Yuck! I've never had reflux and I don't think I want to experience it. I absolute detest upchucking. 1500 cals? Have a couple of glasses of wine.

Bargoo, thanks. I'm interested in these things as well.

As expected, I got turned down. It all surrounds around the fact that I can no longer walk for 15 minutes. That is not due to my weight. It is strictly due to the fact that I have A Fib because of those blasted (the word I wanted to use starts with a "d") Icy Hot Patches.

I did tell her about how I learned what I did. You may have someone named Joan in here following you. She's the coordinator for the Stanford study.

Did you know that the people in the previous study have to wear the belt 9 hrs per day? It charges when they sleep. You are lucky in that you only wear it for a half hour a couple of times per week.

I will be here cheering you on. I will be with you in spirit and if you need a cyber hand to hold at any time, grab mine.

Wow! So glad I found this forum. I'm heading down to the University of Minnesota mid November for my Vbloc screening. I think I'm a pretty good candidate, my BMI where they want it to be, and I'm perfectly healthy, just fat! I can't believe the amount of trips they want us to make there. I don't live in the metro area, and it's going to be 7,500 miles total on my car for all the trips there and back. And the Northstar line doesn't connect to the U yet. So, we'll see.

My biggest concern is that with the other device they tested, the results of the active device was no different than the inactive device. Going to have to do lots of 'splaining to convince me that this one is different. Darn it, I understand how to read statistics! lol.

Thought I would follow up now that I am ten days post-implant. I am slowly trying to figure out what and how to eat so as not to suffer GERD. It seems to be helpful to chew everything to mush and eat very slowly. So far apples don't seem to sit well, nor does eating quickly. I must be a food inhaler so I am doing my best to slow it down.

I am on a 1600 calorie goal and so far haven't come close to eating that many calories a day. Just not that hungry. Study staff would like me to drink 64 oz a day and that seems a task as well. In order to get all my calories in, I am going to have to pace myself and eat every couple of hours. I will ask at my next appointment if I should eat the 1600 calories or eat as my hunger dictates, which to date, would be less.

So far the biggest annoyance is the discomfort I have in sleeping. I just can't seem to find the position that doesn't hurt. Back sleeping isn't my thing. Sometimes I find myself a bit sore in the morning.

I know for some of you the trip back and forth to the study site will be an inconvenience. For me, it is walking distance from work, about a mile.

Hope all of you are doing well and what works best for you!

Cheers,
Citizen

Veronica,
All great questions. I never had GERD before. Slowly, I am finding that I need to eat smaller, more frequent meals...and chew, chew, chew! I too was a voracious water drinker, but it feels like my stomach is too full much of the time to take in much liquid. This just has to be a learning process. A typical meal for me is 1/2 a frozn Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine meal and half a bag of frozen vegetables. That seems to go fine if I don't drink with the meal and really take the time to chew the food to absolute mush. I aim for 20 to 30 chews. Breakfast is either yogurt or a pouch of oatmeal. In between I will try for some small snacks of crackers with a bit of cheese. Frozen snacks go down well, usually fruit bars or low fat ice cream.

The post op visit was close to two hours. The usual vitals and weigh in with setting up the charging device and instruction on that and about a half an hour with the dietician. Thereafter, I would plan on an hour.

As for Thanksgiving, I would not have been up for it one day after surgery. I spent a night in the hospital and really layed around for the next three days without much else. General anesthesia takes its toll on the body. Plus I felt sorta out of it with the device feeling like a small person sitting on top of my stomach! That feeling has subsided, but in any event it is major surgery. One of the incisions is several inches long. And I was tired!

I went back to work exactly one week after the surgery. I am in a professional position with fairly flexible hours and my work is very sedentary. That being said, there were a few afternoons where I could have put my head down on the desk and gone back to sleep. Yesterday, 10 days post op I was able to get a couple of shopping hours in at MOA, so slowly my stamina is coming back. Today I plan to get out and walk for a half an hour or so.

Best of luck to you as you approach your surgery date. Hopefully our paths will cross soon.

citizen

yeah, finding a comfortable sleeping position post op is pretty tough. I've always been a stomach and side sleeper, but have somehow managed to sleep on my back the last couple of weeks.

wow, strange that they would really schedule anyone for this the day before Thanksgiving. I didn't have a whole lot of pain the following day, but not very comfortable moving around. I stayed in bed most of the day. No way would I have been in the mood for entertaining family. Good luck!

Hi Lori,

Welcome to the club! Yeah, once things start going, they go really quickly. Glad to hear our limited experience gave you some help. I think I'm in the same boat as you as far as the **slightly crazy** club :)
Let us know how it goes

sorry to hear you were turned down mare. I hope you can find another solution that works for you! Let us know how things go.

Hi Folks!!

