Showing posts with label stomach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stomach. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Stomach Problems
I'm doing so well with my new stomach that I forget I can have issues/problems with it - such as my new inability to "stomach" liquor. I had another problem tonight at McDonald's. I've been able to eat a 4 piece Chicken McNugget Happy Meal & child's size Dr. Pepper since I've had my surgery --- I don't know what my problem was tonight. I'm thinking either I didn't chew my food enough - I've had to start chewing my food into total mush before I swallow, if not it gets stuck and essentially "blocks the drain". Or I took too big of a swallow of Dr. Pepper - know what happens when you pour soda into a glass too quickly? Well that's what happens with my new stomach - the carbonation expands causing serious pain. Either way, I started having SERIOUS pains at McDonald's. It hurt so bad and made me so nauseous I couldn't talk, could barely move. I HATE to throw up, always have, and I've taught myself breathing techniques to calm my stomach. I managed to control the nausea tonight so luckily no yacking, but HOLY CRAP was I in pain. It took me almost an hour at McDonald's and then another hour afterwards at home, but I'm finally just enough better to get up & moving again. Yeesh... I really feel for the people who go through hard recovery and adjustment times with new lap-bands...
Friday, December 14, 2007
I can eat again!
I ate a scrambled egg last night... OH MY GOD - I've never been so excited about eating a scrambled egg in my life! LOL
So Tuesday you know I went back to liquids only. Basically I was getting all of my protein & nutrition from Yoplait or Dannon bottled yogurt. I splurged and ate half a cup of pureed potato soup both nights at dinner, and it did ok too. BTW - I love HEB's baked potato soup that you get in their Cafe on the Run or whatever it's called. It's chunky with bits of bacon, cheese, and green onions in it, so I just popped it in the blender for a sec or two. Anyway... yogurt drinks and pureed potato soup were all I dared Tuesday and Wednesday. I talked to the doctor's office on Wednesday and she said the problem was either 1) my body was just cranky about the fill and needed time to adjust, or 2) they'd put too much saline in the band making the ring too tight and solid food was clogging the drain (so to speak). If it was 1) I just needed to back off solids for a day or two and slowly walk myself up to soft foods and then to regular solids. If it was 2) I wouldn't see any improvement and still wouldn't be able to eat solids a few days later. Luckily, I think it was 1). I started with cottage cheese Wednesday night - it took me an hour to eat 4 oz, but YAY I did it without pain! I was a complete moron yesterday morning - I stopped by my favorite little cafe' & coffee bar for a mocha latte, and they had freshly baked choc chip cookies. I rationalized it to myself that the cookies were soft, but I didn't think about them being all carbs - and exactly the kind I can't have. I nibbled at work and made it through half of one cookie before the pain hit, and OMG did it hit. Same as with the cottage cheese, severe chest pain and nauseau. My coworkers were so worried about me, I was sweaty & clammy and just looked awful. Luckily it passed in about 10 minutes and I threw the damn cookies away. No way Jose, not again! So I went back to my yogurts and cottage cheese for the rest of the day. I decided to go out on a limb when I got home last night and scrambled an egg... YAY - it went down with no prob at all! I was so happy I was almost giddy! Again, it took me most of an hour to eat one scrambled egg, but I don't care - I ATE AN EGG! Woohoo! So now I've moved up my list of soft foods to oatmeal. I can have oatmeal as long as it's really watery. That's not the most appetizing thing in the world, but I don't care. I'M EATING OATMEAL! LOL Go me! I'm so excited!
