general_antiope

LOL Cindy...sounds like the stuff I say to myself.

I hate Jello with an unnatural passion. LMAO. I'm on shakes and broth and tomato Soup for my post op liquid phase. It's going well. Yeah the groups aren't ideal here, but Alex tells me it'll be revamped in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to that.

Today was a good day. My father in law stayed again to take care of our baby, and my husband is getting better from the novo virus which is going around. Red alert, ladies, this novo virus is vomit and diarrhea and is VERY prevalent - would be torture to us newly banded people!! Needless to say, husband sleeps on the couch and we disinfect the bathroom for each other before and after each use. So far so good...neither me or the 3 month old need to share this experience with daddy, lol. I am moving around very well. I'm not risking lifting the baby out of her crib, but picking her up from the changing table or her rocker is easy, and not painful at all. Father in law left this afternoon and DH and I are working in shifts, so he will watch DD while I nap, and then I'll watch her while he naps. It's working out well. I miss my bathtub but will tough it out. Already I am having hunger, but once I start drinking I'm pretty discouraged from solid food. I'm looking forward to the pureed diet (remember, I totally suck with liquids) and am focused on staying on liquids as long as I can. For dinner tonight I mixed 2 TBSP Peanut Butter and 1/2 banana with my chocolate Protein Shake. I not only need the calories but I needed the weight of food. I think I got in like 800 calories today, way better than the last 2 days. Gas X continues to be my hero, and I'm hoping tomorrow I'll start having bowel movements again. (Sorry for TMI, but this stuff becomes necessary lol) How's everyone else doing? Susan, BTW, I'm in the same boat with the scale. I peeked, it hasn't moved. In fact I'm 1 lb up. I'm focusing on protein...pretty sure things will loosen up and weight will drop in the next few days.

I like the visualizations part. Do you mean how you're going to handle surprise donuts/goodies at work? Going out to eat? That sounds VERY smart! I agree it's great to have the support. It's hard being alone. Do you have a support group that your bariatric center offers? Some places have monthly real life meet ups with other banded folks. My doc is in NY and I'm in Philly so I can't take advantage of this. I think it harmed me the first time around being banded...had I had support groups to attend, I might have known I had a leak sooner than I did and lost all my weight, not just most of it. oh this you have to share, when you hit the milestone!!

Bump! How are my ladies doing?? I saw Rockstar_Jen check in - how is everyone doing?

Hello ladies! Updated the first post with our "retro" bandster and new faces. Good luck to Vanessa (Spaness2012) tomorrow!!!!

Hi everyone! I am home and back on my feet. I am so sorry I missed these GOOD LUCK threads, but here we are! Please tell us how your surgeries went!! FEB 5 Rockstar_Jen (Jen) meganb0216 (Megan) ATXveg FEB 6 Redesigned_Curves cksweetpea mg25 ireallywannabthin FEB 7 Spaness2012 (Vanessa)

That's great news Susan! I have the pain in my left shoulder/neck, too. Last time, it was the right shoulder, lol. How weird is that? Thanks for reminding me about the deep breathing. I'm doing my exercises right now to keep these lungs clear. I've definitely been breathing shallow. How are you feeling, Florida?

The prayers must have worked I woke up feeling a lot better. I can get up out of bed and lay down, walk, bend over, and am almost 100%. I even held the baby and felt no tugging or pain. I'm only on Aleve right now. I even cooked breakfast for my father in law because he's been on baby duty for 2 days now with zero complaints. Day 3 really is a turning point - it's like magic how much better I feel. I was up from 2 - 5 am with bad gas pains - neck and belly. I finally chewed on some Gas X and BAM! In 20 minutes I started letting gas go from both ends hehe. It felt AWESOME. And then I slept hard for an hour before the baby woke up again. I'll nap later today when husband is out of bed.... Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty damn good to be honest. I was worried for a little while that this would be a hard recovery. Cindy, my surgeon didn't say anything about scarring or problems with the surgery, she said it went fine. She says adhesions are unlikely/rare with the tube that was laying loose in my abdomen on my intestines because the silicone is unreactive, so it didn't require anything being cut out. She DID put the new port back in the same spot as the old port. I was too out of it when she came by to ask more about that, but I'll ask her in follow up if she thinks I'll have more leaks/hardware issues. (I better not, because I'm done going through this surgery!) She says the new band I have is 10 ccs and better crafted than the old one. I think I'll go shower and take a peek at the scale. for 2 days I ate just about nothing. This morning, no nausea and I got down a small cup of coffee, half a can of V8 and a half cup of protein shake so far. Even took my vitamins and calcium...feeling great.

The gas in your body gets absorbed. Honestly, ive done this twice now, walking and moving alleviates the pain. You'll burp and fart. It feels so good Laying down in the bed traps the gas. This is why they get you up - even sitting on the bed or standing helped move the big bubble under my ribs. Gas X only helps break up the stuff in your digestive track so you burp and fart easier, so it is more of a support drug than silver bullet solution.

