Search the Community

The thing I have loved about the liquid diet is that it is showing me that I can eat in a very restricted way without going nuts and keep to the program. That is giving me TONS of confidence that I will be able to do this after the surgery as well. I feel so good about losing 12 pounds in 10 days. I have everything in the house that I will need for the first month after surgery so I feel prepared and hopeful. Now I just have to get through 3 1/2 more days until my surgery day and then get up on my feet and start walking!

I am scheduled for surgery on 08/17 as well! My nutritionist had me start my pre-op diet on Friday. Lucky you! Oh man has it been tough! I'm not going to lie! Today is day 4 and overall it's better. Days 1 and 2 were awful and I cried. My nurse had me do a bucket list of the things I want to do as a skinnier and healthier me and while I was crying to my husband, he had me pull out the list and we went over it. That actually helped. I'm still hungry here and there and crave something to bite into, besides jello or a popsicle. LOL I do notice that the shakes take away the hunger better now. I have had to take Tylenol twice for headaches, but my biggest issue has been the emotions. I feel like crying when I see people eat. I know this is temporary, so like others have said previously, I'm taking it one shake at a time. I've seriously thought of cheating, but remind myself that this is to help the Doctor be more successful with surgery and that helps a little. Days 1 and 2 are the worst, but it does get better! STAY STRONG! YOU CAN DO THIS! Oh and the plus side is I am down 10 pounds as of this morning!

I am up and sooooooo thirsty!!! I'm ready to get there and get this show on the road. :confused: I can't believe after all the waiting it's finally here. :cool: I'm up at 10 A.M. Wish me luck! Kelly :tired :clap2:

It’s my first week banded, I think am doing well I have lost 10 pounds since last Monday the 4 august my band – anniversary and I am happy about it. Tomorrow will be my first day going to the gym since I got banded. Am not expecting to be back to my to my old self before I got banded but I will go and try to exercise for 30 minutes and see how it goes. I am happy so far, I currently have no big pain. Except the fact that my surgeon out my port right underneath my breast so needless to say wearing a bra for now hurt like hell. To honest it’s sometimes hard even at one week after the band I find myself having cravings. Like today I decided I was going to grill a little BBQ for my fiancé. Everything went very well until I started craving hot dogs and hamburger. It just became clear to me at that time that I would struggle all my like with my food addiction and I have to take it day by day. :biggrin2:

After trying numerous times to fill my band the second time my dr decided it was twisted so I had to go in and have port revision surgery. It went pretty well except that they gave me some pain meds on an empty stomach so I threw up ALOT!! That sucked but after a few days of being extremely sore I was fine. Things are going much better now. I've lost another 10 pounds and am on my way! Thank goodness. The doctor said that the band was empty when he filled it during surgery. I have really noticed a difference in eating now! I can't eat very much at all now and I've learned what sliming is too...YUCK!! Oh well, I've started working out again and things are on the right track so I guess we'll see how it goes from now on...to be continued!

So bright and early this morning I am up organizing my kitchen into his and hers. Anything I am not allowed to have out of sight out of mind. Went shopping last night after my pre op class. Thankfully my nut let it out of the bag on everything I was allowed to have during this process. I really feel like I am not going to suffer. I continue to remind myself that others have to do liquid diets. I bought my pre op foods from the Robard diet. I will be allowed to have four choices a day. Decided on Tomato soup, Dark chocolate smore bars, Fudge graham bar, Peanut butter bar, Strawberry shake, and Chocolate pudding. Each have about 200Cal 27grams protein and around 13 carbs a piece. In addition I am allowed one lean meat and green salad with wishbone salad spritzer. The Italian dressing is actually good. I can also have 10 calorie no sugar added Jello and pops. Crystal light actually makes a Popsicle. Dill pickles have no carbs depending on the brand and no calories. Mrs. Dash spices. Mustard no calories or less then 10 depends on the brand. Plenty of water and crystal light to go flavors. I have my handy dandy notebook to keep track so I stay on the 1100 cal a day allowance I have set for myself. So today I will try a few choices of my robard diet meal replacements and pray they taste something like food and not chalk. I have my foods ready and my husbands foods ready. I pray I am prepared to start this journey. I feel I have done all the planning that I can possibly do and it is now time to follow through.

