I saw Dr. Argotte yesterday and all is well. I was still experiencing a too-tight feeling, so he did take out .2 cc, now I have 2.8 cc in my 4 cc. band. I learned a lesson about taking antibiotics. I was diagnosed with a sinus infection on the 19th. Started antibiotics, daily it got harder to swallow and keep food down. Finally on the 26th, it was way too tight, was gurgling and spitting up from my own saliva. Called the dr. and decided since I could get liquids down, to wait on my dr. appt. One of the lovely OH posters explained to me that I need to request liquid antibiotics, if a pill lays in your pouch and dissolves, it's going to irritate and cause swelling. duh. I won't forget that again. Anyway, I'm down 53 lbs and feeling lots better today, and I also got to see my hospital room-mate from the day we had surgery, Shannon, and she looks wonderful, and has lost 80 lbs. Wow, this is really working for us, who would have thought.

My endoscopy was Friday, and everything is good. No ulcers, just a little swelling, so he took a biopsy just to be sure, but it all looked good. So, this a lesson well learned. If you let it get to a bad stuck episode, and you know when it's coming so don't deny it, you could bleed from it. And any time you see blood, you need to be concerned. The main thing to remember is Don't Go That Far.
And finally I have hit the 50 lbs lost mark, Praise God. Even tho my weight loss is slow, it's still leaving, so I'm still happy with it. If you're reading this and wondering, the answer is yes, it's still the safe, successful way to lose weight.  

Here I am, a month since my last posting, and I STILL haven't hit 50 lbs lost! But I am at 48 lbs down. Boy, I'm crawling to this 50 lb mark. As long as it is still moving tho, it's still working. I've had bit of a problem this week. Tuesday night I was eating supper, and got stuck. Went to the bathroom and was spitting up blood. So I quit trying to eat. No more blood, no pain at all, no tasting blood and no more episodes. The next day, I couldn't swallow any food at all, not even applesauce. So I called Dr. A. He wanted to see me first thing this morning, so DH and I went. He said it could be an ulcer or even just irritation. But he's going to do an endoscopy on the 18th to look at my esophagus and stomach to make sure everything is okay. And I'm to stay on liguids and soft foods for about 3 days. I had just been to see him for my regular appt. a week ago. And he was pleased with my progress. I didn't start losing well until I was 8 months out from sugery. But since then I have lost 21 pounds, in the last four months, so he said that is a good thing. So we'll see if there is anything that needs attention and keep going on this journey. Until next time.......

I have lost 45 pounds now, my next goal is to lose 50 by my one-year bandiversary, which is June 18. This band is working like it should. It really does help when there are times you just can't make the right choices of what to eat or how much. It won't let you eat too much! I do realize this losing phase is going to take 2 or 3 years probably. You know what? That is so okay with me now. I hopefully won't need any plastic surgery to tighten anything by losing so slowly. I confess that I'm still not exercising enough, I've got a problem with that. So that needs to be my focus for awhile. If anyone is reading this for encouragement, I have learned that I cannot change all things at the same time. I am not Wonder Woman, and I'm not the strongest-willed person in the world. Whew, that was hard to say. Until next time...

It has been almost 2 weeks since my un-fill and reaching restriction. I have lost another 9 or 10 lbs. I'm comfortable with how the band works now. When I do what I'm supposed to do, it does what it is supposed to do. My focus now needs to be on exercise. Since yard work ended last fall, I haven't really done any consistent exercise like I should. I'm checking into gyms in the are and considering what I think I would keep up. It's time to move tho. I know the weight will fall faster and my body will change quicker. I just praise God the band is working.