Banded 2 days ago and all this swelling and being bored to death makes me want some Jack Daniels. I live in Doha Qatar and the TV leaves much to be desired. And you cant walk outside the compound or a local will run you over with their landcruiser. Does anyone out there know if it will kill me to have a good tall drink very soon?

I know it probably wont be with a soft drink, looks like water mix from here on out.

I'm sure someone will rip into you for even suggesting such a thing.

If you're going to have to mix with water, get some Scotch

I actually had a few sips of wine, about 5 days after surgery. I have to say, it didn't taste that great to me. I'm 2 weeks, pre-op, and now I don't have the craving anymore. If you must, take a sip. It might just get you over your craving.

I'll probably get ripped for making the suggestion, but I no longer have the need to drink any alcohol, for now.

And no, i did not cheat on anything else. I haven't had food cravings. Maybe since i'm on the liquid diet still, I'm only have liquid cravings.

Obviously, if you can wait, you should. The wine tasted like acid to me. I can't imagine, what it might have done to my healing. Thank goodness, I stopped at a few sips.

Do you have any good books? Any DVD's?

Banded 2 days ago and all this swelling and being bored to death makes me want some Jack Daniels. I live in Doha Qatar and the TV leaves much to be desired. And you cant walk outside the compound or a local will run you over with their landcruiser. Does anyone out there know if it will kill me to have a good tall drink very soon?

I know it probably wont be with a soft drink, looks like water mix from here on out.

I waited 10 days but having a drink most nights now. I can't let all these freshly squeezed grapefruits sit. And the lap band book says a glass of wine nightly is fine.

Ive got DVD's, and almost everything else here. But still bored to death. Most of our outings here are eating out. It is all you have to do in this country. I didnt care if someone ripped me for asking about alcohol. If we were all angels we wouldnt have had to have the lap band. And I sure dont need a sermon at age 53, nor will I listen to one. So I appreciate the advice I recieved.

Thanks

I drink wine quite a bit. But I still drink rum & diet coke when I go out. The rum kills a lot of the bubbles. I myself didn't drunk tim I was over a month post op. But being where you are I probably would have done it sooner too.

Internet streaming video was a lifesaver for me during my post-op recovery. I watched 2 seasons of "Burn Notice" on iTunes, about 8 movies on Netflix Watch Instantly, and a whole lot of Hulu.

That, and watched out for the cat, who wanted to stand on my port. Ow.

But yeah, a little wine, or vodka & cranberry, maybe a whiskey sour or a margarita -- something with no carbonation -- isn't going to kill you. Better that than full-on cabin fever.

Good luck!

Well, I am still alive. I weighed the options of possible death or having a drink to calm my nerves. I can now say my nerves are calm. I made a couple of whiskey and waters and watched the Alamo. Being from Texas all this made me want to do is fight Mexicans again, LOL.

I feel fine this morning, still swollen but the pain in gone and I am having no problem eating or drinking. I think I am going to have a veggie omelet this morning and make some Cajun Shrimp Soup tonight. I am walking about a mile now, problem is that it is 115 during the day and about 95 at night. So exercise outside is tough.

I am as clueless as I can be right now--whats it look like outside your window? I've no idea what Doha is like.

The only thing I can think of is, there are some amazingly cool looking buildings in the downtown area

am I right?

I took this job to build a plastics plant in Qatar. I was amazed very fast how things differ in a Muslim country than in the US. Qatar is trying very hard to get into the 21st century. But change is slow. We have lots of modern conveniences here. Malls, good grocery stores with american items and lots of other stuff. Problem is that the traffic has multiplied by 10 in the last 7 years and the roads stay congested. You spoke of what it looks like outside my window. Here you live in compounds with armed guards at the gates. We dont have the problems that Saudi has. We can go anywhere we want, I have never felt threatened. The country only has about 15 percent locals, the rest are Indian, Phillipeno, and Indonesian, with a few westeners thrown in. Across the street is a Mall, another place like an Indian Wal-Mart, called the LuLu Hypermart and lots of Indian eating places. The airport is about 1 mile away. Not a bad setup, but nothing is easy to accomplish here. Only one doctor does the lap band surgery here. I will send you an invite to see some pictures I have uploaded on Picassa if you would like. They are of the locals, and the area. Kills time when your hungry.

I was banded 2 months ago and I have had several drinks since then, Iam not going to roll over and die just because I have the band. I think everything in moderation is fine, although I don't drink pop. I think you were smart to drink it with water.

Good luck on your new journey!!

Bernadette

I agree with the All in Moderation way of life. My eating got out of hand as I got to where I was miserable all the time cause I was full. I am going out to get some shrimp to make some soup tonight. I dont mind eating light, as long as it tastes ok. We bring our spices from Texas when we come back so we have to doctor up the local foods. The chickens here are about 1/2 the size of an American chicken. One good thing is they have "Honk Chicken" places all over. These places are where they have open ovens with the chickens roasting in the morning. In the afternoon you pull up and honk your horn for the amount of chickens you want to purchase. A guy wraps the chicken, arab bread, and some sauces and brings it to you. Cost about $4 per chicken. They are low fat and pretty good. We use them to make lots of tortilla soups.

How are yall getting those fat tickers on your page?

If someone else doesn't help you with the ticker question, I'll pm you when I get home in about 8 hours

honk chicken will make me laugh the rest of the day!

Here's the ticker site:

www.tickerfactory.com

when you input you're information it will give you a URL code to copy and paste. You can paste it into your signature when you edit your profile.

Now...if only you were in Dubai...you wouldn't be so bored! It's beautiful over there...goodluck with everything!

where in the heck is my profile to edit? GRRRRREEEER!