Yesterday was a pretty big day for me as I went to my three-month checkup post-lapband surgery and also visited the audiologist at Mercy Hospital to get my shiny new hearing aids. Yes, I'm officially an old woman.
I'll address the hearing aids first. Hearing loss is something I have dealt with pretty much my whole life, not my own hearing, but my mother's. She has worn hearing aids since her mid-thirties and has had a cochlear implant in her right ear for the past five years. My little four-year-old cousin also just got hearing aids when doctors realized she had severe nerve damage in her ears a few weeks ago. Hearing loss runs in my family and I've known for about 7 or more years that I, too, would need to do something about it.
I went for a hearing test back in November and have severe to profound hearing loss in both ears. My left ear is slightly worse than my right. I had been teaching classes at work and had to start telling the class participants to wave me down if they had a questions or I would just keep talking. I realized that when I had to start telling people that I didn't hear well, that it was time to get it looked at. We ended up moving back to Missouri before I could get my hearing aids so I went to the audiologist at Mercy in May to get the ball rolling again. One of the main reasons I went to Mercy is because that is where my Uncle also went to get his the year before. We have the same insurance and he ended up not having to pay as much as he thought so I was hoping they could do the same for me.
Unfortunately, I won't know how much the hospital will cover in "write-offs," but it is a possibility they will cover more than the measly $400 from my insurance. EACH hearing aid is $3,500 so you can imagine after already paying more than $6,000 for lapband surgery, we are really hoping to get more than just $400 taken off of a $7,000+ hearing aid bill. Yesterday, I only had to pay a $500 deposit and then once they process the insurance and everything else, we will receive the remaining balance that we owe. Hoping it's a low number or else Mom and Dad will be having us as their roommates for a lot longer than originally planned. :-)
Now on to my three month check-up. In some ways this past month has been pretty disappointing... mainly on the scale. I am only down three pounds since last month. Though there are many areas that have changed pretty drastically over this past month that are keeping me motivated and excited about the future. It's hard for me to really picture myself at my goal weight of 150 lbs. It just seems so far away. Heck, the 100s seem so far away, but I know I will get there eventually.
I feel like I'm just waiting... doing a lot of physical activity while I wait, but waiting nonetheless. And waiting is exactly what my mom and I did yesterday morning. My appointment was scheduled for 9a and we finally saw the doctor at 11 for my adjustment!! We weren't very happy. Though once we were able to see the dietician and doctor, everything went pretty smoothly. Even though I am disappointed in the lack of weight coming off the scale, they say I am making progress and doing great. Though they do agree that I am not yet restricted because I am getting hungry more often than I should. And I'm eating a full plate of food-- eventually I'll get full off of much less than that.
So the adjustment this time was a little different than the last two. The doctor said they went to a seminar where they said it's a good idea to take out all the saline when you do the adjustment so you can see how much is in there (what your baseline is) and then put it back in. I'm so glad they did that! Turns out that there was already 3.25cc in my band from surgery so when I thought I only had 2.5 in my band that holds 15, I actually had 5.75! I've been reading online where most people are in "the green zone" around 6-8 cc in their bands. That means I am so much closer to being there than I thought.
Since 5.75 still wasn't giving me much restriction at all, she went ahead and put .75 more in. So now I'm sitting at 6.5 cc and am hoping to get full off of much less. I only ate soup yesterday and had mashed potatoes for breakfast this morning because I want to ease into eating solid foods just in case I feel restriction that I haven't felt before.
So while the scale didn't necessarily move as much as I wanted it to, I have made a ton of progress with losing inches, firming up and getting in shape. I have now exercised 73 days in a row on my way to my 90-day goal and I am definitely getting stronger through my crossfit workouts. So instead of just going off the scale, below are the inches I've lost in my three month journey so far:
Totals Lost:
Weight: 30
Thighs: 5.25 inches
Waist: 6.5 inches
Hips: 4.5 inches
Arms: 4.5 inches
Looking forward to the month ahead and hopefully moving the scale along to reflect what I'm feeling on the inside and starting to look like on the outside.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Running & Plantar Faciitis
Well not too much has changed since my last post, but thought I would update you. The scale has been bouncing around a bit over the past two weeks, but I am down 30 pounds this week and continue to exercise daily. Sometimes multiple times a day.
I either run or go to crossfit in the morning and one of the two in the evenings, unless Spike and I are playing tennis or disc golf. My hip hasn't hurt me since I realized my balance ball chair was the problem and switched it out for a normal chair in my office.
