RestlessMonkey

Yes. Bring bananas. :confused: We'll make banana margaritas. For Richard and the monkeys.

EEKS! Sorry but I meant just the opposite; I think it's cruel for surgeons to do fills during surgery! I know we get hungry but IMHO (and it is just opinion) I think being hungry is better than some poor souls you read about who vomit and can't even keep water down and end up back in the ER and then find out "OOPS you had a fill during surgery and apparently it was too much". That's just bad. I'd rather be starving for a little while than in the ER getting saline or whatever! And I was starved until mushies but it was worth it! :confused: I didn't even get protein shakes for week 1. By the time I got them for week 2 they almost tasted good again! LOL

I think to be on the safe side you should all check with your surgeons on Monday and until then just remain hydrated.

You should check with your surgeon to be sure but I drank "normally" from right after my surgery. I never measured it out by the ounce. I didn't GULP ever...or chug, but I drank. At this stage, I believe, if it goes down ok (and is liquid...don't cheat by advancing foods sooner than your diet allows) then you don't need to worry. I THINK (again I've not confirmed with my doc, this is just me putting it together from what I've read etc) in the "early" days of the band, they were one size fits all and many people couldn't keep liquids down because the bands started out tight for some. Now that they are more sized, (and as less surgeons start people out WITH fills...which personally I think is cruel, but that's JMO) many of us don't have issues that early bandsters may have suffered. The band is open at the top and the bottom. Unless you are REALLY swollen or REALLY filled (or both) liquid will just go on through. I believe sometimes they tell you to do things like "sip 2 ounces every hour" or whatever to make sure it will go through and to make sure it doesn't make you nauseated (many react that way post op) Once you gingerly drink a bit and see that it doesn't nauseate you or make you feel over full (you'd feel it, just like you would preband if you drank say 16-24 ounces of water quickly...your stomach would feel stretched. Same way you'd feel odd or pressure if the water is hanging in your pouch) then I think you can drink more. Again..don't chug it. Don't guzzle. But I could take a normal swallow, and once I knew that was down (5 seconds or so?) I'd drink another. This is not to countermand your doc's advice and I don't know all this, again, just what I have "come up" with puzzling it out and so on. Your doc should've given you a post op diet with a fluid volume to have per hour. If he didn't, then don't worry about it, just follow the diet he gave you but don't worry about volume.

It doesn't make any difference, for me at least. It matters how well I chew, WHAT the food is, if it's well done (for steak...gotta have it well done) but otherwise cold/hot doesn't make any difference.

Yeah, I'm pretty tough and I was REALLY motivated and I just couldn't go plain old "broth". I tried. But the other works fine as long as it's well strained! :scared2: Congrats on your band! :tt1:

I don't know about your brands in Australia...but I just strained Campbell's chicken noodle during clears...or occasionally the "Progreso" soups that arev"light" and have WW points on them...I'd strain, give husband the "stuff" and I'd drink the broth.

You have to do what your surgeon says. I know mine aren't just lying there or I wouldn't be able to eat, I take so many each day! :scared2: but each person's doc is the final word. glad mine lets me take mine though.

I did that when I was on full liquids...but I took the can of soup, about 1/2 can of water, and ran it all through my stunningly adorable pink mini food processor I bought for post op! :scared2: It is really good that way, and totally smooth and thick. I couldn't have it until week 2, but it was wonderful.

I have a lapband AP (mine is the L) and my doc said it only had a little "primer" in it...which makes sense, otherwise the first fill would just fill the tubing from the port to the band. So I don't think most are "prefilled"....or if so, not enough to count. However, surgeons can (and sadly do) put more in during surgery...and for some people that is just too much for them to handle while healing.

I agree. Your banding surgeon needs to step in and help you out. Pronto.

Well it's your body. You need to know if you have Fluid in there or not. Because if you do, it needs to be removed. Honestly you are in the "healing" stage and I know it's been rough for you but someone needs to take the reins for your health care and I think you need to step up! At 3 weeks ice cream won't hurt you. It won't help you much but it won't hurt you. It sounds to me like you are really just depressed; this is partly because you feel cruddy. You feel cruddy because you've been "Too tight" from the time the band was installed. You should either FIND another surgeon, or realize that you are going to have to take a less passive role in your health care. I hope I don't sound mean because I don't want to; but if I were where you are I might shake you a little! :scared2: Of COURSE once you're healed you can live on turkey on whole wheat with lettuce and tomatoes if you want to. I can only assume you tried weight watchers before you took the large step of having surgery, and at some point realized you (like 95% of the people who try diets alone) could NOT do it without help. That reasoning was sound. Right now you aren't really thinking too well because you've been through a 3-week long ordeal. SO 1. QUIT feeling guilty because you want to feel better 2. FIND OUT for sure if you have a fill left. Either way tell them you are in misery. They can give you something to reduce the swelling 3. IF you can't get satisfaction, find a better surgeon/office. It's the rest of your life. I am sure, as good as the ice cream may have been, you don't want to eat it forever. None of us do. Most of us don't have to. You are my age; I know we grew up thinking docs were just almost little godlets. Well, they aren't. What if your beloved daughter was getting the run around like you are? Would you be passive? or be a tigress? You are worthy of good care too, you know; but you aren't getting it.

