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Finally Seeing Results

I was banded on 3/9/10 and got down to 222lb before being diagnosed with breast cancer on 1/17/11, Spent 90% of 2011 going through surgery, recovery and chemo and ended back at 243lb. Joined Weight Watchers on 10/20/11, Joined the "Y" on 1/3/12 and started the FitLinx program along with 30 minutes a day of cardio. Just hit my first WW goal of 10% of my weight lost - down to 218!   NSV 1 - Although I'd heard all the talk about how exercise helps you have more energy, sleep better and relieve stress, I always was "too busy". Well, I'm still "too busy", but realized that there are things that can wait, like housework and catering to my hubs needs. Putting my health first needs to be a priority especially if I want to be around for the long haul.   NSV 2- Last band adjustment was Nov '11 - any further adjustments were understandably nixed by my WLS until after I finished treatment and got the okay from my oncologist. I got that okay back in October, but haven't felt the need to go back. My restriction is good but more importantly, I've learned to realize what true hunger is and what's emotional eating.   NSV 3- Kudos from my trainer: Jill - Congratulations you've reached a milestone with your Strength training lifting 100 000 lbs! It is your commitment to regular strength training that got you here. Great job! Adrian   2012 May just be the year I finally reach my goal!       <a href="http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/waosz4T/"> <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/t/waosz4T/weight
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

2
 

Weight Watchers, Mastectomy Bras & My Band

Despite only gaining 9 pounds during chemo, my weight bounced right back up to where I was at the beginning of last year. My docs tell me the steroids can have delayed and lasting effects - great. Feeling almost like my old self most days but since starting Arimidex, I have days when I'm beat and my lower back aches like I've been digging ditches. Yet another side effect - but whew! only have to take this drug for five years! A friend got me to try Weight Watchers with her and though it's only been a few weeks, it seems to be helping. Still able to get all the protein I need - it's just so much simpler to have x amount of points to work with rather than the elaborate charts I seemed to be keeping noting protein, calories, carbs, fat etc. Well - I've tried everything else!!   On a strange note - like most women who've had mastectomies, I was professionally fitted for my special bras and prosthetics. The prosthetics add about 3 pounds of weight and are -to be blunt - HUGE! When not holstered, I tend to leave them laying on my bed where they look like two wrinkle breasts just fell off and landed. When worn - gee, it's just as great as wearing a bra before - still having to pull up my right strap while tugging down on the left. It's the first thing off when I get home - just like before. The really strange thing though is that I can't eat while wearing the bra - ANYTHING - and I'm throwing up. I first noticed this when I had to wear a compression bra post-surgery and was throwing up yogurt. Apparently the bra band in combination with the lap band creates some sort of vacuum. This is really great as I now have to either avoid going out to eat, go out wearing a big sweater and no bra, or find a creative way to unhook my bra before eating. Thankfully when I don't eat in public everyone assumes it's because of my band - I just don't admit its the OUTSIDE band...
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

All Done With Chemo

Had my last chemo treatment a week ago. Just now starting to feel a bit more like myself. My oncologist tells me the rule of thumb is to double the number of months you went through treatment and that's a rough estimate of when you'll actually feel like you did before treatment. So for me that'll be around January 2012. Lost my hair - though it is coming back already - and my eyelashes- which really sucks as I consistantly feel like I have grit in my eyes. Biggest side effect is the fatigue which varies from day to day but hasn't been so bad that I've been nonfunctional. Very proud of myself that despite being on heavy duty steroids the day before, day of and day after chemo(including extra given with the chemo), I didn't go crazy eating and only gained 9 pounds through treatment. I was warned before the last go-round in 2000 that I could gain up to 40lbs during the process - which I did plus more! I was given the same warning this time and it scared the crap out of me since I battled to get banded and have struggled to make it work. My oncologist says I can resume adjustments whenever I want, but I think I'm going to give it a month or so to settle out especially as my immune system will be compromised for awhile.   Whew - tired already - Nap Time!
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

4
 

Precognition?

