Apples2

I feel so bad for you guys that have to drive quite a few hours, take off work, etc. just to get a fill. I drive 13 miles from the farm to our closest clinic and my surgeon is available every two weeks for fills. I wish it weren't that way for some of you. Armywife...you have to realize that I took over 50lbs off during my six mo. pre-op diet so I am actually sitting no better than most of you on the post-op weight loss. You have a 29lbs weight loss and you were banded ten days after me. I have only had a 30lbs loss since surgery. You are doing great. Hang in there until you get your fill!

Hey Cathy...happy to hear that you have some restriction. Wouldn't it be nice if you actually are where you should be without any more fills? Sounds like you are stirring up a lot of work at your place. I know that in the last few months, I have had more energy than I know what to do with. It is so nice just to move. I have absolutely everything done around here that I have wanted to do for years. Also, yoohoo on the weight loss. You will be in onderland b/4 you know it. Fun!

I knew from the start that I wanted the least invasive surgery. I am almost three months out and have had no troubles. I follow every lab band rule. Eat slow, chew till almost liquid and never eat anything except what is allowed. There are risks with every surgery but, I believe, a much lower risk with the lap band.

I live with a "need to know" attitude. I just want to be sure I have the right amount of restriction when we travel Jan - March. Being away from my doc would make me nervous, especially if I am too tight. I will be proactive and make sure things are the way they should be long b/4 our trip. Hope you heal up the rash on your stitch area. No fun, I'm sure. I broke out in a horrible rash from head to toe about a month ago. Small Water blisters that popped if touched. They were extremely itchy. They only thing we could figure out was that it was from crab meat I ate. Cleared in about a week. Does not make me want to try crab again. :w00t:

All I know is that I have a "large" band because of the hernia repair and where it sits. I know it does not really matter what size as long as restriction is at a good spot. Just curious. I ate chicken and beets for dinner tonight and an hour later I am hungry. I know I will be swollen tomorrow because of the fill but I am thinking the 1cc I got is not enough. Time will tell.

Long...yep, remember our discussion from last week. Posted cuz promised I would after I saw doc today. I hope you are at your "sweet spot". I think it's going to take me a few more fills. My doc is very non-agressive when it comes to fills. .5cc each time after the first fill. I still have not gotten my question answered about what size my band is. It's almost like they don't want me to know. They told me today that they did not have that info available. I am going to email doc's nurse and insist on finding out. Your doc must require mushies after a fill. Mine says solids right away. Same way with after surgery. Was on solids two weeks after surgery.

Hi all....Last week I posted about not knowing if I needed/wanted a fill. I have a large band due to the position of my hernia that was repaired at the time of surgery. I misunderstood with my first fill. Thought doc gave me a total of 5cc's. Not. He filled 2.5cc's at the time of surgery and had a total amount in my band of 5cc's after first fill. Today I got 1cc. Going to see what this fill does for me. So weird. About 5 days out of the week (b/4 this fill) I am perfectly fine. But, those other couple of days I am hungry from noon until bed time. Just going to see what this month brings. My next appt. is Sept. 23. My doc is willing to give .5 any time with monthly visits. I am hoping this fill will help with those days that I have been hungry. I just want to be so careful not to get acid reflux. I lived with it (horribly) for more than 15 years and have not had it since surgery. Everything else is going good. I am about 15 pounds from goal and am losing this last amount slowly. (That's OK with me). I have the hanging tummy thing going on but will wait one year. That is the recommended time by my surgeon. He says I might be surprised and tummy will go down some. I hope so. Will check in again next week. Leaving for the lake in the morning till Monday. Me and the dog. We bond, we walk, we talk. Life is good.

