picardy3

Something tells me I shouldn't have opened this thread. With only 5 days until surgery, I really didn't need to start thinking about this. :embarassed: Oh, well, I'm not the first one they had to do this with. Audra

You are sooooooo lucky! The only grandparents I have left are the ones who have always made snide nasty comments about my weight. Nothing like being reminded everytime you see them that you are fat. And this started when I was nine. It was so nice when I was finally old enough to tell my parents that I wasn't going anymore because I couldn't seem to please them. Of course, not only do they think I'm fat, but I'm also the oldest grandchild and I haven't married yet. Just one big disappointment for them. :phanvan I miss my grandparents that accepted me as I am. :think

I love zucchini as well. Last night I really wanted spaghetti but since I'm not allowed any on the pre-op diet I had to improvise. While my homemade spaghetti sauce was simmering away, I used some little gadget I found through Pampered Chef which let me cut the zucchini into long thin strips. Steamed it for a few minutes until the way I liked it and covered it with homemade sauce. YUMMMM :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: I might even prefer it this way now rather than having real spaghetti. Audra

Gas X (got two boxes, I have problems with gas anyway) Liquid Tylenol (two boxes of children's liquid, mom is looking for adult) SF Popsicles (already in the freezer) SF Applesauce (don't like) Heating Pad (have two) Protein Shakes (clear and chocolate and unflavored on the way) Chewable Vit. (already been on it for a month) Chewable calcium (started last week) Benefiber (using Fiber Choice and started last week) SF Jello (lots) Broth (lots, but I cook with it all the time) Scar removal gel (not yet, but soon) Sports Bra ( underwire hurts after surgery) (none of my bras have underwire) I've also stocked up on my movies and of course I'll have my grad school homework to keep me company. There's probably more but I have a room full of 1st graders right now and they won't let me think too much. Audra

I got my scrip for liquid pain medication filled this weekend. The directions say to take 10 - 15 ml every 3 - 6 hours for pain. So how do I measure this? I know all about tsps. and Tbsps. but haven't a clue about ml. Thanks! Audra

Thanks for the conversions. I talked with my mom after I posted this and she said she probably has one of the medicine cups that my nephews use for their liquid meds. Just didn't want to take more than I needed, but if it's anything like what I took when I had my wisdom teeth out, WOW! I'll be feeling GOOD! Audra

Jen, Where will you be staying? Are you going to be with family? My mom is coming to stay with me. This should be interesting because she's my eating buddy and we both know it. She's doing First Place right now at her church so that helps and once I'm banded we've been discussing how much cheaper it will be for us to eat out. We get to share meals. Can you believe how close our time is getting? I'm beginning to not sleep due to excitement. All I can think is "This is my last Monday night unbanded!" Gotta love these last thoughts! Audra

I'm just a little over a week away from surgery and things are beginning to get nutso around here. PMS has started a few days early, I have a group project for grad school to work on that I have no clue how to even get started, and I'm trying to prepare lesson plans for 7 days for a substitute teacher. I want to cry over everything. If a sad commercial comes on tv, I'm guaranteed to cry. If I get frustrated with the school assignment I want to cry. If I read something even remotely sad, I cry. If there's a sad story on the news, I cry. It's never been this bad before and I'm sure that alot of it is my mind trying to come to grips with what is about to happen. I can't have chocolate right now which is my food of choice for dealing with PMS. What can I do????? I can't go 10 days like this but I can't blow my pre-op diet either. HELP! Audra

I'm glad to hear that the headache is better and that the energy level is up. I am soooooooooooooo glad that I'm not on your diet though. There would lots of injured or dead small children where I teach. :heh: My surgery will be at Plaza Medical Center in Ft. Worth, TX but I don't know what time yet. Since my pre-op is Thursday I'm guessing they'll let me know the time then. I can't believe how close this is. It's the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing before bed. Unfortunately grad school needs to have some of my thought time and it's hard to work it in. But the thought of letting down my group for our project does help to keep my slightly on track. This time next Sunday it will just be a few hours before we go in. Wow! :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: Audra

