yEA i HAVE IT ALL SET UP to be banded in MX on MAY 11th by Dr Lopez do now i have just a few questions if anyone can help me

I see ppl tal;king about the cc that there band holds what is the deciding factory on that size?

Where can I go look at a guide for pre and post op diets?

I feel like there is so much more i need to know about here.

When you have to take pills do you crush them? any web site that tells about the best Vitamins for us to take? hmm I guess that is all for now lmao . sorry i am a bit excited tonight thanks for all the info that you ahve already given me and im sure will have more answers and more questions if you all get tired of me just tell me to hush for a bit lmoa

thanks Ramona

Congrats Ramona!! Put your name on the May Bnadsters list!

The doc decides which size band to put in when he gets in there. There are 4 sizes...I don't have the llist handy but it's posted in here somewhere, maybe do a search on Band Sizes?

Your doc will have your pre-(if required) and post-op diets, perhaps he has them on his website? Or call and request it. I got mine as a part of my info when I scheduled my surgery.

I crush mine but I'm only 2 weeks post-op. Down the road most folks can take the smaller pills no prob, just wash them through the pouch to the lower stomach so you won't irritate the stoma with meds sitting there.

I'm taking liquid Centrum, but I have read other recommendations for liquid Vitamins...someone may post here, too.

Good Luck and congratulations!!!

I found viactive chew are great and they make them in multi vitamen now, SOme of my daily pills are small, so I just take them, ibubrophen i break in half and take. When I am prescribed something I tell the doc it needs to be smaller then an eraser top (according to my surgeon) liquid, or chewable. Best wishes on you band!

I take my pills one at a time. Be careful because pills that have the XL followed behind their name should be crushed at all. Those are the extended release ones. I was so worried that one was gonna get stuck but so far I have been lucky and I have been doing this since I came home from the surgery. I figured no need to get messed up if the pills were working for me before, now I just want to lose weight to try to get rid of some of them.

Hi Ramona -

I got your PM, and thought I'd answer your questions here for the benefit of others with similar questions.

I don't remember exactly the regime Dr. Lopez had me on, but I'm pretty sure it was four weeks of liquids. I think he said the first week or two was supposed to be Clear Liquids, but because they never gave me my intro basket of approved liquids I just stuck to Water, broth, hot Jello, hot tea, EAS Advantage chocolate (Protein drink - pre-packaged. Pricey, but I thought they were tasty). Also Gatorade was on his list, so Mom had gotten me one bottle of that - YUCK! I did finish that off, but didn't replenish. After my four weeks of liquids I had two weeks of mushies, and then moved to solids.

I was pretty tight my first four weeks, so did not suffer one little bit on 4 weeks of liquids, but that is often not the case with others. My last two weeks of full liquids I did blend chili and thin with tomato juice - yum.

I didn't get my first fill right away because I was doing fine with initial band restriction. I think I was 8-10 weeks out before my first fill. It all seems so long ago now...

Dr. Lopez's number one rule is NO VOMITING (he means PBs as well as "real" vomiting). I really took that to heart, and tried to be very very careful. I got and filled a prescription for phenergren from my Kaiser doc just incase of flu/food poisoning, and I was mostly very careful to not PB. In the 17 months I was banded I PB'd less than 10 times, and those few times were pretty much grouped together.

Good luck!