Anyone from Jacksonville, Florida??? I have not seen anyone yet. Anyone want to share there progress together? :clap2::biggrin1::whoo::):ranger: We all need friends with this in common...

Hi everyone! Sorry, I have not been on here lately. I had surgery 4/24/08, and the week before & after surgery I lost 18 pounds and according to my scale I have gained 4 pounds back! ughhhhhhhh

What is a normal day of food for everyone?

It's just my daughter & I (she is 18 & not usually home for dinner) so I make meals just for me.

And I must be missing something. I have alot of stuff that is frozen stuff that is quick & easy to make & I only buy stuff that is 0 carb when it comes to meats . I can't eat potatoes or bread ( I tried two french fries & it got stuck, I tried a bite of some really moist cornbread & same thing....so, I havent tried them again & probably never will....which is not a bad thing in my case.... because if I found I could eat breads, potatoes etc...it would not be a good thing..LOL

And is everyone doing activity everyday?

sighhhhh ....

Hi,

Well, I'm less than 12 hrs post op, and I'm home, and feeling ok, a little soreness, unfortunately, had a hernia that Dr B had to fix, so a little more pain in the left upper chest, but as far as the incisions, not bad. Taking Lortab elixir every 4-6 hrs. I have been so emotional today, after the surgery, to know that 25 yrs of misery and hating myself is on it's way to being over, I lost 14 lbs pre op, I have to say too, that the 2 day clear liq diet was murder, I started it Sunday, and was dumb enough to work all day Mon, driving all over 5 counties, seeing patients, but now I'm off until the 27th. I can't tell everyone how very excited I am!

can someone tell me how to put the ticker on my posts?

well, I tried several different ways, and can get it to show up in the box I'm in now, but when I post, it only comes up to the link addy again.

anyway, I'm less than 24 hrs post op, and in a little more pain this morning, it's more like a burning pain in the middle, and then there's the left shoulder pain from the hernia repair. I have to wear these darn TED hose until tonight, and they are too long and I am paranoid when they wrinkle behind my knees, I think I'd have a better chance at not getting a blood clot if I took them off, but I won't. Dr B was surprised that I knew about the realize band, and it was this site that I learned about it, so thanks to everyone, after researching their website and watching the videos, I was able to make an informed decision.

Hi Karen,

Actually, Dr. C said he preferred to see my son separately and felt that it is important that he be responsible and accountable for his own weight issues. He said it's okay that my husband and I are competitive (my husband was banded 4 days after me) but that my son needs to be on his own and I understand and agree completely.

I told Jody I was worried that my son may not realize the band is not a "quick fix" to his weight and she said many of her adolescent/young adult patients seem that way when they first start out but that after a short while they get it.

Anyway, Dana called us Thursday and said everything's good with insurance so he just needs to get the ball started with his first appointment with the office to get his medical history. ...and away we go!!!

From a personal standpoint, I'm down a total of 78 lbs at my 7 month mark and am finally < 30 BMI...I'M NO LONGER OBESE!!! :smile:. I lost 8.5 lbs this month and getting ready to go do some consignment shopping this morning to celebrate. I told Dr. C that I actually have had people describe me as "small" and cannot even remember the last time I heard that adjective used in a sentence with me! He laughed that when he first started to see me I could barely cross my legs and now when I cross them the top one almost wraps around the other one :out:

I don't remember if I mentioned this in one of my earlier posts but since my last fill I was gurgling a lot...and LOUD! It's pretty embarrassing and my husband made me ask Dr. C about it. Well, Dr. C said that's really important because it means I was too tight and made me get a 1/2 cc unfill. He said if I didn't I would run the risk of the band slipping and having to remove the band :wink2:. Since then, I notice the gurgling has stopped so I guess I really needed it...just hope I still keep my eating in check.

FYI, I noticed that the July 10 group meeting at the office is doing a clothing exchange for anyone interested. The meeting is at 6 p.m.

Stay well, everyone! Sue

Hi Sue!

That's great news about your son!!!! How does he feel about it? Man I wish we had insurance, that would make things a lot easier. I was self pay and unless I get back to work with a company that has insurance that covers WLS my son would have to be self-pay as well. It would be worth it but I just wish I knew if he had what it takes to be successful. He's the type that makes excuses for everything and I could see him doing that when it comes to eating. Please keep me posted on your son's progress!

That is also wonderful news about your BMI!!!! I just calculated mine and I have a couple of more points to get out of the obese category! I'll just be "overweight"! How cool is that?

I also understand about the crossing of the legs. I find myself sitting with my legs crossed all the time now as it was uncomfortable for me to do so before. I love these littlle NSV's!

Thanks for the notice about the clothing exchange! I have so many clothes I need to get rid of. I will be sure to bring a car load! LOL

Anavrin

Congrats on your banding!!!!!! Just take it easy. You are going to be uncomfortable for a few days. I didn't really start feeling like my old self until about ten days out. While this is a relatively easy surgery, it's still surgery and your body needs time to heal. Keep taking the pain meds, rest, sip fluids, and make sure to walk around as much as you can. You will do great! This time next week you will feel much improved. I had the hernia repair as well and that does seem to add a little to the recovery time and added discomfort.

Keep up the good work!

HI Karen, yep, the left shoulder pain is the worst of all of it, and I have a pulling burning pain in my abdomen when I get up or cough. The TED hose, I can't wait to get these things off tonight. As far as hungry, not an issue, I'm even full of drinking, I will be seeing the ARNP next week, I hope she says I'm doing good.

why can't I get the ticker in my blogs???

which sig place do i put it in?

hooorayyy!!!!! guess i figured it out!

anyways, i'm hoping the addtional surgery of the hernia doesn't slow my healing as i have to go back to work next tues, but oh yes, the pain in my shoulder is definately the most painful, i've taken gas x strips but it doesn't help, and the lortab doesn't really help either, i haven't napped today, but maybe i'll sleep good tonite, as my husband left this am for a fishing trip until saturday, and i'm glad, because he would only get on my nerves.

