I'm a day late to my blog this week with no excuse other than I'm getting ready to roll on out to sugar sands and celebrate life week starting tomorrow!

I had a doctor's appointment last week for what was to be my third fill. Weighed in, lost 8 pounds since two weeks earlier for my previous fill, saw the doc for five minutes and he said he was super happy with where I was. Sweet! No fill for me! He asked several questions about what I'd been eating and what was happening with restriction etc., and said that I was losing "tremendously", and that I was a "model patient for the lap band!" YAY me! I have been feeling the exact same things, but it's wonderful when your doctor concurs!

I'm down somewhere between 40 and 45 pounds! I. Am. Thrilled!!

I'm guessing I won't have much scale access over the next eleven days while I'm on vacation, so it should be interesting to see how well I do while I'm gone. I still have really good restriction right now, so my band will be working it's magic for me and hopefully I won't have to think about it much. I'll also be taking a vacation from the gym ~ but I'm hoping that walking the sandy beaches will partially make up for that.

On a mostly unrelated note: Many of you know that I have a disease called Sarcoidosis. I am under several doctor's care because of that disease, and am being watched like a hawk because of the medications that I'm taking to keep the disease at bay. I was recently taken off of those medications until my check up in August, and have been doing extremely well, which I feel is due in some part to my weight loss. I feel amazing, and for the first time ever I am actually looking forward to my doctor's appointments in Denver this coming August. The weight loss won't cure the disease, I know that. But it's certainly helping with many of the symptoms of the disease, and to me that makes the entire ordeal beyond worth going through.

But I digress.. This disease has killed four people that I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past three years, and just yesterday I learned of the death of another Sarkie brother. I just wanted to ask you to please send up a prayer, if you pray, for the family of my friend. Sarcoidosis doesn't get the press that cancer gets, so it's a misunderstood and mysterious disease and sometimes the only way to spread awareness is to talk about it. So I'm talking. Sarcoidosis is ugly, and scary, and I hate that it has taken another friend from me.

Okay.. I will try to check in from the beach!! If I don't, I'll catch you all when I get back! Thanks for the support, the prayers, and as always thanks for stopping by!

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