Shanna H

I had my first fill last Friday 01-18-13 and it was a breeze. The numbing medication hurt a bit but then again it is going in a very sensitive area. The PA pulled out what saline was in my band from surgery since it was my first fill. We determined I had 5.5cc at the time of surgery and she added .5cc to that. I did the drink test to make sure water passed through without complications. I had no problems. She told me my next fill would be a month down the road.
 
I left the office a little dumbfounded that it would be so far down the road for a fill. I felt no restriction so I was a little bummed out. However, my doctor has always said that if you don't feel restriction or you are hungry, DO NOT hesitate to call their office. I decided to give it a few days. The week went by without incident.
 
I decided that with the hunger and no restriction that it was time to call the doctor. I left a message and received a call back within an hour which I felt was awesome. I got the go ahead to have another fill and they were very supportive of the idea.
 
I have my 2nd fill today and I hope to have some restriction. I will document my journey as it goes.
 
Blessings ~

Just had to share, I made the best dinner tonight. I took my filet and cut it into very small pieces and put it in an Asian sauce. I stir fried pea pods, water chestnuts and almonds with sesame seeds in an different Asian sauce. Then I cooked the filet and added the 2 together and had wild and brown rice. Uncle Ben's has one cup ready to eat, I love them.
I keep getting bored with food and this one was a great one. For lunch I had a huge salad and sliced deli turkey. I don't use dressing (never have had it) so I know my lunch was lo cal.
​If I think of other great recipes, I will share them. I do make a great salmon, too. I use the Asian sauce with sesame seeds and make it crispy either on the cook top or in the oven. I love that meal too. I live in Boston so I know my sauces are local.

I met my wonderful amazing husband 5 years ago and married him 3.5 years ago. He is my biggest fan and support. Once he went to the seminar on WLS he was fully supportive of me having the band. Over the next couple of months I hemed and hawed about would I be, could I be successful on this journey. He kept telling me that ofcourse I would, I just needed to commit to him as I did him.
 
Soooo.......
 
I am in a committed relationship with my band. My band is 100% behind me losing weight. While my band can't prevent me from eating more than I should or eating things that are unhealthy for me; it can help me stay satisfied longer on less, that is if I allow it to. When I think about my band from this perspective- I think about I would never cheat on my husband why would I want to cheat on my band. Ruining my marriage would be painful, but ruining my band and having to have another surgery wouldn't be a walk in the park either. Just like with a marriage you have to work at it, I have to work at my band life. Some days it will be easy and other days it won't, but I don't give up on my marriage just because of one road bump and I won't give up on my band either.
 
Just like I want my marriage to last forever, I want my band life to last to.
 
So with this being said.... ( I am calling my band George)
 
I promise to love, honor, and cherish George forever!!
 
Are you in a committed relationship with your band?

Okay I feel sure I am likely going to offend someone here, so if you are easily offended stop reading now!
 
I don't often get on my "high horses" but I am today.
 
I have heard people complain and moan and groan about surgery being a waste of money and time. Well my first questions is....
Did you follow you doctor's orders?
Did you listen and follow what the nutritionist said?
Did you go in to see the doctor and discuss issues?
 
If the answer to any of those are no then you wasted your own money! I work hard to make a living and I am not going to give my money away for nothing. I am paying my surgeon and my nutritionist a prime rate and honey you better bet I am going to listen to their orders. If I feel like something they told me is unfounded then I am going to discuss it with them and see if we can come up with a plan- for example multivitamins make me sick. For some reason multivitamins make me very ill, for a first couple of months I took individual vitamins throuhgout the day to prevent getting sick. After that I ask my doctor to test my levels and everything was great. The doctor gave me clearence to stop taking most of the vitamins only if I had my levels checked monthly. I have and everything is fine. I still take B vitamins since those have always been low.
 
I didn't just do my own thing and ignore his advice. We made a plan and I followed through.
 
My opinion, again this is MY OPINION, if you are not going to follow doctors orders then don't spend the money and waste the time to have surgery.
 
If you are not willing to commit totally to what it takes to be successful with WLS don't do it. It may be that you aren't ready right now, but in time you will be.

As you may have seen Someone posted that to me today.... Stop preaching.
 
 
I really thought about it and decided that if my preaching about.... be good to the band and it will be good to you....helps one person out... Its worth having someone tell me to stop preaching.
 
So I am not stopping. I will shout it from the rooftops... I love my band and my band loves me because I treat it with respect and dedication... If it chooses to fail me down the road it won't be from my doing...and I will just deal with it when the time comes. In the meantime the band and my effort gave me a thin healthy outlook on life and I plan on singing it's praises forever....