Gigi_Girl

Thank you all for your concern. The fever broke before I went to bed last night and I feel good this morning. I promise I will call the doc if it comes back.

I agree with the Protein shots. Mixing a scoop of Matrix Protein with yogurt is another option.
Are you of your recently banded still having pain in the port area and/or running a low grade fever?
I am on day 5 and cannot get up from lying down without help. I can stand from sitting without problems. Also, it seems every evening my temp get up in the high 99s or low 100s.l

Good luck to everyone on today's band list! My thoughts are with you. Let us know how you do.

You need the two weeks off from work so leave the date as is. You should be fine to get around.for the superbowl. At six weeks post op, you will be on a regular diet, but nutritious and small quantities. Keep ready to drink Protein in your room as a back up to make sure you get in your 64 grams. If you feel the diet options are not there with traditional football game food on the menu, you can always opt for a small grilled chicken salad. Remember, no bread, alcohol, or Desserts. If asked about your diet choices and quantities eaten, just say that eating healthier is your New Years Resolution.

Roxygirl, when I crave sodium, I make a cup of bullion or strained chicken Soup. I don't see anything wrong with a little pickle juice, it has no calories and is high in sodium.

I was banded yesterday (for the second time). I do/did not have this problem, but I didn't have a hernia repairs. I suspect that either you are getting used to the tightness after hernia repair or you are gulping when drinking. Call you doc for his opinion.

Thank you all for your well wishes! I am staying up a little while longer so I can take my pain meds before going to bed. I am walking like a little old lady, but hey... I made me a walking path thru the house (10 mini laps) to use every hour. In the morning, I plan on walking to the end of the cul de sac and back (5 houses down and back).

Roxygirl, when I crave sodium, I make a cup of bullion or strained chicken Soup. I don't see anything wrong with a little pickle juice, it has no calories and is high in sodium.

Hour and half ride home didn't bother me and my pillow. Band removal and replacement only took a little over an hour. No complications! Yeh!!! They confirmed the leak, which suprisingly was in the band itself and not the tubing or port. I guess you could say I had a flat tire. I am feeling pretty good now. I am sure thanks to the pain meds. Sipping Water for my sore throat.
Hope all the others banded today are as fortunate.

I am excited that the day is almost here! My surgery is scheduled for 10 on Monday. The pre-op liquid diet passed much quicker than I expected. Today I am drinking coffee, Vitamin Water, suger free gatorade, and strained chicken noodle Soup and preparing food for my family. Funny, I am enjoying the smells of food, but it is not bothering me.
How are you feeling today?

congrats!!!! I am excited for you too! My surgery is August 20.

I was banded initially December 2008. Lost 80 pounds over first couple of years. Have succeeded in gaining 30 of that back in the last year. First band stopped holding Fluid over the last year. NP suspected a leak, so started aspirating fluid to measure. Each visit, got out less and less. The last time was just one month past a 7cc fill, only could remove 2cc. Don't know why the leak, but insurance approved replacement due to defect after several back and forth requests.

I am getting my second band on August 20.

I like Greek yogurt for Breakfast or for an afternoon snack. It has lots of Protein and is fillings. Nothing to do with tightness.

I am enjoying the weekend and I am excited about starting my two-week liquid diet on Monday. Insurance finally approved replacing my current band that quit holding Fluid over the last year (this was a 4 month process). I have gained 30 pounds in that year without the restriction. On August 20, I will have the old band removed, scar tissue cleaned up and a new band put in. As of Monday, it will be six weeks before I can eat anything that needs to be chewed (two weeks pre- and post- surgery liquids, plus two weeks of mushies). I know what is ahead is not easy, but I am so ready to get back on track. I can do this!!!

I am getting my second band on August 20.

I am getting my second band on August 20.

