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Braveheart's Before and After 8 Months Pictures:

Where is Kat? I haven't heard from her since her surgery.. You doing ok girl? Let us know how it went.

Heyas Lynn! Welcome to LBT and grats on your weight loss!

Heather!!!! Woohooo!!!! Size 18s!!!! I'm so stinking jealous!!!! LOL Oops.. did I say jealous? I meant happy for you! *grins*

So glad to hear all went well, Kellie. I hope you recover quickly and with minimal pain kiddo. I agree with everyone - the name has to change! I suggest: LilBellyKellie

Sunta - I remember losing 8 pounds in one week, and then shortly after that I only lost 1 pound, and I cried! LOL Remember that this time is for your healing, not for weightloss. Your body is going to be doing some strange adjusting while the swelling goes down and you get used to eating differently and so on. My doc assured me that the weightloss stuff doesn't really begin until you get that first fill. Before that, anything you lose is just a big bonus! So be happy with your 1.5 pounds because the average loss over the coming months should be 1 to 2 pounds a week, which means you are right on target girl! :hat: ShackDog - You are welcome to join the club now. There are quite a few folks in the club that aren't banded yet. Why don't you tell everyone a little about yourself and why you're getting the band as an introduction. We all did it (see the first few pages of this thread) And if you want your weight stats added to the members' page (page 1) I'll be happy to do that for you. The best me - Thank you for removing your siggy in your posts. *hugs* I try to do that in every thread that after my initial post. I figure people only need to see my bragging section once per thread. *grins*

Aww Sharon. *hugs* Youre not weird, youre not a wuss, and youre not pitiful. I think you should let your doctor know, and the people at the sleep study place, that you have this problem with anything over your face. Maybe go in and let them just try it on you and see if you could tolerate it prior to the study? The only thing I can think of that might be of some help is that with the air blowing in, its not like having something that blocks your ability to breath in well. I typically can't stand to have the covers over my head in bed.. even though I could breathe just fine, its the thought of it that drives me crazy. But when I sleep with the CPAP on, I can cover my head with the blankets, no problem, and I enjoy sleeping that way now. Its odd. It's almost like fresh air being delivered to you so you forget there's anything over your nose or face.

Suz - I don't know anything about the irritable bowel stuff, but I had heartburn and reflux so bad before I was banded that I was waking up in the night with it up in my nose. Horrible, burning, drowning senstations - gasping for breath. It was awful. My doctor put me on Protonix and from the very first day it stopped. No sign of heartburn. The day before I had the band surgery was the last day I took the Protonix and I have yet to have any problems at all. Typically, when a banded person is experiencing reflux they are either overfilled or there is some other problem going on with the band, as mentioned in the previous posts on this thread. It is not a common thing and overfills can be easily adjusted with immediate relief. Leah - See your doctor and have it checked for slipping. It's possible that you need a slight unfill. It might be something as simple as eating too late in the evening. But don't take any chances. Have it checked asap.

Hi Dee, welcome to LBT. I'm shocked to hear that they won't give you an unfill. They are aware that you cannot eat solids and havent for 3 months now? That is not healthy and I'd be yelling at the top of my lungs until someone listened to me. The reason youre not dropping weight now is because your body is in starvation mode, clinging to every ounce of nutrition it can (stored fat). If you are losing weight, youre losing it in muscle. Are you drinking Protein shakes? You need to be getting in a minimum of 60 grams per day. I'd suggest even up to 100 grams since you arent getting any solid foods. And be sure to get whey protein. Vegetable Proteins such as soy are hard for the stomach to break down, so the body only absorbs about 30% of the protein. Can you puree things like bean Soups, chicken breasts, cottage cheese, fruit whatever? If you can get it to liquid form, it might be gross but it's better than starvation. And you'll start losing weight at a healthy rate as well. And be sure you're taking good daily Vitamins and Calcium suppliments. I just can't believe they are forcing you to stay like this. PB'ing like that can damage your band and/or your stomach and esophogus (spelling?). Please yell louder!

Wow! Someone just realized their self worth and found it to be quite high! Good for you Skye! :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

During the study, they put the smallest strap around your head that holds a tiny little two-pronged plastic thing under your nose. Those prongs are very small and do sit at the entrance of your nose to detect your breathing, but you can't feel them. I thought I was going to flip over the CPAP too, but I didn't. I had a divided study, which mean that if I had over a certain number of apnea occurances within a certain amount of hours, they were going to wake me up and put the CPAP on me for the remainder of the night in order to get the machine adjusted to what I needed. Well, I did need the machine and they put the mask on me in the night. It was bigger than the one I have at home now. They will let you try it on before you go to bed so you know what to expect. I found it hard to breath at first, so I just told them right away and they changed the pressure or something and instantly it was easy to breathe. They work with you on it because it's important to get it adjusted just right for you. When you open your mouth, the air that is being gently blow into your nose (you dont even feel it) actually blows out of your mouth. Very odd sounding and feeling to say the least. They have masks that just fit over your nose, or full masks that fit over your mouth and nose. They will also have you hooked up to so many wires that it takes 30 minutes or more to get it all done. All painless. I just knew I wasnt going to get any sleep. Strange room. Strange noises. Away from my husband for the first night in years. All those wires and stuff stuck all over me.. and a mask on my face? No way would I sleep. But I did. And the next morning they woke me up very early (it was still dark when I drove home) and I felt like I'd just had the best night's sleep in years. You'll do fine. :hat:

*laughs* Randy.. you go tell Ms. Joy that you need some attention. You've really been practicing alone too long. *winks*

Does this happen at different hours of the day? Or just in the mornings? It's not good to be throwing up so much. You could be doing yourself some longterm harm. I'd say call your doctor and see what they think. However, if it's just a morning thing.. it might just be the typical morning tightness that so many feel and you may have to resort to a Protein shake in the mornings. I'd need to hear more specifics before I could give more suggestions.