Let me put on my 'moderator' hat to ask you a couple of Qs.

First of all - we're glad you're here - and this won't be a post about where you should be posting and what you should be saying.

Nope. but please let me know a couple of things -

would you like this stickied at the top of the page? as of now, because you're all posting regularly, the thread stays on the top of the list. And that's fine with me, with you, and with everyone. But, if you think you'd like it to be stickied at the top of the page, just let me know.

and the other thing is - there's a 500-post limit for individual threads, so we're going to have to discuss at some point how long you want the threads to be. Remember - longer threads are much harder for anyone - especially newbies - to navigate.

My suggestion - and I'm open to others - is to let this thread run for oh, about 8-10 pages, then close it and start a new one. OR you can start a new thread every month, or even every week.

Just let me know what you'd like, and we'll make it happen!

OK. moderator's hat is off. thanks!

I'm good with a sticky. I think 20-25 pages is easy to digest (sorry for the pun)

thanks!

Hey everyone. How's everything with you guys? Things are going well with my vbloc therapy. I see some gradual weight loss. about 6-8 lbs. it varies all the time, but I'm happy with the results. I have noticed that I don't feel hungry much like I used to and that's a good thing, and I seem to feel full after a much smaller amount of food. I'm a little more active too. I went for a 4 mile walk today for the first time and feel great.

citizen, how are you doing with yours? keep us up to date so we can compare.

Veronica and Lori, getting closer for you huh? Getting anxious?

Hello Dear Friends,

I find that things are settling down a bit. Eating too quickly and not chewing enough continue to be problematic for me. I find I must really attend to eating and paying attention to chewing. Digestion begins in the mouth after all!

So far I have lost eight pounds which is pretty good. I try to get out and walk a few times a weeks, but find I must set goals for myself or it doesn't happen.

Sleep is a bit better, but still find myself in a bit of pain when rolling over or moving "funny". That seems to be from the actual device rather than the pain of healing from the incision site. Do you find that to be true as well Chubbyhubby?

I too find myself eating smaller meals and being fairly satisfied after a meal. All in all, things are going well.

Take care dear friends.

I'm so happy for all of you.

I'm glad I started this thread, however, IA it should be changed. It certainly could be a sticky at the top. It is up to you. This is now your thread. Also, you can do a monthly one much like those in the exercise section.

I wish you all well. Wish I could have been 1 of you.

Thanks Lori. Sorry, I had it locked down to keep the spammers away, but I guess I over did it. It's fixed now, please feel free to leave a comment whenever you like!

Let us know how the surgery went and what your experiences were like.

Best of luck!

That is quite interesting. It makes sense. When I went to my meeting and mentioned this thread (didn't say where it was to the entire group) nothing was mentioned about not doing it. Perhaps the others can shed some light as well.

I really hope they don't squelch all conversations for 5 years!

Good luck to all of you.

I completely and totally understand. I was so looking forward to hearing about our results. You could always come back in and say that you live in Eastern Armpit Mongolia and your name is whatever you want and tell us. LOL.

Well, surgery was Tuesday and it went well. 9:00 check in. 10:30 surgery. Out of surgery by 12:00, home by 3:30. Not too bad! I've been sore, but no more than I would have expected. Day 2 and 3 were the roughest, but I was able to be by myself, no problem. Today, just tired and sore. I'll be able to work on Monday.

I have a 3" incision under my right rib cage and 3 very small incisions around my belly. All incisions were closed with the glue (which is kind of itchy now).

I have my follow up appointment to get the hardware and meet the nutritionists on Tuesday. I asked the surgeon about updating on the boards, and he said he didn't know anything about it. I'll check with the program director on Tuesday.

Happy weekend!

It is my understanding that you won't know which you have.

We were told that most people go home same day. I guess it has to do with each person.

What do you mean "get the hardware"? I thought that was what they did during the surgery.

Well, I'm scheduled for my surgery in December. I'm more than a little freaked out right now. Those of you with the VBloc devices, how is it going? It's really hard to find anything about this on the web, and anything I find is NOT positive. Not really sure if I want to do this or not.

Lorislosinit I'm also in the Portland study (or will be I think) and would love to talk with you. Let me know if you are interested in emailing.

Lori, it says that you have no contact information listed. Can you check out my profile and see if you can view my email information and email me? Thanks!

Ugh! I don't think you can see my contact information, Lori. I have emailed them to see how to make it visible.

In the meantime, I would like to hear an update from you on how you are doing. What can I expect the week after surgery? Tell me if you can feel/see the device and does it hurt? How is your hunger and do you have any side effects?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I am getting nervous. My surgery is on December 15th!

