Melbourne Chat Thread!!!!

[Jachut 487]

Tuna's a little iffy. I can eat it, but it does get a little stuck. I havent eaten canned salmon - dont like it.

Oh, south melbourne market dim sims. I'm hungry now!

[She Smiles 2]

Bronnie the link for the ozband site is

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ozband/

I agree with Susannah though, its not quite as user friendly as this forum, but has Australian relevant info. There are some people on there that have been banded for quite a few years though and they are a wealth of knowledge.

As for what to take to hospital, take a nightie or some lose fitting PJ's your tummy wil be quite tender and bloated for a good week or so, so anything tight will be annoying. I went braless for a week after too when I could because one of my scars is right on my bra line, a crop top or sports bra might work better if you can't go with out. Take some books/mags to read - nothing too indepth, your attention span will be all spacey from the anethestic. You might feel like washing your hair (I didn't though, but I know my dad did when he came out of surgery!)so take normal toiletries, and don't forget your toothbrush and toothpaste. You might want to take your own pillow, and make sure the person who picks you up has a pillow for you to put over your tummy on the ride home. The bumps in the road are uncomfortable. Earplugs and an eyemask maybe if those sorts of things bother you. And any other meds you normally take. I think thats about it!

There is a great thread on this forum which lists stuff you might need in the days after surgery so you're not having to go get anything (or don't have to ask some one else to get it). My tip is get some benefiber and pear/prune juice for when you are on the liquid stage. You might get a bit backed up and trust me, its not fun. If you start with the benefiber and juice the day you get home from hospital you should be ok!

[TaNgLe 0]

Hi Susannah

thanx for the link. Wow that was really amazing watching how they actually perform the op. Like they said not for the faint hearted

Good luck.. not long to go now u lucky girl

Bronnie, not long till your first cosult either. Hope the days fly by for you and

Chris, welcome to the group and Meredith well done on the weight loss.. u are doing great

Catch you soon

Loretta :waytogo:

[bronnie70 0]

Morning all.... here i sit eating hot cross Buns for Breakfast :hungry: . I look at it this way........ im likely to be banded in March so my chances of hot cross buns then are nil. so... im going to enjoy them now. mmmmmmmmmm... might have to buy myself an early easter egg too.

Have a good day

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yet to be banded but cant wait!!!

1st Consult with Dr Nottle: 12/2/07

[susannah 2]

Hi Everyone, Thanks Meredith and Swan for all your hospital tips. They will be put to good use. I will be recovering up at my sister's house in Castlemaine for two weeks. My sister has eight year old twin boys who have a lot of energy and full of life. They often jump on me and hug me, something that will have to be curtailed for a few weeks post surgery. The hugs are ok though.

Meredith you must be so excited about your wedding. You are not a bridezilla though I hope!:biggrin1:

Bronnie get as many hot cross Buns down your neck while you can!:scared:

I am day 17 on the liquid diet and I have not cheated or eaten a single thing that I should not have. Hope my surgeon will be pleased with my efforts.

Susannah

[bronnie70 0]

Susannah... im sure your surgeon will be impressed. how much weight have you lost on the liquid diet? ? Not many sleeps left for you. Seems like yesterday that i joined this sight and you had a few weeks left and now you/we are counting down the days.:hungry:

I think i polished off 4 hot cross Buns today.

Do you/did you get reflux pre-banding. Ive been getting it quite badly of late. Of- coarse eating all the wrong things may have a lot to do with it!! I hope that once im banded that will disappear.

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Not banded yet, obviously!!!

1st consult with surgeon 12/2/07

[susannah 2]

Hey Bronnie, I have lost 7 kilos since being on the Optifast program. I rarely get refux/ heartburn. Let the fun begin. Susannah

[susannah 2]

Hey, Make that reflux, not refux!:biggrin1: Susannah

[She Smiles 2]

Susannah what a great effort - 7 kilos is awesome!! Good job on not cheating (I wasn't as strong for the 2 weeks I was on it, I cheated a tiny bit in the last few days, it was killing me). You must feel so proud of yourself!! And excited! Its this week right?? Wooooohooooo! You'll have to start tracking your weight loss in your signature so we can encourage you along!!

