NYGuy

I'm just afraid I won't have all those South American beauty queens fawning over me when they see that alien lurking just below the surface!

Interesting all and thanks! I'm sure I'll have to get the port moved eventually. That'll probably be a trip to Mexico as I'm sure my insurance won't cover it. ANY health care reform has got to be better than this "system"!

Hey Trisha, Thanks so for your response. I sort of agree I need another fill. I can down more types of foods that most bandsters can't. I have yet to PB though I've come close a couple times and then only when chowing down with abandon... a big hunk of banana poorly chewed, for example. I say I can eat bread, and I can, but I do have to do it somewhat carefully. I can only maintain my weight and drop a poiund or two by obsessively controlling my eating habits. The slightest lapse can undo weeks of work. I sometimes wonder why I bothered having this alien installed inside me if it was still going to be hard work! My fill meister doesn't believe her patients should be vomiting but it seems to me I'm still on the unfilled side of the elusive "sweet spot". More and more I see the wisdom of my fellow June bandsters in picking our slogan. It is indeed a "journey". Bob (who is still an apprentice) :thumbup:

Yes, thanks for doing this Breanne! I came on to ask if anyone else was sort of stuck at this point in the journey, and I see you and I are in almost precisely the same place. I started at 258, and though I did lose a little through June and into July, since mid July I haven't lost any weight. I am down two pants sizes but heavy as I was almost four months ago. If I fail to be careful for a day I instantly spike up in weight and spend the next weeks fighting to get back down. All I seem to be doing is yo-yoing between 238 and 231. And I had a good fill late August. I now feel some restriction in that if I chow down on a banana too fast I'll get that stuck feeling in my esophagus. Other foods can do that. But I can still eat bread if I do it carefully. Guess it's time for another fill. Bob PS: It's been so long since I've had a reason to update my ticker that I've forgotten my PIN! Sigh

Hey pongomp, Congrats!

Thanks, peach, monkey, teacher and nazzy. Funny thing is I chose the realize because it has the lowest profile port! For the record, the surgeon says it sticks out because there is hardly anything between my skin and abdominal wall... all the fat is beneath it. I'm not sure I buy that.

Does anyone else have a port that protrudes so it actually leaves a lump under the skin?

Yah. They sure do both seem similar. As I suggested, a blind idiot could find my port with his hands tied behind his back. Ok, maybe not without hands. but it is JUST below the surface. I'm thinking this is pretty abnormal. Did the docs screw up? (this actually bugs the hell out of me.)

I never heard that about the lap-band. I got the realize band because of the lower profile port. Even so my port makes is a small lump on in otherwise round belly. Anyone else experience that?

OK.... Fantasy time.... I want to have all those South American beauty contest contestants fawning over me! On a more serious note, just looking like everyone else in pictures, instead of the whale turning at an angle to minimize the pain, or using loved ones to hide my bulk behind.

I'm a bit unusual because my port is very close to the surface. That makes it idiot simple to find. I too was a bit nervous before my first fill but it was NOTHING. They bring out this big honking gigantic needle and you kind of think fainting is a pretty good option, but I barely felt it for a nanosecond when it went in. I can't even call it a pinch. Then the NP had me sit up and hold the needle still stuck in my port with one hand and drink a cup of Water with the other. She then decided to squirt in another cc and have me drink again. Then she pulled it out. Five minutes max. My practice doesn't require an empty stomach but it stands to reason that you want to put some extra squeeze on your stoma when the chamber is not blown up with food from the inside. My gang do do want patients make your first meal after a fill liquid and mushies for the rest of the day. That makes sense to me too, but on here I have noticed every practice approaches things a little differently. I suspect that just as every patient is different, that there are a bunch of different paths to significant weight loss. I'm at 4cc's in a Realize band and though I felt some restriction the first week or so, I don't anymore. I can still eat big bites of food and not be careful about chewing and have never had a "productive burp". I'm going in for a top up Thursday and then off to vacation for a couple weeks the next day. That's my experience thus far, for what it's worth.

I feel a little left out that I haven't experienced that pain of food getting stuck. Perversely, it makes me want another fill. I am back to losing a pound or more per week, so I guess I shouldn't complain!

That's an excellent question. I claim 20 off my post holidays high. Post surgery I'm under 10 off ... starting to feel full early post first fill tho'... and learning to heed it.

Dunno, taking such a big step I think it's reasonable to want to succeed, though maybe not obsess Sesides, one day doth not a trend make! I'd forgotten that when I weighed myself the day after surgery I had actually gained 8 pounds. It was all gone within a few days. Water retention, I guess.

