Florida Pete

Two more days and then I will finally be at mushies!!! I cannot wait!!!

Congrats China on being banded! Welcome to being an bandster! Very glad to hear your surgery went well and that your well on your way with your recovery. I am doing very well. My incisions are looking very good and only still have just a little bit of soreness around my port incision. Working hard on my December challenge and look forward to my next weigh in on Friday! Thanks for checking back on us and best of luck with your quick recovery!

Here's the topic about the logos and how to add them to your signature.... http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f284/holiday-hotties-december-diamonds-logos-82429/

Someone was asking about the logos so I am bumping this up to the front page.

Hi Beth, I wouldn't worry to much about the nausea. It will pass as time goes on. If it's a little more then you can handle do call your doctor to get some medication to help the nausea ease. It's really nothing to be alarmed about at all as it's a natural part of the healing process. Everyone is slightly different so we all heal a little different and have slightly different side affects. Unfortunately your having the nausea sensations. Best of luck with this and like I said before call your doc if you want some meds to help you get past this.

I had surgery on Dec. 5th from Dr. Pedro Kuri in Tiajuana Mexico. I cannot say enough about him and my experience there. I would recommend him to anyone that is self paid. As for finding a doctor/facility that will do aftercare in your area (Oregon/Washington) the surgeons office most likely will have a list of fill locations for you. My surgeon did for me and there was several locations in Florida that I could go to. I know for sure also that there is a place in Salem Oregon that will take Mexico patients. Salem's my home town so I always check things out there even through I haven't lived there in 6 years. LOL

I was banded on the 5th of Dec. and haven't had much hunger at all since being banded. I am sure some is due to swelling but it sure does help going through these 2 weeks of liquid phases. My band like everyone elses was placed with no fill.

This is exactly what the hand out from my surgeon says on mushy foods.... "Soft/Mushy Foods" - Canned tuna, canned chicken, canned ham, salmon, or beef, mashed with lots of low fat mayo (try nonfat Miracle Whip!). Soft white fish like Tilapia. Mashed cottage cheese. Soft cheeses, like string cheese (small bites and chew well). 1-2 mashed, soft-boiled eggs, or a VERY moist scrambled egg or two. (Dry goods can "stick") A mashed, hard-boiled egg with low fat mayo. Any yogurt, but chew the pieces of fruit well. Very soft cooked stew meat with veggies. Soft casseroles. Any soft canned, fresh, or cooked veggies or fruit. Canned Vienna sausage, canned "potted" meat, chili. Spaghetti or other noodles with sauce. Soft meat loaf of good quality meat with no gristle. Regular oatmeal, cooked grits, a good Fiber Cereal with milk. (We suggest Kashi go Lean Crunch - great fiber and protein!) Any Soup, like "Chunky", with soft meats and vegetables. Anything similar! Eat only a few bites at first, when you first start soft foods. STOP with any pain, pressure, or discomfort. If you have no trouble, you may eat as much as 1-2 cupful or more, if you like. So that's my surgeons orders on mushy foods. Hope that helps.

I have to say I really am amazed at the foods that I have had no problems with. This was the first thing that I have missed. Even the steak my wife has had as well as other foods just have not bothered me one bit. But the sausage and cheese for some reason has teased me. LOL I know it's all in my head. But hey I am getting through it as I know this will be easier and easier as time goes on.

Not sure what your doing for your full liquids but if you can try adding things that have a little more bulk to them. The best I have found so far is pureed chilli and split pea soup. Of course I add broth to them to make them thin but still it's helped. I am still having a lot of liquid but it has eased up on the sudden need to be in the bathroom. Hope that helps!

I say skip actually going through all the troubles of mushing the food up and buy jars of baby food and season it like you would regualar food! But seriously that is the best way to describe what mushies. Babyfood consistency.

So the Holiday Goodies are coming out and more so at work then anywhere else. First was the chocolates and candies. Now there is the susages with cheeses. Soon there is the company Christmas party. How are you handling this? Not in weather your eating these treats or not but in the fact of emotionally handling NOT eating these. Today when I came into work there was the suasage and cheese blocks sitting out in the kitchen here. This is one of my huge favorites during the holidays. It's really the first time that I missed actually having something that others are having. I just am constantly reminding myself of what I am doing and how much better I will feel in a few months/years when I have lost the weight. I am still in the full liquids phase according to my surgeons orders so even getting some suasage and cheese to mush up isn't going to work. Well no worries. So what am I doing to avoid temptation? Easy! The band. I am so scared of getting something caught in my throat and PBing that I am not willing to take the chance. Maybe next week when I am on mushies I can have some for a small lunch. LOL We will see.

First off my surgeon said to keep the vigerous exercise down for the first month to give the incisions time to heal. To much twisting etc etc and you can pull the incisions loose and further damage yourself. With that said I have been out walking every day. 20 to 30 minutes at a time. The great part too is that my wife is right there with me. We come home from work, change clothes, and then head right out for our walk. It's great because we support each other in getting more fitness into our daily habits. In January after my stomach has had time to heal then I will add more exercising to my routine. Today in fact my wife and I started talking about what we could add. With our 14 month old we would like to add something that we could actually do together at home so we're not trying to coordinate being away from the house. She has some exercise videos that I am going to look at and probably do with her. In addition I will probably start adding some strength building exercises like push ups, sit ups, crunches, etc etc. That's my initial plan.

