Keeping in mind that I also lost 20 pounds since the accident, I could complain a bit more. lol.

It all happened on Dec. 20 and I finally got out of the rehab hospital this past Tuesday. I still have double vision and some nerve damage in my right shoulder, but having heard what apparently happened, I'm incredibly happy to be where I am right now.

Anyway, my question is that I keep wondering whether I should get an unfill. They say that my diet should be normal right now, but it would be incredibly hard to go back up in caloric intake again. Grrrrrr.

Short story: Yarg. haha.

sounds like you are lucky to be alive!!!

Glad you've been released though.

Can you supplement with Protein shakes to up your calories rather than an unfill? The whole idea of unfilling scares me - like I can really gain all my weight back in a few weeks lol.

hope your recovery continues to go well

wombat

i would go right for an unfill cause if you think about it youve had your band for little while right. well that is your normal way of eating now. i agree with the person above drink more protien drinks to get in your protien if needed that will help with healing just as well as getting an unfill and eating normal. talk to your doctor he would know more about it just a thought!

I've been hitting up the Muscle Milk lately. Yummmy.

Other than that, eating a lot is hard.

What is "normal" eating? Is that a certain amount of calories a day? this makes no sense, to me.

If you were a 180 pound person and at their ideal weight, that was in an accident would they recommend that person eat more and gain weight while healing?

I would think that for good healing, good healthy food consumed within portions that you would eat if you were at your ideal weight, would be right.

If you were in a hospital, isn't that what they serve patients?

Maybe I missed something?

We have all been worried about you! I am so glad to see you here

posting!

I don't have the answer to the question you're asking, but I am so glad you here to ask away.

What does your doc say about getting an unfill?

Do your docs think that you should be eating more in order to facilitate your recovery? If not, then keep your fill where it is.

:welldoneclap:I love muscle milk. I think it's the best of the ready to drink Protein drinks.

I am glad you're getting better. Keep us posted on how you're doing!

I asked my band doctor about getting an unfill and he doesn't much seem to care either way. Hmmmmmm...

I am so glad you are ok. My brother had an accident last year and has had several operations to save his right leg. He now walks with two canes, very slowly. You are very lucky. I would not get an unfill myself, your diet should be normal now. Donna

Thank god you are ok! I was wondering why I haven't seen you around here much......

It sounds to me like if you just focus on the Protein and getting that and fluids in you should be fine. I agree with supplementing with the Protein drinks till you feel you can eat more....my guess is that you aren't able to exercise much right now. With an unfill I would be worried about gaining too much weight back....bad on the psychy. The most important thing right now is to let your body heal.

It is the most important thing and I completely agree. Here's my little thing, though. I'm so damn stubborn about these kind of things. I hate not going to the gym. Like today, for example, I have a gout attack in my left ankle/foot joint. Noooooo walkie. Paaaaain in the arse. No gym today. Crapnessnessness.

Oh well. I'm really trying not to bitch about these certain things, but I really can't help it. I need to re-teach myself how to keep things in. Yarg.

Well keep us involved! We don't mind listening to the $($ing :tt1:

Be careful what you wish for. hahaha.

Neveragain, so glad you are recovering from your scary crash! I was a trauma nurse for 10+ years before quitting recently to start grad school, so I'll try to answer a bit of your question.

With your nutritional requirements, it sort of depends on the kind of injuries you had. USUALLY if you had a lot of severe injuries that require extra or special nutrition, they will tell you that before you are sent home. Trauma patients do have a period of time where their metabolism is higher because the body releases lots of chemicals like epinepherine over a surprisingly long period of time. During this time they need more calories, and they will tend to burn lean muscle and organ mass even if they get extra nutrition. But it depends really on how many injuries you had and what kind they were, how severe etc. Obviously they were severe enough to land you in nursing care for a pretty long time. Were you taken to a trauma hospital when you had your accident? (I think there are at least 5 level I trauma centers in Phoenix, I did work at one of them for a little while.) Because usually there is a trauma surgery team that follows you in that case, and you follow up with them in their clinic later. Usually they even have a nutritionist on their service that you might be able to see. I would ask in clinic if they think you have any special nutritional needs. Your primary doctor and your band doctor won't be of a lot of help with this, although your band doc can advise on whether you need a slight unfill.

I hope you get some good answers about this. Unfortunately most doctors don't get any real nutrition education in their training and are surprisingly unhelpful about nutrition--even some bariatric surgeons! But not all. And your trauma docs should be able to gauge if you need to increase your Protein intake, any Vitamins, or even increase your caloric intake for a while and just try to maintain your weight while your body continues to heal, all based on exactly what your injuries and your hospital course was like. If you only had orthopedic injuries (broken bones) you might have only been followed by ortho docs (it varies from hospital to hospital how they do this) and they might have less to say about your nutritional needs. But do talk to them about your lapband and the restricted amount of food you eat as a result. Don't assume they know what an adjustable gastric band is or how it works, because they stay pretty focussed on their specialty. Good luck, and keep asking until you get a good answer!

You can complain and talk to us anytime. We are all rooting for you.

We're all so happy that you're back online. Do you take medicine for gout? My mom had that, and said it was very painful.