Hope4K

I am scheduled for lap band removal/DS surgery on 5/23. Starting the pre-op diet on Monday. Eeeeek!! I was banded back in 2008. I'm 5'4" and my weight before surgery was 290-something. I lost about 130 lbs in the first year, and maintained at around 165-175 (for me this weight equated to around a size 10, which I was fairly pleased with) for almost 10 years. I had a Tummy Tuck in 2016 and believe that my band was nicked when the plastic surgeon moved my port. In any case i suffered a 'slow leak' in the band that my surgeon Dr. Elariny could not pinpont, even under fluoroscopy, and have not really had any restriction for the last 5 years. I have sloooowwwwlly gained back up to 215 lbs during that time. I'm scared to death and simultaneously super excited for the DS surgery.

Hi! I was banded back in 2008. I'm 5'4" and my weight before surgery was 290-something. I lost about 130 lbs in the first year, and maintained at around 165-175 (for me this weight equated to around a size 10, which I was fairly pleased with) for almost 10 years. I had a tummy tuck in 2016 and believe that my band was nicked when the plastic surgeon moved my port. In any case i suffered a 'slow leak' in the band that my surgeon Dr. Elariny could not pinpont, even under fluoroscopy, and have not really had any restriction for the last 5 years. I have sloooowwwwlly gained back up to 215 lbs during that time. Last month I had a consult with Dr Elariny to explore options for another weight loss surgery. He asked me a million questions about my eating habits and ultimately said he believes I'll be most successful with the DS. At first I was completely against it, as the malabsorptive procedures have always scared me. But after voraciously reading this and a few other DS forums, I have decided I want to go forward bc it seems like this is the most successful, most foolproof procedure. Ultimately I want to go back to the way I felt when my Lap-band was working perfectly for all those years....when I finally wasn't on a diet, for the first time in my 37 year life. I didn't have to be obsessed over every bite I put in my mouth. I wasn't constantly beating myself up over eating too many calories or eating the wrong things or eating between meals or after a certain time at night, etc etc etc. For many years when my band was working, I felt like I just ate like a "normal" person. It was so incredibly liberating. If I felt like eating a burger i ate a burger. If i felt like eating a salad i ate a salad. I just ate when I was hungry and didn't have to think about it alllll the time. I want to go back to occasionally getting on the scale out of curiosity, rather than getting on it every morning and feeling desperate and ashamed. I do think that in addition to the lack of restriction, that menopause and hormonal changes are working against me now, at age 51. I haven't changed a thing about my exercise routine. I still workout every morning, 5-7 days per week, doing a combo of weight lifting and HIIT. But nonetheless i've just steadily put on weight, year over year. So, to bring this to a question of some sort...I guess I'd like to know if any of you long-time DS'ers feel like you eat "like normal people" now? And don't have to think about it so much? Or must you be extremely focused on what you eat bc of the ill effects the malabsorption causes? It is sort of confusing that my doctor tells me that if I eat high fat foods after this surgery I'll be rewarded with many urgent trips to the bathroom, and that if i eat carbs I'll experience terrible and potently malodorous gas. But many posts I've read have said something along the lines of "fat is your friend after the DS". I understand that Your Mileage May Vary, and every person is different. And my other question is whether I'm crazy, with a BMI of 37, to consider such a "drastic" procedure? My insurance has already approved me, for what it's worth. Thanks in advance for all of your thoughts!

I'm thrilled to report that I'm down 52.5 pounds since surgery on 5/19/08. I'm losing pretty steadily at a rate of about 10 pounds per month, on average. I LOVE MY BAND!!!!!

