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my dr said not to drink alcohol for at least 6 months, then he said, if you choose to drink alcohol remember it's absorbed in your stomach first and since it will sit in your pouch you will get drunk a lot faster. So just be careful, and remember that it's liquid calories. I had a glass of wine about 8 weeks out.

i haven't had a fill because last week when I was supposed to get it, i told the dr that i feel like i have some restriction and can't eat over a certain amount etc. He said no fill til you feel you need it, it's your choice. So I came home everything was still fine. i watch what i eat I follow the rules for the most part. no this is not a I haven't lost 50 million pounds in 6 weeks rant! On Sat, I woke up had my Protein Shake for Breakfast, about an hour later, i got a horrible bout of heart burn and took zantac, I felt awful. a few minutes later i was dripping sweat and was really nauseas. I ended up vomiting a few times. 20 minutes later the pain was gone and I felt fine. Felt fine the rest of the day, stuck to Soup and liquids. today i had my Protein shake for breakfast, and was fine, had a normal lunch (half a tuna sandwich on oat grain bread and was going to have a small apple but could only eat 2 slices of it). I have felt like i have a LOT of restriction now, not that it hurts going down, no pain or anything, but maybe just from swelling? The other thing is I keep getting these hiccup type burps or something where it actually causes a pain, not painful, but just something I notice. Is that just the stoma being irritated? Any ideas i would appreciate greatly!

what are all of you eating? I am on pureeds now but today i had some corn chowder from wawa and had to chew chew chew the corn...I also got some hummus since my nut said as long as I get saltines or the chicken bisquit crackers, I can have a couple of them with it. I just have to let them melt to nothing in my mouth. I am also going to make some egg salad and beat it with the mixer and tuna and chicken salad too. I am so looking forward to this stage! I have had some soft foods like cooked carrots and chewed the heck out of them, but I am really working on staying on the stage I am in. Hunger is started to kick in though, and I have let me schedule slip. how are all of you doing?

Hey everyone! You all sound like you are doing fabulously! What's your weight loss to date? How are you all feeling? what's going on?! lol. I have lost 15 pounds as of this morning went from 230 pre op to 215.2 today! whooo hoooo! I am feeling GREAT! I am shooting a wedding tomorrow and went out yesterday and walked my tail off shopping with my mother in law, I noticed how easily it was to get dehydrated. I kind of cheated a little. well, not diet wise, it was a GREAT Protein low fat choice, but the consistancy was a lot more than cream soups! I had the turkey and chic pea chili at panera! SO yummie! I had about a half cup, or about 10-12 half spoon fulls. I tried to go more for the chick peas since I knew i could puree them easier than the turkey. One serving of it is 22 grams of protein and 4 grams fat! I had a few mouthfuls of turkey that had me a little worried i chewed them to nothing, but still they were a little stringy so i was pretty nervous, but it went down ok, and then i just ate around the turkey! lol. I gave my husband the rest when I got home because I didn't want to screw myself up!

I wouldn't get another fill to you set yourself up for success first. Maybe try going on a low carb or liquids, such as the pre-op diets some people have. It will detox your sweets addiction certainly! Oh and why don't you have a diet mountain dew with some Protein mixed in (it will fizz out the carbination) and a little bit of OJ? That is what my nutritionist drinks some mornings when she needs a boost. There is still all the caffine in the diet dew, but not all the sugar!

It really depends what your work is, I could have easily gone back to work monday and had surgery on thursday. So One week should be fine as long as you don't have a lifting kind of job. Didnt you say you worked at MW? If so, then you will most likely be going to Dr. Stelmack or Mirza, I met a bunch of employees that were having surgery around the same time as me. the first thing you will do is be sent to a seminar, it's like an hour-two hours long where they explain both procedures to you and give you paperwork to fill out etc.

For me there was really no pain involved, and what was there was easily taken away by the pain meds. They like to keep your pain under a 5 max at all time. My pain was NEVER over a 5. Walk walk walk, even if they don't come to get you, call the CNA and ask to go walking. Cranberry juice if you can't pee on your own after the catheter works wonders! I can't tell you how long you will be there, I do know that my mini dvd player was a GODSEND! I got bored watching TV so I brought some of my favorite movies, robe, crocks (easy to slide on and oh so comfy!), tooth brush, tooth paste, comfy clothes to come home in, cpap if you have one, CHAPSTICK!, med list, a book if you are a reader, pillow for the ride home. I knocked out the WHOLE way home! haha, they gave me one dose of liquid oxycodone before I left and i was snoozin about 10 minutes into the ride with my tummy protected from the seatbelt by my pillow. Didn't feel a thing. No problems what so ever. Good luck, God bless and relax! you will do great and you will come out knowing you have made the best decision for you for the rest of your life!

i have a few theories 1. they dont want you to have to poo after surgery! 2. you cant cheat on the liquid post op and i know at least my dr does it because he says if you won't commit to doing that for yourself, then there's no reason for him to believe that you will not cheat after the surgery. 3. to torture us for being fat? lol

I was banded on 4/3 and I have been feeling great, hardly any gas pains at all, just basic muscle pain. I woke up, had a protein shake then waited about 45 minutes started drinking my water etc. Had soup for lunch and all of a sudden feel REALLY bloated. i took a longer than normal shower, but kept my back to the water so that my incisions didn't get too wet other than when i cleaned them gently. but wow bloated and uncomfortable, not painful, I did my breathing thing, i walked a bit, but is this something to be concerned with or do you think it's just gas? it's all in my upper abdomen, water and tylonol went down fine no other problems. had a little gas pain in my shoulder this morning when i woke up, maybe it moved?

of course dsk i am so sorry the "code names" are so gender neutral! lol I feel you on the mushies! i am at about a mile a day. i overdid it a few days ago so i needed to slow it down. today i have a little left shoulder pain, but heating pad and a warm shower will help...heating pad first then shower lol. glad to hear you're doing well!!!

