HeatherO

My first fill was with flouro. I am happy I did it that way because I told her I wanted to be agressive and reach restriction as quickly as possible. She filled it to the exact level where fluid passed but passed slowly. It was a 6.8 fill in a Realize band which was very agressive. I had ok restriction for the first two weeks but I got to the point where I was hungry again and was not losing very much. I transferred to a more local doctor for my next fill. My second fill was without flouro. I told her how hungry I was and my weight loss level and that I want to be agressive with fills, she decided to see how 1.5 would work. She put it in and had me drink water. The water seemed to go down but very slowly, but it went down. I was a little scared after the second fill because I have read about fills getting much too tight a couple of days later. After I cautiously moved through liquids and mushies, I found that I had very tight restriction . . . almost to the point of wanting an unfill. I was pb'ing alot but later realized that the problem was more me than the fill. What I mean is that I was not chewing enough and eating a little too fast. It was OK before because I did not have good restriction so I could be more lax in my eating habits. My second fill was a little over a month ago and I still have great restriction. I wanted to be agressive with my fills but I can tell you there is no way I would get another fill right now because I am still tight. I am not even ready to think about scheduling another fill and my weight is slowly but surely moving in the right direction. I think I never would have been at my sweet spot now if I did not have the first fill agressive and without flouro. I reached my sweet spot in two fills.

If anything, this should help to strengthen your resolve to focus on yourself for a little while. Just think of this loss as one more change on the journey to a healthier, happier you in the future. The surgery is not really a difficult recovery. I am sure you can do it with no problem. Just remember, you have the forum here to focus on. After surgery, I practically lived on this and other forums when I had free time. You do have a support system and everyone is rooting for you to do well. You are not alone . . . most of us have been there/done that at one time or another in our lives.

I would just let it go for now. He is your brother and I am sure he cares about you. He doesn't know enough about the surgery yet, and maybe he is a little intimidated by it. As time goes on and you are seeing results, it might be a little easier to discuss it.

It is better that if you want to keep a conversation private that you let people know beforehand, even if it is family. I am sure that this surgery is a big deal to your mother and it may have been difficult for her not to share in the excitement of what is coming. I also know that there are certain people in my family that it I tell them something, they can not help but share it with others. If I say to keep it quiet, I know they will just preface it with "you really need to keep this quiet, but did you know . . . " I never hold it against them because I know it is their nature to share, I just make sure to only share what I don't mind sharing with everyone. I think you will feel much better about it once surgery is done and the pounds start melting away :0)

I think some people simply don't understand. If you have never struggled with a weight issue, it is easy to make assumptions about how people should or should not lose weight. You are doing the right thing in doing what is best for you and forgetting about any negatives that people relay. Of course there are risks and perhaps the band may not be as effective for some people as they hope. However, what is the risk of doing nothing . . . or just the same things you have always done. I would say for every naysayer there are always a ton more people that are encouraging or supportive. Focusing on the positive and forgetting everything else seems to be the way to go.

I think you would be fine. You are only pushing with your arms and walking around. I don't think it will be much of a strain on your abdominals. I know I was cleared for regular workouts at one month. Plus . . . the biggest benefit is to get moving while accomplishing something useful at the same time. All the exercise you can get certainly helps.

Dehydration is nothing to play with if you are going out several days without being able to keep anything down. At this point, since it is continuing and you have had a complete unfill I would think that it might be time to go have some testing done in case you have had a slip. Cold doesnt work for me when I am readlly tight. It has to be lukewarm or a hot beverage. I would put in an another emergency call to your doctor. Dehydration is dangerous and very easy if you can't drink anything.

I have found myself at McDonald's with my teenager on occasion. I found that I can get a grilled chicken patty on lettuce for about $1.40 which fits a sensible eating plan. The salads are sensible as well as long as you are not eating a lot of high fat/calorie dressing (there are low fat/calorie options but I like my salad plain or with a little lemon and olive oil). I stay away from the burgers and chips like the plague. I have not had a burger since banding (except for a mini burger prepared by me at home on the grill). The reason I don't eat them is because I like them too much, the fat content is too high, and I can not say that the variety you get at mcdonalds is giving any nutritional benefit. You did great keeping it at half. It is hard for me to stop with this kind of food.

Jack you crack me up :thumbup: That was brilliant.

I think it took about a month for the swelling to go down to where I was "normal" again. I still had a slightly larger bulge where the port site was at this point but I was a hair under 40 bmi at surgery so maybe it showed more. Now it looks pretty good.

