Fernando

:w00t:Jazzy Junes First Fill Line-up! :w00t: :Angel_anim: 7-1 Strikeuptheband :smile2: 7-14 Huggie Bear, Long2bThin :w00t: 7-29 Phoenix, Greythope

Well our month is almost done and now we are on the the next big hurdle in our journey... our first fill:w00t: I am scheduled for July 14th at 3:00 I already know that my Dr. does all his fills under x-ray so as to get the port the first stick and do a swallow test too:ohmy: All I can think about now is that swallow test following surgery... that thinned out stuff was so Nasty tasting stuff... :Angel_anim: But First Fill I'm excited!! I'm starting to get my hunger back and while I am only able to eat about 3/4 to 1 cup b4 I feel full the full feeling doesnt last long... don't know how much of that is cause it's still mushies and flows through the band pretty easily but I'm ready for the next step!!:smile2:

I agree it sux!! I was banded June 3rd and still have a week of mushies left!! What's better is b4 I am off soft foods I get a fill b4 I can even get to solid foods... then it's 2 days liquid, 2 days mushie, 2 days soft then real food again.... Very many variations out there by each doc... I did go to The Olive Garden with DH and got Soup and mashed the potato in to to a pulp and he dug the mushy cheese out of his ravioli for me :Angel_anim: It was heavenly!! and mushy Cheers on your first meal Kim

gardengrl... u are not alone once the swelling went down and I could start fitting things in I started noticing that I am eating faster and I have felt none of the chest pain or discomfort from it... I can drink a 16.9 oz bottle of Water in less then half an hour... I am not taking more into my mouth then one swallow, but am still drinking pretty fast. One of the girls at the Tuesday support group I went to said she was the same until her second fill and then EVERYTHING changed!!! And now she is back to eating slowly again... so we are not alone. I am not a doctor and do not pretend to play one on tv I just think that once our swelling went down and our bodies are getting used to the band being there our old sensations will come back and with it old habits will try to creep back in until we have restriction... I am scheduled for a fill on July 14th (hhmmmm new thread there?? jazzie june first fill list :Angel_anim:) and am hoping that I am not gnawing my arm off by then... Kim

Welcome back to the game... You have been GREAT at keeping our list and putting so much time and effort into it!! THANX!!!

Wow guyz it's been a month since the last meeting... Hope to see yall tonite at 6:30 at the Hospital :sad_smile: I am 3 weeks out already, and have a fill date of July 14th!!

MMMMM ushies!!! I get to start mushies on Thursday, and I am ready. The liquid thing is just old now.... and I can drink with no problem so 4 0z of Fluid is like... uh yeah :tongue: I can drink a 16 oz bottle of Water in an hour while walking so I know I could fit in more liquids... I am hoping I start to feel a sence of something in my stomache when I get to mushies... I went today and bought a bunch of gerber stage 2 fruits and veggies in the little containers that have the reclosable lid... prolly take most of those to work since I cant eat what is on the menu at work any more... have fridge in office so it's good there. What's weird is I heard lots of ppl at the support group meeting say they have been HUNGRY since surgery and I am not really hungry at all... I hear my tummy growl and know I need to eat I guess I should count myself lucky... Im scared that once I get closer to "real" food in my belly I'm gonna be starving all the time till my fill Ok enough rambles... Will let ya'll know how it goes... only 2 more days!! Kim

Wow Gwen... 70 pounds since October... I only hope I can say that:unsure: I was just banded on the third http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f181/its-really-real-65671/ I typed up a long babbling post if you wanna check it out. I have been reading this site for it seems like forever and now here I am a week out yesterday and I think I am one of the luck ones because several of the people at the support group were talking about being hungry since surgery and I haven't been hungry yet... I am doing my liquid diet and drinking all my Water.... seems like all I do is drink all day.... but im crossing my fingers that I will stay that way and it will stay easy until it's fill time I am struggling with getting in 1000 calories a day right now, I'm sure it will get easier when I get to mushies:drool: I really can't believe it's real quite yet... guess when I get to real food again it will seem more real:rolleyes2: Just trying to stay motivated and hoping for some good weight loss when I weigh in on the 19th:eek: Kim

