I'm ONLY overweight!!!

I AM NOT OBESE ANYMORE!!!

What. A. Morning.  

6:00 AM and a range of emotions already because for the first time EVER in my adult life, I am not obese, I am only overweight!!!

I knew it was coming, but still was so cool to weigh myself this morning and see these numbers.  I can honestly say I haven't been this weight since middle school.  In fact, I can remember SO CLEARLY in 8th grade, a boy coming up to me and telling me that he'd seen my nurse's records and knew that I weighed 184 pounds... (No HIPPA laws back then).  Not any more!  And hopefully, never again.

UPDATED STATS:

• Highest Weight (pre lapband 2009): 300
• Surgery Weight (lapband 2009): 283
• Ending Lapband Weight: 200
• Lapband weight loss: 100 pounds

• Revision Surgery Weight (RNY 6/5/14): 200
• Current Weight: 179
• Current Loss: 21

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE:  121

Get back to work!!!

Well, my 6 weeks is officially over!  Time to go back to work...  I'm doing SO MUCH BETTER than 6 weeks ago - feeling really good.  I still have some very slight pain occasionally with my incisions - mostly in the large one that they used for the stapler, scopes, etc...  but all in all I feel great.  Learning my way around the new food requirements (i.e. super low sugar, fat, hydration, etc...).

I am at 181, which is so exciting.  I haven't been in this area since middle school, so it is pretty darn cool!  Of course, I'm in one of those "not-losing" spaces where I think my body is holding on for dear life to every ounce it can.  I'm certainly not eating much.  And the last few days I haven't hit my protein levels, so that is something I need to work on.  I was traveling late in the week, and feel like I'm not back on my "schedule" yet, so hoping that my going back to work will make me get myself back into a routine.

I bought a Ninja blender, which comes with individual smoothie cups - awesome!  Should make mornings a bit easier for me.  I don't like to eat first thing, but I'm learning that if I don't either do a smoothie or a protein bar, I won't meet my 60g requirement... so I've found both - the smoothie maker (Ninja) and great, low-sugar protein bars.  I got a selection of Quest bars and have been trying them - some not so good (Lemon), some wonderfully surprising (PB&J)!  Slow steps to the routine.

I've got my lunch packed, and I'm ready to go...  wish me luck!

3 weeks out and dumping....

I am 3 weeks out from having my revision surgery (tomorrow) and doing well.  I'm down to 187, which is VERY exciting and haven't been sick (throwing up) at all since the surgery.  I can't explain how much BETTER I feel, but suffice it to say that it's been great to be acid-free and not throwing up every time I eat!  I am onto my "mushy" stage, and trying a variety of different foods - it's like the first time all over again!  Ahh, those memories of trying to find something exciting to eat!

One difference with RNY vs. the band is that I now have to be VERY VERY aware of the amount of sugar that is in food.  I'm supposed to keep it under 15g per meal, which is a bit tougher than I originally thought.  This morning, I tried Cheerios Protein which were DELICIOUS and 15g of sugar... they came recommended from my NP.  However, I forgot to factor in the sugar that is in the milk (an extra 12g sugar) and about 20 minutes after I finished eating, I started feeling really crummy...  lightheaded, cold sweats, nauseous, etc.  Got home from dropping Liam off at daycare, and went to lay down for an hour.  About 2 hours after eating, I ended up with the runs.  All of which are "Dumping" side effects*.

Not fun, to say the least but at least I know now how my body will react to too much sugar!  All in all, there was a total of 27 grams, so clearly I have a limit.  Glad I was at home to experience the side effects!

On the other front, I'm still home.  Definitely out until 7/7 and most likely until 7/21.  It's hard, because I feel fine, and with my work ethic feel like I should be at work.  However, I still am getting tired REALLY easily, and take daily naps (sometimes 2) so I know I am doing the right thing to let my body heal up.

I started cleaning out clothes from my closet - I have a pile of shorts and capris that have gotten too big. I'm through 80% of my bottoms, and will tackle tops next week.  Fun to grow "out" of clothes in the too big way!  I'm excited to get a few new pieces to supplement...

That's all for now - will continue to check in and keep everyone posted!


