Wheetsin

Update from a previous post: I got really swollen, they actually brought me in for a problem OB expecting pre-eclampsia because of how swollen I was, and that I was going up about a pound a day. But my BP and everything else was fine so I was sent home with advice to wear support hose from the moment I get out of the shower until I go to bed (no thanks). I've now lost the fluid (and the weight, I'm back to being about 15 pounds below my conception weight, so no weight gain yet - I'm just bouncing back and forth between the same 4 pounds), and have found that I only swell when I'm sitting. I haven't done that since I lost the weight to begin with. Bad flashback. If I can remember to get up and walk every hour or so, I do fine. I've also cut way back on my sodium, just to be careful.

I'm pregnant and have had to get an unfill, even though I didn't plan to get one. I may also need to have a c-section (so they tell me), but it is because of what's going on inside, not because of the band in any way.

I've not had a spouse cheat on me, and no kids were involved, but I've been cheated on in a really weird, roundabout kind of way. Hard to explain, but here's my experience: It takes a long time to stop hurting, and maybe it never will. People say that time heals all wounds, but I say bullshit. Time doesn't heal wounds, it just numbs you. The pain is still there, even if it's only a little twinge that you can forget about most of the time. It doesn't take much of a bump to bring it back to pain again. While I didn't really go the baby sitting route, it did change my personality in the relationship. It made me very controlling because I felt I had to control what he was doing in order to trust that it wouldn't happen again. And I hated that part of my personality. If nothing else, you will learn from the experience.

I'm partially unfilled now, so I will share what it was when I was filled (I miss my restriction): Breakfast - if I eat it, maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of an egg over medium. Maybe 1 - 2 bites of crispy bacon or dry toast. lunch - usually a small soup, about 1.5 ladles' worth. Maybe a regular eating teaspoon full of tuna salad or something with it. Or sometimes if I went out, about 1/4 baked potato. Or 2 pieces of sushi. dinner - I tend to be more open at night than during the day, so I can eat a bit more for dinner. 1/3 Chipotle bol (no rice, extra black beans). Or about a half a fish fillet, or 2 chicken tenderloins.

I don't have any food intolerances. I can eat anything in a band-moderated portion, some foods require more care than others. I'm really bad about spatial relationships, including estimating volumes, but I would estimate 1/2 - 3/4 cup (when I have all my fill, I'm slightly unfilled now) is all I can eat before I'm full. I've PBed one time on Pasta, and it came out of my nose. That was not a good experience.

Name: Wheetsin How far along: 18 weeks tomorrow Due Date: 10/26 Boy/Girl/Surprise: Will find out Friday Rants: I don't feel pregnant. Raves: I don't feel pregnant. Anything else:

During my first trimester I lost weight. I really don't remember now how much - maybe I posted it on another thread. I would guess 15 - 20 lbs. No morning sickness, I just didn't have any appetite. Well, let me rephrase that. I haven't had any appetite to speak of since 3 days post-op (nearly 2.5 years ago), but I really just didn't want to eat - even more so. Since the end of my first trimester I have gone up about 6 lbs. Part, if not all of that is Fluid - I've started getting cankles if I sit for longer than about 2 hours. But regardless, I'm still at least 10 pounds less than when I conceived. This is such a big head game. I am trying to remain very aware of my weight gain and monitor it closely. About 3 weeks ago I had an unfill because literally overnight I went from fine to too tight, after over a year of being fine. I suspect the pregnancy played the starring role in that. This has really impacted what I can eat, so I have to be extra diligent and ensure that I'm balancing "can" with "should" and "need to." People ask me, "Are you showing yet?" and all I can do is tell them, "I don't know." "Are you gaining weight yet?" "A little..." I've lost in the neighborhood of 180 lbs, and still need to lose about 40. There's more flabby skin and droopy pannus on me than most people will ever even think possible. But lately I feel like my stomach is larger. My profile doesn't seem as "almost flat" as it used to. And I know my uterus is larger, because I can clearly feel it.

Holy crap you're on the ball. We'll find out gender Friday, and I haven't even started to entertain ideas about names. Congrats on the girl, unless you were really really only wanting a boy.

That's the purpose of the port - to be punctured by a needle. So the reasoning they're giving you doesn't even make sense. Fills without fluoroscopic aid aren't like someone closing their eyes and trying to blindly pin the tail on the donkey. The person doing the fill should first locate the port and then palpitate to ensure they're centered over it before inserting the needle.

