KariWI

Gretchen did my 3rd fill, it was approx. 1/4 cc. She found it right away but it has been sore and she bruised me. I can feel the port so much more. I think the fill is great right now. I was just reading lap band talk and it said that even when you hit "sweet spot" you will need to be filled more as you lose weight. Gretchen wanted to see me in 4 weeks but I made it for 5 weeks.I had lost 6 lbs.

Gretchen did my 3rd fill, it was approx. 1/4 cc. She found it right away but it has been sore and she bruised me. I can feel the port so much more. I think the fill is great right now. I was just reading lap band talk and it said that even when you hit "sweet spot" you will need to be filled more as you lose weight. Gretchen wanted to see me in 4 weeks but I made it for 5 weeks.I had lost 6 lbs.

I just got back from my 2nd fill. Dr. Gould had alot more trouble finding my port. I had lost 11 lbs so he would only put in 1/2 cc of saline, might be a blessing. I met with Diane in the AM and she is utterly useless. I have learned nothing from her and she always yawns while she is talking to me. I went out afterwards and got some new clothes. I totally deserved it. I got four tops for SPI for $60 and 2 pair of convertible pants for SPI that Linda had told me about. A got a top at Gordmans that I have on now. And a pair of jeans at Herbergers that are to big but were on sale for $14 and atleast they aren't as big as the other ones I had before. Oh my god, the tops...all the tops are XL. Not 3X, not 2X not 1X but XL. They are tight but they won't be for long. My convertible pants are 18!!!!!! I listened to IL DIVO on the way home and I was sooo happpy. I want to have this weight off before Brandon's wedding and dance with Jim. That is my ultimate dream. I dont' see Diane again for 6 months so I hope to be below 190 when I see her again. I have an appt with Dr. Gould for 6 weeks incase I need another fill. IF I don't need it I will have to call and see if he still wants to see me.

I just got back from my 2nd fill. Dr. Gould had alot more trouble finding my port. I had lost 11 lbs so he would only put in 1/2 cc of saline, might be a blessing. I met with Diane in the AM and she is utterly useless. I have learned nothing from her and she always yawns while she is talking to me. I went out afterwards and got some new clothes. I totally deserved it. I got four tops for SPI for $60 and 2 pair of convertible pants for SPI that Linda had told me about. A got a top at Gordmans that I have on now. And a pair of jeans at Herbergers that are to big but were on sale for $14 and atleast they aren't as big as the other ones I had before. Oh my god, the tops...all the tops are XL. Not 3X, not 2X not 1X but XL. They are tight but they won't be for long. My convertible pants are 18!!!!!! I listened to IL DIVO on the way home and I was sooo happpy. I want to have this weight off before Brandon's wedding and dance with Jim. That is my ultimate dream. I dont' see Diane again for 6 months so I hope to be below 190 when I see her again. I have an appt with Dr. Gould for 6 weeks incase I need another fill. IF I don't need it I will have to call and see if he still wants to see me.

I am going for my mtg with the nutritionist tomorrow and then my 2nd fill. In between I am going to go shopping for SPI. I have such mixed feeling on what to say to both of them. I feel restriction sometimes. It is never when I eat certain things and other times I can eat and eat and it never feels like I have restriction. I know I am eating to fast and with to big of bites. I ate so much at the restaurant a couple of weeks ago that it scared me. I ate tuna a week ago and had maybe 1 Tbsp with mayo eaten and I got the worst pain in my chest and was really sick for several hours. I really cannot figure it out. I want more restriction as I do belive I am eating more than I am suppose to. I don't know how the weight loss has gone as I have been going more by how my clothes feel. I think I have lost. I want to get my weight #s from each time I was at the doctors tomorrow so that I am more accurate. I know my scales are way off from the doctors. I have settled on 172 as my start as I know I was atleast that when I originally went to Dr. Millers. Actually I think it was 176 but I am not going to go there. Last time I weighed here I was 132 but I have been eating more this weekend as we are snowed in. I wish I would of gotten busy and went to the gym today but it is closed now. I will try and get there tomorrow and I also tan Tues AM.

