Dear Reader, you might recall that two weeks ago I visited Dr. Todd Beckstedt to have some fluid withdrawn from my band. You might also recall that I took a trip via ambulance to the hospital the next day to check out some chest pains that turned out to not be heart-related.

Today: the rest of the story, or at least the next part of the story.

Upon returning to Dr. B this morning to begin my maintenance refills, I apprised him of that exciting little adventure in medical care. He told me that it is fairly common for folks who’ve lost a large amount of weight quickly to have gall bladder problems (two and a half years is quickly?). He decided to send me for an ultrasound and some other kind of test then determine a date for surgery. Bless his little prompt heart, the ultrasound is tomorrow and I see him again the day after. In the last five years I’ve had at least three or four surgeries, so I suggested that while he is in there he should look around for anything else that might need to be removed in the future and yank it out now.

He just patted my hand and said we’d wait until after the gall bladder thing is resolved to start refills.

Urk.

I suppose I haven’t done too badly without restriction though I have indulged myself in food groups I haven’t visited in two and a half years: biscuits and gravy, a hamburger and fries, and BREAD. Real, warm, honest to goodness bread. My weight went up about two pounds over two weeks, but since it can shift that much in a single day I didn’t go into complete Freak-Out Mode when faced with the scale of justice, but moderated back to only Justifiably Alarmed.

Having access to unlimited amounts of foods I used to love was worrisome, but by indulging a bit, I learned a few things:

1. Hamburgers and fries do not constitute Manna From On High. In fact, I disliked the very meal that once drove me relentlessly toward 240 pounds.
   
2. One really can have a) too much bacon; too much ice cream; c) too much biscuits and gravy. The jury is still out on too much watermelon. More study is needed.
   
3. Fresh bread is a serious temptation if hot from the oven and sitting next to fresh butter, but the stuff that comes prepackaged tastes a lot like construction paper.
   
4. Carbonated drinks keep me awake at night, no matter how early in the morning I drink them.
   
5. After the first rush of pleasure is past, junk food makes me feel… well, junky.
   

I have enjoyed eating salad that contains normally prohibitive amounts of fiber. Oranges taste wonderful right out of the skin and I had forgotten the joys of eating grapes that weren’t divvied into mouse-bite-sized portions. With any luck, my maintenance restriction will not be as severe as my weight loss restriction and I’ll be able to eat fruit and vegetables again without mincing them.

But if not, I will survive.