Hello to everyone. My name is Bret. I am 48 years old and have been overweight all my life. I have been discussing surgery for the last few months and am happy to say that I had the surgery on Monday December 11 2006. It is now Saturday and I am 5 days post op. I feel great, I'm losing weight and I'm looking forward to see what the future brings.

Just a few stats for the record. My starting weight was 395. My surgeon had me diet for a few weeks before the surgery and this week I'm on just clear fluids and as of this morning I'm about 377. So far so good.

Right now I'm still on the initial high of the whole thing and I am still pretty "Up". I expect some down days and hope this forum will help me through those. By the way. My surgeon told me that about 90% of patients are female. I am in the minority. I'm male.

My surgeon told me after surgery that it was a tough procedure because of my size and the band, although the largest made, was a tight fit. He expected me to have some trouble until the swelling went down. I didn't and by now it seems as if anything I eat passes freely. My diet has been lots of Tea, Water, Clear Soups, Sugar Free Ice Pops, Apple Sauce, Sugar Free Jello and Sugar Free Pudding. I have cheated a little bit and today had a bit of tomatoe soup which I guess technically is a stage 2 food, but it caused no problem.

I have an appointment with my PCP on Tuesday 12/19 to talk about the meds I take. My diabetes meds are time released so I cant crush them so I need to discuss alternatives. All other meds I have been crushing. BTW I forgot to mention I have a number of weight related problems. Diabetes, High blood pressure and high cholesterol. I also have a follow up appointment with my surgeon on Thursday 12/21.

Anyway. I guess thats enough of an Introduction. I look forward to interacting with fellow lap banders and I hope to be able to give and get support from and to you all.

Thanks,

Bret

Welcome to LBT brett

Congratulations on beginning your own journey to the new YOU! I look forward to hearing of your progress.

Best wishes on your appointments I hope all goes well.

:eek: becky

Thanks Becky, I will try and post progress as often as I can. I noticed in re-reading my original post how upbeat I sound. There is one downside that I failed to mention. These damn laproscopic incisions are itching me like hell. If anything in this world could drive me crazy....this constant itching will do it.

Bret

Welcome Bret, Glad to hear you've had a fairly easy recovery, (besides the itching). Best of luck to you on your lapband journey. This is the place to me, great people, great advice and sympathetic ears.

Welcome to LBT Bret!

DrewsLou,

Thanks for the welcome. I note you mentioned a port replacement. I've not heard of that before. What happened to your original port that required replacement?

Just curious,

Bret

Hi Bret, welcome to LBT!!

The itching is annoying, but it's a good sign and doesn't last long. It means you're healing! Take care of yourself and prepare for the hard part ahead--when your hunger returns. Don't worry, it happens to everyone, and once again it's a good sign that means you're healing. Eat what you need to stem the hunger; don't overdo it but definitely don't let yourself get too hungry between meals.

Good luck and once again, welcome!!

Bret,

Welcome to LBT! Don't worry about port replacement just yet. Be good to yourself and nothing negative should happen to you. I had port replacement too and that was only because I needed to go to a smaller one because I got to my goal weight and it was sticking out too much. It was no big deal.

Keep the POSITIVE attitude and you should do GREAT!

Josephine