anonemouse

Thanks, guys! You all mean a lot to me!

I've added that as your update for this week.

Thanks, I've added you to the spreadsheet.

Which vitamins do you take? I take Centrum orange-flavored chewable multivitamins, B-12 sublingual dots, and will be starting calcium citrate pills soon.

A word of warning to everyone that is planning on a long car drive in order to get home after surgery: Don't be surprised if you are hurting a little bit more the next day. I noticed that my abdomenal muscles are hurting a tad more than the were yesterday, and I think it was because of all the jostling and shaking from the 6-hour car ride.

I've got you added to our group's spreadsheet!

If you'll read some of my older posts, I was posting about a 2 1/2 inch abcess on my vulva (TMI, I know) that I had to have lanced. So far, my surgery pain has been less than the pain of having that abcess lanced. Don't get me wrong, I still hurt, but it isn't the type of piercing, unrelenting pain that the abcess was.

Well, if you're anything like me, I haven't had to deal with head hunger too much. I'm hungry up until I try to eat something, and then I have to force myself to eat enough. It really is an oddly wonderful feeling. The only other time I've felt this way was during the first month or so that I was taking Phentermine. I'm sure that once the swelling goes down more, and I'm further post-op, the head hunger will show up, but so far I haven't had much trouble. I sometimes look at something that I previously would have scarfed down in three seconds flat, and it just doesn't look good anymore. Honestly, I'm hoping that feeling will settle down.

I've been on soft foods since leaving the hospital, and I was banded the same day you were. I'm doing fine, so far. Tonight I got a couple of ounces of ground beets and ground squash and a little bit of soft mac and cheese.

Well, my surgeon said that the stitches aren't really all that necessary, that they do it more out of convention and habit than it being an actual benefit to the patient. Apparently, there are a lot of foreign doctors that don't place any stitches at all. Post-surgery diets really depend on the surgeon, also. Some surgeon keep their patients on liquids for several weeks after surgery, and some put their patients on solids immediately following surgery. Mine's kind-of in the middle, I guess. I am planning on sticking to soft foods for as long as I can, though, just to allow for healing. Believe me, I don't want to have another surgery just because I started on very firm foods too early.

I wish I had found this thread earlier! I just got back from Memphis last night, though, and was pretty exhausted. I got online just long enough to update the July '07 folks, ate dinner with my parents, and then crashed. One thing I am celebrating, though, is that I'm already on soft-textured foods, instead of liquids. My surgeon even said that if I start getting really hungry over the next several days, I can start eating solid foods.

Hi, guys! I just found this thread. Other than the first day after banding, everything has gone pretty well. I was extremey nauseated immediately after surgery. When I got out of bed for the first timt to go to the bathroom, I was really worried that I wasn't going to make it there, and once I did make it there, I was worried that I wouldn't make it back. I don't know if I was visibly swaying, but I sure felt like I was. That, combined with the nausea, made me very weak and pretty green-looking. Once they gave me some heavy-duty anti-nausea meds, though, I was fine (and feeling pretty good, since I was on a morphine drip). When I was in the recovery room, I apparently kept forgetting to breathe, so all I can remember in there is that one of the nurses kept shaking me and telling me to breathe. I haven't had any gas pain, so the worst part so far has been getting in and out of bed. For the first day or so after surgery, I mostly stayed in bed. I'd go to sleep, wake up after an hour or two, get up to go to the bathroom and get something to drink, and then go back to bed for another hour or so. While I was in the hospital, I finally just had to have them completely disconnect the air boots that I had on, because it was such a pain to have to call them and wait for several minutes before someone would come disconnect me so that I could get up to go to the bathroom.

The one thing I am so grateful for, post-op, is that I apparently haven't had any gas pain. My back hurt a little while I was in the hospital, but I think that was from being stuck in the same position in bed for 36 or so hours. My screen name is my first name with my middle initial attached to the end.

I'd like to get them from everyone once a week, every Friday. Well, if anyone is on a liquid or pureed diet and trying to travel a fairly long distance, it can be a little difficult to find a restaurant that will serve what you can eat. On my way down to Memphis, I was on a clear-liquids diet, and stopped at Chik-Fil-A. The broth that their chicken noodle soup is in is pretty darn good. If you are on mushies, mashed potatoes from KFC, refried beans from Taco Bell, scrambled eggs from Denny's or IHOP, and loaded potato soup from O'Charley's are very good. Of course, you wouldn't want to eat them all the time, but they are good places to stop if you are traveling.

