Positive people unite! This thread is being created for the sole use of positive people to give positive reinforcement to others in the group that we care about. We know that we may disagree on some issues but we will offer constructive criticism, objective suggestions, we will always give kind support even when delivering the occasional (but necessary) kick in the pants.

Karen-YAY VS!!! Maybe someday I will get there...but the girls don't want to shrink...just sag.

Leigha-I was wrong...looked at my bottle and it is Prilosec not Prevacid.

The acid is still there. It doesn't hurt, just keep burping acid and if I ate anytime soon food will come up to the top of my throat too. I haven't woke up choking since that one night though. Plus I've been drinking a new protein shake and made stuffed peppers which I haven't had since the band and I ate them 2 days in a row right when all of this started. I'm hoping somehow if i just baby it for a few days and quit drinking the new shake that it will go away. Not sure if the initial choke episode could still be giving me trouble and it will get better. I finally did call the PA today, but haven't heard from her yet (Thursdays are surgery days). Have any of you all experienced reflux and it got better?

Uh, no, I experienced reflux and had to have an unfill :biggrin: Sorry! But seriously I think the reflux was the final straw and the irritation from that is what closed me off....Prevacid is OTC and is a little different than the prilosec so it might be worth trying if the prilosec isn't cutting it. Good luck!

Stacie, peppers just kill me with heartburn. Ugh, I love them, but they don't love me.

Karen, congrats on VS! Yay! Fun.

OK, I did it, Butters and I went for a walk when I got home!

Here's my NSV. A friend of mine has a window seat at work that looks over the entry way.

She said as I was leaving yesterday there were two men hanging out in the picnic table area near the door. She said as I walked by they stopped talking and turned to watch me walk! hee hee! Not bad for a 46 year old!

Now if only I could remember who it was! Drat!

WOO-HOO DENISE!! :thumbup: :biggrin: :biggrin: lol congrats!!

Christie-that's the weird thing...it's been almost 3 months since my last fill and like I said the doc says I could even stand to be filled a little more. Darn band...I need to name it and it needs a man's name because it just puzzles and bewilders me. I'm just hoping it passes and life returns back to normal.

Stac-you're my twin, my, err, "incident" was 3 1/2 months after my last fill :-P go figure. I am glad I named "Steve" a guy, he's WAY too fickle to be a sweet lil southern belle like me.

Denise is a hottie, Denise is a hottie!!!!

Hey guys, thanx for the "cute pic" comments. I wanted to post a pic of me but I dont have that many..... Ive always hated my "fat" pics. I will find one soon and put it up. Trust me though, my kid is cuter!!

You guys crack me up with your stories, Ive enjoyed reading them!! It is so great to hear all the little tales of victory along the way.

I do have a question and all of you seem to be such seasoned vets I thought Id ask. Im self pay and my doc includes 3 months free visits and fills post op. I talked to him about wanting to find my sweet spot B4 the free fills run out and he said that would be no problem. My question is, if I do find my sweet spot, how long does it last? When will I need a refill? :biggrin:

Last night was my mom's surprise 50th b-day party. I ate so much less than I would have B4. I only had a little piece of cake and, honestly, I didnt tolerate it that well. It made me a little sick!?! This was surprising b/c I could usually eat 3 or 4 pieces. It didnt get stuck and I didnt throw up, just nausea. That was nice. Sort of like my little angel on my shoulder telling me not to eat it. I guess this happens?!?!

I want to shop @ VS sooooo bad. I get their cataloges and just dream about the clothes and lingere. But Karen, lets be honest, the shopping trip was not for you, it was for your hubby:lol:. We love to buy it but THEY LOVE to see it:tongue2:.

Lovin-- Get out the camera today and take some before pics. You will be so happy you did, plus when you get down and feel like your not losing you can use them to compare and they will make you feel better.

I think after you get to a good place with fills they usually last for a few months at least. I am self pay too, and mine are $200 each from here on out so I'm sure I wont be getting one for a while!

Karen-- That was not meant to be a slap, more like a shake?

I went to the bank yesterday and a girl that I have known for 15 years was transfered from the branch where I use to live 30 miles away to this one that I use now. So she hasn't seen me for a year or so, when I walked in she looked up at me and said in a perfect "your a stranger" voice, "Can I help you?" She had no idea who I was until I spoke to her. And its not she just knew me from the bank, she worked at my flower shop and babysat my son when he was little!

Leigha, that is sooooo funny!!!

Lovin', well done at the b-day party! Woohoo. For me, I just asked for my first fill in a year. But I think I had 4 in the year and a half after my surgery. My surgeon is very conservative on fills, though. That suits me fine as mine are covered on my insurance, so I don't have the time constraints.

One word of caution, just don't let your checkbook rule too much and be overzealous in your quest for fills. Being overfilled is not fun at all!

Hi, all, I'm back in the land of the living! I was in Montana (beautiful country) for two weeks without internet access, and after coming home, went right into surgery prep and then RNY surgery Thursday the 15th.

I did read the shout-outs for me (thanks so much!), but honestly felt so crappy I couldn't do anything about it. I was in surgery 6 1/2 hours to get a hiatal hernia repaired, multiple adhesions taken care of, and of course the RNY itself. I could only have pain meds for a short time because I get badly nauseated with narcotics, and Tylenol doesn't do much for me, so I didn't bother. I'm only now beginning to function somewhat normally. I lost 16 pounds in 2 weeks! Yikes! What a way to do it!