I am going for my mtg with the nutritionist tomorrow and then my 2nd fill. In between I am going to go shopping for SPI. I have such mixed feeling on what to say to both of them. I feel restriction sometimes. It is never when I eat certain things and other times I can eat and eat and it never feels like I have restriction. I know I am eating to fast and with to big of bites. I ate so much at the restaurant a couple of weeks ago that it scared me. I ate tuna a week ago and had maybe 1 Tbsp with mayo eaten and I got the worst pain in my chest and was really sick for several hours. I really cannot figure it out. I want more restriction as I do belive I am eating more than I am suppose to. I don't know how the weight loss has gone as I have been going more by how my clothes feel. I think I have lost. I want to get my weight #s from each time I was at the doctors tomorrow so that I am more accurate. I know my scales are way off from the doctors. I have settled on 172 as my start as I know I was atleast that when I originally went to Dr. Millers. Actually I think it was 176 but I am not going to go there. Last time I weighed here I was 132 but I have been eating more this weekend as we are snowed in. I wish I would of gotten busy and went to the gym today but it is closed now. I will try and get there tomorrow and I also tan Tues AM.

Hi all It has been a long time since I have posted, just been busy. I also started going to the fitness center. I have arthritis in my knees and that makes it all really hard. Treadmill was painfull but I did find a machine where I sit and push against restriction with my legs and pull with my arms. It just feels so good to be able to do something physical. An added bonus is my husband joined with me so it is something we can do together, eventually we want to take dance classes. Hopefully that will be possible with less weight on my knees. I have so many incentives to get this weight off. My son just got engaged and the wedding will be in about a year. I keep picturing my husband and I dancing at the wedding reception whenever I think of eating something I shouldn't. Not that it is all sunshine and flowers and I can relate to some of the obstacles some of you are working through. I really don't feel very much restriction at all after my first fill and my second is tomorrow and I hope it goes well. I leave in a week for TX for 10 days and I am worried about that being a problem as I will have very little choice in what is served. Good to hear how all of you are doing. Hang in there it will all come together in the end.

This week I had the monster of all stucks. I ate almonds at work and when I started getting the full feeling I quit. Well it grew and grew and so I wnt to the frig at work and gulped cold water. It was like having brain freeze in my esophagus. I broke out in a sweat and didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I finally stuck my finger down my throat and the water came up and then I felt so much better.

This week I had the monster of all stucks. I ate almonds at work and when I started getting the full feeling I quit. Well it grew and grew and so I wnt to the frig at work and gulped cold water. It was like having brain freeze in my esophagus. I broke out in a sweat and didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I finally stuck my finger down my throat and the water came up and then I felt so much better.

I had my first fill one week ago and I really do not feel much restriction at all. My doctor would not do the initial fill until 6 weeks after surgery and did 1 cc. He won't do the 2nd for another 5 weeks. I feel like I am able to eat about anything. I can eat chicken and beef if its marinated or in some kind of sauce which isn't a great idea for weight loss. I got some chicken stuck thursday and then did a dumb thing and took a couple drinks of cold water thinking I would help it slide down. It was like the pressure of the chicken and then a brain freeze only in my esophagus. I was sooo miserable. I finally put my finger down my throat and the water came up and that helped. I don't ever want to do that again. I hope most of you are feeling more restriction than I am. I keep telling myself to have patience.

I went to Madison and got my fill. It was very simple, the numbing shot burned for a short period of time and then I had to lift my head and tighten my abdominal muscles while he filled. He had a student with him so it was kinda kewl listening to what he was telling him. He said that he knew he was in the port because it almost pulls the saline in without pushing the plunger. He put in 1cc. I have not tried to eat since except for a mozarella stick. I'll write more later about how that goes as I have time. I am going to join the fitness center tomorrow as I know I need to get some exercise. I didn't hear from dr. Brooks office today so I am assuming I won't have a second interview. Hopefully I can learn MaryAnn's job and spend most of my time up on Warren Street.

