Going well
By trina4ufl,
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trina4ufl
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Blog Entries posted by trina4ufl
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Well, Things are going well. I got another fill a couple of weeks ago, and it is really tight. I've had heartburn for the first time I throw up if i eat too fast or the wrong kind of food. I'm actually considering a slight unfill at my next appt. I'm currently at 218 and keep receiving tons of compliments. My future sister in law says I look like I need to eat a cheeseburger! My boyfriends' mom, said I look super skinny and my boyfriend can't keep his hands off me. The only problem? No clothes that fit! I would kill for a pair of black pants that didn't hang off my butt and drag on the floor. I had an awesome time on Halloween. I was a vampire with a costume that I threw together at the last minute, but the teeth were awesome. I'll try and post some pics. Okay, it wouldn't let me upload them for some reason but if you're interested, go to http://trina4ufl.livejournal.com/
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You'll never guess what my fortune cookie said last night...I was working on my laptop, as usual, and I open my fortune, which said,
Put business matters aside for now and concentrate on your love life
I thought this was pretty funny and appropriate as well!!!
So, based on that, I'll be taking several months off work to travel and concentrate on my love life! Yeah, I wish!!!!
Okay, I'm kind of stalled for the past two weeks in my weight loss, losing and gaining the same 2-3 pounds. I'm giving myself some slack since I had a really bad cold/flu bug and I'm still trying to shake it, so I only went to the gym one time last week and ate more food because I didn't want to lack in nutrition when I'm trying to get over being sick. I ate zaxby's fried chicken fingers and french fries yesterday, and felt really bad about it, so I didnt eat anything else yesterday which put me at the right calorie level, but I should not be eating that crap. I know I need a fill if I can eat fried chicken fingers! Today I was a paragon of virtue and only ate: coffee w/ sf creamer, nonfat light keylime pie flavoried yogurt, Live Active Light cottage chese snack pack and a protein drink. I'm going to go the gym tonight as well and do weights and cardio.
On the dating front, I joined an online dating site to see what's out there and so far I've been propositioned by a married guy (supposedly separated, but you know how that goes) and a sexy croation guy (at least from the pictures) who lives with his parents and I don't think he has a car. Lucky in love as usual!!! LOL. And no, I'm not going to go out with either of them.
That crazy guy from the beach drunk dialed me last night and left three long messages about how much he missed me..um What? I haven't heard from you in three weeks??
I have a work conference Wed in Orlando so I'm leaving tomorrow night after work to stay at my parents house. I go to the training all day Wed and then I'm spending the rest of the week with my parents in Orlando. My dad's going to do my taxes so I can pay off at least a big chunk of my medical bills. They put me on a payment plan of $179 a month for a year, but I think I can pay it off in a few months. I think I have all the tax documents I need and I'm hoping on a decent size refund, not the $500 I got back last year (I paid $10,000 to the government in SS and fed income tax and only got back $500!).
I really need a fill, so I'm going to do the next week on pure will-power and good decision-making. I'll let you know how it goes. :cheatfree:
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Well, my birthday dinner went great. I got off work early, got ready and my "date" came by early to give me two presents which he wrapped himself and pick me up to take me to dinner. I got to dinner and all of my friends were there on time. It was so great to have everyone there together. Everyone seemed to get along great and have a great time. We ate japanese hibachi. I ordered filet mignon and lobster and it was wonderful. I got to see a couple of my friends that I haven't seen in a long time, and it made me miss spending more time with them and resolve to talk to them more. I received several really nice presents and one of my friends brought an ice cream cake. I was so full after dinner, but it was well worth it. I had an amazing time.
I weighed myself the next morning and was down 2 pounds. I'm not sure how I gained a pound earlier in the week when I hadn't been eating much at all and then ate a lot at dinner Wed and lost weight, but hey, I'll take it.
I'm now at 270. One pound away from my birthday goal.