There's no reason to skip the test because you're banded. When I did the medical history at my OB's, one of the questions was, "Have you had bariatric surgery?" I asked yes, they didn't ask for more info, and the assumption was made that I had gastric bypass. So when I went in for my first appointment, they had all kinds of information on proper nutrition to show me, and a little assessment to use for the glucose test to help avoid dumping. I had to explain to them, very slowly, that I don't dump, and that unless I'm so restricted I can't drink it, there's nothing about my band that would impede drinking the glucose or cause any after effects. I'm about 18 wks and have no doubt that I will take the glucose test because there's no reason not to. If I personally were in your situation, I would ask them to validate their suggestion a little. There's all the possibility in the world that they're confused over what happens with the band, what's going on internally, etc.

I really wouldn't make it into a dollars per pound type of equation, because that overlooks some very important variables like sustained loss. I would (and did) look at questions like: Can I do this on my own? Can I maintain the loss? (I never had a problem losing, but I was perpetually gaining, or losing... never had maintenance longer than a handful of months) Am I confident a gastric band will give me the help I need? Is X cost worth X degree of assurance that I will finally be able to keep the weight off? etc.

Yes, it's normal. You've probably entered ketosis, which is kicked-off by a sudden and sometimes very substantial loss of body fluids. In the first two week of ketosis, you can figure that about 20% of the weight you lose is fat, while the rest is fluid.

Keep in mind that the card, especially one you're printing freely off the internet, does not guarantee you receive a discount or obligate a restaurant to give you a reduced price. I received one in my post-op packet, 2.5 years ago and I haven't used it once but I'm fairly sure it was branded Lap-Band, so if it's something you're going to try and use to get a discount, perhaps check with your surgeon. It's entirely at a restaurant's discretion whether or not to accept a "please give me a discount" card. Why would a billboard across the street piss you off? *They* don't own the billboard, someone else does, probably an individual. To the flipside of your anger, I've never met an obese person who would walk into a restaurant and say, "I'm going to eat more than Joe Normal, so let me pay you more money" - so try not to see it as now that you're eating less, you're suddenly owed the opportunity to pay less. Helps avoid things like getting pissed off over things like someone not giving you a reduced price. :sad:

Funny I should rediscover this thread now, because I saw something the other day that reminded me of it. On the rare occasion that I watch TV, I like to watch gratuitous TV. I'm watching it to get away from the things that make me think. So the other day I'm Trading Spouses... Anyway, there was what I would consider a fairly fanatic christian woman on the show. She was a self-proclaimed GOD WARRIOR, whatever that means. She was actually REALLY obese, super morbidly and then some, and wanting to have gastric bypass surgery. Beside the point, but I do remember that detail. The family she stayed with was more new age - big into astrology, alternative medicine, but in their own right just as spiritual as she was. She refused to do anything with them, but wanted them to go to church with her. (long story omitted) I just found the video of her when she returned home, completely flipping out. Watch this and tell me there's not fear there: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCh2FXzD6R4]YouTube - Trading Spouses - Crazy Lady - "I'm a God warrior"[/ame]

It really doesn't sound like jealousy much to me. When you have disposable income, there's always a choice involved in what to do with it. Having the money for surgery, and options to do something like pay off a house, doesn't seem like a situation to me that would engender jealousy. What it does sound like to me is concern, though I'm not sure that's the right word, and or disdain for your choice to go to Mexico. I would guess she's fine with you having WLS, but is now thinking differently of you because of your choice of location. Mention Mexico and what's the first thing people think - Ugh, I wouldn't drink the Water there, let alone be cut open. It's almost like a WLS caste system, with "Mexico patients" being the second or third class citizens over those who were banded in the states or even abroad, other than Mexico. (I was banded in the US, so this isn't me trying to validate MX surgeries).

I do agree with this, much in the same way that anyone who says, "I only see one color" when referring to people is lying. Unless you're blind, you're going to see that my skin is a different color than his, or hers, or theirs. It's the impact you let that difference have to you that matters, more so than whether or not the physical difference in color is there, no?

To me BBW is either 1) a term used to indicate physical size in description, no different from describing any other physical term such as TDH (tall dark handsome), but usually geared toward obese women who want to find a man who appreciates their obesity, vice versa or 2)a term used by obese women to lessen the psychological blow of their obesity and the impact it can have on their romantic lives. Kind of like the women who are "proud" to be obese -- give me a break. To me, seeing "I love BBW" is no different than seeing "I love blondes." Both are phsycial characteristics that someone may be attracted to or turned off by. I don't really get this rant, which is ok, but "BBW" services, especially when you're talking about dating services, are for people who find obese people attractive, not the other way around. It's intended to draw a very particular audience, and if dating someone who is not part of that audience is your goal, then you just avoid it right? Otherwise, it's what they collectively call themselves, not something someone called you, or did you take it being on the site you viewed as being personally directed at you? So it's ok for someone to comment on your physical characteristic of being beautiful, but it's not ok for someone to comment on your physical characteristic of being fat? To people who endear the term "BBW" the two are synonymous, not mutually exclusive. "Tell me I'm beautiful, but don't mention that I'm fat" doesn't make much sense to me.