Teri...I am not part of your Sept. group but wanted to respond to this. I was banded June 17, 2008. I lined up many things pre-op so my hands would stay busy. I have always done the New York Times crossword and the LA Times crosswords daily. (I just don't have a bowl of cheetos or popcorn sitting beside me now). I picked up crewel work and cross stitch again. I have always loved to read and I make sure that I get at least two hours of reading in a day. This may sound funny but I bake a lot also. I have always loved to bake and cook and I truly believe that I do more now since my surgery. I can honestly say that I am not tempted by things I make. We farm and I have to cook for many every day and I think I enjoy it now more than ever. Go figure. My way of thinking about food has totally changed. I am only into the foods that I know I can have. Want to wish you the best of luck with your surgery and recovery. Same to all the rest of you people that have a September date. It's the best thing I have ever done for myself. My outlook on life is so different than it was a year ago. I am truly happy.:w00t:

So sorry you are going through the shoulder pain thing. That was my biggest complaint also. It was unbearable sometimes. Every time I would swallow (even saliva), I would just cringe with pain. Hang in there. Mine subsided at about 2 weeks out. At about 9 days, it started to ease. I could not take pain meds but don't know if they would have helped anyway. My surgeon told me the pain was due to my hernia repair. Not sure if I believe that since I had the same intense pain with C-section. Hope your pain subsides soon. I feel your pain!!!!!!!!!!!

I just love hearing that "Life is Great" statement. Especially from someone almost four years after surgery. Love your attitude, Jack!

I notice that smiling thing again in my life, too. I used to hide in public. Now I feel like I'm getting back to being the old, outgoing me. Your comment about the shopping basket sounded just like me. I lost over 50lbs b/4 getting the band. I started last November 20th. I had to go on the six month ins. required diet so I decided to start from day one eating as a banded person (or as close to it as I could).

Told you guys I would check in about my appt. today. Well, got a call from clinic just when I was going to take off for town. Nurse asked me if I could wait until next Tues since she had mistakenly put me in for a week too early. Decided that it might be a good thing for me to wait and see how this next week goes. I am still thinking that I will need a fill since I am hungry right after I eat. It's so surprising to go from such good restriction in the last three weeks to this. I guess I will leave it in my doc's hands and try the fill. I just don't want to be messing with fills after I have my surgery on Sept. 30. I would love to have restriction back by then. I do have days that I am not at all hungry but notice it is usually days that I am under stress. Mornings are always tight for me and I don't get anything down until about 11am. Guess I will just take the chance and get another fill next week. It's going to be a long week if this hunger is the same as yesterday and today!

Long...I know where you are coming from on the getting your head set to match where you body is. 15 yrs ago I was a size 8. I could walk into a shop and pick anything off the rack and not even try it on. That all changed in a hurry when I packed on pound after pound. I guess through the weight gain I kept remembering what it was like to be slim and feel great (healthwise). Over the years I just kept wanting that back. I never want to feel that overwhelmed and rueful again. Hopefully the band will always be there for me. I know it is work with the band but just certain food issues are gone with me. I never felt like the rug was pulled out from under me when I got the band. I don't miss any certain foods. I do a lot of cooking and baking. (We are farmers and I feed a number of guys every day). I never seem to crave anything, even when I am cooking and serving the guys. The band has done that for me. I understand where you are coming from on never looking back. The only reason I will ever look back is to remind myself that I never want to be there again. You are really dropping the weight in the last couple of weeks. Hope you are feeling well.

Hey Jazzy Junes....just wondering if the rest of you guys are feeling like I do. With each day I feel as if the "obesity cloud" is lifting and leaving my life. I was always a happy person. I felt that I could accomplish anything and overcome any adversities in my life. With each pound that I gained over the last 15 years, that happiness slowly diminished. I cannot actually say that I was depressed, just that my happiness was taken away. Now I wake up in the morning, swing my legs over the bed and know it's going to be a good day. I even find that I sing to the radio in my truck again. There is also a certain peacefulness that has come over me. Obesity somehow ruled my life. It affected every aspect of it. I didn't want to go to wakes, funerals, weddings because nothing fit me right and I felt that everyone was staring at my fat back. I never want to have the feeling again. I just hope that my June 2008 friends have that feeling too?