I have bcbs federal and it took about a week to be approved. Surgery 10/25 at St. Paul-UTSW in Dallas,Tx with Dr. Scott.

I'm 10 week after surgery and having problems staying awake after eating dinner. I'm fine in the morning, and whatever I can eat for lunch mostly I'm still having protein drinks, but in the evening when I try to eat small bites of chicken, cheese etc I go to sleep. I'm NOT eating too much carbs under 10 to 20 a day and not high amounts of fat. Anyone else dealing with this? I also don't feel like eating most of the time. I'm running into having a bite or two of chicken or tuna and giving the rest to my dogs. I just can't eat the 2-4 ounces of it.

So, according to my surgeon, I am to have nothing but Clear liquids (Water, broth, black coffee or plain tea), sugar free popsicles and sugar free Gelatin cups. I am also suppose to drink to simple Protein drink (no fruit and no dairy). My choice of Protein Drink is Muscle Milk Light. When I add up the calories of what I take in for the day, I am left wondering if this is healthy. Muscle Milk Light: 140 cal X 2 = 280 calories Sugar Free Popsicles: 15 cal X 2 = 30 calories Sugar Free Gelatin Cups: 10 cal X 2 = 20 calories Total Calories = 330 Calories A Day????!! How can your body possibly heal with so few calories coming in? Doesn't your body start metabolizing muscle to compensate for the lack caloric intake? Or won't it just effectively go into starvation mode which is not beneficial at all? What am I doing wrong?

So I am one step closer! I was there FOREVER but I think they checked every part of me. I go in 10/2 and my surgery is at 2:15 pm. I hope I don't have to spend the night but with the surgery so late they said it was a possibility.

I just applied through Capital One. I needed a total of $13,000 and since my credit is good, I got a good rate to pay over 48 months, although I know I will be done sooner. My doctor was not registered with them and between the doctor's office, and the Capital One poeple who have been trying to sell their services to my surgeon's office, it has been a nightmare for me and the office. I am getting banded on 10/29 and since Cigna is taking their sweet time in making a decision, I decided I was not gonna let them come in the way of me changing my life. If Cigna approves me, then I will just pay back Capital One, if they don't, I will be glad I went ahead with the self pay. Good luck to you...being banded is turning out to be the bravest thing I have ever ventured out to do.

Hi, i am 4 weeks out. of course, no fill yet. I have the new band. i think my surgeon said it can hold 10 to 12 ccs. I have been doing good. notice that alot of will power is coming into play now. i have lost 15 pounds. but yesterday and today i have noticed that i can eat a cup and a half of food. keeps me full for about 3 hrs. sometimes 4. My question is, Is this normal and did anyone experience this? thanks for the help. I LOVE MY BAND~~~!!!!!:r&r:

Jeanie, thanks for taking care of me today. I made it all day without leaving the house. Hubby is whining that he wants me to go to bed now. I usually go to bed at 10 cuz if I go earlier, I'm up to early. But he's nagging, "when's the last time you had a good night sleep?" So time to brush my teeth and hit the hay. We have constant air conditioning wars at home. My office is the coldest, so I freeze all summer. When it's 123 outside I sit in my office with a space heater on because my office gets all the cold air, so co-workers are warm while I'm frozen. But my husband works outside in the heat so he melts all day. He wants the house freezing, I want to thaw out. I think it was 105 today and I'm still in my socks & long sweats. Dork. Good night. Thanks again for being there.

