Zannie

Oh, I've totally neglected the Water this weekend! My routine is all off... Will I ever get my a$$ in gear??? And I've had some many "one treat one kill me" moments in the name of "a holiday" eating...ugh! I had my 1st "stuck" moment, with slime - thank you, over a pesky tater-tot. I had them after this 2nd fill already - guess I just mis-chewed this time. The pain, the pain! But I did not PB, so that is good. Whine, whine, whine, moan, whine. On a positive note, the blahs seems to be passing a bit... And I am scheduled for a 3rd fill (what will probably be just a top off off the 2nd one to tweak it, or so I'm told) this Thursday. Anyhow, just wanted to check in with y'all after the holiday weekend! :usa2: Hope y'all had a good one! Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 10 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 12 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Beth -- so good to hear from you! I'm glad that your leak was caught so early on... Whew! Do you know what size band you have now? I recall all the confusion when this topic came up with your original one! :biggrin1: How long will you be in TX? I presume you've got to treat this like the original surgery never happened, expecting the same recovery time & food restrictions etc...am I wrong? Just think -- this time you know exactly what's in store! I wish you a speedy return to full health and load of luck with your new band! Keep us updated...though I guess you get to be a Feb & a May bandster now! Suzanne

I had my 2nd fill a week ago Thursday. I'm up from 4cc to 6.2cc in a 10ccVG band. But it feels as if I've had an unfill! I swear I can eat more now than before my 1st fill! This is crazy! I'm watching the "whats" but the "how much" is more than 1/2 cup of food... I've lost 2 or 3 pounds in the week since the fill according to my home scale (unreliable however), but I am hungry between meals (growling now) & eating more than band-portions at meals. AND I'm craving all sorts of stuff during the day, too! :hungry: Not that I'm giving in to those cravings for the most part, but that's only my willpower stopping me from heading out to buy food! I don't know what's going on here!! :help: Would the rest of you call in for another fill so soon (keeping in mind that slow-n-steady reportedly has better long-term success than fill-fill-fill), or keep on keepin' on until June 21st (my next scheduled fill)? It's Friday now & my clinic only does fills on Thursdays, so it'd be 2 weeks between my 2nd & 3rd fills. What do y'all think? Suzanne

:wow2: I am so proud of you both, TravelGirl & BabyGrl!! I'll miss the Water mark by a few days, presuming I don't falter as the month draws to a close. I was very consistant in the begining (Feb/Mar) with the exercise, but I've never gotten into the swing of things with all this frigin' water! Which is odd, because I USED TO chug on water all the time. It's this sip-sip-sip business that's killin' me! If I really get to count each 30mins as a seperate entry on our challenge ticker, BabyGrl , then I just might hit that target this month! I've still got 7 days left to do 11 workout. But as I recall from last month that didn't count! Are you trying to tell me the rules have changed?!? :biggrin1: Keep up the hard work, Ladies!:cheer2: Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 10 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 9 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Tracy, I have the same problem with shirts! UGH!! It's so frustrating to put on clothes that ought to fit, if only it wasn't for my ARMS!! :omg: I've literally cut the arms off, hemmed the armholes under, and worn "matching" shirts as sleeveless button-ups with a t-shirt underneath. And while I've "only" lost 40 lbs so far, my arms are definitely changing (for the worse) already. My arms sage from pit to elbow! (My inner thighs are rippled now, too, BTW.) I've got a feeling I'll be one of those 3/4 sleeve shoppers by the Fall. I might actually fit into "regular" plus-sized clothes by then, so thank goodness they're in fashion now! I'd be very interested in PS without the huge scar to get rid of the terodactyl wings that are surely in my near future... If anybody finds some good info on that new style of surgery, please post the link!!

My mom has gold ring with a heart-shaped yellow topaz with seed pearls set around it which my dad gave to her in the '69-'70 time-frame. She hasn't worn it since I was a little girl. And I have always loved it! Since those are ~quite coincidentally~ the birthstones of my kids, I have secret plans to ask for it once the ring will fit my finger again. Shhh! :kiss Who knows if she'd pass it along to me "now" or "in the end" but it never hurts to ask! Actually, both my mom & daughter were born in June... Pearls are now the substitute for Alexandrite, just as Citrine has come to replace the yellow Topaz for November babies. Oh, how my mom has always wanted a chunk of natural alexandrite!!