I just KNEW she'd fall for that!! LOL *hugs Queen*

Sorry, folks... dont mean to hijack the thread but I didnt want Susan's question to go unanswered either. Susan - Welcome to LBT. You've posted on a thread about the effects that flying has on the lapband. There is a food forum with lots of information about what to eat after surgery. If you check out the main page when you log in, click on the Food forum and look at the post titles in there. Also, there is a great thread about what to have on hand prior to surgery. Click on this link for that thread: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14814

So youre going ahead with the previously scheduled plans? I'm glad. And you know, paying for it yourself will give you even more motivation not to cheat! LOL I'm not sure if Jack knows or not. I put the link to that thread you started on his new thread. Don't know if he caught on to that or not.

Ok, this should help. If not, send me a PM and I'll help you further. Go to www.tickerfactory.com Select weight loss. Select the ticker ruler you want, then click Next. Select the ticker slider you want, then click Next. Select weight units you want to use. Select Weight (not weight change) Enter your starting weight. Enter your current weight. Enter your targe weight, then click Next. On the page that appears, scroll down to the bbCode box. Highlight and copy everything from [ img] through [ /img] in that box. (You want to leave off the [ ur=http://etc] at the beginning and the [ /url] at the end.) Paste what you copied into your signature line. (Quick Links button at top of screen and then Edit Signature).

*laughing* KWIM and IFSS have just been added to my list. LOL

Sure can - check this out: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14814

Hey Kaybug, I agree, it matters not what you're losing at this point. Try to get away from the old diet mentalities. The fact is, you have your band in and the weight loss will happen and it will continue past the first 10 pounds. Isn't that great?! No more stressing over every pound. Just relax and let the time go by. Now, be prepared.. it is possible that you will gain a few pounds prior to your first fill. As the swelling goes down in your tummy, there is less restriction and hunger will return, so you'll gradually eat more. This is very common but doesnt always have to be true. If you watch your calories and stick to your post-op diet, no cheating with ice cream and stuff, then you won't gain. If you do though, it's no great loss because once you start getting fills you will lose that weight. This is definitely the time to be thinking about healing, not losing weight. They won't tighten you down yet because you aren't even eating solid foods yet, and youre still swollen. How would they be able to tell what you can truly eat? Some people find they don't even need a fill once they are on solid foods. *hugs* I was scared to death to put anything new into my mouth. I'm gradually getting over that but there are some things I choose to keep a healthy fear of - breads and pastas of any kind being at the top of my fear list. If you take small bites, and really concentrate on chewing until the food is almost nothing before you swallow, then you'll be ok. If you start to chew something and find it stringy or worrisome, spit it out. One more thing, I was so scared to get that first fill that I almost got upset in the Dr's office. But once it was done I felt silly. It was completely painless. Not even a sting. Hope I've helped some. I sure do remember being where you are now. Try to relax, you're doing fine.

Heyas Rene, this list was shared for people who come home with no instructions. You'd be surprised how many folks show up with no idea about what they should be eating. Scarey but true. My doctor gave me very clear guidelines as well and I follow those. Like you, I strongly advise everyone to follow doctor's orders above anything they read here, unless you suspect negligence of course. The puddings, icecream, sweetened tea, lemonade, etc, is off the list because they are loaded with sugar and fat so they are counter productive to your weight loss. Fat free and sugar free substitutes are fine. After the liquid phase of the diet, most liquid calories are taboo for obvious reasons. Far too many calories can just slip by the band, bypassing its inteded design to restrict quantity. I hope this helps. :hat:

*laughs* Dody, thats funny.. but no! LOL

Tilly's right, they use gas to inflate your stomach into a domed like ceiling which gives the surgeons room to introduce and manuever the necessary instruments for the surgery. However, I don't think they inflate the chest cavity. After surgery, the gas is let out through the laproscopic incisions but not all comes out. The remaining gas will rise against the diaphram and the pressure against the diaphram is what causes the pain. Often this pain is felt in the shoulder or neck. For me, it was just a band around my middle, just under my ribs. Typically, walking and moving around help the gas dissipate. There is a webcast video that show's a great deal of the surgery and at one point when the ports for the instruments are removed, the surgeons have to stick their fingers into the incisions to prevent the gas from leaking out. You can even hear the hissing from the gas that does manage to leak out. Here is that video, in case anyone's interested: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/surgerywebcast/default.asp

Thanks Kim, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'd heard the port repair wasn't really a biggie and I was just confirming that. I'm so glad everything's ok with you now. Hopefully you'll start losing again and get back on track. :hat:

Kim, did he do the port fix in the office? Would you mind sharing more about the procedure and stuff? Pweese?