After dinner, I went by one of my friend's and saw her and her boyfriend's new house, which was really nice and my boyfriend and I hung out there for awhile and then went back to my place where we continued spending some quality time together and talking. I didn't get much sleep and woke up on Thursday with a massive cold. I've felt pretty sick with a bad cold ever since and my hard drive crashed. I've had the computer a little over a year and it just went out of warranty. I ended up buying a new hard drive today and I left my computer with my boyfriend, who was nice enough to agree to change out the hard drive and install everything again and make sure it is running on "optimal performance" (whatever that means!). I'm using my work laptop for now. I think my boyfriend and I have come to a better understanding and have bonded more. He was telling me the other night how in his past relationships he spent every waking second with the person for five years or more and then it didn't work out and that basically it makes him want to change how he behaves in a relationship. He actually started crying. I felt really bad for him, but it also made me think that I'm not sure how I feel about him at this point (it's only been a month), and I can't promise him that it won't be the same way with us. We left it with us both just seeing what happens and taking it one day at a time, but he has been much more attentive since then--calling every day and being much more involved in my life. I still haven't told him about the lapband. He's told me so many personal things about himself, I'm not sure why I haven't told him, but it takes me awhile to open up about things.
I hide my stomach and he thinks that it's because I'm self-concious about my "belly" and tells me I'm being silly, but in reality, I don't want him to see my scars. I'm sure he'd be great about it if/when I tell him, but for now, I like keeping my secrets.
I had off work Friday and I have Monday off too. It sucks that I'm sick for my mini vacation, but I took a bunch of cold medicine and am starting to feel better. Sunday is my actual birthday and my boyfriend is taking me to the gun range so we can go target shooting, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'm really looking forward to it. My friend Melissa and her husband are getting oysters tomorrow (my absolute favorite food!) and cooking them on the grill. I can't wait! This weekend is going to go by way too quickly, I can tell already, but I'm going to enjoy every minute. Now if I can just drop that last pesky pound to my goal and get over this cold, everything would be perfect!:sneaky:
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I've been at 239 for the past two days. I'm really excited about being under 240. I don't even remember being in the 230's, that's how long ago it was. I was 240 after I dieted in college. I might have been around there when I started college. Everyone has been telling me how thin I look (It's relative, but still, I'll take it!) I'm in a good groove right now. My restriction has actually loosened up, but for me, that's actually been a good thing. I realize that when I'm too tight, I feel like I'm malnourished or that I need to be eating but I can't and it makes me eat crappy food. Right now, I can eat, but I'm not hungry alot and I get full quickly. I've been eating healthy and going to the gym. It's going great!
I found out that the job I'm applying for is between me and one other person. Now I've decided that I really want the job, so wish me luck! I should now something in about a week or two. It will mean more income and if I leave my current job, I'll get my leave paid out, so I'll finally be able to pay off all my hospital and doctor bills.
My boyfriend and I are getting along well and I'm looking forward to spending time with him this weekend. He usually works all weekend, but he has Saturday off, so we're going to a friend's cookout and doing some other fun stuff. I can't wait!:cursing:
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December 1st!!!! I am a crazy mix of excited and nervous!! I start my pre-op diet on Monday. My surgery is in 16 days! I am hardly believe it!
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Okay, so I went to my primary care doctor today, with all my paperwork. I was nervous to ask her for the letter of medical necessity so I talked about my foot first. Apparently I have heel spurs and she suggested orthopedic shoes. Uggh! I think I"m going to try a heel pad. She mentioned that it can come from excess weight. I think she was just about to suggest some kind of new diet....ugh..That was the perfect opportunity to bring up the fact that I wanted lap band surgery. She looked king of confused, then looked through my chart. Well, you do qualify, she said..and then pondered it. She said, well, what about RNY instead? It has more proven results. She's big on proven research. I asked her for Seasonale birth control a year ago and she said no because there wasn't enough research on the long term results. I told her that I felt that Lap Band was better for me and cited the reasons. She said she' d had two patients that it had failed on. I asked her what she meant by failed (ie. did they die or what?) She said they ate around the band and gained the weight back and you had to be very committed if the band was going to work. I told her that's me exactly. Because I am very committed. I pointed out that I lost 77 pounds two years ago on weight watchers and the gym I go to told me I'd gone to the gym more days that year than any other member. Then she seemed to get excited about it because she started typing (my letter, maybe?) and started piling up my justifications for surgery or my insurance (heel spurs now...back pain, joint pain, she said my blood pressure was borderline, I told her that my back hurt and she said, "Excellent!" She measured my waist, ordered a chest xray, ordered the Thyroid test, a diabetes/insulin test (not sure why) and a bunch of other blood tests. She wanted a stress test, but later decided they'd deny it, because of my lack of symptoms. Then she told me she wouldn't approve it unless I quit smoking. I told her I wanted to do that anyway. She said I had to quit at least 2 weeks before surgery. She told me she'd see me again before surgery and I had to quit before she'd give me clearance and not to lie about it. I agreed not to lie. I have issues with lying to a doctor who's in charge of my health and safety. I don't think I'd ever lie to my doc, what's the point? Anyway, I told her I probably needed help quitting and she suggested Chiabix? However, my insurance doesn't cover smoking cessation (i know, crazy) and i heard it's expensive, so I suggested Wellbutrin, because that's also an antidepressant, so I think they'll cover it. She prescribed that and Xanax because she said I'll be bitchy. No argument there. She made an appointment in a month and I have to have quit smoking by then and she'll give me clearance for the surgery. She's an insurance guru so I'm actually starting to believe this will happen. She also sent over a referral for a surgery consult with my lap band surgeon. WHOOO HOOOO!
