caffeine

Very useful info. Thank you! From your profile I see that you spent a day in the hospital after your procedure. My insurance authorized me one day in the hospital, but my current plan is for my wife and mom to drive me home the same day of the procedure, if I feel up to it. How did you feel after you were fully awake from anesthesia? Did you feel well enough to walk? Sit up at a desk? Or were you pretty knocked out that first day? I assume that everything about our procedure will be the same. Actually, I'll tell you what finally got me to go down the LB route. It was your doctor, Dr. Fielding. I was watching his videos, and he's a pretty fit and trim guy. Looks FANTASTIC for his age. There was this one point where Dr. Fielding is talking about the adjustability and he says something like "... and when I had my Lap Band put in ... " and I did a double-take when he said that. After hearing that, I immediately signed up for the NYU info-session. LOL. Dr. Ren said that occasionally he'll want to skip dinner to do something else and she's like "What about me? I'm hungry!" :-)

Hey Amy, My procedure with with Dr. Ren, the wife of the person who did your procedure. :thumbup: When you say "throw it up," do you mean like the kind of throwing up you do when you have a stomach virus or too much alcohol? And does it come up on its own? How quickly between eating the food does throwing it up happen? Is it like a few seconds? A few minutes? Half an hour?

Very, very useful. You definitely took some of the scary aspect away for me. I was envisioning honest to goodness vomiting and heaving. Would it help to carry around a paper napkin until I start to learn what I'm capable of, or is there too much slime for a paper napkin? Thank you *so* much for replying. This is the one thing I'm a little nervous about, and it feels better facing it, knowing, rather than having not a clue what to expect. I'm going to assume it's kind of like falling off a motorcycle -- everyone has to do it a couple of times to learn it's not something you want to happen on a regular basis, so you live (hopefully unscathed) and you learn.

Hey Tracy, Thanks! It's really luck that I was able to do this so quickly. My health insurance required a 6 month demonstration that "medically supervised diets" don't work for me. What a joke... Switched jobs, got another insurance, and they only required 3 months. I know I'm not going to look the way I want to this summer, but I'll look better than I've looked in years. Maybe a decade. I'm sure you'll do OK on the diet. You know how they say "time heals all things"? It's kinda true for this diet. Here's what helped me through it: 1. Time. The first few days you're going to be tired and disoriented (at least I was). The first week or so will be very difficult. But after that, it *really* does get easier. 2. My boss. Don't know how to put this delicately, but those shakes ... umm... don't agree with me very well. I explained everything to my boss, and he let me work at home in close proximity to my bathroom whenever I needed it. :thumbup: 3. My wife. The lack of variety really killed me. So did the sickeningly sweet shakes. I wish they had roast beef flavor or something. But she tried very hard to make variety in my dinner, and it helped a lot. My mother made some home made broth. Put some capers and hot sauce, and you feel almost half-way normal. 4. My work. Delving into work REALLY helped. Weekends were the worst. I guess this translates to "keep busy" with whatever you do. I think that's part of the reason why I'm writing so much. It keeps my mind off food. :-) Good luck with your meetings, insurance, and everything. If you're banded in June or July, It sounds like you'll definitely reach your goal next summer and we can both post about all the groovy summer clothing we've bought. Oh, also time isn't the only thing that helps with the diet -- no fat salsa does too. :-)

Can someone please describe to me what happens if we swallow something that's not sufficiently chewed or otherwise won't pass a band at all? This was the closest I've come to understanding what happens: Wishful Shrinking: PB isn't Peanut Butter in LapBand World but she doesn't describe whether the food eventually went down or came up. It sounds painful whatever happened. Can someone describe in frank graphic detail what I should expect? I assume it'll happen at least once in my life. I'd like to know what to expect beforehand. Is it vomit/burping? I expect it's not as traumatic as normal vomiting because it hasn't been mixed with gastric acid and partially digested. Can one induce PB if one feels in trouble like that woman did? Or does the body pretty much do everything it needs to in its own time? Thanks!

