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OK... so most of you know me as a member of the Banded b*****s. I have been called RUDE, SNARKY, UNHELPFUL. WONDERFUL, A LIFESAVER, all in the same day. Such is life. Maybe, it would help if some of you knew more about me. I am currently 63 years old, banded at 62 on October 31, 2011. I am 8 pounds from my personal goal, but have achieved my GP, WL Surgeon, NP and Nutritionists goal of 175. I moved my own goal down to remind me that this is a life style not a short term diet. I will always keep working. I am 5'9" tall and no wear size 8 jeans, down from 20/22's My highest weight was 263, On the personal side, I am a wife (29 years with hubby # 2, # 1 and I parted ways.) I am a mother of two girls one 40 and the other 37. I am a grandmother to two gorgeous ladies, Morgan soon to be 13 and Grace 9 1/2. They belong to the older daughter. I have 2 great son-in-laws as well. I am the Godmother of two other young girls, Grace and Eva. I have been retired for almost 10 years. My hobbies are quilting, golf and traveling. My husband and I have been to all 7 continents and over 50 countries. We actually lived in Brussels, Belgium for 2 years, and still miss our favorite Neuhaus Chocolate. Good thing we are not there now, or I might have even more problems maintaining weight loss! LOL I have been an active member of LBT and really like helping newbies. My less than polite side come out when people ask what I consider stupid questions.... Like "gee do my scars look infected to you" or I went out drinking and threw op for 36 hours do you think I damaged my band." If you want positive help from me stay away from asking medical questions. We all have surgeons, nutritionists and other medical professionals for that. If you hurt take a pain pill or call your doctor. I love my LAP BAND and all the members of my private social group the Banded b*****s, so don'; pick on them either. We are all here to learn and help. I learn new things every day, and I hope a help a few other along the way. That's it for my first ever blog. I planning to go in for a fill next week, let you know how that goes. It will be my third. CHEZNOEL, AKA Princess Grammy.

I love the movie Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) with Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, it’s a must see so rent it if you've never seen it. This is one of my favorite scenes…… Just wanted to share it with everyone. I never get mad, Mrs. Threadgoode. Never! The way I was raised it was bad manners. Well, I got mad and it felt terrific. I felt like I could beat the sh*t outta all those punks! Excuse my language. Just beat 'em to a pulp! Beat 'em till they begged for mercy. Towanda, the avenger! After I wipe out all the punks of this world, I'll take on the wife beaters, like Frank Bennett, and machine gun their genitals. Towanda will go on the rampage. I'll put tiny bombs in Penthouse and Playboy... so they'll explode when you open 'em. I'll ban all fashion models who weigh less than 130 pounds. I'll give half the military budget to people over 65... and declare wrinkles sexually desirable. Towanda, righter of wrongs, queen beyond compare! How many of them hormones you takin', honey

I arrived in my hospital room sometime around 9pm after staying in the recovery room for what was about an hour but felt like minutes. Immediately there were several nurses around me setting things up and taking my vitals, putting an oxygen mask on me, and removing the IV that I'd had since the pre-op room. It wasnt uncomfortable, but I was glad to have it out of my arm. My wife graciously decided to sleep on the "couch" in my hospital room and thank God she did becasue the nurses were giving me instructions whcih I doubt I would have remembered on my own. One of the nurses brought me some liquid medications, an antibiotic I think. Before I swallowed the liquid, I thought about what it was going to feel like going into my stomach. I took a very small sip and and could feel the liquid going down into my new, smaller stomach. I had the strangest sensation that there was an empty space on the left side of my abdomen. Very hard to describe, except for weird. Even though my Dr. had told me my stomach would hold about 4 ounces, I still had no idea what that capacity would feel like. I didn't really experience that until morning. The thing that I was most grateful for was that I had no nausea whatsoever. Apart from the groggy feeling from the anesthesia, I actually felt pretty good and what little pain I had was being controlled with pain medication. My surgeon had informed me since the beginning that he would force me to be active right after the surgery so I knew he'd have me up and walking that same night. He did, and I took a couple laps around the halls of the hospital floor without too much effort. We didnt sleep more than a couple hours that night. Not because of pain or nausea, but because the Dr was a real stickler for the nurses to take vital signs and give medications every 2 hours. It seemed like someone was in and out of my room all night! Plus, while I was in the bed, they used the electric clot massager things on my legs which made it nearly impossible to sleep with. My wife and I didnt sleep much that first night in the hospital, but all in all it wasnt as bad as I was expecting. The following afternoon I would be allowed to go home to begin life with my new stomach.