I asked my Dr. to phone in a Rx for Vaniqa. I didn't even stop and think about what it would cost. On the way home I went to pick it up and my doctor had called in 2 months' worth - 2 tubes. The cost was $311.97. If you don't know what Vaniqa is, it's a cream you apply twice daily to slow facial hair growth in women. It clearly states it does not remove or prevent facial hair growth, it just slows it down. During clinical trials, 42% of women reported no change or increased growth. It's 4 - 6 weeks before you notice any difference, and after that it's supposed to slow the growth "moderately." You still have to remove the hair. I was told that if I wax my eyebrows once a month, I might expect to only wax them every 6 weeks. That's like paying $75 per week of not waxing. The most I've ever paid for an actual wax was $40, usually it's around $10. Hmm, not much debating the bargain. Oh, and if you don't see results in 6 months (or $935, whichever way you want to look at it) you discontinue use and chalk it up to "not for me." And then cry because you're out the money.

Ideally the news would wait a while, but I need to vent and can't do one without the other. So my news - I'm knocked up. Despite my irreverence, DH & I are actually quite pleased. So here's my vent. I have a PPO so no PCP, but I do have a doctor that I think of as my family doctor. She has her issues, but overall she's great. Of course she's on vacation, and I didn't want to wait for the preggo confirmation, so I booked with the doctor in the clinic that had the soonest availability. Some guy I'd never seen before. We go in there and he won't look me (or DH) in the eye. You know the type, where their conversation is between them and your shoulder, or elbow, or knee, or whatever. So I'm already bugged. That's one of my pet peeves and it makes me terribly paranoid that I've ripped a piece of clothing or spilled something or have a boogey hanging out or something. The doc asks me if I've had a home pregnancy positive and I told him yes, several (we were stunned with the timing of it and hard a hard time beliving it, to say the least). So he asks, "Then why are you here?" Umm - to start the process? To get answers to my questions, and because I mentioned pregnancy I was told a confirmation test would be needed? To get some OB recommendations that work through your hospital? You tell me smarty pants. So I'm that much more bugged. Then when he tells us the test was positive, instead of just saying that, he says something stupid like "Well the supreme court never agrees with anyone but we're lucky our pregnancy tests aren't senators or from Rhode Island." Whatever. I couldn't even figure out what he was saying, I had to look quizzically over at DH with a nice "WTF?" expression... see that DH was equally confused, and then ask the doctor, "What?" So he says, "Our test confirms prior suspicions. Congratulations, I guess." I had a ton of questions, and asked him what I should avoid eating, or try to eat more of. I did tell him I was banded, but more around the issue of vitamins/supplements than anything else. My questions were mostly around the current/research validity behind things like - don't eat salmon, don't use artificial sweetners, get extra AOX, avoid honey, etc. Instead of answering my question he starts to have his conversation with my stomach and says, "You know, you really don't need to worry about extra calories yet. Eating for two comes later, you're no where ready for that yet!" Now - if I had asked him, "Should I eat more?" or "I've been eating more, is that normal?" I could maybe (as in - not) see that being an appropriate response. I just kind of looked at him and said "Yeah, I know, but that's not what I asked." I'm currently sitting around 40 lbs left to lose. Maybe 50 on a bloated day. My BMI is still "obese" but I'm iwithin 15 - 20 lbs of "overweight." Now, I don't want to justify being obese, and I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm blind to the fact that I'm still overweight. I know that medically my weight is still not great. But holy heck. I'm starting to feel like I need to have a shirt printed up that reads, "Two years ago I was almost 400 lbs so give me a F-ing break!" I'm there for a freaking pregnancy, and the guy doesn't answer my questions, but will tell me that I don't need to start eating for two just yet. :sneaky: Stupid doctor, or stupid man doctor?