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So I've had a really bad cold for the past week, so I haven't been to the gym and I've also been really hungry lately. I don't have much restriction so I've been eating pretty badly. I haven't gained any weight, but I haven't lost any either and I have yet to see 269 on the scale. I have another doctor appointment on Tuesday and I'm going to ask him if it's possible that I have a leak. I just don't get how I could barely eat any food at all three weeks ago and now I can eat anything (almost). It's also going to be one of the slower months for weight loss. I'm going to try and step it up this last week, but going from eating nothing to eating alot and not working out has not resulted in a large weight loss for the month. I'll be lucky to have lost 10 pounds, and I say lucky because it may be less. I'm going to count my blessings though and get back on it this week. I also am going to try for more restriction at the next appointment.
The guy I've been dating for the past month may know all my secrets including all the gory details of my lapband. My hard drive crashed and he helped me out by putting in the new one, but a few days later he "mentioned" that he was able to save my old hard drive--onto his computer!!! He said he didn't look through it, but I don't know that i believe him. It had before and after pictures, the letter I wrote to the insurance company to get the surgery, and a Video blog I took before I started this whole thing. It's not that I don't plan on telling him eventually if this works out, it's just that my computer had really personal stuff on it and I'm embarrassed by the fact that he may know it all now. But hindsight is 20/20 and I can't do anything about it now, so I'm going to try and not stress over it. If he did read it all, he's still talking to me but wow, I look really bad in some of those "before" pictures. I also would like to explain it in my own time rather than have someone reading through my personal journals, that are more personal than this journal by far! I'm trying not to stress over this! I'm hoping he didn't read through my hard drive!
I'm going out of town this weekend for my cousin's shower, so I'll be unable to go to the gym at my parent's house and of course they love to push food at me, but I'm determined to lose some more weight before the appointment on Tuesday. I'll keep updates on how it goes.
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Well, I've been doing great since my fill. I think I've lost another 5-6 pounds, though I'm not supposed to be weighing myself every day. Weigh day is Tuesday (mental note to myself). Work is insanely busy, I'm supposed to help my sister with this research paper, I go to the gym every day after work, and to top it all off, I have a date on Wed. with a guy that I talked to for 2 hours on the phone today.
I'm so busy it's beginning to seem a bit chaotic, but at least I don't have time to eat out of boredom! The bad new is that it's almost midnight and I have to go to work tomorrow! I also haven't had time to eat anything other than protein shake before I went to Zumba at the gym today and a piece of Minibel light cheese. I'm looking in my fridge/pantry and so do not have the time to cook anything. Eating healthy is hard work! I need to go the grocery store and stock up on more healthy food. I literally don't have anything to eat in the house. I need to get 8 hours of sleep a night or I don't feel rested and am more likely to get sick again. This cold/flu bug seems to be everywhere and I don't have time to be sick.
I do have next Friday/Monday off work and I was thinking about going out of town, but now just a few days of relaxation is seeming better to me right now. I would also save money by staying in town and finances are still tight as I'm still paying off my hospital bills and the surgeon's office has not refunded me the $500 that they owe me...SO..I guess I'll decide later in the week. Oh and my internet connection sucks at home. I think I may need a new router. Something else I don't have time to shop for...
For now, super super busy...
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Well, after much work, I finally got insurance approval!!! I'm waiting on a surgery date, but I'm hoping for early December. I've been researching this thing to death and feel ready--nervous/excited/but ready. Here we go!
