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My initial loss with my band was amazing (and a little scary), but the joy of seeing pounds dropping off on a daily basis was truly fantastic. As I was looking at my weight this morning, I noticed that I had only lost 5 pounds during the month of April and was tempted toward the negative by comparing my loss with what I did when I was first banded. Then I started to think about my bike ride on Sunday, 28 miles, 23 miles two days before, Both at speeds that it took me 5 months of work up to last year to be able to sustain for 15 miles. I thought about my spin class and the progress I have made during it, where I had to stop and rest halfway through when I first started. I thought about the fact that it is time to go shopping for clothes again because my pants are starting to bunch at the waist when I tighten my belt enough to hold them up. I thought about the fact that I am down to one belt because I haven't punched holes in the other two. I thought about the fact that the fat percentage on my scale hit a new low number this morning. I thought about all the weight that I lost on WW, and how 5 pounds in a month would have been a cause for celebration. Yup, the low hanging fruit of my band journey is all gone, but that's ok I burn more calories when I have to climb the branches to reach the higher fruit. Father God, please help me to remain thankful for all that you have given me instead of focusing on what I don't have...

Wow....I had prepared for it to take the full 15 business days for insurance to reply....but it only took 4. I'm approved! May 22nd at 1 pm. Excited, scared, curious, nervous, relieved, anxious....seems crazy to have some of these feelings all at the same time! But ..... here we gooooooo. I have SO much to do at work to get ready to be gone. I never take more than a day or two off at a time, except when I got married, and unfortunately even that I kinda planned around my work schedule (don't tell anyone, that's kinda my own little secret). I'm planning on being out 5/21 through 31... the 27th is a holiday, so it's really only 8 work days. I do payroll for a kind of large outfit and being out through the 31st means when I come back on June 3rd I have to hit the ground running full speed to process payroll that day. Hope to God all goes well and I am able to come back when I plan to! I honestly don't know what would happen if I wasn't here. I guess the responsible thing to do is to make sure my boss remembers how to do it, so that he can do it if necessary. Then there are other pressing matters that I need to wrap up before I take the time off, and some things I need to find someone to do while I'm out...I honestly don't know who is going to do some of these things...panicking a little about it. One thing is for sure: nothing makes time go by more quickly than having deadlines to meet!

I woke up this morning and I feel OH so much better than I have the last few days. I was starting to worry that I'd never feel ok again. This surgery was harder than the initial surgery. It hurt more. It took more out of me. Mind you, I *am* almost 5 years older than I was then. Maybe that's it, maybe it's just coz I'm an old chook now lol. I'm still on a liquid diet - full liquids, with the thickest thing I am having being yoghurt, and I'm doing it easily. I'm rarely hungry and this reminds me so much of when I was in my green zone, when I nearly never felt hungry. I have great hopes of getting there again now I have a new band in. I've also lost almost 5lbs since surgery. I'm not trying to take that loss too seriously but, if I'm honest, I'm ridiculously happy because I've been so careful with my intake and exercise the last few months and not lost a measly lb without the band. This is why I went back to get a new band, because it works for me. Next stop: the green zone. I have my first fill in a couple of weeks, and then hopefully it won't be too long until I'm back there again, and I can go back to happily living my life with my band like I did for the 3 years before the leak. Fingers crossed.

