Well guys and gals I finally made it out the other side and am now officially a bandster!!!

Had a lovely time in Paris, pre op, walking aroung a truly beautiful city!

Banded on 21st March went down at 7.30am!! I was first on the list, and I have to say it was just as well as I was freaking out by the morning!

Anyhow it was all for nothing as I went out like a light and came around in recovery an hour later...

The doc was lovely, Very French!

On liquids now for 2 weeks then work my way through mushies on to solids.

No wind as such but feel a little bloated.....

Hi Gc...

Thanks for that...did you feel like hopping of the surgery trolley when the surgeons changed their mind on you... it must have been a bit panicky going under having to mentally prepare for a change of plan!! How's the needles?

No I didn't know anything about it - Dr Ashton came to see me just before I went down and explained that the easyband might be too big for me but they would decide during the operation. So I went under not knowing either way and to be honest didn't care when I came around. Just glad to come around...... that's the one thing that scares me about surgery.

Anyway I am a little disappointed as I really fancied this new band but I have to go with Dr Ashton and Dr Favrettis decision. They are the experts. Whatever - it is definitely working. No hunger whatsoever

That's Great... I hope my experience is like that..

I'm so sick of feeling suffocated in my clothing

:angry

Lunasa, You've hit the nail right on the head. I started a new job when I was at my lowest weight, and now I don't want to visit my customers who haven't seen me in a while because I'm so massive again, especially as they never knew me when I was big last time!!!

I just kept on buying new clothes in a bigger size .... again! Unfortunately I had thrown away almost all of my fat clothes, so gaining weight has been an expensive experience as well as embarrassing:(

All last years summer clothes are size 16, I may get to wear them at the end of the summer if I'm lucky... but if not I'm not going to get upset about it, I'm gonna ebay 'em next year if they're too big by then!

I'm not in any mad hurry to lose the weight again, like last time. I lost it all in less than 6 months on lighter life! The regain, as you said was horrendous, I managed to keep it a bit under control for 6 months, then feeling like I should lose another 3 stone went on Cambridge diet. I was unable to stick to it for more than 10 days and in between times I would binge horribly... you name it I ate it! Cakes, biscuits, pastries, bread and butter in spades... I just loved toasted jarlsberg sandwiches, buttered inside and out! I'd be driving home from work planning what I was going to fill my face with, and as for the gym, well it became my complete enemy! That's what denying myself any food for so long did to me! :mad: Then I watched a BBC1 programme called the 'the truth about dieting' where the journalist tracked down champion slimmers (you know, the ones that won slimmer of the year in magazines) it found that out of the 15 they found only 1 had maintained their weight loss, and that was because she'd had a gastric banding. Then they interviewed an expert who said that losing and maintaining a weight loss of more than about 20lbs was nearly impossible and went on to say that over a 5 year period, 97% of dieters would regain all of the weight that they'd lost and maybe even gained a few extra lbs!!

That was when I decided that I should have a gastric band... I've been battling with weight for 22 years losing it all or most of it then gaining back plus some extra serveral times over my marriage. My poor OH is despairing of me as he watches in dismay at my efforts and enjoys my short lived success only to watch me gain it all again over and over.

So here I am, newly banded, making the best decision I think I ever did. Although it's still early days, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I've told very few people... my OH, and my two best friends, and the immediate group who I spend most of my socialising time with (mostly men, so no probs with the group dynamic!) I haven't told my sons, I haven't told my mum or any of my sisters. Of course I've told the thousands of people on Lapbandtalk too!!

I don't want people to be looking at me the whole time judging what I eat and asking if I really should be eating that, if you know what I mean.

I've had an easy recovery, virtually no pain, wounds are doing fine, and starting to itch a bit, which is a good sign! I'm going back to work tomorrow as I feel so well, I've been driving my car and wondering around the supermarket, if I can do that then I can defo go to work tomoz!!!

This morning I've made loads of soups, parsnip and apple, maple roast parsnip and mediterranean tomato and veg soup.... all really lush for me whilst I do the liquid diet for the post op period. I like to know what I'm eating and I love cooking and this has fulfilled my needs!!!

Really long post sorry!!

