something_for_gabby

So yesterday I had my first adjustment. It was really scary to have someone touch my wounds after I have guarded them so fiercely. But all went well. She said my wounds were all healing well and that everything seemed good. But the best part.... I thought I had lost 9.9kg/21.8lbs (according to my scales), BUT, when she weighed me it turns out I have lost 10.4kg/22.9lbs. I know it's not a huge difference but I was getting frustrated not being able to get over the 10kg mark, and it turns out I already was! I also asked her about creams/lotions that would help with skin elasticity. I shower with a moisturising body milk exfoliater and use Palmers Cocoa Butter otherwise. She said that most people end up having to have the extra skin CUT OFF. The thought of another surgery.... :thumbup:. I don't really have any issues with skin yet, but I guess I have to become comfortable with the idea that I MAY require another surgery to deal with it at a later date. BUT, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Anyhow, back on fluids for the next 5 days, and hopefully the weight-loss speeds up a little bit now. Cheers.

WEIGHT: 116.6kg/256.52lbs LOSS: 0.7kg/1.54lbs TOTAL LOSS: 9.4kg/20.68lbs CURRENT BMI: 43.35 LEFT TO LOSE: 56.6kg/124.52

First and foremost, I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who commented on my last entry. I was feeling extremely low and it was really uplifting to hear that how I was feeling and what I was going through are pretty standard. I guess they can't prepare you for things like that. I still haven't lost any more weight. I'm skipping around 117kg for some reason. My body has decided to wage some kind of resistance and it has picked 117kg as it's line in the sand. My dietitician phoned and we had a talk about it. She said that my body is recovering from the shock and that having lost 9kg was TONNES and to not worry about it too much until I get my first fill. While she was saying this in my head I was thinking 'Yes that's easy for you to say... you're not the one eating NOTHING and losing NOTHING!' My first fill isn't until September 21st. That will be the first time I have been seen by my surgeon post-operatively. Does that seem like a long time? Some other blogs I've read have seen their surgeon every month or even more frequently. My surgeon only wants to see me every 6 weeks. I think to kick-start everything I might try going back onto Optifast. Maybe not 3 times a day like before - mainly because that was hell - but maybe at least once. That way I know I'm having one meal a day that is nutritionally complete. And pre-op I lost 4kg/8.8lbs in one week on it. I would really like to have lost a little bit more wieght before the Law Faculty Ball which is September 16. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and do full-on Optifast - 3 replacements a day. It could be dangerous though - Optifast is bad for relationships hahaha. The amount of complaining I do when I have it, topped off by the fact that we can't eat out anywhere or anything. Maybe I will just have to have 3 a day when I can and be realistic that it's not possible for that to be every day. It sounds ridiculous but I didn't really want to be on some special diet. I wanted the band so I could eat normally (because to be honest, my nutrition really wasn't that bad before - I have realised since reading all of the diet and meal plans) but have restriction as to how much I could eat. My problem wasn't really that I ate the WRONG things, but that I ate too much generally. I didn't really sign up for restriction and special diets. I know that is silly. Maybe it will just help initially until I have a fill and things kick in there.

Here are the reasons my band is ruining my life: I cannot sleep through the night. I constantly wake up and have to change positions; I am so so OVER everything I am 'allowed' to eat - I am on a mixture of liquids and pureed food. I am hungry A LOT but everything I eat makes me feel sick - regardless of portion size, what it is, etc My husband enjoys curries and chocolate or whatever he wants - and I sip on water. My wounds are really sore. I can't bend, stretch, have sex. Nothing. To top it off I'm not really losing any weight at the moment. So, no food, sleep, sex, and no weight loss... why am I suffering again?

CURRENT WEIGHT: 117kg/257lbs LOSS FOR THE WEEK: 2.4kg/5.3lbs TOTAL LOSS TO DATE: 9kg/19.8lbs CURRENT BMI: 43.5 LEFT TO LOSE: 57kg/125.4lbs It seems insurmountable at the moment. I guess I will just have to keep chipping away at it :biggrin: Oh, and, back to uni today.... should be interesting.

Short and sweet today: Getting much more water down at a time; Still sticking mostly to fluids but have had some foods that are more on the pureed side - i.e., well-cooked rice, mashed chick peas with yoghurt. Wounds are feeling pretty good. Only minor discomfort when I move in some positions. Still have blisters but have taken all of the strips off and things look... ok, I think? Was able to sleep on my wounds on my left side last night - heaven! Still extremely weak and easily exhausted. Cannot wait until that part is over. Very rare/minor shoulder-tip pain still. Nothing unmanageable anymore though. That's all I think for today :thumbup:

First of all, thankyou for the comments on my last entry. I know it was a total drainer to read... just having one of those less than positive days. I went out for approximately 10 hours last night and was feeling pretty good but completely exhausted -- in fact I was out of breath walking from the movie cinema to the carpark. I woke up today feeling really good. All of the exhaustion meant that I slept really well. My wounds were feeling quite good also. However, I noticed one of my steri-strips had lifted a little and when I looked underneath it, I had an ENORMOUS blister. It is roughly 1cm in diameter in all directions. It is absolutely horrible. So after freaking out, trying to phone my surgeon whose office is closed, I phoned the hospital and the nurse told me that sometimes, because the strips have no give in them, if there is swelling (or in my case, coughing) it can cause a friction point. She told me to take the strips off. But to be honest I'm too scared. I removed them from the 2 smaller wounds and found a bloster under one of those and the starting of one under the other. I cut the strip around the initial blister and the other wound seems to be ok. I'm reluctant to pull the strips off the bigger wounds. I then proceeded to obsessively stare at the blisters for a few hours :mad:. Fingers crossed that friction is all it is and they go down now. On another note, trying to get into some sort of food routine. It worried me how weak I was yesterday. I haven't done too badly with it today and have found I'm able to drink a bit more at a time now which is a welcome relief. I had a weigh-in this morning and have lost 6.6kg (14.5lbs) in 12 days. Looking forward to more improvements in the coming days . CRAVING: Cheese, sweet corn and chicken soup, chicken generally, potato, BREAD!

I was sent home less than 24 hours after I was banded. I have had almost zero-pain - except for the shoulder.... THE SHOULDER. I have been doing my husbands head in complaining about it. The only thing that has been concerning me is that I have developed a chesty cough, and every cough is like being punched in the wounds. In general - lack of sleep, wound discomfort, shoulder-tip pain, no appetite, eating almost nothing, frustrated at taking an hour to drink water, endlessly thirsty -- annoyed at myself for being such a complainer at the moment