One week post op

I have now been banded for one week. I went in for my post-op appointment today. It was a group session with everyone who had been banded last Monday. There were 6 patients, plus some spouses and the nurse. We talked about entering the next phase of eating, which I will describe, plus what is to come.

The good news is that my pain is all gone, just some discomfort due to the healing process. But the best news is that I can now eat soft/mushy foods. I am done with liquids only. I did start the day with a 50g protein shake for breakfast, knowing that I might not get a whole lot of protein the rest of the day because for lunch I had...

Christmas leftovers! Becky's dressing, mashed potatoes, spinach and broccoli casserole were perfect for lunch. They were all very moist after being microwaved and I was able to smash them just a bit, and enjoy them. I even had some apple pie. Well, at least the apples from the apple pie. Total I ate about 1/2 cup of food, but it was the best leftovers meal I've ever had. Thanks Becky! :)

I also stopped by the grocery store on the way home to get some food for the week. For this week I can have canned chicken/tuna, canned or overcooked (?) vegetables, canned fruit or overripe bananas, overcooked pasta and Cheerios! I guess the overcooking is to make sure the food is mushy enough. So for dinner tonight I am going to make roasted squash, zucchini and carrots, that after cooking long enough will be mashy. I am also going to make Chinese Chicken Salad. I also bought some potatoes to make more mashed potatoes later on this week and of course I have canned tuna.

The appointment itself was very uneventful. I scheduled my first adjustment, if you will, for 1/31/09. This is where I will start to get liquid injected into my band to begin restricting food. Right now the only restriction is due to swelling since they sort of sew part of the stomach around the band to keep it in place. The goal is to get just enough injections of saline into the band to get to the "Green Zone" which is where you are not hungry, you get to eat just the right amount of food, and are losing weight.

My bandages are now all off and I am going to work tomorrow. I am now going to wait until an hour has passed since lunch to take a sip of water. You can't drink 30 minutes before or 1 hour after eating so that the food sits in the little "pouch" and slowly funnels into the stomach - hence the feeling I have now that I just ate the biggest Christmas dinner ever!

Christmas Dinner

My mother, grandmother and sister spent Christmas Eve with us. Beth Ann made a wonderful dinner: Coquilles St. Jacques with Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Luckily I was able to enjoy that dinner when Betty made it for Becky's birthday in November, so I was not upset that I could not have any now.

Beth Ann set a lovely table with our wedding china and festive decor. Here is a picture of the table:

And here is a picture of my setting:


It was a nice Christmas Eve. Singing at Church was painful though- too much breathing, too quickly- but it was a nice night that we will remember.

It's all about protein.

So I have been banded for 5 days now. The first few days I struggled with pain and discomfort. Then I struggled with getting all of my protein in. I have to have at least 60 grams of protein a day. And since I am on a purely liquid diet until the 2nd week (to give my stomach time to heal from all the activity down there) I have to get my protein in the form of liquid and powder supplements.

Before surgery my doctor's office sold me a box of liquid vials and a box of powder packets. The liquid vials were packed with protein--42grams in a single 3oz tube. The flavor was fruit punch and for some reason I actually expected it to taste like fruit punch. Like Capri Sun. Instead it tasted like the devil's juice. It was thick and sweet in the most artificial way. So if anyone is interested I have about a dozen that need a good home.

The powder mixes are another story. Beth Ann says they taste like Carnation Instant Breakfast. The sampler box gave me a variety of flavors, but the best was chocolate. While it doesn't quite taste like a Braum's milkshake, it's as close as I can get.

Yesterday I went to the Vitamin Shoppe to get more protein supplements. I am now out of the sample box, and I refuse to drink any more of the "punch." I read online at the Lap Band Forum (www.lapbandtalk.com) reviews of different supplements and settled on 2 new ones. One is a kiwi-strawberry flavor (you mix with water, kind of like Crystal Lite). The other is dutch chocolate that you mix with milk.

I also read a posting about ideas when you are still on a liquid diet but crave the taste of real food. I can't yet just mash up meats and things like I will next week. But I read that another lap bander pureed up refried beans and thinned it out with canned enchilada sauce. The result was a tasty Mexican tasting soup. I did make some last night after I finished getting my protein supplements in and I was quite pleased. I also tried some tomato soup which was good but did not settle well for some reason.

Beth Ann and Lindsay are about to get some Italian takeout for lunch. I am going to go make a milkshake.

48 Hours Later & It's Christmas Eve!

Today has been the best day so far. I was able to sleep through the night. I got rid of the CO2 gas pains and I was able to lay on my side, like normal. Luckily the side I usually sleep on is the opposite side of my port incision so I feel no discomfort during sleep.

