GirlBarb

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENISE

Wow you poor girl, i wouldn't let that continue, it does sound different from what others experience, please check with you doctor, at least a phone to the doc.

it took about two and a half weeks for the glue to be picked off by me. it will keep infection out and make for a better scar if you leave it alone. when the glue comes off, so will the funky color around them too, and they will look better than you thought. it's one more price to pay for health and being slim. it is so awsome having lost 25 pounds! keep reading what you need to keep informed. you are doing it. how is the sitting going? sit up tall. Barb

i think that we are the bread and butter for the Mexicans and they don't want to tarnish the new safer reputation that they have now. the crossing of streets was my biggest fear, but i found that drivers will let you cross. i don't think that the mexicans live in the city, if you stand in the city and look up, you will see homes in the hills all around the little city. it will be an experience that you will go home with and be better for. you are doing the right thing, no one regrets getting banded and you will be taken care of like you are on vaction. OCC is a place of God and Healing, that is a qoute i was told right from the surgeons mouth!!! have a wonderful time, Barb

New shoes, cool. I went to the stores last week to just get out of the house and wallk around, i live on a desert and don't work yet so seeing people is good too. but i am only a month post op and know that my body is changing so fast that I will wait until i loose more weight after the first fill, then i will get some of those things that i only looked at last week. i am looking forward to the day i can't wear my skinny clothes anymore. the clothes i wore before surgery look funny and hang off my but and thighs. but i will wait until the skiny clothes do that to. I'm melting. Barb

Hi Trina, it'a Barb....Your back and banded...Yeah. Most of the crew that got banded with me all had the GAS and don't get me stared on the flight home...here is what worked for us, mind you that it helps, not cures it toatlly. sip on warm, not cold drinks...and go for slow long walks, A LOT...i think that is why they drug you up and send you shopping the next day. I was banded on the 6th of June and even though i don't have painful gas, i fart like a trucker still. and although i sound like a pig, it feels to good to get it out. i know how it feels when it get stuck inside so i welcome the release. take advantage of the retriction that you are feeling now, it will go away before your first fill. also, don't crunch up you mid section, i bent over to wipe something up on the floor and outch. that will ease away too. i streched out on the couch when i wasn't walking. i ordered some lap band books to read from half.com, they are only 75 cents a piece. when do you need to return to work? CONGRADULATIONS!!!! barb

I am at day 20 post op. I had the same worries as you do. Trying to get enough but not too many calories. And the scale did not move for over a week. Other bandsters say that when this happens (and I did) get out the measuring tape to check inches. Sure enough, I lost a ton of inches and 4 of them came right off the hips. Be sure to keep up the walking for gas bloating. When I felt that I needed more, I put in a dalup of sour cream to my soup. I found Tomatoe and Pea soup to be the hardiest and next is the Butternut and home made Potatoe soup. don't worry about the weight loss too much now, it is a time of healing. You are doing normal and you are doing great. It is coming together for you, hang in there. Barb

I am at day 20 post op. I had the same worries as you do. Trying to get enough but not too many calories. And the scale did not move for over a week. Other bandsters say that when this happens (and I did) get out the measuring tape to check inches. Sure enough, I lost a ton of inches and 4 of them came right off the hips. Be sure to keep up the walking for gas bloating. When I felt that I needed more, I put in a dalup of sour cream to my soup. I found Tomatoe and Pea soup to be the hardiest and next is the Butternut and home made Potatoe soup. don't worry about the weight loss too much now, it is a time of healing. You are doing normal and you are doing great. It is coming together for you, hang in there. Barb

Can anyone help me know if there are different limits on the food for the NON-FILLED stage of banding verses after I get my first fill.? Does the band without a fill cause PBing when I begin to eat? I don't read much to do with that period after liquids and before the first fill. I am done 21 pounds, the inches are melting away and I am starving for solid foods. What is off limit during this time? thank you to anyone who can help. Barb

I learned the term HALT a long time ago from an OA meeting, here is what to ask yourself: H=Are you Hungry A=Are you Angry L=Are you Lonely T=Are you Tired Sometimes it helps to know where the craving is coming from. You are doing great and are a great suport on this forum, we are not just suporting you, but looking up to you too. thank you for all of your input. barb Personally, I use getting a snack to avoid something else that needs to get done or to avoid dealing with the anxiety that I get at times. Okay a lot.

