Pats Fan in MA

Well wouldn't you know it, it's time for Round 2 already! Of course the days seem to speed up right before surgery, especially with the holidays and all the prep that entails as well.
 
I have my Christmas gifts shipped off to family, got finished today with E's gifts and stocking stuffers. I hope I will feel well enough on Saturday to wrap gifts! It's actually something I love to do. I should've been a Macy's gift wrapper during the holidays. Well, back in the mid-nineties after graduating from college my boyfriend (and now ex-husband) and I took a year long hiatus and traveled around the country in an old beat up pop-up VW bus. We ran out of money when we hit Portland, Oregon and decided to look for work asap. I found a job at a great gift and card store called Presents of Mind (if you are ever in Portland it's in SE on Hawthorne St- still there!) and I was there during the holiday season. They had a gift wrapping station with the coolest selection of quality wrapping paper and ribbons of all kinds, and I loved it when a customer wanted something wrapped. I am a little OCD about some things, and I seek perfection in my gift wrapping technique and presentation! Well, it has carried on through the years, and I truly enjoy wrapping each gift I send my sister with care, always coming up with a different bow or ribbon configuration, to make each gift look like a unique confection. I must say, I do a pretty good job! It helps that we are adults and she truly enjoys turning over each gift and delighting in the color scheme, the preciseness of the scale of the bow......okay I am getting out of control here. I think you get how much I like wrapping gifts!
 
There is one gift for E that I am going to wrap tonight. I got him an air chair.....for those unfamiliar, it's like a hammock chair, but made out of canvas and sewn to the shape of a semi-upright chair, complete with armrests, footrests and drink holder! It will be perfect for him to relax with a book on the back porch in his air chair come spring.......Anyway it's in a big box that I don't want to deal with maneuvering post-op, so I'll get to that tonight. Plus some last minute decking the walls....I LOVE Christmas and even though it's going to be spent this year in a Percocet stupor with no homemade cookies to nibble on, cocktails to imbibe in, or parties to attend, I'll love it anyway as long as I can rest on the sofa, enjoy the beautiful tree, listen to some Christmas music, and watch E open his gifts from me.
 
So wish me luck as I go under the knife for the second attempt at getting that Band. I thought about but never followed through on homemade Christmas cookies for the nurses....a little bribe for some extra TLC couldn't hurt, right? But alas, I ran out of time. My main concern is that my body doesn't give Dr.Schneider any trouble this time but if it does, I hope he is prepared and I stabilize and the banding is a success. That's my Christmas wish. What's yours?
 
I wish you all a season of peace with yourself; who you are, where you've come, and where you are going in life. If you've got that, everything else you could want, it will follow!

I posted this as my status today:
 
"This journey, regardless of how much or how little support we have, is an individual one. No one else can lose the weight for you. Take the encouragement, the support, the good w/the bad and separate the meat from the bones... and ultimately do what works and what's best for you! That is always a key in success!"
 
How does this tie in to honesty? Well, I'll tell you. I've noticed, not only in the few short days I've been banded, but in the entire time I've been researching lap band, that everyone has advice to give. We all want the keys to success; what it took for others to lose the weight; the exercises and the food they ate. But the truth is, what works for one won't always work for everyone else.
 
Not everyone gained the weight because they've over eaten or because they're lazy. Just like everyone has their own reasons for gaining the weight, everyone will have their own means of losing it, even if we are all using the same tool. Encouragement and advice are great and I know we all have a lot to learn on this journey, but it starts with being honest with ourselves.
 
We were honest (or vain) enough to realize we needed the lap band and now it's about being honest enough to admit our limitations and strongholds. Food is an addiction that we're trying to kick (we know that), but my food addiction isn't yours. My habits are not yours, and I have to be real enough with myself to understand that if I'm going to succeed, I have to do what is going to work for me.. and you need to do what will work for you. This starts with listening to your surgical team, dietician, nutritionist, etc.
 
If there's one thing that remains consistent in all of the advice I've received from successful lap banders, it would be, "If you follow the rules, you'll lose the weight." Not just the universal lap band rules, but those set forth for your individual program, for your individual needs. One of the dangers of trying to follow the regimen of someone else is that you may not be able to live up to it, because it's not tailor made for you. And on this journey, that is one thing I think is definitely a plus; the capability to contour the band to work for YOU! Remember that there are people that have health issues and co-morbidities that may affect their regimen. Don't waste time trying to compare yourself to everyone else, do what works for you!
 
We all want to be successful.. get this weight off and strut our stuff! Be healthier...be happier! For me, it's starts with doing what works for me and building from there! =)
 
O well, that's enough ranting for now. Just had a few things on my mind I wanted to share.
 