I went to Madison and got my fill. It was very simple, the numbing shot burned for a short period of time and then I had to lift my head and tighten my abdominal muscles while he filled. He had a student with him so it was kinda kewl listening to what he was telling him. He said that he knew he was in the port because it almost pulls the saline in without pushing the plunger. He put in 1cc. I have not tried to eat since except for a mozarella stick. I'll write more later about how that goes as I have time. I am going to join the fitness center tomorrow as I know I need to get some exercise. I didn't hear from dr. Brooks office today so I am assuming I won't have a second interview. Hopefully I can learn MaryAnn's job and spend most of my time up on Warren Street.

Hi everyone. I usually take time on the weekend to catch up with everyone and see how ya'all are doing. I have my first fill tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. The last 2 weeks I have been hungry and felt no restriction. Guess the swelling is all down because I did feel some for the first 4 weeks after surgery. I'm sure my surgeon will be conservative with the fill and I just hope it is enough to make a difference. I am really not nervous about the actual procedure of getting the fill.

bk I will be praying for your dad. bman I'm sorry for your experience and your pain. It took so much strength to focus on getting yourself to a place that you want to be for yourself. I was proud of myself for walking by a table full of cookies at work all day today. Baby steps.

1/8/07 and 1/9 Went tot he support group on Monday night. Jim went with me. the first hour was a group mtg on setting goals. I didn't learn alot I didn't know and like most mtgs a few people spoke, some intellingent with good ideas and some just plain dumb. The 2nd hour was more interesting with a break out group of just lapband people. The furthest out from surgery was about 9 month, then some of us just out, and several preop. I sat next to a really nice woman and gave her my email address looking for a friend but she hasn't emailed me. I am anxious for my 1st fill as I am hungry now and can eat anything. The next day I went back in to see Diane and I could of saved the drive. She gave me some sheets and told me to start eating solids so my pouch learns to work. I seem to be stuck weight loss wise at 240 or so. I know I need to exercise.

1/8/07 and 1/9 Went tot he support group on Monday night. Jim went with me. the first hour was a group mtg on setting goals. I didn't learn alot I didn't know and like most mtgs a few people spoke, some intellingent with good ideas and some just plain dumb. The 2nd hour was more interesting with a break out group of just lapband people. The furthest out from surgery was about 9 month, then some of us just out, and several preop. I sat next to a really nice woman and gave her my email address looking for a friend but she hasn't emailed me. I am anxious for my 1st fill as I am hungry now and can eat anything. The next day I went back in to see Diane and I could of saved the drive. She gave me some sheets and told me to start eating solids so my pouch learns to work. I seem to be stuck weight loss wise at 240 or so. I know I need to exercise.

Hi Gang, I have been so busy, I haven't posted for a long time. Went to see nutritionist today (4 weeks postop) So now I am on solids. She wants me to try things as says it is imperative that the stomach learn how to contract and expand as needed so I can eat "normal" Then in 2 more weeks I go for my first fill. They will not even talk about fill prior to 6 weeks post op. I went to our bariatric clinic support group last night and the first hour was about setting goals and the 2nd hour we broke up into lapband and gastric bypass groups. It was interesting as in the lapband group (about 15 people) was varied. Some were preop, some new postops and some were at goal. We just picked each others brains with the nurtitionist and nurse practitioner jumping in when necessary. I felt sorry for 2 people there as they have insurance that requires 24 months of doctor managed dieting prior to insurance determining if they will pay for surgery. I hadn't been here for awhile and so I had several pages of posts to read. I have came to the conclusion that some of you are to hard on yourselves. Everyone stumbles and to my way of thinking eating the top off a pizza is one heck of alot better than eating the whole piece. Take the postives from these experiences. Heavens knows most of us have had that little negative chatterbox talking in our heads for a long time and we need to shut him up. (why do I imagine him as male) I am working as hard on the emotional part of this as the eating part because I know if I don't change some of my thinking I'll never be successful at getting this weight off or keeping it off. Thanks for the book suggestion I'll get it asap. Well, good luck to all of you. I'll try to get here more often in the future.