Though now my foot is killing me since I started running. I finally made myself run a mile and a half without walking-- big whoop, I know, but it took me a while to start running again-- and am hoping to progress to where I can start running in some races again soon. But because I am running again and still weigh 221 pounds, I believe I have developed Plantar Fasciitis (Thanks, Brooke, for looking it up and for motivating me to run more than a mile!).
According to livestrong.com, "Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common conditions causing pain in the bottoms of runners' feet. Pain is prevalent from the front of the heel and along the arch, and is typically most acute first thing in the morning or when you get up after sitting a while. Fascia connect the heel bone to the ball of the foot; plantar faciitis results when the fascia becomes overstretched due to improper weight distribution from the heel to the ball."
Treatments include buying running shoes with good midfoot stability, stretching the band of tissue between the ball and heel, rubbing the foot with a golf ball and also doing calf stretches. I've tried the golf ball, but it still hurts after I go for a run so will be going shoe shopping this weekend to find the perfect pair of running shoes to help ease the pain.
I also am not able to take any anti-inflammatory medication so just need to suck it up and stop being a baby. Thursday will be day 60 of exercising in a row so I'm not going to let a little foot pain stop me from getting my workout on. :-)
In other news, I did have my first spell of vomiting (sorry, it's gross) from eating too fast last week. I was in a hurry to eat breakfast so I could get on a conference call and did not chew my food up good enough. I was having trouble breathing due to a piece of food stuck in my band and finally after an hour in the bathroom, it came back up. It was NOT a good feeling, but I just need to be more careful when I eat and make sure no matter what the situation is that I don't let myself get in too big of a hurry.
With all that being said, I hope that you get the picture that weight loss surgery is anything but easy. The band that was placed inside me does not automatically make me lose weight, it's the decisions I make each and every day that allow me to progress in this journey. The band is only a tool I can use, even though I'm not to the point where the band is really working to its full potential yet-- that won't happen until they fill it a few more times with saline so that even smaller portions of food will make me feel full.
Next adjustment (or fill) is on June 25th-- that gives me two weeks to shed a few more pounds before my three month "Bandiversary." Thanks for checking in!
I either run or go to crossfit in the morning and one of the two in the evenings, unless Spike and I are playing tennis or disc golf. My hip hasn't hurt me since I realized my balance ball chair was the problem and switched it out for a normal chair in my office.
Though now my foot is killing me since I started running. I finally made myself run a mile and a half without walking-- big whoop, I know, but it took me a while to start running again-- and am hoping to progress to where I can start running in some races again soon. But because I am running again and still weigh 221 pounds, I believe I have developed Plantar Fasciitis (Thanks, Brooke, for looking it up and for motivating me to run more than a mile!).
According to livestrong.com, "Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common conditions causing pain in the bottoms of runners' feet. Pain is prevalent from the front of the heel and along the arch, and is typically most acute first thing in the morning or when you get up after sitting a while. Fascia connect the heel bone to the ball of the foot; plantar faciitis results when the fascia becomes overstretched due to improper weight distribution from the heel to the ball."
Treatments include buying running shoes with good midfoot stability, stretching the band of tissue between the ball and heel, rubbing the foot with a golf ball and also doing calf stretches. I've tried the golf ball, but it still hurts after I go for a run so will be going shoe shopping this weekend to find the perfect pair of running shoes to help ease the pain.
I also am not able to take any anti-inflammatory medication so just need to suck it up and stop being a baby. Thursday will be day 60 of exercising in a row so I'm not going to let a little foot pain stop me from getting my workout on. :-)
In other news, I did have my first spell of vomiting (sorry, it's gross) from eating too fast last week. I was in a hurry to eat breakfast so I could get on a conference call and did not chew my food up good enough. I was having trouble breathing due to a piece of food stuck in my band and finally after an hour in the bathroom, it came back up. It was NOT a good feeling, but I just need to be more careful when I eat and make sure no matter what the situation is that I don't let myself get in too big of a hurry.
With all that being said, I hope that you get the picture that weight loss surgery is anything but easy. The band that was placed inside me does not automatically make me lose weight, it's the decisions I make each and every day that allow me to progress in this journey. The band is only a tool I can use, even though I'm not to the point where the band is really working to its full potential yet-- that won't happen until they fill it a few more times with saline so that even smaller portions of food will make me feel full.
Next adjustment (or fill) is on June 25th-- that gives me two weeks to shed a few more pounds before my three month "Bandiversary." Thanks for checking in!
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
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.
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:
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.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
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....
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....
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
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! :-)
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! :-)
Friday, April 25, 2014
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.
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.
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