Ok so I have been reading this blog for some time now and feel its time to dive in. I am seeing Dr. Baptista, I will have my surgery 5/27 (My new birthday). I can't believe it is comming so soon. I am nervous and excited. I got all my liquids today for the preop, which will be during the Memorial Day weekend and I have to work. If anything worked for you to get through this period please let me know. Oh God I feel like I'm getting married again!!!

LorraineS

hi,

i went to the store and bought fruit 2 o, sf jello and popcicles, i make tea with splenda, and rachel ray chicken broth. the first day of the clear liqs, i had a horrible headache, but that went away, i wasn't really hungry, but have to say they did seem like longgg days. the day of the surgery, and today is day 2 of clear liqs. i had to wear ted hose from before surg, they put them on you in the hosp, until tonight, also you will get a shot of heparin in the abd. i have real bad veins, and they use an 18 gauge IV needle, I'm a nurse and that's a pretty good sized bore, a 23 gauge is small, but luckily, they gave me a sm shot of lidocaine in the area, and I never felt it go in, they also put intermittent compression devices on your legs before going into surgery. Dr Baptista is very kind. he said i was the most informed pt he'd ever had. I asked specifically for the realize band, it has a smaller buckle, you exp less vomiting, and the port is attached in such a way to reduce it flipping over, also, it has had less erosion, go to realizeband.com and see what you think. i lost 14 lbs pre op. they gave me lortab elixir, and phenergan for nausea, but i haven't had any problems with that. also, I had a hernia, that he had to repair, he brought pix to show my husband, also pix of my liver, nice, flat purplish shiny, he gave me the pix of the hernia before and after repair, and the lapband stitched into place. I had my surg at 9 30, don't remember when I was in recovery, but i went home at 4pm, another thing, my throat was quite sore when i woke up, but they gave me cold water, and then hot tea sweetened with splenda. i wasn't in much pain when i came home, and found a pillow under my left side where the port is, was helpful. i did however exp more pain this am, as all of the anesthesia had worn off, i had/have a pulling burning sensation in the middle of my abdomen when i cough, or try to get up or down. also, with the hernia repair, i am exp gas pain in my left upper chest below my collar bone, and in the back by my shoulder blade, i bought gas x strips, but they really don't help, as for regular gas pain, i have had none, but i've been walking quite abit. I hope all goes well for you. when i woke up, if you'd have asked me then was it worth it, i'd have said no, but today, i say i'd do it again. i weighed 186.5 before surgery yesterday. I am 4'10 1/2" tall, so i have about 71 lbs to lose to get to where i want to be.

GOOD LUCK! and congrats, you won't regret it!

Hey there fellow Jax Bandsters...sorry I've been MIA for a while...been having to deal with some sicknesses in the family and haven't had alot of computer time. But I just came out to see how everyone is doing and say hi! I had to have an UNfill today. I had my 4th fill last Tues. w/Dr.C and it didn't go well...he was in a huge hurry and didn't really give me time to keep sipping to make sure all the water was going down and so he left the room after saying all done...so I took another sip of water picked up my things and walked to the desk to make next appt. well by that point my mouth had filled with major slime that I couldn't barely talk to tell the RN that I think I was too full...so she took me in the room and started to prep the stuff but I couldn't lay down cos' the water was running back up into my mouth so I had to sit up and spit it out in the sink and she ran to get the Dr. he came in and found the port (I have a hard one to find apparently cos' everytime I have to remind him where it is) and said "oh sorry I thought you were an old pro at this...didn't realize you were still a rookie" so I said, well it is only my 4th fill! Then he told the RN to take some out and only do a .05 cc fill...so she did and we tested it and it seemed to be okay...she was surprised that such a small difference was making the water stay. Anyway, we also discovered when she took me in the room to reinstall the needle that I was soaked in blood from Dr. C's injection...which I guess is common but it sure freaked me out to see all that blood. She was very glad that I hadn't left like that. Anyway, after doing the usual 2 days of liquids I tried to eat something for lunch on Thurs. and it got stuck really bad...for like 40 minutes I was sliming, then all of the sudden I gagged like I was gonna vomit but instead of vomit up came FOAM! A ton of it...it was so weird...I had to catch it in my hands (cupped together) while I ran for the closest sink...and it just kept coming. I don't know if this has happened to any of you but it was really freaky and a little scary. But then I just thought it might have been cos' I drank diet soda 15 minutes b/4 eating. So I didn't drink anymore soda that day and just had a shake for dinner that night. The next few days I noticed that I was only able to eat a very very very small amount of food and was starting to feel a bit strange...almost like I had an eating disorder...so today I called to talk to the rn and she said come on it and we will unfill you a bit cos' you are obviously too tight. I didn't call them sooner cos' I just figured it was due to the swelling from the unusual trauma that I experienced the day of the fill and thought it I just wanted a few days it would all be good...but a week later it was still just not right. BUT NOW...I feel like I'm too wide open! I'm hungry hungry hungry and don't know if it's in my head or for real!!! Well I'm just gonna try and hang in there and see how the next week and 1/2 goes cos' I have my next appt. June 3rd and may be able to get a little more fill (she ended up taking about 1 cc out today). So that's my story right now! But the good news is I'm down a total of 83 lbs...and was able to lose 7 lbs. since last Tuesday's appt. (not in a good way...but I'll take it when I can get it). Hope you all are doing well on your journeys' and I hope to get to meet some of you soon. Much love, KKG