Leaderboard

Just got the call from my bank!! I'm approved!! SURGERY IS OFFICALLY A GO! I never thought this would happen so fast! It's something I just started really investigating in January, and it looks like I'll be signed tomorrow, and can schedule surgery as early as the end of this month... Funny, all those nervous feelings are gone- I'm totally confident in the choice I'm making, and frankly, I'm ready to have my LIFE BACK. I'll keep you posted!!

Well I was always told by my surgeon that lapband patients should never throw up and this question has come up many times on the forums what happens if you get a stomach virus. Well I haven't had one in about 2 decades so I was kind of hoping I wouldn't ever get one again. Well last night after dinner my stomach felt like crap. I only ate a small amount of pork but I took some prilosec and went to bed. Holy crap at 2 a.m. I woke up heaving up what I thought was all my internal organs and had massive amounts of diarrhea I know TMI. The good thing was the only thing that was coming up was gas so it was just horrible dry heaving. I was home alone because my husband was away and I knew I could not drive to the hospital with a bucket heaving as hard as I was. I figured I would take some compazine I had from my gallbladder surgery and I called my surgeon. He said drink water even if it comes back up because it will make the throwing up less violent and meet him at his office at 6.a.m. Well so much for the compazine because that wouldnt even stay down. My doctor met me at his office at 6a.m gave me a shot for the nausea because he is nice like that and sent me for a stat ct scan. By now I was only throwing up about every hour. My little band was fine thank God. He said at three years post op that it is probably well adhered to the stomach so it would take more than this to move it. Of course I have major swelling so he told me clear liquids for the rest of the week and through the weekend and not to try to put any food in there even if I am hungry. He gave me a shot for the nausea which thank God has gone away and told me to drink plenty of gator aid for now. He didn't think there was a need to remove the fluid, just resting the stomach would do fine he said. Well the one good thing about all this is I hate more then anything to throw up and I was thankful that nothing came up. So now ya know if you have a stomach virus the first thing to do is call your doctor to guide you. He is there for me no matter what. I dont feel embarrassed to call him and this time I needed him. I don't like going to the ER's for things like this because there are worse off people then me in there. So now if the other end stops I will be fine. Trying to eat some italian water ice slowly just to get some fluids in. So my hope is to not have a stomach virus for another 4 decades now lol.

Growing up I was always the wall flower. I was the kid a teacher never knew was in class. I was quiet and kept to myself for the most part. While I did have friends, I was careful at school not to get in trouble or break rules, that was just me. I was never loud or abnoxius and never wanted to go against the grain. I was a blender, always blending into the back ground where ever I was. As I got older this trend continued, the only place where I would step up and take a lead was in my job, because that is where I have to. Being a manager I had to be the head of what I did and often times would have to public speak, but that was fine because it was my area of expertise. I always thought my wall flowerness was due to my weight and my not wanting to be seen. But, after losing 50 lbs I have come to see this is just who I am. I still am not a flashy person. I don't like wearing things that make me stand out- I wear normal colors not flashy bright ones. I won't color my hair a odd color for me because it would draw attention. While I feel better about myself I am still the same old wall flower. Even on this site, I post questions and post blogs on a regular basis, but many times do not get feed back or response, which frankly is a little disheartening. But, I must except I am the wall flower and that is just who I am. Maybe one day I will bloom into a beautiful rose that is noticed, but I doubt it, but I am me.

I watched the end of The Biggest Loser and the man voted off said, I did not want another man to raise my son. I loved that. I don't want another woman with my husband or her wearing my jewelry and being grammie to my grandsons. So I can quote him too. I now know I am doing something to keep me around longer. Enjoy your day. Have a happy Fat Tuesday to all who celebrate.

I never gave my big clothes to good will or the salvation arm because I feel this way: We give them things for free and then they turn around and sell stuff for outrageous prices. Some of their clothes I could go to Ross and buy brand new ones for what thrift stores sell their clothes. I have a lot of nice dress clothes and I decided I would sell them on Ebay. In one day I made 80 bucks doing nothing more then sitting in my house placing things on ebay. Everytime I need to go down a size I just start listing the bigger items on ebay. Within a week I have enough money to buy a whole new ward drobe. Lets face it WLS and losing tons of weight is inevitable we all need new clothes. So why not make money off your good used clothing. I also am starting to buy things on clearance and sell them for full price. You would be surprised how many people will bid way over what you put the starting bid at. For instance: i put a pair of just my size jeans on ebay for $4.00 by the time they were done bidding I made $16.50. I think I only paid $7.00 for the jeans on clearance when I was wearing them. So I made enough to buy two more pair in my size now. There is money to be made folks. All you need is a paypal account to get paid with and they will send you a debit card to use if you want one. The first sales take a few weeks for ebay to give you the money but if you are a new seller they have to make sure your stuff is legit. So get to selling your old clothes and make some money for some new ones. I think I have found a new business to start. If I can find stuff on clearance for $2.00 at Ross no matter what size and sell it for full price I have made 150% profit. Use flat rate shipping, print your shipping labels off paypal, the will deduct if from your funds so no out of pocket expense for you. Go to the post office get a small box, tape the postage on and off it goes. Easy peasy. Now make some dough because who doesnt like to go shopping.