I had the same problem for the first week after my second fill. I found I really didn't need an unfill. I needed to relax and go back to liquids for a day and then reevaluate how I was eating. I was looser before and so I did not have to chew as much and I did not eat slowly. I would say baby your stomach with liquids, to mushies and then eat verrry slow, chew verrry much and then see where you are. If you are still having significant problems after another week, get a slight unfill. Another thing I wanted to mention is that you went to the restaurant and had an issue every 10 minutes after another bite. Once your stomach is already irritated, you are just going to keep pb'ing and I don't think it really matters too much what you are eating or how fast. You have got to go to liquids to give your stomach a little time to go back to normal. Each fill reminds me to go back to basic bandster rules because they are more tightly enforced as restriction increases. It is almost like I have to retrain myself a little more each time. When you start off with less restriction, you can eat a little more lax and not have any negative effects.

Yep, I follow the rules for the most part. I don't follow no caffeine, i have a cup of coffee everyday offset by a cup of water. My doctor does not have the caffeine rule but i know there are different opinions out there. The other thing I have read about but my doctor has not mentioned is the no gum rule. I do chew gum, but am very careful not to swallow.

I would give it a week and if it is still the same, schedule another appointment. They should be able to check your fill level at that time. It doesn't sound like a slip at all.

I know exactly what you mean . . . I felt that way a few months ago. I am a little over halfway to goal and already I feel sooo much better and look sooo much better. Already I am more interested in meeting new people because I am just more me. I know part of it is increased confidence and nice clothes, etc. Whatever it is, it just works and I am a more happy and confident person now.

Before Surgery I was never told to give up caffeine before surgery. I drank an average of 2 cups of coffee daily before surgery and probably at least 4 caffeinated sugar-free sodas a day. The night before surgery I stopped eating and drinking everything except for Water. By the time I got to the hospital the next morning I had a terrible, pounding headache. It was caffeine withdrawal and there was nothing I could do but suffer with it. I couldn't drink additional caffeine, I couldnt take any advil, nothing but grin and bear it for hours. After surgery I didn't notice a headache, but I was on pain meds so maybe that is why. I should have known better but in all honesty I never thought about it. I wish someone would have mentioned it to me and it would have made an already difficult day a little less trying. After Surgery I probably did not drink a single cup of coffee before 6-8 weeks after banding. I no longer drink any carbonated beverages such as soda. My husband strongly suggested that I should give up the coffee because of the caffeine. I really didn't think it was necessary as long as I get an offset of water in. I drink one extra cup of water above the 64 oz's to offset a cup of coffee and it seems to work ok. I drink a cup of coffee every day. Because it was a subject of discussion for us, we brought it up at the last fill appointment. The doctor said it is good to make sure that I am not overdoing the caffeine. However, coffee is considered a "free" food in that as long as I am not putting sugar or undue amounts of cream inside there is no reason why I should not have 1-2 cups a day if I so desire. The most important thing is to make sure I am getting all my water in for the day (and coffee does not count as water) and to make sure I am not overdoing the caffeine. . . . and would you believe my husband still says I should give up coffee. There are so many different opinions but for me, I feel it is like anything else . . . used with caution and in moderation without sugar is ok.

Stress and cold beverages make a definite difference for me from time to time. I was surprised by how much it could fluctuate.

I researched this option in the beginning. The sleeve sounded better than lapband to me at first because of the elimination for the needs to fills and none of the usual lapband specific complications. I did a lot more research because it was really diffficult for me to decide. I chose the lapband. I did this primarily for the following reasons: * Eventhough getting fills may be a hassle and expense, I always can keep my lapband at just the right level for me. Some people with lapband never need a fill, some have had a dozen fills but the recurrent them is that there is no one size fits all. I have known people with R&Y who have regained weight and don't have simple options for an "adjustment." * The sleeve is considered experimental and I could never find a lot of reliable study information related to how well it worked over the long term. Most statistics were short term. I didn't want to lose weight for a year or more but find that I am in the same position 5-10 years down the road. * The deeper I looked I found mention of one primary failure of the sleeve is stretching. So what if my stomach stretches and it is no longer effective, do I turn to something like the lapband??? * FDA approval is important. It is not easy to get a drug or medical device to pass their specifications. An FDA stamp of approval indicates a higher likelihood of a quality procedure or device.

Everyone I have ever talked to, including myself, hit a little plateau 6-12 weeks out. I think your body just needs a little time to catch up. A plateau can never last indefinitely if you are burning more calories than you are ingesting (and getting enough Protein to boot). Also the protein may have a lot to do with it. When I hit my first plateau, I added a daily Isopure drink with 40 grams of protein and I started losing again. I also cut out a lot of the carbs and replaced them with Proteins and I really started moving again. The caloric intake did not change, it was more a matter of yogurt & oatmeal being exchanged for eggs, fish, chicken and Protein drinks. It also helped to keep me even more full because yogurt and oatmeal went through my system much quicker than the protein. To break a plateau, different things work for different people but the common theme is to do something a little different . . . whether it be caloric intake, protein intake, modification of exercise regime, etc.

