Sask Patient

I couldn't agree more! One of the neatest things about the having my band is being able to order an appetizer as my main course and be TOTALLY satisfied with it. Or, as Snowbird said, taking the majority of my meal home and then having at least one more meal. All my life I have cleaned my plate... always... to be able to take some home is the REAL treat for me. You will be able to continue to eat out - and likely at all of the same places you did before which is so great. Just try to remember to choose wisely, TAKE SMALL BITES THAT YOU EAT SLOWLY (that's my biggest downfall still), and chew chew chew! GOOD LUCK! And ENJOY! Congrats on becoming a BANDSTER! Stace:thumbup:

Hey there - I have definitely felt this happen as I have put myself into voluntary hell on earth by trying to "sip my way through it" too... THAT is an awesome analogy! GAWD how that hurts sometimes! Anyhow, I had to look up STOMA with a Google search because I always thought it was the opening created by the band that goes between the pouch and the stomach... I always believed that the stoma is what changes with each fill... the more fill the tighter the stoma. Anyhow, here's what I found in a Glossary on one Lapband™ website: Stoma: The stomach outlet created by the LAP-BAND between the two parts of the stomach. The size of the stoma regulates the flow of food from the upper pouch to the lower part of the stomach

TREMENDOUS WORK!!! Good for you!! :scared2:)

WOW! You are doing fantastic!! Keep up the great work! Congratulations... Stacey

:biggrin: Hi guys - one website that I've found that helps me is Shrinkyourself.com but there is a fee to go through the course... and it really is more about emotional eating, but I have fallen in love with it. Here's a couple of things I do to try and stop mindless eating "head hunger" from getting a hold of me... take a bath, sweep the floor, brush and floss my teeth, brush the dogs... anything BUT give in-particularly at night. And now I have set myself a firm and fast rule - absolutely NO food after 8PM to help with that evening food frenzy... Good luck with it - here for you anytime!! Stace PS - CONGRATS TO BOTH OF YOU on your AWESOME LOSSES!!! I fought the whole Bandster Hell thing for a long time - just had my first fill this past weekend and I am DEFINITELY feeling it so now I can't wait for the "real" losing to get moving...

Hey there Sunwyse - you bet they did - "full liquids for 24" and I managed to stick to that until that darn bite of chicken... it was a stupid move on my part... I let myself get hungry which was dumb... so I deserved that PB episode completely! Got what I deserved. And I SMARTENED UP with that swift kick... All is well, feeling really good. Thanks so much for the tip though! Next time it will be full liquids ONLY for that first 24 hrs. No matter what... Stace:smile2:

OMG!!! JACK!!!! :biggrin: THAT TOTALLY CRACKED ME UP!!! :cool2: FUNNIEST THING I'VE READ IN AGES!!! :tt2: HAHAHHAHAHAAAA!!!! So funny, AND so TRUE!!! Oh wow... :biggrin: And Shrinknme - awesome to catch you here on the board! Great to hear from you girl! Our bands are different for sure 'cuz my max fill is 4cc's so I'm already half way there. Feelin' good though - and just got back from a KICK A** workout at Curves - burned it up baby! Hey Jack - here's a fill question (sorry, changing topic a wee bit here). I've heard that a fill can actually tighten more in the weeks following. Have you ever had this happen to you? SNOWBABY - don't worry - it's really not like vomitting but it's still something that I would try to avoid in public washrooms if I could. But if it happens it happens I guess. Don't get too worked up about it before it even happens though - if you really do stick to the whole chew chew chew rule and are careful to experiment with new foods at home, you'll be OK. HUGS - Stace

Hey there Snowbaby! You don't sound stupid at ALL! I didn't know what it was either... it's a "Productive Burp" and boy do they mean productive! Sorry but the whole description is kinda gross but I shall do my best. The "Sliming" I referred to is this thick mucus like spit :thumbup: that comes up when something you eat can't make it through the stoma (the hole between your pouch and stomach...the hole created by the band being around your stomach). Anyhow, when I swallowed that bite of chicken and hadn't chewed it properly, it couldn't get through. I got a feeling that I've seen described many times as a "golf ball in my chest" - that's pretty darn accurate too! And then my body wanted to belch... but instead, this "slime" stuff would come up. Kinda like very mild wretching when you are sick but not nearly that strong or violent at all. It happened quite a few times, one slimy spit right after the other and then a piece of that bite of chicken came up... :smile2: then a bit more slime and then another piece of that chicken bite. And that was pretty much the end of it. None of the bile like when you throw up either so it didn't burn - it was just kinda gross. I still found it all fascinating too (the human body and it's wonders amazes me!). After the chicken came out the golf ball was gone, no more slimy spitting, no more burpy feeling... All in all it probably lasted about 10 minutes, but I have definitely heard of it lasting a lot longer for some. And folks also say to not swallow anything else when it's happening - I thik that's very sound advice - wouldn't want to actually! Anyhow, sorry for the graphic note, but that was my experience and my goodness it has COMPLETELY reminded me the importance of those bandster basics again!! Little bite - chew chew chew.... chew chew chew! GOOD LUCK! Stace

Hi guys - just speaking from my own personal experience. I had my surgery in Tijuana on Aug 20th... I live in Canada and flew home on the 24rd. We flew from SanDiego to Minneapolis and from there to our home in Saskatchewan. I had no problems at all. In January we are flying to Cuba & I'm not at all worried about it. I wouldn't be too concerned but see how your doctor responds and what others have to say. Good luck! Stace