I understand that everyone has different reasons for needing weight loss surgery. We also all have very different problems and triggers. In my case, I am a very A Type personality who lives in a world of black and white. This surgery (and some therapy) is helping me find the grey areas. I am not saying it is easy. I struggle with lack of "perfection" in the things I do every day. However, I think I am doing this in the most healthy way possible. Some of the people that I have seen and spoken to scare me. I asked my NUT yesterday how our bodies respond any different than that of an anorexic. I have asked her this question 3 times and she doesn't like it because she cannot answer it. Yes, we do not have the same mental issues to deal with, but our bodies have been anatomically altered, not physiologically. Due to this, I find that it concerns me when people who can only get in 700-800 calories a day workout so hard that they are running in the negative. Again, I ask my NUT how this can be healthy. Our bodies need both nutrients and calories to function properly. While I understand that our bodies will force us to function at a deficit, how do you sit there and tell people that it is okay to have a daily net that is negative? Calories are how we get energy. I don't mean empty chocolatey calories, I am talking about making healthy choices. I do not understand how people can look me in the face and tell me that it won't have any effects. If someone was eating exactly how we are forced to without the surgery, people would tell them about Hair loss, amenorrhea, lower cognitive functioning etc. Yet, people can look me straight in the face and tell me it is ok for me because I am anatomically different now. Can someone please explain this to me? No one else has been able to, and I just am trying to wrap my head around this. Don't get me wrong. I understand the definite need for exercise. Unfortunately, so many people take on this surgery and don't realize they are treating it as though it is yet another one of their DIET attempts to lose weight. I hear about perfection, perfection. I won't ever touch a candy bar, ice cream, cookie, white carb etc. etc again. I completely understand that everyone has a trigger that they may need to avoid permanently, for me it is soda (which I can never have again), but I am talking about every single thing that may not be perfect for your health, but you enjoy. Also, I have seen a lot of people that seem to start off telling themselves "I will work out for an hour a day 6 days a week for the rest of my life" and take no consideration for life happening around them. Not only does this sound like a recipe for disaster, but to me, it just sounds like another diet. I chose this surgery because it is not a diet. As previously mentioned, I struggle for moderation not an all or nothing attitude. I may not have lost 50 lbs in my first month, but I feel as though I am making permanent changes that will serve me (and eventually get me to weight) in the long run. If I did great all week and I want a cookie, I might eat half a cookie (truth be told, I used to be a cookie monster but I don't really like them anymore, but you get the point). If I decide to take my son out for frozen yogurt one Friday, I don't feel guilty as I have made a huge lifestyle change. The choice of frozen yogurt over Baskin Robins is a huge step and I don't feel jilted. I won't sit and eat 16 oz anymore. I might have 4 and I feel satisfied. I have made a lot of friends that have also had this surgery. It really worries me that they treat it like another diet, they never give themselves a break and begin to disturbingly obsess about every single calorie they ingest (again, not saying you don't need to pay attention, but if you accidentally go 10 calories over, so what??). I feel that little changes add up quickly. Walking your child to and from school instead of driving, using your bike to make a run to the corner store, playing outside with the kids, swimming a couple laps while you are out sunbathing on the beach. I feel like I am running a lifelong marathon, not running a sprint to goal weight. It can be frustrating sometimes, watching those around me that had the surgery about the same time lose weight faster. However, I have no extra skin to contend with and I am certain that I am losing a lot of body fat, not just body weight. My struggle is to keep telling myself this. My struggle is to find a lifelong change that isn't necessarily as quick as I may like, but teaches me the moderation that in 32 years I never learned.

