raitsky

Hamburger meat is actually very difficult for many people - myself included. What I would try (and was recommended to me by my surgeon) would be Wendy's Chili with Cheese - small bites and chew. It's tasty and goes down. Get a small - and have half for lunch, half for dinner. Also - lately I have been able to eat steak. Get tender cuts and grill them - cut into small bites and chew until there's nothing left.

Honestly - my surgeon/nutritionist gave me a two week diet of low fat, protein shake, etc. stuff BUT I was told that it honestly didn't matter. As long as I wasn't eating french fries every day, I would be OK. The point is (especially for very heavy people) to reduce the amount of fat in your liver (at least that's what they told me) which reduces the risk of problems for your surgery. I didnt do the diet and I'm one year post-op. I had no medical problems after the surgery from not dieting.

Hey there! So, after surgery, I was sort of scared to eat or drink. They scare you so much about the vomitting after surgery that I was terrified. HOWEVER, after a week or so, I was drinking normally. It is important NOT to chug because you do not want to swallow too much air. When air gets trapped you can suffer gas pains and/or vomitting. Also - if you haven't done so already, give up soda. It is NOT worth the effort to burp. It is painful and when I have had soda, I usuallly ended up throwing up. I hope that helps!

I had my surgery in October 2007. I had bad pain in the left shoulder for a few weeks after that. The surgeon and nurse both told me that it is very common for shoulder pain to occur when you have any laparascopic surgery because gas/air gets trapped and it needs to dissipate. I still get shoulder pain if I eat too much and end up throwing up. The surgeon said that when you throw up, you aggravate the area that the band is in, which can in turn, aggravate the shoulder. My solution for shoulder pain? One advil and elevate my left arm over my head - it really works (for some reason!)