Wow. Insurance companies shouldn't be allowed to do that. I had plenty of troubles with both my insurance company and my surgeons' offices (I had to switch surgeons because the first one wasn't covered by my insurance).

Here is the updated Excel spreadsheet, guys, with some new people added to it.

Oh, I forgot to tell you guys! I weighed myself today, and I'm down another 2 pounds!

I'm definitely sore right now. My surgeon gave me prescriptions for Percacet and Phenergan (anti-nausea). I have to say that the worst thing about the surgery was getting in and out of the bed afterwards. It's gotten a lot better since, but it HURT at first. My surgeon is very liberal with her post-op diet, too. I didn't get to have anything but water and ice chips on the day of my surgery. For breakfast the next day, though, I got 2 ounces of diet jello and 2 ounces of apple juice. For lunch, I got an ounce each of pureed squash, pureed rice, pureed chicken, and apple sauce. The pureed vegetables were actually really good (not sure if it was because they were good or just because I was hungry), but the chicken wasn't appetizing at all. It needed to be a lot more moist, because it seemed pretty dried and gritty. My surgeon also told me that if I started to get really hungry in the next several days, I can start on solids. Apparently, I didn't have a lot of fat around my stomach, so I probably won't have much restriction until I get a fill.

Hi, guys, I'm back! My surgery went fine, although there were a few things that I wasn't expecting. I don't know whether it was the anesthesia or the morphine drip I was given after surgery, but something made me horribly nauseous. The first time I got up to go use the bathroom, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it there and back to the bed, because I was swaying so much. I also apparently had some breathing problems in the recovery room, because I remember the nurse that worked there shaking me and telling me to breathe. I am incredibly tired, also. I spent the entire day of my surgery in bed (other that going to the bathroom, of course), and then spent most of the next day in bed, also. Right now, I am fighting to stay awake at the computer. It's not too bad, as long as you have someone driving you. Take a pillow, though, so you can brace your stomach.

Several people have sent me their stats or updated them, so I've attached an updated spreadsheet. I am leaving for Memphis in the morning, so this is the last time that I'll post until I get back in several days. I'll try and post an update ASAP, though. See you guys on the loser's bench!

Thanks, guys. It's not any problem for me, since I'm always messing with Excel anyway, and I thought it would be interesting to do and a great way to keep our moral up. Sounds great! Click on my username in one of my posts, and select "send a private message to Laurend." Or, if you want, you can post it in the thread.

Thanks, guys! I'll try to post as soon as possible after my surgery, but it will probably be at least a few days before I can. It's going well. I haven't gotten stats from a bunch of people, though, so I am only going to post the spreadsheet with the stats of everyone who's sent their stats to me. So far, I have 72 people on our spreadsheet, but only about 15 or 16 people have sent me their height and their beginning weight, and I only have updated weights for 3 people this week. I've attached two spreadsheets, one that lists everyone and one that only lists the people that I have stats for. Remember, everyone, I can add you to the spreadsheet at any time. Actually, I already have everyone added to it (I think), so all you need to do is post or PM me your height, beginning weight, and then post or PM me your current weight every week.

Ooh, post the recipe, please.

I've got you added to the spreadsheet. Tomorrow (or next week, for the next update posting, if you want to wait until then), if you want to PM me with your updated weight, just click on my username in one of my posts and select "send a private message." If you post in the thread, I'll probably catch it, but I can't guarantee it. Good luck! Ckbw, I've got you added to the spreadsheet, if you would like to post or PM me your height and weight.

Don't forget, guys, that you need to weigh yourself on the 30th and PM me with it, if you want me to put it in the spreadsheet. For all the new folks, I'm trying to get everyone's stats together and put them in a spreadsheet. I'll be posting it every so often (hopefully every week or so) so that we can see how everyone is progressing. Kind of a moral-booster, you know? If you want to be included on the spreadsheet, PM me with your starting weight and height, and I'll add them to the spreadsheet. Just to let everyone know, though, I may not be posting until Sunday, since I am leaving tomorrow for my brother's wedding and won't be back until then. I'll try to get the updated spreadsheet posted at that time, if anyone wants to send me their updated stats between now and then. I'll be leaving on Monday to go to Memphis for the surgery, since I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 on Tuesday. It may be several days after my surgery before I'll be able to post again. I'm not sure where I'll be staying afterwards (one place has dial-up internet, the other doesn't have internet at all), so I may or may not be able to give an update on how everything went.