Just pay attention to how much protein and calories you are getting... I know all doctors are different mine was very firm on 5 atkins shakes a day... that still was not even 1000 calories but it was wnough protien... the protein is important to help in healing... Just a thought... you will do good girl... and if you are like me you will be asking him while still groggy and morphine induced about how the liver looked!! You will be done b4 u know it!!! Kim

ch4life... I went on a 3 day 2 nite field trip to new york while I was on my pre-op diet and it was not so bad... As per my dr. I had to drink 5 atkins shakes a day and the days were all scheduled and went by super fast so it actually made it easier!! You will do great... and guess what when the surgeon told me my liver was nice and small and he had tons of room to work with it was all worth it!! Hang tough girl... u can do it!!! If anything just be super good now and do a super shrink for the next 4 days!!! PS I cheated too Kim

AAwww thank you brown bear :incazzato: Just wait till u see this girl 100 puonds lighter!! One pound at a time!!

Heya guyz!! Didn't mean to dissapear on ya. It has been a busy couple of weeks. The New York Field Trip went great!! The 8 hour bus ride sucked!! Can't wait to get this weight off so I can fit in a seat and be able to have wiggle room to get comfortable:blushing: Surgery... Well I was the first one on the schedule for surgery on Tuesday so I had to report at 0615 and let me tell ya they must have been standing around waiting on me to show up. I signed in and as soon as the lady behind the desk had my bracelet printed up and on my wrist they were calling me back to pre-op. I got changed and had 3 people in there at once starting i.v. and asking questions and ordering the hep.(blood thinner) from the pharmacy. All by 0630 mind you. They brought DH in by 0645 and the nurse that was taking me to the holding area walked in right behind him. It was time to empty the bladder and go to the holding area!! So I had time to say hi hunny there are my clothes, go pee, and give DH my glasses and off we were. That takes us to the holding area. The surgeon came in blushing cause he had shorts on under his long white coat and all the nurses were making fun of him:unsure:. I told him he could wear what ever he wanted so that he was comfortable!!! We went over everything one more time and off he goes and in comes the anast. with a tube that he said he had concocted special for me and he wanted to know if I was interested??:drool:DUH Well he injects his special brew and says it'll take about 60 seconds to work and he releases the brakes on the bed and the last thing I remember I was going out of the door way of the holding room. Next thing I know we are in recoverey. All I really remember of recovery is telling them my tummy felt really yucky and they put some stuff in my i.v. Next thing I know I'm in a room and they are asking me to scoot over to the bed... well I try to sit up and for some reason it feels like i've been stabbed in the gut like 5 times:confused2: and you want me to do what. I remember looking at them and asking if they were really serious and then the helped drag me by the sheet that was under me. I dozed on and off in the room and they cam from radiology and told me that it was time for my swallow test.... this is where it gets fun. Getting out of bed wasn't to awful bad... I knew to log roll and use the bed to help me it was when I stood up and when the wheel chair started moving that got me... so I arrive in radiology and Tammy the coordinator for Dr. Bissell is there and she tells me how great I did and that she is gonna peek at things and make sure they are all ok. (was sooo good to see a familiar face there). They even let me stand on the end of the table and then lowered it down for me after I did the swallow test... now the upper gi was not to bad so I was not even nervous about the stuff they were wanting me to drink... well I'm here to tell you it was DIFFERENT... It was thinner and it tasted NASTY!!! between the DRY mouth and that nasty taste It was all I could do not to throw up... It took care of the dry mouth cause my mouth was watering from needing to yack, but that jsut got all that residue in my mouth kicked up... so I get back in the wheel chair and they leave me sitting in the hall for a transport person... trying not to throw up... well they finally show up and let me tell ya this chick must have been a power walker cause we were off.. and I was even worse off... if I had opened my mouth it would have been all over with... well we get back to my room and get me in bed and my hubby and mom take one look at me and immediatley know what is going on and they give me the SMALL kidney shaped bucket... like that would hold anything and get my nurse to bring me another shot of stuff for the i.v. Once that settled down I kind of dosed on and off till around 1 that afternoon while everyone in my room watched a movie on the lap top. The surgeon came in and saw me and asked how things were going and reminded me to get up and moving... and let me know (he had told DH earlier) that he found a hyaetal heornia (sp) and repaired that b4 he placed the band and that I would be feeling that as well. I was like cool I got a 2 for 1 deal!!! He laughed at that!! and I remembered to ask how my liver was and he said it was nice and tiny and he ahd all kinds of room to work with!!! So from there on we got up every hour and did laps around the nurses station and stayed up with the morphine and the nausea meds and just hung out... Until 1030 that night... I got a roommate who was having a hard time of it anyways and they give her an i.v. pump that beeps like an alarm clock every 5 minutes and they tell her to just keep hitting the reset button:mad2: Well we both kept telling them all about it and nothing was done so I got zero sleep and DH had enough and went home around 3am. I felt bed for her though cause she was aggriveted with it too and she had a different nurse even though we were in the same room... but who knows. Anyway back on topic... Dr. Bissell comes in to see me around 0730 and looks at the belly and lets me know that it's normal to be feeling the stitches he put in my stomache at the repair more then the port area and tells me just to be very careful about using my abdominal muscles so that they dont pull before they heal and that he heard that I had been walkign ALOT and he was glad... so was I ready to go home... in this time the i.v. in the other side of the room has gone off like 3 times and I ask if I can PLEASE go home now!!! A little paper work and a visit from Tammy and I'm off for home... Go to Kroger and get my liquid loritab and liquid ibuprofen and we're home sweet home... It has been an ok couple of days ... Sore in the middle of my upper belly right were you would have heart burn... and gas rumbling around but a good couple of days... Mom and step dad left yesterday afternoon, and hubby took kids to a movie so that I could have house to my self and I slept int he recliner in silence the whole time!!! So now it's back to life ... I am working on getting all the Water in and working towards getting all the claories in??? who knew that 1000 claories could be so hard to get in but come on when you have 20z. lite yogurt with 2oz skim mile for a meal that barley puts a dent in it... been drinking my leftover atkins shakes and K2o water to make up for it... plus I got my whey Protein bullets with 42 grams of protein each so I have been getting my protien in!! been splitting the protein bullets up to an ounce 3 times a day so I know that I am absorbing all of it!!! Well sorry this rambled on so long... making up for lost time:wub: Here's to recovery!!! Kim

