riley4183

Yeah scale is going down again!! It took me an freaking HOUR to eat my lunch yesterday because all I brought was the ham and it had gotten stuck the day before - not too smart on my part, but I had already packed my lunch for next day when I got stuck . . anyways I chewed AND chewed AND chewed, it took that full hour to eat 1 slice of ham! This is like Easter ham slice, not lunchmeat, so 1/4 inch thick or so, and D-R-Y. I know you are not supposed to eat for an hour , but what am I gonna do?? I have discovered that I DO get full again, but it is different that right after surgery . . I feel it further up, and it takes me about 1/2 hour to feel it - not a few minutes like before. VERY weird. Also I am feeling a little tight once in a while in the mornings, which makes me want just black (decaf) coffee which is fine, today I also want strawberries - nice and moist - but I could NOT eat ham right now. So happy to see your posts Tina - happy band-day to you! Bad time for your internet to be down! Nicole, I practically lived on pureed chili when I was on full liquids, found out later from Robin that beans are not allowed until Stage 5 - same as salad! Oh well, I was fine. Happy Tuesday all! Riley

I had my first fill Friday, a whole 1cc (I had 2 in at surgery). We (Kaiser) have to wait 6 weeks between fills, so I think you guys are pretty lucky to be getting in there every week or month! I have to go see a nutritionist, too, before my surgeon will give me another fill, and how much they give me will depend in part on what the nutritionist says. So . . I don't get it. After my surgery in Feb., I was not hungry and could only eat a small amount before I got "stuffed." Nothing ever got stuck; I never knew the band was there, I just wasn't hungry and got full eating 1/4 cup. That went away a month after surgery, I could eat a cup + and not feel full. I figured once I got a fill I would feel full again with very little, and not be hungry . .right? Wrong. Now I am hungry and it's hard to eat because stuff gets stuck!! It takes forever to get full. I can't eat stuff like salads yet (I am still on "mushies") so what to do? We don't get to have protein shakes in my program. This is the hungriest I've been yet, even worse than when I was on liquids! And I have to wait another 6 weeks for a fill . . . . ideas anyone?

Oh gosh no, no YIM - I'm at work in a governmental office! Just posting on my little break . . . OK no shake, I am having some sugar-free soy milk and will wait until lunch :-)

Oh my God Nicole, you are almost in one-derland!!!!! We should have a (diet jello) party!!!

Good morning Nicole; I don't know if I should tell Robin or not. For my second fill, I have to meet with her first and the amount that I get for my fill depends in part on what she says. I mean I don't want to get yelled at or anything, but I also think I'm only hurting myself if I am not totally honest! I just got a little stuck on a sliced strawberry. I am not supposed to be eating those yet either unless I "peel" them so there are no seeds - c'mon! I sliced them up good . . . So I don't know if the salad thing is going to work or not now, seeing that I have gotten stuck 2x in 1 day since I got the fill! I was eating salads (lettuce only) with no problems before the fill, but maybe not so much now . . Boy, I can really see how folks end up drinking their calories. . I am hungry, but everything that I brought to eat today (strawberries, ham and asparagus) has a good chance of getting stuck! It makes me want to go have a protein shake - or some chocolate pudding, SOMEthing that will go down without getting caught. I am going to have to go home at lunch and get my leftover hot n sour soup. Maybe I need to go back to puree for a while . . . . . Riley

WELL I'm not sure how well that first fill worked, it was only 1cc so I have 3cc total in my band now. Dr. Baggs said I might not feel any restriction from this first fill, and I really don't - although for the first time I got something stuck yesterday, my third bite of Easter ham! It was mighty uncomfortable but went down with small sips of warm water finally. I did NOT want to eat after that, but of course an hour later I was hungry so I ate again. DOH!!! I really miss the "full" feeling that I got for the first month after surgery, I do not feel full at all now and I mean I ate like a whole (thin) slice of ham and then 10 (ten!) big fat (well-cooked of course) asparagus - whole ones! And I still did not have the full feeling like I did before. This was WAY over a full cup of food. So I really, really hope that the next fill will give me that back. Meantime, I am starting to eat like I did pre-band to lose the weight pre-op - salads and vegies, which are not in my current food stage. Grr!

That sounds perfect! BAD Vicodin Re: tylenol chewables, actually I did not buy the brand name because it had too much sugar, I got the store name (I think it was Rite-Aid, might have been Walgreens) jr chewables - grape flavored, but oh well! Before that I had the Safeway brand of kids' chewables, they were yummy like bubble gum but it took a long time to take 16 of them! And 1 bottle was only 2 doses. It was so worth it tho, to be off that Vicodin. I took it only at night for 1 night and then decided that the tylenol was doing just as much good.