So Tuesday you know I went back to liquids only. Basically I was getting all of my protein & nutrition from Yoplait or Dannon bottled yogurt. I splurged and ate half a cup of pureed potato soup both nights at dinner, and it did ok too. BTW - I love HEB's baked potato soup that you get in their Cafe on the Run or whatever it's called. It's chunky with bits of bacon, cheese, and green onions in it, so I just popped it in the blender for a sec or two. Anyway... yogurt drinks and pureed potato soup were all I dared Tuesday and Wednesday. I talked to the doctor's office on Wednesday and she said the problem was either 1) my body was just cranky about the fill and needed time to adjust, or 2) they'd put too much saline in the band making the ring too tight and solid food was clogging the drain (so to speak). If it was 1) I just needed to back off solids for a day or two and slowly walk myself up to soft foods and then to regular solids. If it was 2) I wouldn't see any improvement and still wouldn't be able to eat solids a few days later. Luckily, I think it was 1). I started with cottage cheese Wednesday night - it took me an hour to eat 4 oz, but YAY I did it without pain! I was a complete moron yesterday morning - I stopped by my favorite little cafe' & coffee bar for a mocha latte, and they had freshly baked choc chip cookies. I rationalized it to myself that the cookies were soft, but I didn't think about them being all carbs - and exactly the kind I can't have. I nibbled at work and made it through half of one cookie before the pain hit, and OMG did it hit. Same as with the cottage cheese, severe chest pain and nauseau. My coworkers were so worried about me, I was sweaty & clammy and just looked awful. Luckily it passed in about 10 minutes and I threw the damn cookies away. No way Jose, not again! So I went back to my yogurts and cottage cheese for the rest of the day. I decided to go out on a limb when I got home last night and scrambled an egg... YAY - it went down with no prob at all! I was so happy I was almost giddy! Again, it took me most of an hour to eat one scrambled egg, but I don't care - I ATE AN EGG! Woohoo! So now I've moved up my list of soft foods to oatmeal. I can have oatmeal as long as it's really watery. That's not the most appetizing thing in the world, but I don't care. I'M EATING OATMEAL! LOL Go me! I'm so excited!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Lap-Band Issues
Warning... TMI ahead...
The tech told me yesterday when she did my fill that I'd really be able to feel a restriction this time. She said that for some reason, everyone's first fill doesn't really do anything. I think your body is still trying to get used to it, plus the band's never been filled before -- I don't know, whatever. That explains A LOT though because I have been able to eat way more than I expected to. I was able to eat whole McD's Happy Meals and such -- WAY more than I should have been. I even gained 3 lbs - not good!
Anyway, she said I could feel the restriction and HOLY CRAP was she right! Per her instructions, I stuck with liquids only yesterday - liquid yogurt, milk, and potato soup put in the blender. I could move up to soft foods today, so I tried a little cup of cottage cheese this morning. OH NO - bad idea! I don't know if I was taking too big of bites (I thought I was just nibbling), the amount in general (half of an individual serving cup), or it was just too much food for me right now. Another possibility is that she filled my band TOO much and it's too tight for anything more than liquids to pass.
Whatever happened, the cottage cheese made me deathly ill. OMG did I hurt! So now I can officially say that I've been sick from my lap-band. I was so unique that I hadn't puked so far - apparently it's common until you get everything adjusted correctly & your body settles. This is NOT fun - I'm scared to eat now! Of course I know I have to, but yeesh! So, I've taken a step back and am on just liquids again for the day, and I have a call in to my doc to talk about it.
Just forewarning for all of you... I get VERY cranky & bitchy when I can't eat, so watch out!
The tech told me yesterday when she did my fill that I'd really be able to feel a restriction this time. She said that for some reason, everyone's first fill doesn't really do anything. I think your body is still trying to get used to it, plus the band's never been filled before -- I don't know, whatever. That explains A LOT though because I have been able to eat way more than I expected to. I was able to eat whole McD's Happy Meals and such -- WAY more than I should have been. I even gained 3 lbs - not good!
Anyway, she said I could feel the restriction and HOLY CRAP was she right! Per her instructions, I stuck with liquids only yesterday - liquid yogurt, milk, and potato soup put in the blender. I could move up to soft foods today, so I tried a little cup of cottage cheese this morning. OH NO - bad idea! I don't know if I was taking too big of bites (I thought I was just nibbling), the amount in general (half of an individual serving cup), or it was just too much food for me right now. Another possibility is that she filled my band TOO much and it's too tight for anything more than liquids to pass.
