Hello Everyone, I got banded yesterday! Woo hoo. Everything went pretty well. Dr. Ren was amazing and so nice. The only thing so far has been that my back hurts like crazy. I wasn't able to sleep at all last night. Those hospital beds are horrible. I'm home now and I have been walking around and drinking water just fine. Propel has been really great. Oh, and the other weird thing is that I had cotton mouth all day yesterday, but I'm back to good now. Good luck to everyone!

Debbi, I don't know how to use this web site very well can you leave me a private message? After we figure out how to do that I will give you my phone number, we will figure out a good time and I will tap you. You will not believe how well it works!

Cleone

Cleone,

I clicked on your name from your last post, that is suppose to be where you can do a pm(private message) but you don't have any contact information on your profile so I can't send you one. I don't mind giving you my work email addy here so you can contact me that way and we can exchange phone numbers and infor that way if you wish. Contact me anytime at mgrdeb@volfirst.net. I warn you ahead of time, I'm so afraid of getting on those planes and flying and missing our connecting flight that instead of tapping you may need to use a sledge hammer and do some banging!!!Lol

Debbi

Wow Ghostbuster, I didn't find this thread until just now! I hope that you are feeling better. Sorry to hear that you were so sick in the begining! How are you feeling now? Is it any better?

and it went OK, I left a little early because I was so exhauseted. Everything I do totally wears me out. I'm still having a hard time with nausea from time to time, but it is getting better, and breathing is getting easier. I still feel a lot of pressure in my back, like I'm laying on a golfball even when I'm standing up. On Tuesday I went for my esophogram and post-op check up. I ended up waiting in the waiting room for over an hour and by the time I saw the nurse and he asked me how I felt, I started to cry, it was ridiculous. I told him felt horrible and I was waiting for over an hour and the front desk girls were kind of rude. I mean, seriously, I'm only 4 days post-op, I think I deserve to be treated with a little more compasion. He was very nice about it but still he seemed a bit distracted and left the room 4 times before the check-up was over. He ended up taking out 2cc's from my band, I didn't even realize there was anything in it! I thought they put it in unfilled. I must say though, it has helped with the nausea and I'm still loosing weight everyday. I keep trying to not weigh in every day, but I can't help it. So, for now I'm doing better, but I am starting to miss food a little. Like, I'm not very hungry, but this morning I really wanted a big bagel with cream cheese, and I can't really ever have that again, and that's kind of sad. But not as sad as my size 22 jeans, so, I'll get over it. I'm still on the post-op liquid diet so right now it's been almost a month since I've even eaten anything other than a protein shake or chickenbroth. I can't wait to eat real food again.

I keep trying not to weigh in every day, but I can't help it. So, for now I'm doing better, but I am starting to miss food a little. Like, I'm not very hungry, but this morning I really wanted a big bagel with cream cheese, and I can't really ever have that again, and that's kind of sad.

I'm right there with you ghostbuster. I find myself weighing everymorning. So far the scale has been in a downward trend, but I worry the morning it isn't, all those feelings of failure are going to come rushing back. Which is really stupid considering right now my diet consist of liquid with Protein powder which has put me in ketosis and when I start back on real food I am bound to gain some back. I guess part of it is just for me seeing a number on the scale that I havent seen in a long time and reaffirming it is real.

Last night was the first night I didn't dream of eating food. I think it was a real breakthrough for me. Like you said, I'm not all that hungry, but years of eating for comfort is hard for the mind to adjust to. Yesterday I wanted a bean burrito from taco bell so badly, again not because I was hungry, but it was what I loved to do on a rainy day. Eat taco bell on my couch and watch tv. I can't do it anymore. I sat there and cried. It was weird, like I was grieving for a friend that died. Kind of glad my taco bell friend died because this morning I feel better than I would have if I would have eaten it. Anyway, i have been rambling but hope everyone is doing well.

Elizabeth

EL1 - Could you order the side of pintos and cheese. That is all the inside of the bean burrito without the tortilla. Would that help ya?

Elizabeth, you are grieving. And I think you had a big break through! You go girl,

Cleone

Well I'm greiving right along with you guys and I haven't even been banded yet. They say you are what you eat, well then I'm a pound of "real" butter and a loaf of bread, ANY bread. I have read on hear that you just don't do well when you eat bread so I will give it up, but I will grieve for it I promise you!

I won't even start the pre op diet of liquids until this Friday the 21st so I have yet to let go of any of my favorite foods. I weighed myself on the heaviest old doctor's scales I could find, you know the kind, the one that stands upright with the weights you have to move back and forth. UGH! It just so happens I work for an orthopaedic doctor and he has the biggest, badest, ugliest old scales you have ever seen, won't give a pound up for nobody. So it was with trepidation and fear I approached them on 9-5-07 and they hit me hard right in my gut with a whopping 239 pounds. I was 'weighed' down by scale-a-tor.

Well it just so happens I started walking up 4 flights of stairs back in the middle of July, not to lose weight mind you cause that never happens, but just to make myself breath deeply. I never did anything that made me acutally take a deep breath and this bothered me, hence the stairs. There are 84 steps round trip to my office on the 3rd floor. I started out slowly as I almost had a heart attack the first couple of times I did it, but I was determined. Everyday first thing I climbed those stairs to my office, everyday after lunch I made myself go up and down them 3 times. I have done this 5 x a week since mid July still eating as I normally would.

