hi, looking for anyone that has had or is intending to have lap band surgery @ Maples Surgical Centre. I'm hoping for early 09.

Hey Canadian Girl,

You can totally do this! I'm doing pretty good, although not too happy that I can eat normal food... if that makes any sense. I suppose I can't eat as much of it. I have to stop because if I don't it does get painful. It feels like a lot of pressure where the port is and a tightness in my chest. I'm having a hard time getting my brain to catch up to my stomach. My brain just wants to kick into old habits and keep on eating. I suppose it's all a learning process! Keep us posted on how you are doing!

I agree with moonbeam - you can absolutely do the pre-op - and the rest of it and in a year we'll all be loungin' back wonderin' what all the big fuss was :thumbdown:

For reals - try having some fun with your veggies, there's lots of seasonings and ways to dress them up without adding no-no's to them - hard to eat plain veggies was the downfall of many a diet for me, learning how to trick 'em up is a great thing!

I'm still not moving towards the mushies yet - scared! I'll see how I go in a few days, but as of yet, other then my really horrible go at soup yesterday, I've not been incredibly hungry yet - kinda a good thing at the moment. I have to agree with moonbeam (again!) about the brain playing catch up with the eating - it's hard to not just jump in head first doing exactly what they say not to. I think I've mostly managed to finally clear away any stuck food, hoping I only have to learn that lesson once!

Also - moonbeam - can we talk gas for a minute?!? i had NO idea what people meant by gas pain. Ow... such a small word seems to be not very accurate at describing how some of this gas pain actually feels. Not trying to scare anyone (because even with the gas pain YES YES YES I'd do it again in a heartbeat!) - but did you have it, and if so - how long for? I keep scouring everything I can trying to find the *one* secret to getting rid of it but it always comes back to walking and Water so I guess I'll keep on doing that and hope for it to go away. It sucks - it is by far worse then the surgery itself, hell, I feel like I could do cartwheels up the street if it wasn't for the blasted gas.

Sorry - apparently I felt the need to go on about that one for a bit

Ahh gas pain. Yes I had it. Still do sometimes I think? It's hard to identify the feeling. It's like a stabbing pain in my left shoulder, like a pinched nerve almost. I get it at the weirdest times. I have found walking, water, and gas x works. Also fibre.. I've bought some benifibre and have started to get things moving.. lol Every little bit seems to help. I have to remind myself my insides area different now.

Sk how did you know if something was stuck? I've got no restriction what so ever, but I find if I do eat too much my port area hurts, and I get a bit of a stabbing pain lower down in my gutt. Is that stuck or just full? lol

Stabbing pain in the left shoulder - yes yes yes - it's horrible! Up into my neck sometimes - I'll be happy when that's finally gone!

I guess I don't know 100% that I had an issue with things getting stuck, but I assumed because a. i shoveled 2 big spoon fulls of carrots/chicken/celery into my yap b. i chewed the 'old' way - meaning, very little, and c. about a half second after it went down I thought I was having a heart attack! So I just went ahead and assumed that's what it was, but I suppose it could be lingering gas as well. Either way, it SUCKED!! Now, the feeling is almost gone, but once in awhile, it almost feels like something is bobbing up and down from between me boobs up to the base of me throat, which makes me think something's in there. Again - may be gas - I dunno!

I have to say though, I'm certainly still not comfortable moving on. I've been having soup exclusively the last 2 days, and even then as soon as I have a bit too much I seem to feel it. I don't know for sure that that's from restriction, more likely from swelling/surgery related things, and perhaps gas. (I REALLY HATE THE GAS THING!!)

I've been walking around most of the day, sipping Water, and have done rocking in a rocking chair (I read that helps) and still in a great deal of gas pain, so I hope soon it passes. It's hard to feel up to doing anything when there's a constant pain in my neck (not even my husband for once! LOL) I will think of getting some Gas x - I also read somewhere about it being a bit better once you start having some BM's and I've been in the bathroom all day with those (Sorry TMI - but it's FANTASTIC! LOL) so hopefully I will see some improvement soon!

thanks for the reply!

k.

i figured out the ticker:w00t:

I think Canadiangirl had her surgery yesterday? Would love to hear how you're doing!! The first couple days will pass quickly and you'll be feelin' better soon :crying:

I had my staples out yesterday - RELIEF!! WOW! I also can pretty much eat just about anything now, although I need to work on eating slower, as that's caused a few problems. Feeling 100% again though in terms of being post-op, now I just can't wait to get my fill!

canadiangirl and i got home today from Maples in Wpg. She did great and i got the ok for my surgery. maybe june sometime. doctors are going away i hear for 2 -3 weeks. so just waiting for Jen to call to confirm a date.