Travelgirl -- Hope you are feeling better today...:sick Babygrl1234 -- What's the word on your fill? And too funny about the scale intervention! :heh: I pop on mine every morning just to see which direction it is headed! But I put no faith in its numbers since both my kids "hop" on it, too. I try to get down to my clinic's scale every Wed or Thurs, but that doesn't happen each week. I learned my lesson after adjusting my ticker to reflect a home weigh-in only to discover the very next week that the numbers at home & the numbers at the clinic didn't match. Mentally, I gained 2 pounds in about 45 minutes! :omg: Argh! So now I only update the ticker after a clinic weigh-in & I monitor the scale at home only to make sure I've not GAINED or plateaued.:nervous Keep up the good work, girls! :clap2: Are we meeting up again in June? (Did I just say JUNE?? How can it be nearly summer already?) Suzanne :kiss2: Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 8 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 7 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Babygrl -- I did it! :clap2: I participated in a 1-mile Fun Run/Walk yesterday with my kids, DH & Mom! So what if we were dead last across the finish line?!? I already KNOW it takes me half an hour to walk a mile at my fastest pace!!!! My goal was to finish the "girls" race before the "boys" race began, and that we did!!! It wasn't a "K" anything, but it was a group event -- and I did it!! :what: I owe you my thanks, I wouldn't have considered participating if you hadn't mentioned the 5?8?K you are training for... So thank you, thank you!

I'd wager you've become complacent about chewing because your restriction isn't what it once was. I know I have!!! The word adjustment is perfect for what we get to do with fills -- adjust the band, and adjust your bad habits! And the plateau really makes me think you could use a fill, frankly. How's your weight loss now...? If you're not loosing 1-2 lb. a week, and can eat more than 1/2 cup of food at a sitting, then it's adjustment time at my clinic. (Listen to me talk as if I actually know something! This from a girl who didn't loose a single ounce between May 5th and May 17th. ) Suzanne

My engagement ring was my grandmother’s (and my brother inherited her band to give his bride/harvest its stones). They’re a gorgeous platinum set from Tiffany’s, and my part is a 1.3K round diamond with baguettes on either side. But...it no longer fits! Wahhaahh! :think I’ve gained about 100 lb. since our wedding, so the diamond ring & my plain platinum band sit in the safe deposit box. I have 3 replacements to my original set, all fakes. During my 1st pregnancy everything swelled, and I really hated not being able to wear my wedding ring, so DH presented me with a 3-stone “Absolute” ring from HSN & a gold Claddagh ring guard. My fingers shrunk after the baby, but not enough to wear the real stuff again, so DH bought me a white gold band from QVC, set with Diamonique. With my 2nd pregnancy, the swelling was even worse, so DH turned to HSN again for a channel set round Absolute band -- my favorite of the fakes. The HSN channel set is too loose now, but the QVC ring is still too small. I can’t wait to wear the genuine set again though! I don’t regularly wear any other jewelry anymore -- not even a watch! And I used to have a huge (mostly costume) earring collection! I do have a fondness for heart pendants which DH has catered to a bit over the years, but I just stopped wearing jewelry at some point. For special occasions I like to wear my kids’ birthstones (pearl & citrine), my own (peridot), a locket given to me by my mother, or one of the heart pendants. And I am looking for an amethyst piece to represent my Lap-Band, since I was banded in Feb & that’s the birthstone of the month. But I’m not sure which direction I want to go for that (circle pendant, journey pendant, band ring, or something more artsy with a polished amethyst rather than a faceted stone). Anybody else get a bobble to commemorate this “milestone” in our lives? Suzanne

