December Bandsters 2009

[TracyW2 137]

I am so excited to say that I finally have a date set!! This has been a tough road, but I am finally here!!

My surgery date is Dec 17...exactly 2 months before I turn 30. I hate that I am going to miss out on all the Christmas goodies, but it will be worth it. My drs office is 3 hours away and the place I will be having surgery is 4 hours away. So not looking forward to the drive. I go in Dec 2nd for my pre op appt and to start my 2 week diet.

I am looking forward to a new me in the next year!

[Pam92 0]

I have my surgery date for 12/9. I am excited and a bit nervous. I was thinking this wasn't going to hurt alot, but from what I have read I think I need to think that over!

I went today and got a couple of little plates for my food, some small spoons to be sure I am not taking to big of bites.

I also bought some chicken broth. Not sure what else to get. I have my appt with the bariatric coordinator tomorrow and I am hoping she can answer some questions. :thumbup:

Hope all goes well, I will be looking for you on the blog site.

God bless ya !!

[tbird1211 0]

hey girl, where you having surgery done. i/m having mine u mass on dec 7, good luck larry

Good luck with surgery Larry! I live right near worcester, but an actually having the surgery in Norwood as it closer to my work for fills, etc.

[tbird1211 0]

For all of us December 3rd Bandsters - TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!! YAY!!! :confused:

[homewith2 0]

After reading much of this thread, I'm a little lost. I have only had 1 appt. with the Dr.'s office and I know nothing about gas strips, sippy cups, toddler plates, or anything! Please help! I have a pre-op appt on Monday so I hope they go over some of this stuff with me?

I started my pre-op diet today. I'm just following the adkins diet. No protien shakes for me yet! I want to wait as long as possible for that gross stuff!

[1SkinnyChick 0]

After reading much of this thread, I'm a little lost. I have only had 1 appt. with the Dr.'s office and I know nothing about gas strips, sippy cups, toddler plates, or anything! Please help! I have a pre-op appt on Monday so I hope they go over some of this stuff with me?

I started my pre-op diet today. I'm just following the adkins diet. No protien shakes for me yet! I want to wait as long as possible for that gross stuff!

I was pretty lost, as well. I did a search on "lists" in the forum and foind a lot of info about the things you mentioned above. I was not told of many of these things, either, and my only appointment left before surgery is for a chest x-ray. I am now searching the boards every day for anything else anyone suggests.

So far, I have:

sippy cups - to prevent gulping Water

toddler silverware - Portion Control

toddler dishes - helpful with travelling with mushy foods.

gas-x strips - apparently during surgery we're pumped with air and the gas can be painful.

chewable vitamins - swallowing pills is discouraged

liquid pain reliever

magic bullet - or other smaller blender for liquids only stage

food processor - for pureeing, apparently blenders liquify too much

Protein Drinks - to ensure enough Protein, protein helps heal

protein bullets- shots of protein costco?

baby food - jury's still out, i'd rather puree my own

calcium chews

shot glass - for measuring, this is 1 ounce

heating pad - comfort for chest/gas pains

wedge pillow - some have trouble laying flat

stomach binder - no idea what or why

ice trays - to freeze puree, portion control

Miralax - for Constipation, to make it easier to GO

campbells cheese Soup - cause i looooove cheese

Did we ever start our December Group?

[KarynA 0]

Omgosh, I love the list! I'll have to cross-check it against my own, but I was reading it, going "yep", "yep", "yep"... that's awesome thank you. *I don't know that Protein heals so much as it staves off hunger and puts your body in a state of ketosis.

We have not yet created a December social group that I'm aware of...

I'll post an updated list later today... must go to work.

[debduck 0]

Hey I hope maybe I can help. I had my band September 11, 2008. Here is what I have found:

sippy cups - to prevent gulping Water (used these for about 2 weeks post op only - best day was when the doctor's office changed their position and allowed us to use straws! I now use a lot of straws!)

toddler silverware - Portion Control - (a must have - I still use mine especially after a fill or whenever my band feels tight!)

toddler dishes - helpful with travelling with mushy foods. (I bought really pretty small plates a little bigger than a saucer that I use almost every day to eat off of, keeps portion sizes down and makes me feel better)

gas-x strips - apparently during surgery we're pumped with air and the gas can be painful. (I still experience gas quite a bit - flatulence, asked the surgeon recently what he recommended and he said that was the million dollar question! I did find Digestive Advantage that I take as needed for a few days and it helps tremendously, remember this is for after your post op period.)

