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Surgery Successful!

I had surgery yesterday and it went well. I got there at about 7:30am, checked in, went to room where I had to give a urine sample, which is hard to do when you're not allowed to drink anything and I already went first thing in the morning. Was asked to get into this gown and socks. Then the nurse put on these really nice thigh high things so I wouldn't get blood clots. Okay, so they weren't pretty, but they did keep me warmer. It was cold yesterday in FL and the hospital was very cold. Then the nurse was mad because apparenty I hadn't filled out some form when i came for pre-op and they were missing my blood work and chest x-ray.   I guess they got it all sorted out and then my mom came back. Suddenly, Nurse Ratchet turned into the nicest person around and she and my mom chatted about everything under the sun. I waited in that room with a TV for awhile, and then another nurse came and wheeled me through the hospital and on the elevators to another waiting area. My surgeon came by, as did the anesthesiologist, who was about 21 years old, but very good looking. They were running late, but finally wheeled me back into the OR. I was totally lucid at this point and they took me into the OR which had a bed with pads on the feets and arms and several people standing around. I scooted over to that bed and they started tying my arms down. I asked where were my happy drugs and informed them that I was usually out by this point, as i was getting pretty scared looking around. The cute anesthesiologist said that the nurse had gotten past him but he was here now and he shot me with something in my IV.   I woke up in recovery and It was painful!!! There was a male nurse there and I told him I can't breathe and it hurts. He kept giving me IV pain killers (I think he said torredal) until I felt better. I had the worst cotton mouth ever and felt kind of nauseous. I asked for ice and he said I wasn't ready for it due to the nausea. I asked him if I could have some ice if I promised not to swallow it. That made him laugh and laugh and laugh. He finally got some ice and it made my mouth feel better, but I pretty much had cotton mouth the whole rest of the day. I kind of chilled for while, all hazy on pain meds in recovery for awhile. The male nurse said that he thought he knew me from somewhere. I think he goes to the same gym I go to. He said he remembered my personality, because I guess I was being funny because he kept laughing. Then he wheeled me downstairs and my mom came and another nurse was taking care of me. They gave me some pretty awful tasting liquid pain meds (liquid loratab) and let me drink some water. I had no issues with drinking. Then my mom noticed that I had a catheter. I guess they had put that in while I was out. The nurse took it out, which hurt, but not that badly. I then began to have some horrid gas pains that made me double over and cry. I begged the nurse to let me walk, which she finally did after telling me that I could stay in the hospital that night or go home. I wanted to go home. I guess most of the time they make you stay one night, but since I'm "young and healthy" (their words) I can go home. So, she undid my IV and my blood pressure monitor and let me walk around, which made me feel 100X better. My mom went and got the car and I got dressed by myself. My leaving blood pressure was 126/80 which is great. I had some hypertension in the first recovery room, but they think it was due to the pain. They gave me a script for liquid loratab and told me to crush my other meds.   I went home and followed the rule of drinking something or eating sugar free popsicles or jello every hour. Walked down the driveway and around the house alot. Took the pain meds and felt okay and went to sleep. Woke up at 4am and walked around a bit, let the dog out, and took some more pain meds. Woke up at 9am, walked around, took some pain meds, and had some jello. I crushed up my Wellbutrin last night and tonight and it was horrible!!! I called the doctor's office today and asked them to call in a liquid version of my wellbutrin, and they said they would. I'm on a clear liquid diet for today and half of tomorow and then on full liquids until my doctor's appointment on Dec. 9th. They said until that appt not to experiment with food, but only eat what's on the list which consists of cream of wheat, oatmeal (both thinned with no clumps) strained soup, broth, jello, sugar free popsicles, water, juice and non caloric drinks. I can have coffee but not really until tomorrow afternoon, because I can't have skim milk until tomorrow and I can't drink it black. The appointment is usually to get the staples out, but since he did glue with me, it's just to check in. I have my first fill in about a month and they will give me the rest of my post-op diet at my dec. 9th appointment. So far, so good. I'm in a little pain, but no nausea and the pain is manageable.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

17
 

Ready for plastics!