Okay, so maybe not cured cured, but my single co-morbidity is gone! :clap2: For the 1st time in my life, I had high cholesterol at my check-up in November. I’d made that appointment in the 1st place after a scare while camping – my heart began to race uncontrollably & to a frightening degree as I was walking uphill to our campsite while pushing our 2 kids in their stroller. It was the test results & the camping, in combination, that brought this surgery to the forefront of priorities. At the check-up, everything came back fine except my cholesterol, which was astronomically high. Allow me to make a chart: GOALS Total: 100-199 / Triglycerides: < 149 / HDL: 40-59 / LDL: < 99 Me-Nov’06 ……... 268 / ……………… 249 / … fine @ 48 / ….….. 170 Me-May’07 …….. 178 / ……….…...… 137 / ………... 40 / …....... 111 I’m cured! I’m cured! I’m cured!! It’s time to leave for my 2nd fill and I’ve really been feeling discouraged because my diet since Saturday has been just horrible. I’m sure I’ve lost nothing over this week, and I have so far to go… But I’m revved up now…because my co-morbidity is CURED!! :dance: Remind me of my enthusiasm when I haven’t eaten solid foods for 96 hours and am about to pull out my hair! I’m 3-months post-op as of Tuesday & I was hoping to hit 40# by this week, I shall soon see if I made my goal. Okay, so thanks for letting me gush! :humble: Suzanne :high5:

Okay, so maybe not cured cured, but my single co-morbidity is gone! :clap2: For the 1st time in my life, I had high cholesterol at my check-up in November. I’d made that appointment in the 1st place after a scare while camping – my heart began to race uncontrollably & to a frightening degree as I was walking uphill to our campsite while pushing our 2 kids in their stroller. It was the results & the camping, in combination, that brought this surgery to the forefront of priorities. At the check-up, everything came back fine except my cholesterol, which was astronomically high. Allow me to make a chart: GOALS Total: 100-199 / Triglycerides: < 149 / HDL: 40-59 / LDL: < 99<O:p</O:p Me-Nov’06 ……... 268 / ……………… 249 / … fine @ 48 / ….….. 170 Me-May’07 …….. 178 / ……….…...… 137 / ………... 40 / …....... 111 I’m cured! I’m cured! I’m cured!! It’s time to leave for my 2nd fill and I’ve really been feeling discouraged because my diet since Saturday has been just horrible. I’m sure I’ve lost nothing over this week, and I have so far to go… But I’m revved up now…because my co-morbidity is CURED!! :dance: Okay, so thanks for letting me gush! :humble: I’m 3-months post-op as of Tuesday & I was hoping to hit 40# by this week, I shall soon see if I made my goal. Remind me of my enthusiasm when I haven’t eaten solid foods for 96 hours and am about to pull out my hair! Suzanne :high5:

Call your doc if the surgical sights look angry red (infection, not tape-allergy) -- you don't want to mess with that!!! I felt great the day of my surgery, but the next 2 days after I felt like I'd gotten the worse ever case of the flu. The 2 incisions at the port area hurt something awful whenever I'd bend or stretch or twist or cough or laugh; I didn't really notice the other 3 except that they itched due to tape-allergy. I wouldn't call it burning though... The 1st couple of days I didn't feel hunger at all, and then once it hit I was hungry for 2 days straight before it subsided again. I had wicked gas, and very soft stools, but not full-on diarrhea. Gee, that all seems so long ago & I'm only three months out as of this week. I will have my 2nd fill today (much needed as just last night I ate a full-sized, pre-Band meal). Hang in there -- the 1st 2 weeks were the worst! It's been downhill from that point on... You can do it!!!!

Where do you live, Travelgirl? Awh, crap - banded in Kansas. I guess that means you're not available to scrub my house from top to bottom over here in Virginia then, eh? Poop. :biggrin1: I was really pulling for Molly Maids as a Mother's Day present (even though I'm a stay-at-home-mom!!!!), but no such luck!

Rebecca -- I'm glad your visit to the doc was productive! Good luck with the Celexa. Hopefully you'll be feeling like your old self soon. I, too, saw my PCP on Tuesday (3-months post-op visit to recheck cholesterol, my only co-morbidity). He ordered a bunch of blood tests to rule out other causes for my blahs. And said it's natural for my(our) body to try to fight the weight-loss any way it can...to think of this as the detox stage while the body resists starvation, and have patience with myself & the process. Over & over again, he told me how proud he was of my efforts -- which was really nice to hear, ya know? He also said to remember that this isn't going to happen over night (not that I thought it would) and suggested focusing on a goal a few months from now to relieve some of the pressure to loose, loose, loose. We're planning a week at the Outer Banks this summer (my 2nd vacation in 5 years), so I've thrown myself into that as a distraction. And while I haven't cleaned , I did make a delicious dinner the other night (pineapple-teriyaki meatballs with Piña Colada sauce ~ over rice for DH). :hungry: I'm feeling a bit more enthusiastic than I have been, so we'll see if I can keep the momentum going! Suzanne