I started my journey on January 14, 2010 with my initial appointment with the bariatric team. We reviewed surgical options; GB -v-RNY etc. and the decision I made was GB due to the fact that I'd had breast cancer in 2000 and if I were to have a reoccurence, the band could be unfilled if I weren't getting the needed nutrition. So here I am, 50 pounds thinner and feeling good, when my yearly breast MRI shows an area of concern on the right breast(my original cancer was on the left). My gyn had me see a surgeon, who ordered an ultrasound and the biopsy done on 1/13 is postive for breast cancer. Just found out today - oddly, exactly 10 years to the date of the last day of my chemo. Of course, I cried but now I'm a bit angry and some what resigned. Kicking myself because I should've had preventative mastectomies 10 years ago and been done with it. Pissed that just as it seemed my life was improving I'm facing the possibility of debilitating surgery, chemo and radiation. Worried that it's spread and I'm not going to see my niece grow up and how will I get everything organized so my husband will be able to stay on top of running the household and caring for our pets. Saddened that I just may die a fat girl who didn't accomplish much. And just a little weirded out that what I said came to pass...and this isn't the first time!
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

1
 

More Fluid Out of The Band

Unfortunately, I've returned to having discomfort after several bites of greek yogurt so my PA took 1cc out of the band - and ahh...no more pain. My labs and counts were all good, but my A1C is still a little over 7%, so I remain on my meds. Because of the issues I've been having, I have to have an upper GI series... At this point all I can say is at least I'm not gaining!
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Checking In

LapBand + bad cold = weight loss! Just kidding - but it's too bad no one ever came up with a non-surgical solution to over eating.   Still hate shopping, but made myself go. Found a pair of great chocolate tweed lined slacks - size 18. Figured they wouldn't fit but they did. Needless to say I did a lot more shopping. Am now a L/XL(misses) on top and 18/20- maybe 1X on the bottom. Finally got rid of the sweatpants my husband said made me look like I was channelling MC Hammer. Another big step for me - actually wearing colors other than BLACK!   Visiting with my RD the other day. She attended a conference where I group of bariatric docs were talking about the "disappointing" success rate with WLS and how gastric banding can serve as "training wheels" for the new gastric sleeve procedure. Very expensive set of training wheels!
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

This & That

A friend of the family was visiting last weekend. She hadn't seen me since July and commented that she could tell I've lost weight. Glad someone could - the scale doesn't seem to be moving at all. Maybe she was just being nice? Nevertheless, I am noticing clothes that I've been wearing all along are starting to become noticibly loose; my favorite career pants are suddenly too long and catching on my heels, my favorite casual henley with the pearl trim- falling of my shoulder. Wondered why people were looking at me funny at the grocery store...then I glanced down and HELLO PLAYTEX! Maybe I should be glad my journey is taking longer - the family friend I wrote about in a prior blog entry was photographed at a recent wedding. Looked like they were either sick or going through chemo. Gaunt and jaundice in appeareance and according to someone who was at the event, running to the bathroom what seemed like every 15 minutes, not eating, but quaffing the booze like no tomorrow. Apparently extremely happy to tell everyone how people keep saying, "You're getting too thin!" and "You look anorexic!" Ended up in the hospital again - this time for dehydration.   My family keeps asking me if this is normal - based on what I've experience and what I read online about everyone else - NO!
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Fill#5

In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, "Shazam!" Made you laugh didn't I!:tt2: So Fill #5 - I had been scheduling my appts for Friday afternoons think that especially in the summer, things are a little less busy and surely I'll be back before 3pm...but for the last four visits, my surgeon's practice is always running late and I never make it back to the office at a decent time, or have waited so long to eat that I end up with a migraine... SO...this time I took Monday off and scheduled a mid-morning appt. What a refreshing surprise..no crowds, no stressed out nurse or PA - I was in and out in 20 minutes. The "fill" ended up being an Unfill - saw a different PA this time and she actually listened to what I was telling her...how my incidents of vomiting have increased including throwing up sipped liquid...how I'm not losing but feel like all I can eat is safe(very crunchy or soft and melting) and dangerous(calorie-wise)...how I am always hungry and my stomach is growling so loudly it's embarassing...how at a family dinner the other night I had three pinky tip bites of med-rare filet mignon, two small slices of baked zucchini and a teaspoon of corn and felt uncomfortable with pain in my throat and upper chest. An awful feeling coupled with the fact that my lower stomach was telling me, "Eat - I'm hungry!" while my brain was saying, "God - please don't let me spit up at the table!" Half an hour later, I was able to eat...dessert - which was a texture I could manage, but not an appropriate energy source on it's own. I guess I should've realized something was off when the night before my fill, I was getting ready for bed, took my Crestor(very small pill) with a couple sips of water on an empty stomach, went to brush my teeth, felt nauseous and tossed my cookies - except there were no "cookies" - it was all water.   My hide is still chapped with regard to my surgeon's practice...the PA would not tell me how much was in my band, "A little over 5cc's..." or how much she took out. I live over an hour from my bariatric center. In an emergency I'm going to my local hospital which is less than five minutes from my house. I also travel quite a bit on business. I'd think that in an emergency I should be able to tell the responding docs what I've got in my body in case they need to take it out. If they'd tell me what's in the band, I'd even put it on a sticky flag with the band card in my wallet in case I was incapacitated. Just seems like common sense to me. Couple that with the $485 the practice just billed my insurance carrier for my last fill...billed as "surgery" ?! and I am moving forward with looking for another bariatric practice for my follow up care.   Why the Unfill? Well, I guess even with as little as I had in my 11cc band, it was too much and the vomiting, the pain after a few bites, the slight cough should've been a tip off. That afternoon after my unfill, I felt the best I had since Fill #4 - other than the extreme belching and burping. I'm eating what I should, feeling a bit more in control(thanks in part to my self-directed therapy), and haven't felt sick and fatigued! :thumbup:   I have to go back in two weeks...
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Admitting I'm a Binge Eater

