Brinabrina77

Hello Everyone: The one in the green shirt is of me before surgery. The ones taken today in the black and grey striped shirt are of me minus about 55(?) lbs. I have a weigh in coming up so I will know how much I have really lost/gained. Thank ya'll for continuing to be my inspiration. ** I am sorry that I don't know how to make these pics smaller. **

Hello Everyone: I am slowly pulling myself out of the funk that I have been in for the last few weeks. I played dress up today and took a few pics with my camera phone and decided to post them here. I think I am down about 55lbs in this pic. I don't really know. I have another weigh in on Wednesday so I will know how much I have lost/gained. The one in the green shirt is of me before surgery. The ones taken today in the black and grey striped shirt are of me minus about 55(?) lbs. Thank ya'll for continuing to be my inspiration.

The main reason that I chose the lap band over gastric bypass is becasue I am in the medical field. I am a veterinarian. Most people have only seen or had procedures described to them. I am a little bit different. I have actually done surgeries on the digestive tract. No. They don't do lap bands on dogs and cats, but we do have to remove a LOT of foreign bodies in the stomachs and/or intestines of dogs and cats. What usually happens is some dog or cat eats something (a large rock, ball, toy, etc. that gets stuck in the digective tract) and we have to open them up and surgically remove it. When you remove these foreign obects you either end up cutting into the stomach and/or cutting into the intestine. I have seen these surgeries when results are fantastic and I have seen them when the results did not turn out well. So when the doctors explained what was to occur during a gastric bypass all I could think was simply.. ....Hell. To. The. No. :wub: I was not about to have someone cut into my intestine and re-route the natural flow of things and HOPE that by body adapted to it and HOPE that my body would absorb Vitamins, minerals, and vital nutrients like it was designed to and HOPE that I would not lose weight at an unnatural rate. I know how the body acts when it is nutritionally starved. I also know how the body reacts when it also suffers sudden dramatic weight loss. If you are brave, go take some disease physiology courses. When I say scared straight.... ::gives ya'll that look :: It will make CSI Miami look like Sesame street. So pretty much, like most of the other posts here, I could not see putting myself through such an invasive, virtually non-reversible surgery and HOPE that my body would respond well to it. I am aware that the lapband has its own set of complications as well, but when I actually saw the procedure being done (yes, I am that much of a nerd that I had to go online and actually watch one being done) I was surprised at how minimally invasive it was. I am a big girl. Alright, Alright...I am an obese girl. However, I still did not want to undergo some procedure that could have me lose so much weight that I looked like a drinking straw. I don't want to be shaped like a Newport cigarette. I have no desire to have the T&A Fairy come by and steal all my girly goodies away. I like being shaped like a woman. :smile2: I did this to be healthy...not skinny.

Hello Everyone: If ya'll have not heard from me (or any Bandit) for a while ya'll are good about putting out the APBs on them. Well, I am probably going to be not posting for a while. I hope that I will have to sense to at least come in and read thes forums, but good sense and I are not always the best of neighbors. Anyway, I am goign through some personal things right now in my life (what's new, right?). So I am taking some time to think. Honestly, I am pretty sure that I am going to take the time to throw a pity party for myself that is going to rival Mardi Gras. There will be alot of crying and a lot of "why me's?" There will be a lot of blues music and I am sure that "In the arms of an angel" by sarah mclaughlin will be on repeat. You know that I have no sense of privacy and I normally don't have any kind of problem telling every part of my personal business to ya'll, but even I am am tired of my "Plight of a Fat Girl/I'm such a good person so why am I still miserable/and what did i do to not deserev to find the happiness that everyone else has" saga. It's just that even as crazy as I am (and ya'll know that I don't have a bit of sense) certain things eventually catch up to me and I have no choice but to sit down, cry about it, and wallow in self pity until I put on my big girl panties and get the hell over it. I am trying to cheer myself up by telling me that is should be happy that my big girl panties are now 2 sizes too big now. That unfortunately did not work. The mother of it all... ...the absolute honkin' chonkin' gigantic godzilla size sucky mother of it all is that before I got banded I would sit and drown my troubles in food. Now I can't even do that cuz I'll just puke my guts out. Dammit, I just suddenly realized that this means there won't even be food at my pity party. Crap. I don't know if I should laugh or cry becasue of this. bleep. bleep. bleepity bleep bleeeeeeep !!!!!!!!!!!!!! So adios for a while. Probably a week..or two..or four..or eight until I post again. Thank ya'll again for being such a good source of inspiration. Thanks for listening to me ramble for a bit as well. ::pops the champagne :: Let the pity party begin. :tt1:

