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I went to the Dr's yesterday what seems to be the same concern, I was done on the 29th. Near my port I noticed swelling almost like a tennis ball was under my skin. I called the Dr's and they brought me in. They looked at it and felt that it was normal. They said some post surgery get a fuild build up that was just go away they said it could even be hard to touch. They also said that the port site will be long sore well after everything else has cured. Good news about going in early they let me start eating eggs and some pureed foods. I was sick of liquids!

I had mine Sept 23rd. I have lost 31 pounds so far. I stall for a few days not loosing anything and I was told this is perfectly normal! A lot of it depends on your intake and your activity levels. I still am unable to get all my Fluid or Protein "goals" into me but I make sure to exercise! Your not alone! It will happen all in good time! Be patient and keep healthy.

Congrats! I am 14lb away from onederland myself ... and those 14lbs seem to be the hardest too loose ...so kudos to you...keep up the great work.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 New Hope--Second Lapband Fill Had my 2nd fill today. Dr. definitely made sure I'd feel some restriction. I think I'll be on liquids for a few days, until the fat pad around my stomach shrinks enough to loosen the band and let a little food through. Absolutely stopped the cravings I was having. I'm back to sipping tiny little sips. No danger of me eating too much. Protein shakes and water are about all I can get down. Have to drink them very slowly. I also actually got some work done in my classroom today. I finally got all the class lists, and was relieved to see the number of my students who are returning. I'll be working on the schedule and some testing the next few days. I'll also be contacting parents of kids who were marginal whether they needed to see me or not. It helps my bottom line if I do have at least 2 contacts with them a week, since my program gets paid per contact. But these are parents who don't want their children missing a single thing in order to come to me. Other parents are in denial that their child needs help. I want to keep an assistant 3 days a week and not have to drop to one or two. There's so much organization and paperwork required and that's not the stuff I'm good at. The more student contacts I have, the more $ come in, the more I can do with and for the students. I have some special computer programs that have been shown to improve kids reading scores by an average of one to two years in just 6-12 weeks. The high number of student contacts I maintain is what has paid for the yearly licenses for those programs and my assistant works with those kids on the computer while I teach the rest of the kids. I also get parent involvement money and money for group counseling provided for the kids based on the number of students I see. Its all intertwined. The loss of students at RCS impacts my funding and limits what I can do with the kids. I know its all in God's hands. I just pray that the NCLB funding will come in and pay for me this year (its not in yet), and that next year the new vendor will hire me. I've made my classroom such an ADHD/ADD friendly place for myself. A good part of that is my assistant who is really more like my partner. I rely heavily on her advice on how to set things up, and I totally rely on her to keep up with all the forms and files. Meanwhile thanks to the lapband fill, I'm not eating. I had to fight to get the second fill only two weeks after the first fill. I wanted to start the school year with restriction. I didn't want to have to take off work to get the fill. This fill should last quite a while. It may even be the last one I need. It depends on how loose it gets after I lose the next 35 lbs. I had a student who didn't recognize me at first today. I had my hair up in it's Pebbles Flintstone do. She's used to me with short hair and a much fatter body. LOL. I'm also working on my DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) pile of clothes. I'm amazed at how fat women's clothes are designed to accommodate a huge weight range. Most of my pants definitely don't fit me, but the tops don't look too bad. Instead of being stretched around my fat, they now drape around me gracefully. I might invest in a decorative, loose belt to upgrade their style a little. Eventually I'll have to cave and get more clothes but for now I'll make do with these clothes and with my thrift store buys. Last night I felt somewhat hopeless. The return of my cravings threw me for a loop. In the past they could have been the start of regaining, with interest, all the weight I've lost. Thank God for the lapband. Life's vicissitudes can't throw me back into the food nearly as easily as they did. My optimism about the school year has returned now that I'm not worrying about the food on top of everything else. I can do all things, through him who strengthens me, Yes, I can do all things, through him who strengthens me.

