Hey my new Arizona Banded Buddies... I blew it and went to my Post-op visit today thinking it was June 1st, and the funny thing was, I didn't have an appointment today or tomorrow! Must have been the left over Morphine!

Anyway, I am doing good, I have lost a total of 27 pounds since I started all of this craziness. I don't know how you can know exactly what was lost this past week. I went in the hosptial weighing 208, but by the time I got out of the hospital I weighed 217. Today I weigh 201.6 on the 'BIG' scales at the Weight Loss Institute. So I guess it was 7 pounds?

Heck fire, all I know, is when I first weighed at the Institute I weighed 228 on 03/29/2007 and today I am down 27 pounds. I am way happy about that!

I saw Dr. Orris (sp) and he was very nice (young). Business like not like Dr. DeBarros. Speaking of which, he is doing very well, complaining of bloating and gas. It sure is cool having a Doctor go through exactly what we are going through. He is doing good also. I had Dr. Orris explain the new band to me and he said we are like two 'fills' up on the people who had the old band.

Well I am at work, still energy low and I could really use a nap. I'm sorry I won't be able to meet you! Where the heck is Lilmonkey? Gosh we just all met I hope she is ok!

My first fill date is June 28th at 11am... try and make yours the same time and I promise not to mess up again!

Let me know how you guys are doing!

Virginia!

There you are! I was wondering what happened to you. My bud was gone for the last 24 hours. Eeeeek!

So, you will be without laptop, but will you be without computer? I hope you are still able to check in with us.

As for the Cookies.... too late. I gave in and ate one. I guess the upside to that is that I ate one cookie and not one bag of cookies. I'm still way down on the calorie count for the day. But, oh, did I do something bad! I ate one bite of my son's macaroni and cheese. One little tiny piece of macaroni. OMG! It got stuck! It hurt so bad for about an hour. I drank and drank Water and walked and I think it's finally gone down. I think I just need to stay away from the Pasta. It didn't feel right when I tried the tuna stuff the other day and the mac and cheese tonight was awful! (Seriously.... one tiny macaroni. And I chewed it!) I haven't had a problem with anything else. I even had ham for lunch today and that went down fine. I had a piece of salmon last night... that was fine, too. I'm just gonna stay away from the pasta for a while.

It still hurts to sleep. I can't roll over. Anyone else? Or am I the only person still having that issue?

Another issue.... if I may be so blunt..... Were you all told 8 weeks before intimate relations? Six more weeks sounds like an eternity.

oh oh if we were told 8 weeks I'm in big trouble! I think you can do anything ya want as long as it does not involve excess use of your stomach muscles. Dr. Orris told me 4 weeks for swimming in a pool. Longer if it is in a lake. (bacteria). And that was in the same area as (well you know).. hehe

My port area is finally healed. There is one steri-strip left that I have no intentions of pulling off. It only hurts once in a while and is still tender to the touch.

I am getting more and more hungry. But I'm still doing good right at 1000-1200 calories a day. About 250 of that is a Protein shake though. I am still having one of those throughout the day. Did you know that a serving size of saltines is 5 crackers? I had some chicken and lite mayo I made into a spread of sorts and I put it on a cracker, and oh my goodness was it yummy!

I am still thrilled that I do get satisfied with 1/2 -3/4 cup of food at a time... wow isn't it a-may-zing? I know, I know... back to work I go...

oh yeah, and the scales have not moved one little tiny bit! But I am not fretting.... honestly..... really.... ok... well.....maybe a little.....

Hey guys! Sounds like everyones doing pretty awesome! With the exception of the icky port pain and sticky noodles.

I didnt have a problem when I ate Pasta, but mine was whole wheat angel hair instead. Maybe it made a difference? I definitely hope you can eventually return to pasta as I know I would be lost without at least *some* pasta. :S

I don't think my husband and I will be making the meeting this month. Sorry girls! He's actually not doing very well at the moment. Since sunday he's been getting progressively worse with harsh lower back pains/abdominal pains. We just spent the day back at the hospital trying to figure out whats wrong with him.

They took some blood work and a CT scan of his tummy, so hopefully tomorrow we will know more. I'm pretty worried that theres something wrong with his band, but I'm trying to stay positive.

I also feel bad because I get to eat food while he is back eating liquids (they cause him less pain) so cross your fingers for us! But with all this going on, I know he won't feel up to going out and I don't feel right leaving him home alone to fend for himself. But with any luck we'll be back to normal soon and maybe can make the next one.

You girls have a blast for me!

I'm sorry to hear your hubby is having such a hard time. Both of you are in my prayers! We will be happy to meet up with you next time!

AGAIN what is your name and your hubbys name?

Get better!

LilMonkey.... Sorry to hear about your hubby. I'm thinking of you both. Please keep us posted on how he's doing.

I've done much better with my diet today. For Breakfast I had oatmeal, lunch I had tuna, a SF pudding for an afternoon snack, and for dinner refried Beans w/ sour cream and cheese. So, maybe not as much Protein as I should probably be getting but NO COOKIES!

I was walking through the hallway today when my two-year old ran into the door and slammed it right into me. The doorknob slammed right into my port area. OMG. It hurt so bad I cried. I have not cried since the surgery.

Oh Shauna! I feel your pain. I have no idea what the heck is wrong with my port area, it is really hurting today!

