MollyRN

Hi - I have intermittent, rather sharp port pain. This is not only when I am moving around, but I could be lying down and it happens. I am about 17 days out from surgery. Is this normal?

Honestly I don't think pre-op they can tell you what kind of first fill you will have. I am a week away from my first fill and although I have a feeling for my doctor's style, I think he will rely heavily on my experience I came off liquid. I mean, everyone is different and your doc can't know how you are until you are eating again. For example, I eat now and I get full on VERY little food, but I am hungry again within 2.5-3 hours. I know that my doctor's goal is to get me to 4-5 hours, which means I know I will have some sort of fill. But if I were not getting hungry for 4 hours, I would assume he would give me less fill.

Alcohol - of the rubbing sort Same way you get price stickers off of glass frames :thumbup:

The telling people thing is funny...in the beginning (pre-op) I didn't want to tell anyone - and now post op, I tell whoever I want - because I feel like we are REALLY BRAVE and STRONG people to make a decision like this. It shows commitment and desire in a way that my monthly pass to Weight Watchers NEVER WOULD. If you believe that obesity is a disease, then how can using a cure be wrong? It is like saying that diabetics cheat if they take medication rather than modifying their diet satisfactorily.... ok, that's my crazy opinion. Regardless, I am proud of my decision and proud of my commitment to change. I did not have a last meal, but I did indeed eat a slice of bread the day before my surgery

Think big picture....it is really the only way I made it through - and keep yourself BUSY. The pre-op liquid diet is not, although it feels like it, a test. It is for your health and to improve surgical outcomes. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

I agree - I would ask your doctor. All of us are at risk for pulmonary embolisms from surgery and I don't know how long after the surgery this risk is no longer a possiblity.

I love this site for this exact reason....

Here goes my attempt Jaime. I am 38, two kids, have been obese for 18 years or so. I thought if I was just committed enough, dieted and worked out, I would lose weight and the fact that I could not lose weight just meant I wasnt good enough at doing those things. Then my doctor diagnosed me as being depressed - and trust me, I was surprised at the diagnosis. She put me on a very low dose of prozac. Within 6 weeks, I had enough clarity about my life to realize that I hated myself the way I was. So I went to see Dr. George Fielding at NYU give a seminar. My life changed that day because he told me (and the other 300 people) that it wasn't that I was not good enough, it was that it was almost 99% physiologically IMPOSSIBLe for me to take the weight off - and actually KEEP it off. Seriously, it was like a light turned on for me. Since then, I have proceeded without a DOUBT or a pause toward my future and my own happiness. I have not been banded that long but I will tell you that I haven't lost a hair on my head (and with preop I am at about 5 weeks of liquid and mush diet). I take my Vitamins and I eat my Protein. I don't have any abnormal gas (now that the surgery gas has subsided). IN fact, I am very normal right now digestively speaking. I feel pretty good. I am not obsessed with the surgery. Somewhere on here I saw a quote that says that surgery is not an event, but a step in the process. I am very focused on my diet right now, making sure I am doing it right - and very focused on my emotional health and happiness - BUT we deserve this!! It is not obsessing as much as it is caring and focusing. The day of my surgery, lying on the tables while everyone worked to get me prepped and hooked up, the anethesiologist asked me if I had taken something that morning like a xanax - and I was like, what?? no? why? And he said he had never seen someone so calm, with such a low pulse rate at that point. I was very calm - and had not a single doubt about my decision. Instead of reading pre-op, try reading some of the post op stuff. Or post a question or concern to the people who have been banded for more than a year, and you will see a tremendously normal, well adjusted majority. You will make the best decision for yourself and your family! Good luck!

I agree....I was banded what 5 days after you and I am so excited about the possiblities that I don't even have the time to compare myself to others. It sounds like you might have come into the commitment without truly understanding how it would work. These boards should help with that. Go to the boards where people are celebrating 100+ lb loss and you will see that slow and steady ends up winning this race.

My understanding was that people were primarily not band candidates if the shrink or surgeon believed that they would not be able to make the lifestyle and dietary adjustments required to be successful. (Also, heavy drinkers are not band candidates either) Honestly, you have to work harder with the band than with bypass and we all have to ask ourselves how much work we are willing to do. Beyond that, look at the stats!!! 1 in 300 gastric bypass patients die. While for the band, it is like 1 in 4000 or more.

Girl...I thought I had pneumonia (sp?) - that alternated with a heart attack!! I had the EXACT thing - and I spent a lot of time taking deep breaths until the pain went away. Did they give you that blow thing? Try doing that more, it helps with the gas too. I think some of that pain comes from them pushing on your diaphram in surgery - and then we don't want to breathe deep because of pain. But we have to - we have to clear our lungs. Mine went away around day 6 or 7.