ReneBean, If only I could be so lucky. I'm actually supposed to "start" the day after surgery. Maybe the stress and anticipation will bring it real early? :guess Nah, not my luck. If it starts early it will be the day of surgery. Oh the joys of life. Audra

YellowRose, Quitting smoking and drinking is hard, but neither are necessary to live. We have to eat in order to stay alive. Let him know that he can quit smoking and drinking and substitute something else in there place but you can not substitute anything for food. If it was as easy as cutting back and not dealing with thyroid problems, then the situation wouldn't exsist. I'm not married, but I do know how hard it is when someone (ex-long time boyfriend) says "Why don't you just eat less?" If I could do that without becoming a raving lunatic because I'm hungry, I wouldn't be getting the lapband. Good luck. We're here for you. Audra PS: I also have the thyroid problems, diabetes, and high cholesterol, two of which can make me very hungry when they are not in good control.

I'm doing much better today. Got a lot of work done at school, so now all I have to do is type up my sub plans. Also bought some of my favorited yogurt this evening. Yoplait has a chocolate cherry whipped that I just LOVE and it really helps with the chocolate cravings. It reminds me of eating chocolate covered cherries at Christmas and that's always a nice feeling. Audra

Jen, Things are better here food wise, but PMS has reared it's ugly head. I'm actually better today than yesterday, where I wanted to cry whether the news was happy or sad. I'm halfway through the pre-op diet and due to the lovely Water retention of PMS, I can't tell a dang thing with the scale. So I'm just staying away from it because I know it's all water. It has to be, I haven't had anything that even resembles a carb in the past week. My liver had better be well out of the way when April 3 gets here. We were allowed to come up to our school to work today, so I put in a full day. You can now see the THREE desks I have in the room that are just for me. I DID NOT want a substitute in my room for over a week thinking "Oh my gosh!" I've got my games and songs ready, now all I have to do is type up the directions and I'm OUTTA THERE! (just a little bit excited ) Are you only allowed two Protein drinks and a few yogurts or cottage cheese? No wonder you have a headache and feel so yucky. I am thankful that my diet is with real foods. I do have a Protein Drink for Breakfast, but then I've been doing that for the past year anyway due to the diabetes and needing something pretty soon after getting up. It's also easier to grab a drink to go on the way to work. Vent away here. Everyone on our thread is going through the same thing right now. We just happen to be the first! Think about it, our day is ALMOST HERE! :) Ok, I'm long winded tonight. Comes from working so hard today and getting most of my errands done. Haven't had much time to talk to anybody. Audra

Vines and Sarah, Thanks for your responses. Things are a bit better this afternoon than they were this morning. Now I'm trying not to cry over happy things too. :phanvan I believe that I can have the pudding as I'm not on a clear diet, but I will have to be careful with it because pudding can be a trigger food. But I only have one small box of it in the house, so that might be doable. Vines, I would love to be able to have just ONE piece of dark chocolate, but unfortunately I'm a DARK CHOCOHOLIC. I prefer it to milk chocolate anyday. The last time I shopped at Sam's club I found out that Hershey's now makes one that is 60% dark. The bag barely lasted a week and this was a big bag. I just can't stop at one so I really have to keep it out of the house for the next week or so. Oh, and now I'm crying over good news too. We had a faculty meeting this afternoon and everytime something good came up I had to choke back the tears. And this can get worse after surgery? :omg: Man, I'm already taking Wellbutrin XL and I've been trying to ween off Paxil since August. Boy won't this be fun?!?!:nervous Thanks! I'm hanging in there. Audra

My pre-op testing is exactly one week from today, Thursday. It's getting so close and I am soooooooo ready.

amourette, I'm sorry to hear about the denial of financial aid. I know how hard it is to come up with a large amount of money. I'll have my mom put you on her diet group's prayer list as well as my own. I can tell it's working because I made it through the carb withdrawals. In the past two days I've watched people eat Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies in front of me and then someone offered me a piece of birthday cake. :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: (cake is a definite weakness of mine and I TURNED IT DOWN!!!!!! :clap2: ) I'm not sure what I'm feeling about this. There is so much going on with having to plan to out of school for 8 days and keeping up with grad school work. Actually it doesn't give me much time to think about food or to get into trouble with it. Hang in there! I'm with ya! Audra PS: I'm thinking about the rest of our group as well. We're ALL gonna be real, live bandsters SOON!

