Angelyco

Dr. Artuso was actually my first choice. His office is very close to both my home and work, and he comes very highly recommended. The only reason I didn't go to him is because he doesn't take my insurance. The only reason I go to Dr. Weber is because the initial costs were cheaper than NYU, and I wanted to have my surgery done in Westchester so I wouldn't have to commute from the city right after having surgery. I honestly didn't know my program was that unusual until I realized nobody else mentions seeing their dietician after their surgery, unless they're having issues and need advice on eating and things like that. I'm just glad my surgery is done so now I can make a better choice of who I go to for aftercare and save some money in the process.

Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to know!

Thanks guys, that makes more sense :thumbup:

I've read about this countless times on the board. It has to do with losing weight; hormones that were stored in your fat get released and it feels like going through puberty all over again. I went through this a few weeks after the surgery...and yeah, I got so b*tchy to my boss I thought I was going to be fired. I seem to be leveled out now, but I haven't lost more than a pound or two since then anyway :thumbup:

I had my surgery on a Thursday and I was back to work the following Monday. However, I wasn't feeling the greatest, I was still in a little bit of pain and I had no energy. If I could do it over, I would have taken a full week off. It seemed by the end of 7 days, all my pain was gone and I was moving around normally again.

I've been on Depo-Provera for over 6 years now. For the first 6-8 months after I started it, I would spot a lot more, but then one day, I just stopped and it never came back again :Banane34: I haven't had any spotting or periods since, and I LOVE IT. It's the one benefit I get for being overweight, they're letting me stay on Depo until I'm down to about 200 lbs, when the bone density issue may become a problem AND other methods will actually be effective for my size. However, before I started Depo, I was a true pads only gal. My mother was completely and utterly against tampons because "they're so bad for you" with TSS and I think she just had a problem with her daughters having anything in their vaginas at all. But, when I did have to use a tampon once in awhile (like period came on suddenly or I didn't have any pads with me), I hated them. They were so uncomfortable. But I think it was probably because I wasn't using them completely right. I probably didn't put them in all the way because I was a little scared of them and scared the string would break and I wouldn't be able to get it back out! I would use Always Ultra-thin with Wings. My periods were always regular and I could set a watch by my periods :thumbup: Gynos everywhere were shocked that I had such normal periods for being so overweight.

Laura, sometimes I swear you're my kindred spirit :thumbup: Honestly, I'm looking forward to being able to wear regular width shoes almost more than I'm looking forward to smaller clothes. I have a serious shoe fetish and it kills me that I can't buy anything! My shoes are all so ugly because I can't fit into the tiny cute ones. I pray pray pray that at least my width shrinks...I wear a 10/11 right now depending on the width of the shoe, I know lengthwise if I'd lose the wide width, I'd wear a 9 or 9.5 (I checked on those little foot measurers they have at shoe stores).

I hope you guys are still checking this, because I have a question about the exercise ball... Today I actually went to buy one, but I ran into a wall. First, what size did you get? Like 55 cm, 65 cm, etc. Then there is the question of physics...where/how does the guy lay/bend over it? When I was thinking about it today, I don't want it to be like my guy is straining his back or neck to be in such a strange position. Can someone help with some details? :thumbup:

I've read over and over that the main three things you should be concerned about when considering getting another fill are: 1) How much food you can eat per meal 2) How long after a meal until you get hungry again 3) How long it takes you to eat a meal But I just can't figure it out, why does it matter how long it takes you to eat? Is there something about being restricted that actually makes you have to eat slower, or is it more of a function of not being able to slow yourself down when you're really hungry? I haven't had restriction yet so I don't know all of the angles, but the way I see it now is that the time it takes you to eat depends on how long you purposely spend eating (like taking time between bites, etc) and has nothing to do with whether or not you need a fill. Can someone please clear this up for me? :thumbup:

Funny, I wish my dietician would go away :thumbup:

I was so mad after I had my surgery and I was in so much pain. I actually made a post at that time thinking I was the only one experiencing any pain, because every blog and story I've read, everyone is "oh, just a little sore, but I'm doing okay" yadda yadda. I was shocked at how much pain I was actually in, and Liquid Tylenol didn't do a darn thing! Same as some other people in this thread, I was in pretty bad pain for about a week. And my doctor refused to give me any pain meds after I left the hospital :thumbup:

I have a question for those of you who use NYU (Dr. Ren/Fieldings/etc): I got my band done by Dr. Philip Weber in White Plains but I don't like their program now that I've already had the surgery. I'm spending so much money to see their dietician every month out of pocket and I'll have to see her everytime I want a fill (which she and the entire office is reluctant to give fills). So my question is this: Do you have to see their dietician after you've had the surgery? Do you have to see him/her before fills, or do you just see your surgeon and they determine your fills, etc. I just want to know what the program is like before considering switching. Thank you for any help you can give :thumbup:

I'm so glad they made a special forum for our girly issues! So here's my problem: I have been on Depo-Provera for 6 years now, and the only time I would ever spot was maybe once a year for a day or two right before I was due to get my shot. However, since I was banded 1 month ago, I've been spotting on and off for the last 4 weeks. I did get my Depo shot about 2 weeks ago, but I've never spotted this long since I started using Depo. Anyone know why or been through this? I know it has to do with my surgery, but I can't figure out why it's happening and my doctor isn't very accessible to ask questions :confused_smile:

I'm a little late to the game, but I need to get my booty moving. My goal for the rest of the month is to complete 15 miles from "Walk Away The Pounds."