September 2, just about 16 weeks out from surgery - 227, down from 271 Well, hmmmm, let's see...I'm down 44 pounds, no longer morbidly obese, just plain old obese. I'm losing pretty consistently at an average of around 10 pounds a month. Not bad! I've only had one fill, back in July. I feel so much better, and have started running again, finally. Started that at about 13 weeks out. That really feels great, I have to say. Well - that is to say that I have always HATED running while I'm actually doing it, but it's the best way to lose weight I know of. I feel like it's the best bang for your buck, in terms of exercise. And it feels great that I can actually do it again. I'm only going for short runs at this point, only 2 miles at a time, and I feel like I'm going to die at the end of it, but I know I'm building the stamina to increase gradually. The best part has been running with my husband. A year ago I wondered if I'd EVER be able to do that again. My restriction continues to come and go, come and go. It really is the most bewildering thing. For instance, I recently went to Vegas with a friend, and I was scared to death that the 5 hour flight would leave me with a tighter-than-tight band when I arrived. I read that all the time on LBT, people saying that flying makes them tight as hell. The flight on the way out to Vegas had absolutely no discernible impact on my band whatsoever. My restriction was the same as it had been at home: tightest in the morning, so-so at lunch, and considerably looser in the evening. But, after I returned home - whammo! For the next week, I was as tight as I had been just after I got my one and only fill in July! Maybe it was a delayed reaction?? Who knows? But I've loosened up a little bit since then. Anyway, we're making our annual trek to the beach for a week in just under 4 days. I was hoping to be in the 220's by the time we took our beach vacation this year, and I'm happy to say that I made that goal. The only thing is, I still feel huge. :party: None of my clothes fit, they are all too big, so I'm wearing the same two or three outfits over and over again. It is very frustrating trying to get dressed every morning, but I know it's a "high class" problem to have. But it's funny, 4 months ago, at 271, I was thinking how absolutely glorious it would be to be in the 220's at the beach this year, and how much more comfortable I'd surely be in my own skin. Yeaaaaah, not so much. I still cringe when I look at myself in a bathing suit, I still detest my flabby upper arms and my big belly. I know that I AM more comfortable now that I've been running and my legs have leaned out a lot and I can actually wear bermuda shorts in public and not feel like crying. But, I still long to be a girl in a tank top or a cute halter shirt or sundress when I'm at the beach, and sadly, I still won't be that girl this year. But, I guess the difference is that I know I'll EVENTUALLY get there, and that I can just keep looking forward to next year's beach vacation. The next big thing I'm looking forward to is going to the Christmas party at my husband's law firm this year and being, hopefully, at least 60 or 70 pounds lighter than I was last year, or the year before last. I'm REALLY looking forward to shopping for something youthful to wear, instead of the matronly formal clothes I've been consigned to for so many years. Dear God how I've longed to wear a 'little black dress' to these kinds of events for so many years. Now, granted, I know I won't be wearing a truly 'little' dress at 210 or so, but it will damn sure be littler than anything I've worn in the past. Can't wait to shop for that! This band frustrates me at times, when I'm looking forward to eating something delicious, and then simply can't eat it. Or when I'm really, really hungry, and take too big of a bite and get stuck.....and just end up really uncomfortable, unable to eat, and still hungry! And I'm constantly worried that I'll be found out - that a friend will put two and two together and come right out and ask me if I had weight loss surgery. I still feel desperate about keeping this a secret. AND, I'm starting to get just a little tired of having the few people who HAVE commented that they've noticed I've lost weight say, "Wow, I can really see it in your face and your shoulders!" I mean, come ON people, I have not lost 40 pounds from my double chins alone! I would really like for someone to say, "you know, your ASS really looks smaller!" That would be very gratifying. But for now I satisfy myself by noticing how much less space my ass seems to take up in my clothes each day. Patience, grasshopper, patience....I still stand by what I said in a previous post (or two), which is that I love this band and would have this surgery all over again in a h-e-a-r-t-b-e-a-t!

September 2, just about 16 weeks out from surgery - 227, down from 271 Well, hmmmm, let's see...I'm down 44 pounds, no longer morbidly obese, just plain old obese. I'm losing pretty consistently at an average of around 10 pounds a month. Not bad! I've only had one fill, back in July. I feel so much better, and have started running again, finally. Started that at about 13 weeks out. That really feels great, I have to say. Well - that is to say that I have always HATED running while I'm actually doing it, but it's the best way to lose weight I know of. I feel like it's the best bang for your buck, in terms of exercise. And it feels great that I can actually do it again. I'm only going for short runs at this point, only 2 miles at a time, and I feel like I'm going to die at the end of it, but I know I'm building the stamina to increase gradually. The best part has been running with my husband. A year ago I wondered if I'd EVER be able to do that again. My restriction continues to come and go, come and go. It really is the most bewildering thing. For instance, I recently went to