10 Rough Weeks Post-Op

Start weight: 234.5
Current weight: 191.8
Total lost: 42.7

Don't know what I can say at this point, that I haven't already said.

I got on the scales this morning and saw 191.8, but I'm positive it won't last, especially with me wide open. I did take advantage of being open last night and had some of my queso and chips, and may have some today, but I resolve that tomorrow and thereafter, I will eat as minimally as possible, and hopefully won't gain much. But I'm treating today like a vacation :)

CRAP!

WHY is this so freaking hard for me?!?!

I accidentally took a gulp of my coffee this morning, and have been PBing since. I believe I'm so swollen that I can't even keep my saliva down. I called Dr. B's office and got the "on-call" number. The on-call doctor (whose name I missed) said he's actually coming out this way today and is going to try to work out something where he can meet up with me and do an unfill. I told him I didn't care if he did it in the backseat of the car!

I mentioned to him my fill history and he said that he's known several people who could only get .25cc at a time. I think I'm probably one of them. Getting .5cc just seems to be too much for me. I don't know if he's going to completely unfill me (hope not!) or just take out .25cc.

Just hope he hurries. It's already 2:30p.m.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update: I met Dr. Felts and his lovely wife at 6:15 at a gas station in Terrell. He had offered to make a house call, but really, I didn't feel right taking him another 40 minutes out of his way (20 coming/20 going), so I just met him there. He had me sit on the tailgate and did the unfill there. He took all of it out - I'm wide open. He told me to call the office on Monday and set an appointment for the following Monday, and to have them put .8cc in only, and that from now on, I shouldn't get a fill of more than .3. They sat there while I drank down a quarter of a bottle of water to make sure everything was ok, and it was.

I came home, and had dinner, and I feel terrific now, except that I can't get as much water down as I want! :)

Fill me up!

I got a fill today! They pulled .6cc out of it, and added .5cc more, so I now have 1.1cc in me. When it came time to drink the water, I got really gassy, and was worried it wouldn't go down, but it did, and I have since had two Soups at Hand, one for lunch and one for dinner. Tomorrow, we'll try mushies.

They (AIGB, not Dr. B's office) were very impressed that I've dropped 14 lbs since I was last in their office on March 15, and at first hesitated on whether I should have a fill...until I told them I was already up 2 lbs this week, starving, and looking for anything in the world to eat. Those were the magic words apparently, because out came the needle.

All in all, this visit went much better than the last one! LOL...I absolutely have restriction, I'm just barely hungry. Hopefully, I'll come out with a loss this week :)

OH...about my foot - it's not a neuroma. My chiropractor, who I needed to see this week, gave my foot an adjustment and now I can walk almost 2 miles completely pain free :)

9 weeks post-op

Start weight: 234.5
Current weight: 194.8
Total lost: 39.7

I really need a fill, but I think I'm going to put it off. Once again, have spent most of the weekend sick, and it's really taking a toll on me. I've spent the last two weekends sleeping most of the day away, after being sick on Friday nights. I'm having a hard time getting down anything remotely healthy, but chips, ice cream, a freaking bagel dog....all the junk food, goes down and stays down. That makes NO sense to me!

I did manage to lose one pound this week, after gaining two and losing three. More evidence I need a fill.

I tried walking the other day and got a pain in my left foot. So I went yesterday and bought a new pair of cross-trainers, threw the old shoes away on the spot, and walked about a mile around the mall, and damned if it didn't start hurting again! I'll be calling a podiatrist tomorrow. It sounds like Morton's neuroma. I can't imagine what I'll look like if I lose all the weight without walking for exercise!!

I need a fill!!

I've been struggling really hard all week, and have put 2 lbs back on! I don't see the doctor again until Tuesday, which is actually a week earlier than it was supposed to be because he has to go out of town. I'll be shocked if I lose anything this weekend. I'm hungry all the time, and my food choices are like totally BAD (mini-eclairs anyone?). I can eat just about anything I want, and am probably eating a cup at a time, and grazing all day. *sigh*

Still, I'm leery about getting the fill, based on it went the first time, and this fill will probably take me up to 1cc. I can't imagine him giving me only .25cc and I already have .5cc in there.