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So I had my surgery for breast reduction and abdominoplasty on Tuesday. They said it went really well. I did have a lot of pain and discomfort, but I am also heavily medicated, so I've been sleeping all the time. The breasts really don't hurt at all, but the stomach muscles hurt a lot the first day, and the sutures have hurt the past two days. I have my follow up appointment today. They removed 11 pounds altogether. I haven't seen the results yet because I'm in this body "armor" and support bra and I can't take it off until after my post-op appt today. I'm almost afraid to see it because I know it's going to look bad at first. I did look down right after surgery and was woah!! and the nurses thought something was wrong, but I said, my stomach is gone! It was a really great feeling. My mom is here taking care of me. I think it would be almost impossible to do this without someone here because I need her help just to get in and out of bed. The stomach hurts alot whenever I move, but as long as I stay still, everything is okay. My back and neck are really sore from having to sleep in the same position. All in all, not super fun and very uncomfortable, but not intolerable and definitely worth it if it ends up looking/feeling good. I'll post more soon.
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I need to post new pics, though I guess I haven't because the weight loss has been pretty slow. I didn't lose anything for awhile and one week I gained back the weight I had lost the week before, but now I'm at 237 which I'm still pretty happy about because at least it's going in the right direction. I know I could be doing better. I've been eating small portions, but "regular" food instead of "diet" food. I just got really sick of yogurt and cottage cheese. Plus I think I was too tight for awhile and that made me eat whatever I could get down. I did have an "epidsode" today though. I've been able to eat pretty well, small portions but most foods. I've eaten steak several times but only a little bit. Well today, I was out of town for the day with my boyfriend and we didn't get a chance to eat so I was super super hungry by 6pm. I met up with my friends who don't know about my WLS and ordered a ribeye. I ate it way too fast and had to throw up. The worst part was that I thought I was going to throw up right at the table. I ran to the bathroom, but it was really crowded and no one likes hearing someone puke in a restaurant, so I went outside. It was really crowded out there too with people walking around, parking, etc. I just kept hoping it would go down, but no dice. I finally puked by my car. I still felt like I needed to puke more so I paid my tab and told my friends I got suddenly sick. They were really concerned and worried. Then I had to puke again by my car. I got home, barely, and puked a little more and then laid down and was okay. Stupid of me to eat steak fast. I was actually considering getting another fill on the 11th but now I know I should not. I just need to be patient and eat healthier. I'm just impatient because it's not falling off the way it was at first. However, I know that the slow weight loss is better for the skin situation. Other than that, things are going well. I have a couple of days off work so I'm enjoying them. I'll get the official weight loss at the doctor's appointment on Aug. 11th. I'm going to keep hitting the gym and crack down on the food choices until then and hope for a good weight loss.
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Okay, here are some progress pics two months and about a week after surgery.
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My fill is still holding, though it's loosened up a bit. I'm struggling with trying to eat more healthy, as my weight has stayed the same the past two weeks. I've also been slacking on going to the gym as I had last week off work and spent three of the days hanging out with my boyfriend and the rest of the week visiting my parents. I'm hoping if I'm diligent at the gym and eat healthy, I should lose more. I am pretty much where i want to be restriction-wise. I'm also just past the 6 month mark, so I want to kick it up so I continue to lose at least 10 pounds per month if possible. NSV: I've been getting alot of random people asking me how I've lost weight and telling me how good I look. My mom and I went to breakfast in Orlando and this waitress who I didn't really recognize went on and on about how great I look. I told her about the band. I'm feeling more open about it now. I think I mentioned that I told my boyfriend and he's fine with it. The only issue is that my fill was so super tight before I could barely eat anything so now he's used to me eating practically nothing and I feel bad if I'm hungry around him. I'm not sure why. I have no clothes that look good on me and I'm in a weird place with sizes. Sometimes I wear a size 18 regular in pants. 16W's fit the other day, but the tops are weird. I either wear a 1x or 18 or sometimes a 2x if it's cut small. I got to hear that one of my boyfriend's friends made a negative comment about my weight, which made me feel like crap. My self-esteem is very day by day. Some days I feel great, other days I feel like a blob still. It doesn't help that my boyfriend is super scrawny. He's tall, but really skinny and I'm by far the biggest girl he's ever dated.
As far as the band, it's great. I just need to keep my head on straight.