I bought the coolest scales at Bed Bath and Beyond today. It calculates your Water weight, bone mass, how many calories to maintain your current weight (you can also calculate how much to subtract from daily calories to lose weight), umm something about age and one other thing. I love it! However, it shows the same dang weight the old ones did!

Anway, I'm okay, I know the numbers will move. The only thing is I am so close to getting under 200, you would think one pound wouldn't be such a big deal... but it is!

My friend Jaye went for her second fill today... she said that Dr. DeBarros has lost 35 pounds already! They filled him 7cc already! He is cheating! Did you know that Becky is his wife?

Boy I am just full of info today! Okay.. back to work I go.....

What? He's cheating already? 7cc? What the.....? He told me we may never need fills with our new AP bands. Goober.

Yes, I knew Becky was his wife. She's cute, isn't she? Their two boys are the same ages as mine.

Your new scale sounds cool! What does it say as far as calories? That would be interesting to see. You are so close to one-der-land. I can't believe it. I havn't seen the 100's since I was 21 years old. I still have a LONG way to go, if I ever get there. Goodness, if I got to 200 I'd be thrilled!

I'm off to find an evening snack. You know what's yummy? Put a scoop of SF ice-cream or frozen yogurt in with your Protein mix and it makes a really yummy thick shake you can eat with a spoon! Just 80 extra calories plus a little extra Calcium and protein. Anyway, that's how I justify it.

The scales (I should be working... (wink)) say to maintain my weight I would have to consume 2300 calories a day. I had to program it with my height/age/activity level and something else I can't remember.

Okay so check this out and if my math is wrong someone correct me. At 2300 x 7 = 16,100 calories per week - subtract 7,000 (it takes 3500 calories to make a pound) = 9,100 calories a week. Take 9100/7=1300 calories a day. I should lose 2 pounds per week! whew! That made my brain hurt....

Your snack sounds wonderful. . . ok I'm gonna do some work now... oh yeah... no fills... sure.... we should gang up on him at the same time when we see him on the 28th! I wonder how many cc's our band holds, do you know?

I have the small AP band. I think-- but am not positive-- that it is a 10cc band.

Have a good night. Drive home safely.

That scale sounds neato! There are some websites that calculate the calories like that too, but I've always questioned them.. I might have to pick one of those up!

I'm Erica and my husband is Ben. I must have missed when you originally asked for our names. Sorry about that! I've not been able to follow as closely with everything thats going on lately.

I can't believe Dr. Debarros cheated and had a fill already! And I had no idea about Becky being his wife, that's pretty neat as well.

Any way have a great weekend, you guys!

Hey guys! How did the meeting go? I'm sure it was loads of fun.

Just wanted to give you an update on my husband real quick so you weren't left wondering. He's doing better. Apparently he has some sort of infection so he's taking some antibiotics. Hopefully he'll be as good as new this time next week.

In other news.. It's week 4! I haven't looked at my dietary sheet yet, but I believe we can pretty much eat whatever we want/feel comfortable with this week. Who feels ready for that? I think I'm going to start adding things back in slowly. First on the list, salad! Yum!

Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Hey LilMonkey,

Thanks for the update. I hope he is getting better and on the road to recovery.

So what is going on with our little group? I am starving! But I'm really trying not to get me crazy. I'm trying real hard to practice what I preach! I am missing my laptop so bad! I think that is half my hunger problem. Normally when I am at home I can sit on the couch and read, chat and do whatever else I feel like doing. But yesterday watching a movie in the evening I felt like I needed to be doing something so my hunger got the best of me!

Diane, how is your hubby doing? I will be out of town on vaction for the next meeting. Do you all think we could do it on the first Saturday or the third Saturday since it looks like we will be doing this on our own? I'm seriously thinking about trying to start up our own support group. Tell me what you guys think of it.

Hey SheShe.. I'm sorry I haven't respnded to your last message. I've been crazy with a new job I have (same job.. new role). But I'll try and get to your letter sometime today.

Gotta run..

Hey all!

I have had a rough couple of days. It started on Sunday. I did chores around the house most of the day and overdid it. I was in a lot of pain Sunday evening into Monday. Yesterday something funny happened to me after lunch. I got this awful, painful, tight feeling in my chest and I thought I had eaten too much. Maybe I did. Who knows. Anyway, the pain lasted for three to four hours and luckily subsided. But, when dinner time came around there was no way I could get down solid food. So, Protein drink for dinner. This morning, same thing. One bite of oatmeal (which I've had almost every morning for the last two weeks) and I just knew it wouldn't go down. So, another shake for Breakfast. For lunch I had a boiled egg chopped up really fine w/ mayo. (Back to mushies). It took me 45 minutes to eat my one egg, but it went down. But, I could tell I had to be careful. Anyway, it feels like I have this restriction that I didn't have before. Isn't that odd? I can't figure out what it is or why. Has anyone else experienced this? I wonder if I did something wrong. If anyone has heard of anything similar, please comment. On that, I will stop complaining.

The good news: I gained 1.5 pounds in the last few days since starting back to a regular diet. Today, I was down 1.5 again so I'm back to where I was at my low. Now, if I can just maintain, I'll be happy.

I had a great time meeting w/ Virginia and Jaye on Saturday. I like Virginia's idea of starting our own support group. I think I could use all the help I can get. Is Jaye going to join us on this sight?

Take care, all.