I thought I would start a "Random Questions" thread bc I have random questions that really don't fit with any of the other threads going.

So the question of the day for me is....

Tommorow I start Full fluids...I would like to start drinking tea with milk...is it ok to have sweetner at this stage? The milk would be 1%.

17 lbs is a nice little chunk . Almost a 20 lbs bag a dog food. Think about carrying around that all day long!

If I am getting this question right, I think you are worried about the calorie content.

When my scales started slowing down, I (dang it) started counting calories. I kept it to about 1100 a day. I also drank 4 20 ounces bottles

of sf drinks a day too. And of course at least 30 minutes of walking each day too.

If your question means how will my little band react to sweetner. I had to problem with sweetners before or after.

Good luck,

edie

Yeah go for it. Enjoy your tea

Ok next question of the day....

Did anyone steri-strips fall off wayyy beofre they should. The one covering my port is giving me a hard time. Its like sticking all over. It also quite a bit of dried blood. I put regular bandaids on it but they are falling off. No major issues? Not more prone to infection?

A couple of mine fell off 2 days later. I had them replaced when I went back to the clinic for the 'ok to fly home' check... then more fell off the next day. I wasn't too worried about the smaller incisions, but I was a little uncomfortable having my port incision so exposed (lets say there were 8 steristrips on my port incision, and I lost 3 of them) so I got some paper tape and taped some gauze over it, and replaced it every day for a few days. (bandaids irritate my belly SO bad) I just didn't like that little stitch that was hanging out, and wanted it covered up!

Have you had a shower yet? That could wash away all that dried blood. (I believe they say not to let the Water hit the wounds, just run down over them).

Argon..you have lost 114.6lbs!!!!!!!! Thats awesome!!! Just over a year right?

Ohhh I soooo showered the 3rd day as thats what I was told. Right now I think 2 strips have fallen off. So I have soo many bandaids on it right now but they are coming off too. I think I will do the gauze thing too.

The strips can all come off Friday. Did you have any problems when you actually took them off. Im scared I might pull something.

Thanks!

Yeah, it's been a year and a couple months so far. I don't even think all of my strips stayed on til the end of the week. If any were left, they fell off in the shower. If yours last that long, get them nice and wet in the shower, and I'm sure they'll come off easily! If it seems to not be coming off easily, I'd leave them til they do fall off! (which i'm sure won't happen, but thats what I'd personally have done!)

Some of mine have fallen off but the ones on the large incision are all there but one. I am just letting them do there thing. I tend to keloid scar so I am hoping that by leaving I might miss out on that kind of scar. So far the small ones that have come off are great! Just a tiny nick.

I never had any steri strips. I had some kind of super glue. When it started coming off, I used Nuskin or liquid bandage on mine. It worked great.

<p>To tell you the truth, I didn't even worry about the strips falling off. They just did within a couple of days. I never put anything else on them and I healed up quite quickly.</p>

That is with the exception of the big bandage on the port site. It was on quite a bit longer.

I wouldn't worry about trying to keep the strips on. Let them fall off naturally.

Does anyone know why my weight ticker doesn't show up any more?

Hi Donna: Redo your ticker. This happened to me and the easiest solution is to delete your ticker and redo.

My Q: How many are drinking diet pop? I have the Fr. Midband and what I do is pour a glass and let it sit until the fiz has disappeared. I sip it slowly. By letting it sit, even though the fiz is gone, I get the psychological lift of having "my diet pop". With me, if I am forbidden to have anything, I immeditely want it so I have to play games with my brain. Doddie

Hi Doddie,

I read something interesting about diet pop this morning. Did you know that if the diet drink has aspartame, aspartame is a appetite stimulant. Therefore although there are few if any calories in a diet pop, it does encourage you to eat.

So along with the sometimes issues of getting gas you have to also think about it making you hungry.

I got this info from a post to the form form the clinic where I had my band done. Hope that it helps you with your thoughts on drinking pop.

Hi Leslie Lee Yes your comments do give me pause for thought. Just being told that there may or may not be a pouch stetching issue without any scientific proof (particularly when doctors can't agree) does not lead me to blindly stop what I feel is not hurting me. I don't for one minute think the gas stays in the pouch indefinately, nor if the drink is sipped slowly does it stretch the pouch as all liquid goes down into the regular stomach. Gas from other things such as certain vegetables finds its way out of the body so in my mind it is too simplistic to say the pouch will stretch or explode. Just my thoughts. Doddie

Just to comment on a couple of the issues. My ster-strips fell off after I showered as well. The incision by the port was much longer, so I added some gauze and some tape to it. I did have to replace that after every shower though.

As for the pop... I used to drink a lot of diet coke, but have not since surgery. I have had a few mouth fulls, and it just doesn't taste that great to me. I think having the occasional pop would be fine.

BUT, the manufacturers do not recommend drinking carbonated drinks... they are the onces that made the band, so they should know the good and bad things about it.