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Finding my little self

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T Minus 10 Days

Well hello world! I am not new to the WLS crowd as i had a gastric bypass in 2009, but due to not being able to absorbe my bipolar 11 meds i was put on 24mg of Risperdone which made me gain every ounce back plus some.   Fast forward to today, i am almost weened off the Risperdone and my PCP, Psychiatrist and psychologist and most importantly myself think lapband surgery would be a very great tool for me to once again become successful in my weight loss efforts.   I live in Outback Australia and will be flying down to another state for surgery as we do not have any of those kinds of services here. I will be flying down with my kids (10yr, 8yr, and 7 months old) and hubby in 7 days time (17th). I have my first consultation with my surgeon on the 18th and if all goes well after x-rays and blood work, i will be having lapband surgery on the 20th. It will be the best Christmas & Birthday present to myself and my family as it will enable me to join them in physical activities again, and make keeping up with a baby a LOT easier.   I am a bit scared but a lot more excited. I know i will be successful as i have been training myself to take tiny bites and chew chew chew my food. I am trying to work on getting in more water, which i should be doing anyway since i live in the Australian Desert. We will be in the other state for 18 days to make sure all is going well and so if there is a complication i am in the same city as the surgeon, and also it is our summer family vacation at the beach and to visit my family (mum and siblings) too. We dont get to see the ocean very often. My husband will be a great help as i wont need to bend to pick up my daughter as to not bust open any stitches. I remember the pain from the bypass and it was not too bad, 2 days of presciption painkillers and then just tylanol to keep the dull ache under control, so i am very confident this will go well. But i am concered about the port site pain as that will be very different, but i will take it in stride.   Today i am on day 5 of my optifast diet. The shakes are really yucky, and had been making them into a smoothie with my allowed 1/4 cup of fruit so i used mixed frozen berries, it made it much better to get down, but my bloody blender cracked so i have to go out and buy a new one and im not looking forward to going to K-Mart in our little town at Christmas shopping time where everyone and their dog are there. Its a mad house! But i hate the shakes by themselves so i will brave the madness. I also had a friend in the USA send me a BIG box of sugar free pudding and jello mixes as they dont have sugar free ones here. I have a big bowl on Lime Jello setting in the fridge, it will be a nice change. I REALLY miss my meat, as i am a big MEATATARIAN, hahaha!!! My mother is making my home made chicken broth for me to have at our family Christmas gathering. I am very lucky to have such a great support from family, friends and Doctors.   Im READY!
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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OUCHIE! OUCHIE!

Last night (25th) i had 1/2 a slice of very thin lunchen ham. I was in so much pain about 20 minutes after. I have been able to get down all my fluids but it hurts.   I called my surgeon just now, and he said as long as i am getting down all my liquids, i SHOULD drink some diet soda to alleviate the pain some. He said if i am still in pain tomorrow afternoon he will see me first thing Saturday morning to take out a little fluid from my band for a week to let the irritation settle and then he will fill it back in the following Friday.   A life time of bad choices are so hard to break but if i dont start i am doomed. But just getting the band shows i do want to change. I am counting the days till i see my psychologist again, so we can continue deep therapy on many issues but also my over eating and emotional eating. That is what caused me to have the ham last night. My sister in-law made me feel shitty as a parent because i only bought my kids 1 Christmas gift each (an ipod shuffle) and only spent $50 on each of them.   I knew they were getting gifts from others and they also know Christmas is about sharing love not getting as much gifts as you can.   Im mad at myself for letting her get to me but i am madder that i put myself in all this pain because of how i felt about it all.   Roll with the punches, right.. well this feels like i have been punched in the chest and neck.. but i am proud that i fessed up to my surgeon and he was able to put me at ease and can help as soon as we get back into town, as we are 2 hours away staying at a Historical Gold Rush theme park for 2 days.   And NEENER NEENER to my sister inlaw because my kids said coming to this place was the best Christmas gift EVER!!
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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New Year New Family Life

