Metime

I have a 14 cc band and was at 9.3 cc at my highest. While my portion sizes are smaller, they were certainly not the 1 cup then done size. I could eat 3-4 chicken tenders, a cup of veggies, and still have room for a cup of carbs. I had all of it removed for a stomach virus and they were only able to fill it back up to like 6 or 7 cc now. So back to what I was before. I was banded in January and have a loooong way to go. /sigh Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones and be filled rather quickly and get to your sweetspot. Good luck! Nicole

Hi all, So last week I had a bug that was causing me to throw up. I immedately went to my surgeons office and had my fill removed because I was heaving with nothing coming up as it was being blocked by the band. At the time I had 9.3cc fill and they removed ~8cc. Leaving me with 1.3, so my chart says. She (the nurse practioner) just couldn't get that last 1.3 cc out because of a vacuum effect. I think that was what she said. So yestrday my Dr. went to fill me back up since I am better now. He was only able to put about 6 or 7 cc back in. I could feel the tightness around my stomach pouch. It was uncomfortable so he stopped. He never really explained why this is. Is this normal? I have never never felt a fill before (I never had a huge fill like this before either). It kind worried me that I felt it this time. Because he couldn't fill me completely back up and my Water felt funny going down, he had me do a barium swallow (yuck!) and everything looked fine to him. I'm just wondering why it would feel like that. I'm very disappointed that I didn't get filled all the way as I was finally feeling full after meals and now it will be another month before my next fill. Maybe I should not have said anything about it hurting while he was doing the fill. Sorry, may be a stupid question, but I feel better having asked it, since I stupidly didn't ask the Dr.

My nut said Calcium supplements 3x per day. But not at the same time as your Vitamin. Iron, I would have checked. Or you can add some spinach or other high iron foods to your diet.

Thanks for all the welcomes. Truely a great thread. I'm still able to eat a small meal and be satisfied for 4 hours. I don't feel the food like I used to, so I take it to mean that the swelling at least is gone. I still get a strange "side ache" if I slouch or twist the wrong way. Kind feels like I ran really far (as a kid, can't run 100 feet now) and you get that painful ache in your side. Only I wasn't running, just slouching. eh, it's better than that awful shoulder pain that is now gone (knocking furiously on my wooden desk!). Today was interesting. Very stressful at work, but so much to do, I had not time to eat. So Breakfast was a banana, snack was some graham crackers (3 squares) that I let kind soften and melt before I swallowed, lunch was a small pouch of tuna with a tablespoon of mayo and one of relish. dinner was an issue. My husband wanted to go out to dinner. In my usual way, I said "don't worry about me, I'll figure it out". And I did. I did cave with the fried green Beans (my fav!) and had about 6 of them. Then for dinner I had a turkey burger, sans bun, with tomato and ketchup and a side of brocolli. Not knowing what is in the turkey burger, it was probably bad. But my redeeming part is that it wasn't the sweet gooey ribs that I usually order or a juicy steak. I was surprised once again by the fact that I did not eat all before I got that satisfied feeling. maybe 3/4 of the turkey patty and all of the tomatoes and about 1/2 cup of the brocolli. My husband (who is still not "pro-band") keeps asking me "But are you satisfied? You didn't eat anything". Gah, I sure feel like I did. I'm done. Honest! Glad to be home. Need to just relax and let the day at work go before I start it all up again tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great day! Nicole

Yes, likely you will need to complete a few dr appointments, sleep study, psych evaluation, nutritionist, along with the requirements that your personal doc provide a letter of medical necessity. I would ask them to start scheduleing these appointments while you wait. My insurance (blue cross blue sheild of ma) doesn't even want to know about you until you have fulfilled all those requirements. Then and only then can it be submitted for approval. My approval came in a couple days and then I had to wait about 14 days (10 days of pre op diet included) before my surgery was scheduled. Read read read. Wrap your mind around the restrictions. Like, many folk can't eat bread, meats (like steak or pork), Pasta, rice etc. Some people can, but if you are one that can't, don't wait until you find that out to wrap your mind around it. Assume you can't, then if you can you will get a happy surprise. Start evaluating your eating habits. Do you graze? Why? Do you binge? Why? Start thinking about life being banded. Some of these things, while talked about all the time on this website come as a big surprise. Educate yourself during this waiting time and start to think of life being banded. It will make your journey that much more positive!! Good luck!!

I don't have the massive weight loss that some people are stating, but that could be because I am very bad at food tracking. Think I need to get back in the habit of that, at least for a little while. I hope I'm one of the lucky ones. Why do I feel guilty saying that?! Anyway, thanks for the welcome Elfie, your posts are the ones I tend to read on a regular basis! Thanks!! Nicole

LOL, so the proof to my words were shown today. Negative posts get responded to, positive not so much. There are 3 posts that are "2 weeks post op". Two of them are postive (mine one of them) and one is negative. My post has one reply, the other none, the negative 11 replies. It's sad really. Anyway, I love the positive nature of this thread.