I read this the other day, but wanted to think a little before responding. I think the OP and the discussion raises some enormously important points.
I am a project manager, I make "risk based" decisions everyday. That means, weighing the possible outcomes, trying to judge the probabilty and impact of those outcomes - and making a decision. I basically did that when I got the sleeve, and it took me a long time. I am not a medical expert, but i listened to them. I read as much pros and cons as I could and threw some grains of salt into the glowing pros because early euphoria is not really what I was looking for - I want long term success at weight management with minimal risk of bad side effects or consequences. I had EXACTLY the same reservations that are expressed here.
I was banded in 2001, right before it was FDA approved. I thought I had reseached it, but I was fooled by a group like this one, (it was a yahoo group called Bandsters). At that time, there was a lot of peer pressure - people who weren't having big success simply didn't reveal. There were a couple of dominant personalities in that group and basically, anybody who wasn't successful had "compliance" issues.
I did okay at first, but I was never super successful with the band. Worse then that, the reflux was a nightmare. I can go on and on. Anyway, I had the Fluid out about 2003/early 2004 due to uncontrolled reflux and lived with the band until 2011. I didn't feel shame for being fat, I felt shame for FAILING at a WLS that I thought pretty much everybody else succeeded with. It made me very skeptical of all the claims about WLS, it made me skeptical of myself. I was convinced that I had a "compliance issue" and would surely fail with the gastric bypass or anything else too. In hindsight, I realize I was pretty hard on myself.
I lost weight on weight watchers - kept that off for quite awhile, but then in recent years tried everything and couldn't keep weight off for more a few monhts... the regain was always so fast. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, I saw counselors to find and hopefully cure my "eating disorders". They kept asking me how I felt when I wanted to eat... they didn't think "hungry" was a legitimate answer.. I really didn't make progress on that front either.
I was pushed hard by my sleep apnea doctor to get some weight off. The doctor that looked at my arthritic kneed and told me it needs replacing soon, practically begged me to get weight off. They were both compassionate, but very firm. I could always say "I am healthy" but in truth, I at 47 I was starting to have physical issues. They shared with me real stories of patients, and in the case of the surgeon, about his mother. They painted a picture of the road I was on... 300+ at 47; what is life going to be like at 57, 67... if I made it that long. They shook me up.
The sleep doctor convinced me to meet with a surgeon that he knew. Great guy, great reputation but he felt strongly I would fail with a restrictive procedure (oh, the non compliance thing again) so steered me toward the gastric bypass. I started the process, but at some point decided that I was just too scared and would rather die young then do that procedure. This may not be rational, but it is where my head was at.
I came across another place that advertised "weight management" services that required a two year commitment to their program and as I read about their program and thought... I need to try again. I got lucky and the director/founder of that business is who I talked to. She listened to my story and said... have you considered the gastric sleeve? I told her about me failing at the band etc etc and she said, please, before you do anything - talk to these guys and referred me to the surgeons they work with. (they have a weight management program that is non surgical but she identified that I was not a good candidate for that due to lifelong obesity and high BMI at the time. The stats don't lie - deck is stacked against people in that situation). She said something that stuck with me.... as much as the deck was stacked against me, a lifetime of obesity, one failed surgery she said I had going for me one very important thing - I never gave up. That little comment gave me some hope.
I met Dr Billing and he spent the time to really talk to me about obesity and theories, research and surgeries. He spent such a long time with me, I am so grateful for that. He gave a sobering assessment too about risks of revisions - things can happen. He agreed that the revision to the gastric bypass was riskier and stongly recommended the sleeve. One of the docs in their practice has had the sleeve, and another one's wife has had it done - they really believe in this procedure. He also referred me to a bariatric doctor (non surgeon) to work with. She, combined with Dr Billing changed my view of the whole thing.
There are physical reasons I am hungry all the freaking time!!!! I am not denying personal responsibility, i realize it is lifestyle and choices, but, I was swimming upstream trying to overcome the obesity cycle I had been deeply caught up in my whole life! He told me that it is possible to break free without surgery, but the odds aren't good.
He also told me my band needed to come OUT as it had slipped, I had pouch dialiation - it needed to go. I was not mentally ready for it, but I went ahead with the band removal surgery... still deciding about the sleeve.
About 2 days after the band came out, I was hungry hungry hungry even more! I couldn't believe it, even my failed band had been helping somewhat. My gosh, wonder if I would have weighed 400# if I hadn't had that crapband in there - maybe I should give it some credit.
I went to the bariatric doc (not the surgeon) and followed her program which kept me from gaining 50# but I was becoming frantic and even depressed over what was happening. The drive to eat was out of control. I am not sure what clicked, but at some point, I could no longer deny that I needed a tool to help me. I could not deny that my life was being negatively impacted by my obesity. I could not deny that I was starting to not be able to do the things I love and that everything was such an effort. (I could still wipe my butt, but I know what she meant, everything just gets so hard when you are that heavy). And I was miserable always feeling like food was the most important thing in my life since I just had a drive to eat.
I am reminded of the quote "I was going downhill faster then I could lower my standards"
So, because i had one foot in the door on this whole deal, I had some of the presurgery things taken care of including insurance approval. Then, in November 2011, I found out my insurance was changing. The new insurance specifically excluded the Gastric Sleeve, but still covered the gastric bypass. I did some soul searching and then booked it for December before the new insurance kicked in. At the time, I didn't like that pressure, but in hindsight, it was the kick in the butt I needed after dallying with this whole subject for a year.
I wound up with a different surgeon (who is also amazing) in the same practice because my doc was on vacation in December.
It was a huge leap of faith. I still don't really know what problems, or weight regain I might have in 5 years, 10 years. I have risked being "fooled again" by the hype - I know that.
For me, the risk was worth taking because I just could not keep gaining weight. I could not remain in that high BMI catagory - that wasn't me and wasn't the life I want.
Anyway, I am only 5 months out, but my success has already surpassed anything I achieved with the band. It has also been easier so far, and so far, I don't experience hunger all the time. My whole relationship with food is changing. I am not claiming the war is over, but I have been winning many battles. I have heard it said on this forum "the sleeve is everything the band promised but didn't deliver" - I agree with that statement.
My blood work is the envy of the medical and nutritionalist staff (like wow, fasting blood sugar of 77 for example and I was pre-diabetic, triglicerides all that are in the outstanding excellent catagory). I feel like a million bucks. I am doing stuff with my horses again and loving on it. I am so active, I have so many choices of what to do, where to go, where to shop - all that. I no longer feel like the morbidly obese person who has no business doing horse things. I no longer feel the constant drive to EAT. I feel more like ME. I still have lots of weight to lose (I am still obese even, but in a whole different weight class now), but I am so happy with how this is going I can't even express it adequately.
My life is becoming a life I want to live.
So, back to the original point. Yeah, I am skeptical. I still wonder sometimes when the shoe will drop and I suddenly have "mental issues" with food. There is a part of me that still believes this whole situation is a character flaw on my part, even though I fight that. Seems to me that my issues with food have pretty much gone away since I am not starving 24/7, but time will tell. My docs openly disclosed the limited data on long term results of this exact procedure, based on the stomach size they are currently using. I just couldn't wait another 10 years to see how the studies turned out, so for me the risks as I understand them now, are totally worth the benefits, as I understand them now.
Here's to a great next 10 years - I am determined to be one of the good statistics!
(my signature shows I still have 66# to lose, but I have lost over 80# in the 5 months and am much closer to normal sized person now)

missmeow, you refer to short term memory loss. I have not heard of this. Can you give us a research link? Is it due to anesthesia or something with the procedure itself?

Congrats to you!!! Did you get the verbal ok for insurance and now waiting for the official "letter" to arrive? I'll keep my fingers crosses that the doc's office will receive the letter on Monday.