I woke up around 7:30 today, and had some tea, then water. We went for a car ride which was pretty rough. I was hoping not to have to take any of my anti-nausea or pain medicines today. After about 5 minutes in the car I had to take the anti-nausea medicine. At about noon I took my first shower. I took off my band-aids, shaved my face, washed my hair. It was a nice shower. I did put my patch on over my port incision after that but have not had to take my pain medicine at all today.

To celebrate me being done with the strict clear liquids only diet, Beth Ann made me a chocolate protein milkshake. It's technically a meal replacement since it has about 27 grams of protein. It took me about an hour and a half to drink one cup. It makes 3 cups. So I still have some work to do there.

After my shake, I went for a walk around the block. It took me about 15 minutes to do, but I felt a little better afterward. I feel so bloated and just gross and walking seems to be the trick.

I have enjoyed the smells of the dinner Beth Ann is making for Christmas Eve for my family. I can't have any of it, and I am still so full from my shake that I don't want any, but it is still nice to smell real food again.

Tonight we are going to church for Christmas Eve service - so it will be another test to get through the car ride. I will say now that I might stay seated during the service. I'll let everyone else get up and down and up and down.

Ouch.

Whoever told me that the pain I would feel following surgery would be the equivalent of an intense workout must have been smoking crack as well as taking their pain meds. After I got home from surgery yesterday I was in a lot of pain. I could not sit or lay down really. I finally managed to recline a bit on the couch using the coffee table as leg support. The pain patches seem to help over my port site. The port site is the area in my abdomen where they will inject my fluid in the future to adjust the band. It's the largest incision and the sorest. The other incisions do not hurt. There are 4 incisions plus the port incision. I think what hurts the most is my back. I think it might have to do with the CO2 that they put into me to expand the working space yesterday. I was told it would collect in my shoulders and really hurt there but I think it's really in my back. The only things that alleviate the back pain are walking around the house and a heating pad.

Last night I was able to finally lay down in bed on the heating pad and get some sleep. I would only sleep for an hour at a time but I do feel somewhat rested today. I had planned on being active already and doing stuff around the house, but I am going to have to take it slower than I thought.



The other thing I am working on today is my liquids, specifically my protein supplements. I am literally full after a few sips - of protein, water, broth...anything. I can eat a popsicle but I am stuffed after 1/2. It is a very odd sensation, one that I was not sure would exist. I know it's the point of the band, but I was still skeptical. It does not feel any different from feeling full pre-band. The feeling just comes on much sooner.

Finally.

Today is my surgery day. I had my last meal for dinner. We just threw it together - chicken, eggplant, mushrooms. I was so tired of everything being the last thing...the last pizza, last diet coke, last mexican feast. I did not care anymore, so we had a nondescript, kind of blah meal. But I was happy with that.

In about 15 minutes I am leaving for the hospital. I am nervous, but excited at the same time. I am nervous because I have read a lot of crazy things online...It seems a lot of people go to Tijuana to have lap band done because they don't have insurance and it's very inexpensive to have surgery in Mexico. So I have read lots of stories that people go to Mexico, have surgery and come back only to discover that they were scammed and did not actually get the band implanted. That's my fear. Aside from my fears of having my organs stolen, this is another.

I know that the success of my surgery depends on me. I am prepared for that and I know I can do it, but I just keep thinking... "What if...?" What if I die? What if it's a scam? What if I get really sick? What if it does not work? I guess I just have to have faith that it will work.

To wrap up, I am excited and thankful that my surgery is finally here. It's the beginning and also an end. A beginning to an exciting, joyful experience and and end to fruitless struggling and a life where I looked and felt like this:

The Pre-Op Diet Week 1

I have just finished the first week of my pre-op diet. I am basically following a modified Atkins diet for 2 weeks. The good news is that I've lost 14 pounds since my first weigh in :). The bad news is that it was the week from hell. I was going through terrible withdrawals- I had headaches, nausea, a poor attitude and...diarrhea. I did not want to mention it but after looking online and talking to other people I find that it's common.

I wish someone would have told me! Someone wrote on a blog, "What goes in liquid, comes out liquid." Yeah. True. I am not sick, and I don't feel sick, but still. It won't end.

I have basically been living on meat all week. I guess if I were able to do this permanently, I would not even be talking about lap band, but obviously the Atkins diet is difficult.

I actually followed the Atkins diet religiously for a summer in high school. I lost 40 pounds, then gained it all back immediately once school started in the fall. That's what I am looking forward to most about lap band - having a solution that finally works for good. Well, I take that back. I am looking forward to not being hungry the most. I have been hungry my whole life. I am hungry right now. This time next week though, I will be far from hungry.

Tomorrow I am going to the hospital for my pre-op appointment - blood work, x-rays, ekg, etc. I will provide an update then.