freebit

I vote for High Protein Chocolate Boost. Yummy stuff. Great for mornings. Oddly I am always tight in the morning.

String cheese gets stuck. When I was tight, I would snack on a boost. Now that I am not tight, I snack on everything. Hmmm...I need a fill. LOL

My doctors put in a band that was real tight from the word "Go". PB's happened alot. I would even PB foam even if I hadn't eaten. However, I learned to control my stomach muscles and esophagus muscles to regurgitate everything in my pouch on command. If I felt something not right, I could pre-emptively go the restroom and empty my pouch in a gentle and controlled manor. Beats painful, uncontrolled vomit stomach spasms. As time passed, the tightness and PB's faded as my weight dropped.

Before the band, heartburn 24/7. After the band, heartburn completely, instantaniously gone for good. Weird.

I would do it all over again, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone else unless they were willing to give up parts of their old life. Its kinda like joining the marines. A significant portion of a person's old life is altered over the months after surgery. Life has changed alot since the band was installed. The band has a way of enforcing its absolute control with much pain and discomfort. Both of those are very powerful behaviour modifiers. It never sleeps, it never gets tired, it never lets you cheat, it never lets you go off your plan even for one meal. Fortunately, the importance of food in my life has greatly diminished. In fact I no longer even try to feel full. Funny, I never really knew just how much of a friend food was until I lost that friend.

I dont eat 5 meals a day. So I have more time to get the water in. I drink approx 4 ounces at a time. Then I wait, drink 4 more ounces, etc, etc, etc..

They made me remove the bandages the morning after my surgery and take a hot shower. That afternoon, the day after surgery, I was taken to the mall and they made me walk around for an hour. My large incision began to bleed slightly and I had a quarter size blood stain on my shirt by the end of my little walk-about. It must have looked weird, but I didnt care because the narcotic pain killers were working great!!

I have found that if I screw up I can swell to the point where I can't eat anything. It passes and restriction goes down. Try to take a few days and relax. Oddly, when I feel real terrible and in pain, eating a bowl of chicken soup helps. Sometimes, the pain can cause us not to eat, but eating really seems to help me for some reason. Errrm...lets define "eat", clearish soups. Cambell's chicken soup with lots of pepper. Mmmm..yummy.

Hi Betts. This is Joe. Wow! Small world. I had some really mushy brocolli and cheese Soup last night. I was back to work on Tuesday. I walk about 3 miles a day a work. At first I would get realy dizzy and the world would get kinda swimmyish. I stopped the pain pills monday. Now all soreness is gone. Gas is gone. No vomiting at all. No PB's. No sticking. No restriction. I am just hungry allot. I crave Protein for some reason. The one long front incission hurts a little when I run down stairs. I just press my hand against my stomach to keep everything together. My friend went a week before me and had a bottle of wine and some bufallo wings at the dallas seahawks game the other night. We seem to both be dloing pretty good. I did some research and it appears as though upwards slippage is followed by an inability to swallow anything. I have almost no restriction. I can swallow those big horse anitbiotic pills no problem. From that I am assuming I am doing ok and have no slippage. Going out to eat will be fun. I will always need a doggy bag I assume. The good part is I will have leftovers for a week. I am kinda wondering something though. Doesn't chewing food allot and drinking Water liquify solid food? And, if solid food can be liquified, then cant that be part of my liquid diet? 30 mins after drinking a bottle of ensure I am hungry again. Bleh. I need something more substantial than Boost or Ensure. LOL

I just got banded in Mexico on the 21st. I have to say that I have never been treated so good in my entire life. I have a question though. I got banded on a friday evening. Saturday afternoon I was resting in the hotel watching a football game and eating a little yogurt. I got full, then I got the hiccupps. I didn't feel anything pop, pull, snap or slip. However, I worried all the same. Would I feel it if my band slipped? On Sunday night after I got home, I had some broth. My wife blended it. I ate some. Then, I got full, so I stopped eating. Then I got fuller and fuller and fuller. I thought I was going to explode. It is weird to continue to feel fuller and fuller an hour after you stop eating. I didn't feel anything slip or pop. Would I feel it is my band slips? Would I feel pain or maybe a pop when the stitches gave way? Since then, everything seems to be normal. Its just a nagging feeling in the back of my head. I have not had any PB's, nausea, vomiting. If anyone has their 2 cents that they would like to throw in on the 2 questions above, please do. Freebit....