When I'd finally reached the end of my rope with my weight last fall and began the process of considering and applying for WLS one of the things my surgical practice required was an "essay" on why I wanted WLS. I posted that essay at the beginning of my blog. One thing I commented about myself somewhat laughingly was that I am a "bulimic who doesn't vomit", thinking that I was a rare bird or that I didn't really have a problem. Recently, my NUT recommended, OVERCOMING Binge Eating by Dr. Christopher Fairburn. What an eye-opener! I'm not uncommon and I'm not alone. Sadly, I never felt comfortable telling my doctors about my secret problem. I'm a classic Type-A; organized, perfectionist, Miss-do-it-all, not willing to admit weakness. In fact these are traits often possessed by a bulimic/binge eater. Handling stress, disappointments and sadness but stuffing it down - metaphorically and physically. I now know that if I'd had the courage to reveal my weakness, maybe I could've gotten help before I got to the point of considering WLS. I find it some what distressing, that no doctor - including my surgeon, and their affliated dietitian, and psychologist - ever picked up on it - even when it was there in writing and there was no evidence that anyone had ever addressed this problem with me. So here I am - most of the weight I've lost since banding in March has been pre-surgical. I'm not gaining - I'm stuck at 238. I'm still binging but for the obvious reason, I can't consume as much. I'm still not getting straight answers from my surgical practice and no one there has bothered to bring up the obvious - Jill...why aren't you losing weight? So I'm starting to work through this problem on my own - the above book has a Part II; a self-help workbook - and still looking for the right therapist. There is no way that anyone who says WLS was the easy way out has a clue as to what I'm (and I'm sure a number of fellow bandsters) are dealing with - it's not just the surgery, it's everything else that's coming out as a result. Pray for me as I will for you.
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

4
 

The Fourth Fill

Had #4 on Friday and the experience was par for the course. My appointment was @ 9:30am...I was still waiting at 11:30am along with a fairly crowded waiting room. True brilliance on the part of the scheduling department - only one NP on duty. Many interesting conversations in the waiting room and nice to know I'm not the only one who is hungry all the time and wondering when they're going to get "there". Think we were all a bit taken aback when the NP came out to call someone back and was advised in passing that the doctor had slipped an additional patient into the NP's schedule. Her mini-me meltdown of shrieking, "Where does she think I'm going to find room in my schedule - I'm already booked solid?!!?" made me want to re-schedule then and there! My own fill, while unremarkable(quick; not painful; no backwash) was confusing? disappointing? left me in the dark? I thought after the last fill I had 5.5cc in the band. That was based on this same NP telling me she put 1.5cc in at the last fill. I told her I'm hungry an hour after eating and my loud howling stomach during meetings was getting annoying, so she told me I definitely need a fill(ya think?) and advised that she wouldn't be as aggressive as last time...so she put .6cc in and told me I now have 4.8cc in my band. Huh? So instead of the 1.5cc Fill #3 I actually got .2cc and that's aggressive? When questioned I couldn't get a straight answer - of course I can do the math, but I'd like to know accurately how much is in there. Does explain why I've been so hungry and why- BIG SURPRISE - two hours after eating this morning, I'm hungry AGAIN! Next fill is 8/25 - unless I get bold and try to get in in about two weeks....:closedeyes:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

3
 

Shock & Awe?!

