The band continues to amaze me. I am down 2 lbs since last week and I haven't even been trying. Granted I am not eating recklessly or anything but I have been eating normal (for bandsters) portions which I don't have to measure anymore thanks to 26 months of practice.... But I had a few bites of cheese cake for my birthday and ate out alot this week due to a busy social week....and I was sure I would have gained a lb or 2 ... And I actually lost 2 lbs. the band is doing exactly what I hoped it would do!!
Friday morning one of my employees was a no call no show.... Missing work is Not completely atypical for this particular guy as he does seem to use his PTO as fast as he earns it...but not to call with a lame excuse is odd. As the morning wore on I could t help but thinking I should call the hospitals or jails.... But I didn't. He is an adult and can pick up a phone. Yesterday I got a call on my cell from an employee pretty close to him... She was worried as she hadn't seen any Facebook posts since Thursday about dinner time. She called a few people....nothing.... She looked up who's in jail online....nothing. So she started calling hospitals. He had been to the ER on Thursday night but was released. Somehow she got hold of his landlord and asked for a wellness check... He was dead in his apartment.
The details are sketchy...but we found out he had been mugged at a gas station on Thursday night going out to get cigarettes. Beat up pretty good and left for dead. They took his money, credit cards and iPhone.... Police came and off to the hospital he went. He was released on Friday night.... But had no phone and evidentially was on pain medication and went to sleep so didn't call anyone.... No family or friends or work... Sometime between Friday night and 9 pm on Saturday he died....
It's just so sad.... And makes you count your blessings and hug your loved ones a little tighter.... Because life is so uncertain....
Sitting at my desk wishing it was Friday... when I received a call from the hospital where I had my lap band surgery in December 2010 and most recently a sonogram after my tummy tuck to see what was causing the bleeding from my belly button. My first thought was they found some dreaded infection or worse yet…tumors… I braced myself for the bad news wondering why my plastic surgeon wasn’t calling…
The woman identified herself as the Director of Patient Relations and she was calling to congratulate me on my successful Lap Band journey and ask me if I would be interested in a starring role in their new advertising campaign. It’s just in the works now and it may be print or television…no details are firm yet.
After I picked my mouth off the ground and tried to wrap my head around the fact this wasn’t bad news… I thanked her for the call and asked how much it paid. Well maybe not quite that blunt but in a roundabout sort of way…. LOL. She doesn’t think it pays but it may open the door for other things… Like what…. I have no idea.
So anyway…. I thanked her for the call, told her I would consider it and she assured me I would be hearing from their creative department. I hung up the phone and the first thought I had was seeing my body on a billboard on the highway…. I spent all this time to get thin and now they want to blow me up…. Hysterical.
As you may have seen Someone posted that to me today.... Stop preaching.
I really thought about it and decided that if my preaching about.... be good to the band and it will be good to you....helps one person out... Its worth having someone tell me to stop preaching.
So I am not stopping. I will shout it from the rooftops... I love my band and my band loves me because I treat it with respect and dedication... If it chooses to fail me down the road it won't be from my doing...and I will just deal with it when the time comes. In the meantime the band and my effort gave me a thin healthy outlook on life and I plan on singing it's praises forever....
My day started out typical...until I left work for a 1045 a dr appointment. My plastic surgeon has been concerned about the bleeding from my belly button that started almost 2 weeks after my tummy tuck.....but stopped since I saw him Monday. For precaution he wanted to check me out anyway. Last night I thought I was in the clear...no bleeding, minimal swelling... But I went anyway because I am a firm believer in following drs orders. And this morning there was a small amount of blood and swelling above the incision line.
Immediately the dr noticed the swelling and decided to make 3 tiny incisions, pack them with gauze and let me drain for 24 hrs. Once he did that.... He said that would redirect the belly button bleed but my body has a mind of its own because it didn't work. After another 15 minutes of push and trying to figure out where is drainage was coming from he decided to send me accross the street to the hospital for an ultrasound so he could see exactly where they pockets of blood were.
