Band_Groupie

Great first blog! I think those same words could have come out of my mouth starting here. You're going to do great! -BG

It's not an easy process, but it's so worth it. You just have to be ready to eat way less and chose mostly health things. I'll invite you to read through some of my blog, here (I try to be truthful): THE SWEET SPOT Good luck with your decision. -BG

OK, it's closing in on a week...time to call your doc. Just remember you could be causing a slip or other serious issue that would be way worse than an unfill...I've heard they sometimes have to even 'retrieve' items if the unfill doesn't work and you don't want to keep jamming things ontop of it. Please call! -BG

CONGRATULATIONS! So exciting! There's a whole 'group' here (Look on the Home Page) of gals who've had babies with the band. -BG

Today's blog; http://bandgroupieth...t.blogspot.com/

Today's blog; No, not my BUM...alcohol and carbonation...join me for a drink here: http://bandgroupiethesweetspot.blogspot.com/

Sounds like a new exercise program…or maybe a high-tech company name?…Oh NO….look closer…Uro…nope, not the currency in Europe…uro as in Urologist!:party: Taking my cue from a fellow blogger (‘cause I can’t just write this out, it will sound too horrific)…Sing it with me, to the tune of “Jingle Bells”… Went to the Urologist Wires out the gazoo:ohmy: Catheter up the front And up the rear-end too!:eek: They fill up your big bladder You feel like you’re gonna blow:crying: They ask you to cough, and then they say “Tell me when you’ve got to go.” :wub: Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right NOW! Im’ gonna pee on your floor and then you’ll need a towel! Oww! :biggrin: Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right NOW! Im’ gonna pee on your floor and then you’ll need a towel!:car: Yeah… “Oh what fun” (not) I had this morning…Three years ago, after putting up with stress incontinence for years (three kids did me in) I had surgery (only one I’ve ever had) with both a bladder sling and a hysterectomy in hopes of correcting this issue. Although initial results were good, it slowly failed and over the next year I was back to where I started.:biggrin3: Well, it’s taken me awhile to go back to my Dr., but in this year of “getting me healthier” I decided to see what they could do. I met with my Urologist last month…if you remember my “I peed my pants” blog…he said “You’re the first patient I’ve had where this failed…you’ll have to leave by the back door so you don’t scare my other patient!” Ha-ha:laugh:…I would have laughed, but then I might PEE MYSELF!:scared2: Now don’t I feel special! So today I started the testing process again…not much embarrasses me (I know, obviously) but “Urodynamics” testing is a treat…I think you’ve got the picture from my song, but picture standing on a towel and holding a million tubes and wires (coming from all points nether-regions) throughout the testing…cough…bear down:blush:…’nuff said. Next week I get to go through the “scoping” process again…yay me…photos! I’ve had some other issues over the past few years with other failed treatments and I know that’s got me more nervous about the LB process…I’m feeling a little jinxed…like if something can go wrong or fail, it’s going to happen to me!:wub: But I’m an eternal optimist (as Mr.SA says) and my cup is always half-full (or in the case of this morning 1.7 liters…yes, they measure...eeeww)…so here’s to the LB! Bring it on the testing!:thumbup:

Sigh...I'm taking a 'bander meal' in pills every day still (and I had to do the port-a-potty too...she had to run the faucet before I could pee LOL). -BG

