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I haven't been blogging because there hasn't been much to say. I've pretty much been holding steady for the past several months. I thought I needed a slight tweak a few weeks ago, but when my doctor checked under fluoro, he said I was already filled enough and if he put in any more I would be obstructed. That was my fifth fill. My next appointment is April 4.

So here I am, still able to eat pizza, pasta, bread and everything that everyone else says they can't eat with good restriction. I still get hungry in-between meals also. Some of this I will acknowledge is me - I don't always make the best food choices. But even when I do, the payoff is still slow to come.

I did have a triple PB yesterday that I'm hoping to never repeat! My microwave broke on me in the morning, so I wasn't able to eat my oatmeal before going with my family to a cousin's funeral 2 hours away. I was starved by the time we got there so we stopped at McDonald's and I got an egg mcmuffin without the meat. I didn't eat it all, but I must have eaten too fast, because on the drive to the church I got that knot in my chest and I knew it was going to have to come back up. So I barfed into the McDonald's bag while my sister is loudly going "la la la" trying to cover up the retching noises and my other sister is gagging from hearing me gagging and my mother is laughing. I felt better after that. Until we got to the church and I knew I couldn't go in and talk to people yet. So I walked around in the parking lot a bit, then went back to the van to cough up some more. Then went into the church, talked and hugged and walked around a bit, then made an escape to the bathroom where another good bit finally came up. I returned to my seat on the aisle wondering if I'd have to make a quick exit during the service, but pretty soon I felt a big GLUG GLUG GLUG and I knew that the rest finally went down the drain! Whew! So I've been on liquids today (shakes and soup and some oatmeal with water heated on the stove, darn it) and should be good by tomorrow.

If I don't get this microwave fixed soon I don't know what I'm going to do. I use it every day! You just can't reheat frozen breakfast casserole any other way! And hopefully I will start losing more than a few tenths of a pound every couple weeks. But any loss is still better than a gain! Which is what I know I would be doing otherwise. So I'm thinking positive and I know things will keep moving in the right direction for me now.

I've had 3 fills so far and am now at 6 cc and finally starting to feel some restriction. My weight has been holding fairly steady. I'm currently at 217, no longer morbidly obese! I have my 4-month follow up appointment in another week and a half. This is sure slow going but at least it is going down and not up.

I cannot wait until my first fill. My appetite has returned with a vengence! My 1 month follow up appointment is next Tuesday the 11th, so maybe we'll discuss a day for my fill at that time. If I keep up like I am now I will start gaining weight instead of losing or staying the same.

6 days post op...had some complications during surgery when my liver was nicked by one of the surgical instruments used to hold it back. Had some blood loss; but several blood tests later, they determined I wouldn't need a transfusion, that my levels were normal. The surgery took over twice as long as it was supposed to, but recovery has been okay. Hopefully all that is behind me now and all I'll lose in the future is this excess weight!

Aug   1, 07 - pre admission testing weight was 245 (my high)
Aug 13, 07 - surgery day weight was 237
Aug 19, 07 - current weight is 229

Monday is my day! I am going back and forth between being excited and being really nervous. I feel pretty reassured that the risk of death is low and my surgeons are good and I'm young and fairly healthy going in. I've also had a lot of pre-op testing, so I feel good about that too. I'm just nervous because I've never had surgery before and really the thought of it scares me a little and makes me queasy too. But I know it will be a good thing for me. What an exciting journey!  I can't wait to start losing and feeling better and healthier again.

Getting closer...I had my endoscopy last week and the surgeon said everything looked fine; no hiatal hernia to worry about. I also had my sleep study last week, as there was a cancellation and I was able to get in 3 weeks sooner. It was an interesting experience, and I wasn't surprised when I turned out to have sleep apnea. The doctor who read the study results prescribed a cpap machine with a setting of 10. I picked up my machine this past Thursday. Unlike some people, I was looking forward to getting this machine because I am so tired of being tired all the time! Every weekend I nap for several hours each day - and it's not as if I'm skimping on sleep during the week, either. Well, I'm happy to report that I made it through today without napping or feeling the need to nap! 

So I've had my 3 hour glucose test, bloodwork, psychiatric evaluation, endoscopy, sleep study, and initial surgeon consult. I guess now I'm just waiting for a date!

I had my surgeon consult and psychiatric evaluation yesterday. The surgeon ordered 2 more tests: a sleep study and an upper endoscopy. The EGD is this Tuesday the 3rd, but I couldn't get in to the sleep study until the 28th. I guess that means August is the earliest I'll be able to get in for surgery. That's alright - it'll mean more band surgeries under my surgeon's belt and more experience by the time he gets to me!

Today I had my pre-op testing done. The surgeon's office had ordered an abdominal ultrasound and a 3 hour glucose test. Other than the psych eval and the nutrition counseling, it appears as if I may not have any other tests. Of course, I could be wrong. My coworker/friend who just had RNY with this surgeon had to also go through a sleep study, and my sister who had RNY with another surgeon had to have an upper GI done pre-operatively. I am assuming that it's full steam ahead from here; guess I'll find out when I meet with the surgeon on the 29th of this month.

My increasing weight and the idea of WLS is on my mind every day. I keep "weighing" the idea of surgery and whether it's really right for me. I just can't imagine being able to lose weight and keep it off without some kind of serious intervention, but then I worry that I'll have problems down the road - flipped or leaking port or slipped band or any number of issues I read about on here.

Since my last entry I attended another hospital's seminar as well as their monthly support group meeting. There was only one person there who'd had lap-band. Other than a few other folks interested in lap-band, the vast majority were RNY'ers - including my sister and a friend from work. In the weeks since then I've been reconsidering having my surgery done at this local hospital instead of traveling to the city. The local surgeons have only just begun performing lap-band surgery and don't have that many procedures under their belt (which is why I initially didn't want it done here). But I figure by the time I get through the process they'll have done quite a few more. So I finally gave in and I'm having a telephonic appointment with the office nurse this week. Then I'll need to have some labwork done before the surgeon consult. 

It *is* nerve wracking. I worry that I'll come out with more problems than I went in with - which right now is just extra fat, considering I don't have high blood pressure or diabetes or any other comorbidities. I guess at some point we just have to take that leap of faith and trust that it will all work out.

Yesterday I went to my first WLS seminar. I've been researching WLS and the Lap-Band quite a lot in my spare time, but this was the first official step I've taken towards it - other than changing my OH profile from "learning about surgery" to "hoping to have surgery", ha ha. I knew most of what we went over in the surgeon's presentation, but it was good to have it all affirmed. Surprisingly, most of the people in attendance were leaning towards the band. I am not sure if more people are going band vs RNY or if the thought of a low-risk surgery is bringing out a lot of people who'd otherwise never consider WLS (like me). The surgeon said that he would recommend banding for younger persons with no comorbidities with 100 pounds to lose, but he'd recommend RNY for people that had to lose 150 pounds or more and with multiple health issues that needed to be cleared up quickly. Fortunately I fall in the first category. I am attending a different hospital's seminar in 2 weeks, but I'm thinking that I will consult the surgeon from the first seminar. The hospital at which he practices is a center of excellence, and I believe they've had more experience with banding, though still not a great amount. I asked, and he said they've done about 200 band surgeries there so far, as opposed to 4-5,000 RNY. 200 is a good start, right?