I am excited about my wedding! I'm not a bridezilla, the wedding is small cos my fiance is from the US and his family won't be coming over for it :scared: So I haven't really had the chance to be too much of a control freak. Its going to be a lovely day though.

I've never had reflux, I wouldn't even know what it feels like! (touch wood!).

[susannah 2]

Hi meredith, I am sure you will have a wonderful wedding day. Where is your fiance from in the US? My older brother Simon lives in Brooklyn NY. He and his partner are trying to get pregnant, and will move back to Australia for the first few years of the baby's life.

Losing the weight will be all the sweeter for you when you go down the aisle in your dream dress. It is nice that your fiance loved you even at your highest weight. Most men are not so generous like that!

Susannah

[susannah 2]

Hey, Does he have a brother??!!!LOL!:biggrin1: Susannah

[cammy 0]

Meredith - I didn't get a chance to catch up on the whole thread but when I saw you mention your back I had to say get thee to a physio (preferably one that has a podiatrist in the same clinic) that deals with major weight loss!!

Your loss seems so similar to how mine went, basically the space between your legs is changing (as your inner thighs decrease) which changes how you stand/walk everything is out of alignment. I left it and ended up with shin splints. Ouch, so painful. The physio I go to has seen 100's bandsters & massive weight loss patients - he treats in conjunction with the podiatrist. I needed physio & orthotics to correct me and get rid of the pain. Thankful for private health insurance picking up most of the bill. I went when I was 75kg... I should have gone when I first noticed massive amounts of pain, more so than normal aches/pains of being overweight, when I was about 90kg.

Hope you can get yours sorted too - congrats on the loss!!

ps. many people never lose the inner thighs, it's cut them off or live with them forever so this does not affect everybody - i've seen people at my weight that can't buy the size 8/10 pants they need for their waist/hip measurements because they can't get the pants over their thighs. Poor things, I can't imagine the pain of the surgery to cut those off.

Oh, and regarding the plastic surgery, do you have stretch marks? That's what the genetics is they speak of.... if you don't have stretch marks in a given area it will most likely shrink back in 1-2 years... once you've got stretch marks surgery is what it takes because the skin has been stretched beyond reason and lost it's elasticity. Those bits that don't have stretch marks - get some bio oil (priceline it's like $14 for a bit bottle 4 month supply or you can pay $29.95 at a plastic surgeon or chemist) and rub it in twice a day every day - that stuff rocks and every plastic surgeon I saw recommended it and it's far cheaper than the rest of the stuff on the market which they all agreed didn't work as well. So there you go! My plastic surgoen gives his patients a bottle (no charge) every time you go to a follow up appointment to encourage us to keep using it as he really believes in it.

I have bad stretch marks on my bat wings - i have no stretch marks on the outer arm.... I was going to have the bat wings cut off , left it 3 months longer than i was going to and the 'non stretch mark outer arm' skin shrunk back and the stretch marky flabby skin now takes up more area and you can see it from both sides - ewww!! Now i can't get it all cut off (id still have lots of the stretch mark flab left) because the non -stretch marked skin was too efficient at snapping back grrr... but that does prove to me that it works, just not how i wanted it to. Hopefully there is a silver lining ot every cloud and others can learn from what happened to me. I'll have to post some photos soon so you guys can see what i mean.

[bronnie70 0]

Morning all.... did i mention that my middle name is 'stretch marks'. I have them everywhere.

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yet to be banded

1sr consult with surgeon 12/2/07

[fee 0]

Morning everyone......wow so much reading to do and so little time

Im off to geelong for the day to visit my sis before the kids go off to school

Sussanah....fab job for losing 7kgs already:)

Cam ....thanks for posting that info about the plastic surgery and stretch marks...very informative as always:)

Hope you are all doing well and have a great day....i will be back later...byes

[She Smiles 2]

Have a great time in Geelong Fee!!