Okay, so I haven't posted on here in forever. I've been kind of just caught up in my life, which I guess is a good thing. I also haven't had anything significant going on with my weight or the band. I haven't had a fill since last December and I haven't lost anymore weight. I have been working out regularly and I think I have more muscle and less fat. I'm still around 210 pounds though. I went for a consult with a plastic surgeon and I've been approved for a breast reduction and an abdominoplasty. My insurance is going to cover it 100%!!!!! I am really excited about this. The surgery is scheduled for October 5th. I am 5'9" and have a large frame, and I truly felt like I was going to have trouble losing any more weight. The plastic surgeon said that there wasn't much fat left--it was mostly all skin, which makes sense after losing 120 pounds. I can't even imagine myself with a flat stomach and firm boobs. My ultimate goal is to be able to jog. I can somewhat job for like a minute at a time, but my overall fitness is pretty good but I'm weighed down by the weight on my upper body. I am happy I haven't gained any weight and I've settled into a pretty healthy eating routine. I'm hoping that this plastic surgery gets me where I want to be, or at the least gets me able to exercise the way I want to. I could play tennis again! In case you don't understand what a big problem I have, the surgeon says he's going to take about 7 or 8 pounds off of my chest.   In other news, I was dating an older guy for about 3 months and he just dumped me via email. Then I found out that he's been dating someone else for a couple of weeks now. How many times am I going to let my heart get broken?   Everything in my life is going awesome except for my love life. I guess I shouldn't let that get me down. I need to focus on me right now anyway. I'm going to have about a month off work to recover and my mom is going to be here for the first week. Will my stomach really be flat? Will I be able to buy single digit bra sizes? I am so excited!Tags: lap band
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

5
 

Surgiversary

So, technically I missed posting on my surgiversary, or my one year anniversary of getting my lap band. It's been a good ride. It's had it's ups and downs but as of today, two weeks after my one year mark, I weigh 210 pounds. That is 120 pounds less than I did a year ago. Wow! I never really thought I would get this far! I'm still 32 pounds from my goal but I'm feeling pretty great. I have alot of energy now that I've gotten over this bronchitis thing. I lost 10 pounds this month when I weighed in at the doctor today. My surgeon showed me my before picture and I don't even recognize it. Did I really look like that? No diet could have done this. I will take credit for my part, because I have exercised, gone to all my follow up appointments and fills, followed the rules (for the most part!) and try to eat healthy most of the time. But I will give the band the credit that is due because with the band, it is not impossible.   LapBand 12/1/08 Starting weight/surgery weight/current weight/goal weight/height 330/316/210/175/5'10"
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

8
 

First Fill--Ouch!!!

I went to my first fill today. I brought what I've eaten for the past seven days and talked to the nutritionist about it. She said I was doing very welll. She didn't even flinch at the King Crab Legs and Vodka I had on New Years!!! I was honest, I put on there that I'd eaten at Taco Bell two days and McDonald's another day, but those days I pretty much didn't eat anything else, and then most days I ate healthy food, so she said I was doing great.   Apparently I'm down another 5 pounds since the last doctor's appointment!!! That made me feel so much better. THe scale read 300.003!!! That's just one pound until I'm under 300! It actually flashed 299.9, but then went back up o 300. My home scale says 303. That's 30 pounds down from before my pre-op diet!   The surgeon said I was doing great, especially over the holidays to lose 5 pounds, so that perked my spirits up.   I was told to get on the chair and they reclined it all the way, but betadine on my stomach and numbed it with little needle pricks. Then he took a long needle and began to poke me to find the port. He couldn't find it. He could find the big round thing, but apparently there's a soft spot in the middle that the syringe goes through and he could not find that. He stuck me like 10 times and he hurt! (I'm a baby with pain by the way). Then he kept trying to find it. I was actually going to ask to take a break because I can't stand little sticking pain....He numbed the area again and poked me again, and then I said, "Ouch!" and he numbed it agaain. He finally found it well below where they (and I ) thought it was. He apologized for hurting me several times and said that next time they'll know right where it is. In hindsight, it wasn't really that bad.   I have a 10cc band and he put in 4.5 cc, which is a little more than usual, but I live close by, so I could get an unfill if I needed to. I drank a whole glass of water and it went down fine. I have another follow up appt. scheduled on Feb. 3rd. I'm supposed to drink liquids, then progress to mushies, then on to real food in the next two days.   I feel good and I'm hopeful that my weight loss will really jump start now!!:confused:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

5
 

Old clothes be gone!