:clap2: :rockon: :becky: :welcomeB: :banana :banana :banana :banana

Hi ya H!

Couldn't resist my own funky form of 'WELCOME TO THE OTHERSIDE!' I am so pleased for you, I know it's been quite a journey.

I was going to say I would buy your size 16 next year. *giggles* Then I realised by next year I may not be a 16, I could be a 14. That is a very weird thought!

Big hugs

Suzanne xxx

Woohoo Sooz!!!

When are you due to have another fill? I've got 2 months to wait until I can have one if I need it.....

I know that you don't weigh yourself very often but you haven't updated your ticker for an age... any more progress on the weight loss front?

I'm afraid that old habits are dying hard and I'm back to daily weighing! So far in 5 days I've lost 11lbs! Not bad eh????

Still on soups and yoghurts though so once I start eating again, I don't know what I'll be like!

Well guys and gals I finally made it out the other side and am now officially a bandster!!!

Had a lovely time in Paris, pre op, walking aroung a truly beautiful city!

Banded on 21st March went down at 7.30am!! I was first on the list, and I have to say it was just as well as I was freaking out by the morning!

Anyhow it was all for nothing as I went out like a light and came around in recovery an hour later...

The doc was lovely, Very French!

On liquids now for 2 weeks then work my way through mushies on to solids.

No wind as such but feel a little bloated.....

Wel done and welcome back. Now you just have to wait for the weights to start falling off you. Good luck. Keep us posted re your recovery.

Lunasa, You've hit the nail right on the head. I started a new job when I was at my lowest weight, and now I don't want to visit my customers who haven't seen me in a while because I'm so massive again, especially as they never knew me when I was big last time!!! :bolt:

So here I am, newly banded, making the best decision I think I ever did. Although it's still early days, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I've had an easy recovery, virtually no pain, wounds are doing fine, and starting to itch a bit, which is a good sign!

Hello Anon,

Thank you for such a lovely post...We are not alone.

Isn't it terrible how our lives become such a dark place when we feel compelled to hide from people because we feel we are being judged physically before opening our mouths, it's so humiliating!

We cannot hide what have become our "flaws" because there is no way to hide our outside selves and the consequence is that our inside selves become damaged trying to make up for that. We loose ourselves, who we are really because we have too much energy to devote to overcompensating.

Do you know for years, I though I hated sports coz I was fat... Ironically it just turned out I hated sports full stop.... that's what I mean about not knowing myself well enough to make that discovery though! yey to the realisation though...it was a relief... I blame everything on my weight!

:clap2:

Lastly... should I be worried about MRSA? It's popping up a little too often here? I would be totally freaked out about that!

Good luck to you Anon..we'll keep intouch..xx:girl_hug:

MRSA is a concern but hopefully it won't affect you luna. It does seem to be quite random and I gess it will depend on where you had the band fitted.

Like I said in a previous post, the Belgians state categorically that they are 99.9% MRSA free. My sister that lowland people are extremely paranoid about cleanliness, so you kno for a fact their hospitals are going to be spotless.

I don't know if all the MRSA sufferers are just UK based but lets hope that they all get sorted soon!

MRSA, is a worldwide problem... about 20% of the population have MRSA on their skin, up their noses or in the groin or axilla (armpit), if you are healthy it will cause you no problems and will clear on it's own. It's only a problem if you have an open wound and it gets into it that it causes problems in hospitals it poses a threat because there are lots of vulnerable patients who would be very ill if they got the infection.

Poor hand hygiene is the biggest cause of spread. Just make sure that all the nurses wash their hands before they touch you!!! You'll be fine!

Had a good day today, much better since I changed my dressings ones I'm not allergic to!

Feeling a bit hungry today so had a look at how much protein I'd been having and it was sadly lacking!! so I added 100g of very low fat blended cottage cheese to my carrot and corriander soups.... much better! I've been using weight loss resources to track what I'm eating to make sure that I've had enough of all the right things everyday... it's been really good so far.

I still haven't managed more than 800 calories a day on fluids, and that was with the cheese added to 2 lots of soup.

Good news is that I've had 6 portions of fruit and veg in one way or another!