So it's that time of year again. I love putting out my pots, and while I don't love gardening, I do enjoy the visual rewards. Petunias, wave petunias, begonias, portulaca, snapdragons, mandevilla, vinca, you name it. Between our front yard, side patio, back deck... I usually put out something like 25 pots of flowers, most of them good sized. But the maintenance on them sucks, including basic watering which can take well over an hour for that many pots, so normally they look nice until Julyish and then go downhill fast, even though there's a lot of life (normally) left in the plants. So... I added it up and between flowers, top off soil, fertilizers, stimulators, etc. I spend at least $500 on getting real flowers out there. For considerably little less, I can buy decent looking fakes for the pots, and not have to do any maintenance, plus if they don't sun fade in the first 2 days I can just keep the pots planted, move them into the garage during winter, and boom, next spring instant potting done for me. Did I mention no maintenance? But is this just going to win me the "WTF were you thinking?" award? I don't think I've ever seen fakes used outdoors, and if I have, I certainly didn't know it. So - who out there does this? How do they hold through the sun/storms?

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror today, just out of the shower and nekkid as can be, and noticed the slightest, faintest hints of my rib cade showing on my upper chest, noticed that the divet at the base of my throat is getting quite deep, and that when I looked over my shoulder, I could actually see shoulder blades AND faint impressions of some vertebrae. I thought, "Wow, that's something you don't see on fat people!" and got kind of happy. And then my eyes lowered, to the gobs of fat and skin still hanging on my hips and upper thighs, and I thought, "Umm, that is..." I'm trying hard not to sound like the girl who complains because she's losing sizes too fast, boohoo, got your sympathy right here... but this really sucks. I'm almost "normal" from my belly button up and my knees down, but in between I'm an utter, globby mess. I'm sitting here wearing a 14 shirt, which has some extra room, and 20 pants, which really don't, until you get to the baggy legs. It's just a little bit of piss on my wheaties that I'm not losing a bit more proportionately. Let me be a 16 all over, would you?!

They joy comes from the aesthetics for me, not whether it's real or fake. I enjoy gardening, just not during this particular summer. I think I'll be miserable enough without spending 1+ hours a day in the 105 deg heat. :biggrin: After investing almost as much in fakes as reals, I think I'm going to refund everything and skip it all. We have a landscaping company coming to do more hardscaping in 2 weeks, so I may just let that change be enough visual stimulation. We had bad storms the other day, and I was thinking, "It's a good thing I hadn't put those out yet." There's just no way any of them would still be around, and my $400 would be in tattered remains -- who knows where, 3 states over.

"A lot" of anything other than Water really isn't good for you. OJ has more sugar that most artifical kids drinks. So I guess it depends on how you mean "ok". Is it nutritionally a good choice? In careful moderation it's probably fine. "A lot" isn't careful moderation. The sugar aside, all citrus has a lot of acids, and "a lot" of acids aren't really good for you either.

As a third party reader, this is more concerning than the breach of confidence. Long story short - don't give people that much power over you. People knowing you have the band, not even saying anything but knowing, should be no where near significant enough to make you go from confident about your decision for YOUR health and YOUR life, to now embarassed and doubting whether or not you did the right thing. This was for you, not them -- right? Before you learned that others knew, did you feel you did the right thing? And just because people know, has that really changed? You're also attributing feelings and emotions to people that they haven't expressed to you. Someone might be tempted to call that projection. :biggrin: As for the breah of confidence, if it were me I would have a discussion with the office manager about what it means to me when someone says soething is confidental, compared to what it means to them. I would also find out why, even though a claim of confidentiality was made during business, the "news" was also shared during business. I may also ask the HR manager to attend. However, that's just me, and not everyone addresses problems the same way. So - is this something you feel you need to address, and if so, what type of confrontation (neutral, not aggressive) are you comfortable with? Since people may already know, and you don't want any more attention about it than you already have, I would suggest being open about it. When something has something unusual, and they're open about it, the initial curiosity goes away and things are forgotten about. Most people can pull up times they've experienced this as early bac kas gradeschool. But when you try to supress it, or react in an emotionally charged way, is when it keeps buzzing for long periods of time.

Most brown sodas will erode meat and other organic solids given enough time, that's because of the acids they contain. They're really not something we should be drinking from a "good for you" perspective. I'm not even talking about the band. But most people are successfully hooked. :biggrin: I gave up all carbonated drinks a few months before my surgery. It wasn't that hard because I was already down to caffeine free Diet Coke, so what's the point? And the occasional Fresca. I drank my sodas warm when I could, and I drank them fast. When I gave them, up what I craved was the burn of the carbonation going down my throat. I never missed the taste. It has now been over 3 years since I've had a carbonated drink, with 3 small exceptions (taking a small sip of something to taste it, and taking two small sips of Diet Coke to see if I even liked it anymore), and I can say that I don't miss then one bit. Now, when I taste a soda, it tastes so artificial to me, and that burn I used to crave now hurts and is quite uncomfortable. The evil side of all that is, now I'm drawn to apple juice. I could never stand the stuff before, and now it's what I want to drink most of the time. So it is my new indulgence.