Hello everyone: I can not beleive i am saying this, but i actually found a protien drink that i like. Most of the ones that i have tried have tasted like booty. okay, i don't know what booty tastes like..but I am assuming that if booty had a flavor then protien drinks would be a good representation of the taste. ICK :smile:!!! Anyway, i bought nectar in the Fuzzy Navel flavor by Syntrax. It is actually good. Like some people recommended, i mix it with crystal light peach tea and it tastes like the peach tea or like an orange drink (not orange jouce). I can actually see myself drinking it. I actually have been drinking it. Now the thing is that if you order it you will get a trough of it. it comes in a 2lb container. The pictures online make it look small, but that thing is HUGE. Now again, this is what *I* can tolerate. I have wasted so much money on Protein drinks. I have every intention of drinking them or in most cases forcing myself to drink them, but I usually ended up throwing them away becasue they taste so NASTY. But I have actually been drinking Fuzzy Navel. If you decide to order it, I would recommend mixing it with 16 ounces of Water. Mix the water and crystal light first. Don't put in ice old water or it does not mix as well. Then add your Nectar and then your ice. Each scoop gives you 23g of protein in the form of whey isolate. I have a trough of the stuff. If anyone wants to get a sample of it, let me know. I live in Albany, but I am harldy home becasue of my funky work schedule. Let me know and we can figure out a way for you to get your sample. You will just have to buy your own crystal light peach tea. Just let me know if anyone wants to try it. No, i am not a rep for Nectar. i am just excited as all get out that I, miss hater of ALL Protein Drinks, found one that I like.

I only took a week off. The surgeaon and nurse told me that some people return to work after 3-4 days, but he recommends at least a week. Some of the reasons he recommends a week are becuse (1) you just had surgery..outpatient surgery..but it is still surgery (2) you will be on pain meds and (3) everyoen responds differntly to anesthesia. To tell you the truth, I took a week off but I probably could hae gone back to work in 4 days. The only indication that I had even had surgery was the occasional slight "twinge" of pain i would get if i slept funny. I was given one of those big amber colored bottles of Loritab pain medication. The bottle had 300ml in it. When that week was over I still had over 200 ml of it left. Lord knows I am not looking that gift horse in the mouth. From reading what some of the other people on here write, I truly expected to be in a lot of pain. I happily was not. I stayed out a week becasue I was tired all hell. I think between lettign the affects of surgery/anesthesia wear off and the occasional dose of pain meds I would take all I did was drink my clear fluids, sleep, and pee. Actually, drink, sleep, pee and stand in front of the mirror and stare at my itty bitty incsision. I was just in disbelief that I had surgery. It took me over a month to coem to grips with the fact that I had gotten banded. But everyone is different. I say take at least a week off. You may not be in pain, but you will be at least groggy/tired.