Yesterday I heard scale-a-tor call my name, it was a scary sound, but I approached him anyway. I was feeling brave so them I stepped, and I was triumphant to see he had to give up 3 pounds to the dark world :whoo:

I was shocked! I could only attribute it to the stairs. I said all that to say this, that was just a little exercise, something I could fit in during my work day. Just imagine what I can accomplish after the band and adding a little more exercise!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't a train after all!!! We CAN do this, by setting up small goals and after reaching them set new ones.

I know it is easy for me to sit hear and say all this, after all I'm not banded yet, I haven't gone through all that goes with it yet, and I may be the biggest whiner afterwards you guys have seen yet. I hope to be tougher than that. I made the mistake of reading the thread, "I want my band out", and the reasons they gave. I wonder too, will I always 'feel' like there is 'somethng' in there??? Will it feel like a golf ball in my back all the time? Will I choke on every morsel I put in my mouth, will I be scared to eat solid food again?? I don't know, what I do know is, I am sick and tired of looking at ALL the clothes that hang in my closet that I pull out one by one and say, "nope, can't wear that anymore, nope, those have gotten too tight, nope, I think those must have shrunk or something". I want more than anything to reach into that closet and pull out ANYTHING and slide it on and say" OMG, look how loose this is!!! I must be in someone else's closet, these can't possibly be mine"!!! I want just as much to go to my doctor and hear " My goodnes,your blood pressure is so good, you no longer need your medication, and you are no longer pre-diabetic, and oh my just look at those ankles, I can acutally see them!!!" To me that is what this is all about. I want my mojo back, I want to feel and look good and be healthy again, I don't care that I am 51 years old. In my mind I am only 30 and besides all that I am so worth saving!!!

Blessings and good health to all of you! You are all worth saving, you are all worth it. Do not give up the good fight. We can all be here for each other and we'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you, we'll stand by you!!!!

Docsdeb - you have brought tears to my eyes! That was wonderful! You go girl, those three lbs were what you needed! You CAN do this! You WILL do this. Think positive and you will lose all that weight you don't want the scale-a-tor to tell you that you have. You can beat that scale and love every time you step on it! I plan to love my scale! Hard to think about it now, but in the long run, we might become friends! LOL Good luck on your journey!!!

Ok everybody, to the tune of "Row, Row Row your boat"

Chew, Chew, Chew,your food 'till it's liquified

Merrily ,Merrily, Merrily, Merrily downward it will slide!

Now that will get stuck in my head. Every bite of solid food I eat I will be chanting that over and over, LOL (when and IF I get to that point)

I'm a little freaked out after surfing the board last night and came across a post entitled, What life REALLY is after the band or something like that, do not read it! It will scare the bejesus out of you. It did me and has me seriously doubting I can go through with banding? I panic so easily and most of the time am by myself and a lot of the time I feel like my throat is closing in on me and food gets stuck anyway, I feel it will just make my situation worse. I'm still 'weighing' my decision. Kinda a little late since I have already paid my deposit and made our plane reservatios, but I have to be sure if I can make it after the band and not panic myself to death. I'm just not as sure as I was before I read that post. Sorry, didn't mean to be such a whiner or a downer, but even right now thinking about it makes me feel like my throat is too tight and I KNOW it's just anxiety I have fought it since I was 21 and had my first panic attack. Sometimes it's hard, but most days and nights(the worse time) I'm good now. So I'm wondering if anybody else that has panic attacks has been banded and how they have managed??? I would love to know that?

Blessings to you all!

Debbi

Does anyone have any tips for pain. I have been banded since 9-11 and when I walk for a period of time the pain becomes almost unbearable. I know it hasn't been that long, but I am wondering if the pain is normal, and if there is anything that works maybe heating pads; cold packs?

Docsdeb, I try not to read the boards when I am having doubting moments. You have to do what is best for you, maybe you should prolong your band and talk it over more with your doctor. Just remember that EVERYONE will have a different kind of experience and you will too. You might just love your band!

Theninside - I have not been banded yet, but my doctor suggested to put an ice pack on the port incision for as long as I feel pain and discomfort there. Hopefully that will help!

docsdeb- I don't know what thread you read, but keep in mind, that thread is what life is really like for that person, not for everyone. The majority of what you read is positive and for all you know that person could have just been having a bad day when they wrote the post. So far (although I have only been banded a week :confused: my experience has been very positive. I haven't had a panic attack in a long time and the band hasn't changed that. I guess you have to weigh the risks of what the changes in your life are if you do get the band vs the complications that come with obesity. For me the complications that I read associated with the band were minor compared to the complications associated with hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes. I agree with poolvr, don't rush into anything, but also don't let anxiety prevent you from getting a tool that will help you overcome obesity.

Best wishes,

Elizabeth

thininside,

where is your pain when you walk. I was told by my surgeon that ibuprofen is good for inscional pain, but I have read on the boards that some surgeons have told their patients not to take it. It works for me. I have noticed that I get pain in my left shoulder when I walk. From what I read this is from "gas". I have tried gas-x and mylanta for it and nothing seems to work. Its not terrible, more annoying. Hopefully it will go away soon.

EL1 - I have also heard that the milicon drops for babies is good for adults too! My cousin used that instead of the gas x or the mylanta. Hopefully that will give you some relief!