batkitty

hi all,

well the dust has finally settled on my band and fill.

had a VERY successful fill two weeks ago and have a good amount of restriction, I know I need more ... BUT .. I won't do it at the moment because each meal is a lesson in chewing ...

It sticks everytime, I am so hungry ... so the first mouthful goes down without chewing, gets stuck and then no more meal.

Is anyone else having problems chewing and food getting stuck?

Hi All,

I'm a pom, with a band that's done me the world of good. However, I'm about to move to Australia.

I'll need health insurance - do any of you guys know a good insurer that will cover fills or possible future operations that the band may need?

I'm worried that as it's both elective surgery and a pre-existing condition I might not be able to get insurance for band-related issues.

Any thoughts?

Cheers for your help :shades_smile:

Skinny2B,

where are you moving to in Aus?

Peek your on for coffee, end of FY over and School Holidays done with I'm all yours, back on track now I think, feeling some restriction ... have booked in for a bit more of a fill in a week or so and we start round two of IVF in 2 weeks.

it's all good here

Hi everyone

Send me some good vibes for my lap band op on Thursday 17/07. I am sooo nervous about the op that is the part I cant stop thinking about, I feel prepared as I can be about the after stuff, just the thought of being operated on is making me feel worried etc. If anybody else is getting banded this week good luck to you too.

Take care all

Sim :frown:

good luck Sim, keep us posted with your recovery ... this site is invaluable for that time.

I did it i did it I did it!!! today I went for a walk and it seemed right to move a bit faster and jog and i did. It was only short bursts but it was running, YAY:thumbup::frown:

Nat congratulations!!!! I know the feeling, I turned the treadmill up ... and instead of trying to walk REALLY FAST .... I started lifting my feet off, it's the Cliff Young shuffle but I'M RUNNING!

In fact when I went in to speak to my surgeon pre-op, he asked my why I wanted to lose weight, I said to him that if he had asked me 10 years ago I would have said skinny, look good, clothes etc etc ... but now?

I want to RUN, I know I can do it, I even see myself running, I can feel it, I just need to get rid of some weight so I don't reak or strain anything ..

would love to do a half marathon or a fun run one day.

Hi Nat,

thanks a million!

I'm pumped for my Port fix, and can't wait to get back on track.

I've kinda felt like an outsider, the band is in there but without restriction I felt for a while that I couldn't contribute to the site, like a bit of a faker!

but faker no longer

woohoo

. I know I wont be able to eat bread afterwards but I'm hoping I can at least still have a vegemite and cheese toasted sandwich maybe once every month or so. (

Toast is the only way, for me it has to be really well toasted (basically no moisture left in the bread to make it doughy) but as for the cheese, I tried toasted cheese, I double toasted the bread to make sure it was extra crunchy then I got a glob of stringy stretchy cheese stuck for at least 15 mins ... maybe I did something wrong, but my reccomendation for toast topping is well toasted good quality bread , ripe avocado, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice! always use good quality bread, multigrain or sourdough, mainstream brands or bakery franchise brands I have found are too doughy.

Who would have throught we could spend an entire diaitribe on BREAD!!!!:biggrin:

Dr Watson mentioned The Avenues and Prof O'Brien I think it was.... the only thing is that he thinks that Prof O'brien gives fills without local anaesthetic!!! ouch!

Hi Mel, I go to the Avenue and I can vouch for at least one other surgeon who doesn't use a local, but to be honest, even though I have had issues with my port, I have never felt pain from the needle, only what they ended up hitting on the other side. (back of the port because it flipped)

Welcome to Melbourne btw... if you want to grab a coffee don't hesitate to send a message :biggrin:

Fattism is as rampant as ever.....but at least we're doing something about it, if you're an idiot, theres not much you can do about that is there? lol.

I agree 100%, there are some absolute morons out there ... and to be honest some of them are as slim as they think they are!

But I can't agree more, we can lose weight, but these poor sods are stuck with their moronic thoughts and narrow minds.

Well guys it's been the ride of my life since being banded 28th March!

I started IVF the following week and was monitoring intake.

First fill was a non-event and ended up having to be done by X-Ray, only got .5 fill which wasn't enough, by the time I got back in to see my surgeon to tell him that that .5 wasn't enough he realised the port had unhooked itself! so I would have needed to go back under the knife, only problem was .... we had a positive pregnancy result! so Ultrasound was my only option for a fill. But I would wait until the next scan to make sure, and as bad luck would have it the pregnancy wasn't looking good.

So I waited for the next scan, and again not looking good so I put of the ultrasound for fill again.

Sad to say that we lost the pregnancy and I'm now booked in for the readjustment next Friday for a repair to the port and hopefully a bloody good fill.