Hello Everyone: I am not the inspiration guru by no means. Nor will I pretend to be that one friend that no matter how bad things get seems to have the enthusiasm of a blonde cheerleader during a halftime show. I am however one who believes in getting inspiration from where she can..even if it means stealing it from the famous words of other smarty pants people. :tt1: If anyone has read my posts, you will know that I have been suffering from bouts of dizziness and severe leg pain. Not to mention that i am in season 2 of "The Bold, The Black, and The Beautiful" <-- the name that I have given to the soap opera that is my life. This season will focus on familly issues and all of the Jerry Springer drama that comes with my family. I should elbow my way to the front of the room becasue I am definitely going trough some bander purgatory right now. Matter of fact, I expect the boils and locusts to arrive anytime now. Yay team Brina! LO-custs!! Woohoo!! <--daily sarcasm. Here are some words of wisdom stolen by various smarty pants people(and my comments on them) that sometimes help me through my funks. Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown (ps. this also counts if those "pebbles" are M&Ms or Skittles) Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese Proverb (This even applies if you were PUSHED down. I do consider a 170lb 5'10" (who just had twins) friend inviting me to her home for a decadentt soulfood dinner a PUSH. That skinny, collar bone showing, flat stomach having, just had twins without a stretchmark, hussy. I love her, but if there was a process called REVERSE lipo suction.....she'd get two shots to the hips and one one shot to the belly.) Setbacks are like knives: They either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle. (I am not perfect and I won't always be able to grab my setback by the handle. I will try to. However, I need the occasional cut to remind me that this knife will still cut me in the end if I continue to sugar coat it and make excuses for myself. ) When confronted with a Goliath-sized problem, which way do you respond: "He's too big to hit" or like David, "He's to big to miss"? (I wave this one around when I start on one of my "pity parties" or when I launch a full out "I-can't-do" campaign). Anyway, you guys are still my number one source of inspiration. I know for a fact that I would be an absolute mess if I had not stumbled across this board. Thanks again for being my (s)heroes.

Hello everyone: I am not here to tell anyone whether or not they think that they need a medic alert (or equivalent) type of ID. That is a personal decision. If you don't feel as if you need one, then I hope that you are not being pressured into getting one or pressuring others into thinking that they don't need one. If you think that you do need one, I hope that you are not being pressured into not getting one or pressuring others into thinking that they need one. Again, your choice is your choice. However, I think that there is a bit of confusion about this whole NG thing. I am not here to sound snooty or anything, but I hate it when people in the medical field just tell people to do or don't do things without explaining why. I can say this because yes, I am a doctor...I just happen to treat patients that can't speak and tell me what's wrong. So I spend a *lot* of time explaining medicine/surgery to people. A nasogastric tube (NG tube) is a tube that medical people insert in order to reach your stomach. It is inserted through your nose, goes down through your esophagus, and enters your stomach. This is very different than an endotracheal tube (ET tube). An endotracheal tube is a tube that is inserted through the mouth, goes down the trachea (windpipe) and into the lungs. In extreme emergency cases (when something prevents the medical person from being able to place the tube through the mouth..example...there is an obstruction in the oral cavity) an ET tube can also be inserted into the trachea through a cut in the trachea(windpipe) if needed. I know that most people on here have seen/heard that in the event of an emergency in which they are unconscious and/or can not breathe that someone is bound to "put a tube down their throat". Maybe you will have to be "tubed". However, which tube used depends on what the emergency is, and whether the intent is to reach your stomach or your lungs. If you are in a car accident and you can't breathe they normally would not be putting in a NG (nasogastric) tube. They put in an endotracheal tube. This ET tube goes into your mouth and into your lungs so that it can help you breath. It does not go into your stomach at all. It would not touch your band. Please know that I am NOT saying that there won't ever be a situation in which you will have to get a NG tube put in your stomach. I hope that no one ever has to be in a situation in which an emergency NG tube has to be placed...becasue well.. that would mean that a fellow bander is really sick. I hope no one ever gets that ill. It all comes down to what YOU want to do. I just wanted to let people know that if you are being "tubed" becasue you can't breathe then most likely the doctor will be placing an Endotracheal tube NOT a Nasogastric tube. They put in a endotracheal tube through your mouth and into your LUNGS. PS: To all those wondering, I am a veterinarian. One of my greatest pet peeves (no pun intended) is for people to leave any medical office (whether it be human or animal medicine) not informed, confused, or having unanswered questions. So again, I hope that this post did not come off as me being a know-it-all or snooty.

Mia: You look absolutely fan-frickin-tastic!!! Congrats, mama. WOOHOO!!!!

