Hi All, I wanted to start a new chat thread for bandsters all over Australia. Firstly the Melbourne chat thread now has so many replies that we are getting a lot of horrible spam, and secondly we want bandsters from all over the country to feel they can join in and chat on this thread.

Could we post on this new thread now?

Susannah

Hi

well I am new to this website, and I am personally glad you started the new thread, because as a queenslander I did not think I was allowed to join in on the melbourne thread. Fee I hope you feel better after your outburst, although I can't agree with your claims. Any questions I have asked have been rapidly replied, and I have not given any personal details of myself as yet, for people to judge as to what click of people i belong to!! We are all online for the same purpose; I feel if you have a personal problem with someone online you should pm them rather then bring the whole thread into an unnecessary argument. Respect everyone's feelings the way you would like to be respected.

Anyway enough of my rambling

Cheers lisa (QLD alias Lucylee)

Can I get some advice

I am day 12 post banding, and all my swelling has gone down, I am on vitamised but am not feeling any restriction, to remain safe I am measuring all my food into half a cup. Do you think it would be safe for me to try some soft real food, since the vitamised is going down so easy?

Thanks

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Personally I would wait for soft food until you are allowed by your surgeon. You should have been given some sort of post-op meal plan / diet guidelines, whcih should be followed carefully, so as to give you band time to heal and settle in place. If you didn't get any post-op diet advice, you should talk with your surgeon about that.

Your liquids should go down easily with no effort, that's the whole point, as the diet is designed to let your stomach rest, and to minimise any digestive motions that could disrupt the healing of your band. Your band has been sewn onto your stomach. It needs about 6 weeks minimum to heal and build a scar bed around your band to help hold it securely in place. The liquids and mushy foods stages help with the healing by giving your stomach a rest.

For me I had 3 weeks full liquids, then 3 weeks mushies, with a gradual transition to solids by 6 weeks post op. We were advised that if we were hungry during liquids or mushies to have more, but only the allowed food texture for whatever stage you are at should be consumed. As above, you should talk with your doctor about what they require / recommend, and good luck!

I agree with Anna on this one Lisa. I had the same experience in my transition from thicker liquids to mushies and I spoke to my surgeon about 5 days into my thicker liquids stage and he cleared me to start mushies a little early. If you aren't having any probs with what you are having now, your Doc will might give you the green light to go ahead too, but please check with him first! But just a note, I found I was hungry as heck between weeks 1 and 3 post op. Nothing seemed to satisfy me once all the swelling had gone down. But you have to remember you won't have much restriction to start with. This time is for healing, so look after your self! Well done on the weight loss by the way!

So, I just did my very first RPM/Spin class at the gym! I loved it! I think I will make it part of my regualr routine!

Hi Susannah, Please dont let that little outburst bother you in the slightest. I am replying to your post re get together here cos I hate all the spam appearing on the other thread. Chadstone is great for me, the most important thing I found was to advertise on as many boards as you can and as you know we had a terrific turn out. Just pick a date, post away and hopefully there will be another great turn out. Sounds like you are doing extremely well, congratulations, I finally got under the 80k when i went for my check last friday and am now due to go back for 2 months so that will be a real test for me as previously I had been going 4 - 5 weekly to make sure I stayed on track. Looking forward to getting together, I suggest you avoid sat 19th May as there may be something happening down mornington way but I am not organizing it so you will need to keep your eyes wide open!!!!!!

Lisa - something I forgot to add before. If you are hungry on liquids, try having a Protein based Soup for your main meals (eg. chicken, lamb, seafood). A protein boost by adding a generous dollop of low-fat yoghurt, sour cream into Soups / smoothies also helped me heaps. Protein shakes work well for many bandsters as a means to manage hunger, but I can't stand them.

Just a reminder that ESV Bandworks meeting is on at 7pm at The Valley Private tomorrow night. I am looking forward to seeing many of us there!

Hi Anna, good to hear from you, son said thanks for those clothes, hope the ladies ones found a good home. I wont be there tomorrow night as away on a girls getaway due to wed being a holiday from work.

Hi Everybody, How are you all? I hope you are all well. Lisa I would agree with the other girls regarding staying on schedule with what you are allowed to eat. It is always best to follow it to the letter. You have done well with your weight loss for just 12 days.:clap2::biggrin1:

Hi Anna. How is life down in Aspendale? It must be nice living near the beach.

Tara, has Amy heard anything re the waiting list? Hopefully she won't have a two year wait.

Yesterday I had to go in for an emergency unfill as I have not been able to keep solid food down, and everything had been giving me extreme pain after I ate it. I am back down to 2mls. Apparently there was more in the band than the previous Doc who put it in told me there was. It had been filled to 4.5 mls and not 4mls.

I think my band is very sensitive, so I will only have very small fills from now on. I don't want to go through that again.

Susannah

Oh no Susannah!! Thats a bit of a painful oversight by the Doc to put that extra .5mls in your band! .5 mls can be a lot when you're getting towards the pointy end of reaching perfect restriction! Hope you are feeling better with the unfill.

Tara, hope your girls getaway was a blast!!! Sounds like a lot of fun to me!

Is anyone doing anything exciting for ANZAC day? I'm just planning on lounging around enjoying the day off. I just got up and it actually looks like it might have rained here overnight!! Yay!