My doctor says I'm in the green zone, maybe so but I feel I need a fill. I can go at least 4 hrs between meals, good I know but at mealtime I feel like I could eat more than a cup worth and sometimes do, not very often but today at lunch I went overboard and knew it. Also for some strange reason, keep in mind I'm a little over a yr post op June 13th '12 and all of the sudden I can tolerate bread, rice, toast, eggs, chicken, just about anything whereas before, I'd say 6 months ago I would get stuck on those things. I don't eat these things in excess i.e. bread, rice, toast with the exception of tonight I had a half of a sandwich for dinner and a little snack cup of apple sauce. I just don't understand why I can all of the sudden tolerate these foods and before I couldn't. I don't see him again until July 11th at which time I am to discuss a colonoscopy with him to have done within the next few weeks, I know you're saying I'm not 50 yet but my brother has colon cancer and the kind he has is hereditary and I am to be checked every 3 yrs and this is my year, ugh! I'm hoping for a small tee tiny fill because I really don't feel restriction, the only thing I feel is my soft stop which is a hiccup, is this the same as restriction? Or is restriction considered not eating more than a cup worth of food or eating less than. The scales hasn't moved in 8 weeks and I've teetered between 228 and 226 and finally got back down to 226 this morning, thank you Jesus! I've tried exercising but it is very hard on me on the treadmill due to a bad knee and 2 knee surgeries, it gives me heck. Even riding a stationary bike hurts my knee at the gym. The trainer there doesn't seem to get it about my knee. I feel silly going in and working my arms, abs and thighs for 20 mins and leaving, that is literally all I can handle physically. My arms are so big and heavy on me now that any exercising of them physically drains me, I have no strength in them. It wears me out just to dry my hair because of the loose skin. I seemed to have hit a plateau I guess. Thanks for listening.

Oh, I'm not looking for lipo because I'm hoping to lose all the weight. What I would want gone is the hanging batwing loose skin.

Ah that's what I'm afraid of. But you mentioned age, so does that mean that the younger you are, the better chance you have of having less loose skin? And I'm a guy, so I know I carry weight different than women. I don't know, guess I'll just have to find out!

True, but you tend to have less with the band because it's a slower weight loss process and the skin gets a chance to tighten up a bit. Good for you! Bet it felt great!

It is pressure on the phrenic nerve. It does go away after you drop some pounds. I found that using OTC pain Patches helped a great deal. I saved this from another bandster's post awhile back: If you woke up with a pain in your shoulder, you'd probably think something was wrong with your shoulder, right? Maybe you slept on it the wrong way, maybe you're a weekend warrior who threw the football a few too many times. In most cases, your hunch is probably right. Pain in the shoulder usually indicates an injury or disease that affects a structure in your shoulder, such as, say, your subacromial bursa or a rotator cuff tendon. Makes sense, doesn't it? But you might be way off. Sometimes the brain gets confused, making you think that one part of the body hurts, when in fact another part of the body, far removed from the pain, is the real source of trouble. This curious (and clinically important) phenomenon is known as referred pain. For example, it's unlikely but possible that your shoulder pain is a sign of something insidious happening in your liver, gall bladder, stomach, spleen, lungs, or pericardial sac (the connective tissue bag containing the heart). Yup - conditions as diverse as liver abscesses, gallstones, gastric ulcers, splenic rupture, pneumonia, and pericarditis can all cause shoulder pain. What's up with that? Neuroscientists still don't know precisely which anatomical connections are responsible for referred pain, but the prevailing explanation seems to work pretty well. In a nutshell, referred pain happens when nerve fibers from regions of high sensory input (such as the skin) and nerve fibers from regions of normally low sensory input (such as the internal organs) happen to converge on the same levels of the spinal cord. The best known example is pain experienced during a heart attack. Nerves from damaged heart tissue convey pain signals to spinal cord levels T1-T4 on the left side, which happen to be the same levels that receive sensation from the left side of the chest and part of the left arm. The brain isn't used to receiving such strong signals from the heart, so it interprets them as pain in the chest and left arm. So what about that shoulder pain? All of organs listed above bump up against the diaphragm, the thin, dome-shaped muscle that moves up and down with every breath. The diaphragm is innervated by two phrenic nerves (left and right), which emerge from spinal cord levels C3, C4, and C5 (medical students remember these spinal cord levels using the mnemonic, "C3, 4, 5 keeps the diaphragm alive"). The phrenic nerves carry both motor and sensory impulses, so they make the diaphragm move and they convey sensation from the diaphragm to the central nervous system. Most of the time there isn't any sensation to convey from the diaphragm, at least at the conscious level. But if a nearby organ gets sick, it may irritate the diaphragm, and the sensory fibers of one of the phrenic nerves are flooded with pain signals that travel to the spinal cord (at C3-C5). It turns out that C3 and C4 don't just keep the diaphragm alive; neurons at these two spinal cord levels also receive sensation from the shoulders (via the supraclavicular nerves). So when pain neurons at C3 and C4 sound the alarm, the brain assumes (quite reasonably) that the shoulder is to blame. Usually that's a good assumption, but sometimes it's wrong.