My problem right now is what you mentioned, Jim--4 oz. doesn't LOOK like it will be enough. I've been banded 1 month today and I constantly eat more than 4 oz. and then regret it because I get TOO full. My brain hasn't adjusted yet to imagine that I only need 1/2 a cup of food. Weird, isn't it?

That's normal, and the pain under your ribs could either be just from walking too much or could be gas pains leftover from the surgery.

Burping alllll the time now.

I was told I could keep getting my shots, the reason they want you to stop is because of blood clots, but my doctor gives everyone Heparin (sp?) to prevent clots, so the birth control didn't matter. It really varies depending on your doctor, just ask them at your appointment.

Just got my scale delivered yesterday, down 24 pounds now :biggrin2: I promised myself I would only weigh myself once a week, though. I refuse to torture myself like that

Just got weighed today. I lost 19 pounds since my surgery (I went from my original weight, in the hospital I had gained 2 pounds from all the IV fluid and didn't count that). I kind of wish it was more, but I'm just very thankful that it wasn't less.

I bought some baby food, but as of yet (4 days into mushies) I haven't touched them. I think I'm a little scared to.

The good thing about the Lap-Band is that you don't get the dumping thing Nothing bad happens when you have sugar, but that's why it's harder for some people to lose weight with the band, so it's just something to be careful with.

Thanks for the replies, all--I'm still having problems getting comfortable, but it does seem to be easing up a little bit. I went for a walk this morning and I overdid it, because I hurt even worse after that, but it calmed back down. Just have to bear it, I guess. If I'm still in a lot of pain tomorrow, I'll call my regular doctor and ask for a prescription.

It seems like everyone is doing okay on Tylenol or just not having much pain at all after the surgery...so why do I feel like crap? Tylenol isn't helping and I can't seem to sit or lie down in any position to get comfortable, it's just constant. I don't normally sleep on my back so it hurts when I try to. I called my doctor earlier and he wouldn't prescribe any stronger pain meds because he said nothing will get rid of ALL the pain, and that I should expect to have pain after a surgery. Please tell me I'm not the only one in misery

Hey all! I was banded yesterday :smile: Everything went really well for the surgery. We got there on time yesterday (6 AM) and everything went exactly as scheduled, no hold-ups at all. There was a little confusion with the anesthesiologist about whether or not I have a CPAP machine, but it didn't hold anything up. I wasn't nervous at all most of the morning while I was getting ready, but once they separated me and my fiance, Matt, and had him go wait while they took me to the holding area, THEN I got nervous. My anesthesiologist spoke a mile a minute and I could barely understand what he was saying, and I was praying none of it was important for me to know! My surgeon came and spoke to me for a very few minutes. They wheeled me in for surgery after hooking up my IV at 7:30 exactly, and after a few minutes of strapping me to the table and everyone running around, I just passed out, no warning at all. Hehe. When I woke up, it was after 9 AM and my stomach HURT. Not horribly, but enough that I kept asking when the pain meds would kick in. Morphine is so wonderful. I had to stay in the recovery room until about noon, and I kept fighting off sleepiness because I wanted them to move me up to my room ASAP so I could see Matt again. I slept most of the afternoon after they moved me and made sure everything was okay and sending Matt to go eat some lunch. He wasn't allowed to stay overnight with me since I had a roommate, and I was really lonely since I was only sleeping on and off during the night. The nurses kept forgetting about me when I needed things, like the IV bag changed or when I could have ice again. My mouth was soooo dry and they only let me have a medicine cup of ice every 4 hours. They wouldn't weigh me before my surgery yesterday, so I have no idea how much weight I lost with the pre-op diet. They only weighed me today, and according to that, I gained 2 pounds, but they said that it was because of the 4 bags of fluids that they kept pumping into me and that nobody says they lost weight when they are weighed at that point. Pfft. I need to order a scale this week so I can keep track myself. The sorest spot on my stomach is where I think my port is, and I think I was expecting it to be on my left side, but it's on my right? I dunno. My bandages are in a nice little row, 4 all next to each other, and then 1 is kind of under my breast. I went home around 1:30 today and they made me wean off of the morphine all this morning, so I'm very sore and the liquid Tylenol isn't helping. I tried to take a nap with Matt, but since I can't sleep well on my back and it hurts too much for my side or stomach, it didn't work very well. I might end up sleeping on the couch until the pain goes away so I can be propped up. They had to take blood from my artery in the wrist for blood gas levels and for the two samples they needed, yesterday and today, they poked me a total of NINE times. If you've ever had this done, you know how painful it is since they didn't numb me for it and they had to keep poking around. Ouch! I'm on my liquids today, and I thought I'd be hungry with only 2 oz. of liquid at a meal, but I just have more of a dry mouth than anything. I hope the soreness goes away before I have to go back to work Monday. I have to go see my surgeon again in 10 days for the check-up. So far, everything seems to be on track, though. My vitals have been really good everytime the nurse checked, they were impressed with my recovery, especially since they were expecting me not to be able to walk around very well because of my size. I don't have any problems walking and they were really surprised when I just got up, and the only problem I had was a little dizziness and nausea. They didn't make me do a swallow test, though, which seems strange when I read everyone else having to do it. Ah well. I don't really feel anything around my stomach area itself, is that normal? I only really feel the incisions and port.