Jean McMillan

Be careful what you ask for, Guy. You might just receive it! I'll bet there are lots of pretty clothes that other members would be happy to send you!

Whatever you decide about a revision, I don't think you should call yourself a failure. If you've lost "only" 44 lbs in 9 months, you've lost about 1.25 lbs/week, and the average with the band is 1-2/week. Also, if at all possible, I'd start looking for another surgeon. The one you have now sounds like a jerk. Good luck!

I for one am very thankful that we have WLS choices nowadays!

I can't answer your question about what you can do to push Tricare to cover a revision. Just want to say that I have a friend who converted from the band to RNY and had no problem getting Tricare to cover it. And she hadn't been having band problems, just had lost 100 of the 200 lbs she needed to lose with her band and then plateaued for a year.

I haven't done that diet, but know several people who tried it and found that it helped curtail some bad food habits they'd acquired, like too much sweet stuff. And since in theory it can cause quick weight loss, a pound or two lost (don't know if that's realistic in 5 days, though) might give you back some self-confidence that you can in fact succeed. I guess it depends on what's behind the 12 lbs you gained - poor food choices? not enough portion control? grazing? or what? If you can get some insight into the causes(s) of the gain, you can work on that as well as work on getting back on the bandwagon. Good luck!

Do you save the “best” (or favorite) food on your plate for last? That might be sabotaging your weight loss. Here’s why. When I was growing up, my mom gave me confusing messages at meal times. We were not allowed to have dessert until we finished the meat and veggies on our plates. This rule taught me to save the best for last, and I applied it to everything – meals, homework, story books. I would play with my least-favorite doll all day in order to “earn” a nightly conversation with my favorite doll, Priscilla (who was forced to sit on my bed while I quizzed her math skills). One day, my mother eyed the mashed potatoes on my dinner plate and said in a warning voice, “Aren’t you going to eat that?” I said, “Yes, when I’m done with my peas. I’m saving the best for last.” She snorted and said, “Be careful with that. You never know when someone’s going to come along and take your plate away from you before you get to the potatoes. So quit dawdling and clean that plate.” Those were terrifying words to a kid like me, and they fostered my impulse to guard my plate, like a dog guarding a bone, while gobbling my food as quickly as possible. When I told a school friend about Mom’s warning, she said, “That’s nothing. You just have one brother. I have nine brothers and sisters. At my house, if you don’t move fast, you go hungry.” My mom’s hurry-up-and-clean-that-plate eating message might not have been a very caring or sensitive one to give a child, but over time, I’ve been able to see a few grains of truth in it. For a time in my 20’s, I would order just chocolate mousse in a restaurant and enjoy it while my companions slurped their way through bowls of clam chowder. Even now, I feel that I’m spending my calories more wisely when I skip right to a 400-calorie dessert rather than eat 800 calories of meat and veg in order to earn the dessert that I’m determined to eat even if I’m already so full I could puke. My other problem with Mom’s advice is that nowadays, it heightens my sense of deprivation. I’ve had more than enough of deprivation throughout several decades of unsuccessful dieting. Every diet guru had a list of Thou Shalt Not Eat foods. I often say that if you told me I could never eat ice cream again, I’d be on my way to Baskin Robbins faster than you can say “Jamocha Almond Fudge.” And what if I’m too full to eat the asparagus (a favorite veggy) after I eat my chicken and carrots? Even one bite of asparagus then might not stay down at all. I’m not suggesting that you forsake humdrum proteins and complex carbs so that you can gorge on fat and sugar at every meal. I certainly can’t recommend eating your trigger food, be it potato chips or ice cream, for every meal and snack each day. Like it or not, the #1 reason for eating is to fuel your body, no matter how the fuel tastes. I am suggesting that you forsake the “save the best for last” rule as you trudge through your daily life, not just at meals but in everything you do. If you save all your food, activity, or other treats for the weekend, or your vacation, or for 11:30 tonight after you put the last load of laundry in the dryer, five weekdays will feel like 15, and by the time you get to that day off, you may be too tired to enjoy or even remember what your reward was going to be. Your sense of deprivation by then could be a bottomless pit that will never, ever, get filled up with food.

Your band is on the very top of your stomach. You shouldn't be able to feel it from outside at all because it's in the vicinity of your lower chest, between your breasts and behind your breastbone. So, exactly where is that top incision? Incisions from any kind of surgery create scar tissue and I suspect that's what you're feeling.

I'm a thirsty person too. I was told to drink one ounce per hour for the first 3 days post-op. At 5 days post-op it should be OK to drink freely, but not guzzle. As time goes on, you may discover that any liquid you drink too fast and too much will come right back up. Scratch the one ounce per hour. I meant one ounce every 15 minutes!

Oh, I forgot to answer your question about whether drinking 6-7 pints of water or herbal tea a day. That's about twice as much as my surgeon recommends. Staying well hydrated as you heal and for the rest of your life is essential for your health, but I'm curious about why you're drinking so much. Is that a typical amount for you? Are you extra thirsty? Are you taking any new medications? Are you diabetic? Those and many other factors can make you thirsty, and if that's not typical intake for you, you really need to talk to your primary care physician about it. In theory it's possible to drink too much liquid, upsetting your electrolyte balance and wreaking havoc throughout your body, but that's not very common. I just don't want you to be ignoring a symptom of something that could be wrong with your health.