Another option other than blenderizing is to strain it. I did this quite a bit with soup on the liquid plan.

Your stomach is still healing from surgery. If you don't feel any pain you are probably ok this time around. However, you need to be really careful and baby your stomach. If you are still in the liquid stage and are already taking in baked goods, you might be in trouble down the road. Another thing to keep in mind is that once you have fills and decent restriction, you may find that your stomach rejects things like breadsticks. Bread tends to block your passage up in a most uncomfortable way and cause pb's to happen. Bread doesn't seem to be bandster friendly to most bandster's with restriction. My doctor explained to me that the long term health of the band has everything to do with how well a person follows the diet in the early stages. The stomach has to move around to digest food. You don't want much movement until the area around the band has healed sufficiently. Putting too much pressure on the area before the band area has time to heal can eventually lead to band complications such as slippage that could result in band removal. Your first two weeks is almost up. You should just hang in there with the doctor's plan for a couple more days, progress with the diet prescribed and everything should be fine. The worst thing to do would be to test the band by thinking if this time didn't cause any physical symptoms, maybe you can eat a little more than is on your plan. Eating solid foods one and a half weeks out from major surgery is not healthy for your fragile stomach. Good luck with your plan. Just think, in another couple of weeks you will be eating normal, healthy food with smaller portions and you can put this liquid phase behind you :0)

Swollen and bruised is definitely normal . . . you are not very far out from surgery. Doctors have different instructions but I can share what I remember of mine with you. The "tape" I had were little white steri-strips that kind of helped hold the skin a little closer together. I was told to leave them be until they came off on their own. One came off early and I found later that the incision area in that spot was a little wider than the rest because I think that without the strip the edges moved a little further apart. I would just leave them alone. You should not take a bath, go swimming or in any way submerge your incisions in Water. However, showers are fine and the incision areas can get wet as long as they do not get very wet for very long. Basically I hopped in the shower, rinsed, soaped, rinsed in less than a minute for the incision site. Then I lowered the shower head and scrubbed everything else in a way that would not introduce much more water to the incisions. Use a clean towel or paper towels to dry the incision area every time. Never use a washcloth more than once, and really I dont think you want to use one at all on the incision sites. This is to avoid any bacteria that may collect on these items from being introduced into the incisions. After a shower, I always made sure that I let the incisions dry completely, usually by just keeping the area uncovered and allowing them to air dry. After they were dry I used a little hydrogen peroxide, a little neosporin and then bandaged the area where necessary. I would never touch the area, bandages, anything along that line without thoroughly rewashing my hands first just in case. Even if I just got out of the shower and threw on some clothes, I would still rewash before touching. I never had any incision problems, everything healed well without infection. This is what worked for me.

4 weeks is still early. However, I am not sure if not scheduling a fill now means that it puts it way out into the future or only a few weeks. It seems like 6-12 weeks is the norm for the majority of people. I successfully lost quite a bit of weight after banding. I averaged 3 pounds lost per week and still got the fill. The reason I ended up with the fill is because I stalled for two weeks with no gain/loss. I also was battling with a lot of hunger that I could not satisfy for very long. It was definitely not head hunger but the belly aching, i am starving and could eat a horse kind. Perhaps you could schedule another reevaluation of the need for a fill appointment in 2-3 weeks. By that time, you may need a fill. However, I think it is probably good that you don't have a fill just yet since you are definitely still healing and learning the new lifestyle requirements.

Thanks for the explanation. You are doing great. Specially making all of this progress on your own before banding. I think banding is difficult for a lot of people at first because it involves dropping long-held habits and going from eating whatever you want (except for maybe a brief pre-diet term) to having to restrict everything. You already have this part covered and should have a much easier time with banding afterwards. When you finally get past the mushy stage, you will begin to eat again in a healthy way that will be such a relief after an incredibly long time of having the liquid diet. Kudos to you for sticking with it. The best part about this is that with the help of the tool, weight loss should be no big deal for you since you are already doing an excellent job pre-band. Banding may not be the "easy" out that some people say, but realistically . . . at least for me, it is a much, much easier way for me to get to my goals. I have slain the hunger demon, now I can concentrate on following bandster rules and getting my exercise in :0) Best of luck to you . . . just think, by this time next year initial banding experiences and months of liquid diets will be behind you. If you could speak to the future you one year from now, just imagine how interesting that conversation would be :0)

Thanks, Chrisann. "Intentional" exercise has been my word of the day for the last two months. I have been working my butt off, literally :tt2:

Getting in is no problem, getting out is a real hassle. You would be taking a big risk to go without a passport. If you definitely plan to go to Mexico in the future, you should get a passport asap. You can order them in the post office in most towns.