Transformation Tuesday: Work In Progress

So this past weekend was my two month mark and I am a little behind where I thought I would be, but things don't usually happen as instantaneously as we would like, do they?  I had my monthly appointment this morning where I got another 1cc of saline put into my band.  I now have 2.5 total-- most people are not "in the green zone" until they have between 6 and 8 so I have a ways to go until I really start to feel restricted.

Today I am on liquids since I got a fill and then will start eating a bit healthier than I have been this past month.  With my trip to Columbia and then the holiday weekend this past weekend, I haven't been making the healthiest choices, even if I am eating less than I used to.  Time to get back on the wagon. :-)

So while I did not meet my goal of losing 40 pounds by the end of May, I have accomplished quite a bit:

-- Down 27 lbs.
-- 3 inches in my thighs
-- 3 1/4 inches in my arms
-- 4 1/4 inches in my waist
-- 2 1/2 inches in my hips
-- 1 1/2 inches in my bust
-- Exercised 43 days in a row
-- Crossfit three times a week
-- And have played in as many tennis games that I can get my family to agree to.

That's kind of a lot for someone who previously was working 60 hours a week and only walking to her car in the parking garage.  I will share a few two month pictures with you though I have a LONG road ahead of me:

                                              March 21, 2014                 May 24, 2014

 

                                               March 21, 2014                 May 24, 2014

                                                  March 21, 2014                 May 24, 2014

So I've made some progress, but like I said have a long way to go.  My new goal is to be under 200 pounds by the time we go white water rafting with some friends in Tennessee the first weekend of August.  That means I need to really step up my game at working out AND eating better.  Hopefully this morning's fill will also help me curb my hunger and help me feel satisfied after eating a smaller amount of food. 

Bills, Bills, Bills

I'll start with the good news.  Down 25 pounds, which is good considering I have been fluctuating up and down four pounds from day to day for the past two weeks.  Now I'm finally down 25 and believe to be on my way further down each day.  I also today really noticed my waist getting smaller so am pretty excited about that.

Today was also my 30th day of exercise in a row and probably my hardest workout yet.  (270 jump ropes, 80 walking lunges, 70 sit ups, 60 kettlebell swings of 35lbs, 50 burpees, 40 squats of 75lbs, 30 good mornings of 25 lbs, 20 box handstand push ups, 25 ring pullups taking me 36 minutes to complete.)

I'm really starting to get into a groove where it's no longer an option whether I work out or not, I just know I have to do something each day.  Not "have" to, but I want to.  Though the next five days will be more difficult than most because I will be traveling to Columbia for work through Friday and then will be staying with my brother over the weekend since I have an appointment with the hearing doctor in St. Louis on Monday.  Yes, not only did I have weightloss surgery, but I am also getting hearing aids-- I'm so old!! :-)

Since I've been working from home, I haven't had to worry about wearing work clothes at all, but since I'm making the trip to Columbia tomorrow, I started trying on some old clothes I had put away for these types of situations.  I now fit into six pairs of dress pants that I haven't been able to wear in two years!  NSV!! Woop Woop!!!

Now for some ridiculousness that has been happening this week with the billing department of Des Peres hospital.  I mentioned in a previous blog post that I was caught off-guard when the hosptial came to me the morning of my surgery asking me to pay them $6,120 before I even went in for surgery.  That included my $1,181 deductible and then $4,960 in coinsurance.(My insurance covered 80% of the surgery)  I had to move my savings over to my checking account to cover around $5,000 and then used the credit card for ~$1,500 until I got paid the following Monday.  I was told that I was close to reaching my max out of pocket expenses and wasn't expecting anymore bills.  Even though we had not planned to spend that money until the following week when I got paid again, we were glad to have it all taken care of.

I should have known better.  This past Saturday I received an additional bill in the mail for $1,087 from my surgeon's office.  I called yesterday to understand what the bill was for, which turns out that I also had to pay the surgeon even though I had already paid over 6k to the hospital.  But it still didn't make sense to me because I had been two hundred away from meeting my out of pocket max.  I then called the nurse practitioner with Blue Cross Blue Shield, whose number I had from before my surgery and they were able to put me in contact with a gentleman named Joey.  He was awesome and also very informative.

Turns out Des Peres Hospital overcharged me $1,100 the day of my surgery and owed me that money back.  That was good, but disturbing news!  I would have had no idea if I hadn't called to ask about it.  I do still owe the surgeon the $1,087, but will not be paying it until I get my refund from the hospital.  I then had to call the hospital to get them to start the refund process-- they KNEW they owed me money yet were just sitting on it until I called them!  I can't believe they can do that.

The woman with the hospital told me that I would not get my refund for 21 days and that they would put it back on the card I paid with.  Well I paid with two cards and I don't want them to put it on my $0 balance credit card, I want it in my checking account.  The woman then tells me that there is no way of knowing what card they will put it on and when I asked if they would call me when they're doing it so I could tell them which one to use, she said they don't make outbound calls.  WHAT?!?