I can’t cook…sure I can follow a recipe, when I want to…but I’m WAY too creative:idea: for that (my gift is art). I have delusions that I’m a “foodie”…but only if you’re describing someone who loves good food. The problem is I’ve never taken the time to really learn and now I just don’t want to (you’ll see why). I’ll blame this primarily on my mother. She had 5 kids, 4 girls and she never taught us how to cook…didn’t want us in the kitchen actually. Ohhhh my mom’s a great cook…wonderful meals every night, appetizers even, on Sunday nights. Sure we made fun of her serving us cow’s tongue with raisin sauce once (what did you think kids would say about a giant curved tongue with raisins stuck all over it…I still swear it had taste buds…we were ROTFL:lol::smilielol5::wub::huh2:)…I think we made her cry. She would only break her form on the rare occasion she and Dad went out…frozen potpie night. When I got to high school I had taken home ec. so I was allowed to try. I decided baking suited me well and I was good at it; even tackled filled éclairs once. So I branched out…I started adding my own spin to recipes…big mistake…my first memorable one was Jell-O with raisin bran cereal in it…let’s just say the raisins did fine…it was the flakes that were memorable.:ack2: :puke: I got married and continued the adventure. Once I was given the task of bringing the cake to a holiday. I had a box of candy canes. :idea:Candy canes…buttercream icing…what could be better together I ask you? I crushed them into chips and added them to the icing. Let me inform you…candy cane chips in icing turn into mainly gross wet slimy goo with sticky centers that get stuck in your teeth (kinda like the Jell-O flakes).:cool: By now I was developing a reputation in the family. Another holiday I was tasked again with a baked good. I decided on apple pie...I was going to show them all this time! I researched recipes and found the best homemade crust and apple filling recipe I could find. I bought my apples from the local orchard even. Now, how to dress it up…I found a photo in a cook book of a BEAUTIFUL looking apple pie! It had a lattice top with fluted edges…I’m and art ed. Major…I can sculpt like nobody’s business! There was even a tiny apple with leaves all made out of crust sitting in the middle…oooo.:w00t: I was going to need to make a lot of crust for all that! The photo of the pie was a beautiful golden brown and it was shiny! I researched that glaze. I made my pie…I had so much crust my woven lattice (pinked edges- my addition) top crust was almost solid…I couldn’t even see the apples down in there, but I knew it would be delicious…it was glazed so many times it shined and the tiny apple in the center looked almost real. I entered my parents house to ooos and ahhhs…I beamed. We finished the holiday meal and now it was time for the pie. My mom brought it to the table to serve and I couldn’t wait. She started to slice into it…what’s this…it’s too hard (maybe this is like pottery I’ve made…too much glaze?)? No worries, Mom smiles nothing phases her, and she goes to the kitchen for a big serrated knife. After a great deal of sawing she finally breaks through…I’m now hearing sniggers all around me. She lifts the first piece and I see it…the filling is sitting nicely on the bottom crust, but as she turns it sideways there’s a giant space between the filling and the top crust, which is so thick with all my lattice that it’s still hanging in the air like a triangular diving board! Full laughter now. Let’s just say I went home with almost all the pie (my mom had a backup dessert…she’s learning). Now here’s the worst part…I threw the beloved pie into the trash can behind our apartment, wanting to forget it forever. Trash day came and went, almost a week went by and my husband came home one night beckoning me to come out back. Just a few feet beyond where the trashcans are is the drive by which many in the apartments use to park. What was that in the drive?…damn those trash men for spilling…yep, there it was:sad2:…my beloved top crust still looking perfect, still so shiny…didn’t it rain yesterday? I left it there.:leaving:Since then my DH Mr.SA, has embellished the story (and to think I married him for his sense or humor). The story now goes, and he swears it's true, the next day it had tire tracks:driving: going over it that didn’t even break the tiny apple with leaves on top. Of course I have to hear about every failed recipe each holiday (I’ve only shared three here, but they have much more ammo).:w00t: I’ve offered to bring something for Thanksgiving this year…I’m still waiting for the call back.:cool: ...I'm starting to collect post op recipes now.

Sure, NOW you tell me about the delicious apples! -BG

Thanks Jen! I stopped calling him Mr. SA after awhile as it was confusing people LOL. -BG