Vegas with a friend, and I was scared to death that the 5 hour flight would leave me with a tighter-than-tight band when I arrived. I read that all the time on LBT, people saying that flying makes them tight as hell. The flight on the way out to Vegas had absolutely no discernible impact on my band whatsoever. My restriction was the same as it had been at home: tightest in the morning, so-so at lunch, and considerably looser in the evening. But, after I returned home - whammo! For the next week, I was as tight as I had been just after I got my one and only fill in July! Maybe it was a delayed reaction?? Who knows? But I've loosened up a little bit since then. Anyway, we're making our annual trek to the beach for a week in just under 4 days. I was hoping to be in the 220's by the time we took our beach vacation this year, and I'm happy to say that I made that goal. The only thing is, I still feel huge. None of my clothes fit, they are all too big, so I'm wearing the same two or three outfits over and over again. It is very frustrating trying to get dressed every morning, but I know it's a "high class" problem to have. But it's funny, 4 months ago, at 271, I was thinking how absolutely glorious it would be to be in the 220's at the beach this year, and how much more comfortable I'd surely be in my own skin. Yeaaaaah, not so much. I still cringe when I look at myself in a bathing suit, I still detest my flabby upper arms and my big belly. I know that I AM more comfortable now that I've been running and my legs have leaned out a lot and I can actually wear bermuda shorts in public and not feel like crying. But, I still long to be a girl in a tank top or a cute halter shirt or sundress when I'm at the beach, and sadly, I still won't be that girl this year. But, I guess the difference is that I know I'll EVENTUALLY get there, and that I can just keep looking forward to next year's beach vacation. The next big thing I'm looking forward to is going to the Christmas party at my husband's law firm this year and being, hopefully, at least 60 or 70 pounds lighter than I was last year, or the year before last. I'm REALLY looking forward to shopping for something youthful to wear, instead of the matronly formal clothes I've been consigned to for so many years. Dear God how I've longed to wear a 'little black dress' to these kinds of events for so many years. Now, granted, I know I won't be wearing a truly 'little' dress at 210 or so, but it will damn sure be littler than anything I've worn in the past. Can't wait to shop for that! This band frustrates me at times, when I'm looking forward to eating something delicious, and then simply can't eat it. Or when I'm really, really hungry, and take too big of a bite and get stuck.....and just end up really uncomfortable, unable to eat, and still hungry! And I'm constantly worried that I'll be found out - that a friend will put two and two together and come right out and ask me if I had weight loss surgery. I still feel desperate about keeping this a secret. AND, I'm starting to get just a little tired of having the few people who HAVE commented that they've noticed I've lost weight say, "Wow, I can really see it in your face and your shoulders!" I mean, come ON people, I have not lost 40 pounds from my double chins alone! I would really like for someone to say, "you know, your ASS really looks smaller!" That would be very gratifying. But for now I satisfy myself by noticing how much less space my ass seems to take up in my clothes each day. Patience, grasshopper, patience....I still stand by what I said in a previous post (or two), which is that I love this band and would have this surgery all over again in a h-e-a-r-t-b-e-a-t!

7/24 - 10 weeks out, 30.5 pounds down, from 271 to 240.5 Well, I'm truckin' along, and although it SEEMS slow to me, I just realized it actually hasn't been all that slow since I got my first fill. I just looked back at the calendar, and my fill was 2 weeks ago, on 7/10. On 7/10 I weighed 249, and I now weigh 240.5. So, that's a little less than 10 pounds in 2 weeks!! That's actually fantastic!! Wow, all of a sudden I'm counting how many weeks till we go to the beach for our summer vacation, and calculating potentially how far down I COULD be if this restriction holds out!!!!!!! I could be a svelte 210 pounds by then if I play my cards right! Ahhh!! Can't even let myself hope for that, because I don't want to end up feeling discouraged. I've been telling myself that I'd be happy if I could be somewhere in the 220's by September 6, which is the day we leave for the beach. Haven't seen the 220's in several years. Haven't seen 210 since I met my husband in 1999. Under 200 - haven't seen Onederland since I was in college in the early 90's!! The last time I was able to squeeze into a woman's size 12 was when I was in either 9th or 10th grade, and I was able to wear one specific pair of my mom's jeans. They were a size 12, and I have no idea why she had them, because she has always been a size 8 her entire life. But for whatever reason, she had these jeans that were a size 12, and I BARELY fit into them, but I could button and zip them, and that's all that mattered to me. It made me feel so good about myself for that brief period when I could wear them. Funny how you remember things like that. So, getting into a size 12 again someday is going to feel like a HUGE milestone for me. Anyway, so since I got this fill 2 weeks ago, I have noticed that I experience what many other bandsters have described on LBT - my restriction seems to fluctuate day by day, sometimes hour by hour. It's weird, there doesn't seem to really be any rhyme or reason to it? Some days I can eat breakfast and lunch, albeit carefully, but with no problems whatsoever. Some days I can hardly get yogurt to go down without a whole lot of gurgling and noise and burping (non-productive) and other