Because I'm hungry, I've been eating fast, so I've had a couple of PBs this week, but nothing like I've had in the past, thank God! Today I just flat out wasn't paying attention and ate too much and oops, there it went. I'm still not really getting that "full" signal...hopefully the fill will fix that.

Eh, life with the band...not quite what I expected it to be!

8 weeks post-op

Start weight: 234.5
Current weight: 195.8
Total lost: 38.7

OK, so since Monday, I hadn't had a PB until Friday night, and it's been bad since then. I'm going full fluids tonight to end it (which I should have done yesterday). Nice loss this week though, 3.2 lbs.

I've started walking down to the dock, and walking back up, instead of taking the golf cart. For those of you who haven't seen it, we live on a hill that has probably a 10% grade. For someone with bad knees, it's a nightmare, and for most people, a few trips up and down it will cause some tightening in the back of the legs, and perhaps muscle-aches. It's not a lot of exercise, but it's a start.

Size 18 slacks no longer fit me at all, but most of my 16s are fairly snug. I have got to get rid of this belly, which seems to be the majority of the "snug" problem. They go over my thighs, they fit my butt, but come to zip them and it's no go. I do think it's time to get going on the exercise.

When I have the PBs under control, I'm happy and excited about being banded. My daughter asked me last night if knowing what I know, would I do it again. I had to think about it for a minute, but ultimately, the answer is yes. I'm thrilled with how quickly the weight is coming off, and knowing that before Christmas (sooner?), I'll be completely done, and in the meantime, I won't look horrible wearing shorts and the skimpy little tops I love wearing so much during the summer. ;)

Oops!

I should have updated this after my doctor's appointment and didn't. I'm sorry for worrying you guys!

The doctor basically said that he believes it's behavioral, that I haven't hurt my band (he said it would take longer than 2 months of the off/on PBing to cause it to slip), and that he won't give me anymore fills until it's under control.

And of course, I haven't PB'd since I made the appointment. Sheesh!! I've gotten close, but have been able to walk it off each time.

Interestingly, he said that I have a tight band. I suspect (and these are just my own thoughts, and I'm too afraid to ask him) that I was probably borderline on whether to have the regular band or the larger, VG band, and he chose the smaller one. It would explain why a 1cc fill would have caused me so much trouble. Maybe on the next visit, I'll ask him. I've actually thought this for about a month now.

I have a visit in 3 weeks to see how I'm doing. He was very pleased that I had lost 11 lbs (by his scale) since my visit on March 20th, and said he didn't think I really needed a fill, because I'm still losing so well. He also told me to eat a snack in between meals to help with the hunger. So now I get 3 meals and 2 snacks a day...bet THAT slows down my weight loss....lol!

Anyway, I was able to actually eat a piece of thin crust pizza last night, which was a real treat. :)

So, that's where we are. Thanks for caring!!

Appointment made

I'll be seeing Dr. B tomorrow at 11 a.m.

But of course, after getting myself upset again about all this, I managed to eat and keep down last night's dinner of pork loin, asparagus and mashed potatoes.

I am absolutely positive that these PBs are caused by my own behaviors, and the fact that if I really focus on my meals, I can keep the food down, just confirms it.

I'll feel better though if he can assure me that I've not hurt my band!

And I really, really want to thank all of you who are coming by here and reading. It means a lot!

7 weeks post-op

Start weight: 234.5
Current weight: 199.0
Total lost: 35.5

Well, I'm finally under 200, but believe it or not, I'm not happy about it. After my last post about the PBs stopping, by the next night, they were back in full force and haven't stopped yet. With each day that passes, I'm growing more concerned that my band has slipped. I'm calling my doctor tomorrow.

I'm positive that these PBs are behavioral - that I'm eating too fast and not chewing well enough, although God knows, I try. Last night, it was so bad that I couldn't even hold a glass of milk down, although I'm doing ok with coffee today. The thing I am noticing though, is that it now seems to be primarily happening at night, so I'm going to try making my lunch my heavier meal and keeping dinner light, and primarily mushies.

I'm also terrified that I'm headed for malnutrition if I don't get this under control pretty soon. I know when I call my doctor, he's going to want to unfill me, and I'm already starving between meals!

There are truly days when I wish I hadn't done this :(

Weehaww!!

On the way to work: One Myoplex protein shake.

Breakfast: Eggbeaters, one small strip of bacon, one-half of a "Health Nut" english muffin (very high grained).