chewable vitamins - swallowing pills is discouraged (Flintstone chewable Multi-Vitamin with Iron is what the doc recommended and I take one every day still)

liquid pain reliever - (Tylenol liquid was my best friend, now I also use childrens chewable aspirin, again don't do this until past your post op period, but I chew 8 as an adult dose)

magic bullet - or other smaller blender for liquids only stage (I bought one, thought I would use it a lot, I haven't used it past the 2nd month post op and even then I didn't use it a lot.)

food processor - for pureeing, apparently blenders liquify too much (Again, I didn't use this much at all)

Protein drinks - to ensure enough protein, protein helps heal (Used Carnation Instant Breakfast sugar-free pre-op and post-op, went to GNC and bought Protein Powder before Surgery and Unjury Protein online wish I hadn't went to the expense did not use either of them. Still use the Carnation if my band is feeling tight.)

protein bullets- shots of protein costco? (Never used this, my friends who had the gastric-bypass procedure do but not my band friends.)

baby food - jury's still out, i'd rather puree my own (Yuck!)

calcium chews (Still do this daily)

shot glass - for measuring, this is 1 ounce (Used about 2 months post-op)

heating pad - comfort for chest/gas pains (OMG a lifesaver!)

wedge pillow - some have trouble laying flat (Recommend but I just used a bunch of pillows and a recliner!)

stomach binder - no idea what or why (They put one on me in the hospital, check with your hospital to see if they use it. When I checked out I asked if I could have another one as the one I had was stained and they gave me another one no problem. This was an absolute must!!!)

ice trays - to freeze puree, portion control (Did not use this either)

miralax - for Constipation, to make it easier to GO (I did need this off and on and I still do at times, now I use glycerin suppositories)

campbells cheese Soup - cause i looooove cheese (Still do a lot of soup if my band feels tight)

[NolaLola 0]

Hi y'all.

Brooklyn girl here...surgery date is December 22, at NYU.

My blog is girlmeetsband.blogspot.com

[illuminationlady 7]

I have created our group at the following:

December Bandsters 2009 Group

Be sure to sign up!!!

[ididit35 0]

Hi Nola!! Kurian is doing me surgery on Dec 15th! I live in Brooklyn too. Let's try to keep each other informed!

[KarynA 0]

debduck - thank you so much for your wisdom! It helps all of us... A LOT. Please let us know if there are any other "can't live withouts" or "don't waste your money ons"... it's appreciated. Best of luck to you on your journey...

[KarynA 0]

tbird - your post ("two weeks") made my stomach drop!... December's just a heartbeat away.

Edited November 19, 2009 by KarynA
Woops...

[juke 0]

My surgery date is December 4th, yay! I had my initial consultation on October 16th which included the psych and nutrtional eval, my paperwork was submitted to my insurance company (UHC) on 11/9/09, and I got a call 11/17/09 that I was approved. my BMI is exactly 40 with no co-morbidities. I was shocked at how quickly it happened. I'd heard about the 6 month wait, etc. but there's no wait. I am so excited.

Current wt 225lbs

Goal wt 130lbs

[KarynA 0]

Week 1

Tuesday, December 1: Melinco (tbd), RandaPanda, TheCutestFatty, terriamn, LALALUDE (tbd), great expectations (tbd), oceancity4me (tbd)

Wednesday, December 2: garden-nut, yosemite, Su59, Bobbie0918, austrolatrishy, take charge time, michelleisaac

Thursday, December 3: tbird1211, dmdsanchez, suzycooke, mommymya, sxygma130, Claudean, lapfish, homewith2, ganda

Friday, December 4: kslessar, KarynA, cent, juke

Week 2

Monday, December 7: lackey4, RadioGirl311, HappyMe2009, lpglarry

Tuesday, December 8: Zanath, Veronda

Wednesday, December 9: michelleintheoc, Irishbookworm, subpoptart, nursejojo, skinnybitch, Pam92

Thursday, December 10: msjoachin1

Friday, December 11: Ernieschick. mmh

Week 3

Monday, December 14: j-mae, Drasan (tbd), ceecee3272 (tbd)

Tuesday, December 15: voodoo, BigMomma, slmsister, TinaM, ididit35 (tbd), alilash (tbd)

Wednesday, December 16

Thursday, December 17: librarychick, adagray, TracyW2

Friday, December 18: bren5500; policy34

Week 4

Monday, December 21: hunybear53. abbylamb

Tuesday, December 22: illuminationlady, kimwash71112, NolaLola

Wednesday, December 23: danielle.hurstcrose,

Thursday, December 24

Friday, December 25

Week 5

Monday, December 28: alicia3138

Tuesday, December 29

Wednesday, December 30: TN girl21

Thursday, December 31