Checking in!

Okay, so I am two weeks past my last fill and I feel nothing. NOTHING. I can eat anything (everything). I eat larger portions than I should, I can eat bread like nothing, nothing in phasing me. Now, having said all that, I have gone ABOVE and BEYOND to stay eating healthy foods so that even though I'm eating bigger portions than what's ideal, I'm eating smart calories/protein.

Yesterday it hit me that my next fill appointment was a month from that day. I was SO discouraged that, here I've just paid close to $10,000 out of pocket for WLS, and I'm not feeling ANY effects of it. I decided to call and see if maybe there wasn't a cancellation and I could get squeezed in. I am pretty sure someone was looking out for me, or maybe the receptionist picked up on my discouragement and she got me in for the next day (which is today).

So, this morning I go in before work and I go fill out my little papers about how I'm still hungry and the basics of what I'm eating for meals and whatnot. I get called back and weigh in and found out I was down 3 pounds, which I am pleased with! So I give the NP a heads up that the last lady poked around a LOT and barely was able to get in the port and that she had mentioned needing a bigger needle. Today's NP said that the bigger needle is a lot bigger and that she would rather try with the normal one first. I trusted her instinct and to be honest a bigger needle didn't seem appealing!

I make it a point to only stare at the ceiling while they do these fills because seeing needles in my body make me faint. She numbed me and and poked around for a while and after a bit I hear, "Oh....umm. Okay. Ohhhhhhh, oh my, um, okay. Okay. Okay." By this time, I am freaking out a little. I'm trying to look at her to read her face while avoiding the needle sticking out of my stomach and I see her bring the needle up and it full of blood. Now, seeing the needle with blood wasn't even a red flag to me because it seems like a normal thing but she was freaked out by it, which made me start worrying. She starts talking about how she hit a pocket of blood and she pulled out 3ccs of it and now it was gone but to be safe, she wanted me to do a barium swallow. So about a minute later, her and, I'm guessing, her boss came in and took me to the imaging room. I did the swallow (which tasted and looked like chalky water) but it is only one gulp so not too bad. She let me watch it after and it was really cool to watch it come down and pass through the band and into the stomach. She also checked my port site, which was also good. They took me back to the exam room but now I was worried that I was going to turned away from a fill and was feeling sad. But the NP and her boss came in, said she would still give me a .5cc fill and wanted to check for more blood pockets. She checked and found another one and pulled out another 2ccs of blood and the boss didn't seem surprised by it at all. She said it's common in hiatal hernia patients but she was surprised when I told her I didn't have one... Haha! Anyway, she said everyone's body is different and it was nothing to worry about. Honestly though, I wasn't until I thought it was going to prevent a fill.

I am officially at 6ccs in my band now. The NP said the average person is in the green zone anywhere from 5-7ccs so since I'm right in the middle, I hope I'm there! :)

On Friday I'm flying to Kansas for 10 days so I'm not sure how much I'll be updating here, just an FYI.

Weigh in Wednesday and a little extra :)

June 20 (Day of surgery): 291
June 26: 286
July 3: 286.4
July 10: 287.8
July 17: 286.8 WHOOO!

I am glad to start seeing the numbers go in the right direction again. I was beginning to doubt myself. Not necessarily regretting the lap band, maybe disappointed is a better word. Either way, the numbers are going back down and I am stoked!!

In other news, I spent all day yesterday and most of today totally fan girling about Olan Rogers. He is a comedian/film maker. He has a YouTube channel where he posts quite a few different things but my favorite is when he tells stories. He is also a clean comedian, which is darn near impossible to find anymore. Go ahead, watch all his stuff, not a single cuss word or vulgar thing is said. I mean, and also, I just have to mention how he is probably one of the most handsome men, ever. (Okay, maybe I'm a little biased. haha!)
Anyways, he went on tour to do a free meet and greet with all of his fans. He hosted an Eat a Slice with Me tour, Jones Soda and pizza were donated to make this happen. My friend from school and I both really like him so we decided to go together to meet him! It started at 3 so we went around 2 and got in line. It was SUPER humid and still very hot and sunny. We got into the building by 3:45ish and to find another line but at this point we were inside in AC so we didn't care. Also we could see him! (haha, yes, I know how dorky I am.) Anyway, after almost two hours outside sweating like pig and on the brink of passing out from heat, we get inside, wait some more and then meet OLAN ROGERS! He hugged me three times and signed a poster for me. He is truly an amazing man and so humble. Also one girl in front of us literally passed out from the heat so her boyfriend started carrying her to the car but one of the crew went inside and came back with Olan and he came out, chased down the boyfriend carrying the girl passed out, and took them inside. We found out later that she ended up being okay and still got to meet Olan. Apparently he carried her princess style so she seemed fairly pleased with it... The whole time we were there they had water for everyone and told everyone to go get some (which I did, I think I ended up going to get like 4 cups worth.) But after that they went down the entire line with cups and water gallons. Everyone got water no matter what after that.

Here are some pictures, I look horrible and it's blurry but I don't care!! :)

If you ever feel the need for a laugh go to his YouTube channel and watch a little something, his laugh is contagious. This story is my favorite, though.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZO9tMetxno&list=PL9237F46A2E68117A&index=1

Got my fill today!

I totally thought I sent a post while I was at True Results after my fill but I guess it didn't go through...

Anyway, I just updated that today with my official weight, I was actually one pound over my presurgery date but the nurse practitioner said to not worry. It's hard to maintain the weight loss from the pre op diet when eating normal portions which I have been.

She gave me something to numb the area and then started with the big needle. It wasn't painful but she had quite a bit of trouble locating my port. She poked around, a lot. I'm very glad I was numbed up. I had 4.5ccs in my band so she put in another 1cc and she was confident that that will put me in the green zone. She said most people are in the green zone anywhere from 5-7ccs.

I also got cleared to start hitting the gym. Basic walking, elliptical or bike things. No crunches yet :) I also got approved to go down the river with friends with this Saturday but apparently the weather might not work with our plan :(

That is really all I have to update for now! Hope everyone has an amazing week!


EDIT::: Does it sometimes take a while for the 'fill' feeling to take effect? I'm not noticing a lack of hunger and I have to finish the day on liquids.

Update and Weigh in

Hey, guys, sorry I've been MIA. This week is a hard one for me. Monday marked two years since my niece passed away. It kind of taints the Fourth of July for me a little bit. I miss her. A lot. I try the majority of the time to keep an upbeat attitude about her passing, well, as much of an upbeat attitude as possible about a 13 year old passing away. She was beautiful, smart, musically talented, kind-hearted, loving and fiercely loved by her entire family.

She was also quite the goof ball.

Wednesday was my weigh in. I was up half a pound. I was quite annoyed about that but actually yesterday I started my "time of the month". So I'm discounting that gain. Hopefully it was just water weight and will be gone by next week. I am definitely eating pretty much normal food but I am eating healthy things. I am also eating small portions and am full for hours after so I think all the swelling in my stomach is gone and I am ready for a fill. I have that appointment set up for the 15th of this month. The biggest thing that I need to work on the most is getting back into the habit of drinking more water. And not with my meals... haha

That's about all that's going on for me right now. I have a ton of homework that I need to catch up and I need to do some cleaning around the house, so FUN weekend for me! Ha! 

Maybe I'll talk my roommate into a movie this weekend, after we clean..