Okay... Since I did not get to go to the meeting, someone has to tell me how it went. Who managed to make it? Was there a good turnout? Did someone manage to make a huge, wall sized, ginormous, Bagnato Bandits banner with the Lapband talk address on it so that we could nonchalantly (lol :thumbup:) let others know that we have a online family going? Tell me someone did. All you had to do was stand beneath the banner, point up and say, " All the cool Bandees are doing it." Peer pressure is fabulous when responsibly used. Seriously, did everyone have fun? I hope so. Someome gimme details. My crazy job schedule did not let me go :smile: but I am still planning to meet ya'll. I don't care if it takes me months to do it, I am gonna meet some of ya'll. I hope everyone had fun. Did they have sugar free jello, chicken broth, and popsicles for the new bandees? Just kidding. I would have died to see that. Remember the Phase I hell foods everybody? :: shudders :: Oh the memories. I hope everyone had a good time.

Hello everyone: I was wondering if anyone has been experieinceing any dizziness since being banded? I was banded in february 2008. Every one in a while I now get dizzy. I am seeing my doctor about this to see if we can find a cause for it. Now that I think on it, i don't recall getting dizzy every once in a while until i had my surgery. I was also wondering if anyone had any muscle cramps or anything as well. I am not tryign to doagnose myself. But I was wondering if this coudl be related to being banded. thanks for your help.

Hello everyone: I so wish that I could attend the lapband support group meeting, but you all know that I work that funky ass schedule now. I will actually be at work at at the time that the meeting is being held. Alas, do not worry. For I have the determination of a weed. (and you know once weeds enter a garden it it darn near impossible to get rid of them). NONE of you have gotten off of the hook that easily. I will at some point find a way to meet the majority of you. Until then, enjoy the peace of mind while you can. :redface:

Hello everyone: My bloodwork results informed me that i am anemic and I have low Vitamin B12. I already knew that I was anemic, but I knew that something else had to be going on. I am wondering if I have always had low B12 (b/c that can cause anemia) or if this is something new due to my new eating habits after being banded. My electrolytes are probably outta whack too becaseu the blood sample was not a fasted blood sample. When I got dizzy all the stuff was ordered STAT, so i had nto been fasted. I am now taking sublingual B12 tablets daily and I am to start taking B12 injections as well. I am also on Iron tablets. I also take an adult Multivitamin (flinstone gummies don't count. I am jsut goign to have to suck it up and take a "real" vitamin. Ick. Vitamins all taste like cherry, grape, orange, etc flavored chalk to me.) I am goign to give this treatment plan time to work and see if it releives my symptoms (dizziness and very bad muscle cramps in my inner right thigh). I also had 0.5 cc removed from my band so that I can get my nutritional needs met. I still have great restriction, but right now I need to get my body back in balance. thanks to all those who took the time to answer this post. Congrats on your successes so far.

I am sure that it has been said before, but the only regret that I have is that I did not get banded sooner.

Hello Everyone: As soon as I started to get dizzy and have muscle cramps, I hopped my big chocolate butt right to my doctor. I am currently awaiting the results of several tests. I hope they shed some kind of light on what is causing these symptoms. I posted this question to see if other banders have had any similar symptoms. I know that other forums have said that gastric bypass patients get dizzy due to nutritional deficiencies, but they don't really say that this is frequent in lapband patients. however, dizziness is listed as one of the side effects in the lapband brochure. I also understand that just because other people have similar symptoms that they may be from completely differnt causes (i.e. not band related). I was just curious if it could be band related though. i don't recall ever having any of these symptoms until i got banded. I think that it is probably nutritional/electrolyte kinda stuff, but I will DEFINTELY follow the advice of my doctor. i am not one of those, " I have been vomiting blood for three weeks. Does anyone else vomit blood since being banded? Do you guys think i need to see my doctor?" kind of bandsters. :thumbdown: Thanks for replying. Congrats on your success.

