Baba Wawa

First off, the Beans are fine, but some of us have problems with the skins...it's a great recipe and you can make it up and purée it for that stage, post op. I do use Soups, after having a stuck episode or just in the days when that sounds good. I eat the broth first, the the solids...that way I'm still following "the rules". I love soup...being banded doesn't mean giving up all the foods you enjoy, just enjoying them in a different way. I would sub pastina or stelline for the macaroni, since they are smaller and more band friendly. Adding some Protein is a great idea, chopped chicken, beef, etc works....good luck with your surgery, I'm sure you'll do fine.

Yes, it's fluid from the IVs you had at the hospital, 6 lb is just about right. They want to make sure you're well hydrated prior to discharge, just in case you should have difficulty getting in all your fluids the first few days home...don't weigh yourself for at least a week.

What's the difference between a second surgery to put in a new band and a second surgery to revise to VSG? That is a perfect example of the medical system's complete lack of common sense!

Getting stuck and sliming is not something that should happen frequently. It could mean you're too tight (need a bit of fill removed), not cutting food small enough, eating too fast, or as in my case, your stomach has developed scar tissue under the band creating tightness even without a fill. If you're having frequent episodes you should see your band doctor.

You gave me a good laugh..thank you !

You need medical attention and quick. Any pain that suddenly occurs and lasts longer than 10-15 min, when you are in the post-op recovery needs to be investigated. It could be anything and not necessarily related to your band. Let us know how it turns out.

I had mine fixed when I was banded. The surgery was longer, 3.5 hours, the recovery was a bit longer. I had some bruised lungs, even coughed up bloody mucus for a few days and it hurt to breathe. My reflux has returned due to my band tightening on its own, had 3.5cc in 11cc band, now completely unfilled while my esophagus and stomach recover.

The reason behind your doctors policy of not filling patients who smoke is that smokers are more prone to peptic ulcers than non-smokers and ulcers can lead to erosion.

Pan infection in or around your port is one of the signs of band erosion. The band perforated the stomach wall, an infection ensues and travels along the port tubing to near the surface where your port is located. This is most likely to resolve only by having the band removed. It's very serious and should not be ignored. A person can go septic in very little time. Don't want to scare anybody, but a port infection is usually much, much more.

The heating pad helps disperse the CO2 gas they use to inflate your belly...it tends to migrate up into the right shoulder, but can hurt in a variety of places. My daughter just had a hysterectomy (da Vinci robotic assisted) and had the exact same pain in her right shoulder for the first week post-op. The heating pad should go where the gas pains are. For my incisions I found that ice helped with that discomfort. Just make sure to have a towel between the ice and skin. GasX helps with any air you might swallow drinking water or broth. Whatever you do walk as much as you can tolerate and keep sipping liquids...

The machine improved my sleep and my husband and I would say good night and "ready for liftoff" and laugh before I put the mask on. I slept like a baby and still do. What convinced me was the doctor telling me that "unexplained" post-op deaths were reduced from one in 100 to one in 10,000. It supports breathing during the time that we are recovering from general anesthesia, taking pain medications. Anesthesia and narcotic pain meds are respiratory depressants...the CPAP also helps prevent post-op pneumonia. My dad died of sleep apnea...just didn't wake up one morning. It was devastating. I would never want to put my family through that trauma.

Consuming more than 30% of your calories in protein CAN cause problems. If you're on 1200 calories, that is 360 calories/4 calories per gram = 90 grams per day.

I got my first fill at 3 months. My PA offered me the option of 5cc or less, I opted for 3 and that was great for about 6 months, when I had my second fill of .5cc. That was 15 months ago and I feel like I'm in a good place. My personal opinion is that less is better and aggressive fills can cause a lot of issues.

Ketosis from fat burning will give you bad breath