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2cc fill... 3 months! progress

Well I have definitely not been posting on here like I would have like to. All I can say is this 20 credit semester is really starting to catch up to me!   Just to briefly update on here It has now been 3 MONTHS since my surgery!! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. I have been extremely busy and I suspect that is why time seems to be racing by.   At this moment I am 38 lbs down since my surgery date. It is amazing to me that I could have been carrying around that much excess weight. I really don't notice a difference much in how my clothes fit or anything yet, but I guess I really didn't expect to until I hit at least 50 lbs. Looking at pictures though I can see a difference and people have started to ask.   I have had 4 fills so far but the 3rd one I do not think actually went into my band. So last week I had a 2 cc fill under fluoroscopy to make sure everything was reaching my band ok. I can definitely tell the difference with that extra 2 cc s in there and I feel like I am doing a lot better because of it!   I hope to see more progress especially now that the weather is getting so nice and I can spend more time exercising outdoors! I hope to keep update a lot more frequently but easier said than done. Until then...
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

2
 

First Fill (1 Month!)

I cannot believe that it has been a whole month since I had surgery. Crazy. Anyway...   First Fill Februay 3, 2010 Well I had my first fill this past Wednesday and I wasn't really sure what to expect but I knew that I needed it. I could definitely feel that I was eating more than I should be able to before feeling full.   I went in at 7 am (so early I know) and my surgeon took me back right away. They weighed me first and I am down down 22 lbs since December 28 so that is good. He asked me some questions made sure I was eating, swallowing, and keeping food down ok, which I was.   Then comes the fun part he pulls out this extremely long needle and I then ask him if this is going to hurt of course. He replied no since it gets stuck right into the previous incision on top of my port and goes through scar tissue. Well that makes sense no nerves no pain.   So then he sticks the needle in and I have to admit I did feel a little bit but it was just like a bee sting. I was told to sit up in almost a crunch like position so that he could reach the band easier. It seemed like he had to poke around for awhile until he got it in all the way, which he told me was normal for the first fill. He told me when it was in for sure and I was pretty positive it was in right at that point because I could feel slight pressure. It was a weird feeling, I could feel pressure and almost like my abdominal wall muscle was contracting. I feel like I could have possibly felt the saline flow through but I was probably just imagining that. After he filled it he pulled the saline in and out once more to show me that it had, in fact, gone into the band properly.   I was told to drink down a whole glass of water and see if I could keep that down before I could leave. That took me about 5-10 minutes just because I am afraid to drink liquids too quickly now anyway in fear of throwing up. The water stayed down fine and that was it I was free to go after that!   I was told to be careful eating that night and next day. I was extra careful to chew up all of my food good but I still must have taken one bit too many, and I'll tell you what I find that every single bite is mattering recently. So I was in pain for a few hours. It has been a few days and I have eaten a little to much a few times but overall I don't think I am too restricted. Now I have to concentrate on getting all of my protein in each day I am still struggling a bit with that mostly because I just don't like drinking protein shakes bleh.
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

2
 

Lost Opportunities (4 Weeks Post Op!!)

I CANNOT believe that it has been FOUR weeks since I have had surgery. The time has gone extremely quickly. I have been pretty busy so I'm guessing thats why it feels like such a short amount of time has passed.   Everything has been working out well with my band so far. The past week or so I have been noticing that I can eat things, a little bit too much of things. My first fill is scheduled for two days from now Wednesday February 3. I am a little bit nervous. Hopefully its not way too tight, but I do know its not going to be perfect for a while.   I'm going on a Service trip to Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico at the end of this month. I am VERY excited about this trip but also of course have a few concerns about eating of course. I'll have to speak with my trip advisor pretty soon since we are leaving soon. Which brings up another point Air Travel.   UGH I just hate that I have to worry about everything that a normal person does and on top of that I have to worry about being overweight in every single situation. I have to worry if I am going to fit into the plane seat which I know that I will not be comfortable at all. Then I have to worry about people looking at me disgusted on said plane because of my size and glad they are not sitting next to me.   Every experience that I come across, every opportunity that I am offered I have ever been offered I have always had to stop and think, "How will my weight be a factor in this experience? Will I be judged or will I be physically unable to do this?"   THIS is the reason that I decided that I needed to get banded. Of course there was all of the health reasons but when it came down to it I am sick of missing out on LIFE. Just sick of letting opportunities pass me by simply because of my weight. I just was not being fair to myself by continuing to live my life as a morbidly obese person.   I see now that I made the right choice in deciding to get banded. I did this completely for myself hope to have great success as I continue on this journey!
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

3
 

Eating in College and More Support!