Congradulations, welcome to the family Barb

AM I HURTING MY POUCH, OR IS IT JUST SLIPPING THROUGH TO THE BIGGER STOMACH? HELP I am starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong. I am 7 days from solids and very hungry. I have not eaten solids yet and will wait to do so. My problem is that I drink clear liquids, canned and home made soups and protien drinks in larger quanties than 4 oz. , sometimes 6-8 oz. I don't gulp them down in chug after chug, but I do drink in less than 20 minutes. It feels like it is going right through without restriction. I dropped 10 pounds the first week and nothing at all for the last 6-7 days. I know this is about healing and not the weight loss during these 21 days, but it would off set not eating. My biggest fear is that the creamy soups and protein shakes will stretch my pouch.

I am starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong. I am 8 days from solids and very hungry. I have not eaten solids yet and will wait to do so. My problem is that I drink clear liquids, soups and protien drinks in larger quanties than 4 oz. , sometimes 6-8 oz. It feels like it is going right through without restriction. AM I HURTING MY POUCH, OR IS IT JUST SLIPPING THROUGH TO THE BIGGER STOMACH? HELP

When I was there at the OCC 6-6-08, a woman had her port replaced because it twisted, they did not charge her for that.

Hi Alli, It's Barb, I got banded with you on the 6th and know how you are feeling! Sorry, I had computer prob and didn't get back sooner. I have lost most of my restriction too. And I am hungry, the food smells so wonderful...so I sniff at my husbands plate like a dog in heat...but do not eat. Last night I was really tempted to take a peice of hubbie's pork roast and suck all the juices out of. I didn't because I didn't trust myself to spit it out! We still have some time left before we go off liquids and onto solids, it's marked on my calender with a huge star, so don't worry about the weight right now...now is time to heal. So next time you go anywhere bring LOTS of liquid yogurt, protien shakes and water with you. Don't let yourself get dehydrated or hungry. The diet will start after the first fill. Don't deprive your self of the things that you can have now. I see that it does get better for others and it will for us too. Be kind to yourself, a day at a time honey. Treat yourself to something, anything that will take away the feeling of going without. I went to the movies all by self last week and will go again this week. Try a pedicure, etc... Relax, I met you and you are beautiful inside and out...let's do this together, let go of the guilt, we love you! Barb

Hedi, I am so excited for you. You make me want to do the same. The dress is beautiful and so are you. The pounds are going to fly off you. I can see the difference in your face too! Barb

It's amazing! the transformation, what will you like at goal...I can't wait to see..really, I think it is like a miracle how beautiful you look. We do fool ourselves, but others are checking out our size. For the first time in a while I saw two men really looking at me a way that said they weren't repulsed by my size.

Thank you for sharing. I too went to TJ instead of US. The US doc offered me a sweet dear, 9K for surgery and 15 for fill and is only one hour drive vs a plane ticket, I went with Ortiz and I'm not sorry I did. I wish you the best on getting your self back on the right track with the help of Ortiz. Barb One more thing, I wish that my daughter would be open to being banded, I can't even tell her that I was, and she is 25. She has and is struggling all her life.

When I got banded on the 6th there was a lady (adverage size) and her husband all the way from England, she was there becasue she saw Dr Ortiz on the Oprah show. She was getting banded.

good to know, i'll be banded in a couple of days and this information will help.

it is very hard to be the one to have to decide to put the loved one down, but you did the right thing for the kitty, he was suffering. All we have is this moment, you went through it once, try not to keep reliving it and be in the now. Every moment is a new start. We are there for you.

Has anyone used a regular MD to do the fills for them?

I like the idea of the fluro fill but I really wonder if it is worth going all the way to Mexico for. If all the doctors are in agreement that the first fill should be only 1.5 cc then why bother? I don't understand why the USA doctors charge so much to the Mexican lapsters on their first visit (350 or 550 with fluroand for the fills)? A doctor here in Arora CO would have done the surgery for 9 K and do all the fills for only 15 dollars. He had only done 350 surgeries in the last two years, Dr O has much more experience, that's why I am going with him this Friday June 6th. I just needed to voice this because there is a lot of people that also question the frequency and cost of fills. Barb

thanks for the help on the water issue. Barb

I wil stay in touch.