - but it does happen.

    Please err on the safe side. Its ok if it hurts to breathe, but if you physically cant take a deep breath, please call and talk to your doctor.

  17. Posted

    Vintage Clothes

    Eating in Public without shame

    DH picking me up

    Dancing unselfconsciously

    Seeing my real face

    Crossing my legs again (remember that??)

    Smoldering (damn I can't believe I have forgotten how to smolder!!)

    Wearing jeans and a T-shirt well

    Forgetting to fear running into old friends

    Clothing sales assistants smiling at me

    Not being camera shy

    Wearing high heels without backache, and tottering dangerously

    Sitting on the floor comfortably (well, sitting ANYWHERE comfortably)

    Feeling my hip and collar bones

    Exchanging 'industrial strength' bra's for something girlie and pretty

    Taking a bath

    Not having legs that rub together

    Feeling cooler (temperature wize, although the other kind wouldn't hurt either)

    Having a jawline

  19. Posted

    There was that serial rapist who's last name was 'Luster'

    My BIL is a cop and his last name is Bacon :D

    I went to school with a girl called Lee Ping Choo - she got called 'Jumping Train' :)

    My DH's sister is Kim Louise and my real name is 'Kim Louise' and we were both named after Kim Novak, my Dad used to call me Bloss (as in Blossom) and my MIL is known as Bloss because her Dad always called her that, and my Grandpa is Geoffrey Samuel and my nephew (on DH's side) is Samuel Geoffrey. DH figure we were ment to be together :(

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