IlliterateJedi

You also have to realise that a lot of your weight loss pre-surgery isn't serious fat that's coming off, a lot of it's Water weight and muscle from the sudden change in diet you have before you go into your surgery, plus your body has to readjust to eating again and since you've been border line starving youself in the weeks up to the surgery and after the surgery your body is going to start turning a lot of the food you eat into fat. Give it some time and let the band work it's magic.

Well, the port doesn't hurt or feel uncomfortable, I just foresee myself losing enough weight that it will be seen. Right now when I'm not wearing a shirt I can barely make out its shape, so in another 20 lb's I suspect other people will be able to make it out, too.

I had my surgery last December, and since then I've lost nearly 60 pounds (80 pounds from my highest weight). Now that I'm getting to where I am, about 20 pounds off from my goal weight, I've started to notice my port more and more. It doesn't physically show on me, but once I hit my goal weight and start toning up some I can definitely imagine it sticking out of my abdomen.

Has anyone had their port replaced with the smaller size? If so, how expensive was it and how much of a difference was it for you?

I had Dr Benavides for my surgery (Last december) and his office was phenomenal. I would recommend them to anyone looking to have the surgery done.

Just ignore the lone nipple.

Healing pretty well. No more pain (this being the 6th week, actually) finally.

I think it's funny that I saw some one else earlier from Dr. Benavides' office and saw the steri-strips and thought "Hah - I've see nthose steri-strips before" and lo and behold, the person went to Dr. B's for surgery.

A while back some one linked to a fill guide that explained how to eat, drink, etc. before you get your fill. Does anyone have this bookmarked? Thanks

I'm a little over a week post op - I guess a week and a half, but a few inches beneath my port incision and along the right side of my gut I'm feeling a lot of pain. It feels like a burning pain on the inside of my skin and it hurts to the touch. There's no visible signs on the top of my skin. No redness or anything, it's just normal lookin' skin.

Has anyone had this after surgery? Could it just be the port making itself a home in the muscle?

Carlene: Don't you find that most youngsters...

Ah yes, there's really nothing like the old, the arrogant, and the stuck-in-their-ways... Always there to talk down to us 'youngsters.'

...like to jump in, make a short concise statement that sounds credible enough, and then jump back out again without explaining how or why they came to that conculsion?

I don't think I said anything that was argumentative or off the wall to really need an essay where I cite all my sources. Is the issue at hand that I don't like blanket statements? It's almost ironic that your comment about what I said was to make a blanket statement about 'youngsters' as you like to call us.

They don't seem to enjoy a good argument. I think that it may be due to the fact that they've accepted certain things that they've read or heard because they like the sound of them. Life experiences... that's the answer for old ladies like us. Oh yeah, and knowledge.

And then naturally it wouldn't be commentary about an age group unless you tossed in a really pointless and derisive bit about how we're all just mindless sheep.

Of course right now I can't say much because really I don't know what you're commenting on, the statement that I made about the atomic bomb, etc. or about my opinion that you can't judge an entire presidency as 'the worst' because there is too much that happens during any one presidency. There's no credible way to say "Well, this one event happened, thus this entire 8 years is the worst." Even now, if you want to look at President Bush's terms of office you have a very short and slanted viewpoint.

That's based on my opinion that you can't judge a president with any real accuracy without looking at the next 25, 50, or 100 years. People were angry when President Polk went to war with Mexico over what was essentially a farce. Today, people wouldn't like what he did either if it happened right now, but the difference is 150 years later people are living and are quite successful in the territory that Polk was able to get away with.Image right now if Bush looked at Mexico and said "I'm going to buy all of this without the legislature's 'ok.'" and then he went ahead and bought it. People would be enraged at this incredible breech of presidential jurisdiction, but it's basically how the Louisiana Purchase happened, and you'd be daft to say that was a terrible idea.

Personally, right now, based on my opinion of how history essentially unfolds, saying that Bush is the worst president in American history is wildly inaccurate.

Even then, though, you would have to come up with some very general criteria to determine what makes up the 'worst American president in history.' Once you do that I'd pretty much guarantee that everything Bush has done, numerous 'great' presidents have done before him.

One specific event and president that comes to mind is Lincoln. He suspended Habeas Corpus and kept journalists in jail throughout the entire war without just cause. People think highly FDR, but he had internment camps. Both of these are considered to be phenomenal presidents who worked America through war times, but both of them held American citizens for unspecified amounts of time for unspecified reasons.

There's a lot to judge a president on, and frankly choosing a 'best' and a 'worst' is misguided and extremely subjective to which criteria you're looking at.

