I think I have lost it!!

December 24, 2003

The first 9 days after my surgery on 12/11/03 I was barely able to consume three Protein shakes a day and sipping tea took a half hour. By day 11 I can consume two scrambled Eggbeaters and 12 oz of cottage cheeze with absolutely no resistance, bloating or pressure at all. Drinking a 24oz bottle of Water no longer requires sipping. I only had two minor vomiting incidents on days 3 and 4.

Have I lost it?

Is this normal?

When I called my doctors office I was eventually called back by his partner who said, "why are you calling me, because you are feeling TOO Good, not TOO Bad?"

I feel like a fool. I'm open to opinions

Alexandra · December 24, 2003

Welcome, Poje! Your doctor hit it right on the nose. What you're experiencing is that wonderful phenomenon known as HEALING.

The trauma of surgery creates swelling in your insides, which is what causes the initial restriction in most people. After a week or so just about everyone experiences a loss of this post-surgery restriction and an attendant increase in hunger. It's perfectly normal, and a very good sign that your stomach and esophagus have weathered the implant process well.

Now your task it to try to take it easy with the food textures, even though you might feel hungry. There's no limit to the amount of liquids you can consume, and now is not the time to worry about calories. So explore the world of Soup with abandon! But don't jump the gun on your doctor's instructions with regard to solid food--your stomach will still be healing for up to six weeks and you don't want to strain it during this time. After that period you can talk with your doctor about getting a fill if you think you need one, but for now you just have to let your body take care of itself.

Welcome to Bandlandia, and have a good holiday!

December 24, 2003

If only he had put it that way yesterday, I would have felt a lot better. He never said anything about a post surgical change, only that my expectations were wrong.

I actually am not hungry at all. I was only exploring what I should be feeling. During my 1 week visit, I only heard be careful, sip, sip, sip, chew, chew, chew, and what I experienced the next day was an almost total change in my feeling from bloated and restricted to 80 miles per hour without a car in sight. It scared me.

Also, I called the doctor's office on Monday and said, "who should I talk to" and the receptionist said, me. I told her and she said, "I don't know what to tell you, maybe you should talk to the nurse, she's busy now, but she will call you soon." 24 hours later, no call. I called again, talked to the receptionist, talked to the nurse, and got a call back from the doctor 2 hours later. He accused me of telling his staff I was in pain when I didn't and I was (am) pissed off. I just wanted to report my findings and find out if anything needed to happen. I didn't deserve to be treated like someone who "didn't do my research and who had unreasonable expectations."

They cant threated you with dire consequences and not expect concern when symptons take a radical about face. I think the doctor's office is very disorganized. I love Dr. Bertha, but I hate his organization. (not that I have any strong feelings or anything)

quakergirl · December 25, 2003

I can understand how upsetting it must be to have the doc's office dismiss your concerns. We are lucky that we have this site to go to in order to support each other, because so often the surgeons are too busy to be very good at the "bedside manner" type of issues.

Anyway, I think Alexandra is completely correct with her advice.

Alexandra · December 26, 2003

Ahhh, another Bertha/Abkin victi... um, I mean patient. I completely understand your frustrations with that office. It's ridiculous. I didn't get any of my information AT ALL from them, even through the preop "class" and several conversations with both the nurse practitioner and the surgeon. Thankfully I've had no problems so I have no knowledge of how they'd react to an emergency (well, I hope), but I really do think they could do a much better job of educating the patient as to life with the band.

That's why these boards are so important. (There's at least one more Bertha/Abkin patient here as well, and we all share the same opinion.)

I'm glad you found us and we were able to help!