Jenfs5

Most people dont have to have them after surgery. I am not sure why the original poster did. I happen to have an autoimmune disorder that makes me prone to clotting, so my rheumatologist wanted me to take them for a whole week post op. Luckily my surgeon talked her out of it (explaining how we are made to get up and walk right away) and I only had to do get the one before surgery and I had 2 more during my hospital stay.

Lovenox is one of the brand names of "low molecular weight heparin" or in laymens terms a blood thinner. It is the needle that is injected into your stomach just before surgery to prevent blood clots.

OK, so I posted my fill that happened last wed ( 1 week ago exactly). Well today at the hospital where I work was a lap band informational meeting and a friend/old coworker that I had not seen in probably 3-4 years was going. So I ran up there like 5 min before it was supposed to start and my surgeon was outside the conference room and he stops me to talk. He asked how my nausea was (this was like 2 weeks ago, I cant believe he even remembers) and how I was doing. So I told him that since I had the fill last week I cant tell any difference. He asked if I had lost any weight and I told him only 1 pound since last Wed. So he says to come on in for another adjustment..... Well my original appointment was for 6 weeks after my first fill but he did say if I had not lost at least 2 pounds per week that I could bump it up to 4 weeks. But now he said to come in basically any time :redface:. I kind of have mixed feelings about it though because of my needle anxiety. I think I will wait at least 1 more week and see if it gets any better and if not then I guess I will be moving tha appointment up. But I just have to say... I LOVE MY SURGEON It does not hurt that I think he is really cute too...LOL

HI everyone, I had posted this in a different spot then decided I should have posted it here so here goes: OK, so here goes. I went for my appointment yesterday and I got on the scale and I had lost 5 pounds in the last 4 weeks. I met with the nutritionist and we went over what and how much I had been eating so she can see if I am able to eat more than I should and if I needed a fill. Well she thinks I am able to eat more than I should and that I needed a fill. So my Doc asked me if I wanted an adjustment, and of course I said yes. So we go into the "surgery" type room and I have to lay on the table and then they put a pillow under my back. Then he starts pushing on my stomach to find the port and I have to say that it kinda hurt, I guess I am still pretty tender. Now I had told both him and the nurse about my needle phobia and how I am a big baby when it come to needles( and I work in healthcare...go figure). So he says well we will use the smallest needle...HA HA I said there is nothing small about a Huber needle and he just laughed. So then he proceeds to go digging in my belly to get into this port and I almost came up off the table. I grabbed the nurses arm and almost grabbed his but the nurse stopped me in time and said no take hers instead. So he said I had nothing in my band and he put 2cc in. Then they had me sit up on the table and I was pretty woozy ( I have a history of fainting when having my blood drawn and i had this same doc cut 2 boils out of my arm 2 weeks ago and when i pulled the packing out the next day i passed out at home) so the nurse stayed with me and held on to me for a while until I "got my color back". Then I had to drink my Water but I did not feel anything different or what may have felt like restriction. So as of right now I have an appt in 6 weeks for another fill, but if I dont lose 2 pounds per week then I can change it to 4 weeks. But I told him that I hope I never need another one because I dont like that needle...LOL :wub:

OK, so here goes. I went for my appointment yesterday and I got on the scale and I had lost 5 pounds in the last 4 weeks. I met with the nutritionist and we went over what and how much I had been eating so she can see if I am able to eat more than I should and if I needed a fill. Well she thinks I am able to eat more than I should and that I needed a fill. So my Doc asked me if I wanted an adjustment, and of course I said yes. So we go into the "surgery" type room and I have to lay on the table and then they put a pillow under my back. Then he starts pushing on my stomach to find the port and I have to say that it kinda hurt, I guess I am still pretty tender. Now I had told both him and the nurse about my needle phobia and how I am a big baby when it come to needles( and I work in healthcare...go figure). So he says well we will use the smallest needle...HA HA I said there is nothing small about a Huber needle and he just laughed. So then he proceeds to go digging in my belly to get into this port and I almost came up off the table. I grabbed the nurses arm and almost grabbed his but the nurse stopped me in time and said no take hers instead. So he said I had nothing in my band and he put 2cc in. Then they had me sit up on the table and I was pretty woozy ( I have a history of fainting when having my blood drawn and i had this same doc cut 2 boils out of my arm 2 weeks ago and when i pulled the packing out the next day i passed out at home) so the nurse stayed with me and held on to me for a while until I "got my color back". Then I had to drink my water but I did not feel anything different or what may have felt like restriction. So as of right now I have an appt in 6 weeks for another fill, but if I dont lose 2 pounds per week then I can change it to 4 weeks. But I told him that I hope I never need another one because I dont like that needle...LOL :smile:

Yeah I am right there with you guys. My scale has just been yo-yoing up and down with the same 1-2 pounds for the past 3 weeks. I do go for my first fill in the morning so hopefully this will change. But on a good note, I have had people tell me they can definately tell that I have lost weight. YEAH

Sounds like you guys are having a reaction to the adhesives on your bandages. It is something you will see mentioned on here from time to time. I had huge red welts where I had bandages. I just used benadryl cream (my docs wife recommended it) on them until the itching went away. I am just over 5 weeks post op and you can still see where I had the reactions, but they dont really itch anymore. So go to the drugstore and get some benadryl cream and it will help the itching go away in just a couple of days.

JayTee, that post fill diet seems a bit absurd to me. I cant believe that your doctor would give such a crazy diet. That means that you cant even get a fill but what once every 2-3 months???? Especially since it will take that long to eat regular again to see if you even have any restriction. I know that my doctor (and yes I know that they are all different) only has us do liquids for 24-48 hours and then do mushy food for a day and then move on to regular food. WOW, I am not trying to knock your doctor, I just cant believe how strict that is...I am completely stunned. Good luck with it is all I can say... :smile:

My doctor said that about 15% of patients never need a fill. The restriction from the band alone is enough for some. I was hoping to be one of those since I have a huge needle phobia, but I dont think that I am going to be so lucky. I go for my first fill next week, then hopefully I will be able to eat less.

I actually asked my surgeon this last night at our support group meeting. He said that after our post op swelling goes down then we can go back to regular pills (granted I was asking more along the lines of antibiotics since I am on a liquid one now...YUCK). he said that even if it does get stuck for a little while your stomach acid will continue to digest it and then when it melts a little it should slip right thru. But he still does not recomment capsules unless absolutely necessary.

I too got a water when I went out. but I moved i all the way to the side of the table so I would not reach for it. But what I did do was after I had eaten, I took a small sip and swiched it around my mouth and swallowed and then sucked on the lemon that was in the water, it really helped my mouth feel like it had been "cleaned" like I normally would have done by drinking lots of water after I ate. Oh and happy belated birthday JayTee

Wow, I will try to remember that about the hotdog bun. I went to a ball game on Sunday and was tempted to take a bite of my nephews hot dog, especially since he did not eat it...LOL he is 4. But I am thankful that he had mustard and ketchup on it, neither of which I like so that stopped me or I might have tried it too. I am glad to hear that you guys are having pretty good experiences too. I am wondering if I can manage to be one of the 15% of patients that my doc said never need a fill. that the band alone is enough. If I keep losing at 2 pounds per week then I know he wont give me a fill at my next apt which is 5-27. So I guess for now it is just a wait and see because so far I have been losing 2 pounds per week. Slow but great in the long run and healthier too.