So just to be sure, some people were safe eating soft food after a week instead of 10-14 days? I'm just asking because I feel pretty confident that I can go ahead and start eating blended foods, I just want to see if other people have been able to do this.

Mk... Good to know. I'm definitely trying to avoid the 'reopening' of the incision. I'll reconsider my options, then.

Yeah, right now I'm thinking I'll be pulling them off in the shower in a few days. They're starting to come off around the ends, but not all the way off.

Are you deliberately trying to confuse an old lady?

No, I'm just not in the mood to really get into it right now. So I changed my original thoughts to something a little more concise and left it at that.

Why do you spell Bush BuSh?

Okay....fair enough. But who gets your vote for the worst president in US history? And if you say Bill Clinton, because he got a BJ in the oval office, then I'm just gonna have to send the men with those little white jackets - the ones with the cute wrap-around sleeves - over to your house.

I'll go ahead and say Andrew Jackson. That whole trail of tears thing was just a stellar piece of history...

But for the record I dont' think there's a categorically 'worst' president in history. Everyone has their ups and downs. Plus putting a blanket statement like "Worst" on such a complicated job wildly simplifies the presidency.

Yeah - It's pretty normal. I had serious gas pains for about 5 days and then it started disappearing. Keep active. Be sure to walk around. I took some Milk of Magnesia and it basically cleared out my whole system. You might want to look into trying that, but after that I was feeling pretty spectacular aside from the incision pain.

I'll just go down the middle and say he's not doing the job I'd like him to, but he's far from the worst president in history. I do believe he's done a lot of good while in the presidency. He's also done some things I agree with, even if our rationale is different (War in Iraq, at least).

Without reading 42 pages of what I assume is arguing, I'm going to disagree with you about Bush being the worst president in history.

Well, my surgeon said that it would be 10-14 days before I would be eating semi-solid foods. Basically it boiled down, according to him, that it would be about 10 days before you would probably start feeling hungry enough to want to eat anything semi-solid, and at that point you could start adding in some more semi-solid foods. 14 was just the max before you probably should.

I will start on the 10th day or a little sooner - Right now I'm 6 days post-op. I was fortunate to not have been sick by this surgery. I never vomited, never felt ill, etc. While I still have pain where the incisions were, overall I feel pretty decent.

Anyway - What I'm wondering is - How long was it before you were able to stomach semi-solid foods?

I include in this yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, grits, cream of wheat, creamy Soups, etc.

I took some milk of magnesia after 2 days just to get myself regulated again. Even if I don't have as regular as I did, I still like to have my system cleared out and that was a great way to do it.

I think this thread is a great idea.

Here are two pictures of me taken right after I got out of the shower 10 minutes ago. This is 2 days after my surgery and I just took the bandaids off.

I'm surprised that the placement of everyone's scars are so different. Mine are pretty much right below the rib cage in the center, but some peoples are all over their stomachs.

Also, sorry that the pictures are such poor quality. Just took them real fast while I was changing with the web cam.

I just had my surgery with Dr. Benavides in Richardson. He had a 2 week pre-op diet of 2 Protein shakes (2 scoops in 8-10 oz of water) and 2 high Protein meals. You also have to cut the carbs, sugar, etc. from your diet and basically live on a lot of low fat Proteins.

I lost 6 lb's and after the surgery Dr. B mentioned that most of that weight probably came out of my liver because it was very shrunk.

I'd also recommend him for your surgeon if you're looking for a doc. Him and his st aff are phenomenal.

Just another thought, drink a lot of Water. You lose fat through urine, so if you're not drinking enough water then the fat in your kidneys will be re-absorbed instead of passed out of your system.

What exactly is colloidal scarring?

As a self pay, I was able to get signed up on the night of the seminar I went to, and two weeks later I was on the operating table.

In that two weeks I had to have an EKG done (10 minutes), a psyc review (2 hours), blood work (15-20 minutes - Had to fast for it for 12 hours or so), and a general health physical by a nurse practitioner (2 hours). I was able to get all of this done within about 3 days time, but I had to schedule as soon as possible.

I have heard that it takes a while longer if you're paying via insurance on account of them possibly requiring more tests, etc.

On going back to work - Well, I had my surgery done yesterday and right now I wouldn't feel fit to go back for at least 3-4 days. I'm probably not the trooper that some people are, but when it comes to being cut open I'd like to make use of as much time as I can before I have to go back to work.

Yeah, I'm not sure what to expect. I think the surgeon (Dr. Benavides) told me that the stitches were under the skin and that the steri-strips/bandaids were at the top. If that's the case I won't have stitches or staples, either.

When you removed the strips after a week were the incisions healed over - Not the scars per se, but just scabbed over and no longer bleeding?