Ha! :heh: A bun...yummm! If you're gonna go, that's the way to GO! :hungry: Last night I was cleaning out the freezer before an overdue big grocery shop and I thought I'd just bake up the last of a the tater tots (for my kids) & popcorn shrimp (I love fried shrimp) to reheat today & tomorrow. I portioned out the shrimp for my dinner, wasn't the least bit full, so I went back for more... I ended up eating all the shrimp & all the tater tots!!! I haven't had potatoes at all while not on mushies! And that's was a bigger serving of food than I would have eaten pre-Band!! ARGH! What the hell was I thinking?? Oh yeah, I remember. I was thinking, "Well, this is my last solid food for 4 days, so..." :phanvan Plus, my DH brought me a 7-11 Crystal Light Slurpee on his way home (my "normal people" treat that's not straying from the plan, but makes me feel like I've cheated) -- and I ate all of that, too. On top of that, I didn't hit the Water mark or exercise yesterday. Ugh. And today's my 2nd fill!!!!! A) how awful to have eaten all this bad food 1st on the weekend & then again last night just before weighing-in, and looks like this fill is coming in the nick of time! Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 7 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 6 of 20 workouts (30 min)

What's a "protein pak"...? Enlighten me!

I'm not alarmed yet, but YES, mine is falling out now more than it was a few weeks ago. I put a hair trap down on the shower floor this weekend... :phanvan Lucky for me, I have tons of hair (even if it is baby fine) and stylists are always saying "we'll thin this out a bit" when I get my hair cut! Biotin (a vitamin) is what everyone at my clinic uses to help with hair-loss. I didn't take anything extra than what a multi-vitamin offers...but it was recommended. Hindsight!!!

Hey y'all! :wave: How's everybody doing? Good to have you back, BabyGrl! I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day weekend. Mine was fun ~ and active, too. Plus ... I got in all my Water for the last 3, yes, THREE days! Now, nobody faint on me!:faint: Two out of three ain't bad, right? Because my diet has been just awful! We were at the festivities for Jamestown's 400th Anniversary on Saturday (read: junk food vendors & no diet/band-friendly food in sight!), Mother's Day brunch was delicious & low-carb but fattening, and then I was even treated to a special Mother's Day dinner (coconut shrimp & cheesecake), too! Yum-O! I'm going to regret the weekend of "cheating foods" come Thursday, but I'm happy to say that while I ate poorly I did NOT overeat!! I'm taking that as a point in my favor! :biggrin1: That's right -- I go for my official weigh-in and Fill #2 on Thursday! :clap2: ____________________ Suzanne :high5: Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge~20 & 20 WATER: 5 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 6 of 20 workouts (30 min)

I think I know exactly what you're looking at, Green! Despite the prevalent theory, choosing Left or Right ads makes no difference to the problem you've been describing. I've tried all the skins, but in 1024x768 the smilies menu is chopped off & the last 3 editing tools are missing. I took a screen shot of what my window looks like when it is: A) fully expanded using a 1024x768 screen resolution C) using the "Right Sidebar w/ Girl 1024" skin option I don't know if I can actually attach the picture to this post or what it will look like if I can, but I'm going to try. Maybe this will help with the confusion. Alex, you've been a real trooper troubleshooting the skin issues -- especially when you're not experiencing any! Thanks for all the hard work!

