5 months

Nov 27, 2011

Well, it's been 5 months since my lap band surgery. It's amazing that it's been that long, yet it feels so recent.
I'm still at about 38 lbs lost. I gained a few pounds during an extremely, incredibly, unbelievably stressful time at work. But I'm getting rid of them and getting back on track. I've read many posts about "getting back to band rules". And I'm taking a page from that book, so to speak, and I'm getting back to the basics.
I'm feeling pretty good.
Hope you all are well!
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3 months

Sep 30, 2011

Wow! It's flown by. I can't believe that I got the band 3 months and 1 week ago.
I am doing pretty well mostly. I do make some poor calorie choices once in while, and lately it's been hard to get exercise in on a daily basis, but I do at least exercise 3 times per week.
I'm down about 38 lbs (which includes the two weeks before the surgery).
I do still have the esophageal pain, but I'm sortof resigned to living with it.
I can't believe I have lose skin already. I thought some would stretch back at first, but it hasn't. Maybe later it will catch up some.
I LOVE that I'm rarely hungry. I LOVE that I"m not ruled by an intense feeling of constant hunger. I do have to watch out, because sometimes I don't remember to eat and that's not good. I hope that the lack of hunger continues.
Ciao for now!
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survived it (so far)

Aug 29, 2011

Last week had to be one of the worst week's of my life. I don't want to focus on the negative though. I survived a fall during the earthquake on tuesday (got a concussion); my mother told me they think she has stomach cancer (thursday); and we had hurricane Irene (sat). Luckily we faired well from Irene, but it was scary leading up to it. My sister lives minutes from Ocean City, Maryland, and they made it sound like they were going to get demolished! She refused to evacuate which scared the heck out of me!
Thank God we survived the earthquake (which was not bad), and the hurricane (also not too bad for us). I just hope that my mother's cancer scare will be only a scare and not really cancer. If it is cancer, hopefully it has been caught early and she will survive it. Prayers are welcome!

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6 weeks

Aug 05, 2011

Ok, so it's been 6 weeks. I'm adapting pretty well, but starting to feel kinda stir crazy. I want my progress to be faster. Yet I chose the band for slow and steady....  anyway, I am following the band rules and doing well with them. I have kinda kept myself on softs like ground turkey and fish. Next week I'm going to try meat. Maybe chicken. not sue yet.
I still have daily "chest pain". I see the nurse practitioner on Monday.
Well, I'm recovering from elective hand surgery, so this one is going to be short.
I'll post again soon.
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NSV

Jul 26, 2011

I was excited and pleased that my brown pants fit comfortably finally! Up until today, they were too tight on me. I've started taking my measurements. I have gone down some inches in my chest (of course, that was the most), waist, arms, and hips. I am trying to only weigh myself once per week, and I don't know if I lost weight or not, but I can see that my body is changing. That's pretty cool. 

I was reading someone's mind today :)   Thinking that they probably thought I should have done this before or instead of the band, but I tried soooooo hard the 8 months prior to surgery, and couldn't. I tried to avoid surgery, tried to prove to myself that I didn't need surgery, I could do it, but I wasn't successful. I actually gained weight (3 lbs) until the pre-surgery diet. Even on that, I was hungry all the time and ate every hour or more.

Some people think they have eating disorders, I think I had a hunger disorder. I didn't eat from stress (well, occassionally), or sadness, bordom, happiness, etc. I ate because I always felt so hungry. I couldn't escape it. I couldn't manage it. Everything I tried, failed. Until the band.

I have really had the success I"m having because I haven't had hunger. Today I had more hunger than any other day since getting banded. It was a bit disconserting. I'm hoping it was because I didn't drink very much water (have made it up since). I usually have a routine and get my water in, but today I didn't for some reason. Also I wanted chocolate like nobody's business! (could be hormonal too).

Anyway, I'm back on track, my hunger is gone again, and I'm up to 7 glasses of water and working on the 8th.

Also I'm grateful for my NSV's: walking 35 minutes straight, covering more "ground" in the same amount of time, feeling stronger, able to climb steps quicker and do more of them, able to get up more easily, not feeling so tired all the time, clothes are looser, my wedding band fits again, I feel more agile, I don't mind walking from the car to the store, I park farther away, I was able to run for about 30 seconds (downpour), and my favorite is that my hubby is very happy about my NSV's and weight loss, and has wanted to spend more time together.

Have a great day all!!


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4 weeks (plus a couple days)

Jul 24, 2011

Ooops, forgot to post at 4 weeks post-op! Time flies!
Things are going pretty well. I still rarely get hungry (a miracle!!) 