Welcome to the new December bandsters. I don't get on every day and it seems like when I do get here I have an hour of catch up with everyone to do. Please don't think I'm ignoring anyone. StephC- I can totally relate to your posts and feeling restriction at first and not any at all now. My surgeon put me on mushies the day after surgery and then solids at 4 weeks. Prior to that I see the nutritionist. Like you my first fill will be 1/22. I had a "weird" experience. Last night I had a terrible tightness in my chest. I didn't think I had eaten anything to cause probs but now wonder if I just "out of habit" picked up a piece of hamburger I had fixed for my family and ate it and don't even remember. Anyway..I thought I was gonna die. It hurt to move, it hurt to lay, it hurt to breathe, I tried drinking water and that made it worse. I broke out in a sweat and my mouth watered like I was going to vomit, but didn't. It finally started to ease some over time and just very slowly resolved itself. I wish I knew what I had done to cause that and I'd for sure never do it again. I do have pineapple juice on hand as one of the "veterans" in another site said it works as human drano if you need it. I was about 1 minute from trying it when things started to get better. I hope everyone had a Happy New Years eve and we all have a successful and healthy 2007.

Cherg- I don't think I could give you any advise any better than Jahair. I wish you good health in the near future. Please make that your goal.

Hi all NN- One of my goals is to stop the "scale mentality". If I eat healthy, exercise, and use the tools that I have in my bariatric surgery notebook I will get to where I need to be both mentally and physically. Our society as a whole is so impatient ( I include myself in that). We chose the lapband knowing that we were not going to drop the weight like gastric bypass patients but that we wanted to learn how to keep it off during the process of losing the weight. As I read the threads everyone loses at different speeds and some feel restriction from the very beginning and some not until the 3rd or 4th fill. It is a journey for all of us, some of it we have to do alone but always with the support of friends and fellow lapbanders. Wow did I get philosphical or what. Didn't mean to get "preachy" to anyone, I am the last one to be able to do that but we are all works in progress. Beversman- You didn't mention how your incisions looked when you went to the doctor. Some of the things you eat my surgeon already called mushies like oatmeal. I have 2 more weeks on mushies and I'm trying to get creative so I don't get bored of them. StephC- Sounds like you have a great surgeon!!! That is a wonderful support system. Paloma- There are instructions on how to add a ticker under the preop thread I think. I have found two sites where you can build your own and then paste the url to your signature. One is tickerfactory.com and then other is choosing2lose.com. bkwalling- Sorry your neighbor sabatoged you with Milky Way. Forgive yourself and go on from here is all you can do. If you learned how to handle her the next time she swoops in then it was a experience to help you along the way.

Hi everyone. I am 2 1/2 weeks out of surgery and feeling really good. All stomach soreness gone and the arthritis in my knees is better already. I experience some light headedness and wonder if my blood pressure meds need to be adjusted. I'll check it out soon. Sometimes I am hungry but I find if I get busy I can forget about it so it was more "head hunger". I had left over pumpkin pie and had been fighting it so threw it in the garbage disposal this AM. Felt good. Carol-my thoughts and prayers are with you husband and you. I updated my ticker today and that felt good. I actually think I am staying pretty much the same on the scales the last few days and that is fine. I knew these first few weeks were about healing. I wish a good day to all of the fellow lapbanders.