Snack: 5 cashews.

Lunch: Tomato Soup at Hand, 4 crackers.

Snack: Oops, one-half of a chocolate chip cookie during an office supply company's presentation...everyone else was eating.

Dinner: More of the grilled chicken and mashed potatoes that I ordered at Chili's on Saturday! That was three meals I made out of that child's portion, and still hadn't gotten but halfway through it! I finally fed the rest to the dog, figuring it had been reheated enough.

And best of all...not one PB!! Woohooo!! This was the most food I've eaten in many days. I bet I'm up a pound tomorrow. For the first time, I wouldn't mind.

The most critical thing has been to get the PBs stopped. If I can keep this up for a few days, then I can get back on track. But I've been so very low in nutrition the past few days and it's got me terrified. I lost quite a bit of hair this morning, so I'm not worried about calories at this point.

And actually, with so much protein (and really, not that bad on calories), I may drop a couple of pounds. My body likes me doing a high calorie day a couple of times a week and rewards me appropriately. We'll just have to see :)

But NO PBs!!!!!!!!!!

6 weeks post-op

Start weight: 234.5
Current weight: 201.2
Total lost: 33.3

Still PBing, but not as often. I'm finally learning to take much smaller bites, to put my fork down between bites. Now the thing that I need to work on is knowing when to stop...and I'm even getting better about that over the past couple of days. I'm finally learning to recognize that STOP point before it's too late.

At the moment, I'm wearing some of the shorts that I was wearing last summer, before the weight started piling back on! That's very exciting for me. I spent today cleaning out my closet, and while I didn't get rid of any clothes (except 2 pairs of pants), I pulled all of my clothes out and washed them, and I'm looking forward to getting back into some of them.

I've discovered that I can eat pasta, and best of all, I can eat bread (toasted). I just have to be smart about both of them...very very small bites, and chew very well before swallowing. I can eat Texas toast, but I cut the slice in half, so that I'm eating only the top 1/8" and that's good enough for me.

I'm only 1.3 lbs away from being under 200 again....Woohooo!!

Good news, bad news - 5 wks post-op

Start weight: 234.5
Current weight: 205.0
Total lost: 29.5

Good news: I've lost 2.7 lbs (so far) this week.
Bad news: I haven't had a lot to eat.

I saw my doctor on Tuesday the 20th and he was very pleased with my progress. He asked if I had had a fill yet, so I told him about the fill/unfill fiasco. He decided to go ahead and give me a .5cc fill. I ate fine the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday, but on Thursday the problems started. I ate 1/2 of a scrambled egg, 1 slice of crispy bacon, and 1/2 of a slice of wheat toast with jelly. I felt like I was in heaven! I had no problems eating any of that. But lunch Thursday came back up. Dinner came back up. I kept yesterday's oatmeal down, but lunch and dinner came back up, and so did this morning's breakfast. I've decided to go on mushies for the rest of the weekend.

I think I ate too much at lunch Thursday, and that PB lead to some swelling, and I haven't given my body a chance to rest since then. Hopefully, doing mushies will get things under control. I can't believe a little .5 cc fill could make me this tight.

The 2.7 lbs I've lost this week has been entirely lost since Thursday :(

4 weeks post-op

Start Weight: 234.5 lbs.
Current Weight: 207.8 lbs.
Total Lost: 26.7 lbs.

Well, it looks like I've settled down to 1-2 lbs. per week. I lost 2.2 lbs. this week. I can really tell that I don't have much restriction, but if I'm losing 2 lbs. per week, I guess I'm doing ok. I definitely feel more "open" since my fill/unfill a few days ago. I haven't PB'd once, although I came close a couple of times. And the other night, I finally felt full, from eating. That hasn't happened in awhile and I had eaten about 3/4-1 cup of food...far more than I should be eating.

I think if I continue ok on the PBs, I'll make an appointment for 2 weeks, and ask for a small fill, like maybe .5cc.

I'm happy with what I've lost, but I really would like to drop a little bit faster, and I think a small fill will do the trick.

Oh, and I want to apologize to the friends and family who visit here for some of the technical aspect of being a lapband patient, but a lot of people visit from a lapband forums and we're sharing information ;)

For those who have asked, here's updated pics, taken on 3/17.