So...big church BBQ last weekend. Lots of family and friends including one who had the LapBand last fall...and has lost 85+ pounds...SINCE the procedure i.e., not including what this person lost in prep for surgery. There were whispers and it wasn't good as this rapid weight loss coupled with this individual's love of tanning beds has resulted in a look that someone described(unkindly but accurate) as a "...cross between a dried prune and a boneless walnut.."! Couple this with this bandster's free admission(but not to their doctor or surgeon) that they often going on nothing but a cereal bar and some yogurt as a once daily meal...oh, and they've been in the ER twice in the past two months for illnesses directly related to improper nutrition/hydration, and a very different face of this potentially helpful procedure emerges. It also put me in the hot seat as some wanted to question why I haven't lost as much(in 4 months - are you serious?) and why don't I look "sick" like X. If seeing the other side of this journey wasn't enough, I was blown away when my fellow bandster announced that after the last trip to the ER, a call was placed to the bariatric facility. Apparently the bariatric facility didn't feel that the ER doc(at a major medical center doing angioplasty, stroke intervention, chemo using ports...) was "qualified" to remove fluid from the band. So - rather than sending a nurse or PA to the hospital or arranging to meet the patient at their PCP's office, a NP met the patient at a convenience store and withdrew all the fluid in the band in the parking lot...and told the patient they'd lost too much weight!:thumbup:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

5
 

Wow - What A Difference 50 Pounds Makes

At my highest I was 283 - now I'm 235...almost 50 pounds off. What really brought it home to me was went I took my five-year-old niece to the beach last weekend. Any one who has a small child knows that after a long day of play, with no nap, "cranky" makes PMS look like a walk in the park. So, when my niece whines, "Aunt Jill my legs hurt when I'm walking(chafing in a wet bathing suit)!" I had no choice but to pick her up and carry all 45+/- pound of little girl to the car. That is a lot to lug! That was what I was dragging around with me for the past seven years. No wonder my back no longer aches and my feet don't bother me and I can actually walk from my office to the downtown area for lunch. No - I'm not "thin" - yet - but I'm slowly but surely on my way.:smile2:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

4
 

Poison Ivy!

So - having more energy can be dangerous! Got it into my head to clear some brush to increase the size of my landscape project. Out I go with my 1" lopers - chop,chop, chop(great stress reliever). I create a giant mound of limbs and brush before going off to help my husband with a building project. At the end of a long day I take a shower, feeling pretty good about my boundless energy. Two days later I'm covered in weeping poison ivy rashes - and I mean covered! That other weight loss positive - looser clothes - meant that as I worked, I was hitching up my pants, tucking my shirt in...so in addition to the sweaty ear I scratched(now big,itchy and red), I have a ring of rash around my waist, one boob with a similiar effect plus my arms and legs which look like I was in a battle for my life against some sort of clawed animal.
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