Today I shall begin to document my progress. Today I am going to give you all some information about myself and vow to stop by at least every Thurs from here on out and give an update. To start with allow me to introduce myself! My name is Reena, I am from upstate New York, I live and love the country! I am currently 32 years old and the mother of 4 beautiful children. My oldest child is 12 years old, he is 5'11" 180# and autistic. My pride meter went through the roof this year for this child, he has been on honor roll all school year! I am very proud of him. Besides his wonderful grades he also plays saxophone, and drums. He has recently gotten into sports, played basketball and just started up playing baseball. I love seeing his progress, a child who at 5 years old, didn't talk... is now on high honor roll! The next in line would be my twins. I have a set of twins, boy and girl. They are 6 1/2 years old. My son is the older of the two (by a whole minute), he is also a special needs child, he plays baseball and LOVES school! He is an amazing young man, I call him my lil runt because he is much smaller than his sister and has always needed a lil more protection than the rest of the group. After him would be his twin sister, She is our little princess! She is beyond spoiled by nature, a beautiful young lady, long dark hair, large blue eyes, eye lashes all women would die for! Shes tall and very thin! Oh and the brain of her! Shes awful smart. My youngest child is 2 1/2, which is very hard for me to believe! Each of my children are very special to me, the youngest holds a very special place in my heart for many reasons, to start with he was born on my 30th birthday! He is the only child I share with my current husband, and of course, he is the youngest ... his older siblings spoil him rotten! But what a sweet young man he is! I am currently into my second marriage... my first was with a boy/man I met when I was 14 years old. I dated him for about 5 years and we were married a year after I finished high school. Within 2 years of the marriage he developed a drinking problem, 3 or 4 years in he also developed a drug problem... these situations left me and my children homeless a few times, often with no food or no money to pay bills, no car ect. I went through about 10 years of that when I finally woke up one morning and as I was getting ready for work I told him I wanted a divorce. I have tried my best from that day to do nothing but move forward! I started dating my current husband the fall of 2009, we were married june of 2012. He and I are very happy with the life we have built together. Although I still have to deal with my ex husband from time to time, it is pretty limited between his time in the county jail for stealing ect. So about a year and a half ago I came to the decision that I need to continue to better my life and I should start with bettering my health. I started my WL journey at this point. It hasn't gone very well lol! When I began, I weighed 252#... I currently tipped my scale at 305#! So heres what happened. I went to my PCP for over a year, he had me on prescription WL pills and diets ect. I didn't loose, I didn't gain either. He suggested I talk to a WLS. I went through the seminar, went to my first appointment in November 2012. After talking to him I had come to the conclusion that this was the road for me! at that time I was 281#. He told me if I want to continue I MUST quit smoking for 6 months in order for him to do the surgery!... UGH!!!!!!!! I have smoked for 21 years! But I want a happier, healthier life for me and my kids... wouldn't that include smoking? Yes, yes it would. So I got myself in the mind set and I said good bye to smoking! I may have said good bye to smoking, but in turn I said hello to 25#! Now I am busting my tail to get rid of my "I quit smoking so I gained a bunch of weight" weight! Ive lowered my calories to about 1200 a day, drinking water, doing at least 45 mins of some kind of workout each day, which is very hard for me lately because Ive had a sinus infection from hell! I will wrap this up because I need to get some housework done before the kids get home. Today.. today I make the choice to tune out the negative around me, to make great choices for the foods I give my body (and my mind)! To hug my children just a little longer than I did yesterday! I welcome me to the loser's bench, may I be here a long, long time!

Hello all I no I been gone for a min. I had a lot of stress these past few weeks, and with stress comes band habits that I didn't let go and I own up to them. So with that said I put myself back on my liquid diet and I'm back to working out. So much so I fasted walked 6 miles today. How is everyone else doing.