First fill misery

Since I've been getting ravenously hungry every two hours, I was really looking forward to my first fill today.

I went in and the fill nurse and I talked for quite awhile, and she was concerned with the number of times that I've PB'd and vomited in the past week. I explained to her that I'm starving when it's time to eat and that I keep having to fight the urge to eat quickly and with too large of a bite. She told me that she really didn't think I should have a fill yet, but she'd go ahead and give me one, if I promised to work on those issues. I promised, and she whipped out the hypodermic and gave me a 1.2cc fill.

I went to take my drink of water and it was quickly apparent that I was too tight. We went back to the room where she proceeded to poke me a second time, and removed .3cc.

Back to the water fountain and this time when I took a drink, I felt like I was in huge trouble. The nurse gave me the option of having the fill removed, or going over to the surgery center and having an x-ray because she was beginning to feel like I had slipped, with all the PBs and vomiting.

They got me into the xray room and gave me barium, and said the band was fine - no slippage (hey, some good news), but the nurse once again came with her handy dandy hypo and after poking me for the third time, took out the rest of my fill.

She said that until I learn to get PBs and vomiting under control - no fills for me, but that I can try again in two weeks, if I have the issues under control.

She did say a couple of things today that surprised me, and I'm posting them here to remind myself later. She said that at this point, I shouldn't worry about getting in enough calories (which was a concern), and that at no point did I need to worry about getting in 60g. of protein, because the only people who need that much protein were athletes! She said that she knew that went against popular belief, but that's been her experience. She said just to get in what I could, and was pleased that I am drinking a Myocel shake daily (17g. of protein) in addition to whatever foods I'm eating.

So, here I am, back at the .5cc my band was filled with at the time of surgery, and still hungry. Although, I did keep my tuna salad lunch down, and have drank almost a whole bottle of water, which is a huge improvement over most days, and I didn't come through the front door prepared to eat whichever animal first presented itself...lol...but I am starting to feel hungry now. Guess it's time to make dinner.

3 weeks post op

Starting weight: 234.5
Current weight: 210.0
Total lost: 24.5

I was going to post last weekend, but the house next door burned to the ground and our house was affected, so I wasn't much up to it (for more detail on that, see Tales from Tawakoni).

I'm still losing at a fairly good rate. I still have PBs from time to time, but I've discovered they're mostly my fault - eating too fast is probably the #1 cause, followed by not chewing well enough. I had one last night trying to eat an egg roll (insides, not the wrapper) and orange chicken. After I thought about it, I took much smaller bites, and chewed chewed chewed and everything was fine.

For the most part, I'm still on mushies, but occasionally, as noted above, I do throw some real food, just trying to find out what I can and cannot eat. In the morning, I'm eating a full package of Instant Oatmeal. I'm drinking full cans of Soup at Hand. I can eat a full package of chicken salad and stonewheat crackers with no trouble at all. I guess I'm eating about 1/2 cup of food at a sitting...every two hours. At that 2nd hour point, I'm simply ravenous and my stomach is growling loudly.

I'm currently scheduled for my first fill on 3/15, although I can't decide if I really need a fill, or if this is normal. I have requested guidance from the wonderful experts on LapbandTalk. If you're considering lapband surgery, that is an incredible resource.

My energy level is finally coming back up, 99% of the pain from the incisions is gone, and what little I have is only annoying, not excruciating. I'm hoping to start walking this week, since the weather is nice, and there's just no excuses anymore NOT to! ;)

I've lost a full size in my pants and am wearing some of the stuff that I had bought last summer. Those clothes were bought as I was gaining weight, so there's no real joy in wearing them yet, but it does feel good to know I'm down nearly 25 lbs! I can see it in my face, and my body is changing rapidly (yeah, I still think I'm in for a tummy tuck when this is over...we'll see). No hair loss yet, in fact, oddly, I'm losing less than I was before the surgery.

HOWEVER....Last night, I was genuinely unhappy, and truly regretting that I had had the surgery done. By taking small bites and chew chew chewing, my dinner was stone cold by the time I got done eating. I ranted and raved around here for a few minutes, and nothing Scott said made me feel better. The weight I've lost already didn't make me feel better. I was just miserable and depressed.