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Okay, I'm gettting some new motivation. I've been hovering between 251 and 253 this week. Not bad considering I'm on a mini vacation from work and I am finally able to eat as my band has loosened up a bit. I'm determined to get under 250 (on my home scale!!). I bought a tennis racquet and two sets of tennis balls as I only had one racquet and I'm trying to convince some of my friends to play tennis with me in the evenings. I'm kind of burned out on the gym, and singles tennis is great exercise and I like to play competitive games. The only problem is that none of my friends actually play tennis, hence me buying an extra racquet. But I figure even if we chase the balls around, it's good exercise. The weather however has not been cooperating. It has been raining hard for 2 weeks straight. Even if it's not raining, the ground is so wet, it's sure to mean soggy tennis balls. I'm hoping it clears up this week so I can add evening tennis to my activities.
I plan to go to the gym regularly this week, add in tennis and walking the dog, and go through my closet. Literally 90% of the clothes I own I cannot wear due to them being way too big. This is a great feeling, but also leaves me with nothing to wear. I went to Macy's for their memorial day sale and bought three shirts and a pair of pants for $50. I am in an 18W in the plus size in the tops and bottoms, though the pants are kind of big on me.
As for eating, I need to log my food this week, and eat protein, protein, protein! I still have good restriction, so I should lose weight if I eat enough protein each day and exercise. I also am determined to get out of this loneliness/boredom funk by keeping my schedule busy exercising, cleaning out my closet, and I also bought a new book to read.
I told my boyfriend I thought we should cool out for like a week because I've been really emotional and have been bitchy with him. He doesn't understand and asked why I can't talk to him if there's something stressing me out in my life. I plan to tell him about the surgery when we have some time alone together--which we haven't lately. We've spent alot of time together, but it's been with friends and his famly around. The time has come to tell him, I just HATE talking about weight with a boyfriend and it's very awkward for me to bring up the surgery. I also have no idea what his reaction will be or how I'm going to bring it up.
I have to go back to work tomorrow, which I'm not really looking forward to, though it will give me structure and hopefully keep me busy so I get out of this loneliness/boredom funk. I work the rest of this week, all of next week, and then I'm off for a week. I don't really have any plans, as my money is tight. I'm hoping to use it as a time to get grounded and just focus on myself and get myself together. I need to get back to being the productive, motivated, happy person that I have been, and not this emotional, needy, anxious, person that I seem to have become the last couple of weeks. I need to keep focused on my goals!!!!
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I made breakfast for my employees at work today and ate one of the biscuits filled with egg, cheese, onion, etc. and I realize I don't have much restriction at all and I can eat anything. I don't even have to eat particularly slowly. I did accidentally drink after I ate yesterday and it was painful, so I have some restriction, but I think I'm just used to eating smaller meals and healthy food, so I do.
I was debating about whether or not to get another fill at my next doctor appointment on Feb. 3rd because I don't want to PB, slime, or throw up, but now I know that I need one. Plus I haven't really lost any weight this week, though I've been good about eating healthy and keeping around 1000 calories a day, although I haven't been to the gym since last week because I've had the flu.
Definitely time for a fill. I'm happy with the eating changes I've made though. I pulled out the promise light margarine/spread yesterday and realized I almost never use butter or margarine anymore and I used to use it all the time. I'm thinking about all the bad eating habits that I don't do anymore and that makes me really happy. I could be doing better as sometimes I eat something unhealthy, but for the most part, I am really happy with my choices and my portions. I just would like to see more of a change in the scale. After losing 7 pounds that week, I lost 2 more the following week, and then have stayed the same since Tuesday. It's kind of sad that I'm not just dropping pounds like crazy just because I'm eating so much better. Apparently I need to work hard to lose weight. Who knew? J/K. It's totally worth it, and I chose Lapband because I wanted to own it. To know that I worked to get healthy. Well, I'm keeping at it, so the scales got to move sometime. I think another fill will help.
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Sadly, I don't have anything new to report. I've been working, going to the gym, spending time with friends and the boyfriend. I guess no news is good news? I'm up and down the same five pounds since the fill. I feel restriction because I can't eat several different things--bread, steak, anything big, but for some reason I've been hungry alot. I have to "diet" to lose weight, and then if I have a bad day of eating, the scale jumps back up. I think my body likes the 260s for some reason. And I am so looking forward to the 250s... I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, so I'm sure that's not helping. My goals for the next week is to keep working out, eat out less, and get 8 hours of sleep! In good news, people keep commenting how "skinny" I look (relative term to what I was before, I will never be "skinny'!) In bad news, I was really tired the other night and slipped and fell in the shower and busted my face. I hit my chin mostly, and it cut and bled and I have a huge purple, black, and yellow bruise. I look like I was in a fist fight. My knees and elbows are bruised and I also have a knot on my head. No fun! It could have been much worse though. My face hit the ceramic pretty hard. I thought I broke my jaw, but no, I'm actually okay, I just look bad. Work has been brutal. I have a couple days off next week and I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow is Friday!!!