Rebecca (my DD's name, BTW), I am so glad to hear I'm not the only one! Not that you're going thru this too, but that it's not just me! When I think of depression, I think of SAD/LONELY feelings, not of...bordem & disinterest & lack of motivation. I'm NOT feeling sad or lonely! Someone on another board replied that her doc "warned" that the onset of surgery-related depression started at about 6 weeks post-op. My blah funk didn't start until about 9-weeks out, for what that's worth. And I am enjoying life, when I kick myself into gear to actually live it! But my get up & go...got up & went. I really haven't cooked much either since my surgery. (I have a 1yoDD & a picky 4yoDS, which means I am not required to prepare full meals for my family of 4 -- DH is content with TV dinners for now). And over the last week or so, I've lost interest in really eating myself...the Protein shakes that were torture in the beginning are a convenience food now. If it requires more than melting cheese, it's just too much bother to cook. And cleaning? Um, Mother's Day is around the corner -- how 'bout Molly Maids for Mommy?!? I feel so...lazy! Blah, blah, blahhhh...:tired I feel like I should be able to shake this off -- ya know, like cabin fever or something. But it seems like too much effort! :mad: Oh, I don't know what's up with me lately...but I don't like it! My 2nd fill is a week from today, so I'll bring it up with my surgeon then -- if I'm still feeling so out of sorts.

Target sells these "WaterU " jugs that look just like Water cooler bottles, with a sport top & a built in handle. They're $3.99 and dishwasher-safe, too. The jugs hold 2.2 liters, thus your Daily 8 glasses of water. (They are made by www.dscproducts.com but their website only sells the bottles in bulk.) The collection of water containers my hubby's gone thru in the last few years to find soemthign that doesn't actually leak is astounding. He swears by the WaterU jugs. DH fills one in the morning, carries it with him to work, sips on it all day, and won't go to bed until he finishes the jug-worth of water. He loves that he can just toss it in the car or his gym bag & not worry about leaking it at all. But I can't stand room-temp water so I've never followed suit. Still, I've been thinking I should try filling my own & ~as a stay-at-home-mom~ keeping it in the fridge to pour from or carry-n-go as the day may call for. Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 3 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 5 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Have things improved a bit, Green? Alex? Or am I going crazy? I went to make a post this AM & suddenly, I can see the spell-check, the big/small arrows, and the A/A buttons on the advanced editor tool bar, AND I can see all the smiles in the side-menu (which is now only 3 columns wide)! I also have no width-scroll bar, unless my window is particularly small (which is to be expected). My screen resolution is set to 1280 x 720 now; anything smaller & I still get the right side of the advanced editor/smilies menu cut off. I'm beginning to doubt my sanity... It WAS just last night that I posted the results of my resolution experimentation, wasn't it? And I know things were still catawampus then... :biggrin1:

Ha! Maybe I should appoligize...looks like my missing cycles made their way to Maine & your doorstep! :heh: I've gotta say PCOS sucks, but the one bright side is that Aunt Flo doesn't visit ME nearly as often as she's scheduled! :scales: (Not to go there, but I've got to ask...have you been to your GYN about repeated visits? A whole host of things can cause mid-cycle bleeding...)

Anybody else experiencing a mood change? The WLS handbook that my clinic gives out does mention watching out for signs of depression post-op, so I’m asking my fellow February Bandsters! I'm not sure if that's what this is or not, I just am in such a funk! But I'm suddenly so ... so ... disinterested in everything! Even in LBT -- and I assure you that is a CHANGE! This forum is my lifeline! It’s been getting progressively worse over the last 3 or so weeks, this lack of motivation. :tired I’ve got PCOS, and had not had a period since Jan – until April, so I was chalking my funky mood up to A) wicked PMS, and my “3-months on a diet” burnout syndrome. And maybe it is just that – I’ve been banded for 12 weeks. But neither PMS nor Diet Burnout have felt quite like this before... This is different -- a complete lack of motivation to do anything, including surf about WLS (my "obsession" of late). I mean, I saw one of those Cymbalta commercials tonight, and I actually related! Sure, I've had the blues before, but I’m not usually what you’d call a “depressed” personality. It’s just so strange how BLAH I feel lately! I’m snippy at my 4-year old, grouchy with my husband, bored in general ... and I can’t seem to shake it off. :bored Maybe I just need a vacation :heh:, but I’ve started to look at everything in terms of my Band. I guess it’s only natural that I would start to wonder if this funk is related to the surgery itself, or hormonal changes caused by weight loss, or a nutrition deficiency, or something like that. I thought I’d pose the question to the rest of you ... Suzanne