Had my 2 week check up yesterday. The last two weeks were a little rough on me, but mostly because I put my knee out, three days b4 the operation. Getting dressed, putting socks on, silly things became a problem for me that I had not expected! I am now drinking 26oz of water a day an 8oz protein drink with 42g of protein a day Food has been odd, I have no urge to eat at all, and have been trying to force one tea spoon of apple sauce or baby food into my mouth every day, but I simply dont enjoy it. However last my my husband strongly urged me to try some scrambled egg, and I ate two tea spoons with no troubles at all, it feels a little thick going down, but it's okay. I also eat a sugar free ice pop every night, it takes me about an hour lol but it's my guilty pleasure I have lost 32lbs!!!! I am taking all my pills, you know, the biotin and iron and calcium and vits.... my bp is now perfect, pulse is coming down , hardly no hair loss... at first it was tough, but people are right it gets better every day... I get a little tired quite easy, but one step at a time!

This morning I did my norm morning routine. Got up pottied and got on the scale before dressing (TMI I know, but it is always best to weigh in you birthday suit). The hubs walks in and hugs me and says "geez I can reach my elbows when I wrap my arms around you". Then he said "I'm proud of you babe, but don't get so skinny I have to shake the sheets to find ya". For those who don't know my husband is visually impaired. His vision is 20/800 - legally blind since birth. Granted he is well educated graduated with honors with a degree in computer science and is a well respected software engineer. He just can't see very well. So it's always been the running joke that he feel for me because I was large print (he always replied to that with you said that not me). Now he is joking saying I am getting so small he won't be able to see me anymore. The joking is all in fun- he is very supportive of my weight loss journey and is helping me leaps and bounds. But I must say it would be nice for him to have to shake the sheets to find me

So I am 4 weeks post op. I am still losing weight although I had my first week where I did not. I had the dreaded TOM and everything stopped for a week. Thankfully, this week I am down 3 more lbs. Total lost so far is 24lbs. This week I have also discovered what people mean when they say stress tightens the band. Boy does it ever. I had a rotten experience where I had to defend my son from some pretty nasty accusations this week. (no worries, eventually turned out in his favor) As soon as I arrived back home I felt for the first time almost as if someone had their hand around my stomach. It was the first time I felt like I wanted to throw up. I did not, thank goodness. I did full liquids for the rest of the day and half of the next day and things seemed to calm down. This week my husband and I have also decided to start saving to have ground broken on our new house. Dealing with banks, finances, mortgages and all of that has been stressful as well. I am learning how to incorporate the band into daily life and am very grateful it is here. We have even been able to go out to eat and I am doing well making better choices. Before, with all this stress I would be eating everything not nailed down. I am a stress eater and there is stress galore in my life. However, my fear of throwing up or getting anything stuck has really worked in my favor. I have not been eating out of control. If anything now I have to make myself get enough calories for the minimum I am required to have. i am still super excited to be banded. I think with all the stress of my life changes this is still going to be the best year of my life. I am becoming healthier. I have started to love to exercise where I hated it before. I love to dance and ride bikes. I am excited about life right now. For the first time in 20 years.. I feel like I can accomplish anything. That is really saying something when you are only 34. To have all of your younger years be miserable and suddenly find happiness is a blessing. I will forever be grateful to my surgeon and my wonderful family. They are the best support group I could ever ask for. Being part of this group is also wonderful. Being able to search for topics whenever I have a question has been very helpful. I hope everyone continues to post their progress.

Well finally I have arrived at a date that I had to fight for. After one and a half years - I had my vertical sleeve surgery and am now 1 week post-op. At first, I took several months gathering my information so I could make my best informed decision. And then had to appeal my insurance company's original decision to deny coverage for me. Went through all the pre-op process and testing - and now I am on my way!!!! I have 1 more week to go through for the liquid diet phase. I really do not mind it right now. I certainly am missing food. However, this surgery will give me the opportunity to break all my bad habits. In the process, I will be able to truly determine what all my triggers are and change all of my daily habits with food. Looking forward to lots of blogging as I run through this next year---to my best life ever.

10 days to go and I can hardly wait, I'm almost counting down the secs. My emotions are all over the place, one moment I'm jumping up and down like a child waiting for Christmas, and then five mins later I'm in a panic, wondering if I'm doing the right thing, and how much it's going to hurt, will I be able to drink enough fluids ect, then back to how great I'm going to look and how much I'm going to enjoy working out like I used to. arghhhhhhhhhhhh... I hope it's all pretty normal... I'm now on one small, healthy meal a day and two protein shakes, I spent the $50 and got the large can of isopure vanilla, and I mix it with unsweetened almond milk it was a good purchase, I love the taste, it reminds me of an old fashioned malt shake yum! Oh yes and I started walking again, I guess as they are going to make me walk in the hospital I had better get used to it so I thought I would try and get in a mile a day for starters, I made my goal today thats about it for today, the pre operation diet is driving me nuts, I'm not hungry in my stomach at all, but my head is constantly like a child screaming for food, snacks and trash im demented by it... anyone out there? anyone know what I'm going on about? and anyone got any advice? apart from telling my head to hush up lol xoxox