January Board ROLL CALL!!! How are you doing?

Now that all of us January-ers are post op, I thought it might be fun for everyone to post how we're doing..... How many weeks/days are you post op? How are you feeling? How are you doing getting in all your fluids, protein, food, vitamins? What is (or was) your biggest difficulty post op? What is the thing that is easiest? Has anything been surprising/not expected? How much weight have you lost? (NOTE: this is NOT for comparison - we are all different and lose at different rates, but I feel like it's important for us to share eachother's victories!) Any recipes you want to share? Anything else you want to share?? Margaret 271/250/135

I'll go first: How many weeks/days are you post op? I had surgery 1/17, so I'm 16 days post op. How are you feeling? I feel GREAT! Some residual nausea at night, but it's managable. Some of my incision sites itch a lot still. How are you doing getting in all your fluids, protein, food, vitamins? I'm doing great for the most part. I had a tough time yesterday just because it was a really busy day. I barely squinched by on getting all my fluids in. What is (or was) your biggest difficulty post op? Definitely post-op nausea. I had pretty severe nausea for about 3 days post-op. Dr. managed it with meds though, so I never threw up. What is the thing that is easiest? Meeting my nutritional needs. I worried pre-op that I'd struggle with this, and have a tough time with managing it all. Not a problem. Has anything been surprising/not expected? Not wanting to eat. I can not - CAN NOT - believe how easy it is. While I still enjoy the smell and the look of food, it just does have a hold on me like it did before. I know that may change over time, and am anticipating temptation again, but for right now, I'm wallowing in the lack of desire for food. Also that most of my co-morbids are already gone - completely gone. I can't believe it. How much weight have you lost? I'm down 21 lbs total. I had lost 5 pre-op, so 16 since surgery.....pretty much 1 lb per day. Hurrah!! Any recipes you want to share? I've been on Phase 3 since being in the hospital, so soft proteins (chicken, fish, eggs, etc) for the most part. I can use ff/lite mayo, ff sour cream or plain yogurt, ff/lite/low carb salad dressing, or ff gravy for moistening. I can also have 2-3 crackers a week for crunch.....SO...... I created a "casserole" by mixing 1 oz canned chicken, 1/2 tsp lite ranch, 1/2 tsp ff sour cream...mix together, top with a sprinkle of grated cheese and 1/2-1 crushed saltine cracker. Microwave, bake, or broil until cheese is melted. YUMMY. Anything else you want to share?? God's goodness overwhelms me. Every morning I wake up and weigh and thank Him that He chose to use this surgery to heal me.

I will go second! POST OP: My surgery was 1/22/07, 1 week and 5 days ago. FEELING: I am feeling a lot better as each day passes by. At first I was worried I did the wrong thing. But, I know now that I DID DO the RIGHT thing. INTAKE: I have not "dumped" at all. I am drinking my milk and water in between meals. I am following the PPW the dietiction gave me. Soft foods, chicken, tuna, potatoes, stuff like that. I have been fine. It is so weird to look at the small amounts of food and when you done eating, your full. DIFFICULTY: Walking right after surgery. It was so painful. I am so glad that that is DONE with. Watching my family gobble down 2 cheeseburgers at one sitting. EASIEST: Eating and stopping when I am satisfied. The fear of dumping is constantly on my mind, which makes it easy to make the right food decisions. SUPRISING/UNEXPECTED: In the begining, how tired I got so quickly. I thought that I could do it all. I was wrong. But as each day goes, I find I have more energy. WEIGHT LOSS: When I was admitted to the hospital I weighed 267.8, when I was discharged 4 days later I weighed 267.1, I now weigh 250.0 (my scale at home, give or take a few. Total lost about 17.8 pounds. Now, I also had my gullbladder & appendix removed during surgery, so I don't know how much that weighed. RECIPES: I don't have any recipes, I am looking forward to any suggestions! SHARING: I believe that this was the biggest step I have ever taken in my life to help myself out. I am looking forward to the days to come. Laura