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Non Scale Victory: Yesterday I tried on my size 18W pants that I bought from Dillards and they fit with room to spare. I tried on the same brand pants in 16W and they fit but were a little tight. Now, granted, they are a good name brand that usually has generous sizes, but still, these are the smallest pants I own. I also went out last night with a couple of my friends and they pointed out that this good looking guy was checking me out and looking at my butt.
In bad news, I've been eating unhealthy food for the past two days. I did get a french fry stuck though it wiggled it's way down, so I don't think I'll be craving french fries anytime soon. I'm going to the grocery store to get healthy food to eat today, so I won't be tempted. I guess old habits are hard to break. When I go out and see my friends ordering french fries and sandwiches, that's what I want too. Luckily, my band is working for me in that I couldn't eat even half of what I ordered, so I took it home, but the bad news is that I ate the leftovers for breakfast, instead of giving them to my friends or throwing them away which I what I did before to break my bad eating cycle.
I have been kicking butt at the gym so hopefully that will make up for some of it. Spark People actually had a message saying, "You have burned signficantly more calories than your goal. Your daily calorie goal will not automatically adjust. Do you want to change your goals?"
However, this is still not an excuse for eating poorly. The worst part is that I exceeded my calories by alot, but was still under my goal in protein...grrrr! New week, new start!
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I cleaned out my closet tonight. I realize that none of my pants fit me. They are way too big. I have clothes ranging all the way up to 3x and 24/26. I tried on an 18W in the store today, and they were way too big as well. I actually bought a pair of workout pants in a medium. I tried them on by accident and they fit. Now granted they are stretch pants, but still! I have way too many clothes to get rid of. I think I'm going to take them to a consignment store so I can at least get a little money out of them. I don't have the patience for ebay. Now that I've gotten rid of my big clothes, my closet looks pretty empty. I did get a bunch of clothes in Orlando this weekend, so at least I have something to wear. It feels good to get rid of all the big clothes, but a part of me is wondering if I'll need them again someday. Well, out they go!
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I had a follow up appt. today at the plastic surgeon's office and one of the drains on my hips came out. They think the other one can come out on Monday. It's still outputting quite a bit of fluid. It has to be below 30 ccs output in a 24 hour period before it can come out. I am ready for it to be gone but I understand that it greatly reduces the amount of painful swelling. My left side has been hurting and I'm not really sure why. My new belly button was leaking some fluid and the Dr.'s office thinks that some of the fluid from the belly button may be going to my left side. They stated everything looks really good though and that i shouldn't be worried. I no longer have to put bandages on my incisions. I can just wear the surgical bra and the compression garmet. After 2 weeks, which is Tuesday, I only have to wear the compression garmet during the day, not at night. I have to wear the bra 24/7 for 6 weeks total. My breasts are starting to look really good and the Nurse Practitioner mentioned how they seem much rounder and I agree. My stomach is also starting to look flatter. I asked her if it was going to be totally tight and flat and she said that they pulled it tight and flat during the surgery, but that because of the swelling, it is lumpy and swollen. She said that it will get flatter and tighter, but that because the skin has been stretched from gaining and losing alot of weight that it loses the elasticity so it may not be as tight as it was in the surgery. I'm hoping that wearing these compression garmets will help it get tighter.
I don't know if I mentioned this before but originally the surgeon said that he'd have to do free nippple grafts for my breast reduction because of the length of my breasts. In this scenario I would definitely lose all sensation in my breasts. I wasn't happy with this so he said that he would try to do the normal way which is moving the entire nipple and the attachments, but that he may have to switch mid surgery if the tissue wasn't getting blood supply. Well, he was able to do the normal one and I have full sensation in my nipples! This is a big deal for me and I am super happy about it. I definitely credit his surgical skills because I read alot about how if your nipples are a certain length from where they need to go that they have to do the free nipple graft--which is taking them off completely and reposiitioning them which guarantees a complete loss of sensation in the nipple and they will not get erect and you cannot breast feed. But, yay, that is not the case for me! He had also talked about the possibility of having to do a vertical incision to get the stomach tight which would have meant a long vertical scar. However, he did not have to do this either, so everything went really well.
