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Blog 85448

A blog by RavenClaw779 in General

  • Entries

    111

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    200

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    22,067

About this blog

A weight loss surgery blog by RavenClaw779 on BariatricPal. 111 entries on surgery, recovery and progress.

Entries in this blog

Loathing

How awful is it to absolutely loath a fellow bandster? I really enjoy reading everyone's comments and get a lot of useful info, but there's one community member whose self-satisified, Holier-than-Thou, preachy lectures make me want to scream. That vague school-marmish tone directed at fellow bandsters who've slipped on dietary rules. That "maybe you should question why you have the band" finger wag. What -because you slipped you should get your butt to the doctor and have him take it out because

The Apple Don't Fall Far From the Tree?

*Warning - A totally non-WLS rant posted because it's my blog and I'll post what I want to:tt2:   My s-i-l hates to drive at night, so I'll be trucking down to the city to pick up my college age niece. Apparently she has a medical issue which she could've had taken care of at her university health center, but when her mother(my s-i-l) suggested this, my niece had a meltdown and demanded Momma make her an appt at home and fly her in. What a surprise! Momma does what baby wants. She may be 19

Family Gathering Miracle

Went shopping with the s-i-l on Saturday and no comments about my weight etc. Victory! Except for a question about whether or not I can eat asparagus as I was invited to a "cook out" at her house on Sunday...   What a surprise to arrive at my s-i-l's on Sunday to find a variable crowd of people there including my hardly ever seen b-i-l and his wife. Gee - on Saturday is was just me, s-i-l, and my three nieces. Kinda felt like I was being paraded out like a trick pony! Even more interesting -

Good Recipe Idea...or not?

Thought of a great way to get my veggies and breakfast out of the way: * 1 cup Low Sodium V8 * 1 pkt Veggie Powder * 2 scoops of Vitamin World Non-Soy Veggie Protein Powder * Horseradish/Worchestershire Sauce to taste   Ta Da! "Veggie Mary"!   Great idea until I added the Vitamin World product...turned gritty with an awful flavor. I've tried this stuff in various hot and cold applications - supposed to be flavorless - WRONG - it is awful regardless. I'm going to try this again tomorr

Baby Talk?

This is a big "yuck" for me and I'm noticing it more and more - women who are either obese or have had WLS and are in the losing process or at their optimal weight - who insist on using infantile behavior, verbalizations or facial gestures. My latest support group meeting had a fine representation of this...and I'm spelling this as it sounded so my readers can get the vibe: - "I ate too much yesterday and I'm a aufwade my widdle pouch got stretched!" - "I've sooo much weight my pants are too

Good Info & Good Eats

As anyone who reads my blog can guess, I love to read. Working my way through Before & After by Susan Maria Leach. When you get past some of her waxing poetic about her wonderful life and how magic everything is now that she's lost weight, there's some substantially good info - like how to figure out your protein needs. There are also some great recipes. Someone in my local support group recommended BariatricEating.com which is Ms. Leach's company. I got the book when I ordered some produc

The No-Progress Zone

Lost 10 pounds the first week after surgery; lost 31 in the three months prior. Have gained four pounds; then dropped two. My husband asked me what the point of the surgery was, since it was my own efforts that made the most significant change? Good Question. I have no restriction, and can eat normal foods, although the oddest things make me queasy - today it was two pretzels I ate as a precurser to my Oracea. The first fill is next week...I haven't been doing as well as I should with my prote

Easter Dinner

My turn to host the Easter dinner - after I had to convince the "fam" that no, the gastric band procedure did not remove my abilities in the kitchen! Par for the course - despite the fact that I had a whole dinner arranged, my m-i-l had to bring not only the scratch rolls(which I asked her to make - but not enough to feed 20 people), but also a pie and two dozen sweet rolls - for six people?! My s-i-l brought a salad(which I asked her to) but also a pasta salad and a fruit salad in heavy, sugary

A Trip to the Tailor

I'm blessed with a really great tailor - Chris. Her s-i-l had lapband so she gets it. She's also straight up about what she can and can't do. I really hate shopping - I've said it before - even when I was a size 8/10 I hated it. So I naively thought that I'd just had everything taken in - they do it with wedding gowns don't they? Well, Chris had me try on what I brought including a couple of brand new size 24 Charter Club "Allison" pants..which were too small when I bought them in January. She

Some Real Nutritional Info - From a Reliable Source

Met with my NUT practice today(not the one affliated w/my surgeon). I explained that I was confused about what to eat and how much(don't know about everyone else, but I've gotten so many conflicting tidbits that I've got pages of notes). So the ladies get out the ADA Pocket Guide to Bariatric Surgery - Appendix C - LAGB Stages and Postadjustment Diet Instructions. Right there on the front it says, "Note: There is no evidence supporting a specific diet transition. Expert opinion suggests (a) a st

Ashamed to Admit It

I am starving. I am finding that a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of mush does nothing for me and I'm hungry 45 minutes later. I am finding I can eat things like chocolate(melts in your mouth), ice cream and oddly enough - Doritos(crunch down to nothing). So I've gained 3 pounds. I have no fill so the hungry doesn't surprise me but I am disappointed that after the sheer agony of the three month pre-surgical diet, I am cheating. Am I bored with my food choices(Hell Yes!) Is it a good excuse - No. Fill day can't c

What it Cost!?