Go to the Allergan site, they have a list of doctors that you can look up by location. www.lapband.com I called my insurance company and: 1) made sure they cover the band 2) asked what the requirements were and had them fully explained to me 3) got a person at the insurance compnay who will be my "complex case manager" that I can call and ask questions of anytime I need to 4) asked for all of those insurance requirements to be sent to me so that I have them in writing. 4a) got together with my PCP and made sure all the ducks were in a row 5) asked the insurance company what surgeons they would pay for me to see-got that in writing too 6) compared the insurance list to the Allergan list 7) picked a couple and called and started asking questions and signing up for information sessions 8) attended an information session 9) made an appointment with the surgeon for a pre-op consult 10) made an appointment for the psych consult, got that done Now I'm waiting to see the surgeon on the 27th.

HI this was my first surgery too, I had never been under anesthesia. the night before I meet the anestheolgist and he helped me feel a little better, but that night and the one prior I didn't sleep a wink. I am doing great, by the time you go in they give you lots of drugs in the IV and you won't care what they do , I wasn't even asked to count down from 10 the Dr put the mask on my face and said "I'm just going to put this here while I get redy. " then I woke up and it was over. My mom and I laughed at how he tricked me, I never realized he gassed me. trust mem it's worth it I lost 13 lbs on that rotten pre op diet and 12 more post op.

Not to throw cold Water on the last suppers, but I started out by trying to change my eating habits to band rules for 2 months prior to surgery. We have to start somewhere, and least when I forgot and ate to big of bites, I did not get stuck. I ended up losing almost 20 pounds those 2 months. There is no time like the present to start living the rest of your life. By the way, at 19 months, there is NOTHING that I could or did eat before surgery that I cannot have now in lesser quantities and better eating habits. You can do it if you WANT it bad enough!

