Bethany G.

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I got my 2nd fill this afternoon. I now have 4cc in my 10cc band. I hope that this one makes a difference. It was much needed and I definately earned it!! Dr. Lowe had a terrible time getting into the port. It seems that my port is now tilted and makes it a real bitch to fill. He doesn't do flouro fills, but is now seriously considering them! It took him an hour to hit the port and get my lil bit of saline in. The last fill was so painless and easy. I was pretty bummed that this one was much harder. It wasn't unbearable by any means, but wasn't pleasant either. 
I have kissed 40 pounds goodbye for good. I am feeling great and am so thankful I chose this surgery. It is definately helping me out big time. It's a wonderful feeling to actually get full after eating a Lean Cuisine meal, 1 sandwich instead of 4, or 1 pc of pizza instead of 6. It's amazing. 
I have found that chicken is the devil. I am not able to tolerate the tasty poultry any longer. I am ok w/ that b/c there are plenty of things that I have no probs eating. I feel that I am pretty lucky to be able to eat everything else w/out any probs.

What can I say? I suck at keeping this updated! I am down 37 pounds and feeling great....well minus the strep throat and ear infection that I am fighting right now! 
I had my 1st fill on Dec. 27. It was needed, believe me. I was pretty nervous as it was the 1st time Dr. Lowe had ever done a fill. He doesn't do flouro fills, but everything went very well. It didn't hurt at all--just felt weird. It took about 10 mins but he found the port and put in 3cc. It made a HUGE difference in my eating. I finally found out what restriction was and lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks. 
I go for my next appt the 1st week of February and it can't get here soon enough---I have lost my restriction and it sucks!! I feel like I am on diet again. Only 2 more weeks....2 more weeks... I can do this!
I still have spells of dizziness and nausea but not as often as before. For the most part, I feel great and have more energy. I wouldn't change a thing.   

Yesterday was my 4 week anniversary!! Other than the dizziness/nausea I feel GREAT!!! 26 pounds are gone FOREVER!!!!!! My weight finally budged as I started eating more than what my nutritionist recommended. I have lost 3 lbs in the last week!! What a great feeling!! 
I have had fewer headaches, back aches, etc. It's amazing what dropping a lil bit of weight can do. I even went to the gym yesterday!!!! I haven't been there in almost a year. It felt so good to get in and sweat. I did 30 mins of cardio and felt amazing. I made a pact w/ my husband that we would work out on our days off---which is 7 days every 2 weeks. This will get us going and back in the habit of working out. After Christmas we are going to get a treadmill, gazelle, or elliptical, so we can work out on days that we work if we want.
I LOVE this band!!!

I can not believe Christmas is only 2 and 1/2 weeks away!!! It just seems unreal. I am also in awe that I am almost 1 month post-op. The last few weeks haven't been easy, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. I am down almost 25 lbs. My weight has been up and down since I started on regular food. I went to the doctor last week and he said that everything looked great and that I am experiencing the nausea/vomitting/dizziness because my body is still trying to rid of the foreign object(the band). Hopefully it will all pass soon and my body will realize this is IT!!! 
I have found that I can eat almost anything I want w/out any probs. I just don't eat much. It has been hard but I have been able to keep my caloric intake under 1000 on most days. Lucky for me I haven't entered into "bandster hell" yet. I get my 1st fill on the 27th, so hopefully I won't starve to death before then!! 

Let me play a lil catch up here! Surgery was 3 days ago. Everything went exactly as planned. I was given a lil bit of morphine after surgery, but wasn't on any pain meds the rest of the time. I actually felt pretty good. I munched on ice chips and sipped on water all afternoon/nite Wednesday w/out any problems. I got up and down out of bed w/ minimal pain. I was discharged on Thurs morning and still felt good. The bumpy ride home was a lil rough on the abdomen, but nothing unbearable. I slept off and on Thurs and ended up taking my pain meds b/c it hurt like hell getting in and out of bed!!! Those hospital beds are just so handy!! I tried to sip on some protein, but it just didn't taste right, so I just kept on the water. Thursday nite was possibly the most painful nite of my short life!!! I woke up at about 3am feeling soooo nauseous. I started dry heaving---of course nothing came up----I mean other than a few sips of water nothing had been put in. It was AWFUL. My stomach hurt soooo bad. I took 1 vicodin and headed back to bed...I was awakened at about 430 w/ the same thing. Again, I started dry heaving and some how managed to puke up some nasty dark brown liquid(have no idea what it was). I felt so much better after that--except for the abd. pain. Luckily, my mom(a surgical nurse) is staying with me until I am better, thought that maybe the pain meds were causing me to get sick. I haven't taken anymore and haven't had a "puking" spell since. I guess I just couldn't handle the pain meds on an empty stomach. 
Friday was uneventful. I took catnaps throughout the day. I was a bit nauseous and dizzy throughout the day, but I noticed the pain start fading away. I took my 1st shower since Wednesday and I felt fabulous. I never knew a shower could feel so good.
Today I actually left the house!! I made a trip to Wal-Mart AND I have been up for a solid 8 hours!!! Very exciting. The pain is very minimal and I am able to get in and out of bed w/out any problems and I can sleep on either side or my back now. 
I am having a very hard time getting protein in. The protein shakes are just so sweet and syrupy, I just haven't been able to make myself drink them. They about make me puke. I have been sipping water like crazy and a lil bit of unsweetened tea now and then. I actually was able to "eat" cream of potato soup 2nite and so far no issues. It felt good to be able to put something in my mouth other than water. I can't wait until the "mushies" stage gets here.  One more week...one more week!!!
To sum things up, the 1st couple of days were rough, but today I feel almost normal. I still get tired easily and have a lil bit of nauseousness and dizziness, but I know that its going to get better every day that passes.

Day 4 on liquid diet down.....only 7 more days to go!!!! Yesterday was a completely awful day...the worst so far. I felt just *blah* all day long. I was lethargic and nauseous and just felt like crud. Obviously it passed, but there were times I wasn't sure I would be able to cope! I had great support from my husband and my family and made it through the day. 
As of this morning, I am down about 5 lbs. Not too bad in 3 days! The great weight loss is definately motivating me to be more strict with this liquid diet. It's only one more week. I can do it--no prob. Today was actually a breeze. I am finding that I am thinking of food less and less throughout the day. It's really amazing just how much my life was focused on my next meal. At least I am getting a grip on it now. Better late than ever!!!
Tomorrow I meet with the anesthesiologist. I'm not really sure what that will entail, but I'm sure it will be just fine!
I can't believe that my surgery is only a week away. I am soo excited, but starting to get nervous. I guess that is normal.

1st off...my surgery was moved back a week--to Nov. 14. Something about the ppl that needed to be there while the doctor was using certain equipment were unavailable for the 7th...what a bummer, but its ok b/c everything happens for a reason.
So I did the liquid diet for 2 days and did a great job! Then my husband and I took a quick mini-vacation to Florida for 3 days. I did ok the 1st day then, the liquids went out the window. I feel bad, but am not going to beat myself up. I started back on the liquids today----so far so good.
I have found that eating is more of a habit and something I do out of boredom more than actually being hungry. It is going to take some work on my part to get by all of that. I just keep trying to think of the prize at the end! 
Just a little over a week until I am banded!! I am sooo excited!

This is my 1st post!! I am less than 3 weeks out from surgery and couldn't be more excited! I am going to go shopping tomorrow and get everything for my liquid diet, which I will start October 31.
I am going to do my best to keep up with posting. I think it will do me alot of good being able to write about my experience.