I cleaned out my closet tonight. I realize that none of my pants fit me. They are way too big. I have clothes ranging all the way up to 3x and 24/26. I tried on an 18W in the store today, and they were way too big as well. I actually bought a pair of workout pants in a medium. I tried them on by accident and they fit. Now granted they are stretch pants, but still! I have way too many clothes to get rid of. I think I'm going to take them to a consignment store so I can at least get a little money out of them. I don't have the patience for ebay. Now that I've gotten rid of my big clothes, my closet looks pretty empty. I did get a bunch of clothes in Orlando this weekend, so at least I have something to wear. It feels good to get rid of all the big clothes, but a part of me is wondering if I'll need them again someday. Well, out they go!
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

2
 

Going well

Well, Things are going well. I got another fill a couple of weeks ago, and it is really tight. I've had heartburn for the first time I throw up if i eat too fast or the wrong kind of food. I'm actually considering a slight unfill at my next appt. I'm currently at 218 and keep receiving tons of compliments. My future sister in law says I look like I need to eat a cheeseburger! My boyfriends' mom, said I look super skinny and my boyfriend can't keep his hands off me. The only problem? No clothes that fit! I would kill for a pair of black pants that didn't hang off my butt and drag on the floor. I had an awesome time on Halloween. I was a vampire with a costume that I threw together at the last minute, but the teeth were awesome. I'll try and post some pics. Okay, it wouldn't let me upload them for some reason but if you're interested, go to http://trina4ufl.livejournal.com/
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

2
 

Down another 7

I went for my 4 week apt. at the surgeon's office and have lost 7 pounds in four weeks, putting me at 217. It hasn't really been the best way to lose, as I've been too tight this month. I've had several vomiting episodes and bad heartburn. The doc took out all the fluid and let me drink some water so if some food at been stuck, it would wash down, then he filled me up to 8.0. I had been at 8.5. I feel a huge difference. No heartburn and I can actually eat without feeling like I need to throw up. I've really only eaten some soup (pho) so far, but so far I don't even feel much restriction, but I'm not pushing it. I hope this doesn't mean that I'll gain weight over the holidays, but for now, I feel so much better. I do have a bad head cold so I'm home from work today. I fell asleep at 7:30pm last night and didn't wake up until 7:30 am this morning, tried to get ready for work, and realized I felt dizzy and much too sick to go in. I'm very happy with my progress as Dec. 1st is my year anniversary and I've lost 113 pounds total, 99.7 pounds since surgery day. I'll take it! I'm very happy with my lapband. Now if I could get rid of this cold, I'd be feeling great!:biggrin:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

4
 

To fill or not to fill, that is the question?

So, after talking to the guy I've been on and off dating, it seems like I misunderstood him on a few things and apparently he likes me alot and wants to continue dating. I agreed as I like him alot too. He came over tonight and we cooked dinner together. We cooked NY strip steaks on the grills and I made baked potatoes with fresh chives and asparagus stir-fried with garlic and butter. It turned out perfectly. I ate the steak with absolutely no issues. Now my surgeon had said last time that if I can eat steak, then I need a fill. I weighed myself this morning though and I am down another 2 pounds. I've pretty much been eating healthy and on days when I know I'm going out to dinner (or like today--cooking steaks at home) I don't eat anything else all day. I know that may not be the healthiest thing to do, but it keeps my calorie intake in check but still allows me to go out and eat what I want. Most of the time I just eat healthy three meals a day, but on the weekends I usually go out to dinner with friends or my date. So I'm wondering, does this mean I need a fill? I think that I do. I can still eat too much food, even though I control myself and try to stay within my calorie goals. I have an appt. on March 3rd so I will probably get a fill then.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

8
 

I finally have a date!!!!

December 1st!!!! I am a crazy mix of excited and nervous!! I start my pre-op diet on Monday. My surgery is in 16 days! I am hardly believe it!
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