I asked her to make a note in my record on which card to put it on, but I have no idea if they will even look at it.  While obviously the overall picture is a lot better than it could have been, I am just so disturbed by the fact that this happens to patients every day.  The healthcare industry is sick...pun intended.  I actually took the time to call to understand my bills, but can you imagine the millions of dollars hospitals steal from innocent patients every day who don't realize anything is off when they get their bills?!?

My lesson learned is that I will never just "let it go" when I see a strange charge on a bill.  I will now always call and ask because you can't trust any of these companies.  Great, now I sound like a paranoid freak.  But the best news that came out of all of this was that I have met my out of pocket max.  That means I don't have to pay a penny more to anyone for the rest of the year.  So I don't have to worry about my monthly appointments or the fills I get-- they are now all covered.  Until the hospital tries to send me a bill again anyway....

The Slime & Other WLS Jargon

Six weeks post-op and the scale is playing tricks on me.  I have been going back and forth between 23 and 25 pounds lost, so on a good day I've lost 25 pounds. :-)

I'm pretty much past all the restricted diets now as I've been able to process everything I've eaten-- just have to eat slow or I feel like I'm dying.  I even had a bratwurst yesterday(!) and about three fork fulls of potato salad.  What's crazy is I used to have two brats and many sides for a normal meal.

Though I still can eat more than just a half a cup of food, at least now with my first fill I stay full for two or more hours, which has been awesome.  My next fill should start to restrict how much food I can intake as well-- next appointment is May 27th.

What has been really awesome is the lapband group that I'm following on Facebook.  I've learned all sorts of new words and jargon that are starting to help me understand what I'm going through.  For example:  NSV stands for "Non-Scale Victory" which is kind of self explanatory, but I had no idea what these people were posting about when they would use NSV.  I haven't had any substantial NSVs, but I am starting to notice my clothes fitting differently.  I'm really looking forward to losing the next twenty because I have a ton of clothes I've been holding on to in hopes I would one day be able to fit into them.

I also learned that the nasty phlegm in my throat every morning when I wake up is not just a sinus infection, but is normal with the lapband.  It even has a name:  "The Slime."  Gross!!  Other than the slime and my hip that keeps me up all night, I'm doing really great.  Have now exercised 23 days in a row-- most of which has been tennis because Spike and I are obsessed. (We actually played twice yesterday.) I also started back at crossfit in the mornings so hopefully that scale will move a little faster in the next few weeks.

 ________________________________
For reference:
WLS is Weight Loss Surgery
LBS is Lapband Surgery
NSV is Non-Scale Victory
The Slime-- you don't wanna know!

My First "Fill"

Today was my one-month check up appointment and I was very much hoping to get my band adjusted.  For the first month, my band was just settling in, but had not had any saline injected into it to cause restriction of food nor has it made me stay full after I eat. 

I have been eating more than I feel I should with the band, but that is normal according to some people on the Facebook Lapband Group that I have been talking to.  They said sometimes it takes a few adjustments/fills before I will feel the restriction that makes me feel full for longer and after eating less.

At my last doctor's appointment, they said I would maybe wait until May to get my first fill, and I was nervous they wouldn't do it today even though I knew I was ready.  The first thing I do when I get to my follow up appointments is fill out a bunch of paperwork. 

I answer questions related to my diet, times that I eat, how much I eat and if I get hungry soon after.  I identify if I have any questions or concerns I want to talk to them about and also include my exercise routine. 

Today will mark my 16th day in a row of exercise-- I've been walking, running intervals/hills, going to crossfit(will be starting back up tomorrow), and have played tennis a few times.  The only problem is that my left hip has really started to bother me, not allowing me to get comfortable at night when I'm trying to sleep and then today it has really prohibited me from moving around a lot.  So I have an inflamed hip, which isn't that big of a deal, but because I can't take ibuprofin due to increase risk of ulcers, I am going to have to hope I can find some chewable Tylenol that will do the trick.  My goal is to do some type of exercise 90 days in a row and I don't want my hip to get in the way of that.  

Once the paperwork was done, I went back to be weighed.  I had lost 4.6 pounds since my last visit for a total of 22.6 lbs since surgery.  They said that it was good progress-- the typical weight loss is 1-2 pounds each week-- but I guess losing that 18 lbs up front gave me high expectations because I am anxious to lose much more. 

Next, we talked to the dietician about how I've been tolerating my foods and about my protein and water intake.  Protein is going pretty well, but water is where I struggle.  I'm supposed to have 64 oz a day and I'm lucky if I get half of that in.  That is a big focus area for me over the next few weeks.

The dietician agreed it was time for a fill and let the Surgeon's assistant know, who usually performs my check ups.  She came in and explained how it would go and asked me some more questions about how much food I am able to eat compared to what I used to.  I told her I am probably eating 60% of what I'm used to, but the goal is really to eat a lot less than that.

She said sometimes it is hard to find the port on the very first fill and they have to go over and get it x-rayed to find it.  Luckily, that was not necessary for me.  The only pain I felt was the needle that numbed my stomach.  Then she got the saline shot out that was at least five inches long! When Spike saw it, he said "I don't really want to be in here for this."  But the assistant told him that it's not bloody or bad and not a big deal so he stayed.