fanfare. On most days, I've found that it's much easier to eat dinner than lunch, and breakfast, forget about it. By the time I get all my pills and vitamins down in the morning, I'm full and don't have any time left for breakfast anyway. That makes me feel guilty, because I know it's bad to skip breakfast, but I really can't help it. Sometimes I'll bring a yogurt along to work with me, and I can eat that at my desk, although it takes a while. Several times I've tried to eat lunch and ended up having to throw it away. I know that SOMETIMES it's because I take too big of a bite right off the bat and don't chew it enough, and then whatever it was gets stuck, and then I'm just done - can't put anything else on top of that bc that will just make it worse (learned THAT the hard way) so I just have to give up and wait till the next meal. But sometimes even if I'm following all the rules and being very conscious about it, even the smallest most chewed-to-liquid bite won't go down easily at lunch time. It's very strange! Every few days I find dinner is challenging as well, but most days dinner is easier than lunch. Mind you, I'm measuring my food intake in bites now, not cups. Lord, I never thought I'd say that. I'm amazed at how my sense of portions has changed. I still have food envy when I watch my husband take a gigantic bite out of some big juicy cheeseburger, or gobble down a bunch of crispy crunchy salad vegetables. (never thought I'd say THAT either! LOL) But when putting food onto my own plate I've gotten very, very good at taking the smallest possible servings of things. And then after I eat, I'm constantly worrying in my head that I've eaten too much, that I'm ABLE to eat too much, that I'll never lose any more weight if I eat this much, etc. And then I remind myself that I only ate, for instance, one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, or something like that. It's weird how your brain processes this phenomenon. Mostly what I've read on LBT is from people saying that they are still ordering the Extra Large Value size of everything, even though they can only eat a small fraction of it. With me it's been the opposite. I automatically order or plate-up the smallest portion, but then have some sort of dysmorphic thing happen where I panic I've eaten too much. I think part of the problem is that I never really feel hungry anymore - and I also never really feel full. That is to say, I never get the feeling of full that I got pre-band.....which was a sickening, oh-my-God-all-I-want-to-do-is-unbutton-my-pants-and-lay-on-the-couch sort of feeling. I regularly ate up until I felt that way at dinner time, almost every night. Not so much at lunch, because I had more distractions from food during that time of day, I guess. I wouldn't say that I MISS that awful stuffed to the gills feeling.....but maybe psychologically I miss having a full belly feeling?? I don't know. And I can't really say that I have ever really recognized true stomach hunger - certainly not pre-band, bc I ate all the time. And not so much post band either. I don't know, maybe I'm just not skilled enough to recognize the feeling yet? So, without being able to discern those specific feelings - hungry vs. full - I think I have a tendency to panic and to STILL think that this surgery is not going to work for me after all (present evidence disregarded) and that I'll end up sabotaging myself, despite my best efforts, as I have always done in the past. I know I've got to work on that. In my ideal world, I wouldn't have to think about, worry about, panic about, plan endlessly for, or obsess over food a-n-y-m-o-r-e. I dream of a day when I can just live my life - and eat whenever it's appropriate to do so to feed my body. Period. I think I'm on my way. I'm amazed to no longer be compelled to nightly binge sessions in front of the TV. I'm incredulous that leftover cookies or bbq chips from weekend cookouts will stay in my pantry, unmolested for weeks. Pre-band, these foods would have literally called out to me over and over again, every time I was in my house, until I either devoured them, or in a fit of fortitude stoicly dumped them down into the gargage disposal so that they couldn't torture me any more. Now, I FORGET that they are even in there. Now, that's not to say that I don't still have a weakness for junk food, and believe me, if it's in a basket somewhere at a party, I'm definitely going to eat some of it. But I don't feel like it has a power over me anymore. That is really quite remarkable. This band certainly requires it's share of sacrifices, but so far, I'd say I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Thirty pounds, no longer weighing me down, gone forever. Amen!

7/24 - 10 weeks out, 30.5 pounds down, from 271 to 240.5 Well, I'm truckin' along, and although it SEEMS slow to me, I just realized it actually hasn't been all that slow since I got my first fill. I just looked back at the calendar, and my fill was 2 weeks ago, on 7/10. On 7/10 I weighed 249, and I now weigh 240.5. So, that's a little less than 10 pounds in 2 weeks!! That's actually fantastic!! Wow, all of a sudden I'm counting how many weeks till we go to the beach for our summer vacation, and calculating potentially how far down I COULD be if this restriction holds out!!!!!!! I could be a svelte 210 pounds by then if I play my cards right! Ahhh!! Can't even let myself hope for that, because I don't want to end up feeling discouraged. I've been telling myself that I'd be happy if I could be somewhere in the 220's by September 6, which is the day we leave for the beach. Haven't seen the 220's in several years. Haven't seen 210 since I met my husband in 1999. Under 200 - haven't seen Onederland since I was in college in the early 90's!! The last time I was able to squeeze into a woman's size 12 was when I was in either 9th or 10th grade, and I was able to