5
 

Down 100 pounds

My weight at my doctor's appt on Tuesday was 229. My start weight was 330. I have lost 100 pounds. That sounds so strange to say. I am really excited about it and my life has improved immeasurably. I still have a ways to go to get to my first goal, which is 175 but I'm very thankful with the amount of weight I've lost these past 9-10 months. My surgeon is extremely happy for me. My resting heart rate is 50, which he says is awesome. My BP is 125/67 and all my blood work came back in the normal range. All my clothes are way too big, even the ones I just bought a month ago and I have stamina and can do normal tasks, as well as work out for a long time at the gym without feeling tired. I don't feel awkward in social situations, like going into a room and wondering if I'll fit in the chair. When people see me, they usually ask how much weight I've lost or say that I look great. I can see the bones in my face, in a good way! I'm not skinny in any way, but who knew I had cheekbones under there? I have no more plantar fascitis or foot pain and my back doesn't hurt anymore. I don't get winded going up a flight of stairs or walking around the mall or taking my dog out or shaving my legs. I've gone from a 24/26 size clothes to an 18-maybe even smaller since my clothes are too big now! This has not been easy, but I guess I'm amazed. It's actually working! I guess I never really believed I would continue to see the scale move down. I still can't imagine being below 200 pounds. I haven't weighed this weight since my freshman year of college and I'm now 30 years old. That was 12 years ago!   Lap Band: 12/1/08 330/316/229/175 5'9" st.w/sw/cw/gw Ht. (my highest weight ever was 347) :thumbdown:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

9
 

Message from 10/7/10

So I had my surgery for breast reduction and abdominoplasty on Tuesday. They said it went really well. I did have a lot of pain and discomfort, but I am also heavily medicated, so I've been sleeping all the time. The breasts really don't hurt at all, but the stomach muscles hurt a lot the first day, and the sutures have hurt the past two days. I have my follow up appointment today. They removed 11 pounds altogether. I haven't seen the results yet because I'm in this body "armor" and support bra and I can't take it off until after my post-op appt today. I'm almost afraid to see it because I know it's going to look bad at first. I did look down right after surgery and was woah!! and the nurses thought something was wrong, but I said, my stomach is gone! It was a really great feeling. My mom is here taking care of me. I think it would be almost impossible to do this without someone here because I need her help just to get in and out of bed. The stomach hurts alot whenever I move, but as long as I stay still, everything is okay. My back and neck are really sore from having to sleep in the same position. All in all, not super fun and very uncomfortable, but not intolerable and definitely worth it if it ends up looking/feeling good. I'll post more soon.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

0
 

Another fill-Down 18.4

I went to my doctor's appointment today and I've lost 18.4 pounds this month!!!!!! The doc said I'm the ideal patient and that I'm doing great! He did give me another fill after I told him that this past week I haven't had much restriction and that I ate steak last week with no issues. He gave me 1.3ccs for a total of 6.8 ccs in a large APS band. He actually overfilled me so he could see how much was too much and I felt like I was going to throw up the water. Then he took some out and I drank the water fine. He thinks I should be in the green zone now. I'm drinking liquids fine. I'm going to try and lose 20 pounds this month. I'm turning 30 in 19 days so I want to celebrate it by losing, losing, losing! I feel great and I'm hoping this fill will be perfect! I'm down a total of 56 pounds since the pre-op diet.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

6
 

Update on fill

It's been a week since my fill and I'm down another 6 pounds. At first, I felt like I couldn't really eat any solid food. I did liquids for three days and then tried some scrambled egg. It hurt going down and I could only eat a couple of bites. I learned though that I really hadn't needed to eat slowly to chew enough because I think this is the first time I've had a lot of restriction. I found that if I eat really slowly and chew ALOT I can eat most things. I'm also not hungry at all. I dream of food and crave all kinds of things in the morning, but it's gone by the time I brush my teeth. As a result, I know I haven't been eating enough protein. The fill did loosen up in the past couple of days so now I'm eating more, which is probably good. I feel like I have good restriction now. I'm going to work on the protein. I gave myself a week of just concentrating on getting some food in, and now it's back to logging and making sure I eat enough protein. I'm fitting into the smallest smallest clothes I have! Most of my clothes are way too big I realized today. Time for some shopping! I just wanted to wait because I usually drop the most just after a fill, so I didn't want the clothes I bought to be too big right away. My 30th birthday is March 22nd, so I do plan on buying a couple of cute outfits before that. Oh, and my butt is looking really good! I noticed myself and my friend and her boyfriend confirmed it :confused:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

