Surviving Thanksgiving

This weekend was my first Thanksgiving being banded. We normally have a big dinner at my parents place but this year everyone was busy except me and my mom so we decided just to have a small dinner at my place and include my aunt. (She has no clue about the band.) I started off the day super pumped because when I got on the scales I finally hit the 40 lb mark. WooHoo! Then I went on to PBing at breakfast and at lunch after just a few bites of tuna. Thank God I was still alone and my guests hadn't arrived yet. I was worried that I was just having a very tight day and that dinner would be a disaster and I wouldn't be able to keep the band a secret. Once all the food was prepared (I think I had enough food for 6 people who eat "normally") everything went smoothly. Not even a tiny stuck episode during our meal and I even had a tiny bit of dessert. No questions were asked by my aunt why I wasn't eating as much as I had in the past at holiday meals and I am not sure she even noticed.

The funniest part of the whole day was that my aunt had purchased and brought me a "diet kit" she had found on sale where you take these detox pills for a week and then do a body wrap with a huge roll of saran wrap. She wasn't offended that I opted out of trying it. There is no way I would have taken detox pills before the band and now there is no way I could get those suckers through my band even if I wanted to.

So I survived my first banded Thanksgiving and even lost 0.25 lb! Hopefully Christmas will be just as easy.

Helpful Band Rules

This was posted on the Obesity Help LapBand Forum.




Good Restriction is NOT:
- Being unable to eat or drink well
- Being able to eat only a few bites per meal
- Having any type of pain or regular barfing
- Expecting the band to make us stop eating
- Expecting the band to restrict poor band food
- Expecting the band to be a magic cure
- Expecting hunger to be entirely gone

Good Restriction IS:
- Being able to eat 1-1.5 cups of food per meal, not less
- Being able to eat a variety of foods
- Getting and heeding gentle "soft stop" sign to remind us to stop eating before we overeat and vomit
- Being able to meet all nutrition needs fairly easily, with good food choices
- Feeling SATISFIED (not FULL) with a good band meal for 3-4 hrs. This means understanding what satisfied feels like and what head hunger is
- Having a general dimming of hunger between good, planned band meals
- Losing 1-2lbs a week, on average (Very heavy people may lose more at first, and this is fine if there is good food choices)

One of the most important parts of restriction is the foods we choose. A good fill will restrict only good band foods, never liquids, soft stuff, junk food or sweets. For good restriction we must choose the foods that are restricted - primarily meats. If we don't, we will have to self-restrict to 1-1.5 cups of food.

This one area is the biggest thing people don't understand - that the band will not restrict poor foods. Then they run to get more and more fill (and the doctors do not review a food journal to see that the food choices are poor). They get more fill, end up too tight for safety and then end up with slips, dilations and erosions. The No. 1 reason for trouble and almost all the serious troubles is trying to get and keep a too tight fill.

Three to Six Months Post-Op

I received my first fill at just about three months post-op. I did not lose anything from the time of my post-op visit until my third fill. It did not help that my bad attitude continued! I think I was depressed and mourning food. I did not want to cook for myself because what was the point? I wouldn't eat it all anyway and after chewing, chewing, chewing I was sick of whatever was in front of me before I was full. This is the reason I did not realize I was not even close to restriction. It became very easy to stop for an ice cream on the way home from work as "supper" and have a snack in the evening while watching TV.

I am glad I had put into place before my surgery supports. I have attended a WLS support group every month since I booked my surgery. Even though I am the only bandster there it is nice to be accountable to a group and get some encouragement.

The First Three Months

Hi, my name is Amy and I was banded February 12, 2009.

I would like to start off by thanking everyone who has supported me through this journey. Without all of you, this would not be possible.

I have always been overweight. I was a chubby toddler, a fat child and a morbidly obese adult. After a year and a half of thinking about getting the band, I finally did it. I chose not to tell my family and friends about my new journey, mostly because I was afraid I would fail and because in a way I felt like a failure having to have the surgery and not being able to do it all by myself. I took my mom with me to my consultation so she had all the information. It was very important to me that my mom approve. She is a retired family physician and I knew she would not lie to me about whether she thought the band could help me or not. About two weeks after I booked my surgery I started telling a few very close friends I knew would keep my secret. It was only two weeks before my surgery that I finally told my dad. The surgery was paid for and I was just about to start my pre-op diet and I did not want anyone to talk me out of it. I was such a chicken I ended up e-mailing my dad. To my surprise he was very supportive. He drove me to my pre-op hospital visit and to my post-op visit as I did not think I was up to the 2 hour drive alone.

I was surprised how calm I was the day of surgery. I was having a major, life-altering surgery and I was calm. I guess that was my sign from God saying this was the right decision!

My surgery took longer than anticipated as I had a hiatal hernia that the surgeon fixed at the same time so my surgery was 3 hours instead of 1 hour. Then in the recovery room I kept setting off the oxygen saturation alarms and was told numerous times to breath deeper. Do the nurses not know that it hurts to breath following lap-band surgery? After a few hours I was wheeled into a second recovery room where my mom could be with me. I was so nauseated and dizzy from the anesthetic and the nurses refused to give me any anti-nausea medication and told me "your surgeons work isn't that delicate that vomiting will ruin it" and shortly thereafter they literally kicked me out. My mom had to dress me because I was in no state to do so and then she wheeled me to the front door, loaded me in the car and drove me the 2 hours back home. Boy, was I not ready to leave the hospital but new that I was in better hands at home than with the recovery room nurses. After paying $15,000 for my band I thought I would receive better care, but I was wrong.

The first few days were rough. More than once I said to myself "what the hell did I do?". The first two days I was on clear fluids only and that was not a problem. I was not interested in anything and had to force myself to drink. Fruit juice freezies came in handy. On my third day post-op my dad came by and bought me chocolate milk and ice cream. I know these are not on the post-op food list but it was the best thing that I had in weeks. After I started drinking the chocolate milk, I started to regain my energy and strength.

I returned to work on day five. I had not told my boss that I was having lap-band surgery, just that I was having a procedure done. This still being on the basis of I didn't want anyone to talk me out of having surgery. After I told my boss, he sent me home after half days for the first week. It was amazing how well I felt after the first week but I still tired easily.

When I went for my first fill six weeks after my surgery, my surgeon refused to give me a fill as I was not hungery and was not eating excessive amounts. I was determined to do everything by the book so I had not tried to eat more than 1 cup of food at a meal. I left the surgeons office that day with a bad attitude and it stuck with me for a few months. I started eating junk food again. Pizza, chips, chocolate became my friends again.