Not really... my intro was written a few months ago and realized I had not published it. Yeah I am one smart cookie...which is funny I say that! So I have been lurking in the shadows of this site for over a year. Looking through all the forums, blogs, and my favorite before and after pics! While doing research aka lurking on this site I have been over the past year going to appt after freaking appt to meet my insurnance requirements for approval for sugery. I finally finished the 6 pcp visits in March and was approved for my surgery the last week of April! YAY right...well yeah so I thought! My surgeron has her own set of requirments which includes a psy eval. No biggie that's pretty standard. I schedule the appt. I am ready to get the show in the road and get my surgery scheduled. Well I go thinking okay this will be a breeze. Yeah not so much I have PMS which basically means I am one lifetime movie away from a good ugly cry and I am tired bloated and trying not to eat any chocolate. I need to reschedule but that will hold everything up. I find out in the first 5 minutes this is the first of 3 appts. Ok so I have to come back here and pay a co pay and miss more time off work. I say is there anyway we can make it all one big appt? No avail! So we procced. It starts out okay... standard questions do you eat when you are sad happy yada yada. Then he ask what is the saddest time in your life and were you ever depressed. I say when my brother died unexpectedly in July of 2011. (Side story we were on family vaca and he got sick and passed away 3 days later...I also had just found out I was pregnant. it was a crazy horrible time in my life) I was really close to him and plus being pregnant made my grief ten fold. I was honestly depressed for a few months but that is to be expected I was grieving. Well he keeps probbing about that and I begin to cry and cry and cry. Gotta love PMS! I get myself together and we move on. Then he ask have you ever done drugs or have you ever got drunk? Yeah I was a wild teenager I did both alot! Dammit Shannon you are falling for his tricks! More questions. Makes me think I am an addict. Which I am not! I haven't touch an illegal substance since I was 22 years old. I am 32 now. Did this guy ever here of experimenting sowing wild oats? I barely can finish off a glass of wine now. My patience with this guy is getting thin. He then ask have you ever been sexually/physically abused. I don't answer. I start to cry again...damn PMS! I really don't want to go there I said. It was a long time ago. He keeps on and on. I go into a little detail and he said I should talk to someone maybe a female psy dr about this. Ok whatever you think... moving on. (I am thinking he thinks I am nuts! ) Surely he has heard worse. I am emotionally mentally done! He then ask remember these words in this order. (insert 3 words) I am repeating them in my head. He then ask the date...I answer. Then who was the president of the US during the Civil War? What I don't know am I in history class now. (If I answer wrong will you not approve me for surgery?) Then what is the capital of Italy? I give him a look. I say why?...I don't know why are you asking me these things? He says just answer the questions. Rome. Yes he says now count backwards from 100 and minus 7 each time. I give a even more nasty look with an eye roll. 100....um 93 ummm 86 no thats not right. Look I am not good at math in my head. I cant do that I need a calculator. He then says I give you an easier one...count back from 30 minus 3 each time. Ok I am offically pissed now I feel like a emotional unstable, addict, who is dumb! Plus I have to meet with him after my computer test to go over his results. I swear if this quack does not approve me I will show him crazy for real! Well probalby not but I will be mad.

Over the last four months I became almost unable to walk. I had so much pain in my muscles and weakness I was walking like duck. My old doctor who is now my old doctor would sit in the hallway and write me prescriptions for muscle relaxers and tell me to go home. I was in so much pain that I could not function, could barely get by at work. I had muscle spasms so bad in my lower back I was going weekly for a deep tissue massage. I never believed in Fibromyalgia because I didnt want to be labeled with something they have no explanation for. I was so miserable I had to find a new doctor. I made an appointment two weeks ago, drove myself and almost needed a wheel chair to get inside the building. Two guys were standing outside talking and said mam do you need help? Well what the hell I am 50 years old and needing someone to almost carry me inside. So I said yes if you would be so kind. I met with the doctor and he listened as I explained all my symptoms that started last year in July with no feeling in my leg and how I had MRI's of every part of my spine and head and nothing was wrong. He listened for one hour. Never rushed me so he could move on. After he examined me he told me I have Fibromyalgia. I cringed at those words because how can I live with something I dont believe in. I told him my thoughts and he said it's not a label we put on people when we can't find out what is wrong. It's a real disease with all the symptoms you are having and your nerves are over firing and causing muscle pain and spasming. He put me on Savella, which has been a God send, change my sleeping medication and told me to continue on the muscle relaxers and yes gave me something for pain because he believed I was having excrutiating pain. I gained about 6lbs because of lack of activity but I still tried to maintain my diet. Two weeks later I feel a lot better but still have pain but it is bearable. I am thankful to my new doctor and my husband who sends me weekly to get a massage. I dont know if I still believe in this disease but I know the medication I am taking makes me feel so much better.