4
 

1 week post op plastics

So I'm about a week post-op and starting to feel much better. The first few days were rough. It was really painful. The breast reduction was a piece of cake. I had almost no pain at all and the drains came out after 2 days. The only thing that is uncomfortable is that I have to wear this special bra 24/7 for six weeks. It's pretty comfortable, but it is white and shows if my shirts are not really high up on my neck. At first, my breasts looked kind of uneven and I was paranoid that they were not symetrical, but as they are healing, they look good. I'm very happy so far with them. As for the abdominoplasty, this sucker hurts! First, your stomach muscles just kill you because the surgeon sews them together really tightly so getting up and down out of a bed or chair or whatever is really painful. Then, your sutures start to really hurt so you can't straighten out because your skin has been stretched and sewn together. I had to learn that they key is to keep your legs as close to your abdomen as possible so that it limits the stretch. The good thing is that they gave me 2 different narcotic pain killers and valium to help relax your stomach muscles. This did keep the pain tolerable. The first two days are the worst and then it gets better. Now, I almost forget about the pain until I go more than 4 or 5 hours without pain pills and then the pain reminds me. I've stopped taking the really heavy pain killers and the valium, so now I'm taking the loratabs about every 5 or 6 hours as needed. I can get up and down without too much pain and am feeling pretty good. My stomach looked bad the first time I saw it. It is sagging and my new belly button is gross and ragged. The plastic surgeon's office swears that my stomach will be flat and tight but it's not yet. It has gotten better as the days go on. Apparently there is a lot of swelling right now that is causing it to be lumpy and saggy. I guess that's why I have to wear compression garmets for 4 weeks. I am already sick of this compression garmet. But, I could live with that because it's really not that bad. It's not that tight. It's kind of like wearing a spanx bodysuit. The worst part is that I still have 2 surgical drains that fill up with blood and fluid. There are two tubes, once coming out of each hole in my hip. The tubes lead to plastic drains about the size of light bulb. These fill up with fluid and you have to empty them and record the measurements about 3 or 4 times a day. THe problem is that they are a pain to carry around. I have to sleep on my back because of them which I've gotten used to, but you have to find a way to hide them under your clothes. I went to the grocery store with my mom today and I thought they were going to stop me because I look like I"m shoplifting because of the outlines of these plastic things under my pants. I have a doctor's appt. tomorrow at 9:30am and there is a possibility that they will take them out, but I'm doubting that they will because they are still filling up with fluid regularly. The good news is that I am currently at 200.3 pounds on my home scale. I was at about 213 or 214 prior to surgery. I always weigh at least 3 pounds less at the lap band doctor's office. I'm just waiting and waiting for the scale to read 199. I'm ready to be in onederland! I have been eating pretty normally. My band isn't very tight but I haven't had a huge appetite but have been eating pretty well. I still have a lot of swelling so I'm hoping when that goes down, the scale will too. They took off 11 pounds when they did the surgery, so that means I've lost a few more since then. I also actually have a waist! Once I get these drains out, I can wear clothes other than sweats. I'm really looking forward to still having 5 weeks off of work to recuperate! My mom just left town but I'll probably go visit my parents in Orlando in a couple of weeks. For now, I'm just relaxing and keeping in touch with my friends here.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

3
 

Not much restriction

I made breakfast for my employees at work today and ate one of the biscuits filled with egg, cheese, onion, etc. and I realize I don't have much restriction at all and I can eat anything. I don't even have to eat particularly slowly. I did accidentally drink after I ate yesterday and it was painful, so I have some restriction, but I think I'm just used to eating smaller meals and healthy food, so I do.   I was debating about whether or not to get another fill at my next doctor appointment on Feb. 3rd because I don't want to PB, slime, or throw up, but now I know that I need one. Plus I haven't really lost any weight this week, though I've been good about eating healthy and keeping around 1000 calories a day, although I haven't been to the gym since last week because I've had the flu.   Definitely time for a fill. I'm happy with the eating changes I've made though. I pulled out the promise light margarine/spread yesterday and realized I almost never use butter or margarine anymore and I used to use it all the time. I'm thinking about all the bad eating habits that I don't do anymore and that makes me really happy. I could be doing better as sometimes I eat something unhealthy, but for the most part, I am really happy with my choices and my portions. I just would like to see more of a change in the scale. After losing 7 pounds that week, I lost 2 more the following week, and then have stayed the same since Tuesday. It's kind of sad that I'm not just dropping pounds like crazy just because I'm eating so much better. Apparently I need to work hard to lose weight. Who knew? J/K. It's totally worth it, and I chose Lapband because I wanted to own it. To know that I worked to get healthy. Well, I'm keeping at it, so the scales got to move sometime. I think another fill will help.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

7
 

Yay!