Great news on both fronts! Congrats to you and fingers crossed for a speedy recovery for her!!

Yay! great news for you both.

I just squeeked in before they go on holidays for a fill. They are letting me get one at 5 weeks so I don't have to wait 8. Thank Goodness! I can't wait for the band to start "working"

Hi everyone! I made it!! I'm so glad to have the surgery over with. I was so nervous before I went in and the surgery before me was a patient with sleep apnea so they went a little longer than expected and I waited on pins and needles.

When I woke up I had some pain in my left side and had the hugest fat lip. It must've been caught under the tube they put down your throat or something. It still is nasty looking, the skin is peeling now and I have a huge blister.

I always have thrown up after going under and I warned everyone about this. They said they would give me meds to avoid this and they did. However, it just prolonged the agony and when I got back to our hotel room sure enough I threw up. I was worried at first that I might have wrecked my stitches or had my band slip but now after a couple of days I feel ok so I'm hoping no damage was done. Last night I had alot of tightness in my chest and it hurt to breath but I think it was the dreaded gas pain u guys were talking about. I feel better this am and actually felt hungry so I had a Carnation Breakfast shake.

Glad to hear things are going well for you guys. Let us know how your first fill goes Moonbeam. Happy to hear u can eat now SK- Looking forward to that. After hearing about your food getting stuck I'm sure going to be sticking to liquids for quite awhile!

Yup - I'd say that's the horrible gas pain you had last night! Hopefully that will be the extent of it for you, I was very happy to finally have that gone!

I'm glad to hear you are doing well after your surgery and that everything went as planned other then having to wait a bit longer - that would have made me even more nervous!!

Good luck on your fill when the time comes Moonbeam! I suppose I should phone and book my appointment for my first one. I have a house full of in-laws on my actualy 6 week anniversary, so if the doctors aren't there, it would actually be okay for me to have to move the date around a bit. I'm anxious for the first fill, but at the same time, the surgery is done, and that was the important first step!

take care all!

I'm very glad to have found this thread. Let me introduce myself. I'm a 30 year old daddy of a beautiful little 19 month old girl. I was banded at Maples on April 28, 2009. My staples were removed this past week.

I too am looking for a local Winnipeg Lap Band Support group.

I'm having a bit of a rough time post-op with diet. Soft-solids are starting to get stuck (scrambled eggs, white fish, etc.), and its happening almost daily. I get a heart-burn feeling (X 1000) in my chest when this happens. It can last anywhere from 2 minutes to half hour. Is this normal?

Edited May 17, 200917 yr by tammar

Hey Tammar!

We were banded the same day! That's kinda cool :scared2:

I don't know that I can offer any advice other then to make sure everything gets chewed up really well, when I first went to soft solids, I was chewing things obsessively - 60 chews on one small bite at first - a bit much, yes probably, but it worked.

Also - I found that more then proper chewing, I was having a REAL hard time with bite size, which was causing me some problems. So, I switched to using my daughter's (15 month old ) baby spoons to eat. It really helped because I was having much smaller bites which helped make sure I was chewing well and not trying to get too much in at once. So now as long as I'm eating something that can be used with one of her spoons, I"m doing pretty good.

hope that helps and that you continue to get better :wub:

k.

HI Tammar,

Welcome to the Manitoba thread. :scared2:

I didin't have issues with anything getting stuck. Everyone is different though. I DID have major issues with gas pain after I ate. Stabbing pain in my shoulder mostly. Could that be what's happening? I would use the pager numbers they gave you and call the docs'. I did it once, they called me right away and were helpful and polite.

Thanks SK! Thanks Moonbeam!

It sounds like I'm in the same boat as SK. It really does come down to chewing and small bites. You spend your whole life eating a certain way, technically speaking of course, and in the blink of an eye, you need to re-learn how to eat.

Moonbeam, I also experienced the gas issue for the first week post op. I'm sure I would have felt this a lot more if my I wasn't as concerned with the pain i was experiencing in my throat. Every time I swallowed, it felt like i was swallowing razor blades. The breathing tube they used during surgery cause me to have the worst sore throat imaginable.

Moonbeam, you talked about getting Andrews and Brackens pager number? This was never given to me. Perhaps they were scared to, seeing how often I called Jen and Danielle during my pre-op diet. Being male, they had me on opti-fast for 3 full weeks. I mixed mine with coffee and ice (as someone else in this thread suggested). I blended it, which made it taste more like a Tim Hortons Iced Cap. It didn't really, but i kept telling myself that.

Thanks for everyone's responses!