Protein protein protein! That is the secret to staving off hunger. I am 5'1 and need 70-75 grams of protein per day, I do protein first before anything else. Tea is actually a matabolism booster! and if it's not decaf it will count against your liquids, so you have to drink enough Water to cover it in addition to your 64 oz. If you are still having problems, add protein to your water, or get the special k protein water.

ebowling...you need to up those calories girlie! that's a good way to get yourself sick. Chicken broth, sf jello, sf pops, beef broth, diluted juices (half water half juice), get those calories in. If you aren't getting calories from the "foods" then you need to switch to diluted juices to get some calories in, your body will have a major crash on 50 calories a day!

hey all, I am post op and on full liquids, I know the feeling of mouth boredom! Chew some gum! SF Popsicles are fabulous for the munchies too, makes you feel like you are cheating, but you aren't at all! I love the sf fudge pops they are yummie! If you are feeling light headed though...UP THE PROTEIN! and are you all on a multi? Make sure to take that multi it will help SO much!

How is everyone doing?!!! check in ladies!

I LOVED MW which is funny because i have HATED them for everything else. The testing and disorganization peeved me off so badly, but for the bariatric aftercare, they were phenominal. The nurses were great and had a great sense of humor, and I would call them to go for a walk and jump out of the (insanely) high bed! haha, they were like woah! well then! haha. So we walked and talked and my biggest suggestion is to take a cup of ice with you on your walk because your mouth gets SO dry from the anesthesia. My favorite nurse was Cynthia and my favorite CNA...hmmm there were two, I can't remember the first one's name, she's this tiny older woman with longer blonde hair and she was just too damn sweet. And the other was Stacy. I only had one CNA who checked my vitals every hour who seemed a bit grumpy and i wanted to kick her, but no biggy when she's just checking your temp and blood pressure! The silly co2 monitor annoyed the heck out of me! It has this little circle thing that hangs down to your lip and gets in the way when you drink and eat so you end up drinking out of the side of your mouth. The sf Jello was INSANELY sweet, but that might have just been the change in my pallete because the one at home was really sweet to that I have tried. And the popsicle too...I only had about 2 bites, it was just too sweet. The crystal light was good, i was diluted a little more than normal so it didn't taste too sweet, and i normally like it strong. oh...i also had a BAD experiance with the diluted apple juice and the morphine...made me nauseas, that was the first and only time I vomited and it scared me so bad, but it didn't hurt and it was more like a kid spitting up where it didn't make my stomach really flex or anything. Dr. Stelmack uses the morphine pump and Mirzer uses IV pain meds. AFter the first night, you get switched to a liquid percoset with stelmack not sure what merzer does. It tasted yummie though! hehe. I walked a LOT. There were two patients in there that I never saw walking once, it was strange, i am sure they walked at some point, but i was really hoping since i knew the other band patient (other was bypass) that we could walk together at least a few times, but it didn't happen. Everytime I asked to walk, they came right in to unhook me. The catheter stays in until 6am the next morning, mine came out at 5:30. TRICK! I almost had to be in and out cathed the second day because i couldn't pee...my mom told me to drink diluted cranberry juice and it worked like a charm, I could finally pee on my own and my discharge nurse, carol gave me the biggest hug! lol. Lynn, the bariactric coordinator and nurse office manager comes to visit you a lot, and she's GREAT! funny and sweet and really positive. She will answer any question any time no matter what. It was just trying to get all of the testing done ahead of time. I came in at a strange time though because Cathy the new insurance lady is the second one, and when I went in, she wasn't there so the first lady who was fired, never told me any of the things I needed to have done. So mine was kind of rushed. I work from home, but I am photographing a wedding this sat, and my dr and Keisha, my nurse all told me I would be just fine to do it as long as I had someone to carry heavier equipment, which I do. And I feel great! no pain, a little ab muscle discomfort here and there, but I can sleep on my stomach and go for 2 half mile walks a day, from the day I got home. I have lost a total of 13 pounds so far 5 of that was in the last 5 days. If you want my number or to meet up for lunch in F'burg or something, just let me know! I am pretty flexible with my schedule for the most part. I live in King George so I think f'burg is central for us right? Never been to ladysmith. The only one I am not so thrilled about at dr. stelmack's office is Joanne, the secretary. some days she's happy and very pleasant and other days...she's a royal pain in the rear. but it think it was just a matter of getting used to my overly sarcastic sense of humor! haha. and again, Deanna! She's FABULOUS! She's the nutritionist and will bend over backwards for you. she has worked with over 1200 bariactric patients and not one has ever failed. She goes to all of your follow up appts and you can always call her or make an appt with her any time you need to get some extra support. She also is very quick to respond to e-mail. She tries all of the supplements and shakes and such that she suggests and only recomends the ones that don't taste like crap! haha. Of course I went and tried samples of just about anything until I found what I love and don't mind having every day for a month. She will also give you this BIBLE of info. It's awesome, it has all of the info you could ever need as far as your diet is concerned. Now that I have overloaded the thread with local info! haha. My e-mail addy is krogers45@verizon.net if you have any questions I might be able to answer for you.