wear one specific pair of my mom's jeans. They were a size 12, and I have no idea why she had them, because she has always been a size 8 her entire life. But for whatever reason, she had these jeans that were a size 12, and I BARELY fit into them, but I could button and zip them, and that's all that mattered to me. It made me feel so good about myself for that brief period when I could wear them. Funny how you remember things like that. So, getting into a size 12 again someday is going to feel like a HUGE milestone for me. Anyway, so since I got this fill 2 weeks ago, I have noticed that I experience what many other bandsters have described on LBT - my restriction seems to fluctuate day by day, sometimes hour by hour. It's weird, there doesn't seem to really be any rhyme or reason to it? Some days I can eat breakfast and lunch, albeit carefully, but with no problems whatsoever. Some days I can hardly get yogurt to go down without a whole lot of gurgling and noise and burping (non-productive) and other fanfare. On most days, I've found that it's much easier to eat dinner than lunch, and breakfast, forget about it. By the time I get all my pills and vitamins down in the morning, I'm full and don't have any time left for breakfast anyway. That makes me feel guilty, because I know it's bad to skip breakfast, but I really can't help it. Sometimes I'll bring a yogurt along to work with me, and I can eat that at my desk, although it takes a while. Several times I've tried to eat lunch and ended up having to throw it away. I know that SOMETIMES it's because I take too big of a bite right off the bat and don't chew it enough, and then whatever it was gets stuck, and then I'm just done - can't put anything else on top of that bc that will just make it worse (learned THAT the hard way) so I just have to give up and wait till the next meal. But sometimes even if I'm following all the rules and being very conscious about it, even the smallest most chewed-to-liquid bite won't go down easily at lunch time. It's very strange! Every few days I find dinner is challenging as well, but most days dinner is easier than lunch. Mind you, I'm measuring my food intake in bites now, not cups. Lord, I never thought I'd say that. I'm amazed at how my sense of portions has changed. I still have food envy when I watch my husband take a gigantic bite out of some big juicy cheeseburger, or gobble down a bunch of crispy crunchy salad vegetables. (never thought I'd say THAT either! LOL) But when putting food onto my own plate I've gotten very, very good at taking the smallest possible servings of things. And then after I eat, I'm constantly worrying in my head that I've eaten too much, that I'm ABLE to eat too much, that I'll never lose any more weight if I eat this much, etc. And then I remind myself that I only ate, for instance, one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, or something like that. It's weird how your brain processes this phenomenon. Mostly what I've read on LBT is from people saying that they are still ordering the Extra Large Value size of everything, even though they can only eat a small fraction of it. With me it's been the opposite. I automatically order or plate-up the smallest portion, but then have some sort of dysmorphic thing happen where I panic I've eaten too much. I think part of the problem is that I never really feel hungry anymore - and I also never really feel full. That is to say, I never get the feeling of full that I got pre-band.....which was a sickening, oh-my-God-all-I-want-to-do-is-unbutton-my-pants-and-lay-on-the-couch sort of feeling. I regularly ate up until I felt that way at dinner time, almost every night. Not so much at lunch, because I had more distractions from food during that time of day, I guess. I wouldn't say that I MISS that awful stuffed to the gills feeling.....but maybe psychologically I miss having a full belly feeling?? I don't know. And I can't really say that I have ever really recognized true stomach hunger - certainly not pre-band, bc I ate all the time. And not so much post band either. I don't know, maybe I'm just not skilled enough to recognize the feeling yet? So, without being able to discern those specific feelings - hungry vs. full - I think I have a tendency to panic and to STILL think that this surgery is not going to work for me after all (present evidence disregarded) and that I'll end up sabotaging myself, despite my best efforts, as I have always done in the past. I know I've got to work on that. In my ideal world, I wouldn't have to think about, worry about, panic about, plan endlessly for, or obsess over food a-n-y-m-o-r-e. I dream of a day when I can just live my life - and eat whenever it's appropriate to do so to feed my body. Period. I think I'm on my way. I'm amazed to no longer be compelled to nightly binge sessions in front of the TV. I'm incredulous that leftover cookies or bbq chips from weekend cookouts will stay in my pantry, unmolested for weeks. Pre-band, these foods would have literally called out to me over and over again, every time I was in my house, until I either devoured them, or in a fit of fortitude stoicly dumped them down into the gargage disposal so that they couldn't torture me any more. Now, I FORGET that they are even in there. Now, that's not to say that I don't still have a weakness for junk food, and believe me, if it's in a basket somewhere at a party, I'm definitely going to eat some of it. But I don't feel like it has a power over me anymore. That is really quite remarkable. This band certainly requires it's share of sacrifices, but so far, I'd say I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Thirty pounds, no longer weighing me down, gone forever. Amen!

My doctor prescribed Zantac also, for 6 months after surgery. He says it prevents the occurrence of stomach ulcers. Not sure what happens after 6 months??