I'm feeling better every day and the office staff was so nice. They said I am a very easy patient. I'm super excited because I wore a shirt tonight that I have saved since I was 15 years old (I'm 31 now). It has been too small since I was 15, but it was my favorite shirt ever. I tried it on tonight and it fits perfectly!!!:thumbup:
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So plastics recovery is going well. My weight went up about 8 pounds but then went down 10 in one week. I think I was having major swelling. I went to the lap band doc and got a fill and am now super tight. I weighed myself and I am at 197.6. Onederland!!!!!! First time since I was a teenager. My stomach is looking much better. It's lumpy when I sit down, but looks good standing up. My breasts look awesome. They are still healing though and I can't wear any underwire bras for another month. It's really hard to find bras with no underwire. I'm pretty happy with how I look when I'm in clothes right now. I have alot more confidence and when people see me, they say WOW you look awesome! I am now in a large size in tops or shirts and still a 14 in pants. I'm not sure if that will change when the swelling goes down all the way or not. I am 5'9"/5'10" so that's not bad for my height. I would need to lose another 20 pounds to reach my overall goal. I've started back at the gym but taking is slowly due to the swelling I've had and the belly button issues. I go back to work next week :scared2: I've really enjoyed the time off. Things are going well though. I'm really happy about the results of my surgery!
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Okay, here are some progress pics. In the first one, it was taken prior to the pre-op diet and the 2nd was taken this weekend. I've lost about 40 pounds since the pre-op diet. I will post some full body shots soon, but I can't find any before that have full body yet so here's a face comparison...
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Okay, so I haven't posted on here in forever. I've been kind of just caught up in my life, which I guess is a good thing. I also haven't had anything significant going on with my weight or the band. I haven't had a fill since last December and I haven't lost anymore weight. I have been working out regularly and I think I have more muscle and less fat. I'm still around 210 pounds though. I went for a consult with a plastic surgeon and I've been approved for a breast reduction and an abdominoplasty. My insurance is going to cover it 100%!!!!! I am really excited about this. The surgery is scheduled for October 5th. I am 5'9" and have a large frame, and I truly felt like I was going to have trouble losing any more weight. The plastic surgeon said that there wasn't much fat left--it was mostly all skin, which makes sense after losing 120 pounds. I can't even imagine myself with a flat stomach and firm boobs. My ultimate goal is to be able to jog. I can somewhat job for like a minute at a time, but my overall fitness is pretty good but I'm weighed down by the weight on my upper body. I am happy I haven't gained any weight and I've settled into a pretty healthy eating routine. I'm hoping that this plastic surgery gets me where I want to be, or at the least gets me able to exercise the way I want to. I could play tennis again! In case you don't understand what a big problem I have, the surgeon says he's going to take about 7 or 8 pounds off of my chest.
In other news, I was dating an older guy for about 3 months and he just dumped me via email. Then I found out that he's been dating someone else for a couple of weeks now. How many times am I going to let my heart get broken?
Everything in my life is going awesome except for my love life. I guess I shouldn't let that get me down. I need to focus on me right now anyway. I'm going to have about a month off work to recover and my mom is going to be here for the first week.
Will my stomach really be flat? Will I be able to buy single digit bra sizes? I am so excited!Tags: lap band
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:thumbs_up:I've been afraid to really eat anything. I've eaten Live Active lowfat cottage cheese, nonfat light yogurt, and some thin sliced deli turkey and a protein drink. It has gone down fine, but I can feel restriction. I think I need more protein. I felt like I was going to pass out at some point at the gym tonight. I've been great this week at the gym. I've done 30 min of cardio each day and strength training on Mon and Wed (today). I weighed myself after I got home from the gym and took a shower and it showed 299.1 on my home scale!!!!!!! I am so excited about that!!!
I haven't "tested" the fill yet, but mentally, I'm restricted. It's been busy at work and then going to the gym afterwards, it seems like I really don't have time to even think about food, which is awesome. I hope I can keep it that way!