What's done is done. Time to stop kicking yourself and move on. Some lessons we learn the hard way. If your post-op eating so far has damaged your esophagus or stomach, you have no way of knowing that right now. So take better care of yourself going forward. And I would seriously start looking for a better, more thorough bariatric clinic to do your aftercare. It sounds like the one you've got now has done an inadequate job of educating you. It's GOOD that you don't feel the obstruction any more, so stop freaking out about it (remember what I said about not looking for trouble?). What's happening in there is that the swollen tissues in your esophagus and stomach are calming down, and as that happens, the "fit" or feel of your band will change. In fact, your band may always seem to behave in unexpected ways. I could write a book about that. Hey, wait! I DID write a book about that!

Feeling a "slight obstruction" when you eat is in fact a problem. You should never, ever feel that again, and the way you do that is to let your stomach heal, your band to seat itself in place against your stomach, and eat very, very carefully for the rest of your life. As for wondering why you don't have reflux or vomiting, those too are danger signs. DON'T GO LOOKING FOR TROUBLE!

I was starving hungry before I even left the hospital. Some people lose their appetite or hunger because of surgical trauma and swelling, but that's not true for everyone. Also, your band probably won't do anything to reduce your appetite and hunger until you've had a few fills.

I feel your pain, but I can top your 3 lbs gained in 3 weeks. I have gained that much OVERNIGHT. During my weight loss phase, I never lost weight at a steady rate. I lost some, lost some more, gained some, lost some, and so on. Food isn't the only thing that affects body weight; not all of that is within your control. Try not to let your scale mess with your head. You're the boss: put that scale in its place. Like, locked in the trunk of your car.

Nana, you and I have had our differences in the past. I was thinking along the same lines as you, but I couldn't say it any better than you did. You go, girl!

Oh, and one more thing. You do yourself no favors by comparing yourself to others. The person who lost 16 instead of 8 lbs in the first 4 weeks may very well be a lot heavier than you are, or have greater muscle mass, or be a man (men lose faster), or have a dozen other idiosyncrasies to make that person different from you. So, try to look at the successful people here for inspiration, not as a way to make yourself feel bad.

So, let me get this straight. In 4 weeks you've lost 8 lbs. That works out to 2 lbs/week. Since average weight loss with the band is 1-2 lbs a week (and that's an AVERAGE, remember, including people who lost a lot faster and some who lost nothing), you're actually doing very well. And you haven't even had a fill yet. Speaking of fills...I have to remind you that getting a fill won't turn your band's weight loss mechanism on like you turn a faucet on. It will just begin to help you with appetite and hunger, making your job easier in the long run. So, hang in there. You're doing fine.

Well said!

When I saw the title of your post, I immediately flashed back to the horrendous mess we had when my husband blew up our Waring blender while making gazpacho soup. And that reminded me of the time when my ex-husband blew up a pressure cooker full of chili (have you ever tried to clean beans out of acoustical tile?). And then I came back to reality, and was glad to hear that you like your new Ninja. At the rate we go through kitchen appliances at our house, we'll be needing a new blender any minute now, and I'd rather follow a real person's advice than try to evaluate the manufacturer's sales pitch.

I've heard of ports located under the left breast, but not above it. Even when I was obese, I didn't have a lot of extra flesh in the neighborhood of my chest, and 114 lbs later, even a low-profile port in that location would make me look like a circus freak. My part time job is doing bra fits at JCPenney and I've encountered quite a few women with chemo ports in that general vicinity. They were very obvious (and of course, life-saving) and uncomfortable for those women. But...avoiding port flips, and (perhaps) easier access for fills is a good thing. I look forward to hearing what else your surgeon has to say about it.

Well, that's actually good news. Treating a band that's too tight or a stomach or esophagus that are dilated can be lengthy & expensive. Most of us here know just how wonderful slider foods taste, and being a new mom makes meal planning a challenge, but I suspect that you know what you need to do once you do the 5-day thing. And if you don't, look back to the eating plan you were given as a new post-op. One wonderful thing about the band is that you can start over at any time!

Have you been eating sliders because eating solid food is too difficult? Or because sliders taste better? If eating solid food is difficult, I think you should start saving up for a visit to your surgeon. The 5-day pouch test was developed for gastric bypass patients, and I doubt that it's going change the size of anyone's pouch. But, it can help divorce you from the poor food choices you've been making. Here's a link to the website of the 5-day pouch test author, who by the way is not a medical professional or dietitian. http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html The detailed pouch test manual is $22.95. You can buy it here: http://www.livingafterwls.com/General_Store/General_Store/books.html Good luck! Jean

Congrats on the start of your WLS journey, and I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Sounds like you have a great attitude, and that's at least half the battle!

That happened to me after my sleeve surgery. My theory is that my calorie intake was so reduced that my body was in ketosis, and that can cause mouth and body odor and a strange taste in the mouth. So unless you have a fever or your incisions aren't healing or you have a rash somewhere, you're probably OK. My bad smell went away after a week or so.

Could be related to your surgery, which is a kind of trauma to your whole body. It could also be related to weight loss, because as fat cells shrink, they release estrogen into your system, and that can mess with menstruation and moods. If I were you, I'd do a pregnancy test, though...

I hate that too. It helps to wear a bandana around my head, Springsteen-style. Not a great look for me, but fortunately, Shape magazine never comes to my fitness studio searching for cover girls!