Almost 8 weeks out, down 26 pounds from 271 to 245 So I got my first fill last week, and I am REALLY tight. So much so that I've lost 5 pounds in 6 days! I am finding it extremely difficult to eat anything in the morning. I even feel stuck just trying to drink some water or juice in the morning; warm coffee seems to go down much more easily. I had a particularly bad day this last Saturday: so let me first say that of course I recognize that no one who is trying to lose weight has any business eating anything at McDonald's. However, every so often I allow myself to indulge, and Saturday morning was that occurrence. I was soooo excited about eating some of that sausage biscuit, let me tell you. I was going to be taking a quick road trip of about an hour on Saturday morning, and I figured with this great restriction it would practically take me an hour to eat about a quarter of that delicious biscuit. Well, I think I managed to eat a total of one normal sized bite, taken in teeny tiny little pieces which just REFUSED to go down. UGH! Never has a human being been so disappointed. I cursed the band, let me tell you! I wanted to eat that damn biscuit in the worst way! And, to showcase my food addiction even more - instead of throwing the blasted biscuit away when I reached my destination, like any sane person would.....I wrapped it up and saved it, thinking to myself, maybe I'll loosen up later today and I can still eat some of this later!! I tried, not once, but twice more throughout Saturday to eat some of that biscuit, and EVERY time I tried it was worse. Waaaahhhhhh!! I also had my first PB (productive burping) episode on Saturday. I now know that it was precipitated by the biscuit incident in the morning, but I wasn't smart enough to be worried about that when I sat down to lunch with my husband and some friends......I unrolled my chicken salad wrap and picked out a tiny forkful of tender shredded chicken. I chewed and chewed and chewed until it was liquid, and when I swallowed, at first I thought it was OK, but after a few seconds I got that awful pressure feeling in my chest. So I sat there and talked and waited for it to subside and eventually decided to take a bite of my fruit cup - one tiny cube of mushy peach, which I chewed up to nothing and then swallowed. I immediately got the stuck feeling, and my mouth started filling up with saliva. This has happened to me before many times, but somehow I realized, luckily, that this time was different. My husband's colleague was in the middle of asking me a question, and I literally jumped up from the table, completely cut him off mid-sentence, and was barely able to choke out 'please excuse me' before I was running to the ladies room. As soon as I got in there, up popped the peach, and lots and lots and lots of saliva. BLECH! I thought I would feel immediately better, but I didn't. I stayed in there a while trying to regain some composure. In previous episodes where I would get that stuck feeling, and would "slime" for a while, at a certain point I'd feel things settle down and go through, and I'd be fine and would actually want to resume eating. This time, however, there was no way I was going to try to eat anything else for a while. I had to be really careful even drinking water for the rest of the day. I finally had a very few morsels of dinner (a couple bites of mashed potatoes and a tiny piece of husband's soft and gooey chicken quesadilla) many hours later, around 8:30pm. They went down OK, but I was scared bc we were in public at a bar, and I did NOT want to have to race off to the bathroom again, so I didn't push it. Sunday morning there was very little change, I still felt extremely tight and had to be careful even swallowing my yogurt. But, by lunchtime I had loosened up and was able to eat half of a turkey sandwich with no problems. So, on Saturday I was feeling a little panicked, and thinking - maybe I'm too tight?? Maybe I should get a slight unfill? But, now, a couple of days later, I've realized that there's something to be said for being this tight - it absolutely forces me to take tiny bites, chew properly, not drink after eating......it basically forces me to be accountable at all times to the band. I think as long as I'm careful and don't PB all the time, maybe I'll just deal with it?? Because you know, of course I'm loving, loving, loving watching the scale drop each day! The only thing I'm worried about right now is how to explain my sudden bird-like portions to friends. This weekend when someone made a comment, I just said, "Oh, you know me! I'm just trying to lose some weight....AGAIN, ha ha ha..." I just wonder if someone is eventually going to catch on to my secret! I really, really, really hope not.

Almost 8 weeks out, down 26 pounds from 271 to 245 So I got my first fill last week, and I am REALLY tight. So much so that I've lost 5 pounds in 6 days! I am finding it extremely difficult to eat anything in the morning. I even feel stuck just trying to drink some water or juice in the morning; warm coffee seems to go down much more easily. I had a particularly bad day this last Saturday: so let me first say that of course I recognize that no one who is trying to lose weight has any business eating anything at McDonald's. However, every so often I allow myself to indulge, and Saturday morning was that occurrence. I was soooo excited about eating some of that sausage biscuit, let me tell you. I was going to be taking a quick road trip of about an hour on Saturday morning, and I figured with this great restriction it would practically take me an hour to eat about a quarter of that delicious biscuit. Well, I think I managed to eat a total of one normal sized bite, taken in teeny tiny little pieces which just REFUSED to go down. UGH! Never has a human being been so disappointed. I cursed the band, let me tell you! I wanted to eat that damn biscuit in the worst way! And, to showcase my food addiction even more - instead of throwing the blasted biscuit away when I reached my destination, like any sane person would.....I wrapped it up and saved it, thinking to myself, maybe I'll loosen up later today and I can still eat some of this later!! I tried, not once, but twice more throughout Saturday to eat some of that biscuit, and EVERY time I tried it was worse. Waaaahhhhhh!! I also had my first PB (productive burping) episode on Saturday. I now know that it was precipitated by the biscuit incident in the morning, but I wasn't smart enough to be worried about that when I sat down to lunch with my husband and some friends......I unrolled my chicken salad wrap and picked out a tiny forkful of tender shredded chicken. I chewed and chewed and chewed until it was liquid, and when I swallowed, at first I thought it was OK, but after a few seconds I got that awful pressure feeling in my chest. So I sat there and talked and waited for it to subside and eventually decided to take a bite of my fruit cup - one tiny cube of mushy peach, which I chewed up to nothing and then swallowed. I immediately got the stuck feeling, and my mouth started filling up with saliva. This has happened to me before