HI everyone, Well next Tuesday marks the official six week mark since I was tested and the leak was shown to have healed. It's been an up and down couple of weeks - I mistook pulled muscles in my tummy for a leak (and stopped eating and drinking for three days - whoops), have started very light exercise and have gone back to work part time. It seems like a really slow recovery - I keep forgetting that less than 3 months ago I was in ICU on a ventillator fighting for my life I am really having to remind myself of how far I have come. I am actually going out for the first time with friends tonight to a charity dinner. It's a bit nerve wracking - mostly worried about the food and eating something that makes me sick. But I am also aware that unless I get out there, I will keep putting it off for ages. I have been cleared to eat normally as of last Monday so I am sure it will be fine. I am not sure what I weigh - haven't used the scales for two weeks. I don't even own scales myself so I have to use to one's at work I deliberately haven't bought scales as I know if I did, I would be on the damn thing twice a day So it's best for me to have a little forced restraint. I am preoccupied with my health though and freak out everytime I get a sore stomach. I have one at the moment, probably just pulled muscles but it makes me so anxious that I find it hard to eat which really doesn't help me at all. I will have an appointment with my surgeon in mid-December so hopefully I will get the all clear to start back at the gym which I think I need to get some strength back... Hope this blog finds you all well! Cheers, Lila

The morning after my surgey I still couldnt believe how well things were going for me. The Dr and nurses were surprised too. Beginning at 6am, I had to start drinking 1 ounce of water and 1 ounce of protein shake per hour. This was my first REAL experience with getting a feel for the new sleeve. I knew it had been sewn togehter with staples (and some type of glue I think), so I wanted to be "gentle" with it. I didnt know if I could "break" it or not, but I still wanted to be careful with it. So the first sips of water I took were so small that the water barely wet my lips. At first when I swallowed, I felt the urge to burp. I took another small sip and a small burp followed. As I continued to drink, I begin to feel the true size of my new stomach. The fullness came as a sort of tighness just below my sturnam. When I felt that, I knew to stop drinking for a few minutes. The good thing was that I quickly learned that the stomach emptied pretty quickly, so I could adjust the time between sips and not get too full. I Before I could leave the hospital, they wanted to make sure I could consistently get 2 ounces of water and protein shake down per hour. This is because my Dr required me to get 60 oz of water and 60 oz of protein shake in per day. I cant say at that point that I knew the real size of my stomach because of course I hadnt eaten solid food yet. But I could tell that it would be a challenge getting the 60 and 60 in each day.

Some movies, a facial mask...a face wash...a face steam with peppermint...and then alcohol swabbed onto my face. We shall see if this is the perfect combination treatment or if this will irritate my skin further. ETA of my gorgeous camera is the 29th... a day after my first appointment. So I am planning on recording my first vlog then! I'm so excited to document everything! Hopefully my skin is cleared up by then :wub: It's pretty late (for me) so I'm off to bed. Night!

I can feel good enough about myself... even when something isn't going well. I was invited to go out with some friends and I went to go shower to get ready and after looking in the mirror and staring at my aweful skin (I just went off my birth control and I have broken out like a teenager) so I made up some fib to get out of going out so that I could do a face mask and wallow in my self pitty. I'm normally a confident girl... but that's normally because I have flawless skin that I can rock with awesome eye make up... that over powers my body size. But not tonight. I don't think I have enough makeup or skill to cover up the mess that is my face. So tv, face mask and a fire for me. Cleaning tomorrow and santa on Sunday.