Hello Sue: As soon as I started to get dizzy and have muscle cramps, I hopped my big chocolate butt right to my doctor. I am currently awaiting the results of several tests. I hope they shed some kind of light on what is causing these symptoms. I posted this question to see if other banders have had any similar symptoms. I know that other forums have said that gastric bypass patients get dizzy due to nutritional deficiencies, but they don't really say that this is frequent in lapband patients. however, dizziness is listed as one of the side effects in the lapband brochure. I also understand that just because other people have similar symptoms that they may be from completely differnt causes (i.e. not band related). I was just curious if it could be band related though. i don't recall ever having any of these symptoms until i got banded. I think that it is probably nutritional/electrolyte kinda stuff, but I will DEFINTELY follow the advice of my doctor. i am not one of those, " I have been vomiting blood for three weeks. Does anyone else vomit blood since being banded? Do you guys think i need to see my doctor?" kind of bandsters. :thumbdown: Thanks for replying. Congrats on your success.

Hello everyone: I was wondering if anyone has been experieinceing any dizziness since being banded? I was banded in february 2008. Every one in a while I now get dizzy. I am seeing my doctor about this to see if we can find a cause for it. Now that I think on it, i don't recall getting dizzy every once in a while until i had my surgery. I was also wondering if anyone had any muscle cramps or anything as well. I am not tryign to doagnose myself. But I was wondering if this coudl be related to being banded. thanks for your help.

Hello Everyone: I have good news and bad new. Good news My job sent me t North Caroline for training this week. Normally, I drive everywhere, becasue I hate flying. The main reason i hate flying is because 1. running around the airport only to find out that your gate has been moved to Saigon and 2. I never fit comfortably in the seats 3. I have been too big to fasten the seatbelts. This weekend I had to fly to NC. I have jsut been on the road so much due to my new assignment that I had no desire to drive anywhere. I get on teh placen this time and I am actually able to fasten teh seatbelts around me. Now mind, I had to let the seatbelt as far out as i could, but It fit. It was a snug fit, but it fit. I was shocked. For once i did not have ask for a seatbelt extender. This will defitniely go down as a NSV. Kinda bad news but with a good news ending: I had to have more Fluid taken out of the band. Matter of fact, I went directly from the airport to the OTC. I was in NC for 4 days. In that time, it was horrible. I try to stay away from fast food, but when I travel I that is what I end up eating. Even though I try to eat helthier fast food (you know what i mean lol). i was definitley too tight. I remember buying a 10 piece chicken McNugget for lunch and I was only able to eat about 2.5 of them. Those 2.5 were forced down. People were inviting me to eat for dinner, but I still had lunch left. Truth be told, i should have had some fluid removed last week now that I think about it. But I had convinced myself that i was still adjusting to my new fill. After every fill, I have to learn how to chew even more and drink even slower. I thought that I was jsut not chewing enough or chewing too fast or something. It felt like no "real food" would go down. I serously was wondering if this was what I was supposed to be able to eat and my head was having ahard time accepting that. i remember reading somehwere that all I would be able to eat would be 2-3 bites of Protein, 2-3 bites of veggies and carbs and be done. Then I also read that our new stomachs would only be able to hold 1/4 cup of food. I kept telling myself that it was in my head. Well, after some PBing (twice I had to pull over on the side of the road after drinking) and feeling that my food was always stuck..i had to get my 0.5 cc taken out. Leslie stated that she is now going to fill me in 0.1 or 0.2 increments. So the bad news is that i was extremely retarded for not listening to myself and i ended up having my last fill of 0.5 cc removed. But the good news is that I feel so much better and I will now listen to myself. How is everyone else doing?

Hello everyone: Yay!! the forum is back alive. Peaople are posthign their butts off. I am so excited. FYI: I live right at the border of Albany and Leesburg (right down the street from the big Ford dealership on Slappey blvd). I have to travel from home to moultrie to camilla to back home nearly everyday. So for all of you who say you leave near one of thos places, gimme phone numbers. If anyone wants mine, let me know and I will PM you. If you call me and some man with a deep sexy voice answers... ..then sadly you have the wrong number, please try your call again. But I would be happy to visit with anyone. Even if it is a planned trip to walmart. Contrary to my posts, I do have *some* home training and I behave rather well in public. talk to you later. I am on my way to work as usual.