many times, but somehow I realized, luckily, that this time was different. My husband's colleague was in the middle of asking me a question, and I literally jumped up from the table, completely cut him off mid-sentence, and was barely able to choke out 'please excuse me' before I was running to the ladies room. As soon as I got in there, up popped the peach, and lots and lots and lots of saliva. BLECH! I thought I would feel immediately better, but I didn't. I stayed in there a while trying to regain some composure. In previous episodes where I would get that stuck feeling, and would "slime" for a while, at a certain point I'd feel things settle down and go through, and I'd be fine and would actually want to resume eating. This time, however, there was no way I was going to try to eat anything else for a while. I had to be really careful even drinking water for the rest of the day. I finally had a very few morsels of dinner (a couple bites of mashed potatoes and a tiny piece of husband's soft and gooey chicken quesadilla) many hours later, around 8:30pm. They went down OK, but I was scared bc we were in public at a bar, and I did NOT want to have to race off to the bathroom again, so I didn't push it. Sunday morning there was very little change, I still felt extremely tight and had to be careful even swallowing my yogurt. But, by lunchtime I had loosened up and was able to eat half of a turkey sandwich with no problems. So, on Saturday I was feeling a little panicked, and thinking - maybe I'm too tight?? Maybe I should get a slight unfill? But, now, a couple of days later, I've realized that there's something to be said for being this tight - it absolutely forces me to take tiny bites, chew properly, not drink after eating......it basically forces me to be accountable at all times to the band. I think as long as I'm careful and don't PB all the time, maybe I'll just deal with it?? Because you know, of course I'm loving, loving, loving watching the scale drop each day! The only thing I'm worried about right now is how to explain my sudden bird-like portions to friends. This weekend when someone made a comment, I just said, "Oh, you know me! I'm just trying to lose some weight....AGAIN, ha ha ha..." I just wonder if someone is eventually going to catch on to my secret! I really, really, really hope not.

7/10/08 - almost 8 weeks since surgery, 249 - down 22 pounds from surgery weight of 271 It's been a while since I've posted anything here! I hit a plateau of about 2 weeks....it was characterized by my ability and propensity to eat considerably more than I have to date post-band, and the bouncing of the scale back and forth between the same 4 pounds, over and over and over and over again. Aarrgh! I knew it was time for a fill, but my doctor's office is so busy it's practically an act of God to get an appointment. I called the office when I was 3 weeks post op in order to schedule a fill for 6 weeks out (the earliest they will let you have a fill), and they told me the soonest they could get me in was around 8 weeks post op. Kind of frustrating, but I reminded myself that 2 weeks is not the end of the world, for pete's sake. So, I went in yesterday for my first fill. It was.....interesting! There was no pain involved. My doctor is one of those who sticks you with a little lidocaine or other such numbing agent, so that he can then poke around at will to find the port and not have to worry about causing you any pain. The first interesting thing was that the port was not where either he, or I, thought it was. He commented that he was surprised that it was so low, because on his patients, he normally finds the port to the upper right of the port incision. But, surprise! My port was several inches below and to the left. Bizarre, because mine definitely started out above the incision right where he thought it would be. I was obsessed with feeling it for the first few weeks, but then just kind of forgot about it. I hadn't felt for it in quite a while. I guess, somehow, it moved?? Strange. So, my doc was planning to give me 1 cc in my 4.5 cc band. He put the needle in, depressed the plunger all the way, and then pulled it back out again. Surprise, again! He pulled out almost 2cc of saline! And this is my first fill! He said, "are you sure you have the 4.55 cc band?" I just looked at him, as if to say, "you're asking ME, buddy?" And so he decided to go pull up my surgery record to make absolutely certain. He said that he almost always uses the smaller band on female patients, but he was confused because he only ever puts a fill in at surgery if he's working with a 10cc band. He said he wanted to be sure, because if I did have a 10cc band, he wanted to give me more than just the 1 cc for the first fill. So, sure enough it turns out I do indeed have the small 4.5 cc band, he confirmed it in my surgery records. He also remembered that when they put the band on in surgery, it was spinning more than it should have been. He wanted to make sure the band stayed put and wasn't spinning after they closed me up, so that the scar tissue could form properly. So, he decided to put a little bit of a fill in, in order to stablize it. So, that .8 of a cc was what allowed me to feel restricted for the better part of 6 weeks, and drop 20 pounds! I'll take it! (I'm a little bit irked that no one TOLD me this right after surgery, but oh well, what can I do about it now...) So, then I had to sit up with the needle sticking out of me and drink some water to make sure I wasn't too tight. What a bizarre thing: sitting on a doctor's exam table, needle and syringe sticking out of my belly, shirt up under my boobs with big flabby belly exposed, and drinking a dixie cup of water. He kept saying, "do you feel anything different?" and me: "um, yes, I think so?! Wait, no. It feels the same. Well, no maybe not, maybe it feels a little different???" I swear I couldn't tell the difference at first! Some people say they can feel things going from their pouch through the stoma, or they can feel it when their pouch completely empties, especially when drinking liquids. I couldn't feel a thing at that point. I had some broth for dinner and a couple of sugar free all fruit popsicles. I think my stomach and actual hunger were satisfied, but husband was eating a yummy italian pasta dish and leftover pizza, and I had a MAJOR case of food envy last night. Ah well, these sacrifices will all pay off down the road, won't they? Dare I quote - Nothing tastes as good as thin feels! Apologies. I usually want to smack anyone who says that to me! So, today I'm definitely feeling some restriction, even with still being on liquids. I was drinking a protein shake this morning and tried to drink it too quickly, and immediately got a stuck feeling. This is a good thing. For the last two weeks leading up to this fill I was eating waaaay too fast and taking waaay too big of bites, with no negative repercussions! I was definitely too loose. I'm just hoping this restriction sticks around for a while so I can get the scale moving again!!! But just in case, I've already booked my next fill, 6 weeks from now on August 20.