WOW I could only have clear liquids the first week so I couldn't have been able to have that...so people need to make sure they are cleared for it first!

That stuck feeling almost always is due to operator error....either you eat too large a bite, don't chew well, or are full (not likely in your case) Make sure you take a smallish first bite and chew it very well. Make sure you are getting 64 oz of water in each day (dehydrated person=tight band)

The smaller you are (ie lower BMI) the harder it is, and that is just a sad sad fact. At least you are close to where you want to be, although frustrated. Maybe joining weight watchers, or an appt with a good nutritionist, would be in order? It's hardest to lose the last ones, I know...you're SO CLOSE but not there.

Do you still have fluid in your band?

You need to contact your doctor about this.

If I eat a good dinner at 8 and am up late, I can get REALLY hungry by 2AM. Since my doc says "NO SNACKS" and I'm trying mightily to comply, I go to bed hungry. (I never did that pre-band). I can be TRULY hungry (I mean, 3 oz of steak at 8pm only goes so far) but tune it out and fall asleep...and when I wake up... I AM NOT HUNGRY! Don't know why though because like I said I never ever wake up hungry. If I could bottle that and sell it, and stretch it 24 hours, I'd be a rich rich Monkey!

Click on HOME and then scroll down until you find "Surgeons and Hospitals" that's where most doc talk is located. Plus you can search for info using the search engine (top right...caption between "new posts" and "quick links") And there are people banded in Mexico who post here so hopefully one will see your post and respond; but since you don't have "Mexico/TJ" or some such in the thread title it may be missed.

I don't wake up hungry but honestly I never have. So I guess I'm not a good help here! How to decide on a fill... here's a PDF file on page 2 is the chart in my doc's office it should help you decide and yes being stuck, unless you are SUPER tight, is a sign of mechanical error...ie you didn't chew well, you ate too fast, you took too large a bite It doesn't really indicate "the sweet spot" or "the green zone" I've also found hunger can relate to WHAT I choose to eat. I'm not diabetic but if I have more carbs I get hungrier faster, more Protein I can go longer (which makes sense; it takes our bodies longer, generally, to digest the protein) So look at WHAT you're eating. If you can eat over 1 cup or so of food, have a meal with adequate protein, and still get hungry "too soon" you need a fill. Make sure though that you're really "hungry" and not just nibbling or bored or whatever. OH and here's that chart! :scared2: http://www.core.monash.org/patient-care.pdf I don't know about the rest of the info in the file; i just did a quick and dirty google search for the chart.

I don't know who told you this info (about "fiber powders will stretch out your new stomach") but I believe it is blatantly wrong. You might want to confirm with your doc. What stretches your pouch is overeating. Fiber is better for your digestive system than taking weekly milk of mag doses. Most healthy females need about 25-28g of fiber a day, men a little more, no one "needs" milk of magnesia. It's safest to ask your doc what to do for constipation, and do it. carbonation doesn't generally stretch the stomach either...it just causes gas which is really painful for most of us, especially in the first months post op.

Ok being really honest here: I took (and still do) EVERYTHING I read on there with a grain of salt (and I will include my posts in this as well). ALL this info is anecdotal and you know the nature of the internet; the info can be dicey. Having said that, use this to get info to confirm (or disprove) using your surgeon, and published data.... For every person who is gaining weight on 900 cal a day there is one who is losing 2 pounds a day eating 2000 cal. In other words, unless you KNOW the whole picture, you don't know. People may intentionally lie. They may accidentally omit vital info. They may have undiagnosed issues. They may be just "guessing" ... at calories, or exercise level, or whatever. OR they may be telling the stone cold truth. BUT you don't know this. I have regular posters that I trust more than those I don't know, and some regular posters I totally dismiss (because according to my knowledge base I know they are off or wrong) but if the info impacts me, or if I am going to pass it on, I TRY to confirm it. So remember that when you read here. Not all people are you; not all are as particular about their info. They may be 100% earnest in trying to help but misremember their doc's info, or have heard from a friend who heard it from her AUNT who asked HER best friend's doc, or whatever. There doesn't have to be malicious intent to misinform. Even if everything you read is true, do you KNOW it will apply to you? So...chill out, use the good brain you've got, ask your surgeon the stuff that rings true (or false) to clarify, read some books, and remember the nature of this beast. We try to be helpful, but we all have different skill levels, knowledge levels, and what is totally anecdotal doesn't necessarily pertain to you.

I'd pass on the straw for a few months actually. tipping your head back won't make a difference; you swallow the air in the straw. A little goes a long way post op.

don't put a heating pad over surgical sites without your surgeon's approval...if you have sutures that dissolve with heat and they are superficial you may dissolve them prematurely. :scared2:

Check with your surgeon...seriously, tell him what you ate and when (even the PB and cheezits..) and let him decide. Odds are you'll be ok but better safe than sorry. (I can say this w/some conviction since I was "sorry" and didn't get my band the first time out)