Yeah I too have been eating my green beans non-pureed. I just cook them a little bit longer than I normally would have and have not been putiing the little almond packet in them. but I just make sure I chew, chew and chew some more. to be honest I have actually been eating more things like that and just making sure I chewed them until they were pureed consistancy before swallowing. Hopefully you can find those chicken breast things. They are soooooo good. In my walmart they are in one of those freezer cases in the middle of the aisle in front of the meats, not in the regular frozen aisles. But I do not know if all walmarts are set up alike. Well last night we went out to red lobster for dinner and I was truly shocked and impressed. To start off I was a little bad and ate just the top off of one of the biscuits (and god it was sooo good..LOL). I ordered a salad b/c they dont have applesuace anymore and my dinner came with mashed potatoes already on it. All I ate out of the salad were the tomatoes and crutons. I orderd honey bar-b-que chicken and shrimp. As soon as the food came I asked for some extra sauce and a take out box. The meal comes with a whole chicken breast that has been split in two..which to me I would call two chicken breast pieces and a skewer of shrimp all over mashed potatoes. Well I put one and a half pieces of chicken in the box and most of the potatoes too. I ate the shrimp and started on the chicken and I could only eat about half of what I had left. I ended up putting even more chicken and potatoes in the box. So when I got home I pureed the chicken with the extra sauce and split it and the mashed potatoes into 3 meals. So one plate is going to be equal to FOUR MEALS NOW....And this is without a fill. I was so excited and proud of myself. Oh and I did not drink hardly anything either. I did get a glass of water and all I had was one sip to kinda clean out my mouth when I was done, then I sucked the lemon too. In retrospect I wish I had asked for a lunch menu. Hopefully I will remember this in the future.

Well, I had a 2 week checkup but then I dont go back until my 6 week checkup/possible fill appt. But if I keep on par with the 2 pounds per week he usually does not give a fill. I will admit I have been eating some things that i prob should have not...meaning regular food and not all mushy or pureed. Although technically now I am past pureed food and on to soft food. But what the heck is soft food? According to my list it is things that I was eating at mushy..LOL. Oh well I like my pureed chicken so much that I will just keep eating it. One thing I have found at WalMart is some stuffed chicken breasts in the freazer section (kinda like chicken cordon-bleu but not breaded) and they are sooooo yummy. I just bake them, cut them up and throw them in the food processor and it is delicious. I let my sister taste it before I ground it up and she liked it so much she bought some too.

Yes I had this happen with both steri strips and band aids. I also had used some paper tape the other day and now am broken out from that too. I have been using benadryl cream on mine. I did stop using it though because it felt like it was burning one day. I took the bandaids off about 2 weeks ago and the steri strips one week ago and the rashes are finally fading. I am hopeing they will be gone within the next week. So in the future I just have to remember not to leave any type of bandage with adhesive on for very long.

Ok I tried the yogurt by itself and it did not give the gas pain, but I did notice today that I had a little bit of gas pain. So I think it is just from eating or maybe a combination of foods. And ass for eating I posted this in another spot but I want to post it here too so I can get more feedback. One thing that i have been eating is pureed chicken with some salsa a little cheese and a little bit of refried beans ( i found a use for them...LOL) It is actually really tasty, and when I am at work and people come in the break room they ask me what it is because it smells so good. I am not sure if I am eating too much or not though. What I have been doing is cooking 2 perdue perferct portions chicken breasts ( I think they are 6 onces each) and then pureeing them and splitting it 3 ways to make 3 meals so I guess that is about 4 ounces each. Then I add the salsa, cheese and refried beans. I have been also eating green giant frozen green beans with almonds ( but have not been eating the almonds) and I eat half with lunch and half with dinner and have a SF jello with lunch and dinner. Does this sound like it is on par with what you guys are eating?

One thing that i have been eating is pureed chicken with some salsa a little cheese and a little bit of refried beans ( i found a use for them...LOL) It is actually really tasty, and when I am at work and people come in the break room they ask me what it is because it smells so good. I am not sure if I am eating too much or not though. What I have been doing is cooking 2 perdue perferct portions chicken breasts ( I think they are 6 onces each) and then pureeing them and splitting it 3 ways to make 3 meals so I guess that is about 4 ounces each. Then I add the salsa, cheese and refried beans. I have been also eating green giant frozen green beans with almonds ( but have not been eating the almonds) and then I eat half with lunch and half with dinner and have a SF jello with lunch and dinner. Does this sound like it is on par with what you guys are eating?