All the best!!
-Mary-

So today is the end of my 3rd week. Saw the doc on monday and her scale said I was 321.6. Not sure exactly how my medical scale (with weights and slide) compares to her digital one. The 321.6 was weighed with shoes and all, so I don't know. I haven't weighed myself today because I returned to work. So lets start the weekly break down.
 
Physical:
I've noticed a very large increase in energy. To the point where my wife is getting very happy because I'm doing stuff around the house, not just sitting there tired. I've had the energy to move around and get stuff cleaned up and what not. I can take a flight of stairs with no issues whereas just 6 short months ago it would have winded me. I actually took the 2 flights of stairs to my appointment rather than take the elevator. I started to "feel" the stairs at the 1.5 flight mark. It slowed my pace down, but It didn't take all the wind out of me or put me into a sweat, which was a huge NSV for me. I used to be a VERY active person, always on the go and wanting to do stuff, I could walk forever. I'm happy to see that I'm getting back to that. My pants are not fitting anymore, I used to wear my pants under my gut, now I can't if I do that they fall down, so I've been resorting to wearing them around my actual waist up on my gut over my bellybutton. The only side effect is that now when I walk too far, my underwear falls off my butt! More funny than anything else, my own personal inside joke. My sex life has greatly increased as well, the energy and stamina I have now are getting noticed lol. The downs, I have to wait until the 28th to get my fill and I've been hungry often and if I chew properly I can get anything down in larger amounts than I would really like. I've been doing good with my calorie intake and burn, averaging a 3550 daily burn with a 1170 intake. So I'm tossing 2380 calories out the window each day on average or 1 pound of body fat every 1.4 days. Not too shabby, I guess we'll see how well I'm doing when I weigh in later today.
 
Emotional:
I'm feeling SO much better emotionally for the most part. The being stuck in bandster hell has put a damper on my spirits a bit, but I've been keeping things in check with my food log and trackers. I just have to stay strong and tough it out. I'm glad to be back at work. My wife has been extremely happy lately and that is just making things so much better overall at home. I have felt slightly defeated when I stepped on the scale and saw a weight higher than what I had the week before, but when I checked at home, I was the same weight as the week before, so I'm not going to focus so much on the numbers right now, I'm going to keep things in perspective, I'm just starting out and even at a mere 2 lbs a week, that's 110 lbs in the year. I can deal with that. I've actually wanted to exercise more. I take the long way to the rest room at work and even started taking the stairs down a floor than back up on my way to or from the rest room. It's been a icky week weather wise, so I haven't been able to get out and do some walking but I'm finding other ways to make sure I keep my burn rate up.
 
Other:
My boys are starting to show some weight loss, even though they are not specifically on a diet which is fantastic. My wife is smiling and happy both for me and about my overall increase in spirits and health. Things have been getting better each day and I love it.
 
Now I did get stuck the other day and I'm sort of glad I did. I was eating an orange (LOVE ORANGES!) at work and I went to bite a piece off a section of 3 lobes that were stuck together, I went to seperate 1 half of a lobe when the whole 3 lobe section broke in half in a way that sent it straight to the back of my throat and my bodies automatic response was to swallow. I freaked a bit, but when I didn't feel anything, I figured that it was small enough or soft enough to pass through my totally unrestricted stomach. I waited a few minutes knowing from reading that I might have to let it back up so I preped for the run to the rest room. Nothing. So I finished my orange. A good 10 -15 minutes AFTER finishing the orange I felt this odd sensation of food moving back upwards, not the contraction like a purge, just stuff trying to work it's way back up. I tried to burp, no burp. I sipped some water, stood up, put my hands on my head and walked around a bit, nothing, the feeling was still there. I sipped a bit more water and it was very hard to get down my throat, this triggered the feeling of needing to purge, still no contractions. I bolted to the rest room, took the handicapped stall and stood so that my stomach was above my mouth and I just let the food work it's way back up with no assistance on my part, it was very odd, I knew not to enduce a purge reaction for risk of causing damage to the only 2.5 week old surgery, I did have 2 instances of purge contractions, but I quickly forced them to stop, I got a good amount of orange, but not the piece that caused the problems. I was producing lots of saliva, but after the pieces came up, I didn't have the purge feeling or the uncomfortable "moving up" feeling, I still felt odd/sick the rest of the day, I drank a bit more water and it went down but slowly. So I kept it liquids for the rest of the day and was feeling fine the next day. Some have asked "why are you happy that it happened?" the answer is pretty easy, with any fears, you don't know what exactly is going to happen, now I know, I know why it happened, I know how to prevent it from happening again and I know that in the off chance it does happen again, exactly what to do. Plus, I really do not want to repeat that feeling ever again. So that little negative reinforcement is a good thing.
 
I will update my weight (good or bad) later when I can weigh in.
 
Until then, Thank you for reading, I look forwards to reading your replies and comments and
STAY STRONG!
 
***UPDATE*** Weighed in at 316. w00t!