Finally a chance to sit down and do this - I started my pre-op diet on 7/25, had it easier than most as I was allowed to have non starchy veggies and a limited amount of more carby items such as hot Cereal, applesauce, v8, sf pudding and light yogurt as well as all the liquids. Had to drink the magnesium citrate on Sunday August 7th - not as bad as I feared, added a limeade mix in to it and was able to get it down. I had to do this at 4pm and was only allowed 1 Protein drink and Clear Liquids that day so there wasn't too much to "clear out." Monday August 8th I had to be at the hospital (Memorial Medical Center, Springfield, IL) at 9am. I was ushered in to the pre-op area pretty quickly by a girl I went to school with (nice to see a familiar face). Her sister was also a nurse in pre-op so another familiar face. Once all my registration info was taken I was brought a gown and pants to put on, Aunt Flow was visiting so they brought me their version of undies and pad. Once I was all prepared they began attempting my IV - first person tried once and the vein rolled, second person got right in and the vein blew but of course she had to shoot some stuff in to be sure and that BURNED. They then had someone come from Anesthesia to do it and they got one. My advice, don't let them "numb" you - that shot hurts more than the IV and it doesn't work that great. Of course they were running behind in surgery. My pick up time was supposed to be 11am but ended up being around 1pm. Got a short snooze in. I woke up in my room around 5 pm I think (first thought it was 6 but I believe I was reading the clock wrong). Not sure how long I was in recovery. Woke up with a second IV in on my opposite arm and a few more stick marks. The original held through the first day and the 2nd was bad before the first. More on that. I didn't feel bad, very tired and tender, my kids were there and kept waking me up when the alarm sounded - guessing low heart rate. Two friends stopped by later too. I had a young guy CNA to take care of me and he was fun - very talkative and told me why he thinks iPhone is better than android LOL. Walked several times throughout the night and apparently a lot farther than most, circling the floor a few times. Had some ice chips. Not much sleep that I remember, seemed like I would just doze off and they would come in for something. Used the pump that night, not morphine but I don't remember what it was, same sleepy side effects but didn't make me sick at least. Tuesday - The next day I lost my fun guy and got a crabby lady She was a little rough with me when she got my band to scan and I will blamer her for blow my IV, not sure if that is true but within a few hours I had a swollen arm of Fluid. Of course they didn't believe me and pushed some of the stuff in to prove it, ouch. And of course the 2nd IV was already bad too, I had thought so since almost the beginning but they didn't care. 2 more stick and digs before they called the PIC team to bring their ultrasound machine and find a vein - they rocked and got me one in my left arm bend - bad spot but it stayed good until they removed it after 2 more days! So day 2 was traumatic for me with IV's (yes, the one thing that I was scared of) and I was supposed to start drink 8 oz an hour starting at 4pm so I could get in 64 oz in 24 hours and go home on day 3. That didn't happen, I just can't do 8 oz in an hour. My air in my room also went out so it was 80 in there most of the day, after being 60 early in the day Wednesday - Day 3 at 7am when the team came in and let me know I wasn't going home until my 64 oz were in, I got smart and realized hey I am awake longer than 8 hours in a day and so I just began doing what I could getting 3 - 6 oz in each hour. It added up and I went to bed at 8pm with my 64 oz in. Thankfully they were in there fixing my air as well - the Dr said I had men crawling out of the ceiling to see me That day I gave up the pump, no way to get in fluids while you are sleeping because of pain meds. I did try the Lortab liquid and that was nasty (but counted toward my liquid ) . Told the nurses I wanted liquid Tylenol and they got it ok'd. At this point I am not sure I even needed it but just went ahead and took it as I could. They took me off the IV but left it hep locked. The team kept asking me why I wasn't using the pump and I let them know because it made me sleepy and I can't sip while asleep. This is the first day I showered and it was awesome. Slept great that night and walked short walks when I woke up. Circling the floor isn't fun when by yourself. Thursday - Day 4 the team came in at 7 and let me know I could go home that day. I was READY!! Got a shower, got dressed, packed up, worked on my liquids and left around 1pm. Didn't walk much after home that day - figured I was good after the morning! Spent my day and evening on the couch, in bed at 7:30 after my fluids were in. Slept great! Got up around 1am with hubby and drank some fluids and watched a few shows, back to sleep at 3 am and up at 7am. Friday - Day 5 I probably over did it. Showered, did laundry, went to a garage sale at my sis in laws (driveway on incline, parked at bottom), went to a restaurant where a friend waitresses (she had RNY 10 years ago) and she gave me a nice bowl of broth. That went down NICE!! Ran some Christmas lights to a friend getting married today to use. Went to Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree with my husband. Stayed up way later than I should of - but got my fluids in! Got to bed around 11pm I believe, after I read a little in bed. Much easier to get comfortable in bed last night. Saturday Day 6 TODAY Slept til about 7am. Got shower, loaded dishwasher, put a few things away. I have spent most of the day so far on the couch. That's it so far! I do have a wedding to go to tonight, skipping the reception though! A few other things that just don't fit in anywhere else - I did get Lovenox shots days 2,3,4 in my thigh, didn't hurt. My doctor does a scope while you are out to check for leaks, no separate leak test. I was not allowed to use Gas-X strips. I didn't have any gas pains to speak of though, guess walking took care of them. My hospital did not have heating pads but did give me heated blankets - not the same. I had my daughter bring mine from home and I did use it the second day some. My pain was never above a 4 mostly around a 3 the whole time on a scale of 0-10 (10=worst) - with exception of the IV digging. My driving restriction was only if I took Lortab so I can drive.

Nervous yes my insurance does not cover baratrics. I have a apt on april 19 with my primary we will see if she's willing to follow me.

I went to see my surgeon for the 1st review today. I asked him about the lump so visible due to the port. He said I am still swollen and once the swelling goes down so will my port. I lost 10.8 which is about 24 pounds since pre op. He is happy and so am I , Very happy!!. I did tell him I had started solids and he was worried with that saying it could be to soon but to be careful. He said he didn't ant me to worry though and that the band isn't my enemy but something to help me get to my healthiest self. I have already felt its benefits, It been over a week now that I haven't had any knee and thigh pain. I returned to woe and my co workers asked me what I have had done while away, they said the change in my looks was so obvious and that I looked 10 years younger!! What a compliment! ATM my band is my best friend it has helped me get healthier and feel good about myself bought up my self esteem. I am so glad I didn't listen to me fears pre op and went ahead and got it done. So far its one of the best things I have done for myself.

