I am BANDED!!

Hello hello
First of all, I apologize for the long post!
So I got banded on the 24th. We got to Vancouver on the 23rd. Walked for 4-5 hours, did some shoppings and I must confess, I had a bit of grilled meat!! So good
I went to meet with my Anesthesiologist, it only took 10 minutes.
So Friday morning I took another shower with the liquid soap they had sent me. This soap works miracles. I had gotten a big zit on my face, washed it with this one and it was gone the next morning. Also, since I have a very sensitive skin, shaving leaves a lot of bumps on my legs( especially thighs). I washed it with this and again, it was gone!!
So moving to the surgery, I was scheduled for 11:30, sat in a room until 12;10 when  a nurse came and got me and I walked to the OR.  they got me on the bed, the Anes. Doc put in my IV and in a few minutes, I was gone. My husband received a call from my Surgeon at 1:45 to tell him everything went fine. I remember they try to wake me up at 2. God I felt in so much pain. My throat hurt, my stomach hurt and I couldn't stay up and the nurses insist on talking to you!! I remember( and I am sure I was wrong) the nurses talking about complications, so in that situation( not being awake completely) I was thinking that they hadn't put the band and there was complications!!! god was I ever worried.Mind you up to this point, no one has confirmed I have got it!!!
My wonderful husband had got me a beautiful bouquet of red roses and a very cute lady bear :). Prior to our trip he gave me a Movado watch as a gift to tell me how proud he is of me sticking to my diet and doing this :)
 I have 5 incisions the middle one being the biggest one. They really push you to get up and leave the clinic. I so wanted my husband to get lost in Vancouver and get there later so I can sleep! They dressed me and moved me to those recliners and I kept falling asleep. I swear to god the nurses came to visit me every 5 min. Giving me drugs, dressing me up, checking my incisions....

Anyways, my husband came to pick me up at 3:30. He had already filled my Liquid Codeine prescription. We went to the hotel,  I was in so much pain. I only got up a few times to have my Codeine and sip water and went back to sleep. The gas pain is really something!!!!

My abdomen was so big as if I was 8 months pregnant. I also had a bit of bleeding which stopped right away.
So comes Saturday, I thought I could go walking in Stanley park with my husband. Who are those people who said they went to CN tower the day after the surgery? I would like to know how they did that.  I was in so much pain crying the whole time. My  husband was trying to make me get up and walk every hour but it was too painful.I think I managed to do it 5 times and each time it took me a minute before i started screaming from pain. I am normally pretty good with pain but this was different.
Sunday morning we had to go to the airport at 5 am! We managed to pass the security line and go in front of the line because of my surgery. As lucky as I am , we had 40 minutes delay, so we got to Calgary at 9:45. From this ride and all the walkings to and from gates, I had a bit of bleeding. Got home and my lovely parents had put flowers in every corner of our house. My mom had already made my soup( we'll get to the food later) and she had even cooked for my husband so he didn't have to do anything.
My Sunday was a bit better than Saturday but I still needed help to get up, I am not much better, less pain and can get up with a bit of manoeuvre. I probably finished a whole pack of  Gas-X in those two days!

Strangely enough I had my main pain on the right side( right  shoulder). Then it moved to my left side of abdomen by Sunday. Couldn't drink anything, just made myself drink my water. I tried having a short black starbucks coffee and couldn't. I am a coffee lover and it was odd not to crave that. I had a few sips of my apple juice but it had so much sugar that I felt I was drinking pure sugar!
When I got home, as I mentioned my mom had already made me some soup. God did it ever taste so good. She had made it with real chicken broth( she made it herself) and green lentils, and watercress, she then blended it and passed it through a strainer, it was so gooooood. She also made me cauliflower soup, so good. Tomorrow I am having mushroom soup with skim milk.

One very important thing: I didn't have any nausea or vomiting, I was so afraid of that.

So now my questions:
1-I am having difficulties getting something to eat for breakfast. I have been having half a cup of skim milk with a tea spoon of honey( warmed up).
2-As soon as I have my meal( 1/2 cup of any liquid) I get a slight pain in my left side, is that normal?

Haven't weighed myself yet and am not planning on doing so until next week, but before I left for the surgery, I was down 16 pounds.

Lots of love to all of you,

3 More days! and SWLC

Hello my fellow bloggers,

3 more days and I will be banded, can't believe how fast the time passed by. I am excited for first being banded and second for the fact that I am going to Vancouver. Love the city, to me it is the most beautiful city in Canada. If you haven't got a chance to visit it, please make sure you put it on your "places to visit THIS year" list. The water, weather, friendly and relaxed people, shopping.. so many things...

We arrive early Thursday, have my appointment with ANES at 2 pm. So we probably will drive around   (we are renting a car), go to the appointment, check in at the hotel and go back to going to different places. 

I just talked to my Coordinator and she told me( although she said she is supposed to advise me not to), that I can have a sensible meal on Thursday since I have been so good up to now. almost 13 pounds weight loss in the last 12 days!

 I know many of you are telling me not to do it and with all honestly, I might change my mind by then, but I really am dying for some grilled meat, nothing huge, just a bit of grilled meat. I am sure my stomach won't tolerate a big burger or something huge since I haven't had much to eat in the last few days. I still welcome everyone's comments. That is why I write, would like to hear from all of you, how was your experience? did you eat anything the day before?

Is there anyone from SWLC  here? I would like to hear people's experience  with them or if possible my surgeon. Dr. Philip Mitchell.

Btw, my ketosis strips are still light purple or dark pink, still a good sign.

I am thinking I might not be able to write until after surgery, so wish me luck all! 

Pre-Op and restaurant!!