The it's round two for IVF!

Basically at this moment in time I can eat pretty much anything I want to, just not as much, but I feel very little restriction which bothers me NO END!

So fingers crossed girls, fill and adjustment are successful, I lose a bit more weight, get back into exercise and IVF round 2 is a winner!

hopefully we are back on track!

Is it normal to not be able to drink Water quickly? I find when I exercise I really want to drink lots of water fast but I cant, I have to take small mouthfuls and wait for it to go down. Is that the norm??

Nat, I have noticed that same .... I used to be able to consume water REALLY quickly, now if I do gulp is 'bubbles' down ... like if you pour something too quickly into a tight hole and it bubbles up as it drains through.

Also I know I have mentioned this on other posts but oh the burping! if I drink anything quikly (ish) burp burp burp burp!!!

Went to the doc today for my first fill... he tried hard (twice) but was not able to do the fill due to hard tissue from my incision :-(

I have another appointment in 2 weeks in the hope the site will calm down.

I am going to have to apply some serious willpower over the next couple of weeks.

hey girl, hang in there.

how close to your incision is your port, mine is miles away (well it wouldn't help that it seems to be floating around by itself!)

Do you feel you can eat what you want?

You know you are losing weight when ....

1. You can finally zip up last years winter coat.

2. You can fit into those jeans you bought on sale in some dream like state that "one day I might lose weight". Well now I am ....

I was thinking tonight I would like to start a thread to compare notes with others on the type of exercise they are doing post band. I would really like to know if Im varied enough and what is working for others. For the last 4 weeks I have been going to Water aerobics once a week, the gym four times a week and walking the other two days. Has anyone tried yoga? wouldnt mind giving that a go.

I just bought a TREADMILL!!! I am sooooooooooo excited, I've spent so much money over the years on gyms and not turned up. At least now I can just come home and hop on, I work really long hours so top or tailing my day with an hours gym work takes me to at least 13-14 hour days. at least now I can come home and do it when I want, morning in my PJ's or at night before dinner.< /p>

hey guys ... thanks to all of you who replyed to my post.

I do feel alot better. Especially knowing that others have had similar situations not feeling restriction.

thanks again

hey there any melbourne people out there?

from where?? woul,d really like to get together with men and women from melb for meets/support and make friends

i am jude i got the lap band in dec 2006, i have lost 23 kgs i am 25 years old and live in berwick.

hope to get to know you all !!

Hey all,

I was thinking of organising a 'night out' in June, July (if we all have enough notice the majority should be able to attend)

Anyone interested in meeting in town? maybe Casino or Docklands, maybe Chinatown (maybe not too much rice!) look we can work out the location, just wondering if anyone is up for it.

happy to be the go between on dates and scheduling. maybe some from the north can car pool?

hope to hear from you all cryss1@bigpond.com

Well, first off I'm glad you were able to get your fill.

Sorry it was not so easy for you.

So, did the doc explain why your port is on its side? Any long term consequences for that?

no he couldn't explain why it was on it's side. I did ask if it would stay that way, he said it might move once I lose weight, really no help at all.

I'm calling the surgeon tomorrow.

still hungry, only feeling a slight bit of tension in the band, for the first fill I expected it to feel significantly tighter.

and burping burping burping!

so strange others can't burp and I'm like a machine ... any thoughts fellow bandsters?:wink2:

hey guys, thanks to those who replied and Peek thanks for the SMS!!!

If anyone else had has fills via x-ray they will know what I'm talking about, well they found the port, GREAT! problem ... it's on it's side .. so not flat, so we are heading in at an ANGLE.

Pain-ish but thank god for local anesthetic ..... ok well I'm trying to eat mushie ... because I now only have 2.5mls in the tube .. and I know many others have much more. I'll see how I go for a few days and then reassess with Surgeon.

thanks again ...

ok I am absolutely terrified ... I hope someone is logging on late and can calm me down!

I missed out on my first fill because of infection, I'm due tomorrow via x-ray.

And to be honest I have been able to eat more food than I have for the past few weeks (most of it soft food) although I did struggle with some mince last week, it was really difficult to swallow (some Water helped), but I'm wondering if it 'pushed the band down)

Because, last night I was having some Dhal for dinner and my boyfriend asked "has your band slipped?" he had noticed that I was able to eat more than I had over the past few weeks.

I hadn't thought about it, but jesus what if it has, what if I missed out last week on my first fill and now the thing has slipped because I struggled getting some cooked mince down.

Has anyone else had the feeling that they were able to eat 'kinda normally' or have I just blown the whole thing!

don't want to sound too desparate ... but HELP!