2
 

**Warning - Off WLS Topic -Weasels from the Past

My senior year in college I dated a graduate student. It was my first head-over-heels love affair. I was 21; he was 26. Never was the line, "Hindsight is always 20/20!" more true and now more than two decades later I Thank God for the un-answered prayer titled, "Oh please let us get back together...".   Right from the start, my friends could not stand Alex. As one pal put it, "His arrogance is only exceeded by his condescension"...or was it the other way around!?! His "friends" had a similar vibe and would ask me what I saw in him. Several weeks into dating me he was let go from his internship at due to a "personality conflict" - of course according to Alex it wasn't his fault; they were against him. I had an uncomfortable feeling then as I would several weeks later when he roughed up a fellow lacrosse player who ribbed him for a missed goal.   Alex played into my insecurities with ruthless skill. Based on my old photos, I would've been considered "cute" maybe even "pretty" and I weighed about 125-130. At that time though, I didn't think I was any of those things and agonized over my weight.   We'd probably been going out less than a month when Alex dropped me off at my dorm after a date. I still remember stepping out of his car as he made a comment along the lines of,"...if you think you're the most beautiful girl in the world, you're sadly mistaken...!". Of course he'd already informed me that he hadn't found me that attractive when he first met me, so this comment while a real kick in the gut wasn't that surprising.   My nieces can't believe I didn't "kick'em to the curb" then and there. Goes to my lack of self-esteem at the time.   As it was, we dated for about six months. I put graduate school on hold because he didn't know where he'd(we - as he implied)get a job. I starved myself because he had no problems advising me at intimate moments that he'd seen me, "looking slimmer in that teddie". I cooked and baked for him only to have him complain that boxed brownie mix was so much better and on one memorable occasion, throw a fit because there were bones in a piece of fish I'd broiled.   Stir into this pot my meddling mother who between trying to live my life for me and engineer our break up was telling me she'd never forgive me I "screwed up" this relationship(she thought Alex was a "catch") and telling him he wasn't good enough for me(well - that was true:w00t:).   Right around graduation time, I found a faux-diamond ring in a Tiffany box on his desk. Since he only bought the best for himself I don't know whether he was going to try to pass it off as the real deal or if it was left there for me to find and either get upset about or give me a clue. I never acknowledged finding it. This was a guy who told me he'd never send me flowers, because then I'd "expect it all the time".   He broke up with me three weeks before graduation. Looking back, I can see how he'd planned the whole thing. There was no concrete "reason" ... he "didn't know what he was going to do with his life", and he "couldn't stand my family"...   Oh he wanted us to stay "friends", but he "too busy" attend my graduation ceremony. Me being the doormat I was back then - went to his. His parents didn't even know he'd dumped me! One of his classmates made the comment to me that "...you don't realize it now, but you dodged a bullet..."   I moved home to Virginia and from the day after I got home he was calling me and sending me job notices from the city he landed in - but never came out and said he wanted us to be together again. Like an idiot, I got a job and moved in with one of my sorority sisters who lived in the area. Quasi-dating lasted three months and we split up again. A month or so later I'd realized I was better off without him and had been accepted to grad school at UVA for the fall term, so I was packing to move back home when he called and wanted me to pick up some things I'd left at his apartment. I should've never gone over.   He'd been drinking and wanted to know why I hadn't called in over a month? Who had I been seeing? You can guess where it went from there - I got to see the same side of Alex that his former lacrosse teammate saw - and a trip to the ER from my roomie-sister - though I had only minor physical injuries.   So jump ahead twenty some odd years. My 21-year-old niece is home from college for the summer and I'm telling her this tale. She wonders if Alex is on FaceBook. I'd prefer not to think of Alex so I never looked - but to amuse her we did. Oh - he's on there and guess who one of his Facebook buddies is - my old roomie-sister..who only knew him because she knew me...and knew what he did and said to me...Two Weasels from the Past!
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Name Change

Yes - Changed my screen name. Thought I was being clever "JaxNole88" refering to the last vacation (Jackson Hole, WY) I enjoyed before I was really plus sized (1988). Got too many strange inquires so I decided to go even more obscure.   RavenClaw779 - Was it my "house" at Hogwarts:tongue2:? Or is it a part of a line from a poem(song) by a famous singer? Did I weigh 779 pounds? Things that make you go "hmmm"!   Ponder on dear readers...
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Haven't Posted in Ages...

Probably because like everyone else I get tired of talking about food, my procedure, how much I have/haven't lost...especially in light of all the other things I have to do. I need a 36 hour day to stay on top of everything else in my life! I still can't figure out the appeal of Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn - although I have accounts with all three, it's a major effort for me to check in, update, post. In some ways it feels very high school and it's all the same attention getting, self-serving brown-nosers as way back when - except now they're the jackasses you either work with or deal with professionally OR the people you hoped never to see or hear from again from high school or college knocking on your virtual door to play the old "look at my fabo life" one-ups-manship game. God - and I thought the sorority sister whose Christmas brag letter was over the top was bad!?! Couple that with the need to censor yourself, and the lack of privacy - I'd much rather send a personal email one-on-one than put myself out there. I've read a fair number of posts re; who to tell - yet another reason to keep your social network settings as limited and private as possible - I had someone from one of my support group meetings attempt to "friend" me and frankly, there are some people with access to my professional life who don't need to know my personal business and some people from my past I'd rather maintain a casual(at best) relationship with - i.e., not out crowing to the old hometown crowd, "OMG - did ya know Jill had weight loss surgery!?!?" Makes going home for the holidays even more dreadful!:rolleyes2:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Survivor to Thriver

My whole GB experience has made me more mindful of the "why" behind my complusive overeating(binging) - my abusive childhood. While I'm still searching for a local therapist to work with one-on-one, I found the Adult Survivors of Child Abuse website and a promising self-help workbook(downloadable for free from their site) titled Survivor to Thriver. I'm facing the fact that regardless of dietary changes, and my new "tool", until I address what's driving my "drive" to eat, my success may be limited.
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

1
 

It's Working!