Hi Cindy, I posted in the social groups forum instead of our group because I can't access our group on my iPhone (they'll be fixing that soon). My surgery went well but recovery was a little rough for me. Morphine gives me palpitations and it took 6 hours to find a pain med combo that worked. Vicodin, incidentally, doesn't work for me either. I stayed overnight because I felt awful. Could barely walk. Each time I got up to pee was better. I'm home now and unfortunately was greeted by my poor husband with the worst flu I've ever seen - he's been throwing up non stop and has severe diarrhea. So severe, I literally barely see him. He's miserable and this is making caring for our 3 month old difficult - I can't do anything. I can get up and make bottles, but she is 16 lbs of chunk. His dad was here yesterday and is sleeping over tonight. he's caring for our daughter but I don't know how we're going to manage tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to get in and out of my tempurpedic...i'm flying solo on medicating myself and keeping up my liquids. We'll figure it out. I'm sanitizing the toilet every time I use it, my husband and I aren't touching at all, and I use hand sanitizer constantly. I hope I don't get his virus. The last thing I need is a slipped band and my doctor 3 hours away, and me in severe pain. Helll noooo. My doctor came in and saw me in recovery, said my stomach organ was very SKINNY which I was so happy to hear. She said she could have filled the band but chose not to, and I'm glad, cause I need more healing time. I'm taking Dilaudid, Liquid Tylenol and anti nausea stuff. I also have liquid colace which I'm afraid to take as I'm in pain, and I hear it tastes disgusting. Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to attempt to make a nest to sleep in and keep my meds close by. Have a good night everyone.

Moving around much better. My gas shoulder pain is diminished and I'm on liquid Tylenol. I felt totally and completely awful yesterday, let me tell you. But it gets better so fast. I should be discharged in a few hours and start the 3 hr trip home. The doc said because my stomach was so skinny she could have filled it to 4 but left it empty to be safe. For which I'm glad. Trying to drink all the Water I can ... While I still can take a somewhat normal mouthful ... And have decided that Propel sucks. Hope my other Feb 4 bandsters are ok! And I think someone is getting banded today but I can't view the group on the iPhone.

Yep!! Lol.

Hi ladies! Bit of a bumpy start for me but improving. I have a morphine sensitivity and get heart palpitations so they go with different drugs. Well the other drug was doing it, too, so it took like 6 hours to get my pain out of control. Of course the majority of the pain is gas, and every time u get out of bed I'm doing better bit by bit. I haven't done a lap yet but can get in and out of bed on my own. I'm staying overnight and hope to be discharged tomorrow. Doc said my stomach was really skinny

Hi all, I can't post to our feb group from my phone so I'm posting here. I'm at the hospital ready for my 12 pm surgery. My band is getting replaced and I am so psyched to be a big loser again!!

Thanks Susan!! How sweet This is a fun journey and it's made all the sweeter with good companions. Looking forward to being a big loser with you!

Thanks ladies! Cindy, we're not sure if I'll be overnight. It's possible, but the plan from the hospital is to discharge me in the evening as long as I'm cool. Susan, I probably won't sleep. I just finished packing everything but the toiletries, I bought some zip front clothes and big loose shirt/pants for the post op bloating. Slippers too, as I have no plans to bend over more than I need to

akwright I'm in awe. I didn't go to the Super Bowl party with my husband for just that reason!

Hi all - getting some last minute hydration in for my surgery tomorrow. All in all I did OK on the pre op diet. On Friday I took my 3 month old out for a day at the mall. I was under 1000 calories all week but then Friday it caught up with me. I went to the food court and walked around, completely not tempted by anything bad (amazing!!!) but I started getting faint and woozy. That never happens to me. But the dizziness would not stop, and I started getting scared, I was 30 miles from home at a huge mall with my baby...alone. I was waiting at a smoothie bar to get a Protein Shake and then went instead to Subway and got a low fat sandwich (6" flat bread with chicken, spinach, Tomato, no cheese or dressing). Can I tell you how delicious it was? Hah. Oh well, never to be eaten again. It helped. I was dizzy for another hour, then it subsided. As expected I just despise liquid diets and basically stuck to low fat the rest of the weekend, under 1000 calories and 35g of fat. I also have been getting in 50+g of Protein, so I'm sure my liver is a happy camper. Gawd, I hate Protein Shakes, lol. Looking forward to having my hunger eradicated. I will miss pizza Hut, but I miss my size 12's and a belt more.

Yay you're all on the mend! Danielle, water is critical. If you get enough in, you will have a BM. Dehydration plus pain pills can cause serious constipation and even impaction (been there...you do not want to go there!). You need nutrients. Get used to needing to force yourself to eat When your swelling goes down and you get a good fill that's kind of how it is most of the time. You hear the growling, but you don't *feel* it and eating is sometimes optional. Please. please please drink water and get some nutrients in, it's critical for your healing right now!

kateeryn (Kate), can_do (Susan), SaraJ91263 (Sara) are getting banded TOMORROW!!! Let's wish us GOOD LUCK!

akwright, what a great response. Thank you! The gas pains are tolerable, they suck, but they are temporary The surgery recovery woes will fall away! In fact, soon after surgery most people feel "disappointingly normal" LOL. Like "I don't feel the band. This sucks." It's there, and as the weeks pass and you start getting fills it will work. It sounds like you are so ready for this. Looking forward to the journey with you!

Thank you for posting pics LadyDreads and Cynthia! YES it takes a lot of courage. I'll have my husband take some before pics of me this week, too.

Glad to hear it Mandy!!

Onamission, you have a great attitude! I'm so glad BCBS has your back, too. (I love them.)