We had English backpackers stay with us and they couldnt believe their eyes when we served up a roast dinner with baked pumpkin. They told us that they only use pumpkin as pig food.

hahaha my partner is dutch, and years ago I bought a pumpkin, he says "what do you think you are going to do with that", I'm like "I'm making soup" and he says "we only use those to feed pigs, I'm not eating that"

My port incision has a small area on the left side that got a bit infected, and its taking its time healing fully. I finished a course of antibiotics and it got a little better, but still needs some more time. Doc has warned me he won't do my first fill next Tuesday if its not 100% - I totally understand that position, but my problem is I have to go overseas for work for a little while end of May, which means I would not be able to get my fill until I return 20th June, and those who have travelled to the US will understand that the food readily available when doing the hotel thing is not exactly healthy and in small portions.

I am coping ok NOW, but I'm not too thrilled about having to wait 7 more weeks till my first fill. Please keep your fingers crossed for me next Tuesday.

I know the feeling, I missed out on my first fill from infection, have my official first fill monday via x-ray, stay calm and positive you will get through it :smile2:

And well look forward to Soup, Chilli and oatmeal in the states. Although I do know that alot of hotels Ihave stayed at in the past have been VERY accomodating in cooking me something special (this was diet time all pre band)

good luck

If you like fish, tuna mornay is great for the mushie stage. I made a chicken currie and then pureed my portion (several actually cause I froze some for lunch at work), for something sweet I pureed fruit and had it with diet yoghurt or diet custard, or with diet jellies. Remember that you can have diet jelly on mushie stage to help fill those vacant spots. Blitz some Pasta and Tomato, or some lasagna for something different - looks gross but tastes great and if its too thick just add a touch of Tomato Soup to thin it out.

Danna

Danna, you are a legend! thanks for the tips!

Although I broke today and at some solids! chewed and chewed but YUMMY!

I am starving at the moment, I mean realtively no change to pre banding appetite!

Monday (x-ray fill) can't come quick enough guys, I'm actually scared I'll stretch or move my band if I eat too much. :smile2:

HI! im on day four after banding. yes still getting the wind. but defintiely walking about helps trememndously. and sitting upright.

im quite sore but the kind dr gave me strong tablets to take home. hopefuly i wont need them too long.

when i logged on i saw new threatds about feeling cold and weak. help they have scared me, but i think i tbetter to ask the dr, not to read too much into what people on here say to eat,, I do hae a menu plan from dietician who says have an Optifast shake or Sustagen prepackaged drink. and drinking yoghurt. so far i havent although i have had one sustagen. guess its day by day.

Jet don't be scared, take it day by day and don't try and compare yourself to others.

I have had a few set backs the month since my op, but unlike many other things that happen in my life I am being patient. Taking each day as it comes.

Have my first fill on monday via x-ray! and rather than go off reading how everyones elses first fill went and then worrying that I'm different, I'm taking it slow.

stay well :smile2:

Batkitty

Good luck tomorrow. I hope it all goes well.

When do you feel like catching up again for a coffee? My shout!

Hey Kylie,

we you might have read the fill didn't go to plan and I now have to have it done with the assistance of X-ray!

Although other than hunger I'm not sure the fill will make a huge ammount of difference, because NOTHING more solid than baked Beans and tuna is making it through this baby at the moment ...

but I'll email you from work re coffee, maybe next week? Friday? I'll call or email you.

Left the hospital today . . operated yesterday 22nd April. so far so good .... the operation went really well. it was alot less stress and pain free then gall bladder operation I had a few years ago. Almost no discomfort in abdomin area except for slight tenderness. there is though some pain on my shoulder with the build up of gas. I didnt even need any strong pain killers which I was told was best to avoid as it can make somem people nauseous. not even panadol required. I started walking a few hours post surgery as advised. although this hurts more (gas) it helps get rid of the gas eventually so you just have to do it. walked again this morning and tonight. physiotherapist showed me some exercised that I have to do twice daily and a breathing exercise. actually that was probabl the hardest thing when I woke up from surgery. It was hard to take deep breaths. ok now though. but still have probs breathing deep = is this normal?? feeling quite full today of course and on liquids only - but I don't miss food at all. the gas build up is the worst of it all. despite burbing and wind not much relief..... yes moving and sitting upright is helping.......but have to get some de gas i think. nurses said gas lasts up to 1 week.....has it been so for you guys??

Lita, congrats on the op, good times ahead.

walking walking walking ... hot tea is nice, I drank black tea either normal or green most if the first week, provided some relief.

a bit of bending and stretching worked well, gentley gently.

and read through the pages here, helped me immensly