Jenfs5

I just want to say GREAT JOB JASON You have been doing a fabulous job so far. Just think of the success you will have with both the band and your determination. Keep up the positive attitude and the hard work and you will succeed.

Wow glad someone else finally posted here...LOL Congratulations on being banded. I know it is a big step and I absolutely do not regret it and still think it is the best thing I could have done for myself. Dont worry it will get better. I think it took me 4 days to finally really start feeling better. I had the horrible gas pressure and i was very sleepy yet it was hard to go to sleep because of the gas. Have you been to any of the support group meetings? I try very hard to go every month. I think it is great to just talk to other people and to have a forum for open discussion for just about anything whether it is band related or not. The next meeting is July 14th I think (usually the 2nd tuesday of every month) but I have not gotten my mutiple reminder postcards yet. And it is usually from 6-8 PM in conference room 2 at AGH. Keep in touch.

I just found a small vitamin to take. IT is called one a day essentials. IT is no bigger than an aspirin. They just arrived in the mail today (had to order them from amazon.com since no stores seem to carry them). I plan to show them to my nut and doc to see what they say. IF they like them maybe they will either stock them or get a local pharmacy to stock them.

Wow, I thnk it is kind of neat to see the different time limits the docs put on this. My doc says nothing to drink 30 min prior and 30 min after eating. I have seen others post that say they have to wait an hour after eating. I like the short times I have seen posted on here so far...LOL. But in all honesty I think I used to do what everyone on here calls PBing before I got banded. If I went out to a restaurant and ate I would drink some while I ate but would drink the most after I had eaten. Well usually on my way out the door to the car up would come my food. I think the drink just overfilled my stomach and it had no where else to go but up and out. I have never done this since being banded. Granted I have only been banded for 2.5 months and I dont think I have much restriction yet, but the no drinking clause I think is what is helping with that.

It means non scale victory

LOL Jachut. I actually think the "shrinkage" may have helped me too BMI wise. If I was 5'9 my BMI would have only been 34.8 and I dont know if my insurance would have covered the surgery. But I do hope I get my height back. Maybe next time I go in for a fill I will have them measure me again.

Well I see lots of people are reading the board, but no one is posting. If anyone out there had been banded by Dr Zarif please give a shout out. Or if you are thinking of being banded by Dr Zarif and have any questions feel free to ask. As I said in my previous post I think he is a great surgeon. He is always great with answering any questions you may have.

Hey, maybe that is why I have shrunk too...LOL. I always used to be 5'9" but now they are telling me I am 5' 7.5". I did not believe them and had a different doctors office measure me and they said the same thing. And I am only 33 that is too young to be shrinking like that. I wonder if I will get mine back??? :thumbup:

OK I have been reading this post so I guess I will go ahead and post too. Weight: It is slowly coming off. I am losing only about a pound a week. But it does fluctuate quite a bit and yes I know that because I weigh myself everyday...LOL. But from the start of this including pre-op diet until today I am down 29 pounds. Now if I could just lose 8 more I would be in ONEDERLAND..:bored: Fills and restriction: I have had 2 fills, the first was 2cc and the second was 1.5 ccs. After the first fill I was hungrier than I was before the fill so I went back 3 weeks later for the second. That second fill was one week ago today and I still do not feel like I have any restriction. I can eat more than I should be able to eat. I have been trying very hard to eat better things, but I am only human and sometime I slip. But then I just get right back on the bandwagon and keep going. My next fill is scheduled for July 22nd (4 weeks away) so I may try to move it up if I start getting really hungry again. Rules: I have done pretty good with the rules. I always eat my Protein first and try very hard to make sure I dont drink anything 30 min before or after I eat. The one rule that I am failing at is getting enough Water. I usually am lucky if I get over 50 ounces of water/crystal light a day. Now this is not unusual for me though. Even before surgery I never drank much either and with not being able to drink when I eat it is even harder now to find a time to drink anything. Of course my job makes it very difficult. To get a drink I have to stop working, take off the lab coat, wash hands and then go to the breakroom to get something to drink. So as you can see that alone makes it difficult to get liquids in. Anything Else: Well even with my weight loss being slow I still think I made the right decision to do this and do not regret it one bit. Well maybe at that first fill when it hurt like hell...LOL. Luckily the 2nd one was not nearly as bad. I always did lose weight slowly on other diets and weight watchers too so I guess I am just destined to be a slow loser. I have been trying very hard to get to the gym at least 3 time a week. But I work a lot and am always grabbing overtime when it is available so sometimes my work schedule does not allow me to get there. My normal hours at my full time job are 1230pm to 9pm and sometimes I work from 9A to 9P or 7A to 9P and my gym closes at 930P so no opportunity to go after work. And I work weekends (not every weekend thank god) at my part-time job so I have given up going on the weekends. But I do try to do situps and squats and some wall pushups at home every night though. Well I guess I have rambled on long enough for now. Good Luck to everyone out there :thumbup:

Wow, I somehow totally missed the two month anniversary. Thanks for reminding me. I too think this is the best thing I ever did. I actually just went for my 2nd fill today. My first fill was 2cc and this one was 1.5 for a grand total of 3.5cc in a 10cc band. At least this time it did not hurt as bad as last time. I guess it is because of going thru the scar tissue...anyway I am rambling. Good luck everyone.

I had them and when all the scabs finally fell off (it took about 6 weeks) the stitches were attached to the scab so they fell off by themselves.

I believe it was more common with the gastric bypass surgery because it was much more invasive and a some people died from throwing a clot. So maybe some surgeons are being ultra cautious and having lap band patients do it to? Just a guess, but as long as you are taking a low dose of it and are not needle phobic (like me) then there is no harm.

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:

Hi all. I had my surgery with Dr Zarif April 16 2009. I think he is a great surgeon.

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.

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.