Hello Leslie and the rest of the bandits: I am here. I am still beautiful, black, and breathing. :crying: This is one of my cosuin's favorite responses. She can't jsut say, "I'm doing fine." Note: This is my family. Please don't expect normal answers from abnormal people. That would be asking too much.) Anyway, i am okay. My band it okay. It still has to remind me who is in charge every once in a while. Note: It is hard to argue who is in charge when you are PBing. I got a 0.5 cc fill today. I had not had a fill since June. Work. work. work. tired. tired. tired. That is also me. Otherwise I am good. I have become a bit of a lurker. Most of the time I get up, scowl at the alarm clock, check this forum quickly, and then I am off to work. Then I wash, rinse, and repeat the same thing the next day. ~~~~ My new work assignment has forced me to learn more of Georgia. I still don't know much about the state, but I am learning highway 133 and Highway 37 because I now travel both those highways at least once a day. Highway 133 has this house of sin called Dalton's Chicken. As a result of a recommendation by a coworker, I tried their fried gizzards. I think that they marinate them in heroin and then deep fry them in crack. Highway 37 had a similar house of ill repute called Allegood's market. It looks like a gas station without the gas pumps. A coworker let me try their pulled pork there. More crack. Food from either of these places will not make you slap your mama.... ...It will make you rob your mama. I eat at either place occasionally. And the best part about it is that I dont feel guilty about it. I will eat the food and be done with it. Normally it takes me two days to eat a serving of anything from either place and i end up throwing or giving most of it away anyway. No more hating myself over the fact that i ate soemthign other than water and diet food. However, do not fret. I know better than to indulge at either place an more often than "occasionally". I actually find myself turning down food. That staement itself should actually cause the world to spin backwards and cats to bark. I don't care how full I was, there was always room for more. Now I find myself turing down food. I am talking homecooked southern food. The bestest kind of food there is. The kind of food that has started wars. Don't gimme that look. Just see what kind of battle erupts when everyone simultaneously realizes that they are staring at the last piece of fried chicken or sweet potatoe pie. I thought the statment about people sometimes being thirsty when they think that they are hungry was complete BS too. You may be shocked at this, but I was wrong. (Damn twice in the same day!) Soemtimes I will drink something..water..sugar free soemthing-or-other and then I am no longer hungery. If I drink I can't eat for 30-60 minutes anyway. Then when that time is up, i realize that I was not as hungry as I thought i was. I normally end up waiting another hour or so before I really eat anything. Hmmmmmm..... :: I'm thinking. Ignore the smoke :: Next time when soemone asks how I am doing, I will also tell them that I am Beautiful, Banded, and Blessed to be a Bandit. how about that? I hope everyone is doing well. Congrats on your successes. Thanks for continuing to be my sources of inspiration.

Hello ya'll: I recommend Leslie Sansone "walk away the pounds". I absolutely HATE exercise videos becasue there is normally some size 2 overly perky woman on there with a voice high enough to shatter diamonds and make my ear drums bleed. :thumbup: Leslie is perky, but tolerable. On top of that she don't pull that "alright..now gimme 12 ...and ..13 and ..56 and ..90 more reps. (COME On..You can do it!!!) Now i want you to drop to the floor and pull your left knee up to your eyebrow and rotate your spine 73 degrees to the west... If you are a beginner, start out with the one mile walk. Yes ma'am. I said ONE MILE. I can actually walk a mile. She even has this fitness counter that appears from time to time at the bottom of the screen that will show you how far you have gotten. If I, the hater of exercise videos, can actually keep up with her and LIKE it...I defintiely recommend it. Here a link to collage video. It is the video catalog that I order from. They are pretty good, have good video review sections, and you can preview some of the videos on line. They have all kinds of videos for all kinds of fitness. This link should (hopefully) send you to Leslie's videos. Collage Search Results <-------Click this Link I hope you find what you are looking for.