Just heard form the hospital... I am the first one in tomorrow... be there at 6:15 in the morning!!! woo hoo ... now to go mow for the last time for a good few weeks... hehe will check back in on Wed. when I get released and back home. Good luck to all my fellow june 3rd comrads:) Kim

:ohmy:Less then 24 hours... it's really almost real:ohmy:

Oh and please post and talk to me dont just b a lurker :sad:

Hey all I just came from a support group meeting in Radford Va and we gave out the web address for this site and I just wanted to put a post in here where it will be easy for anyone who goes home and looks up the site to find. The Virginia thread is kind of fun to find it is under the *usa support groups* under *virginia*. There is a TON of good information in here and a lot of GREAT support!! If ya'll have any questions or need anything just give a hollar!! Great seeing all of u at the meeting and I'll be there next meeting with my story of my surgery day!!! yay:thumbup:

Well had my CARES appointment and all is going good I have lost 5 pounds since Friday!! I did find out though that I have been doing my pre-op diet wrong (kinda) I am supposed to get 64 ounces of Water plus what liquids I eat... not 64 total ounces of Fluid in a day... and my belly is already sloshy!!! I had my pre suregery screen and had labs drawn and met the anasteseologist (sp?) and will get a call monday afternoon to let me know what time to report for surgery!! It's almost really real :smile2: Kim

Wow that June list is GROWING!! Well I guess I'll go next here.. My name is Kim and I am in Virginia, I grew up in Iowa and moved out here with my husband after we were discharged from the Navy. I have 2 beautiful daughters, Martika (14) and Elena (12) I am a shift supervisor in a juvenile detention facility I am so ready for this surgery and the changes that will come with it!! I am ready to be healthy and fit... and I realize that I didnt get this way overnight and it will not be an overnight fix... I am being banded on June 3rd by dr. Bissell in radford, va Thanx in advance for all the support that you all are so willing and ready to give.. we have a GREAT group here let's all keep the FAITH Kim