Whatever happened, the cottage cheese made me deathly ill. OMG did I hurt! So now I can officially say that I've been sick from my lap-band. I was so unique that I hadn't puked so far - apparently it's common until you get everything adjusted correctly & your body settles. This is NOT fun - I'm scared to eat now! Of course I know I have to, but yeesh! So, I've taken a step back and am on just liquids again for the day, and I have a call in to my doc to talk about it.
Just forewarning for all of you... I get VERY cranky & bitchy when I can't eat, so watch out!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Weight Loss Update - 2nd Fill
I had my second Lap-Band fill/adjustment this morning. They did it at the surgical center instead of the doc's office this time, and I swear I'm never having it done at the doc's again! Don't get me wrong, he's really good at what he does, but he doesn't tell you anything. It's just wham bam & it's over - you're out the door! Did I explain all this before? Oh well - if so, you're going to get it again... I went in & laid down on the table - he told me to do half of a crunch & hold it - he pushed around on my belly until he found the port - once he found that, he inserted the needle (here's the gross part) and fished around inside until he pierced the port - then he added some saline, pulled the needle out & I was done! I swear it was 5 - 10 minutes tops! He gave me a cup of water to drink before I left & then I was free to go home!
Today was totally different... First off, two techs do it. I laid on the table & the first one pushed around until she found the port - she inserted an external port/tube, so she wouldn't have to poke me more than once - I stood up & walked over to a fluoroscope machine (kind of like a rapid picture xray machine) and they positioned me so we could see my abdomen/lap band on a computer screen (this was REALLY cool btw) - the 2nd tech gave me a wonderful shot glass of barium to drink and we watched on the screen as it went down & through my stomach (oh so cool!) - the 2nd tech took a series of pics showing the barium - the 1st tech was able to tell by looking at the xray pic and by the speed the barium went through my lap band ring, how much saline she needed to add - after injecting some saline, they gave me another wonderful shot of barium (which tastes like really chalky pina colada blech) and we watched that go down - apparently everything was right on track then so I was done! She took the port out, slapped a band-aid on me and I was on my way!
She told me how much saline she added and how much total I have now, but of course I'd forgotten before I'd even left the center! Oh well. She said that I should be really able to tell a difference this time. The first adjustments almost do nothing at all - you really don't feel a difference, and you can still eat A LOT. I know - I've been eating everything these days it seems. I actually managed to gain about 3 lbs the last few weeks. Luckily now I'll be back on track, and losing 2 lbs a week again. The worst part about it all is that she said I probably won't be able to handle bread anymore. Aw man! I've been eating just about all the bread and any kind I want! This is going to suck! But, again oh well... we do what we must to be healthy & pretty!
Today was totally different... First off, two techs do it. I laid on the table & the first one pushed around until she found the port - she inserted an external port/tube, so she wouldn't have to poke me more than once - I stood up & walked over to a fluoroscope machine (kind of like a rapid picture xray machine) and they positioned me so we could see my abdomen/lap band on a computer screen (this was REALLY cool btw) - the 2nd tech gave me a wonderful shot glass of barium to drink and we watched on the screen as it went down & through my stomach (oh so cool!) - the 2nd tech took a series of pics showing the barium - the 1st tech was able to tell by looking at the xray pic and by the speed the barium went through my lap band ring, how much saline she needed to add - after injecting some saline, they gave me another wonderful shot of barium (which tastes like really chalky pina colada blech) and we watched that go down - apparently everything was right on track then so I was done! She took the port out, slapped a band-aid on me and I was on my way!
She told me how much saline she added and how much total I have now, but of course I'd forgotten before I'd even left the center! Oh well. She said that I should be really able to tell a difference this time. The first adjustments almost do nothing at all - you really don't feel a difference, and you can still eat A LOT. I know - I've been eating everything these days it seems. I actually managed to gain about 3 lbs the last few weeks. Luckily now I'll be back on track, and losing 2 lbs a week again. The worst part about it all is that she said I probably won't be able to handle bread anymore. Aw man! I've been eating just about all the bread and any kind I want! This is going to suck! But, again oh well... we do what we must to be healthy & pretty!
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