Hi, Couple days since I have posted anything here. Good luck to all who are being banded between Christmas and New Years. I have been banded 2 weeks today and feel like I turned the corner and feeling much better. Christmas was pretty easy, I didn't have any "big" meals to make it through with most of my family being out of state. The people we did have over thought it was great that I kept things simple with soup and sandwiches. Brunch casserole Christmas morning that I passed up with little problem, fruit salad that I "mushed" up for me. All in all it went well. I am starting to feel a little more hunger. I have been experiencing some "head rush" and dizziness when I get up to fast and wondering if maybe I need to cut back on my high blood pressure meds as now it is to low. I need to hit one of the drugstores and have the machine take my bp to see where I am at. I have one more week before going back to work and already making some plans on how to get through the hectic schedule and still get my water. I work half of the day in a sterile enviornment that we cannot have any liquid with us, only in the lounge on the other side of the laboratory bldg. Guess it will be good way to get exercise and they will just have to live with the current "breaks" to go get water. Again happy new year to all of you and good luck to the future December bandsters. Hang in there is really does get better.

It does get better. I am one week postop today and I feel not 100% yet but soooooo much better. Mostly my prob now is fatigue. I had a doctor appt yesterday and complained about the fatigue and the NP said "don't I remember you had surgery less than a week ago"? Guess I need to learn patience. I'll be thinking about you.

I have been spending the day just kinda catching up on everyone and where they are at on this thread. I saw your note StephC asking where I was and thought I'd catch everyone up on my "journey". So here is my "mini journal" :eek: I was on all liquied for 2 weeks prior to my surgery. Did okay on that but had to work really hard to get it all in the last couple days...I was really tired of it. I had to drink laxative the afternoon before surgery so most of that night was spent in the bathroom. Surgery was scheduled 8:30AM 12/12 and I had to be at the hospital by 6:00. First nurse did all the paperwork, got me into the "one size fits nobody" gown. Gave me a shot of heparin. My surgeon came in and talked for a minute. They wheeled me to preop area and I said goodbye to my husband. I was nervous and really thought about running for it. It took 5 sticks to finally find an IV so that wasn't fun. The anestheologist talked to me there. Wheeled me into surgery and once again when I was ready to bolt they put the mask on and I floated to never never land. It took a little longer for sugery as I had the "old fashioned" gallbladder surgery several years ago and they had to deal with some adhesions from that. I woke up in the recovery room with pain. My blood pressure was low so they could not give me any pain meds. I did some of my child birth breathing to try and stay in control. They finally got the okay from the anestheologist to give me a small amt of pain meds and later the rest of the dose. I went to my room and they gave me pain meds as I requested them. About 3 hrs after surgery I had to go to xray and do the swallow test. That came back okay and I got some ice chips. About 6:00 that same night I urinated and got rid of the oxygen and got the okay to go home. I might of stayed overnight and it was totally my choice but my roommate was loud, obnoxious, and complaining so I went home. If I had to do it over again I would of stayed overnight. This is day 4 and I am feeling much better. I was lucky and never had gas, atleast none I couldn't get rid of. no nausea but alot of chest pains, sore throat, and coughing about sent me through the ceiling. I am on mushies and had alot of trouble getting anything the first few days but now I am getting what I need for the most part. I have been laying pretty low and taking it easy as my mom has been keeping a close eye on me. :kiss2: I wouldn't enjoy going through those first few days again but I am focused on keeping my eyes on the future and what I am moving toward for my health and happiness. I am so glad to see all of you are standing together as a team and support system for one another. Please know that I will be more than glad to help the future lapbandsters I know that you are all there for me and that is a great source of encouragment.

I am 4 days out from surgery. Honestly they were tough days, but it is better today. I was lucky and never got the nausea and the gas was pretty easily dealt with. I was surprised by the chest discomfort but I kept taking the medication the first few days and ice helped. I found it hard to differentiate between hunger pain and post surgery discomfort. I am really understanding what everyone means when they talk about learning how to be at one with your new stomach. I am having trouble getting my protein and liquids like I should....but it is better everyday. As long as I can say that I am going in the right direction. My clinic goes with pureed mushies and accompaning protein powder right after surgery so that is where I am at for 3 weeks. I don't go back to work for a couple weeks and I am glad as I really need to put some things in place to make it work in the busy enviornment of my work place. I get so much reassurance from the posts of others who have made it through this portion of "the journey" and are doing well in lap band world. I wish all the December Lapbandsters luck and I'll be with you all the way.