I got my two boys out this afternoon mowing & sucking up all the fall leaves with me since we’re having a heat wave-60 degrees high (rain or snow tomorrow; 30’s high next week). Florida Pete I don’t want to hear a word!:w00t: We have a hill with huge trees behind us so you could hardly see the grass for all the leaves. There’s something about the smell of slightly wet leaves that always reminds me of college…I guess it’s that back to school smell. When I was younger it was “paste”:wub:...I’m aging myself again aren’t I?…Hey, do they even MAKE school paste anymore?:huh2: We’re been doing the final college visits now with my middle one (boy); the one I mentioned just got into National Honor Society this week (sorry, proud). My DH (Mr. SA) is taking him on his last two different visits this weekend (wish I was going, but my youngest has a commitment). It’s good kids know what they want; he wants a huge school, my daughter is a senior at mid-size one. She would tell me to insert a shameless resume here…but I’ll keep it to anyone looking for a bright employee: double major-marketing/intl. business, let me know (She’ll have me on the street corner wearing a sandwich board for her soon). What a bad time to graduate and be seeking employment huh?...but I envy them those wonderful college years! So fall reminds me of walking around my college campus and all the expectations of a new school year. I was thinking today that starting this LB process now in the fall brings a lot of the same feelings I had then; anticipation, hopefulness, eagerness, anxiousness, etc. So I’ll use this school year to get educated (about LB) and for now I’m just hoping I’ll be “graduating” to a new part of my life…just about the same time as my two oldest ones! :cool::w00t::cool:

OK, I'm working up my anger here and I'm going to yell at my scale tomorrow morning before I get on...everytime I get on, off 3x it just goes up...sigh. Congrats...such a great feeling when it starts moving again! -BG

Bandster Hell sucks, but this time is for healing. Search here for how others have done through this period, or take a peek at my blog just post-op (dates on the right cloumn, look after 4/22/09). Click THE SWEET SPOT

Very cool...I always read here that you have to be at goal for awhile too...nice surprise! -BG

Glad you're perking back up and healing well! More small meals throughout the day helps a lot during Bandster Hell! -BG

Woot! Nothing like an approval! -BG

Yep, I've blogged a lot about my BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder)...I didn't see myself as that bad and now I'm having a hard time seeing myself thinner. The 'before pics' and 'durings' have helped a lot...who ever sees themselves from the rear? ...and we're all adept at not looking in mirrors and running from cameras!

I drink beer or wine almost every weekend. My doc says the carbonation thing is a LB Myth as far as stretching anything (he says the burping is what makes some not like the carbonation and of course empty calories). I was allowed these after 12 weeks (healing time).

I temporarily eased off and stopped before surgery (just afraid of the headaches in case I was too nauseated to drink it). They brought me coffee with my first bander meal in the hospital. I have (and am allowed) 3-4 cups every day.

Sure I can eat way more of sliders...that's why they're called sliders. You should never feel 'uncomfortably full'...the real trick is to see how little of the solid protein you need to keep you satisfied between meals...so that means you have to 'test things'....for me that's about 1 cup, up to 1.5C, and at breakfast I eat .5C as I'm tighter, but it's 20g protein (oatmeal souped up with protein). Eating more than 1.5C you can stretch your pouch and esophagus over time (one meal now and then won't matter).

First choice would be Chinese stir fry with lots of meat/veggies. I also do the chili and refried beans, but both of those are almost sliders for me and don't keep me full (fine for dinner if I'll be going to bed soon, but not for lunch). We're going out this weekend (PF Changs), not fast food, but always a great choice with the band.

I have a goal range of 10 pounds and that will be a BMI of about 22+ - <24 (both on the high half of normal). I know BMI isn't the only indicator of health, but I don't get the docs setting goals that are in the higher end of the overweight range...if we're doing this for our health then I say go for it and see if you can get into the normal/healthy BMI range. I think the docs just set the goals higher (and still in the overweight range) as they'd be thrilled with their patients losing more than the average bander statistics wise. I have a lot in common with some of you...I'm 50, I'm 5'8.5" and weighed 164 this morning...so I'm at a 24.6 BMI (Normal). I don't look gaunt and there is still plenty of fat left on this body (I'm in a M shirt, but barely in a 12 pant). I'm plateauing again and the WL has really slowed. Yes, the toning will help, but I'm going to stick to the plan and see where my body wants to end up. I see way more of the unhealthy looking 'gaunt' with my friends that are RNYers when they lose so fast and first get to goal and even they look better after their weight settles out. Personally, I was thrilled when I got more than 50# off...that's all I've ever been able to do with all my years of yo-yoing, but I'm not hungry between meals, I'm still getting in the protein, the water and 1200 or more calories a day and so we'll see where this takes me! Why would I want to stop until my body does? Shoot for the stars!