TexanHowdy

Nov 8 - Tue; went to lunch w/ Norma, Lisa & Maria to Logan's Roadhouse; ordered the grilled salmon ceasar salad; was very careful to not eat fast and chew well, however, at the close of the meal, I could feel that something was "stuck"; got in truck headed back to the office and had to make an emergency stop an another local restaurant's bathroom and upchuck. So much for lunch ... $12 down the toilet ... Nov 9 - Wed; went to lunch w/ Norma H, Norma Y & Maria to Sylvia's Mexican Restaurant; ordered beef enchilada, beans, guacamole; paid extra careful attention to not eating fast and chewing well; midway through lunch, something got stuck; had to upchuck ... $11 down the toilet ... Nov 10 - Thur; went to lunch w/ Meagen to Olive Garden; ate Toscano soup, chicken parmigiana & spaghetti; took home leftovers; all went down well THANK GOD. No embarassing trips to the bathroom. However, at home that night, ate rest of chicken and spaghetti ... got stuck & upchucked. UGH!!! Since my last fill in October, I've probably lost my meal at least 10 times. The instances are hard to figure ... I'm getting very frustrated and, at times, emotional about the whole thing. I know this is a learning period but the unpredictability is upsetting me more than I'd like to admit ... More than anything, I'm sure I'm not getting enough protein. At this point in the deal, I'm really starting to think that I need to expertise of a nutritionalist to "show me" the right way to eat. I want to be as successful as I can be and I don't feel that I'm getting the most benefit from the surgery without proper eating, and on the flip-side, exercise. Speaking of exercise, my plantar fascitis in my left foot is really killing me. I took Remington for a walk around the neighborhood (2.5 miles) and I paid for it for the next week. Nothing like a week's worth of pain to kill any motivation to keep up the routine.

Nov 8 - Tue; went to lunch w/ Norma, Lisa & Maria to Logan's Roadhouse; ordered the grilled salmon ceasar salad; was very careful to not eat fast and chew well, however, at the close of the meal, I could feel that something was "stuck"; got in truck headed back to the office and had to make an emergency stop an another local restaurant's bathroom and upchuck. So much for lunch ... $12 down the toilet ... Nov 9 - Wed; went to lunch w/ Norma H, Norma Y & Maria to Sylvia's Mexican Restaurant; ordered beef enchilada, beans, guacamole; paid extra careful attention to not eating fast and chewing well; midway through lunch, something got stuck; had to upchuck ... $11 down the toilet ... Nov 10 - Thur; went to lunch w/ Meagen to Olive Garden; ate Toscano soup, chicken parmigiana & spaghetti; took home leftovers; all went down well THANK GOD. No embarassing trips to the bathroom. However, at home that night, ate rest of chicken and spaghetti ... got stuck & upchucked. UGH!!! Since my last fill in October, I've probably lost my meal at least 10 times. The instances are hard to figure ... I'm getting very frustrated and, at times, emotional about the whole thing. I know this is a learning period but the unpredictability is upsetting me more than I'd like to admit ... More than anything, I'm sure I'm not getting enough protein. At this point in the deal, I'm really starting to think that I need to expertise of a nutritionalist to "show me" the right way to eat. I want to be as successful as I can be and I don't feel that I'm getting the most benefit from the surgery without proper eating, and on the flip-side, exercise. Speaking of exercise, my plantar fascitis in my left foot is really killing me. I took Remington for a walk around the neighborhood (2.5 miles) and I paid for it for the next week. Nothing like a week's worth of pain to kill any motivation to keep up the routine.

Doctor office scale = 268 lbs; UGH! went up 3 lbs since last visit; showed Connie (RN) the picture of the bruising from last month's visit & she said it was because of all the needle sticks; she was able to find it right away this visit; received add'l fill of 0.25cc. Total fill to date = 2cc. Since last visit, have had difficulting passing foods; still trying to figure out exact causes, whether I'm eating too fast, bite-size too large, etc. Seems that most instances occur during the first couple of bites of food so the problem could be that I'm just taking too big of bites upfront and not chewing well enough to pass it. Connie indicated that I just need to be a more patient, take smaller bites, & chew well. Based on this information, the Intern doctor decided to only fill me with a minimal amount.