The pain has gone down, but I still have some pain everyday. It has interferred with my activities, but I'm still trying to do what I can to try to ignore it.

I am down 28 lbs! (10 prior to surgery; 18 in the past 28 days).
I am able to move a lot more, but I'm still pretty out of shape.
It has been terribly hot!! so I have moved my workout to indoors. It was 106o yesterday (not our usual weather). I walked in the mall yesterday (had to stop for esophageal pain), but at least I got some walking done in the cool air!

I am meeting a friend for lunch at a restaurant tomorrow! Yikes! However, she had RNY 3 years ago, so she a safe person to go out to eat with!  I keep thinking it'll be hard to see all those large portions and yummy stuff and only have a few bites! I have checked out the menu for the place. I'm still on soft foods til Tuesday and I did think about going ahead with regular foods, but they have some seafood things and I figured out a couple items I could choose from. Wish me luck!

While I was surfing, I ran into a couple tips: ask to sub fries with an extra serving of veggies, refuse the bread that they put on the table, and even ask them to remove the water (or move it out of reach).

I also ran into an interesting blog: http://www.bandfriendlyrecipes.com/. There were a couple interesting looking foods. Thought I'd share!
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looking up

Jul 19, 2011

Things are looking up!
My esophageal spasms were rediagnosed as esophagitis. I was given a medicine that will help improve the situation and likely prevent reoccurances.
I was also upgraded to soft foods - YIPPIE!!!!!! So I started with a pureed lunch: refried beans and cheese (seriously yummy!) Then for dinner I will have a tuna melt minus bread and tomato (so tuna salad with cheese warmed up - it's good, you should try it!) 
I'm in a much better mood. If I don't have pain, I like my band. I still don't get hungry very much, which is a MIRIACLE!!
My fitness levels are improving. I walked this morning, but it was HOT! My lungs were burning from the poor air quality.
I also walked from the doc's office to the hospital and back again without problem. I am walking more and more. I didn't realize just how out of shape I am! But it's improving. I'm also doing 20 flights of steps a day (minimum). That's pretty cool! It's giving me more stamina and endurance.
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3½ weeks

Jul 18, 2011

I'm fighting off depression. I started having more esophageal spasms. I would have them every morning, but they'd go away.  Last wed I went to the doc's office and the doc did an unfill. I'm still confused about that. He said the band was empty, so where did 2 cc's of fluid come from?
After the unfill, the spasms deminished. I was having about 40 minutes of pain 3-5 times per day. Last night I woke up at 3am with terrible pain. Couldn't get back to sleep. The pain has persisted most of the morning and is intermittent now. I took some pain meds (advil), but don't want to take anything stronger.
I'm just getting depressed. What happens if this doesn't stop? this is actually interferring in my life alot! I can't do alot of stuff because of the pain and discomfort. Is this my life now? If that's the case, I don't want the band!
I am waiting for the doc's office to call me to see what they have to say...
pray for me!
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3 weeks

Jul 15, 2011

It's been 3 weeks today since my surgery!
My esophagus is feeling much better :)
I'm kinda sick of the full fluids diet, but, I'll survive!
I'm still at 23.5 lbs lost since last week. But I'm able to walk more and do more and feel better. My clothes have gotten noticeably looser. I am able to get up easier and I have more energy to do stuff overall.
So far, my quality of life has improved a lot!  Even my relationship with my hubby is improving, because he's hugging me more and putting his hand on my back, etc. I don't even think he knows he's doing that :)
My relationship with my daughters is also improving, because I am doing a bit more with them and I'm not "too tired" all the time.
I still have a long, long, long way to go, to reach my goal of losing 166 lbs, but I am starting the journey on a good foot. Someone wrote: "it's a journey, not an event" and I keep focusing on that!
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A little set back

Jul 13, 2011

I woke up with pain in my chest area and left side. I tried to walk it off, but it persisted. It was a mild-moderate pain, but enough that I lost my appetite and didn't sit down for a few hours.
I saw my doc, and he deflated my band. That improved it for a while, but the pain did come back (although diminished). So he wants me on full liquids for 2 more weeks!!!  Ugh! 
I'm hoping to keep a positive attitude, but I was a bit disappointed :(
Well, maybe I'll lose some more weight on fulls :)
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About Me
43.9
BMI
Surgery
06/24/2011
Surgery Date
Jan 24, 2011
Member Since

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Latest Blog 18
NSV

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