Jan D.

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I've been doing alright. I wish I would get in the mood to exercise more but can't seem to get motivated. Hoping this warmer weather does it for me,,,, it usually does. I have an appointment at curves this friday and I've done this before and it works. I just got bored with it after 4-5 months so stopped and then it was easy to not go ever again LOL This time will be different.
I was doing well with my weight loss for the first 3.5 weeks post-op then discovered I could eat almost anything I wanted in smaller amts. That turned into more and more carbs and then my weight started creeping up. The my TOM came even though it was 2 weeks late. I usually weigh every morning and over the next couple days I gained 10 pounds. Man I was so mad....I quit weighing for a few days but wouldnt you know this was just in time for my first fill, 4/2/08 and my weight was up at my doc visit so he wasnt very happy I could tell but all did was look at my chart and say "unusual". I knew what he meant and I didnt say anything except I thought some of it was related to my TOM. So now for the good news. Since my fill I've lost the 10 pounds and hopefully more will be gone at my next appt 4/23/08. I definitely can tell I have restriction. He told me all I had to do was soft/mushy foods for 2 days and then back to normal. Well I think I found out what mildly "stuck" means.
I tried some tuna salad and 3rd bite I got this weird feeling like food stuck 
in the middle of my chest. So stopped and I had read on this site try to 
walk. So I did that and it went down after a few minutes. I think I was just
so hungry I ate too fast. So Im learning the band rules in a "real" way now.
Its just hard to do that when you have no restriction and I did try. After a fill and that feeling I now am made
very aware of each bite I take. I've been stuck on chicken breast and crockpot roast too. Again I think I ate too fast. Im assuming these episodes were fairly
mild because it didnt hurt like what Ive read here on this site as some people describe it. So Saturday I think the restriction has loosened a bit cuz
I've not had anymore stuck episodes, still keeping portions small and 
trying to convince myself Im satisfied with this. So far so good. I want to be
good!!!! Im starting to feel more energetic and hopefully the exercise will
help. I seem do to better at work too. Only have so much food with me and
thats it. More of this saga later.

It's been easy this far, but not expecting it to necessarily to stay this way. Yesterday I was to advance to "anything through a straw" phase. I made the recipe for cream of broccoli soup in the majic bullet cookbook and it was delicious. I did add a little velvetta to it though. Tonight I cooked dinner for hubby. Baked chicken, scalloped potatoes and broccoli. I just blended a little of it all with chicken broth and it was great. I was satisfied with about half of what I made so I stopped. Last night I baked a sweet potatoe and blended a little of it with FF evaporated milk, 1 tsp. honey and a little butter. It looked like real smooth baby food. It was really good but I love sweet potatoes anyway. I'm feeling good and getting out but I like to get back home and comfortable. One of my incisions is right where my waistband goes so I tolerable but nice to get it off there too. We went to Red Lobster today after church and I had the lobster bisque and it was delicious. I never, ever thought I would be going to red lobster for SOUP and enjoy it LOL !!!

Well I'm doing well. Finally got out of the house yesterday. My son turns 16 tomorrow and my DH birthday was the 28th of Feb. so we went to red robin for their free meals. I had half a chocolate milkshake. Boy was it good. I was going to try soup but none of it looked liquid enough. I was still on full liquids that day.
 I was really sore the day after surgery. I felt like I had a terrible crick in both sides of my neck, my arms were sore from using them to get up and down, my belly was sore and kinda felt like I would get charlie horses in my muscles when I would turn over in bed. Thursday was better. I had put a hot neck wrap on several times the night before and that helped a lot. Friday was yesterday and it felt good to get out to red robin, blockbuster, etc. but I was glad to be back home a couple hours later. I woke up today and remembered today was when I could start thicker liquids, anything you can suck through a straw. I made myself a little runny malt-o-meal. It was sooooo good. It is so weird eating such small portions,but I'm satisfied. Later I'm gong to make that cream of broccoli soup in the magic bullet recipe book. It's nice to be able to have a greater choice. I really haven't been hungry much at all.  My stomach growls loud and long but I don't get the hungry feeling. I've discovered I LOVE tomato juice. We are going out to a new store called "Rick's Pick's" today. It's huge so I figure it will be good walking for me. It's a new discount store here, I've never heard of it before. Maybe we will find some good bargains.
One of my incisions, the far left one lost it's steri-strips today. Thats nice since Ive discovered Im allergic to the adhesive on all these things that has been stuck on my belly. It's been so itchy and red where the adhesive had been.
Ive lost a total of 21 pounds since my initial eval. with Dr. Malley on 1/30/08. YAY!!!!

Well the big day has come and gone, pretty uneventfully. I was never nervous until we got off the exit for the center then I started feeling a few butterflies in my stomach. I just told myself I'd be OK and it would soon be over. I arrived at the surgery center at 10:00 am as directed and I was taken right back to my room and prepared for surgery then just had to wait a while til it was my turn. My biggest fear was the IV and that all went well. Next they took back to surgery, I moved over to the OR table and they got me positioned and then she put a mask over my face and told to take some deep breaths and thats the last I remember until I was back in my room and they were telling me it was all over and went very well. I was pretty alert about 1:40 pm and sat on the side of the bed for a while then got up and walked the halls. They told me I did the best of the 4 people that day. I sat in the chair for a while and then went for another walk. Then they were asking me if I felt ready for my barium swallow and I said I sure was. I was looking forward to anything to sip even if it was just a mouthful of barium YUM. LOL. That was cool seeing that go through the band. Then it was back to my room and wait for Dr. Malley to give the OK to start sipping my apple juice. Man Oh Man that was the best apple juice ever!!! He told me everything went great and my liver wasnt enlarged at all.So I was ready to go home. We were anxious to get going to avoid rush hour. We left at 3:45 pm and went home and I rested most of the evening. I have had some very mild discomfort but nothing at all that isnt tolerable.I
am using my pain med as needed though.