Mine was dark in the beginning - now it is light purple and only MY right side of my belly button, looking down. I asked the nurse about why it hurts to touch there, even where I can't see the bruise, and he said it was totally normal -that they put the instruments in there and pushed down on them alot. Do you bruise easily? Are you taking your Vitamins? With sufficient Vitamin C? Have you tried putting an ice pack on it for a day to see if it gets better?

Clear liquid diets don't have milk on them. It seems you are on a liquid diet and normally tomato soup would be okay.

I was a Protein shake junkie before this whole thing so I might be totally jaded... so here goes... My surgeon recommended Muscle Milk Light - they sell it at GNC and it comes in vanilla, chocolate, banana cream and strawberry - maybe others too. It is low carb but it does have some fat, which tends to make it taste a little better than the fat free varieties. My feeling is that fat free protein is meant to be mixed with milk. I was required to mix my protein, preop, with Water, so the muscle milk was much better than other Proteins I have had. In general, the whey proteins are better IMHO... easier on the digestive system, etc. I would also buy some non-flavored LOW CARB, LOW FAT protein powder which can easily be mixed POST surgery with food so that you can up your protein intake. One other note, the body really only absorbs about 25g of protein at a time - so try to find a shake mix that gets you there. There are plenty of premade shakes that are like 9-12 grams of protein, but you can do better than that.

My worst gas pain day was like day 4, and then it got considerably better after that. Walk walk walk....

I was banded on July 26 and I have two incisions, a small one below my left breast and the big belly button one. The small one still has a little bruise but is all healed, no pain. My belly button is still bruised and slightly painful to the touch - my incision is also still healing. I don't however hurt when I put my arms above my head. I hurt when I stand after sitting for a long time. But you only had one incision which means EVERYTHING went in through that - camera, band, instruments. I would say it sounds normal.

I had a cough (the remnants of a sinus infection) at my pre-op a week before the surgery and the anethesiologist told me it would be better to push it back a week. She said you want to go into surgery in your best shape possible.... I completely freaked out and went to my PCP and he was like, your lungs are clear....PROCEED. I had my surgery as scheduled - the only down side for me was that I still had a little cough after which was not exactly fun with the incisions - but it turned out fine. I don't think a scratchy throat affects anethesia at all - but just rest and take care of yourself. It will all work out beautifully!

I was almost 47 with no co-morbities and was approved in about 2 weeks. No questions asked, no additional requirements.

I am two weeks banded. Before surgery, I went to the gym 5x per week for 30-45 minutes of cardio each time. I have been walking this week but when I am done, I feel some port pain. I am wondering what others did after surgery - I am anxious to exercise but don't want to do too much and mess up my recovery. Doc said one month without lifting weights (pushing or pulling etc.) and that we could walk after a week - but is the port pain okay? What did everyone else do?

My shrink talked to me a lot pre-op about the emotional things - and the lifestyle things (my husband is a chef for the love of God). But I have to say for me, so far (and its only 2 weeks), the emotional and pyschological things have been like revelations - AH-HA moments - that give me some joy and happiness. Like I finally understand something or have clarity about why I couldn't do it by myself.... things like that. I have moments of feeling the enormity of my decision and commitment - but in general I am so happy - and get up in the morning excited to see what the day will be like (and I never felt that before...).

I too will have my first fill in 2 weeks. Currently, I can eat for example about 3/4 of a cup of something like egg salad, be stuffed and stay that way for about 2 or 2.5 hours. The goal of the fill is to stay fuller for longer, correct? Like 4 hours? I know that my doctor doesn't only use weight loss to determine fill needs, and I also get the impression that he may be pretty aggressive because at my surgical consult he said that if I comply and really eat slowly and chew thoroughly, he could really get the band tight and that I would be impressed with how well I would do. Please let me know if my thinking is correct about the duration until hunger returns... thanks :redface:

It's funny - I picked my doctor because he had the band (and because of his reputation). But he still broke it down... "Do you know why skinny girls are skinny??" Why doc? "Because they close their mouths and stop eating." Hmmm... he isn't that wrong in the vast majority of case. It is my hope that my band will help me fake the skinny girl mentality until I take it on for real :redface:

Yes - surgery was probably the LEAST eventful part of this process so far for me. What I am going through now psychologically (it is positive) is far more impressive. Statistically, the chance of dying is extremely low and focusing on that is really self-defeating. You are taking a step toward creating a BETTER life - focus on that instead.

Ok - I am only 11 days in, but I am AMAZED at the emotional and pyschological affect of a small surgical implant.... but I don't think most doctors can really understand this unless they were obese or have the band. It amazes me every day.

Yes - liquid was our pre-op diet. Thin liquid is liquid that could only be drank through a straw (every though we are not allowed to use straws). I kissed that puppy goodbye 2 days ago....thin liquid made liquid look fun.