Doctor office scale = 268 lbs; UGH! went up 3 lbs since last visit; showed Connie (RN) the picture of the bruising from last month's visit & she said it was because of all the needle sticks; she was able to find it right away this visit; received add'l fill of 0.25cc. Total fill to date = 2cc. Since last visit, have had difficulting passing foods; still trying to figure out exact causes, whether I'm eating too fast, bite-size too large, etc. Seems that most instances occur during the first couple of bites of food so the problem could be that I'm just taking too big of bites upfront and not chewing well enough to pass it. Connie indicated that I just need to be a more patient, take smaller bites, & chew well. Based on this information, the Intern doctor decided to only fill me with a minimal amount.

Doctor office scale = 265.5 lbs; Connie (RN), Intern, and Dr. had trouble finding the port in order to "fill" the band; the entire port site was bruised from all the efforts to find it; Sandra took a picture of it and I'll take it to my next visit since I'm not sure if the bruising is because of all their efforts to find the port or whether the filled amount from this visit actually went in; added an add'l fill of 0.25cc; total fill to date = 1.75cc

Doctor office scale = 265.5 lbs; Connie (RN), Intern, and Dr. had trouble finding the port in order to "fill" the band; the entire port site was bruised from all the efforts to find it; Sandra took a picture of it and I'll take it to my next visit since I'm not sure if the bruising is because of all their efforts to find the port or whether the filled amount from this visit actually went in; added an add'l fill of 0.25cc; total fill to date = 1.75cc

Doctor office scale = 271 lbs; added 0.5cc; total fill to date = 1.5cc

Doctor office scale = 271 lbs; added 0.5cc; total fill to date = 1.5cc

Doctor office scale = 276 lbs. Put on the most of the weight I'd lost from the initial liquid diet. First fill of 1cc. Found out I have a 10cc band and most patients max-out their fills at 2.0-2.5 cc's.

Doctor office scale = 276 lbs. Put on the most of the weight I'd lost from the initial liquid diet. First fill of 1cc. Found out I have a 10cc band and most patients max-out their fills at 2.0-2.5 cc's.

* Scale shows 267.2 lbs. * Healing process is going well. No real trouble with gallbladder removal. Left side (band placement) is still tight which doesn't allow for fully standing upright yet but I'm getting there. * Liquid diet sucks. Guess I'm just not "creative" enough to come up with alternative meal. Tired of drinking protein shakes and broth. Main difficulty seems to be gas ... sticking pains in my lower left side not readily cured by doses of Lortab elixer, Maalox, or Tums (ho-hum!) * Chris assembled all laundry; thought I'd wash clothes today.

* Scale shows 267.2 lbs. * Healing process is going well. No real trouble with gallbladder removal. Left side (band placement) is still tight which doesn't allow for fully standing upright yet but I'm getting there. * Liquid diet sucks. Guess I'm just not "creative" enough to come up with alternative meal. Tired of drinking protein shakes and broth. Main difficulty seems to be gas ... sticking pains in my lower left side not readily cured by doses of Lortab elixer, Maalox, or Tums (ho-hum!) * Chris assembled all laundry; thought I'd wash clothes today.

Scale shows 268.2 lbs; liquid diets has jump-started the process already!

Scale shows 268.2 lbs; liquid diets has jump-started the process already!

Mom/Pete & Sandra/kids stopped by & brought spaghetti & roast for Chris/Cody to eat. Chris is taking good care of me!

Mom/Pete & Sandra/kids stopped by & brought spaghetti & roast for Chris/Cody to eat. Chris is taking good care of me!

* Scale shows 282 lbs. * Chris & I arrived at hospital at 6:00am; surgery started 8:30am for Lap-Band placement and gallbladder removal; recovery time 2 hrs; left hospital at 1:30pm * Insurance glitches at CVS to get Rx filled * Mom/Pete met us at home (they brought meal for Chris/Cody)

* Scale shows 282 lbs. * Chris & I arrived at hospital at 6:00am; surgery started 8:30am for Lap-Band placement and gallbladder removal; recovery time 2 hrs; left hospital at 1:30pm * Insurance glitches at CVS to get Rx filled * Mom/Pete met us at home (they brought meal for Chris/Cody)

I have Definity Health PPO, which is part of the United Healthcare (UHC) corporation. I, too, was a patient of Dr. Spivak's but went elsewhere when he took himself out-of-network due to UHC's change in reimbursement policy. I changed my surgeon in April to Dr. Terry Scarborough, of the University of Texas physicians practice in Houston. His counterpart is Dr. Erik Wilson. Both are still in-network with UHC. I will be having surgery under Dr. Scarborough's care at the end of June 2006 and couldn't be happier with the care his office has provided. Visit their site at www.utdocs.com. Hope this helps. Good luck to you.