Pam, Maybe I ate salty stuff last couple days and that's why I bumped up a pound and a half on the scale. That sure was distressing, but then again, I was told to pay more attention to belt holes than the scale because otherwise I'd make myself crazy. (haha too late!)

Anothermom, I really wasn't hungry for most of the first two weeks after surgery so the recommended amounts, an ounce of protein five or so times a day and a little veg and one good protein shake were plenty for me. Then, like so many others here, when I got on regular foods I discovered that I could eat big bites and as much as I wanted. That got me, like others, worried about lack of restriction, even though I was losing weight without it. My first fill seems to have stopped my progression of eating more and more or at least slowed it. I haven't gotten used to stopping the first time my body says "that's enough" yet. But then I've spent a lifetime eating the way I was taught, everything on the plate.

Hey Gonnalose it! Please add me to the June 4 babies. Thanks! NYGuy

Pam, Laurie and all you other June 4th bandsters. I joined the band the same day... or is it that it joind me? Anyway lost weight from decreased appetite but didn't feel any restriction either. Then last Tuesday I went to the surgeon for my post-op check and she surprised me by offering to give me a fill. (The practice normally makes people wait five weeks.) I now have 4 cc's and feel restriction. I know 4cc's sounds like a lot but I think the rules are different for the new Realize C that I have. Look forward to hearing from you guys when you get your fills!

Hey fellow UWSer! I felt that after my June 4 surgery but it went away. However, it did come back after I had my first fill last week. Huge needle but it didn't hurt a bit. I assume what your feeling isn't under or near the big incision because that would be the port.

I started playing in the band (or it started playing in me) June 4 and I got my first fill June 30. Nicest surprise? It didn't hurt at all. I was only on liquids the day after surgery, then limited amounts of pureed foods for 2 weeks. Eating real food is a delight, and eating a lot less of it is an even bigger one! :smile2:

I joined the band on June 4. Had my first fill last week, 4cc's. But I have the newish Realize C band and I've read that it needs a biigger initial fill than either the old Realize or the Lap-Band. I am feeling restriction, I've had to eat and drink more slowly and carefully. For those who aren't feeling restriction and are worried because you think you should.... read what the veterans (and my adjustments specialist) say about fills. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! For the first few weeks I had been able to chow down big mouthfuls and was starting to wonder what all the talk about small bites was all about. The nutritionist assured me, "Don't worry. You'll find out." She, of course, was right. I'm feeling full a good four hours now, though I was told I should eat something every three.... five or six times a day. I wonder if I should force myself or listen to my stoma. Maybe this'll resolve itself over time. And LAWZY that needle is big but GOSH is it ever painless even without numbing. I wasn't given any anesthetic. Maybe that's because my port is so close to the surface. (It actually is a lump on my tum. You could find it in the dark! I hope it goes down or I'll never get those swimsuit modelling contracts I'm anticipating will come pouring in down the road!):smile2:

Way to go! I lost that first ten pounds the first week because I really wasn't hungry either, and had to really work at getting enough protein into me every day.

Way to go! I lost that first ten pounds the first week because I really wasn't hungry either, and had to really work at getting enough protein into me every day.

hey awill, It's normal to be afraid of the unknown, but I assume you have already learned a lot. As Xavier said, you are on track to a new life. A lot of folks around here call it a "journey" and that word is an apt one. You've already taken a bunch of steps and come pretty far. Now you'll probably be asked to go on a limited diet pre-op and after that, eating won't ever be quite the same again. And I mean that in a good way, though initially you'll probably be limited to liquids for a couple days then pureed foods for a couple of weeks. I bought a cheap scale on ebay that was wonderful for working out portions when I was on a strict diet. My surgery was just over a month ago and it really was a piece of cake compared with what I was expecting. I went in around 7am on Thursday, June 4. I was prepped in the pre-op area, walked (yes, walked) into the OR and laid down on the table. less than two hours later I was sitting up, chatting with my daughter and sipping water. By four pm we were on our way home. There was some discomfort in my stomach area and from the small incisions, but it that was no worse than my irritated throat from the intubation. I could handle it all easily with half doses of the meds they prescribed and I filled before going to the hospital. I found I no longer needed the pain meds by Sunday, and went to work Monday, putting in a full day. I had my first fill last week. I hate needles but was surprised that sticking one into my gut never rose to the level of real discomfort and only lasted about a nanosecond! In short, you've started a process that will likely prove to be one of the best things you've ever done!