July 5, 2008
Well I have hit the halfway mark! I am sitting at 50 pounds gone. Yay! I actually had been down 53, but I really need another fill. This will be my fourth. I had great restriction for a month and a half or so, but now I am able to eat more than I want to. I have scheduled it for August 1. I will post again after that, hopefully when I hit Onederland!!!!

3/30/2008Hello everyone~Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been very busy LOOSING WEIGHT!!!!! I got another fill on March 12. I guess I had 4 mL after the first fill. Dr. Fox said I have 5 mL now. This one has been great. The first fill was good for about 2 weeks, then I noticed I was not as restricted as I had been. This second fill, though, is way different. I felt very tight and was a little anxious about leaving the office with that much restriction, but because of what happened after the first fill I decided to give it a shot. Boy am I glad I did! Now, almost three weeks later, I am still getting pretty good restriction. I don't usually eat food during the day because I can't get much in when my band is tight, and it is definitely tightest in the morning. by evening I can get about a cup of food, if it is REAL food (soup still goes right on through!), down. I eat slowly and chew very well, and I am paying attention to that "full" signal. I have only PBd (threw up, productive burping) once or twice since the first fill. I don't like it so I try not to go there. :)Anyway, I am now at 233 pounds, which brings total weight loss so far to 43 pounds. I am actually starting to look at bathing suits for the summer. Maybe...

2/13/2008Ok here's the part where I fess up. I have not updated in a reallly long time. Not because I have been hitting the gym hard, or coming up with new and unique things to do with protein powder. Not because I am so busy working my band that I haven't had time to post. Sadly, I can say that mostly the opposite is true. I have no restriction, but I am really really getting my first fill in TWO DAYS!!!!! Really. Seriously. It is finally happening. Right now I can, and pretty much DO eat anything I want. I don't eat nearly the amount I used to, but still... I stopped losing weight, and these past couple of days I have actually GAINED a few (5) pounds. I could come up with all these excuses, such as, I had a really bad case of hives and I was on a steroid for a week, which caused me to retain water. Whatever. while that may be true, it is really the fact that I am not working the program the way I am supposed to. which is why I am here tellin' on myself. Shame on me. BUT~I will be at the Banster Bash in Seattle this weekend. I am spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with a bunch of bandsters, and would0be bandsters, in various stages and at various goals. I am so excited! I really need this weekend. I don't know why I got so off course, but I did not spend all this $ to not work it. I will be getting back to you soon!!!!2/23/2008It has been a week since the Bash. I got my fill on Friday, the first day of the Bash. I now have 3 cc in an 8 cc band and I FINALLY have restriction! I have lost the 5 pounds I gained plus another 2! Life is good. I found out that I, like so many of us, can't eat in the morning. I have been making my fruit and protein smoothie in the morning and that plus a cup of coffee keeps me going until lunch. I like cottage cheese and tuna fish for lunch. I am definitely getting my protein allotment in!!! Dinner is still a guessing game. Some nights I can eat real food, like salad and meat, but some nights I can't. It is such a good feeling to see the scale move again, though! Also, after a cup of food I am full. I am really liking this. Dr. Fox said he wants to see me next month, maybe do another fill, and he wants to see me lose 7 pounds a month. I am there and it has only been one week! Pretty cool. :)

1/18/2008~
I am so excited! I just registered for the "Bandster Bash" in Seattle next month. It is a 3-day event for bandsters and those who are considering being banded. It sounds like a blast! I had a fill scheduled for Feb.20, but it sounds like I can get it done at the Bash. Yay! i am so READY! My weight loss has all but stopped. I am stuck at 30 pounds down. I am not complaining, but I am ready to get things moving again.

My LapBand

I am hungry. Hungrier than I have been in a really long time. Starving, actually, and ready to gnaw off my right arm (I am left-handed, see). Why?
Last Friday, November 2, 2007, I had a LapBand installed. I have been researching the LapBand for quite a while now, and after my second trip to the emergency room in a year I decided to do something about my problem. I have a bad back. The problem with my back is my front. Since I can't seem to control when my back goes out, I decided it was time to control my front.
My insurance company will not pay for wieght loss surgery, no way, no how. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I decided that I would go the self-pay route, which led me to check out surgery in Mexico. I found out that I could save around $11,000 by going south for surgery.
The doctor I chose has done more than 1500 LapBand surgeries. The hospital is just over the border in Mexicali, and most of the staff speak wonderful English. The hospital was cleaner than anywhere I have been in the States. I had a wonderful experience there, and I made a lot of new friends. There were 5 of us that had surgery that day. We all hung out for four days and became pretty close.
I am in what is affectionately referred to as "Banster Hell" right now. It is the period after surgery when everything is healing and becoming fixed in its permanent position. Hence the starvation. I am on clear and thin liquids. On Sunday I am able to move to the next phase- soup! Yay! It is my 41st birthday and I plan to celebrate with a huge (3 oz) bowel of Campbell's Select Butternut Squash soup. Maybe I'll even have a sugar-free pudding some time Sunday. Until then, though, I will continue my broth, sugar-free Jell-O, and tea diet. I know it is only temporary, and so for I have lost 12 pounds. Not too shabby for 6 days post-op!