Hi, I was allowed sugar free puddings and skin milk during the full stage. Cottage cheese I could eat during the liquid stage if I blended it small curds. Like everyone has said each doctor has their preferences as far as the diets go. For me it was 4 days clear, one week full 1 week mushy 1 week soft and full diet at one month.

hi, i'm new to the site. was banded in boston at b&W on 12/13/07. the brigham offers a support group on the second tuesday of each month. so far i have been unable to make either. having only one option per month is difficult - if the date doesn't work, you wait another month, if it doesn't work again you wait two, and so on. i got straight in 12 step groups many years ago, and while i don't go to meetings anymore, i did like the person to person contact/support. i'm 53 and maybe too old to have jumped on the this kind of format. are there any people out there in boston area who would like to set up an independent support group (not 12-step, we could create our own)? i would be willing to work with some people to find a small hall (churches, hospital, etc.) we could rent for a weekly or rotating meeting. and then we could come up with a loose format, and what goes and doesn't, being pretty flexible. i am asking for two reasons: 1.) i'm not good at the chat format, and 2.) much to my chagrin, the behavioral part of recovery has been very difficult without support. i've recently started eating ice cream after my second fill and clearly that'sa not a good development, and i'm eating takeout again, not as much volume 'cause i can't but bad food nonetheless. if this rings a bell with anyone, please respond, and let's support each other to make this thing work. maybe something like this exists in boston that i'm not aware of. if it does i'd like to know. will appreciate any help/feedback. thanks, dannyfitz

ok so had my fill and honestly it didnt hurt it was a weird feeling tho!!! lol for sure. Im so hungry!! i havent lost much since surgery and im having issues finding the right foods for me because im throwing up alot. i stay away from bread andpasta and anything sticky but it still sticks at times! Chicken has become my friend!!lol i go in next week for a fill its a definate NEED. i wanna loose more weight, working out only goes so far! wish me luck

I have to much time on my hands so I'm sitting here wondering how bad my excess skin will be....is there anything I can do to help that before hand ?

>I looked at this thread because I am in a lot of pain this morning. I am only one week post-op, and it seems like I have felt the port tear away from my muscle. I can't feel the edges of the port, and never have, but this morning when I rolled over in bed I felt a sudden very sharp pain just to the left and above my navel, under the skin. It has been about 4 hours and I have called the doc, who says its "unlikely" that I have torn it and he will see me for my regular 2 week follow up on Monday...to use Aleve and a heating pad until then. I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong, and after reading Batgirl's story I wonder if the port tearing is a semi-common occurence? Anybody got any stats? I am worried. I thought I was recovering really well until this morning.

i went through the same thing a few months ago when i decided to pursue surgery, i read through all my options and met with 2 different doctors and eventually chose the lapband for the following reasons: 1- i am only 24 and want children in the future so being able to get the band filled and unfilled through out my life will work well for the many adventures i plan to have! 2- even after a sleeve your stomach can stretch back to a larger size and when you are not going to the doctor periodically for check ups then you can quickly loose focus on weight loss. 3- i live about 90 minutes from the doctor i chose due to the limited amount of bariatric surgeons who work with my insurance, i have not really had a problem due to the fact that i absolutly love everyone in their office. 4- the thought of changing my anatomy kinda freaked me out alittle, it was more reassuring knowing that the band could be removed if necessary downt the road. hope this helps and good luck with your journey Lauren

Mine started to come off in 10 days or so. It largly depends on how much you perspire and how oily your skin is.