232 today...after going from 238 on my home scale the day of my last doctor's appt two weeks ago, then going down to 234 on my liquid diet, and then back up to 240, I am finally starting to see some downward movement, even though it's only a few pounds in the last two weeks, I'll take it. I'm only 2 pounds away from hitting the 100 pound down mark!   oh and NSV--my size 18 jeans that were super tight a few weeks ago now are falling down. I need a belt, only my waist is too wide for regular sized belts right now without feeling squished. Also, a ran into an old friend last weekend who looked at me, did a double take and was like, wow, you're looking great. Now he's known me for many years, and I don't think he's seen me at my heaviest, so that's a compliment for sure.   I've gotten into a better groove with eating. I'll eat healthy 90% of the time and then allow myself the occasional fast food fix or junk food, but I look at the calories before I eat it and make sure it's nothing crazy. For example, I had a grilled chicken to go wrap from Wendy's 250 calories for lunch and another day I was going to allow myself a taco supreme from taco bell 200 calories, but then I thought it would be too messy to eat at work so I ate a healthy choice frozen meal instead. I've been trying to eat breakfast so sometimes I have a mini blueberry muffin, one day I had the low fat starbucks blueberry coffee cake which I'm sure used up the majority of my daily calories, but it was so good. I did skip lunch that day and had a super healthy dinner, so it worked out. I have to watch it right when I get home from work because that is when I'm stressed and tired and want to pig out, so I try to go to the gym or plan something with my boyfriend for that time. I eat 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter some days at that time to hold me over until dinner. Dinner has been good because I get really solid protein food like chicken breasts and peas or last night it was steak and lobster tail. Since my fill is good, I can only eat a very small portion, but I'm full when I eat it, so it works out great. 3 meals and a snack in between lunch and dinner seem to keep me away from the ravenous hunger stage. I have to eat different things or I get bored and want to revert to crappy food.
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

1
 

2nd Fill

Well, I had my 2nd fill today. The surgeon wasn't going to give me a fill at first, because I've lost 8 pounds since the last visit 31/2 weeks ago, but when I told him that Id been working out 6 days per week and that I had lost about 7 pounds the first week after the last fill and then not much since then, he agreed. I also told him how I can eat steak and pretty much anything else and he said it was time for a fill.   He had trouble finding it again. There was a nutritionist intern there today and she asked if she could watch the fill, so I let her and she looked like she felt really bad for me when he kept sticking me with the needle again. She held my hand and later told the girl at the receptionist desk that he had stuck me like 50 times. It didn't hurt as much as they numbed the area first and he used the smaller needle. He finally found it. It's 5cm below the middle of my incision scar and believe me, I will remember that for next time. He put 1.5 cc's in, making it a grand total of 5.5 ccs. He watched me really closely while I drank the water as if he was expecting me to not be able to drink it, but it went down fine. He gave me his cell phone number in case I had any problems and needed some of the fluid taken out. He said only to drink clear liquids today, then full liquids all day tomorrow, and then start mushie and then regular food the following day. I can feel that it's tighter. I'm actually worried that I won't be able to eat anything and I'll need him to take some fluid out, but right now drinking liquids is going fine. The surgeon said I'm doing so well and hugged me and told me how proud of me he was. He said I'm doing great! So far, so good!
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

