I am excited to report that since April 27, 2009, I have lost 36 pounds.
Over 15 weeks .. that is an average of 2.4 pounds per week ... a very healthy average !!!!
I had someone ask this week if I have had any regrets with the procedure. The answer is NO ... none whatsoever.
I will admit that the last adjustment I had has been a challenge. What is an adjustment ??? Well, when you have surgery and the band is put in place, it is empty. Over the first 4-6 weeks, the stomach opening is restricted due to inflammation. As the inflammation disappears, the opening seems to be larger, so that more food can pass, impeding weight loss. After about 4 weeks, you can have a fill. You know it is time when it takes more food to keep you from being hungry, and you are not loosing weight.
I had my first fill in June. The doctor had me drink barium (YUCK) and sit in a C-Arm X-ray so that he could tell how restricted the opening was. With a needle about 4 inches long, he accessed my port, and injected 3.75 ml of fluid. That is the equivalent of 3/4 teaspoonful. All was well ... didn't have any problems. My weight loss did slow, since my activity was limited by the blood clot, swelling, and pain in my leg. When I could eat almost a regular size meal, I knew it was time for another fill.
I went on July 15 for my second fill. Doc added 1 teaspoonful of fluid to the band. Everyting seemed fine, until I tried to drink some slushy ... it wouldn't go down. Then I couldn't swallow anything very well. Whatever went down ... hit ... and bounced right back up. I kept spitting up this foamy looking spit. I went all day on Thursday thinking things would be better. It wn't.
During the night, I got choked on spit that wouldn't go down. I coughed and coughed .. which caused a nice gag reflex, and about 2 cups of foamy, frothy, junk came up. So .. on Friday, I called the doctor. Sure enough, I was too restricted.
On Friday morning, I headed back to the doctor's office. He performed the other type of adjustment ... he removed 1ml of saline from the band. One milliliter ... that is less than a quarter teaspoonful. I could swallow water ... I could swallow spit ... life was good again.
That was 2 weeks ago. It has been a rough 2 weeks. Today was the first day that I could keep semi-solid foods down. I'm currently living on soup, ice cream, popcicles, protein shakes, etc.
Today my meals consisted of 1 orange protein shake with strawberries, bananas, and pineapples, 1 cup of cheesy broccoli soup, about 1/4 cup of squash casserole ... eaten over an hour or so, a frozen coke, and 12-15 mini rice cakes over several hours. Not a HUGE amount of food by any means ... but I feel like I binged ... IT ALL STAYED DOWN.
Good news ... My pants are huge. I bought new shorts 4 weeks ago ... they are now so big that I have to safety pin the sides so they'll stay up. My shirts are getting very loose. I've worn 2 pairs of pants that I couldn't wear. I laugh and say I'm shopping in my own closet.
I need to get some pictures posted, but I can't seem to get it together enough to get any taken.
I have been cleared by my new internal medicine Doctor, and my surgeon, to be able to start water aerobics. I LOVE water workouts. I actually found a water proof I-pod case on e-bay. It works very well. I do Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds 2 mile walk ... IN THE WATER .
I actually worked out 3 times last week. I went today, but the pool was closed because of lightening.
Well .. that's all for now. I am gonna be looking good when I finally get a referral ... wonder when that will be ????
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