If you read my other blogs you will know I went to the casino last weekend........ Lost my butt... LOL....... would have been ok if I would not have woke up at 430am and wanting to gamble cause I won 160.00 off the $ machine and blew that the following morning.... My son flew in Tuesday night.... I was almost nervous to see him..... was afraid he couldn't tell I have lost weight.... I know silly of me.. but I think we all still see the chubby person.. He was like WOW mom you are looking good........ keep it up!! Made my night....... Spent most of Wednesday with family, Thursday he went to visit his dad and friends........ then left today!! such a quick visit, been down since he left but at least he is not leaving the states.... He did tell me he might have to go back to Afgan... gosh I got mad!!! I was like I THOUGHT they said they were pulling everyone out....... He said no the President signed a 10 year deal to keep troops over there.......almost ruined my day yesterday!! Thanksgiving was not to hard for me since I am so picky anyways...... I did enjoy a pumpkin bar my dad made, but did not eat the frosting! So we did the early shopping today my son was able to pick up a few presents for his girlfriend, and for my 50lb mark we bought a new tv for the bedroom!! So we all know I want to be 200lbs by Jan. gosh, I hope I make it..... I have 46 days to lose 13lbs....PLEASE NO STALLS!!! My next goal is to be 175/180lb by April going to plan a trip to the Oregon Coast for reward!! The down side to all this is my hair is falling out bad, I have to clean my brush daily. pretty nervous about that......hoping it slows down soon... Anyone else notice there memory is not the greatest??? I can't believe I have to ask someone to refresh my memory on work I been doing for 2 years!! I have never had to take notes because I would remember after the first time being shown something and now I have printed cheat sheets to help me get into my programs!!! The biggest advice I could give is make sure you go to the dentist ever 3 months, because I did not tell my dentist about my surgery but she kept going on and on how she could tell something was different with my teeth. She told me to get toothpaste that is SLS Free, Amazon has it. I was thinking my teeth would be great, you know with giving up pop and candy....thank goodness No cavities! I said something to the NUT. she said yes some people end up with teeth issues because of the surgery and not getting enough Nutritiousness (cant spell right now) Well I hope you all have a good weekend!

So I figure this is as good as journal. I need to make sure I can have some system of record to track progress and see how I'm managing through this. I can't begin to express my emotions. I'm so excited and every ounce of me feels like this is the right decision. Of course my mom is making so nervous with her over anxiousness. I keep trying to reassure her everything will be OK. I think, however, this speaks to a lot of fears within my family to try new things. It's so weird, my sister and I are just not cut from the same cloth as my family. She moved to Berlin just for the heck of it, I myself travel the world over at any and every chance. Yet, most of my family will not move further than 10 minutes from the other members. It's so bizarre. Anywho, my surgery date is December 14th!!! I'm so excited and I know it will be here before I know it. The last piece to all of this, is getting my passport renewed as I'm going to Mexico for my procedure. I've already started my pre-op diet and walking 3 miles a day. I also bought a nutri-bullet. Surprisingly, it's actually help me beat the flu. I started my nutri-blasts the day I work up with an unbearable sore throat (that is always the first sign of a flu for me & it usually takes me down for a week or two). I will admit, 3 days of these nutri blasts and I feel great. I figured it would help me post-op when it was time to go to my soft food stage to help me get some better nutrients in. Whoever came up with that thing, is brilliant. I will admit, sometimes when I have more than 1 a day, I don't always add the green factor in & depending on the recipe, I allow myself a teaspoon of sugar or vanilla almond milk, but it definitely doesn't change the effect of getting all that good nutrition in me. So yea I'm feeling great. Wish my surgery was earlier in December, just kind of ready to get it over with LOL. I've been mulling over this for like 5 years and for some reason, I know once I get going with this, I'm going to kick myself for not doing it 5 years ago. I guess the thing with me is that, I kept running into or hearing about people who were unsuccessful with bypass surgery or had complications with the band. The sleeve just makes more sense for me and I know this will be a tool that helps me succeed. I guess I may as well start thinking of some rewards for myself. Here's a list to get started: 50 lbs = spa day 75 lbs = dance shoes 100 lbs = arjuni D 125 lbs = host huge event for friends 150 lbs = $1500 new wardrobe Goal = book Europe trip to see my sis I'm sure these will be tweaked a bit as time moves along, but it's a starting point and plenty of things to look forward too.