Never thought I could go to a restaurant during this time, but I did as we were going out with a friend. So I looked at the menu( Earl's) and their Salads were all something I could not eat, caesar Salad, Asian Salad and then I found a mixed green salad. The only problem was it came with feta cheese, glazed pecans, beans and sliced apples!! I asked the waitress to bring me the salad without any of the above, she kindly offered to replace those with celery and cucumbers.  I also asked for the dressing to be on the side and instead got some lime wedges! It was nothing like my hubby's bacon mushroom cheddar burger with yam fries or my friend's steak and mashed potato with a caesar salad but it did fill me a bit!!! So another successful night for me! Day 9 down, 5 to go!
I was really worried last week as my ketosis strips started to be negative, I emailed my coordinator and she told me not to worry as long as I am losing weight. As soon as I read her email, my strips are not negative anymore, actually they are either light purple or dark pink which is good.
I have lost more than 11 pounds so far, I know the weight loss will not be like this after the surgery as I will be eating carbs and other stuff. But I still think I did pretty good. It is so funny how I am not craving carbs anymore( well maybe a bit) but mainly crave chicken breasts or something,

Wish me luck as I still have another 5 days,

Tuna!

Before anything, a big thank you to the wonderful Lap Band Gal for introducing my blog to all of you. It feels so great to have all of your support.


So , the 6  day of the pre-op is over! still no cheating except a table spoon of light tuna in water for valentine's dinner :)

I am ok with the diet but I only get one shake a day. I don't like cold drinks, I love my extra hot americano misto!

I am flying to Vancouver next Thursday( a week from tomorrow) and my surgery is on Friday. We fly back on Sunday. I have already got my Gas X, chewable multi vitamin and the soooo tasty caramel calcium chews! they are so good, too bad I can't take any during my pre-op.
I am so blessed to have the support of my husband now, I made my decision to get the band done thinking I will not have his support and I had prepared myself for it, but now I realize how great it is to see how he cares about my well being. My parents and my bosses are also very supportive, I have asked my mom to prepare my soups and purees and soft food when I get back from the surgery.

I am so excited to be thin, shopping at a regular store, being able to go to a swimming pool without feeling so self concious. I can do activities with my husband, super excited!!!

Please keep writing comments, I love them, I was so excited to see them today. I replied to each comment in my comments, is that how it is done or would you like me to reply in your blogs? You can tell I am so excited about this blog and being in touch with all of you,
One more question, how do these ketosis strip work? mine is not negative but it is not dark purple either, it is pink one, is that ok?

No Cheating!

Well day 3 of pre-op and still no cheating, the only problem is I can at most drink 1 and a half of my 3 shakes a day. I had lots of vegetables today, roasted and as a salad.
So we went to the friend's house last night and oh boy that was hard. I only had salad( I could only have a bit as the salad bowl wasn't big and there were others there too! so we got home and I got in the bed and all of a sudden I broke down. Started crying like a baby.
I am truly blessed to have a husband who is on my side now. He cares so much and keeps telling me how proud he is of me. Considering how he was against this procedure, I never thought he'd care about how I felt these days. But he has been doing all the house work, making my shakes and holding me constantly, making sure I am ok.

Being on this diet and going to work and studying is not easy. I have to manage everything and is hard. I have told my boss about my surgery and she is very supportive. So I am taking tomorrow off and probably will work from home a bit. I assume by Tuesday( my 5th day of pre-op diet) I will be feeling better and my body hopefully be in ketosis mode!

I wish there was a way I knew if anyone reads my posts and who they are. If there is such a thing, please let me know how to find it in the settings,

Good night all,

Pre-Op!!!!!

So, day 2 of my pre-op diet, not fun at all, I miss everything I never liked to have like pancakes! but I do miss my coffee and cream the most! I never liked the taste of protein shakes but have been good and have not cheated at all. I can have some veggies with only lemon juice, no salt, no olive oil :(
I am invited to a friend's house for the first time! I am not sure what to eat as I have not told anyone except my close family about surgery and am not planning to!

Any tips from previous banded friends are very welcome.
btw, I am on slimtime shakes, those and some veggies are all I can have!

Last-Supper!

So I start my pre-op diet tomorrow, not excited at all as I only can have 3 shakes everyday and maximum of 225 calories of certain veggies, I can't even have milk or cream in my coffee, that would kill me!!

I am flying to Vancouver  in 2 weeks to have my surgery done, gosh it is gonna be hard. Most people think lap band is the easy way out but seriously it is not, . This is a life changing thing, I can not eat the way I have done for the last 35 years anymore or I will have complications, and also will gain more weight.

I will weigh myself tomorrow morning, and have my husband take a picture of me, so I can document 

my progress. I am not sure how I feel right now, it is a mixture of fear, nervousness, excitement

wish me luck, will write as I progress

First post

Well,  I have been thinking about starting a blog and documenting my weight loss journey.

I am a 35 year old female who has tried to lose weight for most of her life!! I tried weight watchers, Jenny Craig, 17 days diet, you name it.. I would lose 6-10 pounds and that would be about it! I had always heard about Weight Loss Surgeries but never thought I would go for them. However, this year I made my decision and against my husband's will, I contacted them and booked my surgery for  February 24th. I have less than 3 weeks to prepare myself for this. In the city I live in, these types of surgery are not performed and I have to fly to either Vancouver or Toronto to have it done. The cost is 16000 dollars !

I am currently 241 pounds and 165 cm . I need to lose at least 100 pounds but my goal is to lose 116 pounds.The thing to remember is that the lapband surgery is not magic wand, I need to work hard for this.. This   friday, I have to start my Pre-Op diet which is 3 Protein shakes a  cup of vegetables a day to prepare my body for the surgery. It is going be tough as I love foood!!! I will write more, this was just a bit to get me started

I had the first and second in another blog but decided to move them here and start with blogspot!