8
 

Happy Happy Birthday

Well, my birthday dinner went great. I got off work early, got ready and my "date" came by early to give me two presents which he wrapped himself and pick me up to take me to dinner. I got to dinner and all of my friends were there on time. It was so great to have everyone there together. Everyone seemed to get along great and have a great time. We ate japanese hibachi. I ordered filet mignon and lobster and it was wonderful. I got to see a couple of my friends that I haven't seen in a long time, and it made me miss spending more time with them and resolve to talk to them more. I received several really nice presents and one of my friends brought an ice cream cake. I was so full after dinner, but it was well worth it. I had an amazing time. I weighed myself the next morning and was down 2 pounds. I'm not sure how I gained a pound earlier in the week when I hadn't been eating much at all and then ate a lot at dinner Wed and lost weight, but hey, I'll take it. I'm now at 270. One pound away from my birthday goal. After dinner, I went by one of my friend's and saw her and her boyfriend's new house, which was really nice and my boyfriend and I hung out there for awhile and then went back to my place where we continued spending some quality time together and talking. I didn't get much sleep and woke up on Thursday with a massive cold. I've felt pretty sick with a bad cold ever since and my hard drive crashed. I've had the computer a little over a year and it just went out of warranty. I ended up buying a new hard drive today and I left my computer with my boyfriend, who was nice enough to agree to change out the hard drive and install everything again and make sure it is running on "optimal performance" (whatever that means!). I'm using my work laptop for now. I think my boyfriend and I have come to a better understanding and have bonded more. He was telling me the other night how in his past relationships he spent every waking second with the person for five years or more and then it didn't work out and that basically it makes him want to change how he behaves in a relationship. He actually started crying. I felt really bad for him, but it also made me think that I'm not sure how I feel about him at this point (it's only been a month), and I can't promise him that it won't be the same way with us. We left it with us both just seeing what happens and taking it one day at a time, but he has been much more attentive since then--calling every day and being much more involved in my life. I still haven't told him about the lapband. He's told me so many personal things about himself, I'm not sure why I haven't told him, but it takes me awhile to open up about things. I hide my stomach and he thinks that it's because I'm self-concious about my "belly" and tells me I'm being silly, but in reality, I don't want him to see my scars. I'm sure he'd be great about it if/when I tell him, but for now, I like keeping my secrets. I had off work Friday and I have Monday off too. It sucks that I'm sick for my mini vacation, but I took a bunch of cold medicine and am starting to feel better. Sunday is my actual birthday and my boyfriend is taking me to the gun range so we can go target shooting, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'm really looking forward to it. My friend Melissa and her husband are getting oysters tomorrow (my absolute favorite food!) and cooking them on the grill. I can't wait! This weekend is going to go by way too quickly, I can tell already, but I'm going to enjoy every minute. Now if I can just drop that last pesky pound to my goal and get over this cold, everything would be perfect!:sneaky:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

3
 

Progress pics

Okay, here are some progress pics. In the first one, it was taken prior to the pre-op diet and the 2nd was taken this weekend. I've lost about 40 pounds since the pre-op diet. I will post some full body shots soon, but I can't find any before that have full body yet so here's a face comparison...  
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

7
 

Good fortune

You'll never guess what my fortune cookie said last night...I was working on my laptop, as usual, and I open my fortune, which said,   Put business matters aside for now and concentrate on your love life   I thought this was pretty funny and appropriate as well!!!   So, based on that, I'll be taking several months off work to travel and concentrate on my love life! Yeah, I wish!!!!   Okay, I'm kind of stalled for the past two weeks in my weight loss, losing and gaining the same 2-3 pounds. I'm giving myself some slack since I had a really bad cold/flu bug and I'm still trying to shake it, so I only went to the gym one time last week and ate more food because I didn't want to lack in nutrition when I'm trying to get over being sick. I ate zaxby's fried chicken fingers and french fries yesterday, and felt really bad about it, so I didnt eat anything else yesterday which put me at the right calorie level, but I should not be eating that crap. I know I need a fill if I can eat fried chicken fingers! Today I was a paragon of virtue and only ate: coffee w/ sf creamer, nonfat light keylime pie flavoried yogurt, Live Active Light cottage chese snack pack and a protein drink. I'm going to go the gym tonight as well and do weights and cardio.   On the dating front, I joined an online dating site to see what's out there and so far I've been propositioned by a married guy (supposedly separated, but you know how that goes) and a sexy croation guy (at least from the pictures) who lives with his parents and I don't think he has a car. Lucky in love as usual!!! LOL. And no, I'm not going to go out with either of them.   That crazy guy from the beach drunk dialed me last night and left three long messages about how much he missed me..um What? I haven't heard from you in three weeks??   I have a work conference Wed in Orlando so I'm leaving tomorrow night after work to stay at my parents house. I go to the training all day Wed and then I'm spending the rest of the week with my parents in Orlando. My dad's going to do my taxes so I can pay off at least a big chunk of my medical bills. They put me on a payment plan of $179 a month for a year, but I think I can pay it off in a few months. I think I have all the tax documents I need and I'm hoping on a decent size refund, not the $500 I got back last year (I paid $10,000 to the government in SS and fed income tax and only got back $500!).   I really need a fill, so I'm going to do the next week on pure will-power and good decision-making. I'll let you know how it goes. :cheatfree:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

