Archives for October 2013

One Week Post-Op Review with Doctor

Nevada desert wildflowers

Well it was my 1 week follow up with my doctor today after my lap band surgery last Friday.  Officially 10 lbs lighter in 7 days!  Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!!

I had a few questions and a confession for this visit so once he gave me the all clear after he checked my incisions ( all 4 of them).

1. Where was my port?  All the pictures and diagrams I see in the office and on the web show it sitting on your rib cage on the left.  However, I found out that my port is in my belly button, not on my rib cage as I thought.  This explains the extra bruising and soreness that I did not expect.  It wasn’t until after I left that I starting wondering if this would cause me any problems when it comes to wearing jeans?  You know? the tightness around your midsection?  I’ve made a mental note to ask about that at my next visit…

2. Walking alone.  I had been told after lab band surgery to walk, walk, walk…but be careful and walk with someone.  I wasn’t sure how long before I could start walking around the block on my lunch hour at work but I have now been given the go ahead…Let’s start burning some calories!

3.  Taking in too much at one time?  I followed all the rules so my real concern when it came to putting anything in my mouth this week was the amount of fluid I could drink.  I’ve been able to drink a full 16 oz of water or a 10 oz protein shake with a banana blended and haven’t had any issues with anything I’ve tried blending and eating.  I actually said, “Are you sure it (the lap band) is in there?”

The Doc reassured me that there is no problems with fluids as long as I am having no ill effects and that “Yes, the band is there.  And, No, I will not do any damage it by being able to take in fluids.”  I currently have no fill in the band and it is not designed to stop fluids from passing thru.  It’s purpose is the stop and hold solid food there for that feeling of fullness and to keep me full while it slowly filters the food thru the band.  This made me feel much better.

4. Mushies human food confession time:  And finally, I talked about the fact that I had tried a few foods not on the list of approved “creamies” like oatmeal.  But my big confession was going out to dinner the night before and having 2 oz. of salmon and about 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes.  I know this doesn’t seem like much but I’m not supposed to eat anything that isn’t creamed to the consistency of yogurt until the end of next week so I expected some bad reaction.  Surprise!  There was nothing.  I was fine.  But the guilt kicked in once I got home and I started worrying about whether I hurt myself by not following the rules.

The doctor responded that as long as I stay away from tough meats (i.e. chicken, beef, pork) for at least another couple weeks and I continue to not have any reactions that it’s ok for me to move on to the “Mushie” stage, which means I can now have mashed potatoes, apple sauce and most soups.  Also, if things go well, I can start eating regular people food after 2 weeks.

5.  Can I get my 1st fill earlier than 5 more weeks?  The lap band doctor says that once I am on “human” food for at least 1 week then I can get a fill.  What this means is I am scheduled for my first fill in my band in 4 weeks. (That will be it’s own blog post).

So for now, all-in-all, it was a great check up and I am doing well.