Since January, $41,683 has been billed to my insurance company for services related to my procedure. The entire surgical charge was $26,829 - excluding the anesthesia. The procedure itself was billed at $17,735 - for a 45 minute pop. What's funny is my carrier's Reasonable & Customary for the surgery alone is $3,130 - so that's what Ellis gets paid. My portion of the entire surgical day - $389. My entire portion of the surgical process plus lead up - $1,482.00 I couldn't pay what they bille

The Nick of Time

(Making up for not blogging for a few days) I realize just how lucky I am to have had my procedure before health care reform really kicks in as who knows what might be "excluded" down the road. Plus, as a result of all the pre-surgical testing I've been checked from head to toe and found to be in excellent health despite my weight and Type II diabetes. I consider myself very lucky that if I am able to tackle the weight problem, I can likely avoid the heart disease, stroke and osteoarthritus his

New Drawers!

So - I'm down from a size 24/26 to around an 18/20 and my underwear was just too big, so I had to go buy some new big girl panties. The experience, though a positive (smaller size) was some what daunting. Why? Well, all the winter clearance sales are going on and there are some sweet deals but as I cruised the racks I realized that by this time next year I have no idea what size I might be. Will I have lost significant weight or just a couple of sizes? So I comfort myself by remembering that I'v

The Cookie Jar

When I was a little girl, my grandmother had a "tattletale" cookie jar. It was what Grandmama called a "German Hausfrau" - the part that held the cookies was her full skirt of dotted swiss and the top was her head and torso. She was a plump lady(the cookie jar - not Gran) with a kerchief over her curly hair; rosy cheeks and her mouth was an open "O". One arm was raised and held a rolling pin the other hand was raised with one finger caught mid-wag as in "naughty - naughty". When you lifted her t

Conflicting Info

From the beginning, I've been getting a different story from the various members of my Bariatric team. Yesterday I had my first post-op visit. I thought it would be the surgeon, but instead it was a nurse. Now, two weeks after surgery they tell me not to twist at the waist as I might get a muscle spasm(yes, thanks - did that the other night in bed), that for the first week after surgery I was to eat 2 tbsp at each meal(Pre-surgery it was 1/4 -1/2 cup), that I should not drink while eating and fo

Post Surgical Follow Up

Wow - it really blew me away - the sheer number of people in the waiting room for post-surgical follow up, but I guess if they're doing 5-6 a day, 6 days a week it makes sense.   Healing okay - first fill will be 4/14. Getting real tired of puree. Nurse was running an hour behind schedule so by the time I got out of there, I'd driven an hour down, been in the office for two and a half hours and face a rush hour drive home. I was starving! Went to McDonalds and got a small coffee, small fry and

The Neighbor from Hell

When we moved from VA six years ago, we found that most of our neighbors were really friendly - except for one couple. From the get-go these people would not say "Hello" or even acknowledge us. We live across the street and two doors down - within eye and ear shot. After witnessing a few incidents of some rough treatment by the parents to their kids and each other, we figured we were blessed NOT to have made their acquaintence.   So imagine my surprise last holiday season when I was up on

Going for Broke on the Laugh Track

My 25-year-old niece just called to see how I'm doing. She tells me she expects to see me in a bathing suit this summer. Laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. Really - when you weight 283 at your highest, regardless of how much weight I lose, the end product is a saggy Sharpei in a swimsuit. I may be healthy at the end of this, but I ain't going to be a looker.

Today's Laugh

S-i-l#1 called today on the pretext of asking me a legal question. "So how much have you lost?" Rather than give JabberJaws more fuel for her gossip machine I just said, "a bit". Hee Hee - it was fun to listen to her squirm: "...so how much did you weigh at the start?" * "Too much for my frame" "...how much do you plan to lose?" * "Enough to lower my BMI to a normal range." "Will you ever weigh what you did when I first met you?" * "Who knows - do you know what you weighed when I met you?"

Low Level Panic Attack

Today while getting dressed, I bumped the area where I think the port is - won't actually know until Monday's post surgical follow up. Man did that ever hurt. I started thinking about this foreign body inside me and starting thinking weird thoughts like...what if I go nuts and yank this thing out?...what if I freak out and jump in my car and drive to the doctor's and beg to have it removed...I got all sweaty and had to get a drink of ice water and go outside to clear my head. Perhaps it's just

No More Ms. Nice Girl or Just A Feel Good Rant?!

Sometimes my friends and family make me want to scream, but being a "Nice Girl" I force a polite smile on my face and role with it.   Today I'm just putting it out there because its better than screaming and scaring the you-know-what out of the dog!   Sister-in-law #1 aka "Jabber Jaws". I'd have thought that after my husband, her brother, Mr. Calm-Cool & Collected got pissed off when she spoiled the surprise of our moving into the area(hence de-railing the big party we'd planned) that sh

Good Read (kinda like "Good Eats")

Just like the band is a tool, I have found another helpful "tool" which helps me slow down my eating habits - Reading! Now, I know you're not supposed to do anything else while eating - like watching TV, but frankly, just how slowly can you consume a protein shake? Sometimes I'm having one while I'm blogging but I've also found that reading an educational book works as well.   I'm currently reading, Secrets of a Former Fat Girl, by Lisa Delaney and Diabesity by Francine R. Kaufman, M.D..  

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