Keep in mind this drainage isn't too unusual...it's not life threatening... its just messy and inconvenient. But the fact it didn't stop once he made the cuts concerned him. So he called the radiologist ...you know the one doctor who you never meet but sends you a bill for reading your radiology reports.....LOL
Anyway they saw me right away...which was a little concerning to me ....but comforting too. I hop on the table and the tech starts to do the ultrasound and finds two dark spots on either side of the belly button...not under the muscle....just under the skin. I also saw my port which looked pretty!!! The tech called in the dr who assured me he just spoke to my plastic surgeon and he was going to aspirate them.....or try too. Basically that means to take a needle and stick it in the dark spot and try to suck it out.
The dr called the spots blood clots or hematomas. After i heard the blood clot word I asked him how concerned I should be. He said they were not in arteries or veins so not life threatening. He said they are not unusual and they would eventually be absorbed by the body but they would just as soon get rid if them. He brought out a 5" needle and plunged into the larger clot. Nothing. It was so think he couldn't suck it out. He said he needed a bigger needle. I equated that to JAWS...we are going to need a bigger boat! The larger needle didn't help....he got about an Inch up the needle and it stopped. Too thick. He did get a little to send to the lab to rule out anything funky but he decided to move to the smaller one. That one came out lick a dee split. One down..one left....
The radiologist called my PS and told him what's was up and they decided to let me go and let the drains do their thing tonight and I go back in the morning to clean the drainage and decide what to do with the remaining clot. I was uncomfortable but had to go back to work to clean up stuff which I left...considering I was gone 4 hrs and only prepared for one!! I was walking a little funny but finished out my day and drove home. My PS called me on the way home to see how I was doing... And to tell me what he and the RAD discussed...
So tonight I am lying in bed...resting and being really mad at my body for keeping this old blood as a souvenir from my surgery....
Like many others i am sure.... I get a lot of PMs from people at different stages of their journey asking how they can be as successful as I have been, what were my challenges, what do I eat etc....... And I answer each and every question. A handful of people, write back thanking me or expressing their concerns, frustrations etc....But I really am not sure why most of the others actually do not... I offer my opinions, answer their questions and give them the what worked for me speech... And then I never hear from them again. Not even a thanks for taking the time to answer me...
I am not expecting life long pen pals and i I am greatful when Someone actually acknowledges my repy... But for someone to take the time to write, m to take the time to answer I am baffled as to why they don't acknowledge my answer.
Just another thing to make you go hmmmmm
Someone said that to me today. I was back at work ...granted I was at home but I could do my job in a closet and no one would notice...LOL. Any way I was on the phone with one of my employees and she asked how I was recovering from my surgery... She doesn't know it's nature..but anyway I told her I was really surprised at how well I was doing albet I would like to feel a little less tired....but she said...well happy people get good results.
It got me to thinking.... And of course there are exceptions to this rule of thumb...but do you believe it?
I Cooked a fab dinner for my Inlaws, hubby, one of our daughters and the light of my life her 18 month old daughter. Even though I am less than week post op from the tt and bj surgery I started early and rested in-between chores. Polishing the silver was more strenuous than I expected but I didn't push it and was fine. I did have someone clean this week so didn't have to worry about that... But the shopping and cooking was all me. We had rib eye steak w bernaise sauce, sauteed caramelized onions and mushrooms, twice baked potatoes, Lima beans, green beans, carrots, my speciality spinach salad, rolls and apple pie, vanilla pudding pie laced with chocolate and homemade cookies.
Since I am maintaining and healing from surgery I decided I would really enjoy a few more bites then normal since I cooked all my favs...well except the Lima beans...bleckkkkk. So the eating commenced and I ate about 2 oz of meat, a teaspoon of the mushrooms and onions, a few green beans, 1 carrot, and about a 1/4 c of salad. I also had about 1/4 of the potato and one cookie.... I was amazed... I seriously couldnt eat any more...
I love my band. I will never gain the weight back... Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night....