LOL. That's a NYC habit that I can't seem to shake. We refer to a slice as a "pizza" and a whole pizza as a "pie". :-)

My name is Peter, and I'm from NYC, although I've lived in DC, FL, TX, MI, and CA. I consider NoCal to be my home. San Francisco is my favorite city in the world. I'm getting the procedure tomorrow; meeting the surgeon (Christine Ren from NYU MC) at 6am. Procedure starts 7:30am. At that hour, I doubt I'll need any anesthesia. :thumbup: I've been on a liquid only diet for 2 weeks. The first 5 days were one of the hardest things I've ever done, but watching the procedure done "for reals" on youtube gave me the will and resolve to stick it out on 1000 cal/day Protein shake diet. The 2 cups of veggies were the high point of my day. I've been faithful to the diet, and other than days where I probably had more like 3 cups of veggies, I have been 100% faithful to the diet. OK, there was one day I fell off the wagon and had 4 cups of veggies. My pre-op diet went something like this: Days 1-3: Agony. Pain. Like a drug addict in withdrawal. Days 4-5: Misery. Days 6-10: Much easier, but I felt like an angsty teenager, looking at a pizzeria or a deli knowing they aren't for me. I became angry with things like Subway sandwiches and yogurt. Typical "diet food" that was off limits for me. After day 10, I have to say the diet is much easier. Occasionally I feel hungry, but it almost feels natural to go for some rose-Water or some spicy broth. In all, I have lost 20lbs on this crazy diet. It's not that I'm not looking forward to eating my first pizza, but I really think the pre-op diet will make the 10 day post-op liquid diet much easier. I feel more prepared for it. Oh, I also have found the diet is MUCH easier on days I go to work. The weekends are much harder for me. I did a lot of research on bands, and decided that unless my surgeon thinks otherwise, I want the Realize-C. The reasons AGAINST the Realize-C are: 1. LapBand AP seems to have more weight loss associated with it. However, I am a mathematician, and I know claims like this are nearly meaningless. Contrary to what people say, statistics don't lie, however, you need an unbiased researcher who wants to do a good job, and this particular statistic does not come from an unbiased researcher. 2. The LB-AP is 3rd gen while the Realize-C is 2nd gen. True, but not compelling. I'm sure the Realize-C engineers had a LB-AP in their hands while contemplating the Realize-C design. 3. There is some empirical evidence that the Realize-C balloon may crease, causing saline leakage when past a fill of 9.0. However, I have full faith in my surgeon, and if she thought the risk was anything other than nearly insignificant, she wouldn't have offered it to me. There is risk in everything we do. There are numerous benefits to the Realize-C which seem compelling, but I think the port profile and insertion technique is what put me over the edge in favor of the Realize-C. So therefore, I'm going to ask her for the Realize-C unless opening me up reveals that LB-AP is a better choice. I have no number "goal" weight. My goal is to look great naked. I don't care if that puts me at 150, 180, or 200. I want to look at the mirror and say "Hell yeah, that's *my* body. Awwwww yeeeaaahhhhhhh......". I also want to be able to shop in any clothing store and be able to find clothes that fit. About a year ago, I went to H&M and not a single pair of pants fit me in the entire store. Not one. I was traumatized. So my secondary goal is to be able to find groovy clothes that fit me anywhere in any store. My last goal is to learn moderation. I want to eat a single pizza for lunch and say "You know? That was delicious and filling". Currently, even 2 pizzas would leave me hungry. I eat great food. I don't eat candy or sweets. I don't eat fast food at all. My last Big Mac was in 1986. My last KFC was in 2003, but before that, it was probably sometime in the 80's. However, I currently do not know moderation, e.g. I can eat a whole jar of Peanut Butter. I have made a few theories about weight loss in the past few weeks. I'm not sure if they're true, but it's what I've seen. 1. If you lose more than 2lbs in a day, expect diarrhea. Your body is probably in shock. 2. If you eat something, the weight you'll gain will not show up on a scale anytime soon. It takes about a day or two for the weight to fully show up. I have no idea why. It just appears to be true. 3. There is a moment in the morning where your weight is at a minimum. Past that time, even if you don't eat or drink a single solitary thing, your weight will increase. For me, that time is somewhere between 7:30am and 9:30am. Anyway, that's pretty much everything. I'm glad to have found this resource. I still have loads and loads to learn. I doubt I'll be able to meet support groups since I work in the financial district all the way downtown NYC, and sometimes I keep pretty late hours at work. But I'm hoping that forums like this will be a good substitute. Pete