The liquid diet gets easier... I started a week before with 2 shakes and a south beach dinner so that I would not go cold turkey with not eating... I slipped the first day too and beat myself up so badly it hasn't even crossed my mind again... even went to movies over the weekend and wasn't even tempted with the popcorn. I am allowed scrambled eggs, SF/FF pudding and FF cottage cheese though so its making it easier... what makes me nervous is the New York field trip... Going to take nothing but atkins shakes (as per dr) and that's all I'll have for those days but we will be away from the hotel for the whole day so getting all my calories and Protein in those days will be the challenge... but I'll be BUSY and the days will go faster!! I am starting to think I am going to wake up in recovery wondering if it's really real

Well on to day 5 here... so much fun... I really didnt notice how "drained" I feel until I went to mow last night. It takes about an hour to mow our yard with a push mower and when I got done I was shakey and sick to my stomache But surgery is a week from today!!! almost half way through the liquid diet then its the down hill slide... The New York Field trip should be interesting guess I'm living on atkins shakes for those 3 days...

12 months??? U win this round hands down!! I went on the pill because I was having very heavy cycles about 3 weeks apart and was becoming anemic.. So the more then one cycle in a month is not new just used to one every 3 months :thumbup: Long as I'm done by surgery I'll be very happy.

Wow at 19... I so wish I had this option available to me when I was 19. You are going to do great! You are making a change for the better now instead of waiting until you are 36 like me. Imagine how much better you are going to be for this. And young skin will bounce back a lot better!!! you are going to have such a better of a life SO much longer. CONGRATULATIONS to you for being proactive and doing something now!! U GO GIRL!! DONT EVER LOOK BACK!!! Kim

Ok so I go see my doctor on Thrusday for my final appointment before surgery. I sign my consent and all is well. We are going over what meds I take and I am on seasonale birth control pills. I had my tubes tied in 1996 after my second child was born and my PCP put me back on BCP's to regulate my periods. And one every 3 months is kinda nice:thumbup: Well I am Started back on a fresh pack on the 18th of June so it's only been since sunday and on thursday we have to go off of them for concerns of blood clots and surgery.... So I just got off my cycle less then a week ago and have to stop taking them now and guess what happens???:sad: I am now having a second cycle and am PMS'ing while im on my happy liquid Protein diet. Life with me around is fun today as you can tell... Just wanted to mention this so if anyone else is currently taking birth control pills they can have a heads up to plan or can ask ahead of time. Only good thing is I still have 8 days till surgery so I should be done by banding day:tt2: Kim

I'm not actually on Optifast I'm doing the atkins shakes for on the go. At home I make Protein shakes... I use the Protein powder from GNC I mix 2cups skim milk, one serving of the protein powder, 1/2 of the package of SF/FF pudding mix (about 2 1/2 tsp) and some ice, and mix it in a blender. I like the bananna pudding flavor with the choclate flavored protein mix. My nutririonist also said I can have SF/FF pudding, scrambled eggs (I got egg beaters for the lower fat, and calories so I can have more egg ), and fat free cottage cheese. I also added one more thing, (eekkk) I take FF refried Beans and salsa and FF cheddar cheese slices and heat and eat!!! nummy and about same consistancy as the eggs and cottage cheese (add skim milk to heat up left overs to loosen up) I am not limited to just the shakes so it is making it easier for me. I also took the healthy choice cream of mushroom Soup and a can of skim milk, and a can of tuna in Water and blended it in my handy dandy blender and divided it in half and heated it up with one serving of FF mozz. cheese (just like tuna casserole, could have eaten whole thing!!) only 7 more days to go I keep telling myself :sad: Kim

It's so funny u posted that Kristie, I went with my family to see the new Indiana Jones movie yesterday and was on day 3 of my liquid protien diet. I thought it would bother me, I just reminded myself while they were making our bucket of popcorn how bad all that tasty FATTENING butter would be for my shrinking liver. I actually did not even miss it... I did however drink a Protein shake right b4 we left. so on to day 4 now 7 more to go and 8 till "B" day :sad: yay for us!!!