Finally slept a full 8 hrs without any Vicodin!!! That was a feat in itself. But then I looked in the mirror and saw more bruises then I imagine are on those NFL players after a game.... OMG... I look like I have been roughed up pretty well. On Friday the dr warned me they would start appearing...well he was right...
Yesterday I bought a Spanx like garment which is high waisted. The dr said it would help with the torso swelling. Well it helped alright... The swelling is down but the bruising has surfaced...LOL
And I am exercising the girls..... So much to learn. Evidentially for the rest of my life every day I am supposed to do massage exercises to keep them soft and supple.... This cracks me up. But I am doing it... only takes a minute in the morning and night but for the next few weeks I have to add in an extra massage at lunchtime.
Well I wrestled over posting these pics in my gallery...but they are there and I think they arent any worse then what I would look like on the beach... so have a look if you are interested.... I think they came out AMAZING! Can't wait for the upper swelling to go down.
I posted tummy tuck before and after in my gallery and hopefully on this blog....... granted its only been less than 48 hours but even with the swelling you get the general idea.... I am not brave enough to post the "girls"... until i can figure out how to cover up the personal parts..... but they look marvelous!
I had an appointment this morning for an unfill prior to my Tuesday's tt and breast lift surgery... I had called my lapband surgeon's office and was told I needed to come in for an unfill. SO I left work... shlepped over to his office, waited for 15 minutes and did the normal weigh in...vitals etc... I had lost 15 lbs since October (my last fill appt). I knew this but always nice to see on his charts.
Anyway the Dr comes in and of course is happy with my progrees and we chat about my upcoming TT and he said...so why are you here? I tell him and he said...we do not need to do an unfill for surgery.... I am so sorry my nurse gave you the wrong info. I was like...um ok... but it was nice to see you... and he said to the nurse...no charge for today, gave me a hug and told me to stop in to show him the results but that unless I need him he doesnt need to see me for 4 months. I felt like we were breaking up....LOL
So I recieved a call from my plastic surgeon's assistant this morning.... I have my pre op appointment late this afternoon as my tummy tuck and breast lift is next Tuesday.... She wanted to remind me to bring in a picture of how I would like my girls to look after surgery. I told her I found a pic online and will bring it with me.
Of course what I didnt tell her was that it was hysterical doing it.... I have never looked at so many breasts in my life... I never realized how weird it was to analyze them, try to imagine how they will look on my body etc... And of course I had to incluide hubby in my quest for the perfect breast.... who really thought it didnt matter as long as I was happy. So he was no help. LOL
I narrowed it down to 2 pics of people who had lifts after weight loss, who were over 45, over 5'7 and about 157 lbs..... basically ones I thought looked natural and were about my size and shape... we'll see what the Dr says.
One more chapter in this fun journey.....
If I could figure out how to post a pic from the iPad I would show you....I don't think I have ever had a pair of pants that had two buttons... Evidentially my daughter tells me they are low rise and that's the way they are supposed to be... Who knew? LOL.
I am finding out all kinds of new things as life as a thin person.....
So I went to a Christmas party last night.. at the home of friends we see regularly so saw lots of people who have seen me recently but more that havent seen me since this party last year. While its fun to hear and oh so flattering... the accolaids were almost embarrassing.... I was like.... isnt there something else to talk about besides my weight loss?
But then this morning I did my customary morning ritual on the scale and I weighed in at 159!!! I do not EVER remember in my life being in the 150s... I am in shock and no one is awake yet in my house so I had to rush on to tell you.... Holy #%#%... who would woulda thunk it? Maybe 150 isnt a pipe dream....
Happy Sunday!
I have been posting in the forums for several years and never even noticed the blog feature... but recently I am seeing that everyone is blogging.. so thought I would try it out.
This week my patience has been tried on the forums so maybe I need to be more selective in replying to certain posts and use a blog to vent... something to think about....
Have to go to my office Christmas party in 30 minutes.... I will stand around with my pretty glass of water with lemon and watch everyone stuff their faces on rich fatty appetizers... And tomorrow I will still be in my new found size 8s and they will be thinking of how to shed the bloat from their over induldging. Life is good!