Hi All,

Im in the same boat as Lisa - just a little over three weeks banded but find that I am starving.

Unfortunately I wasnt given any post op food rules as such, so ended up ringing the hospital where I had my proceedure done (as I couldnt get hold of my surgeon) and they recommended two weeks liquid, and from their I could progress to mushier type foods.

I have been a bit hesitant in allowing myself to just have mushies, as I am not sure what my surgeon wants me to do (thank goodness my first post op appointment is tomorrow!) so have mainly been sticking to liquids and one meal a day of mushies which I have been watering down with either broth or milk.

However my hunger pangs are really starting to kick in, and its driving me batty!

Hang in there Lisa - we can do it!

Hi Rava

are you also having trouble getting your water intake in? What are you currently eating on a normal day? If you would like ongoing contact since we are only 1 week apart with our lap banding experiencing, feel free to pm

regards

lisa (alias Lucylee)

Hi everyone, just checking in. I sort of feel like I'm going to confession, "forgive me girls, it has been 2 weeks since my last post..." lol.

Susannah - well done with the kgs...it has taken me many years to learn that rule...slow and steady...I used to think that everything had to happen INSTANTLY! and if it didn't then it just wasn't worth the wait.

I think that's why I finally feel ready to be banded. I have finally accepted that some things have to be worked at over a long period. It has been a hard lesson to learn.

Of course I'm still not banded - 30 days to go now.

Lisa - I hope your recovery continues well.

Rava - it's disappointing that you were sent home without any instructions about food/liquids/mushies post-op. Did you see a nutiritionist/dietitian prior to your surgery?

Everyone else...keep up the good work.

(I'm not good at responding to everyone...I rarely have anything much of interest to say!!!)

oops! 29 days.

Hi tarajane - glad the men's clothes were a success. I still have the ladies' bag - hoping to have a clothing exchange at the hospital sometime soon. We missed you last night at the meeting - we met the new nurse, and the speaker was awesome. I can't remember the girl's name, but she was a fairly young girl (mid 20's??) She'd been banded 4yrs, and had a full body lift, additional tummy lift and inner thigh lift. She was going back for arms and boobs soon. Her PS was a fellow down on the Mornington Penn somewhere. She looked amazing. It was great to see everyone - Mark and Rosie both asked after you. Cindy, Nat and Jenny are all looking fantasitc - they have really lost a lot of weight each.

Rava - hope that your doc / hosptial can support you with additional diet info. Maybe you could suggest that they give their patients some written instructions to help them in future.

Susannah - life here in Assy is great, thanks. Sorry you had to join me in the land if the unfilled - I am keen to get some restriciton back. I put on about 1kg in the last 2 weeks, not as bad as I thought as I have been eating badly (stress due to job interview / contract negotiations). I will have to work and watch now to lose it again, and not put any more back on before my refill. I am booked to go back on 11 May for a review. Bring it on!!!!

blythes - you are right, it is hard to accept that this is long term. Wish we could just wake up after the surgery and be slim aready!!! LOL! Wish also that they banded my brain as well as my belly - aaaargh!

And for chicke, fee and anyone else - Please don't think my silence is due to a lack of care or concern for anyone of us. I find it hard to keep up with everyone in such a large group. Sometimes I just don't have anything to add, or am not here long enough to respond to everyone. Feel free to PM me at any time if you need a hand or chat, or pop over to band2gether.net and find me there as I tend to be there most evenings, and here at LBT every couple of days or thereabouts.

Hope that everyone enjoyed their ANZAC Day - we went to the march in Melbourne, to watch DH's grandad march, to remember all of our service men and women and give thanks for the things they have done to bless us with our Aussie way of life. Grampy is a veteran of the 39th Battallion, who were the first boys on the Kokoda Track. They did it really rough, and because of them that the legend of the Kokoda Track was born. We are so proud of him and all his mates for what they did for our country. Grampy went on and had a long army career, eventually becomming the RSM - and is very well known in military circles for his service in WW2 and Vietnam. Apart from that he is a classic old time Aussie - but to us, he's our precious Grampy above all else.

An ANZAC Day reflection, the Ode To Rememberance:

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

Hi Everyone,

Rava and Lisa, The liquid stage can be hard in terms of being hungry. I stuck with pure liquids, but I have heard people say that they liquidized spaghettii bolognaise etc for more substance. I tried to drink Water also and keep myself busy. It will not be long until you can go for a fill. Hang in there.

Blythe, 29 days!:clap2: Yay! You will be joining us all soon in these shananingans.:biggrin1:

Anna, What job are you going for? Don't worry about the weight gain, just get them to give you a small fill and you will be back on track again.

Everybody else I hope you are all well. I am feeling really well and happy these days.:clap2: A friend of mine has been asking me to think about going to Israel for a holiday to see if I would like to live there for a while. I think it could be good, although my Hebrew is very limited, and I would have to learn the language completely.

Another consideration is the fact that my surgeon is here, and my follow up care is here. I am sure they have the medical staff over there to treat me, but I feel very happy with my care here. Maybe I will consider it in a few years time when I have lost all my weight and I only have to have follow ups every six months etc.

Hugs to all

Susannah