Yeah, I too moved to mushies about 2-3 days earlier than my week three. But I told the doc and he was ok with it. The bad news is I ate a cookie today :thumbup:. My sister made these cinnabon cookies and they just looked so good and it was the last one so I ate it. I feel guilty but I sure did chew chew chew... I am also starting to notice that the amt I was eating and was fine with is now starting to not seem like so much. And I am feeling like I want more food. I have not felt anything that feels like restriction yet, I think I have been going on just the swelling and will power alone. But now I am afraid that it is not enough and I do not want to gain any weight back. I sure have not lost any since last week which in itself is a huge bummer. On the bright side though I have decided that I actually like my chicken pureed better than eating it regular..LOL. I was never much of a meat eater because it gets all stuck in your teeth and I did not like chewing it. So I may just keep on pureeing my chicken forever. Today I had my pureed chicken with a little salsa and cheese and it was yummy. Other days I have been just putting a little bar b q sauce or honey mustard sauce on it to give it a little flavor. I bought some refried beans but I am not quite sure what to do with them. How is everyone else eating their refried beans?

Yeah my doc says to eat no less than 20 min and no more than 30 but I only get 3 small meals with protein drinks as snacks. I actually have been eating pretty slowly so that it takes me the whole 30 min to eat the half of a pureed chicken breast and a jello. But today I did not eat any yogurt and I did not get that gas pain... so I am thinking that it may be the yogurt for me. I will try yogurt by itself tomorrow and see if it happens

I agree with restless, definately sounds like something is making your blood pressure drop quickly. It is pretty common to happen from time to time when you stand up quickly. It has a name but I cant think of it right now, something to do with changing positions and the blood pressure drops. But if it is happening frequently or when you are just standing and doind something else then you need to get it checked.

LOL, I never did take my steri strips off. I was told to wait until my two week follow up to have them removed. But my stomach still looks a mess. I had some waterproff bandaids on over my steristrips when I went to the waterpark and had a reaction to them. Well when I got the steri strips off I noticed I had a reaction to them too. so I still have these 4 huge red blotches all around my incisions. It was pretty bad looking but is finally starting to fade, maybe another week or two and maybe they will be completely gone... :thumbdown:

Maybe I will try that. Although I am beginning to think it may be the yogurt. I went to the movies today and instead of the delicious yummy smelling popcorn :thumbdown: I got a mcdonalds fruit and yogurt parfait and had it during the movie and I noticed the gas then too. Maybe I will try and skip the yogurt or eat it by itself and see if it happens again. But it is good to know I am not alone in this, I hope it goes away soon.

Yeah when I was doing my liquid diet it caused my period or maybe spotting to start a few days before surgery which was a week earlier than it should have been. Luckily I do not get heavy periods and I was fine without any protection and after I was up a moving around I just put my underwear back on and I was good to go.

OK, I have a question for everyone who is at mushies or beyond. I am having terrible gas pains after I eat my mushies. It is so bad that it actually hurts to stand up after I eat and then walking around is very uncomfortable for a while too. Is anyone else experienceing this? If you did, does it eventually go away? Am I doing something wrong? I am not eating very much at a time, usually a little pureed meat and then either a SF jello or a yogurt and that is it. Pleae Help......

Wow, still on liquids for two more weeks..thats a bummer. I only had to do liquids for 2 weeks and then moved on to mushies which is where I am currently at. But look at it this way, the longer you are on liquids the more you will lose initially. I know that my loss has either slowed way down or maybe even stalled already. I know it will move again because I still am not eating very much, but I sure did like it when I was seeing a pound or more a day.