Shelly Lorier
I met my husband when I was 18 years old and 105 pounds. We moved in together when I was 19 and I worked in fast food so that is pretty much what we ate. Greasy cheesburgers, fries, and tortes. I became less active and started gaining weight. We got married when I was 20. On my wedding day I weighed 140 pounds. I was still working in the fast food restaurant and going to school full time for Accounting. I graduated college with my 2 year degree and by the time I got my first job doing accounting I weighed 150. Then I had my first baby. I only gained 25 pounds while I was pregnant but I kept 20 of it on. So now I was up to 170 pounds and this is when I was 26 years old. Then when I turned 30, I had my second child. I only gained a little over 20 pounds with him too, but those pounds stayed. Now I am turning 40 and I have added another 67 more pounds to my 5'4" frame. I don't feel good about how I look. I am on medicine for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and cronic acid reflux. I am hoping that this surgery will be the tool I have been looking for to help me loose this weight and loose all the medicines that I take on a daily basis.
7/29/08 Less than 1 day away
Tomorrow is my surgery day. I have to be at the hospital by 8:00am for 10:00am surgery time. I am scared, not of the surgery but of the going under part. That is always the scariest for me. 
I am excited to lose weight. I want to prove to myself that I can do this and stick with this instead of quitting like all the other times.
8/4/08 5 Days Post Op
This has been a very hard 5 days. I ended up in the er last night because I was throwing up and couldn't quit. Today I do feel better, but the profiles I have read and how everyone did well after surgery were very lucky because I did not have that great experience. I really need someone to help me find a protein shake. The ones I have had are terrible and cannot force myself to drink them. Please help. 
8/8/08 9 Days Post Op
Today I went in for my first appointment after surgery. I have some pain around the biggest site and Dr. Chua said that is normal since that is the area where the biggest instrument has been used. I am down 12 lbs. 
It has not been a very easy week. I found out when I meet with the nutritionist today that I have only been getting around 200 calories per day since I have not found a protein drink as of yet. She recommended using a juice type of drink since I do not like milk. This is nothing what I had expected. 
This first week has been very hard mentally. Especially since every 10 minutes is a food commercial on TV. I have been eating some soft foods, but I am still on the liquid diet until wednesday. I see Dr. Chua and the nutritionist on Aug 29th for my next appt and possibly a fill. So far I am not very hungry. One day at a time.
8/13/08 2 weeks after surgery 
Life is much better these days, especially since I can eat food. I can't believe it has been 2 weeks already. The first week was so hard for me being on the liquids. Now I have been trying all different kinds of foods and no problems. I keep reminding myself to chew and chew and chew. I refuse to buy a scale, so I won't know if I lost anymore or not until I go in for my first fill on Aug 29th. The pain is almost gone. Still a little to sore to sleep on the left side, but I take nothing for pain. My blood sugars have been around 100 with no diabetes medicine, which the Dr. said is really good. I think I have noticed being hungry. I have been really trying to make sure that I am and not that it is in my mind. I am still working on that. I keep saying and I am sticking to "one day at a time".
8/19/08 1 day short-3 weeks post op
So now life is too good. I barely have any restriction. I can eat pretty much anything with no problems. 
I went to my OBGYN and when I was weighed I gained 4 lbs.
It might be give or take depending on what it will say when I get weighed at the dietician. I know they are different scales. I just don't feel like I am starving anymore and I feel hungry all the time. I will be telling the Dr this so I can have my first fill next friday. I almost don't even feel like I had any surgery. Other than an little soreness on the right side and the scars from the incisions. If anyone has been in my shoes, please let me know because I feel like I am doing something wrong. Help.
8/29/08 4 weeks after surgery
I can't believe how good I feel. I lost another 4 lbs for a total of 16 down for the first month. I had my first fill today. I had 2 cc but now I have 3cc. I hope I feel more restriction now. The nutritionist said I am doing great and so did the doctor. I am on my way to my new life and I am excited.
9/23/08
Today I went to see my family doctor for my diabetes check up. My A1C, which is to check my blood sugar levels, is at 5.2 which is considered non-diabetic. 
My triglycerides are down 100 and my cholesterol is gone down quite some also. I am so excited. This is all happening after 2 months of weight loss. No more medicine for diabetes and the high triglycerides. I am down 21 lbs on their scale from when I had my pre op appt 2 months ago. 
I am just so happy. My doctor is really happy too. This was the best decision I have ever made.
So this weekend we are going to Las Vegas. It is our 19 year anniversary. I am excited to go. This will be our 2nd time going. I just hate flying. My doctor gave me a few Xanax for the flight. Those and the draminine will do the trick. Then I just have to worry about the heat. The other day it was 106 degrees. That is way to warm for me. I guess I will just have to stay in the casino. 
The ticker below shows a starting weight of 255 and the nutritionist scale shows 256. So the scales are a little off between the nutritionist and family doctor. Still shows a loss and I am happy with that.