When I was preggers & had to take extra iron, it worked overnight. But you've been depleted, it may take a wee bit longer to re-build your stores up to a "feel good" level! I'll bet you notice a difference right away tho. And not taking the thyroid meds can't be helping things either! Oh well, you're back on track now. Blame the forgetfullness on the vicodin - that's what I would do :thumbup:

3 days!!!!! Girlfriend, "crap" is right! Poor thing, I really hope it helps! I had all my vitamins ON my bed with me so the rolled over and nudged me every few hours, LOL - so I would remember to take them! I get TERribly week with no iron. Feel better soon hunny!

Wow Christine, I so hoped you'd feel good by now . . .you are too too tired girlfiend? How are you on iron? You ARE taking your vitamins with iron, right? In my experience, it took a good 24 hours to get the after-effects of the Vicodin outta me. I just can't stand that stuff! It sure works tho :-) Feel better hunny!!!:thumbup:

Nicole, keep on them! They will not be there over the weekend so if you need to be seen, you need to go this afternoon. Call Liz if need be, let her nag him & then you won't have to feel bad about it. Dr. Baggs told me today that they dig out a little place for the port before they stich it in, and the blood & fluids fill in that "hole" & make it stick out & be uncomfortable under your ribs. . . . . . after a few weeks, you body re-absorbs those fluids and you get flat again in the port area. In your case, it sounds like the fluids are just coming out! So my fill - YAY! It's SO cool. You lie down, he looks at all your scars and tells you how great they look, cleans the port area (his nurse started using iodine on me - I'm allergic - & they stopped and got that off of me and cleaned it with something else) - then he give you a little shot of local (just a little pinch - REALLY), then he puts the big needle in, which I did not feel AT ALL. He draws all the liquid out - they have to make sure you don't have a leak - then puts it all back in + 1 cc (for me anyway). I FELT THAT! SO cool. It was the first time I ever felt my band! Then, while he still has the needle in there, you drink a couple of sips of water through a straw to make sure that you are not too blocked. If you can swallow, you are done! You sit up and get a little band-aid. That's all there was to it! Clear liquids only for 24 hours. Your little tummy must revolt and swell a little, because I can feel it when I drink water now. Cool! I had 2 cc's in my band at surgery, so now with this fill I have 3 cc's. I have not been getting full since the beginning of April, so I hope this helps. He said I might not feel restriction with this one, but that I would after the next one - which is schduled for May 22nd. I hope I feel it now! I am sure hungry right now, and can only have clear liquids. That sucks, but it'll jump start my weight loss again. Even though I am unhappy about gaining 3 lbs back, he was thrilled with my weight loss so I feel motivated again. Yay!

Going down to Richmond today for my first fill . . . I had lost 23 lbs. after surgery, but have gained 3 or 4 of those back, yucko! I can eat like a horse now, and I mean ANYthing. I stated eating salads because gosh I am eating so much volume, I have to have something less dense! NOTHING has gotten stuck, made me sick, or anything like that. I did get some "sliming" with cottage cheese gulped down w/out chewing 1 time, but that was it. Now it feels like my band just fell off! I hope he gives me a lot of saline today. Christine, I didn't ever do the liquid tylenol - too much sugar. Instead I did the chewable "jr" ones made for older kids, if you get the ones made for little widdle kids you have to eat like 12 of them!

I stopped taking it when I started halluciniating, which was a Saturday - and surgery was a MOnday, so . . . 5 days? I used almost all of it. It does have a refill ya know!

Just right if it's working for you! You are walking a bit more than I did the second day, I took little baby walks - my son came along to steady me, as I was on the drugs and not too steady - but at least it got me outside, which I REALLY needed. I took about 3, 10-minute SLOW walks a day until day 4 when I felt great and did 4 miles! (POOPED after that, then got the infection & back to the hospital that night). You do have to push yourself to walk, but even just puttering around the house counts, as long as you are moving!

On day 2, I was taking the full 2 and I was taking it every 4 hours! That day HURT! By day for I was taking 1, but there is a HUGE difference between day 2 and day 4.

Christine, you are in the hurty-est day - day 2 is the worst. It will get WAY better every day after today, I promise! Nap, meds, walk, nap, meds, walk (that's what Dr. Baggs told me) Keep up on those meds and let them help you sleep! I hate meds too but I took the Lortab for 6 days, by day 4 I was taking it only at night but I did keep taking it(until I started hallucinating - really!). By Day 4 you will be bored to death and puttering around cleaning, I promise. Right now just nap-med-walk. And kiss your scale, it's a beautiful thing!! Just so there's not any confusion about this ladies, the port burns like heck. REALLY, there is a foreign object in there and your body does NOT like it. It gets steadily better, but it hurts for just about a month.