2
 

Fill today--Down another 12

:thumbup:I went for a fill today and I've lost 12 pounds this month! I was really happy because I was sick for one week and had birthday stuff (lots of food) another week, so I really cracked down this past week before the appointment and it paid off. He also checked and he had put in 6.8 ccs last time and there was only about 5 ccs in there this time, so the fluid went somewhere! He said usually if you have a leak it is a fast leak and the restriction is gone by the time you get home, so he doesn't think it's a leak. Sometimes I guess it gets absorbed or something? But I can't complain, it just means that regular fills are what I need and that my instincts were right, there was less fluid in there. He put me up to 7.3ccs. I've only been drinking fluids, but I'll let you know how that goes.   I'm down 68 pounds!!!
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

4
 

Long overdue update

Well, after much work, I finally got insurance approval!!! I'm waiting on a surgery date, but I'm hoping for early December. I've been researching this thing to death and feel ready--nervous/excited/but ready. Here we go!
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

2
 

Down another 9

I went for my fill/follow up yesterday and I am down another 9 pounds. I currently weigh 253. The doctor said I'm doing great and he gave me another fill, which was a breeze. I'm still on liquids today. I ate some yogurt and had to eat it very very very slowly and I wasn't sure it was going to go down. I just had a protein shake and water yesterday. I'm feeling great. I've been consistently going to the gym and I'm starting to run out of clothes that fit! I'm wearing an 18 in top and bottom, but it's a women's 18. I can't wait to wear regular clothes! I ended up not getting sick like I thought I was last week and this past weekend was amazing. We went to a comedy club, tubing down the river, an awesome barbeque and a gun show and dinner with my boyfriend's family on Sunday. It was one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time. His mom keeps sending cake home with me! I still haven't told him about the band. We've gotten much closer now, I guess I'll tell him when I'm ready. What's amazing is that it really is not noticeable that there is anything different except for the scars on my stomach and the few days right after a fill when I really can't eat anything. People have been telling me regularly how great I look and I feel like I'm starting to look much better. I'm almost to my under 250 goal, which I'm really looking forward to. The next goal will be 240. I remember weighing 255 back in college and going on a diet and getting to 240 and remembering how sexy I felt! We'll see if I feel that way this time. It's been a few years! My goals are to eat healthy, small portions, and exercise regularly, but I'm going to enjoy life along the way. I'm not going to beat myself up or stick to a strict diet all the time. I feel like I could have lost more weight last month, so I'm going to try harder this month, but I'm not going to kill myself. It's coming off, slowly but surely! All in all, I feel great!
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

2
 

First Goal--Done!

Well, I've been going to the gym and eating well and I'm down to 267 on my home scale!!! I've met my first goal!!! YAY!!! Now we'll just see how I weigh tomorrow at the doctor's office. It's usually a few pounds lower than my home scale, but we'll see. I think I've only lost about 8 pounds this month, maybe more, maybe less. I know I should be grateful since I lost over 18 pounds last month, but I'm so impatient! One thing though is I really don't have any clothes that filt me well. All my pants hang off my butt now. Even the ones I just bought last month. My friend who doesn't know I had the band told me last night that now that I'm losing weight you can really tell that i'd look much better with a breast reduction. I was mildly insulted by that, but I'm not sure why since I've told her that I wanted one. I guess it's just because I feel like the timing isn't right because I want to wait until I lose more so I don't "undo" it by losing alot more weight. I also want to see how I look because I really don't want to cut up my boobs for no reason. They are hanging too low though And they are still really big, though they have gotten alot smaller as well. They are just big proportionately. Though I think it would be cool to be skinny with big boobs. But not big boobs that hang to my knees! On the other hand, I know my insurance company would pay for a breast reduction now. I've read the policy and it says you have to have a certain amount taken out and I don't want to miss my window for them to pay for it, because they lift them too. I'm just scared of losing sensation and I've seen "after" pictures and I don't like most of them. I like the shape of my boobs, I just wish they were higher and of course smaller. I also hear that plastics is pretty painful and I'd have to take more time off work.. and have some explanation to the boyfriend and since it's a new relationship I have no idea how he would react to that..Well I have time to think about it. Any input would be great! I'm going to ask my doctor at my appointment tomorrow what he thinks and if he thinks I might have a leak and then ask for another fill. My next goal is to be below 250. Now that I'm eating healthy and exercising, I'm feeling better too. It's amazing how you just get back in the habit and it becomes much easier. But it's also easy to get in the habit of eating alot of carbs and fat and not working out! It'll be a challenge to stay motivated but I'm optimistic about it.:biggrin:
trina4ufl

trina4ufl

3
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