She Smiles

Susannah, you will *probably* feel fuller. Although some people claim to have no restriction at all until after a few fills. I personally was only able to eat maybe 3-4 tablespoons in one sitting when I went onto mushies. Lite philly is also an option for mushies too. And mashed baked beans/tinned spagetti if thats your thing .Any of the chunky soups blended are also ok. Think about weetbix with plenty of milk (have less and less milk as you aproach the start of solids) for breakfast if you can handle something like that. Some people can't have anything resembling solid til mid morning (I am not one of them, I have a teensy bowl of museli every morning!).

Susannah, the port pain WILL dissipate over the next week or so, it will get to the point where you hardly realise its there (it probably doesn't feel that way now though!).

Here we go!!

Dionne, I've tried to find the post that I was talking about. It wasn't actually about food though, it was more about what to take to hospital with you so you can have a comfortable stay. This thread has some good food suggestions for all the post op stages. Or just look in the "food" section for similar posts, there are plenty of them http://www.lapbandtalk.com/lapband-food-stages-t3995.html I'll have a harder look for the hospital stuff I posted and repost it.

I wrote a list of stuff you will need in hospital earlier in this thread when Susannah asked (maybe a few pages back). As for food etc you will need after, your nutrionist will go over all of that when you see them tomorrow. My hot tips for after as far as recovery goes are comfy loose clothes, pain stop medicine (the day time one cos its gentler on your tummy) and a heat pack/pad (get them from the chemist). And walk walk walk as soon as you are comfortable doing so. The thread here in the pre op section is pretty good i thought. Most of what my consultant suggested was also in some one's posts here.

Hi guys! As we have been discussing, this is our thread to post our before, during and after pics of our banding journeys. For those of us who are not yet banded or just starting out, feel free to just post your before pics, and you can add after pics later on as you wish. It would be great to put faces to names too! I think it will be great to have our own thread to encourage and support each other, sometimes the numbers in our signatures don't reflect how much of a difference it has actually made to how we look!!

Bronnie I didn't have to see a physician, so I can't help you out with that unfortunatley. I think starting our own Aussie before and/or after thread is a great idea! I am SURE that you are not ugly Susannah! I hated photos of myself 3 months ago, but I'm coming around now that my face and body doesn't look like it belongs to the marshmallow (wo)man!! In fact, heck, I'm going to go start that thread now cos I had new after photos taken just days ago.

Hey Feebs, come on over the Melbourne chat thread. I'm in Canberra but the lovely Victorians have let me hijack their thread. We are all very friendly

Don't worry I stress about the stangest band related things too. After a while you learn to feel for when things are ok and when they're not. Its quite odd actually!

Susannah, your upper tummy/pouch will only stretch if you repeatedly over eat I've been told. The fact that it went through quicker probably just means the swelling has gone down more, thats a good thing, it means you are healing! I strongly doubt the stitches would have split either.

Those appointments will be a piece of cake! What did Dr Nottle say about Optifast??

WOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME Bronnie! You must feel even more excited now! How fantastic! Yay for you!

I guess we would. Man I would love to go to a boot camp for a month, I love that kind of stuff! I was just thinking the same thing!! Maybe she is out celebrating!!!

I think you should be right as long as you don't have to lift anything or bend lots or get up and down all that much. I really surprised myself in my first week back at work with how ok I felt. I can't beleive how much some of them lost last night in the weigh in!! They put my loss to shame!!

Thanks guys! Do you feel ok to go back to work Susannah? I know that for me, I was going stir crazy after 2 weeks off and was keen to go back to work and have contact with real life people (as much as I love Oprah and Dr Phil, they aren't very good conversationalists hehe). Just take it easy when you go back and you should be right, do you have a very strenuous job?

So a woman at my work was just talking to me about my gym, she goes there too, but during lunch (I go straight from work) and I mentioned to her that I had lost about 20 kilos. She said "oh really? I hadn't really noticed at all. You must carry your weight well". I feel really deflated now. 20 kilos is A LOT and I have lost 3 dress sizes too, but apparently I still look the same at 93 as I did at 115?? How does that work. Bah!

Waiting, waiting, waiting.... where are you Bronnie??

GOOD LUCK!! I'll have all my fingers and toes crossed for you!!

*dances to the song* hehe. I'll be on stand by around that time!!

What time is your appointment?! I'll be checking this thread like a OCD fool shortly after haha I can't wait to see what he says!!

You go girl!!! :clap2:

Well I'll chat to my friend and see, I'm sure she won't mind. And she is one of the few friends of mine who know about my band (and my forum obsession hehe) so she'll understand I think. Its been pouring in Canberra all arvo too! Its bloody great isn't it!!

I think they are great predictions!! Maybe we can call Dr Nottle and give him a reference about how keen and dedicated you are! I really hope he's in a generous mood tomorrow (TOMORROW!!!!) and fits you in within the month. Yep I'm down in Melbourne for the 16-18th March. I'm visiting a girlfriend who I am being bridesmaid for later in the year, but I think meeting up for a coffee or lunch or something sounds good (I'll have to run it past her to make sure she hasn't planned the whole weekend for us). I'm keen to meet up if any or all of you guys are!

Bronnie that sucks!! I don't understand why people have to be like that!! You can be as excited as you like with us, because WE are excited for you too!!!! I almost want to ask which forum is was so I can STAY AWAY FROM IT!! I only post VERY rarely on another Aussie forum when I have a super serious question (like I did the other day about some medication I am on) because my Dr's consultant is the moderator of that forum and she is awesome, but I have decided from now on I am going to call her, because it took her a few days to reply and I needed a quicker response hehe. They can be pretty serious over there too, at times. There are some control freaks out there in internet-land aren't there??? I don't really think that a TT is off topic when it comes to weight loss suregry though - its kind of part of the process for a lot of people when they reach their goal weight! People are nuts. *hides behind something big with all you guys so no one can be nasty to any of us * hahahaha

I might hold you to that too Bronnie, I'm heading down to Melbourne for a long weekend in March!! The optifast bars were a god send for me, it was good to actually chew something, and they are quite yummy too!!