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Things are still going well. I can't eat pretty much anything, but trying to keep at or below 1200 calories a day. I started back at the gym, doing 30 min of cardo and some limited weights, lots of rep, low weight. Doc said that's okay. I bought a new scale, which weighs me heavier than the old one, so it says i'm the same weight as I was at the last dr. appt. I get my first fill on January 6th. I feel great and am looking forward to having restriction. I haven't been stuck or had any issues. Still off work and enjoying it!:rolleyes2:
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I had surgery yesterday and it went well. I got there at about 7:30am, checked in, went to room where I had to give a urine sample, which is hard to do when you're not allowed to drink anything and I already went first thing in the morning. Was asked to get into this gown and socks. Then the nurse put on these really nice thigh high things so I wouldn't get blood clots. Okay, so they weren't pretty, but they did keep me warmer. It was cold yesterday in FL and the hospital was very cold. Then the nurse was mad because apparenty I hadn't filled out some form when i came for pre-op and they were missing my blood work and chest x-ray.
I guess they got it all sorted out and then my mom came back. Suddenly, Nurse Ratchet turned into the nicest person around and she and my mom chatted about everything under the sun. I waited in that room with a TV for awhile, and then another nurse came and wheeled me through the hospital and on the elevators to another waiting area. My surgeon came by, as did the anesthesiologist, who was about 21 years old, but very good looking. They were running late, but finally wheeled me back into the OR. I was totally lucid at this point and they took me into the OR which had a bed with pads on the feets and arms and several people standing around. I scooted over to that bed and they started tying my arms down. I asked where were my happy drugs and informed them that I was usually out by this point, as i was getting pretty scared looking around. The cute anesthesiologist said that the nurse had gotten past him but he was here now and he shot me with something in my IV.
I woke up in recovery and It was painful!!! There was a male nurse there and I told him I can't breathe and it hurts. He kept giving me IV pain killers (I think he said torredal) until I felt better. I had the worst cotton mouth ever and felt kind of nauseous. I asked for ice and he said I wasn't ready for it due to the nausea. I asked him if I could have some ice if I promised not to swallow it. That made him laugh and laugh and laugh. He finally got some ice and it made my mouth feel better, but I pretty much had cotton mouth the whole rest of the day. I kind of chilled for while, all hazy on pain meds in recovery for awhile. The male nurse said that he thought he knew me from somewhere. I think he goes to the same gym I go to. He said he remembered my personality, because I guess I was being funny because he kept laughing. Then he wheeled me downstairs and my mom came and another nurse was taking care of me. They gave me some pretty awful tasting liquid pain meds (liquid loratab) and let me drink some water. I had no issues with drinking. Then my mom noticed that I had a catheter. I guess they had put that in while I was out. The nurse took it out, which hurt, but not that badly. I then began to have some horrid gas pains that made me double over and cry. I begged the nurse to let me walk, which she finally did after telling me that I could stay in the hospital that night or go home. I wanted to go home. I guess most of the time they make you stay one night, but since I'm "young and healthy" (their words) I can go home. So, she undid my IV and my blood pressure monitor and let me walk around, which made me feel 100X better. My mom went and got the car and I got dressed by myself. My leaving blood pressure was 126/80 which is great. I had some hypertension in the first recovery room, but they think it was due to the pain. They gave me a script for liquid loratab and told me to crush my other meds.
I went home and followed the rule of drinking something or eating sugar free popsicles or jello every hour. Walked down the driveway and around the house alot. Took the pain meds and felt okay and went to sleep. Woke up at 4am and walked around a bit, let the dog out, and took some more pain meds. Woke up at 9am, walked around, took some pain meds, and had some jello. I crushed up my Wellbutrin last night and tonight and it was horrible!!! I called the doctor's office today and asked them to call in a liquid version of my wellbutrin, and they said they would. I'm on a clear liquid diet for today and half of tomorow and then on full liquids until my doctor's appointment on Dec. 9th. They said until that appt not to experiment with food, but only eat what's on the list which consists of cream of wheat, oatmeal (both thinned with no clumps) strained soup, broth, jello, sugar free popsicles, water, juice and non caloric drinks. I can have coffee but not really until tomorrow afternoon, because I can't have skim milk until tomorrow and I can't drink it black. The appointment is usually to get the staples out, but since he did glue with me, it's just to check in. I have my first fill in about a month and they will give me the rest of my post-op diet at my dec. 9th appointment. So far, so good. I'm in a little pain, but no nausea and the pain is manageable.
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