Well I did it! I am now banded! Yesterday I had the lap band surgery and I don’t know how to feel and I am not going to stress over it. I had to be at the hospital at 530am and I guess my surgery was around 7 then only thing I remember was me being cold. The nursing staff was amazing and they took really took good care of me. There was a lot lap band surgeries going on yesterday. I had a walking buddy name Melissa and we walked around now the hospital floor at least 12 times. My dad is amazing he was off at 8am the morning and was with me the whole time. I was more concerned for him then myself but he was able to catch a few ZZZ while he was there. My best friend Mandy came up to see me and was there until I was discharge at 730pm. My dad stayed with me until Mandy came to my house. Mandy was my unofficial nurse last night. Oh I forgot to mention that my dad went to work last night! I was shock but that is my dad and that is why I love him! Last night was hard because I had a hard time sleeping I thought if I sleep on my couch it would be easier for me. I was so wrong! However I was comfortable in my bed and I slept on my side and had some pillows on my stomach. I just had hard time getting out of bed. I have this fear of if I do too much I will burst my incisions. I am moving around my house hopefully some on of this gas pressure will get release. I feel like I have 5 burps stuck inside me so I am going to keep moving until something comes out. I have a water bottle besides me at all times. Sipping is hard but I think I got the hang of it. This is a slow process. I am not really hungry but I know I need to eat something more like drink something. I meet my surgeon and my primary doctor next week. Today I will take it move around as much as I can and keep my momentum going! Thanks for reading.

Hello everyone. I am in the process of considering the gastric sleeve operation. Originally when I first thought about the surgery when I was at my biggest weight, I was terrified because I had an aunt who passed after having several similar surgeries. So I was against it then. Now, I have a new outlook on the situation and figured that this just may be the best thing for me. Currently, I am diabetic, have high blood pressure and cholesterol, ashmatic, have allergies and sinus issues, among other medical issues. My mother had all of those problems along with renal failure, and poor circulation. I had vowed that I wasn't going to end up like my mother but I have all of her medical conditions with the exception of the poor circulation and renal failure. Although, I almost had renal failure when I had my hysterectomy because of a complication. At my biggest weight, I weighed in at 289. Last year I lost 30lbs but have gained some of that back. Prior to last year, I was at 250lbs and I had gotten down to 232. But now I am at 247. I would like to be able to lose the weight and keep it off forever. My motivation has not been the greatest. Especially when I get depressed, bored, or any other type of emotion where I tend to turn to food for comfort. My goal is to become a bodybuilder or a fitness model. I would like to be able to go back to how I was in high school where I was in a weightlifting club and took second place in the competition. I have four sons and one grandson. I would like to be healthy to be able to spend time with all of them and the other grandchild that will come in September of this year. I am tired of the aches and pains that I feel and the problems with breathing when I have to run or walk fast. I believe once I lose the weight, my self-esteem will increase and I will be able to accomplish so much more in my life. My goal is to get off all of my medications or at least be down to 2 or 3 at the most besides my vitamins. Currently I am researching about the vitamins and foods that I will be able to eat. I have read that most people have opted to take their vitamins in liquid form rather than taking a pill. I have also read that people have been doing the protein shakes. I would like to get a better understanding of the procedure and any advise from other members. A part of me is scared because of my past history with surgeries. Also because I don't want a lot of extra skin after the surgery. I am looking into how to prevent that from happening. I would like to be able to wear a bikini one day without the shame and embarrassment. I have been given the referral from my doctor to participate in the Options program at Kaiser, which is the Bariatric surgery department. I go for my information session on 5/7/13. So I am anxiously awaiting and look forward to learning more at this meeting. I have decided that I will start the actuall classes after I return from my vacation because i don't want to start and then have to miss two weeks of classes and will have to make them up. Yesterday, I started logging everything that I eat. I was reading that this is going to be necessary during the 12 weeks of classes. I am trying to get into the habit of doing it now because I know it is usually hard for me to stick to things and I need to get into the habit now. I will also be logging my exercise. Before I stopped exercising, I was logging every exercise I was doing. Once I start back, this too will be a part of my log. This is my first entry and hope to be able to continue on with my journey. Wish me the best of luck on my journey!

OMG, That stuff is nasty. When I was in the hospital, my CPAP machine ran out of water. I asked for some tap water, and the nurse offered me some sterile water instead. At the time, I couldn't smell or taste anything, so it wasn't a problem. It was after I got back home and tried on my mask. The stench had infiltrated every part of the mask, tubing and reservoir. It took a few rinsing, but I finally got the stench out. Sterilized means that all the bacteria and viruses have been removed or killed, such as by UV irradiation or boiling. Distilled means the water has been boiled, the steam collected, and condensed back into pure water.