I didn't feel a thing and all of a sudden heard Spike say "Wow, that's cool!" The way they know they have made it to the port is they put blue dye into it during surgery. That way when they stick a needle in the port, the blue dye will pop up in the syringe and you know you've made contact and can insert the saline. 

It literally took two minutes and then I was good to go.  I now have to have full liquids for the rest of the day, soft foods tomorrow and then I can go back on my regular diet.  I'm hoping this will at least get me eating a less amount of food and less often so I can meet my goal of losing 17.4 in the next five weeks.    It will be tough, but I'm ready! :-)

Month One Results

Today marks one month from when I had surgery or as some others call it, my one month "bandiversary."  In the past day or so I've been obsessed with looking up different lap-band and weight loss surgery hashtags and reading people's stories and seeing their transformation pictures on instagram.

Even though I know the goal of this surgery is for me to lose a whopping 100 pounds, I can't really picture myself like that.  I can picture myself twenty pounds from now-- which hopefully is the end of May in order for me to reach my next goal.  But not 100... that just seems like such a dream and too far away.

I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, today on my one month bandiversary, I weighed and measured myself for the first time since the clear-liquid diet started three days before my surgery:

-- Down 21 lbs.
-- 3.25 inches off thighs
-- 3.25 inches off arms
-- 2 inches off waist
-- 2 inches off hips
-- 1 inch off bust (sorry, Spike) :-)

So, not too shabby, but I really have to kick up the workouts.  AND!! get my band adjusted.  They haven't actually put any saline into the band to make it smaller yet so I am not getting full by eating a cup of food and get hungry an hour or so later.

My next appointment is on Tuesday of next week and I'm hoping they will adjust it then so I can really get going this month and not be hungry after I eat.  For the first time in a long time I'm ready to bring on summer!

Hope you have a great weekend-- will check back after my appointment on Tuesday. 

Why am I sharing this?

Like I said in my first post, I'm really not a fan of personal blogs.  I have one at work that I have been consistently posting to in order to build "my personal brand" at IBM.  But I haven't really cared about building a personal brand to share with the world.  So again we can ask, why am I doing it now? 

I guess the easy response is because people told me to.  When people find out I had the lap-band surgery done, they were very surprised.  They had no idea I had been considering it and they especially had no idea what it really was.  Half the people think that I no longer have half of my stomach or intestines, the other half think that I had a six hour procedure and was probably in the hospital for days. 

There is so much misconception about lap-band surgery and I admit, I was one of those people this time last year-- no idea what kind of weight loss surgery options were out there, options that were safe, effective and right for me.

Once people understand the surgery and see that I have survived it and am doing great, they then tell me that I need to share my experience.  I said "absolutely not" at first.  This is a sensitive and private matter, one that I have struggled with my entire life.  I also didn't think anyone really would care to read it.  But the more people that told me I should share, the stronger I felt about just writing it out to see what it looked like.  So this past weekend after I visited with friends at a BBQ, I went home and just started to write. 

It. Felt. Great.  To tell my story, the one I have been holding inside for years that only a few people saw glimpses of, I had no idea how badly I needed to share it.

I have since shared this blog with some family and friends and their reactions have been the same.  Friends who I think are the definition of perfect and beautiful and skinny have told me that they feel the EXACT same way as me.  Others have struggled right along with me and have shared that this makes them feel better.  They realize they aren't alone. 

So it's decided.  I will continue to write on this blog for myself.  And if I can comfort someone in the meantime, well that's a bonus.  So that's my reasoning, my objective.  To document and express my feelings, my story, my journey... because I can and it feels good.

Breaking the Plateau

I did it!  I finally broke the plateau that I have been on for three weeks now.  As of this morning, I am down twenty pounds in four weeks. My goal is to be down twenty five at my follow up appointment exactly one week from today.

That may be setting the bar a little too high, but I feel that since I have gotten through the plateau that it should come off a little easier now.  I went on a run/walk with my parents yesterday during my lunch break-- this new working situation has really allowed me to live a healthier life and I'm loving it!  The loop at our house is 2.17 miles long and the backside is made up entirely of hills so we would run the hills to the next driveway and then walk to the next one and repeat.

And I was back on time for my next meeting(conference call).  It was scattered showers all day, but once I was done with work, Spike and I walked up to the mailboxes and back and luckily that's as far as we went because it started to sprinkle as we reached the driveway. 

This morning I woke up at 7:45a and walked the loop with mom and my little cousin, Cru, who she watches three days a week.  It is SO nice to have someone to go on walks with me!  Even though I know I really need to kick up the workout to more than just walking.  Aubrey is out of time on vacation this week so I am working out on my own instead of going to crossfit until she returns.

I just really like getting my workout done in the morning at 8a before I start working.(If you knew how much I hate mornings this would come as a big shock to you!)  And I really love the fact that my workday is flexible enough to allow me to do that! Sometimes I feel guilty because I remember my past jobs of working 60 hours a week and being stressed to the max, and I think of my friends back in Dubuque who are still living that life.

But now I've decided I'm just going to enjoy it.  Do my job well and get as much exercise as possible on my breaks.

Next update will come after my doctor's appointment next week on Tuesday-- wish me luck.