I imagine that was only the first of such tantrums ahead of me. But the bottom line is that I AM almost 25 lbs down, which is almost 1/4th of what I need to lose. I know and acknowledge that the weight loss will eventually slow down to 1-2 lbs a week, but I'm 25% of the way to my goal.

I told Scott the other night that if something happens where they have to operate on me again, like my port flipping, or erosion, or whatever, I'm not having the band placed again. He said I was nuts, having gone through the past year of dieting, counseling, testing, etc., just to undo it. He's probably right, and once I get through the head adjustment of having the band, I'll probably be fine.

I hope.

11 days post op

Starting weight: 234.5
Current weight: 217.2
Total lost: 17.3 lbs.

OK, I promised I'd be honest on this thing, so here goes.

Last Sunday, I ordered stromboli for Scott and Shannon, and I just wanted one little bite, which I took. About 5 minutes later, my world fell apart! I started vomiting, and was in severe pain. This continued for the next 12 hours. I either didn't chew it well enough, or it was the bread, but in any event, that will never happen again! I had NO business trying it anyway, since I was only 4 days post op. For 3 days after that, I could only get fluids down. The doctor's office said I probably had some swelling.

But here, a week later, I'm now able to eat some soft foods - creamy soups, a scrambled egg, mashed potatoes. It's a week early to be eating some of this stuff, but now that all the swelling is gone, I don't seem to have a lot of restriction in the band, and my first fill isn't until March 15, so I get HUNGRY.

I had originally planned to go back to work this past Thursday, but ended up calling the office and asking for the rest of the week, so I'll return tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about that, considering that I run from one end of the office to the other all day long, but hopefully, it'll be ok.

I'm still having a little pain at the port site, but all of the incisions have healed, and all the steri-strips are gone. The best part, of course, is being 17.3 lbs lighter!

I may post some pictures later today.

Progress

Weight: 223.8 lbs.
Total since pre-op diet: 10.7 lbs.
Total since surgery: 5.2 lbs.


I finally got out of the house yesterday, and went to Walmart. That was definitely a chore! I also walked down to the beach today, but Scott had to bring me back up in the golf cart.

I'm trying to stay compliant with my liquid diet, but I started having hunger pains today. This is NOT good! My first fill won't be until 3/20, and I won't start full liquids for another 8 days, and mushy food for another 2 wks after that.

I may have to call and see if I can have an early fill.

Two days post surgery

OK...I suppose if I were younger, this might have been a lot easier, but as of today, I'm getting around quite a bit better. Thank God for Lortab! It tastes nasty in its liquid form, but I can live with that. The first two days were pretty brutal though.

I've lost 3.5 lbs since going into surgery Wednesday morning, so my stats look like this: 234.5/225.5/140 (that's prior weight/current weight/goal weight).

The first layer of bandaids came off last night, and the incisions are looking pretty good. Looks like the scarring will be minimal.

I can get all my maintenance pills down without crushing or cutting, which was a concern. So far, my biggest concern is remembering to "eat"! I have to have 3 protein shakes a day AND 3 liquids from a short list. I guess I'm going to have to schedule times to eat and make sure I get them all in, which will be easier when I'm not sleeping every few hours.

So far, I'm pleased! :)

3 days till lapband!

OK, I had Scott take my before pictures tonight. I've lost 7 lbs since I started my semi-liquid diet on Wednesday, January 31, so I'm down to 227.4.





I'm getting a little nervous, but I'm sure everything will be just fine! *gulp*

Surgery is scheduled!

Well, after almost a year of jumping through hoops, my lapband surgery is scheduled for Valentine's Day. The timing isn't great, but I'll never forget my banding date :)

It also gives me a week off work, and I'll be heading back up to Ohio again during that week to celebrate my daughter's 25th birthday.

I'm on a pre-operative diet, and it's just killing me. There's no way I can stick to it. I have a breakfast of cereal or oatmeal, along with toast or fruit, a protein shake for lunch, and then a dinner consisting of a lean meat and a vegetable, and then another protein shake. Unfortunately, by the time dinner rolls around, I'm just starving and eat more than I should. This is less food than I'd be eating after I get banded! I don't know how they expect me to do this. :(

My starting weight on the pre-operative diet was 234.5. I'm loathe to admit that publicly, but if I'm going to share my journey through lapband, then I need to be honest.

Wish me luck!