I cant believe it but i have not eaten not even a bite of processed food in over 2 weeks.   The only drinks i have had are cold water and Almond Milk.   My whole family jumped on board, so we sold all our unopened processed food to friends, and stocked up on healthy spelt and almond flour, rapadura/panela sugar and coconut sugar, and a heap of fresh veggies and some fruit (we are not big fruit fans, we like it but dont crave it) . I and my eldest son drink almond milk as dairy milk makes us feel sick, so instead of soy milk we turned to the healthier and much more tastier Almond Milk. My youngest son and my husband drink full cream dairy milk, as fat free milk has a higher sugar content and has traces of white paint (as it needs to look like milk since all the fat/white stuff has been removed) and the full cream has healthy fats that the body can process easier anyway.   I have stuck to my high protein 1/2 cup of food per meal every day and so far in 5 weeks have lost 16 pounds. So happy with that effort.   When i went to say hi to my medical clinic staff, they were amazed by the transformation my face and belly are making. The nurse said my facial skin looks so beautiful and healthy, so i told her about going off all processed foods and drinking almost a gallon of water a day and she was so happy for me.   A few other people commented how great my skin looks.   I am so excited with this change and have so so SOOOO much more energy.
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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MEAT...GIVE ME MEAT!

I caved and had 3 bites of my husbands calzone tonight. The meaty cheesy smell was killing me. But after my 3 bites i was fine.   It was like a smoker having their first cigarette after a long international flight. DONT SMOKE!! My father died of lung cancer and it was a horrible drawn out death.   On an exciting front today was the last day of school for my boys and are now on summer break, and my daughter cut her second tooth. YAY!!
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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Love Divinci Sugar Free Syrups

I have a new blender! It has a food processor canister, a masher for making thicker style mashed potatoes and veggies and an immersion blender for smoothies. But today i used Davinci Sugar Free English Toffee syrup in my OptiFast shake. It was sooooo delicious!!!! I have been using their syrups for years now.   I can make sugar free protein ice cream and flavorful smoothies and flavored plain yogurt. I have all kinds of flavors, mint, dulce de leche, english toffee, french vanilla, orange, raspberry, pancake syrup and just pain sweetener.   I buy them from netrition.com go check them out and buy a few.   Well it is getting closer to surgery day and the excitement is building by the second.
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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Home Sweet Home

Home at last!   What a December we had, it was great seeing friends and family but i was very thankful to be home Saturday. Now for the horrid part, UNPACKING, YUCK OH!!   The Friday before we came home i had my first postop appointment with Dr Burton. I was down 12 pounds and he put in a 1ml fill so now i have 5mls in my 10ml band.   I had my first dance with acid reflux on Saturday our travel day. It felt hot and burning down in my neck and every time i swallowed it felt like there was grit in the back of my throat. I did a bit of research on lapband and acid reflux, and found out it was caused from having my 8 month old daughter in the baby carrier strapped to my chest for an hour. Before bed i took some mylanta (antacid liquid) and i was totally fine 10 minutes later and it has not come back since.   I am having big problems with severe constipation, so today i am going to amp up my water BIG TIME and add some benifibre to my cups of tea.   I am also feeling a bit fuzzy today, because i have a bad throat infection the last 2 days and am finding it so hard to swallow. I for the first time in forever skipped my bipolar meds last night because it hurt so bad to swallow. Today i have had 2 cups of hot tea with FF milk and splenda and it feels really soothing going down. So i am a bit fuzzy headed and am not thoroughly steady on my feet, luckily my older boys are being a great help and we are all just having fun playing games and watching Disney movies on the projector. Too hot to go outside at this time of year as you can fry an egg on the sidewalk and i am NOT kidding.   I went to see my local GP yesterday and he is working with my surgeon to learn how to do the fills and un fills. Dr Heald (yes what an awesome name for a dr right!) is a fantastic dr. He gets a lot of bad reviews from others we know but he has been nothing but amazing with us, coming to meet us in the hospital if we have a true ER need, and was our first visitor when my daughter was born. His nurses are fantastic too, the whole clinic is a credit to this little town and we are so lucky to have such a caring team taking care of our medical needs and being our good friends.
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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Done Deal

So i am 2 days post op and feeling pretty good. I had to stay in hospital over night because my band had been filled too much ( 6lms in my 10ml band) so i had to wait for the surgeon to come in the next morning to take out 2mls. It went great. My husband and kids are doting and caring for me so much, and my Mother bought over some homemade chicken soup, it was so delicious. I am typing this at 1am as i woke up with really bad gas and surgical incision pain, so i took 2 codine pills and am feeling SO much better.   I am beyond excited that i did this surgery as feel like a new women already.
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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Beating the Pain