10/6/08
Vegas was fun, but I am in no hurry to go back. It was way to warm for me. Upper 90's. My husband liked it though. We went to the Hoover Dam, which I thought was really neat. We did so much walking. My legs and feet were sore. It was too warm for gym shoes. I only wore them the day we went to the dam. But flip flops are the reason my legs were so sore. I did not have any issues with eating on vacation. I chose to stay with pretty much what I would eat if I was home. I feel it worked. I will find out next week on the 17th when I see Dr. Chua for a fill. I do know that I am ready for another fill. I still haven't reached the restriction spot that I would like to be at.
I went to my mom's on Saturday, and she said that I am looking good. She said she finally see's a waistline. I can't believe that a little over 20lbs shows. I don't see it. The only thing I can tell is my bra is finally on the tightest hooks and my jeans were pretty loose. I wore jeans last friday to work and I had a few people comment then too. That makes me feel so good when people notice. I don't and I don't see anything physically different either. I guess I did notice that my boobs have shrunk, which makes me happy too.
10/17/08
Saw Dr. Chua today. I am down 26 lbs in 11 weeks. I had another fill today. I was at 3cc in a 9cc band. I now have 4.5cc. He stated he was going to be a little more aggressive because I was still feeling hungry. I see him in 2 months. I also saw the nutritionist today. She said to keep doing what I am doing and that I don't have to go back for 6 months. My daughter and mom came along today and we went shopping afterwards. We stopped at Applebee's for lunch and I was told to eat soup. They didn't have anything that I really wanted so I had some chili. Big mistake. Since I am tighter, this caused some big discomfort this afternoon. I sat on a couch for about 30 minutes in the Mall sipping water. It helped a little. My mom kept asking me if I wanted to go back to the doctor. I told her no. It was just from the chili. Now I am feeling much better. Spicy did not agree. Especially after a fill. On Halloween, I am going to the dells with my 2 kids and my best friend and her 2 kids. I can't wait. I will have more energy now for holding on to the tubes and for climbing the steps for the tube rides. Yeah :)
11/3/08
Went to the Wisconsin Dells this past weekend and it was fun. All the kids got along great and my bf and I had some bonding time, which is something we haven't had for a while. We did all the rides. There was this one that was like a body slide into a toilet bowl type of thing. You shoot through this tube into this bowl, circle around it twice and drop into a 9 foot deep pool. It was a killer on the body and it went fast. Our favorite was a roller coaster type of tube ride. That was a ball. I think we did that one the most. Lots and lots of stairs. By then end of the day on Friday, I couldn't walk up one more stair. We were at the park for 11 hours on friday. Long time. You would think everyone would be really tired, but we weren't. We all hung out in the room and the kids were up longer that us. It was a really fun time and can't wait to go again.
12/9/08
Happy Birthday to me today. The big "40". I do not like this getting older thing. The other office girl decorated my office very nicely. No over the hill stuff which made me really happy. They hung a banner on the fence facing North Ave which a very busy street. Then we went to dinner and I got to go to Chilis which is my favorite place and had BBQ Ribs. I realized that it is just one more year older and more wiser. I see Dr. Chua on Dec 18th for a fill, which I definitely need. I have some restriction, but not a lot and I would like more. We will see what the scale says.
12/18/08
Today I went in for my fill. I am down 30 lbs even right now. I have slowed down because I have only lost 4 lbs since my last fill which was on October 17th. I had a different doctor do my fill and he found that the Dr. Chua has missposted my fluid amount in my band. He had me listed at 4.5 which was really 5.5 when the doctor checked. He still added 1.5 cc so I am at 7cc now in a 9cc band. I do have more restriction. I have been having issues with stuck feeling and have had a couple of sliming issues. I have been working on the chew, chew and chew.
1/1/09
Happy New Year! Holidays are finally over. I am so happy for that. This was my first holiday season after surgery and it was very difficult for me. I had an extremely bad sweet tooth and no will power. As of today, I am done with the sweets and back to working out and back to basics. And I feel good with this resolution for the new year. I don't go in for a fill until February, but I do have restriction and I am good to go.
2/17/09
So yesterday I saw Dr. Chua and my nutritionist. I know I have been not doing well with the sweets, and guess what, I gained 6 lbs since Dec. I am so disappointed with myself for letting this happen. Dr. Chua said I only had 6 cc in my band but in December when I had my fill I was at 7cc. Not sure what is going on. He gave me another .5 cc. So according to him I am at 6.5 cc. I am starting all over. New day started today. No more sweats. I am going cold turkey. I know this will be the hardest part for me. I am really going to try my hardest and I am setting a goal to lose 20 lbs by my 1 year surgerversary date. I would like to lose more, but I don't want to make it to high. Anything over the 20 lbs would be a plus to me. I need to work harder and I will make myself.