Hi guys,

sorry, haven't posted much lately. I took my blog down since all of you were being told that it was a big no-no. I don't want to jeopardize my study.

pdxloser71, welcome. No need to freak out :) I've had mine for about 6 weeks now and things are going just fine. No issues whatsoever. I can feel my device, actually can see it, it sticks out on me a bit on the side which seems to be more common for men than women since we store our fat differently. I was told it's not so visible for women. the first month or so, I could feel it kind of moving around in there, not so firmly in place yet, so when I drove and hit bumps, it kind of jiggled around and felt weird. I actually went and purchased an abdominal binder and wore it for a few weeks and it felt much better.
Now, it's much better, I walk, jog, etc with no issues.

I had to go to traffic court recently and had to go through the metal detector. I told them before I went through that I would probably set it off and gave them my card. Sure enough, I set it off. They just walked me through and took me aside and checked me manually. No biggie, but it was interesting.

Again, don't freak out, it's pretty straight forward and not that big of a deal. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!

Great information, chubbyhubby, thanks! Are you having any issues with nausea or GERD? Are you able to sleep on your left side and stomach? Also, how is your weight loss going?

no issues at all with nausea or GERD at all. Sleeping on my side was impossible the first couple of weeks, but not an issue anymore. Weight loss is slow but steady (aside from Thanksgiving :0 ). Wish it was more dramatic, but I'm going in the right direction.

Hmmm. Interesting. I don't remember hearing this. It's very possible. I should look into this. Thanks for the info

Well-- our director confirmed Veronica's posts. No posting, no blogging, no discussing, no social networking .... Until after 12 months.

Good luck all!! Take care and be well!

I am going to the U of M for surgery Dec 14th, any advice

I cannot discuss the study due to study protocol, but I can tell you about my experience at Fairview at the U of M. It basically went quite well and both my roomie and I felt pretty good by the day after surgery. I did have severe shoulder and neck pain which I was told could happen. It has something to do with anesthesia gases.

Veronica

Surgery date: Nov. 30, 2011
Starting Weight 239.7
Today's Weight 237.2

Today's weight 230.0

Tomorrow morning is the big day

I know you were getting the surgery today. I was in the basement at the clinic for my checkup and thinking of you upstairs in the hospital. I would have stopped upstairs if I knew your name, but really who wants a stranger seeing them in the hospital anyways. I hope you are doing well, and just know you may feel terrible now, but you will be much better in a few days. My surgery was on a Wednesday; released on Thursday; went to work all day on Friday. Not recommended - and I took no pain meds while at work - but I survived it fine.

Best Wishes,

Veronica

Had my surgery yesterday. everything went smoothly. I'm sore today, but doing fine if I keep up with the pain meds. I hope you others that had your procedure yesterday are doing well! Hang in there!

Veronica,

Thanks for your reply. It turns out I had a hiatal hernia that needed to be repaired as well so I am very sore and very tired. I am not sure how you skipped the pain meds because going six hours for me is bad. I am incredibly black and blue today. Follow up on Monday due to the holidays being next week.

Glad to hear your hernia got repaired. My mom has one and I recently talked her into getting it repaired, but hers has gotten so big that it is currently inoperable due to the need for surgical mesh. They said I have a very small one but I don't know if they fixed it or not - probably so. I can imagine you are tired and sore from getting that additional bit of surgery done. My boyfriend drove me to work on the Friday after surgery and picked me up. I was poppin pain pills in the driveway as we left my office Friday afternoon; the soreness caught up with me and I was really tired (I am no superwoman). My surgery was at the end of November and I still have one bruise. When they gave me the anti-clotting shot in my abdomen, the nurse did a bad job of it and I still have an ugly bruise in that spot.

Just don't push yourself too hard. I hope you have plenty of help and support at home; I think that is what made things so much easier for me. Glad to hear you came through it all well. Isn't this exciting, a new phase of life learning to eat like a 'normal person'. I want to break my food addiction so bad and I know this tool (like any other) is not the solution for every person. But I am hoping I have finally found the one that works for me.

Best of luck to you,

Veronica

Today 228 - woo!!

Veronica: Did the pressure on your side from the weight of the device become less noticable? I feel like my abdomen is distended and tight, which is probably from the surgery, but with the added pressure of the device on my side, I'm feeling pretty miserable and can't get comfortable. Also, I'm curious about the anti-clotting shot they gave you. How did they determine that you needed that? I've been having pain in my left breast and it crossed my mind that I should be aware of the risk of clots.

The pressure will ease up, but it will still probably take 2 weeks before you can get comfortable. I think everyone got the anti-clotting shot. I believe I know one reason why you might be having pain in your left breast but I could be wrong (not dangerous). But I don't think I can say why (protocol). Write down when you have the pains, you might see a pattern. I think if it continues you should tell the nurse at the clinic to make sure it isn't something they need to check on.

Veronica

I am suffering from the same thing, especially at night and I am soooo itchy