What do the Dr's. tell you? Ask them are they sure this was not caused by the plication,can they say it for sure or they say "I don't think so" Tell them you need to know and be a 100% sure, Get your point across.Ask them after they do the surgery and you still have the pain,then what?Don't old anything back ,tell them exctly how you feel.You have nothing to loose on the contrary.

Hi, I was banded on June 26th. I am 37 and a mother of 1 little boy. I live in Newfoundland, Canada. I haven't had a fill yet. Hoping to get one soon. I felt I had restriction after I had the surgery, but having trouble controling my food intake for the past 2 weeks. From my highest weight (1st of June) I have lost 25lbs. I am happy with that, but I've been loosing and gaining the same 5lbs now for the last few weeks.

Come on you guys, you know we hold water weight and you are working out hard therefore you are exchanging fat for muscle, which weighs more. In the long run you will have a toned body and the weight will come off slowly leaving you with lovely skin instead of it hanging down to your knees.

Have any of you went on phase 2 of Adkins to loose the last stubborn 15 ! Also I need a good high burning workouts ! Fell of the wagon. Need to get back on tract. Back to the gym tomorrow morning

Congrats on making the choice. I am getting banded tomorrow morning. Believe me, I am sooooo ready to have half my syptoms go away. I am currently getting laser hair removal for my face, I have had 2 sessions out of 6. Which is what I will need to eliminate all my facial hair, in which I can probably grow a freaking beard! Not to mention I am fair skinned and dark dark hair. THE WORST! I have it in several other places too! Ewwww!

I had my sleeve on feb 28 and my hair its already falling, for past two weeks i have felt so bad. No energy Always tired sleepy even depressed. I have pcos so my hormones are always out of wack and im pretty sure that has alot to do. Having labs next week to see what's going on. I thought loosing 46lbs would have something to do on the good side. No improvement yet !

This is the link to the thread that tells all about my plastics journey in the early weeks. I have gotten a few PMs so thought I would post it so people can find it! http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/285839-two-weeks-from-plastics-progress-so-far/ I was afraid of the scars too... and yes I surely have them, but from a mental/emotional point of view they are NOTHING. They don't bother me at all, I don't even see them. I DO see how much my profile has changed so for me, it was really worth it. I think we all need to do that "math" in our head though because it is all about tradeoffs. Plastics are no joke - it is a big deal - recovery takes a long time - I think you really need to want it for it to be worth it. I came across this photo taken of me about 2 months prior to my plastics. No spanx, and I definately have a melted snowman look going on. compare that to the photo taken in Feb in the cocktail dress... again, no spanx.. 2 months pre plastics: 3 months post plastics - similar weight - maybe 5-8 pounds lighter but the skin is the difference

@Rexcom when i told ortho I was going to have WLS, he said "lets wait til you loose some weight". 5 months after sleeve - was down 60 lbs!! - then i successfully had knee replacement. since i weighed less, my recovery /PT went better - good luck kathy

Before VSG, I always had very irritable bowels with frequent diarrhea. Post- VSG, like many others, I dealt with constipation and infrequent bowel movements. The last few months I was getting to a more regular schedule, maybe every other day. So, for the last probably 4 weeks, I have been experiencing a lot more diarrhea. My eating habits have not really changed. I did eat kinda poorly over spring break last week but this started before. Previously, my loose stools were always related to something I ate and happened immediately after eating. Now they seem to be happening in the morning, sometimes before I eat anything. It has been the kind where I have to rush to the bathroom and spend 20 minutes in there. It only happens once or twice a day and later in the day I am fine. I had my 9 month post-op appointment last week and the CNP didn't really have any ideas as to why this could be happening. I did have my gallbladder out 2 months ago but she said it could be my body getting back to its "normal" habits. This was not good news. I don't know what it is that's causing this but I don't like it! I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. At 9 months to 1 year out and more, do you still have problems with constipation? Or have your bowels returned to their pre-op "normal"?