I had my surgery August 23rd. My first fill was Tues November 16th. I was told to do liquids for 2 days and then food as tolerated. While doing liquids I had 5 episodes where I had BP. 3 were while I was drinking my protein slowly, 1 was on OJ and the other 1 was when I took a vitamin. I called the doctor and they told me to come in and have some saline removed. Last night and this morning I was doing great and had no problems getting anything down so I was second guessed going to the docs office today. Around 10:00 I attempted to try real food so I had some eggs. Because the band is tighter in the morning I had a protein shake for breakfast and was going to do eggs as a snack. Well I took a very small bite of the eggs chewed it up real well and swallowed. It was atleast 15 till I was able to take another bite because it felt like the eggs were stuck. I took another bite, but was afraid of BP'ing because I could feel the eggs in my throat and it was starting to get painful. About an hour later I started to drink some water because the pain started to go away. Now I am scared to eat anything. I thought I was suppose to feel full in my belly with the band not like food was stuck in my throat and it was painful. Is this the way the band is suppose to make you feel or does it sound like it is overfull? Any suggestions would be helpful. If I dont have the saline removed today I wont be able to do anything about it till after Dec 8th because of Thanksgiving and vacation.

Hi all, I'm newly banded, banded in august! I was so disappointed with my one pound weightloss over the past 10 days! So silly of me to think this way, but I was hoping for more, I was blinded by how quickly the initial weight came off, but at least I kept losing and didn't gain!!! Since my weight slowed down with that one pound loss, I got my first fill yesterday :smile: I have this lump in my throat feeling, not too sure if that's how it's supposed to feel. I was having some greek yogurt this morning and I can't even make a dent in it. I enjoyed the fill because I feel rejuvenated with my process. I'm feeling motivated to shed more pounds and even did a 2.5 mile walk yesterday! Before, I was only averaging about a mile. Hopefully with this spike in exercise, the fill, and motivation.............I can jump start my weight loss again to reach that new year goal !!! Wish me luck and good luck to everyone feeling like they are in a slump! You can do it!!!

I have joined this support group and we all plan on doing 101 miles in 100 days together either walking, riding, hoping, or anything. We start this journey together on January 14, 2014. I have had no energy at all for the last several months. But i went to UVA on January 10, 2014 for checkup they put a .5 fill in and want me to walk. They also want me to start a B12 500 mg pill that dissolves under tongue daily to try to boost energy. I hope this helps me out. Please if there is any supporters out there that can just help get me motivated again please respond. Thanks and have a blessed day.

I just had it done about 4 weeks ago, but mine was a lot more involved. I had about 12 pounds of excess skin removed/tummy tuck/massive hernia repair combination. I won't lie, it was definitely painful. The first couple of days home from the hospital I definitely had a couple "oh gawd what have I done to myself?" moments. But around day 10, the pain subsided considerably and I was like "oh hey I look kinda awesome!" I actually posted my before and after pics here if you'd like to see them. It's pretty dramatic: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/169905-tummy-tuck-before-after-pics/ I'm definitely thrilled with my results and think it was a very good decision. I'm just dealing with some other physical issues from the surgery that aren't common. I think if you're only having skin removal the recovery will be a lot easier and quicker.

Thanks for your input....it has made a lot of sense. I did south beach and LOVED it. I never felt better. I never felt hungry. I never craved any junk and really I didnt cheat (they say that once you do---it is hard to stop wanting it.) Well, on Labor Day I had a brownie. The next day ice cream...then a candy bar....then, forty pounds back to my butt! I could never start it up again....I couldnt get passed the two week detox. I was like an addict, for real. I never felt DEPRIVED while I was on SB--but, as soon as I slipped up, it was all over. I kept half of it off for a while, but I have officially gained it ALL back now--plus 10 pounds. It has been three years. Fifty pounds in three years? That is nuts. Oh, and while I was losing weight, I LOVED going to the gym...I became addicted to that instead of eating, I guess. Although, it could have been because I tanned while I was there and I was really addicted to the tan?????