Well as I have personally never known anybody my age or in college who was banded I really didn't know how that would effect my overall banding experience. I feel like there has already been some challenges in the short time I have been back to school.   I wish that I had informed the nurses at campus health previous to getting surgery because I spoke with them for the first time today and they were extremely helpful and supportive.   The nurses on staff are helping me set up an appointment with themselves and the dining services nutritionist to make certain that the dining hall starts serving things that I specifically need to eat.   I am SOOO grateful to them for this because I have been having a very difficult time the past week trying to eat anything that is offered in the cafeteria. I have been mostly buying my own food and preparing it which was a waste of the meal plan that I am being forced to keep paying $2000 a semester for. Now that this issue is being dealt with I am relieve beyond belief. I guess we will see how the situations pans out.   It was also nice having the nursing staff on campus know about my band because they were extremely supportive and I find that nice to have support form a medical perspective while I am away at school. Both women were genuinely interested in the surgery and my personal experience, neither of them knowing exactly how the band works perviously. I was glad I went to visit them today and they encouraged me to stop by often and let them know my progress or just chat.   So overall today was mostly good heres hoping tomorrow is even better.
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

4
 

Post Op Incision Pictures

Here are pictures of my incisions. The first one is one day after surgery 1/6/2010 and the second is from 2 weeks post op 1/19/2010.   Two weeks post op and they are healing nicely most of the scabs have fallen off. The redness around the incisions is from a reaction to the DermaBond but the incisions themselves look good.   They incisions sights are opposite in each picture because one was taken in a mirror and the other one not. Thats why it looks like my ports site is on the opposite side in them. haha I was a little confused when I first looked at them together.     1 Day Post Op     2 Weeks Post Op
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

5
 

Allergic Reaction Around Incisions?

Right now I am 11 days post op and my actual incisions seem to be healing very well. Saw my surgeon on Wednesday morning and he said they look great. Right after surgery he put Dermabond on the incisions so they were not bandaged up or anything just a protective layering over them.   Now that the Dermabond is almost completely gone the area surrounding each of my incisions is bright red and kind of hot. They are deffinately not infected the actual incisions look good but I'm thinking maybe I had a reaction to the Dermabond? It is ungodly itchy and pinkish red:sad: I'm hoping it will just pass but I do have an appointment now for Monday morning for my surgeon to look at them. Any body else experience this?
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

3
 

This is MY Year

Moving back to school went as smoothly as it possibly could have. I was pretty worn out last night though after unpacking tons of clothes and countless other unnecessary things that I brought home with me over Winter break. No problems with the friends acting weird yet which is good.   Actually my room mate got her wisdom teeth out 2 days ago so she also can only really eat mushy foods! So funny because we are both stuck eating mushy foods for completely different reasons but its still good to not be the only one!   Today was my first day of classes up 7 am and I was good and brought some powdered protein shake in a water bottle and filled it up with skim milk in the caff for Breakfast. I Tried to eat some chicken in the caff at lunch time, chewed it up really good and everything, but with no success. It ended up getting stuck and basically a pretty painful sliming episode. Ugh I tried to prove to them I can't eat most of this food that they offer but was denied even with a doctors note to exempt from a meal plan. O well as I heal more I'm sure I'll be able to handle the food a bit better. So now I better be off to start working on the many pile of homework and reading I've already been assigned by day 1. O well best to not complain I guess.     O and I have decided.... This is MY year   To work with my band and get healthy and get awesome grades. I want it all this year:thumbup: hahahah
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

2
 

1 week post op! Moving Back to School Tomorrow:/

So today makes one week since I have had my surgery. Honestly this week has went by really fast and I am definitely healing. It does still hurt to sit/stand/bend down but it is getting better each day. I move back into the dorms tomorrow and classes start on Thursday. A lot of new worries come about with going back to school. Just little challenges I guess. My first request to lower or drop my meal plan was denied so they want me to pay 3000$ a semester for meals that are I will not be eating because of sheer volume and lack of healthy options! A little bit mad about that but I am working on that problem now getting in touch with different people.   I'm interested to see how all of my friends are going to react when I get back, even the ones that know about my surgery. There was mixed reactions from the people I told most supportive but still a few "why would you need to do that"s.   Soooo basically tomorrow and the rest of this week should be interesting to say the least. Hopefully will get back on here at some point. Until then....     Mary
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

2
 

3 Days Post op

Alright so I'm three days post op now. Things are going ok and I seem to be doing fine. I had major pains from gas in my upper chest area the past two days but they are less today.   What hurts the most now is the incisions. They feel like they are stretching a lot and hurt whenever I stand or sit down. I'm also having a LOT of trouble sleeping, just cannot seem to get comfortable every night : /   Now that it has been a couple of days I am starting to think about moving back to school and starting classes in a couple of days. Its bringing up issues that I didn't think about pre surgery. For example my abdomen area is still going to be really sore because I am going back in four days and I'm worried about not being comfortable in the tight desks.   Another issue is trying to get off the mandatory meal plan that my school forces me to get. First of all its physically to much food that I cannot eat and second there is honestly no healthy options that I could be making from that food. So that is going to be a long process I guess trying to talk to the right people and prove that I need that done. O well it all has to work out right? haha
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

2
 

Surgery In 2 Days

Wow I can't believe I'm actually getting surgery in two days. This whole process feels like it went by pretty fast. I'm into day six of the liquids pre op diet and it really sucks. I guess it is especially hard because I couldn't eat over the New Years celebrations. But honestly I cannot wait to just get surgery over with now although I am getting nervous now that it is so close :/ O well heres hoping all goes well.
Mary Ash

Mary Ash

4
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