Yikes, shake that cold right away! They do ask you about any cold or sore throat in pre-op, and it can delay your surgery! I was so scared of getting one that I took Airborne, Zicam, Zinc, Cold MD and mega-doses of Vitamin C for the 2 weeks leading up to my surgery! Hopefully it will have run its course by Monday!

YAY Christine!! So glad you are doing so well. I DID get the big weight gain after surgery, and it took 10 days to leave! Then I dropped like a rock tho, LOL. Enjoy this fast loss time! I had the same pain under my left rib for a month - it's from the port. Are you swollen there, too? Still not losing . . . .playing ping-pong with the same 2 lbs. . . I am working off 1000 calories a day tbrough excercise, eating loess than 1000, and NOT LOSING!!! I am VERY frustrated. I hope my fill on Friday really works. . . . .

Sending up a prayer for your right now Christine, flat liver perfect band placement & speedy recovery!!! You will do great.:smile2: Nicole - I never had bandster hell, I seriously was just not hungry. I tried to delay advancing food stages even! I did protein and only protein, which probablky helped a LOT. I lived on canned chicken & tuna . . . . unsweetened soy milk turned them to soup - let me know if you want recipes! I still don't get hungry very often - I am 6 weeks out today - but I don't get the "full" feeling anymore, either. It stopped suddently last Sunday - it was like my band just fell off! All of a sudden I have zero restriction & I have been battling the same 2 lobs. for the last 9 days!! Grrr . . . . but I see Dr. Baggs on Friday and hopefully he'll give me a big, fat fill! Happy Monday to all, Happy Band Day to Christine! Riley:thumbup:

Oh, everybody is doing so great, I am so happy for all my girls! Nicole, I kept telling everyone that I thought I had a little scale-model train inside me, it just kept kinda chugging back and forth and making these weirdo noises! It was sorta like shen the babies would move around in there . . . or like how the intenstines shift around again after the babies are born. But MUCH LOUDER! Super weird! Christine, WOOT! WOOT! I had the first slot on a Monday with Dr. Baggs too, you will do great and be on your way home by 1 in the afternoon!! All my best! Do take a bit of your pain meds before heading home, that's the bad part. YAY!!!!! Youre getting a band! For sure you will be at your goal on THAT scale . . . been there! :thumbup: Kepp up the good work all! Riley

Oh my gosh, this sounds like ME!! I also gained 4 lbs. between last Saturday AM, when I weighed in at 219.2,and that Monday monring when I weighed in at 224!! What the HECK(*^@*??? Happy not was I . . .I too fell into a funk, then did the WORST thing I could have done and skipped my support group meeting because I was failing! Dumb dumb dumb. They called me on it - thank God - and turns out that several of them ALSO gained this last week, and they are all RNY! We decided that the earth had shifted and the magnatism was off, and EVERYones scales weighed too high . . LOL. I am back down to 219 now - a full week later - but it feels like my band suddently just fell off! I can eat WAY too much and not feel full - just like before I had it. I had also added the carbs (fruit only) back into my diet early in the week, and I read somewhere that for every gram of glycogyn you also store 3 grams of water - don't know if that is true of not, but I am going to cut way down on the fruit. Frustrating! I do go in for my 6-week check this Friday, and HOPEfully he will give me a fill. I guess we just gotta stick with it! Best to all, Riley

The 6 week appt. with Dr. Baggs IS for an exam, and you decide together if you need a fill at that time based on what you are eating, how much, and your weight loss. Last week I would have said that I don't need s fill, but now I really think I do. Yes, I am back with logging calories & excercise, and I am burning off more than I take in so it's a puzzle. It's actually harder than before the band right now, because I am still on mushies so that means no hard stuff like vegies, salad, many fruits. It was lots easier when I could eat 2 salads a day that it is eating 2 cans of tuna a day! Not really hungry tho, so that IS a blessing.

I'm OK . . not thrilled. I have gained back 2 lbs in the last week, back and forth with the same 2 lobs is getting really old! I don't know if it is from the Flexeril that I've been put on for back spasms or what, but it's very discouraging!!!! It makes me SUPER thirsty so maybe it's water retention. I still don't really get hungry, but unfortunately I no longer get full on less than a cup. I need a fill! I go next Friday to see Dr. Baggs and I'm going to BEG for one. I think I have lost so much fat from my upper stomach that the band is not as effective now and it needs to be adjusted. So I guess it is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing; it's just so dissapointing to not be losing after only 5 weeks! Riley

Nicole, you are ripping it up girl! Congrats! regarding the getting weak part,l I did too and blamed it on not eating, turns out my blood pressure was getting too low! If you are taking BP meds, contact your PCP and get off the darned things! Christine - 3 days!! WOOT WOOT!!!

That's true! I had something called "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," so for me it was cutting out alcohol AND carbs. I say, enjoy your pasta! And have a couple bites for me please!!! With parmesean . . . . .YUM!!! Riley