Anyhow, please not to worry about me. Mission accomplished!

Anne!!! yay! Glad you are back!!!!!!! Sorry it was a rough road, but happy you are now on the losers' bench. Yippee!!

Hi, all, I'm back in the land of the living! I was in Montana (beautiful country) for two weeks without internet access, and after coming home, went right into surgery prep and then RNY surgery Thursday the 15th.

I did read the shout-outs for me (thanks so much!), but honestly felt so crappy I couldn't do anything about it. I was in surgery 6 1/2 hours to get a hiatal hernia repaired, multiple adhesions taken care of, and of course the RNY itself. I could only have pain meds for a short time because I get badly nauseated with narcotics, and Tylenol doesn't do much for me, so I didn't bother. I'm only now beginning to function somewhat normally. I lost 16 pounds in 2 weeks! Yikes! What a way to do it!

Anyhow, please not to worry about me. Mission accomplished!

Anne I'm so glad for your update and that you're okay. You're going to be a twig in no time, holy crap! 16 pounds in 2 weeks? WOWZA!!!

Guys--need some advice. I had my fill last Thursday 7/15 and went back to solids on Monday the 19th. All was fine and then this past Thursday---BOOM! I mean, I'm needing to eat TINY pieces of food and literally wait 45 seconds to a minute between bites! I can no longer guzzle my water, must sip or it will come back up. Also, I notice with portion sizes, I still was able to eat 8 to 10 ounces, and never needed to worry about eating smaller portions when we went out. I made healthy choices, but was still able to finish a 'regular' size plate and it would hold me 3 to 4 hours.

So, since then, now I am needing to take tiny bites, have to chew until it's freaking pulvarized and definitely have to wait a bit before the next bite. Dare I ask--is this how it is supposed to have been the whole time and I wasn't at the right restriction level or am I too tight? I am able to eat food, but if my bites are too big or too close together I will slime, so I really need to pay attention now. And that pain in the chest I would always say I never ever got? Yeah, I have that too!!! I had .5 ccs added to my band and thought at first it was too little because I was getting hungry every 2 hours, but I'm now only able to eat about 4 ounces, so I am thinking I need to throw in snacks because my portions have been sooo greatly reduced. If anyone has advice on this, I'd LOVE it. I just don't want to go in for an unfill if this is indeed the sweet spot.

Thanks for any insight!!!

Anne-- Glad to hear from you, sometimes when I am funky I don't post for a few days too. But feel free to join us when you feel like it.

Now we only need to hear from Dottie. (When you feel like it)

Karen -- If you are able to eat solids, stick with it and let the fill settle in. If you get to where you can only hold down liquids or are relying on sliders, time for an unfil. If you are getting at least 800 calories and 60 g of protein, I think you are OK.

Karen--what Leigha said, but I'd like to add that if you can't live with it, get a tiny unfill. Even if solids are going down, but not very easily, be cautious. When I got an unfill the last straw was when I could not get yogurt down without pain. I stuck it out for a week, but the pain was too much for me.

The band isn't about pain. It's a fine line!

My surgeon said pre-op that he prefers his band patients keep them loose and exercise more self-control. That's when my DH popped off with, "if she had any self-control, she wouldn't need a band!" Thank-you-for-your-support. :smile:

NSV for me...I made my confession of non-exercise last week. Also, my blood sugar has been over 100 in the mornings on random checks :ohmy:

Well, I walked with Butters on Thursday and Friday for about 20 minutes each day. Today...98!!! YIPPEE!!!! :smile2: Hoping that this will keep up and help me with motivation to keep my feet moving.

Did absence make you grow fonder of me?

Welcome back Anne and it great to hear that you came out of surgery ok. The pain will go away soon enough.

Karen, give it a week. I was that tight after my last fill but because I could actually drink water, I spent a week deciding whether to get an unfill or not. By the time the week was up, I was almost guzzling water again and the tiniest bit of food was satisfying me.

Eva, the sweet spot is hard to judge. You will be very tight immediately following a fill because of swelling. It's hard to judge exactly how tight you are until the swelling goes down. I think 3 months should be plenty of time to find it with a fill every 2 weeks or so after the initial fill.

Anne-welcome back to the land of the living! Hope it all goes well and please do check in with us every once in a while to update!

Denise-I had gestational diabetes and the only way to get my a.m. glucose under 90 (which is what they wanted since I was pregnant) was to have a snack in the evening before bed. If I went from dinner to breakfast without eating my liver rebelled over night and made its own sugar....Now, gestational diabetes is a little different than anything else, but just something to think about. (an orange seemed to work best but that was pre-band...a couple crackers with cheese or peanutbutter also worked well).

Confessions...I have now lost 3 of the 5 pounds I regained in the first 2 weeks after the unfill...It was fun while it lasted but just proves how much I need to be banded.... Refill in 9 days! Woohoo!!! I'm hoping to lose those last 2 so I can at least break even when I show up. I can only assume we're going to go super slow on the fills now given the complications which sucks since I'm self pay but oh well, investment in my health and my future and all that :smile2:

Christie, thanks for the info!

When I saw my endocrinologist (I have thyroid issues) for the first time in a few years a while back, he was thrilled that the pre-diabetes hadn't progressed. I suppose I should be happy with that as well. But I'd much prefer to be non-diabetic!