HI - I'm so glad you did this - I was just thinking of doing a post similiar - just to check on everyone....... How many weeks/days are you post op? I had surgery 1/8/07 - I'm 3 - almost 4 week post op. - at 5 weeks I move to regular food How are you feeling? I feel great - I have since the day after surgery. How are you doing getting in all your fluids, protein, food, vitamins? I still have a hard time drinking jus****er - I have to mix it w/ propel water for a taste. I'm able to get in at least 48 oz. of fluids a day, plus all protein and vitamins. What is (or was) your biggest difficulty post op? Drinking water is my hardest thinkg since surgery. I also tried to eat shrimp last weekend - not a good thing..... I guess I did not chew well enough. I won't be trying that again anytime soon. I'm also now lactose intolerant - but nothing a few pills won't help What is the thing that is easiest? Everything - I'm amazed at how easy it was to adjust to this way of eating/living. I do sometimes wish I could have just a bite of something - but the fear of getting sick esp. at work keeps me from eating things I shouldn't. How much weight have you lost? (NOTE: this is NOT for comparison - we are all different and lose at different rates, but I feel like it's important for us to share eachother's victories!) I have lost a total of 31 lbs - 16 b/4 surgery and 15 since. Any recipes you want to share? I don't have any - but enjoy others. I actually eat the same as i cook for my family - I just puree it if i have too. i have had meatballs, veggie patties, chicken, pork, chili ect.... Anything else you want to share?? I was only a week out and I had to go out for a family members birthday - at a resteraunt...... I was amazed at how not even tempted to eat anything anyone else had. I ordered talapia fish over spinach - at about 2 tbsp and brought the rest home. I felt so proud of myself. Last weekend we had to go to a huge awards dinner that was buffet style. I was nervous about what to eat -but I was able to find a few things. So far I have a very postitve experience and hope it stays that way. I wish everyone else an exciting journey as well....... Marta

I've never posted before, so hello to everyone for the first time! How many weeks/days are you post op? I had surgery on 1/15/07 so nearly 3 weeks out. How are you feeling? Feeling great, especially when I go to my gym and walk on the indoor track. I'm up to 2 1/2 miles per day and it astounds me that I want to do more every time. How are you doing getting in all your fluids, protein, food, vitamins? I have to admit I'm struggling with this. Fluids are no problem but I worry I'm not taking in enough protein and eating too many calories. Plus I hate taking pills, chewable or not, so I have to push myself to stay on my vitamin schedule. What is (or was) your biggest difficulty post op? I'm still craving foods, even foods I never ate before surgery. A commercial for a Taco Bell burrito came on yesterday and its all I could think about. I never had a bite of a TB burrito a day in my life before surgery. I think I'm still in that "food regret" stage, I just miss the junk that put me here in the first place. What is the thing that is easiest? Walking. Now I know what all those people were talking about with the connection between exercise and endorphins! Has anything been surprising/not expected? The support coming from my family and friends. I'm only 23 so I expected a lot of criticism for having surgery so young but my hospital room was filled with flowers and I'm still getting get well cards every day. Drinking is still a big part of social situations for my friends, but when I told them I that I probably wouldn't be the party animal they know and love any more, they all said, "Okay fine, we'll do something else then." Nothing but support. It's fantastic. How much weight have you lost? 18.5 pounds as of this morning Any recipes you want to share? It was really important to me to keep some variety in my diet. I'm an amatuer foodie and I work for Barnes and Noble, so of course I went looking for cookbooks that would help me out. I've been relying on three especially: Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery, Before and After by Susan Leach, and Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies (technically not a cookbook but they've got some great recipes.) Check out the Shrimp Salad in Before and After as well as her homemade hummus recipe. I'm also living on the Elvis' favorite shake with banana and low sugar peanut butter. Your local Barnes & Noble will be able to order all of these for you (they're not always stocked), free shipping to the store. The recipes are easy to understand and if my father can make them, anyone can. Anything else you want to share?? I've had a bit of a kink thrown into my days since I paid for surgery myself, so its been really important for me to stay on top of the bills pilling up. Does anyone else have a physically demanding job, i.e. on your feet 8 hours a day and lifting boxes, and feel like going back to work sooner to get bills paid?