Hey there Jack - thanks so much for the tip! I actually reheated some of that chicken for lunch today before I read your note and it definitely did require some serious chewing and teeny bites - just about got stuck. No sliming, but I stopped eating it lemme tell ya! I won't reheat anymore unless it's in the oven... Anne - I totally understand how you feel. I always said that if I didn't know that I had surgery, I wouldn't know I had surgery... feeling the full sensation again is tremendous and you will know exactly what I mean. GOOD LUCK!! Stace

Hey there! I was banded on Aug 20th and I'm down 25 lbs as of today. I just had my first fill yesterday so we'll see how it goes now. BUT - I say ABSOLUTELY get your pictures done! As tough as it is to do it is so worth it! I took a whole bunch right before surgery and they are even posted on this website (they are scary!!) and then I took more on the one month surgery anniversary (I was down 23 lbs). When I looked into the camera after taking each pic (I take my own with the timer function) I thought "aw geez-I don't really see much difference", but then I put them onto the computer and really looked at each shot before and after, side by side and whole SMOKES is there EVER a difference! I'm sure you will see one too! I take them in a door way and always wear the same clothes and pose the same positions. It's pretty amazing and I am so glad that I am documenting the journey. It's totally a personal choice but for me, I am glad I'm "taking notes". It helps on those days that I'm not totally on my game too. GOOD LUCK and keep us in the loop!!! Stace ps - I will try and get the updated pix posted in the next day or so...

SO... I had my first fill yesterday, and was given 2cc's which I thought sounded like quite a lot. We had to drive 2 & 1/2 hrs from home for the fill and there is no fluro. The gal administering it had me drink some water and that felt OK. I tried some pudding that I had taken along right afterwards to see how it felt and I was fine with that so we went for lunch. I had some soup and milk and felt pretty good. By now it was about 2PM. We got back home by about 7PM, but by then I was really hungry. :drool: I had a small bite of chicken. Didn't chew it properly obviously, because, you guessed it - experienced my first PB and sliming incident. :thumbup: But you know what was the weirdest thing... I didn't get freaked out by it. In fact, I was almost facinated by it! The body is an amazing thing. Sure it wasn't the nicest experience ever, but I almost found it a relief. Yah, call me crazy, but knowing that I have real restriction again is just FANTASTIC! :rolleyes2: I had my surgery on Aug 20th and had to wait this long for the first fill, and try as I may, I was definitely falling back into my old bad habits again. I was just so hungry and all consumed by food again. :glare: This was a great reminder to get back to my Bandster Basics. Since the PB incident I had cottage cheese and some potatoe salad which were both fine, but tonite had to go out for supper. I ordered angel hair pasta with bolognese sauce (didn't want to have another bout of it in the restaurant by choosing a solid meat dish) but the order came as spaghetti so I just went with it - I ate the proper little bites and chewed really well - with no problems at all. And felt that WONDERFUL ol' satisfied feeling again in no time with just a small amount of food. :w00t: In fact, I brought most of it home. I will try a bit of chicken again tomorrow, and see how that goes if I follow the rules and just take my time. Anyhow -just wanted to say to anyone who hasn't had a PB or slime happen to them, at least in my own personal one time experience, don't panic, relax, put your arms above your head, let the "slime" happen and just try better next time. It's all part of learning our new life rules... and I am loving every minute of it! Now I'm gonna go and get my gym bag packed for tomorrow's workout at Curves!:smile2: Have a great week everyone!!! Stace

Thank you all for this wonderful advice! :blushing: Everything you have all said makes so much sense. I am so relieved in knowing that in all likelihood my pouch is just fine. That was my biggest worry of all. Since losing it with thast terrible binge, :sad_smile: I have gone back onto ShrinkYourself.com as of Sunday so I can work on my emotional eating issues again (I think they will always need to be worked on!) and I will also get back onto TheDailyPlate.com and start tracking my intake again. I appreciate that you have all sent your warm support and so I will take your kind advice and stop beating myself up. What's done is done and I can only move on. Today is a good day-thanks largely in part to your responses. :rolleyes2: I am going to CURVES for a good workout right after work, and I can not wait to get sweating again! One day at a time... I just gotta remember that! Thanks again everyone! You are the best support system!!! :thumbs_up: Stace

Thanks so much guys - I appreciate your kinds words and that you can understand where I am coming from. My fill has to stay Nov 1st unfortunately because I have to travel 2 1/2 hrs away and it was the first date that I could get that works for the RN performing it, myself and my husband's schedules. I'll be booking my second one right away in hopes I can get in again early Dec. (I'm guessing that I'll need more than one fill for sure!). Bonnie, I hadn't posted anything on this site for over a month myself so I think just getting back on here and conversing with folks going through the same thing will help all in itself. CONGRATULATIONS ON 40 POUNDS!!! That is so tremendous! I'm at 20 now (gained 3 back). So far tonite I haven't eaten a thing since 8PM and definitely won't now, but I will have some more water... And I will keep my exercise regimen up. I started back at CURVES last Saturday and joined the Smart program which is a great workout. Thanks so much again for your encouragement guys! You are so right - I haven't come this far to let old habits and demons win!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!! xoxox Stace