Best of luck to all those who will be banded today and this week! I know you will do well! Get up and walk around as soon as possible. This will help in your quick recovery! I can hardly believe this is the 3rd week in December and that so many of us are already banded! Before we all know it we will be banded and into 2009 losing weight like crazy people! Can't wait for our 1 year anniversary to Celebrate all the weightloss success stories we will have!!!

Hey Saara! Good to hear from you! That is great that you have lost 10lbs already! Feels great to know the band is working for us huh! It's funny but over the weekend is when I finally have gotten tired of the liquids and pure liquids Soups and look forward to the mushies phase that we get to start on Sunday! I too am still a bit sore at my port incision. Most of my sutures have fallen off on all my other incisions. I think I have one left on those but still have all of them on my port incision. I can sleep on that side but need a pillow as a cushion over there. I have been out walking every day and look forward to stepping up the exercise routine in another month or so. Keep up the great work and it was a blast having surgery with you and the others! Pete

When you created your ticker it asked you to create a pin number for your ticker. What you need to do now is click on your ticker and then it pull up the website to edit your ticker. Enter your pin number and click the "Edit/Update Weight Data" button and you can then update your weight. On that next page where you update your weight there is a "next" button towards the bottom of the page and this is what actually records the updated weight. Once that is done then your ticker should automatically update from there. I hope that helps.

Hiya! Dr. Kuri was excellent. He was very calming and took time to talk to us the day before the surgery and even joked with us. There was 4 of us the day of our surgery and he had met with us a group the night before. My incisions are healing very well and are nice and small. Dr. Kuri has one of the best bed side manners in all the doctors that I have ever seen. He treated me as a person and not as a "patient" so to speak. The hospital was exceptionally clean and felt more like a hotel rather then a hospital. Fact was the hospital was actually nicer then the hotel we all stayed at the night after. The staff at the hospital was all very professional and polite. Most of them did not speak a word of english but usually there was one person around that could. If I needed anything there was always someone there who spoke english to assist me. The one thing I would suggest you do before going to any surgeon outside of the USA is to locate a fill center to get your follow ups and fills at. For me I have to travel about 45 minutes away to get mine done. Others I know have more problems and have to travel further and of course there are those that don't have to travel that far at all. To sum things up I would have to say it was an excellent experience. I would recommend Dr. Kuri to anyone considering traveling to Mexico for sugery.:tongue2:

In most cases the pre-op diet is all about shrinking your liver and not about "losing" weight before surgery. Your liver is a very large organ in your body and is right next to your stomach. So doctors put people on a pre-op diet to shrink the liver giving them more space to work around your stomach. I have seen a couple of people who have been told to lose a certain amount of weight before surgery but that often times has more to do with insurance then it does the surgery itself. Good luck to you both!

Don't be worried about the pain ladies. It's different for every person I have seen. When I went to Mexico on the 5th for my surgery there was 3 other gals there whom all had surgery the same day as I. We all got to know each other and are communicating via email now as to how we are all doing etc etc. Anyway one gal was pretty wore out and was taking the pain meds. Another lady was taking the pain meds but up and moving around with little problems. The third gal and myself both were not taking any pain meds and up and moving around no problems. All of us by the second day had improved. The one gal who was hit the hardest out of the 4 of us was on her pain meds for almost a week but is getting out and doing ok now. Of course the other 3 of us around doing really good too. Myself of course haven't taken any pain meds at all and have been back at work living my life as I should be. Well of course drinking liquids instead of eating foods. LOL So no worries. Just make sure you drink lots of Water, get some gas-x to help with any gas pains you might have, and get up and walk every two hours. I posted this on another thread last night.... Go to Graphical Tickers and Trackers: Weight Loss, Trying To Conceive, Pregnancy... and follow the steps to make your own ticker. Then copy the BB code and on this site go to the "User CP" link in the upper left and edit your signature. From then paste the BB code and bahda bing bahda boom your signature has a ticker!

Thanks for sharing Jitterbug and congrats on getting banded! Good luck on a quick recovery! One key I have found is to make sure to drink plenty of water and get out and walk as much as you can. The more walking you can do the faster your recovery will be not to mention it will help with the weight loss.

Go to Graphical Tickers and Trackers: Weight Loss, Trying To Conceive, Pregnancy... and follow the steps to make your own ticker. Then copy the BB code and on this site go to the "User CP" link in the upper left and edit your signature. From then paste the BB code and bahda bing bahda boom your signature has a ticker!

Very cool Sarah! I am following your blog now too! It's great to be able to share these with everyone.

I haven't had the hiccups at all but I am totally there with you that there has been several times that my stomach has growled and I did not feel hungry at all. Kind of cool LOL

The best advice to give for getting past the first initial surgery point is to drink plenty of water and get up every two hours and walk. The walking really helps with getting your body to adjust to having had being filled up with gas. Other then that time.

I have been really afraid of getting things stuck also. That's why when I puree my food I make sure it is as liquid in consistency as possible. No chunks what so ever. I tell you I was actually really nervous the first time I took my medications with the fear that they would get stuck. Thank God they didn't but I still haven't been even dare tried foods that are chunky. One thing I have noticed is I still really am not getting hungry. I will if I don't eat anything at all but so long as I have a shake in the morning and then the Soups at lunch and dinner I just never get hungry.