Hello day 2 of my new life. I woke up in terrible pain in the middle of the night last night. It was throbbing incision pain, i was able to take some codine tablets, which i was glad i had no problem swallowing. It eased the pain enough for me to be able to fall back asleep, but it was right back with an accompanying migraine too in the morning. I went to the store with my family and walked walked walked, which helps a lot with the bloated feeling, but i did go to the pharmacy to ask for pain meds that do not have codine, as i would hate to become too attached to them.   My hubby and kids have been such a great help, and my big boy is great company while everyone else is resting. It is slowly starting to feel more like Christmas and i look forward to spending a lot of quality time with loved ones and not obsessing about food.   I have given up soda as of the night before surgery, that could be also the reason behind my headaches, no caffeine from my Coke Zero or Pepsi Max. Just as well as the stuff is so bad for you anyway.   Glad to report no shoulder pain just incision pain, but as long as i use the tylanole it will keep it under wraps.   Merry Christmas Everyone!!
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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Almost very good girl.

5 Days Post-op: My pain is still there but not too bad, so i am happy to be on the generic pain meds now, and only take them when i really need relief.   Last night (Christmas Eve) was my extended families Christmas dinner.   I had a tonic water with lemon (as my surgeon does not limit soda in a lapband patient) and it did NOT agree with me. My tummy felt upset the whole night. I must admit it was hard seeing all my favorite Christmas foods (Calamari, Shrimp, clams, dips with crusty bread and cheeses, chicken and spinach cannelloni) and not being able to have any. But i have a very supportive family and they kept me chatting, drinking water and not offering me finger food even though there was lots of it. My mother did make me seafood soup (all blended so no chunks) which was delicious, so that helped too. But i my down fall as a small piece of the brick of rocky road fudge that a friend made us as a gift. I ate a bite and OUCH, it hurt! I had to throw it into the trash this morning because the temptation was way too high. My husband and kids were really great about it going into the trash as it was also their gift, But as they said "We are in it together". I have THE BEST SUPPORT!!!   Today we went over to my mothers house for Christmas lunch and i really was not hungry, so only had a tiny bowl of chicken soup (blended no lumps).   I am in love with not being hungry all the time, but i still think about food a lot though, but that is a life time of habit that with my great psychologist i am over combing too. I am going to make the lapband work because it HAS too. I do have 4mls in my 10ml band so that helps too.   I notice i am much more tight in the morning, and really can feel the band (Gertie as i have named it) constricting, but by 2 pm i am fine. So i think my 1 main meal a day with 2 snacks is going to best work for me. My surgeon says as long as i am taking my multi vitamin i only need to eat one meal a day if i want. I know to some you are thinking WOW that is crazy and not enough but i trust him and his practice completely as they are the people who do almost all of the lapband studies. Check them out lapbandaustralia.com.au check out all their videos.   I have been walking a fare bit around the shopping malls and tomorrow we are going to a theme park for 2 days. I am very excited also about getting home in 2 weeks to beable to get back to walking with my friend who is training me to be able to compete and complete a Couch to 5K mid next year. As she also started just walking with a friend in the evenings then added doing it in the mornings as well and just picking up her speed every time until her body was ready to run for a minute and walk for a 3 minutes and so on, and now she runs 5 kilometers every weekday morning and just walks on the weekend to give her muscle fibers time to rest. I am pumped, This new year is going to be a year for great change not just for me but for my whole family. Very Exciting!!!
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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All is Good in my world.

I did as my dr suggested for my stuck episode and it worked like a charm. Soda was my saver.   Day 9 post-op.   Today i was able to take my bandages off my wounds. They look great with no swelling or redness, they are still a bit tender but only a 3 on the 10 pain scale.   So food, i did start on mushies yesterday as the dr recommended. I made scrambled eggs in a mug. They were delicious.   Recipe: 1 Egg beaten in mug 1 Tbs salsa 1 Tbs grated cheese Mix well microwave 1 on high stir microwave another minute on high, and there you have it, perfect portion and super tasty.   It feels great to eat a tiny meal and then not be hungry. I am thinking about food a little less but it is still on my mind and a lot when my hubby and kids are eating sausages and mac n cheese. Soon i will ba able to have a tiny bit of that too but for this week it is delicious eggs.
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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13 days post-op and down 13 Lbs

So excited i am down 13 pounds since surgery 13 days ago YAY!!   Just had to share. Pain is almost gone now so everything is great for a great new year
D_Carrimko

D_Carrimko

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