Yes! Between my dietary counsel from my NUT and the band, the scale has finally started moving and even with just 4cc in my 11cc band I can sense when I'm full. Was actually able to enjoy a modest meal of Chinese take-out last night. What's working for me is not neccessarily the standard "3 meals - no snacks" approach. My NUT has me on a meal plan structured for me which includes real foods(inc veggies and salad), carbs(limited - not zero) and an 8oz glass of moo juice(skim) half an hour after each meal. I use it to take my vitamins. My NUT gives me lots of reading material the latest being the Journal of the American Dietetic Association - April 2010 edition (Understanding the Impact of Bariatric Surgery). One over reaching theme of everything I've read is that there is no hard and fast rule on post procedure nutrition/meal planning and the ADA is trying to nail down specific recs to be made. That said - this works for me and it feels like it's a good mesh(for now) of proper nutrition, willpower and the band.
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

0
 

Group Dynamics

Attended a support group meeting with a friend. There were about 80 people there and not surprising most were quite obese. What got us was when we went around the room with everyone giving their surgery date/weight loss etc and it turned out that most of the people there were a year plus out - and hadn't lost much weight or had reached a plateau. Sadly, the people running the meeting (surgeon's group)had no valuable input to give beyond the same old "60-80grams of Protein!, Exercise!, Eat Less!" Equally troubling - the number of attendees who'd had the procedure yet had no clue about proper nutrition, the presenter when fielding a question from a diabetic patient who commented that because she'd had the procedure she, "couldn't still be a diabetic...next question!..." and the push to go back on Medifast(which they sell - Buy some NOW!) when you reach a plateau. I get more from this site and my NUT - thank God my doctor had the sense to hook me up with the right person!:smile:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

2
 

Meeting with the NUT

...not the one affiliated with my surgeon's practice. Got some concrete instructions, calorie goals and a framework which will hopefully get me moving in the right direction. Still seeking a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and child abuse as I realize that's the true root of my problem.
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

1
 

Yet Another Failure?

It's been over a month since I've seen any weight loss. I remain at 241 regardless of how much or how little I eat. I'm still hungry an hour or so after eating and can only hold out for so long. Prior to deciding to go with gastric banding, I reach a peak weight of 283. I was able to get down to 253 on my own, but the only time I was able to get lower was when I couldn't eat for several weeks due to a severe sinus/ear infection. It feels like it's happening again - I've reached a set point and my body is not going to let go. I guess this harkens back to the severely restricted momma mandated diets of my youth. I'm seeing my NUT today - hopefully she'll have some insight. Guess I should've gone for the GB after all.:biggrin:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

3
 

Dining Out

We've been roped into a family dinner celebration at a very pricey and intimate restaurant tonight. This will be the first time I've eaten out since the operation and my stomach is already roiling in anticipation. I'd have prefered my first meal out to be somewhere noisy and crowded so that if I need to make a quick trip to the restroom, it won't be so obvious...think I'll have a protein shake before we leave and just pick at an appetizer....
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

3
 

Things to Be Thankful For

...and it ain't the fabulous restriction provided by my first fill. Stuck to the clear liquids for 24 hours following my fill and was extremely hungry - in fact when I go too long without eating something real, I get a migraine - so by Thursday morning I was ready to kick some serious a-- ...made it through most of the day on broth and shakes but by that night I was on to mashed potatos and beans. Now it's 2 days since my fill and I am back on regular food, have no restriction and am hungry less than two hours after eating - and I can eat well over a cup with no PB. This is strange as I had PB situations prior to the fill. The PA who did my fill said the band was really, "sucking up" the saline. Call me crazy, but I'm wondering if my band is defective - I shouldn't be feeling LESS restriction than before the fill - Right? I am thankful that my Vanguard fund is bouncing back after the low point in 2008 and my "spring line" for the local artist venue sold out...and I haven't gained any weight...nor have I lost. :tongue_smilie:
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

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The First Fill

Arrived 10 minutes late for my 10:45am appt and thought they'd have to reschedule - but as usual they're running late and I sit for another half hour - guess it's a good thing my afternoon was free.   The nurse took me back and got me on the scale - then the PA came in to do the fill. He was really nice and it was painless - 2.5cc.   What was really interesting is that I go back in another two weeks for another fill and apparently every two weeks until... The PA told me the first three fills are "no charge" - Gee for close to 30K they ought to be free!   Clear liquids today, so I have a raging "no food" headache, but I found that these "test tubes" of liquid protein (100 cal/0 carb/0 fat/25g protein) while not tasty did do the trick.
RavenClaw779

RavenClaw779

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