7/10/08 - almost 8 weeks since surgery, 249 - down 22 pounds from surgery weight of 271 It's been a while since I've posted anything here! I hit a plateau of about 2 weeks....it was characterized by my ability and propensity to eat considerably more than I have to date post-band, and the bouncing of the scale back and forth between the same 4 pounds, over and over and over and over again. Aarrgh! I knew it was time for a fill, but my doctor's office is so busy it's practically an act of God to get an appointment. I called the office when I was 3 weeks post op in order to schedule a fill for 6 weeks out (the earliest they will let you have a fill), and they told me the soonest they could get me in was around 8 weeks post op. Kind of frustrating, but I reminded myself that 2 weeks is not the end of the world, for pete's sake. So, I went in yesterday for my first fill. It was.....interesting! There was no pain involved. My doctor is one of those who sticks you with a little lidocaine or other such numbing agent, so that he can then poke around at will to find the port and not have to worry about causing you any pain. The first interesting thing was that the port was not where either he, or I, thought it was. He commented that he was surprised that it was so low, because on his patients, he normally finds the port to the upper right of the port incision. But, surprise! My port was several inches below and to the left. Bizarre, because mine definitely started out above the incision right where he thought it would be. I was obsessed with feeling it for the first few weeks, but then just kind of forgot about it. I hadn't felt for it in quite a while. I guess, somehow, it moved?? Strange. So, my doc was planning to give me 1 cc in my 4.5 cc band. He put the needle in, depressed the plunger all the way, and then pulled it back out again. Surprise, again! He pulled out almost 2cc of saline! And this is my first fill! He said, "are you sure you have the 4.55 cc band?" I just looked at him, as if to say, "you're asking ME, buddy?" And so he decided to go pull up my surgery record to make absolutely certain. He said that he almost always uses the smaller band on female patients, but he was confused because he only ever puts a fill in at surgery if he's working with a 10cc band. He said he wanted to be sure, because if I did have a 10cc band, he wanted to give me more than just the 1 cc for the first fill. So, sure enough it turns out I do indeed have the small 4.5 cc band, he confirmed it in my surgery records. He also remembered that when they put the band on in surgery, it was spinning more than it should have been. He wanted to make sure the band stayed put and wasn't spinning after they closed me up, so that the scar tissue could form properly. So, he decided to put a little bit of a fill in, in order to stablize it. So, that .8 of a cc was what allowed me to feel restricted for the better part of 6 weeks, and drop 20 pounds! I'll take it! (I'm a little bit irked that no one TOLD me this right after surgery, but oh well, what can I do about it now...) So, then I had to sit up with the needle sticking out of me and drink some water to make sure I wasn't too tight. What a bizarre thing: sitting on a doctor's exam table, needle and syringe sticking out of my belly, shirt up under my boobs with big flabby belly exposed, and drinking a dixie cup of water. He kept saying, "do you feel anything different?" and me: "um, yes, I think so?! Wait, no. It feels the same. Well, no maybe not, maybe it feels a little different???" I swear I couldn't tell the difference at first! Some people say they can feel things going from their pouch through the stoma, or they can feel it when their pouch completely empties, especially when drinking liquids. I couldn't feel a thing at that point. I had some broth for dinner and a couple of sugar free all fruit popsicles. I think my stomach and actual hunger were satisfied, but husband was eating a yummy italian pasta dish and leftover pizza, and I had a MAJOR case of food envy last night. Ah well, these sacrifices will all pay off down the road, won't they? Dare I quote - Nothing tastes as good as thin feels! Apologies. I usually want to smack anyone who says that to me! So, today I'm definitely feeling some restriction, even with still being on liquids. I was drinking a protein shake this morning and tried to drink it too quickly, and immediately got a stuck feeling. This is a good thing. For the last two weeks leading up to this fill I was eating waaaay too fast and taking waaay too big of bites, with no negative repercussions! I was definitely too loose. I'm just hoping this restriction sticks around for a while so I can get the scale moving again!!! But just in case, I've already booked my next fill, 6 weeks from now on August 20.

Still happening to me too, after clearing cache and cookies and the whole 9 yards. Extremely frustrating!!!