Rachel, I just wanted to commend you for choosing to have this surgery so young! What a great choice you have made that will impact your health for the rest of your life! I'm very proud of you and am very glad your family has been so supportive. I'm just an old (47) mom and now grandma....I feel like half my life (though it hasn't been quite that long) has been wasted being overweight and unhealthy. I'm so thankful for medical advances that have brought the opportunity for me to live my next 40 years in good health! And to bring you the opportunity to live the majority of your life in good health!! Congratulations! Margaret

Rachel I too would like to commend you as well and to takle it self pay!! You are awesome. Welcome to the January board. I also want to say I saw that commercial just last night and omgosh I know exactly what you mean. It will get better!!! Anna

Rachel, You are so lucky you were able to have the lap band surgery done at such a young age. How I wish I could of. I am almost 47 years old and and have spent so much money on weight loss products the past 24 years. Including Jenny Craig. ( Not cheap) i am also self pay. I figured what I spend on Surgery I have spent eating out and also on diet's in 24 years..

Thank you to everyone that has been sharing: I am currently 10 days post op. I had my surgery on 1/23/07. I have been feeling great. The only day that I had any problems was the day of surgery and the morning after. Since that time I have been up and moving trying to take advantage of everyday. I was a lucky one that had no nausea and have not been tired. I have been doing well at getting all of my protein, vitamins, and fluids. I can thank my surgeon for that. He gave me a "Sample Diet Menu" in my book and I have been following that. It has given me guidance and then after following it for a couple of days I have been able to adapt it to my likes and dislikes. There have been a couple of days that I forgot to take my multi-vitamin in the evening but I have set myself a reminder and that seems to help. My biggest difficulty post op was the very first time getting out of bed. I was soooo tired, sore and medicated that I was not sure what I was doing. Once I was up I felt better but getting back into bed was very painful also. As each day went by this got much easier. I also had a few times that I was not aware of my JP drain and I pulled on the tubing which gave me a little bit of a sting to remind me it was there. So far everything has been fairly easy for me. I was a little concerned when I went to the Basketball game the day after discharge. I was not sure how I was going to handle to big crowd and lots of stairs. I had him drop me off at the front doors since it was snowing and I walked up the stairs and around the concourse while he was parking and then down to our seats. I found this to be much easier than I thought it would be. Now we both walk from the parking lot and do the same routine. I have not found anything to be surprising or not expected. I feel that I was well prepared for the surgery by my surgeon and friends that have already been through the surgery. At my pre-op appointment 5 days prior to surgery I weighed 289. I did not see what I weighed at the hospital (my choice) and when I returned to the surgery on Wednesday I was at 271. So, I am down 18 lbs. I do not have any recipes at this time since I am not eating much food just liquids but I will keep an eye out. I have purchased the "Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery" by Patt Levine and Michele Bontempo-Saray and it is great. There are 140 different recipes and what is nice is that each recipe gives you all of the nutritional information and then tells you how to change it depending on which surgery you had and how many weeks you are out.

How many weeks/days are you post op? 1/22/07 How are you feeling? GREAT! How are you doing getting in all your fluids, protein, food, vitamins? No problem--well sometimes I forget the 2nd calcium chew. What is (or was) your biggest difficulty post op? Nausea from the pain meds, and the taste of protein drinks (yuck) What is the thing that is easiest? Getting fluids in. Has anything been surprising/not expected I'm surprised how easy it is to eat and drink. How much weight have you lost? (NOTE: this is NOT for comparison - we are all different and lose at different rates, but I feel like it's important for us to share eachother's victories!) 13 pre-op + 9 post-op = 22 lbs. Any recipes you want to share? Not so far. Anything else you want to share?? I can't WAIT to get to pureed foods next week!!!!