arkieboy

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I GOT MY FIRST FILL TODAY!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY, what an experience that was.  The whole thing should have lasted about 10 minutes... right?  well, 4 hours later I left the clinic to go home.  I got to the clinic at around 0955 today and pulled out of the parking garage at 215pm.  The nutritionist and psychologist meetings were also today but the fill was running behind so they came to the room that I was in.  I  had the visits with them between the first and second doctor that attempted to make the fill. The surgeon did not do the fill, one of the other doctors did.  He had a hard time getting the needle in the port and after about 40 minutes called in another doctor ( he could not get it in either )  The surgeon finally came in and said to stop trying to do it by feel and do it under fluro.  So, since I was an add on for the fill under fluro I had to wait out in the waiting room until all the other scheduled people were done in radiology.  The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes once I got into Xray.

I found out that my band is a 10cc band and today they put in 4cc.  I can feel some good restriction.  Diet is now back to clear liquids for the rest of today and going to full liquids tomorrow.  The nutritionist told me that I could advance to regular food by the weekend..... finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This is going to be a very short post.  I am exhausted since I have been up since 830pm March 30 because I had to work that night and then head down to the clinic soon after work.  So if this sounds like I am bumbling idiot then you know why.

I guess you are wondering why I had a title like I do for this blog.  I am glad you ask.  Friends came over this past Friday night to go out for dinner at a local restaurant for a Lenten fish fry.  It was a nice and very enjoyable time.  We hit the local Marc's grocery store on the way back to the house.  It was a really nice visit at the house ( sorry about Katrina & Ivan bothering you both so much) anyway, Tom told me about this store called Whole Foods Market.  It sound really cool.  Saturday morning I am having coffee and checking email.  I decided to check out the Whole Foods website.  I was thinking this is a really neat place and the one that Tom told me about was the one in a really nice neighborhood.  I finished my coffee, took a shower and headed out for a day of exploration and fun.  I had a blast at the Whole Foods store and I hate the say this but I spent a good 2 1/2 hours in this store.  I looked at everything ( i was bad and even sampled a few of the goodies they had out for testing ) The store reminded me a lot of a grocery store back in Fort Worth call Central Market.  OK, the reason I named this blog Nasty is I bought something I have never tried before.... TOFU.  Whole Foods has a really awesome fresh salad and hot bar where you can buy items by the pound.  I bought some Sweet & Sour TOFU, some saffron couscous ( it was ok ) and some other things thinking that I am going to have myself a really healthy dinner for Saturday night.  I was wrong !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Tofu was  .  I know lots of people that like it and maybe I am not giving it a fair evaluation ( i am sorry, I can't do it ) the other items were ok.  I really don't think I am going to be trying Tofu again anytime soon.  OH, I did find another product that I liked but have never tasted before, it is called EDAMAME and it was dry roasted.   I liked it.   I ended my shopping trip at Whole Foods with a total bill for $84.  I was shocked.  The next stop was Trader Joe's.  I have been to a couple of these before and Tom mentioned that there was one not too far from the Whole Foods store.  Trader's Joe's was packed and very busy just like the store I had just left.  I had fun anyway.  I tried and bought another item that I have never tasted for tried before... HUMMUS, not too bad.  I sampled it on a wheat cracker at the store.  What a great deal on fish Trader Joe's had.  I bought some Salmon, Swordfish, Mahi Mahi,
cod, orange roughy and halibut.  ( yes, I went overboard ) . I had a good time Saturday and it was really nice weather which made the day a lot more enjoyable. 

Saturday night's dinner ended up being cream of potato soup, a few whole wheat crackers, and some yogurt.  The Tofu, it ended up in a nice dark hefty bag. 

    Today marks the one month that me and my band have been together. !!!!!  It is so hard to believe that one month has passed already.    I am excited and happy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I survived my first weekend back at work.  I returned to work on the 16th of March..work the  16 17 18 had the 19th and 20th off and went back to work Saturday and Sunday ( both of them 12 hour shifts )  I had Monday the 23rd off and I return to work tonight... I get to work Wednesday and Thursday night and be off Friday, Saturday, Sunday.   I sure miss the nights of sleeping like a normal person.  I have found it so hard to get adjusted to sleeping during the day again.  I hate to admit it, but I have been needing the help of Ambien to fall asleep.  The return to night shift has made it almost impossible to get the recommend amount of protein that I am suppose to take.  I am cheating like crazy by taking protein bars and protein shakes to work to get the amount of protein I was told to take in.  The hospital setting makes is even more difficult because it is almost impossible to get a full 30 minutes of uninterrupted lunch break.  I do get the recommended amount of water no problem, I just put a large mug of water with a snap on lid on my med cart and away I go.  Refilling the water is not a problem since every nurse station has an ice / water machine.  I have got to figure out a way to get the protein in when I am at work.  I am scheduled to see the dietitian March 31st, I will see what she has to say

The five incision sites are looking good.  I have been using a product called Maderma, it is suppose to help with scars.  I don't know if it will do any good but it is worth a try.  I did have a funny thing happen at the gym the other day.  I was in the locker changing clothes to go home when I heard this little boy ask his dad what was wrong with my belly. I figured he saw the incisions and was curious.  I am up to 2 miles a day walking.  I was over 3 miles before surgery.  I am looking forward to starting the free weights again after I get the OK from the surgeon.  It will be 5 weeks when I see him next week and surely he will give me the OK to start weight training again and say it is OK for me to take a trip home to Arkansas for Easter.  I had ask him before the surgery about travel and he did not recommend it.  I will ask him again next Tuesday.  I want to go home real bad.