Dana, Did you ask your surgeon if he wanted to do the pre-op diet with you?:heh: Good luck, I know how hard my two weeks are. Some days I could eat a horse and others food just doesn't look appealing. Mostly work is helping to keep me occupied since I'm trying to get lesson plans together for 7 days for 7 different grade levels. Luckily, some of the grade levels can have combined lessons. Audra

dolphin_dreams, What does TRS BC/BS cover as far as aftercare? I never really thought to ask because when we were discussing how much less I would have to pay for prescriptions, Dr. Smith said that those savings could be used for fills. Just curious. Audra

Yea Dana!!!!! You've got your date!!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!! Now, why do you have to do the liquid diet for so long? I'm being banded on April 3rd and I only started my pre-op diet this past Friday. Hang in there. Audra

We're being banded on the same day!! :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: Are you excited yet? :biggrin1: How's the pre-op diet going? :hungry: I actually get to eat food and not just liquids, but I'm consuming so much more Water than I usually do that I'm having a hard time staying out of the bathroom. Makes it difficult when you teach. I went this evening and bought a few of the necessities that I will need after surgery, so I'm hoping I'm just about through buying. I did the same thing with the last supper syndrome. Between the time that everything was submitted and I found out that I was approved by insurance, I kind of went nutso with the meals. Luckily that's all in check now. There's not anything I would eat right now if it meant that Dr. Smith couldn't put my band in on the 3rd. Good luck and let me know how things are going. Audra

Hey all! Things are much better today. The carb withdrawals seem to be almost over. The crockpot has made the house smell so good. It's full of carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, and stew meat. lunch is now ready for the week. Just have to figure out the Snacks that I can take to work with me. amourette, My mother laughed when I asked if she wanted to do this diet with me. Oh, well, I tried. :confused: Tomorrow will be two weeks 'til my surgery date. I'm beginning to get excited. I will get to shop in regular stores again, I won't mind trying on clothes, I won't have to pay almost $2000 a year for prescriptions. Yeah, I'm ready to spend that money on something else. Audra

Ok all you April Bandsters, how's the pre-op diet coming along? I am soooooooo wanting to eat anything that even LOOKS like a carb. I know that some of us are having to do liquids only and that I get to actually eat real food, but I'M HUNGRY!!!!!! I'm drinking my Water (which I always drink a lot of anyway) and trying to distract myself, but sometimes it doesn't work. Anybody got any ideas on what else I can do? Two weeks of this while trying to teach small children is going to be interesting. My mother is already praying that I won't hurt someone. :biggrin1: UGH!!!!!!! :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry:

Ok all you April Bandsters, how's the pre-op diet coming along? I am soooooooo wanting to eat anything that even LOOKS like a carb. I know that some of us are having to do liquids only and that I get to actually eat real food, but I'M HUNGRY!!!!!! I'm drinking my Water (which I always drink a lot of anyway) and trying to distract myself, but sometimes it doesn't work. Anybody got any ideas on what else I can do? Two weeks of this while trying to teach small children is going to be interesting. My mother is already praying that I won't hurt someone. :biggrin1: UGH!!!!!!! :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: Audra

Yea Dana!!!! :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: You got your letter!!!!! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: They looked at all of my pills today at my first pre-op meeting and my synthroid is plenty small without having to crush it so you should be ok. Audra

Ok, the pre-op diet has officially begun. That was made very evident at our meeting this morning. We had a group meeting which was kind of neat. Two of us will be going in the same day! We were told that if Dr. Smith has too many problems fighting with your liver, then he will just close you up. Not what I want to happen. Anyway, I'm really fighting head, body, spirit, etc. over carbs. meat and veggies just aren't cutting it yet. :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: And why did the grocery store have to pipe the smell of fresh baked Cookies all over the place????? :) That was the pits. At least I went after lunch or I might have succumbed. I did my ritual of telling myself "you can't buy that". People do give you funny looks when you say it out loud. Audra