Long....50lbs is a great milestone. You should be proud of your accomplishments. It's about at that point where you know you are on the road to not looking back. Grey....sounds like you have a handle on what triggers snacking. It's so difficult to be thrown into situations where you feel tempted. Makes it twice as difficult to stay in control. When I am in tempting situations, I find that if I keep my hands busy, I can stay in control. Cathy...hope I did not come off as bragging with the weight loss. It didn't start with the band. Over 50 of it came off b/4 I was banded. It will be a year in November since I started this weight loss journey and hoping to reach goal in November of this year. I scared the hell out of myself with all of my obesity issues and started b/4 the band cuz I had to get things under control. You talk about being a slow loser. I have to admire your patience. It will come with time. Thank God we have the band to help us. Wishing everyone a good day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cathy....been thinking the last couple of hours and I am going to just go ahead and get a fill. May as well. I will just watch of the signs of being too full. I have been gradually dropping weight (couple of pounds a week lately). Have dropped 86lbs all together. But, do not like suffering and starving some days.

BBK...What a bummer!

Hey Long, how ya doing? What you explained is exactly what I am feeling. I don't want to take the risk of screwing up a good thing. My doc said last time that it never hurts to get a fill and then a week later unfill. I have never pb'd. I was stuck once on a hard boiled egg. Nasty. That's about the only LB complication I have had. I am very careful. I am willing to deal with the hunger once in awhile instead of the alternative. I guess I will ask the doc's nurses when I check in (they are all banded) what they think of how things are going and if I they would suggest a fill. I will check in again tomorrow to let you guys know what I decided to do.

Hi all...Hope everyone is doing well. Have a questions about fills. I had a fill three weeks ago. 5cc's in a large band, plus, I was given a fill at the time of surgery. (unsure how much). Some days I am not at all hungry and some days (like today) I am hungry right after eating. WTH? I go in for an appt. with my surgeon tomorrow and can ask for a fill if I want. I really don't want to get tight and have acid reflux. I have not had any since surgery and I feel wonderful about it. I would love to have each day the same (when it comes to hunger issues) but know that is impossible. Anyone out there that has hit their sweet spot or thinks they have. I realize we are all different with different size bands, etc. Just asking if I should tough it out for another month or get another fill while it is available tomorrow.

BBK..thinking of you today and wishing you a speedy recovery from yet another surgery.

I agree. But, don't think it has stopped. She's one that hits the bar about 4pm and leaves about 10pm chewing on a swizzle stick. Somehow she has alluded getting caught. BTW....she is not listed as a "friend" in my book. Totally self-involved and not my kind of girl. Got to know her...don't care for her and her ways.

You would think that I would be over this by now. It's been two years...not over it...so will rant about it. Maybe this will help. My dumbass, so called friend backed into my pickup, left the scene and lied about it to me later. (Her sister was with her and slipped and told me it happened). They were leaving a bar and grill that me and my DH were having dinner at. She backed her big ass truck up and the hitch took care of the entire drivers side of my vehicle. When I confronted her with what I knew had happened and that I have a $1,000 deductible, she begged me to not make her pay cuz her DH would kill her cuz she was in the bag. My DH decided it was not worth a fight and made me drop it. (Her DH is a friend of my DH). Piss. Was not ready to drop it. So, guess she can kiss my ass till hell freezes over!

Forgot to mention the eyebrows, Froggi. I don't need to have it done but the tech that did my eyes was telling me how she does them. She actually applies three or four different strokes in different colors so they look three dimensional. She showed me a photo of some that she had done and they look so damned real. One of the ladies she did them on was a person that had been bald since she was 11. (no eyelashes either). The tech told me she cried and cried because she was so happy.

Fran...It's so cool how they do the lashes. They just glue them right to your existing lashes. They fall off is one of your own lashes fall off and that's the reason for the touch up. Froggi...this sounds like something that would work for you. They can fill in spotty lash lines. There are lashes that are in thicker bunches for cases like that. I will try to remember to come back to this thread after I have them done to let you guys know how they look.:Banane37:

I decided at the beginning of this journey that when (not if) I reach goal, I would buy a tanning bed to put in my workout room. I am not a tanning junky but I do love having somewhat of a tan and I find it very relaxing. I cannot lay out in the sun (I get a rash). I have bought a few clothes. I do not use them as a current reward but as a future reward. It's just another kick in the butt to keep going and fit into them. The clothes I bought are for winter and a size smaller than I wear now. All four tops that I bought were more expensive than I would usually spend but it keeps me going thinking about fitting into them. Also, my husband said he would pay for a tummy tuck if I needed one at when I get to goal. Sure hope I don't but will wait a year and then decide. I love that guy!