THE DIET:  The dreaded diet.  I am doing good while I am at home and the days I am off work.  I have a set schedule of when and how much I eat:  breakfast is usually a packet of high fiber oatmeal or cream of wheat with a cup of coffee on the side.   I will have  a morning snack of  a glass of fat free milk and 5 multi grain saltines, lunch time is usually a protein shake made with snytha 6 or slim fast using fat free milk a tablespoon of peanut butter a scoop of uncooked oats and three ice cubes.  I mix all this up in the vita-mix ( best thing I have bought in a long time, I love it ) ..afternoon snack is normally some low fat yogurt...dinner I will have a Lean Cuisine meal ( they are really good ) or some fish with a side of super soft steamed veggie....evening snack is cottage cheese with peaches ( i found some peaches and oranges in a can that only have 25 calories and 5 g of sugar sweetened with Splenda) if not that then I will have sugar free jello or another yogurt.  I find I am not hungry at all.  I get all my protein then and I am roughly around 1175 calories for the day.  I usually burn off around 350 calories at the gym daily just by walking on the treadmill.  I have found this to be the average for me when I am off work.  I fall below this on my days that I work.  I am beginning to think I need to get off night shift and move to days which I don't any chance of that for a long time.  I am way behind on seniority at work and it would be a miracle if I was able to get the next day shift position.  I know how hard jobs are to come by and even being in the medical field jobs are not guaranteed.  I will just have to work on my eating with more enthusiasm.  I have only had one cheat night since I was banded.  I tried some different types of food to see how I would tolerate them.  I did OK with some and not so good with others.  I think I will try again this Friday night. 

UPDATE ON WEIGHT LOSS:  I started out back in August of 2008 I was 356 pounds I checked my weight today and I am at 276 pounds.  I weighed 299 the day of surgery.  So, I can say that I have lost 80 lbs in 6.5 months and 23 pounds since surgery ( roughly a total weight loss of 22% ) it has been years since I have felt this good.  I am more motivated with more energy since ( I can't even remember when ).  I am so ready for summer. 

I have given up smoking completely, I have given up my Diet Coke, lost weight, modified my eating habits.....I REFUSE AND WILL NOT GIVE UP MY COFFEE !!!!     LOL, I feel better now.  OK, so I will and have cut down the amount I drink and I have even go so far as to switch to 1/2 regular and 1/2 decaf.   I will not give it up totally and I will not switch to full decaf.    I think I will have a second cup of Java now.  I went out for a fish fry last night.  I did pretty good, I ended up eating baked fish.  I tried a very small piece of fried fish  No Good.  The baked fish was much better.  I did mess up and drink some tea with my dinner.  I know I am not suppose to but old habits are hard to break. 

I got clearance from Dr. Schauer to return to work on Monday the 16th.  I have mixed feelings about going back.  I have really enjoyed the time off, getting to sleep at night and living more like a real human should.  I now have to get back into the habit of staying up at night and sleeping during the day, I am glad that my first night back will only be an 8 hour shift. 

I plan on weighing myself in the morning. I have learned not to become addicted to the scale.  I am more focused on the non scale victories now and looking forward to March 31st when I get my first "fill"  I am just curious as to how much he will put in and what it will feel like. 

I am so much looking forward to summer this year.  I plan on doing more bike riding and yard work.  I have a lot planned and can't wait to get started.  I exciting about being able to wear shorts and look better in them.  Oh, well,  I am going to finish my coffee, vacuum the floor and fold some clothes.... sound like fun?  great weekend to all...

I am so excited and happy.  It is raining here today and I was going stir crazy.  I just had to get out and see people.  I decided to head over to the Mall ( good place to walk and people watch )  the first place I went was Dillard's.  OK, so I know to head over to the Big and Tall when I go there.  I did. I just looked around, seen a couple of things that looked nice but I refused to buy anymore clothes out of this section.  I decided to walk over to the regular section of clothes with Polo being the first section I stopped at.  I knew from past experiences that Polo never fit me...........TODAY WAS A DIFFERENT DAY!!!!!!! I was able to buy two really nice shirts out of the regular Polo section of the store.  I was so pumped up and excited.  I know that the sales clerk must have thought I was crazy, but I don't care.     ( my happy dance )

One more thing.  I did manage to eat some regular green beans.  I think I have about six of them ( small ) and did really good with them.  It felt so good to finally be able to chew food again.  I am not going to rush things but like the nurse told me on my last visit: try and add a few new things back into my diet slowly. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend... I know mine has ended on positive note !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it.. one week ago today I was at the hospital getting ready to have my surgery.  This past week has been one of many ups and downs.  The first three nights at home I had the battle with the dreaded gas pains that people warned me about.  I thought they would never go away....after three days and one mighty thunderous noise BOOM  the pain went away and I felt human again.  I went to the doctor for a check up.  The nurse said that my incision sites look good , that I should now be walking a total of 30 minutes a day and to advance to Puree or phase 3 of the diet.  I was excited and happy.  I went out that evening and bought myself a small container of mashed potatoes ( they were so good )  .  I did go back to the gym.  The first time back I walked the track for 30 minutes.  I found it to feel pretty good and I was able to do a nice pace.  The next time I went I decided to try the treadmill.  I did OK on it.  I set the speed for a nice walking pace.

I go to see the surgeon on March 31.  This will be the first time I get to see him since the band was put in place.  I should get my first fill that day.  I am not sure if it is real or psychological that feel some kind of restriction now.  I know that if there is any restriction is most likely due to swelling. 

I have seven more days off work before I have to start back.  I start back date is March 12th.  I work with some really nice people.  I received a card in the mail that signed by the whole department.  It was nice of them to think of me. 

OK, I will stop here.  I have only one comment left to add.  I started my weight loss back in August of 08 with a starting weight of 356lbs ....my current weight is 290lbs .