Hello Everyone!

I have been a member here since April 2010. I started the process in May and by the end of July everything was being submitted to the insurance company. By the end of August I had gotten a phone call from my Dr's office saying I was approved. I was so happy! They wanted to schedule me for December but I chose to wait as I had a hysterectomy July 28th and wanted some time to heal from that before having anything else done. I will be banded on February 17th. Only 3 weeks......YIKES, lol. I'm excited but nervous all at the same time.
I have read through the forums a lot lately and have made a couple friends. I'm hoping to get some input. Good or bad!  What to do? What not to do? What are some of the good shakes, drinks, etc? What were your menus like the 1st few weeks after surgery? It's always nice to hear from other people to see what has or has not worked.

Thanks everyone. I can't wait to  learn from everyone else  

Hi Tanya - Congratulations on your upcoming surgery. I had lapband surgery on November 16th, so I still consider myself a newbie. What to do....follow your doctor's instructions, stay hydrated and walk alot. What not to do...lift anything heavy in the first six weeks. Again, follow your doctor's advice regarding your menus. I had lots of soup (tomato), then progressed to whipped cottage cheese and super mashed tuna salad and egg salad.

Good luck!

Hi there and welcome to the forums !!

You will get alot of great advice here, people always here lending a helping hand when you need advice and also they will come down on you when you need a swift kick in the booty to get you going again :o)

I was so nervous the day before my surgery I told my husband to call the doc and to cancel it all I was having panic attacks.  And the worse part is it wasnt for the surgery it was because of the IV lol Im such a baby when it comes to needles and I get the lapband done go figure


I had a easy surgery so I might not be the best person to help you out on this part.  I just had no pains, no gas pains no nothing and back to sleeping on my t ummy seven days after surgery .

But find you a shake before you have to start your pre op diet.  I was running around all over town the day I had to start mine to find one that I didnt gag on lol.  I finally found muscle milk light the chocolate one. It was the only one I could drink without gagging .

You will need to drink these at least till the third week of post op if your doc does something like mine .

First two weeks I was on liquids week one clear liquids only and protein shake, second week I could add cream of soups

third week was puree stage I did not do well on this stage at all I just could not puree meat it was awful and looked awful so I ate alot of mashed tators, soups and refried beans that week lol this was the week I had to start 3 meals per day and 2 snacks

fourth week any kind of soft foods no drinking 30 min before during and after and three meals per day

week 5 same thing  and then week six anything I wanted :o)

Getting use to the drinking part has been my hardest to get use to . Not drinking before has been okay but during the meals and after that has been really hard to get use to.

I always keep mints, gum or something to chew after dinner till Ican drink . Now I have cheated when I eat spicy foods like Mexican I will take a small sip to cool my mouth down :o)  But becareful doing that because if you gulp your water down right when u get done eating you will upchuck it all back up

Hello and welcome!

Such an exciting time!! I hope everything goes smoothly and you have a quick recovery.

I was on a 2 week liquid diet after surgery and boy was I dying to chew something!  I froze some of my protein shakes in a bowl and froze them to make something akin to icecream just so it felt like I was actually eating.

Good luck to you!

Trixie

OzzieGirl – Thank you! I will definitely follow my Dr’s orders. I don’t want to do anything that can ruin this or give me a bad experience at all. Congrats on your band.  

Steelerfan1 – LOL, well a swift kick here and there is a good thing if it means helping and keeping us all in order. I too have been really nervous and feeling overwhelmed by all of this as time gets near but I will be fine. I have had a few surgeries with the last being my hysterectomy in July. I’m not scared of needles just the thought of being put under and I think maybe the reality of everything that will be happening here soon.  It doesn’t like I will have to do the pre-op diet due to my weight and what the insurance approves. They said if I was to do the pre-op diet and lost too much before surgery that I would not be qualified. Which I guess is a plus for me. I have a couple friends that had this done a couple years ago and they suggested Pure Protein Vanilla Shake. I’m on the lookout for one now along with protein powder etc so that I’m ready after surgery. Yeah, the puree stage……I may need help there LOL. I too have no interest in pureeing meat..YUCK!! Gum and mints…..Good idea! Thanks for your help!  

Ilovebeagles – Thank you! The liquid diet should be interesting lol. Freezing them is not a bad idea. At least it gives you that sense of “eating" something.