Hi All, I'd like to join this thread. I have been posting and lurking on the lbt for a while, but the site seems to be going so negative. I was actually afraid to post a postitive post because people just don't want to hear it. They just want to complain. I'm about 2 weeks post op and have lost 18 pounds so far. Very happy with the number. Just got my staples out yesterday and so much more comfortable. My food intake has been about a cup a meal, and it holds me for 3-4 hours. Um...no fill? It's a bit odd and scary that the roof will colapse and I'll be in banster hell like everyone else. But I'm happy with the now. Ok, off and running. Took me all morning (shh don't tell work) to read up on this thread. Happy to join!! Nicole

Well I'm about 2 weeks post op. I've had my staples removed and boy was that a relief. What I find strange is that from day one, I have felt "satisfaction" at the end of a 1/2-1 cup meal. I am still on "mushies" and am very careful with what I eat. I make sure to get my 60-70 grams of Protein. I take my Vitamins daily including a B-12 sublingual. I am very bad at remembering my Calcium, but tend to eat alot of calcium items (cottage cheese, cheese, 1%milk etc) so I think I'm not doing too much damage there. (could be wrong) So my question, my worry, is will this go away? I'm not doing "bandster hell" and worried that with my ease so far this is going to come crashing down on me. In the hospital the doc said I was "very snug" and I can still feel things going through the band (like my pills I have to swallow etc). Could I still be swollen at this point? I have no more pain anywhere, not even with a sneeze or cough. So far I LOVE my band. I don't want that love to go away. Nicole

I am about 2 weeks post op. This is hard to answer as everyone seems to have a different recovery time. I personally took 4 days sick time (had surgery on Tuesday) and worked at home the week following. I needed every bit of those 4 days and the weekend to be at a point I could sit at my desk. Likely if I had an easy commute (my commute is 1.5 hours each way, with 2 trains and a 4 block walk and lots of stairs) I could have gone in that Monday and been ok. Moving slowly, probably a bit of pain as Tylenol and/or Advil did not help me much. But I could have done it. That being said, I've heard others on here say they needed a full 2 weeks and some say they went back to work within a couple days. So it's hard to say how well you will do. Oh, I also had a hernia repair (doc says about 50% patients need this) so that made my recovery a little longer. Good luck!

Get a nice gentle stool softener. That is what I used. By the next day I was moving just fine. The brand I bought was Senna Plus. Good luck!

There is one in my doctors office called Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies Cookbook or something like that. It covers other surgeries as well, but is specific to the requirements of Lap Band vs Gastric Bypass. I'm going to go find that one myself.

Wow! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. If you are ready to make this change for YOU then the first change you need to make is to get rid of the negativity around you. You have the right to be happy. If it makes you happy to go through with the process, then who is he to tell you no? Who is he to put you down. Now, I don't know you, but you will need to commit to this. It's not the "easy" way, by any means. You will need will power and the strength of your conviction to do this. You need to be doing this for you. No one else. You are the only one that can answer those questions. I decided it was "me time". I have spent most of my life caring for everyone around me. It was time for me. My husband was not happy about it, and is still not happy. But I am very committed and will argue around his every complaint and he is slowly believing I am going to do this. Do this for YOU. Don't let ANYONE walk on you. You deserve more respect than that. everyone does! Good luck on your journey!

Protien will help you with your energy. Also make sure you are taking your Vitamins and add a B12 to the mix. That will help as well. I used the Atkins shakes, but found the Protein powders (yuck!) would take me more hours than the Atkins. I also mixed in Carnation Instant Breakfast too, but again, Atkins was better than those, and the protein powders better than Atkins. If you need a big burst, take one of those shakes with a cottage cheese or yogurt (greek works the best as it has most protein). I did not feel really hungry on my liquid diet. Yes I wanted to chew, but hunger was not an issue. Supplement all of those with chicken broth or beef broth. Both of those have no limits (on my diet) and kept me sipping/drinking. I'd fill a thermos with hot Soup broth and just sip it like coffee throughout the day. Good luck! Nicole (day 8 post op)

Hi there. I too had the same experience. I wanted to burp so bad, was even jealous of people complaining about burping too much! But the pressure just kept building. I felt like a balloon being blown up. The 3rd-4th days were the worst. I was taking Gas x strips too, you can take up to 4 strips in a dose. I also took a stool softener as I think I was constipated so blocked both ways! I was one of those that HAD to keep taking my meds. I so wanted to be one of the lucky ones that when home a day or two in and I could just stop taking the medicine. Nope, I took the full dose every 4 hours or I was in agony. I realized that there was no point in being in pain, so just take them. I am about 8 days out now and feel so much better. About Day 5 I finally moved my bowels and oh oh oh did I feel better. Like the ballon got a slow leak and all the pressure slowly drained away. I still get the shoulder pain, especially at night, and I just take the meds to get rid of it. I walk around the house all the time. I can assure you that each day will get better now that you are over the hump. Good luck and you WILL get through. Regarding feeling your band. My doctor told me in the hospital I was "a bit snug" so I could in fact feel my band. Every swallow of Water I could feel trickle through. Even now when I'm on mushies, I feel the food go through. But as my band site is healing it is not so painful. i still take a few meds (blood pressure and thyroid) that are in pill form and I can feel them pop through the band. So I belive you can in fact feel it. The left side pain, however is the port likely. It will get better. Just keep to the mushies so that the healing can really and truly get done. Don't "test" the band just yet. It's there, you know it as you can feel it.