* What is Dumping Syndrome, you might ask?  
A group of symptoms, including weakness, abdominal discomfort, and sometimes abnormally rapid bowel evacuation, occurring after meals in some patients who have undergone gastric surgery.

Still here...

Well, I didn't make it home today.  I just couldn't manage the fluids, especially with the narcotic.  Every time I'd get the pain medicine I'd fall asleep, so one more night here.

I've been moved onto Percocet (from delautin) and I've been able to stay awake more.  Also able to manage 4oz per hour since noon, so I am hoping I'll get released tomorrow.  I'm ready for a shower!!!

Thankfully I've had the same nurse all three days and she rocks.  It's amazing how much of a difference a good medical team makes!  I will go home with the drain... I think just for a week.

The gas pain has been minimal (knock on wood), but my left side of my abdomen where the main part of the surgery was hurts.  Ugh.

That's all for now... Keeping my fingers crossed that I will be homeward bound tomorrow!

24 hours later...

I can't even explain how much better I feel today (even with pain, etc...) than I was feeling prior to surgery.  I am SO THRILLED to not have the acid reflux anymore!

I got to the hospital yesterday at 6, and was very quickly moved into the pre-op holding area.surgery began at 8, and I don't even remember the anesthesiologist doing anything to me!  But, 3.5 hours later the revision was completed.  Room wasn't ready till 5, so I had to hang in the recovery room...  Apparently the hospital is really jumping right now!

I saw Dr. Carmody twice today...  Apparently scar tissue had completely encompassed the band which was causing all of the issues.  He scraped it all out and removed the scar capsule... That was the hard part...  He said the RNY bypass was easy.  I was able to see my new stomach this morning when I got my flouro, and it looks just like the pictures!

I'm still on clear liquids today - apple juice, Popsicles, ice chips and chicken broth. My BP has been REALLY low and I've been a bit dizzy so we are staying as 2 tbsp an hour for now and they will start me on protein shakes and CIB tomorrow.  If I can get 4 tbsp in tomorrow and everything is looking good I can go home.  Fingers are crossed!

That's it for today...  I'm going to take a lap, and then have diner (2tbsp vegetable broth),,,  yum (ugh).

Breaking up (with) the Band

8 months since I've posted... wow.  And this one is a pretty big re-entry into the blogging world, because I am writing to share that I'm having my Lap-Band removed.   In four days (gulp).

Because the back-story could be pages, I'll keep it to the highlights...

• Ever since I had Liam (almost 3 years ago!), I've had trouble getting back to that "sweet spot" with my band.  Lots of fills, unfills, fills, unfills, etc...  but I still managed to continue to lose weight so I didn't think too much about it.
• Things seemed to stabilize about 18 months ago at the 4cc level and I was maintaining right at the 200 mark.
• This spring we went to FL, and when we got home (starting April 21st), things just started to go down hill... Throwing up a LOT, huge amounts of acid reflux, etc...
• I had the endoscopy which looked okay - they emptied out my band completely at that time, but I was still really tight with liquids and foods going down...
• Soon there after, it got to the point that even mush wasn't going down well, so I had an Upper GI...  where the could see that my stomach was basically shut as if my band was at the 7-8cc level (i.e. a tiny pin-prick of an opening for things to get through).

After talking to my doctor (first time I'd actually seen HIM and not one of the NP's in over 4 years), he said that based on the reports back, my body is basically rejecting the band and creating a level of scar tissue in the opening section, which is causing my stomach to close.  YIKES!

He said that to fix it, we need to remove the band & port, cut out the scar capsule, and then move to gastric bypass...  and that he wanted to do it all in one surgery.  The sleeve (vertical gastrectomy) wasn't an option because of the scar tissue, so to full BP we go.

After two weeks of back-and-forth with the scheduling folks and waiting on my insurance, I got the call last week that I am scheduled for this Thursday.  My doc's office was shocked that I didn't get denied (to have to appeal) and that it went right through, so away we go!  

I'm pretty overwhelmed, but glad that we have an answer because honestly I'm tired.  I haven't been eating much over these last 6 weeks, and I am just pooped out.  Basically have been on liquid and mushies for the last 3-4 weeks.  So, even though a liquid diet looms in my future, to know that there WILL be a point soon (July perhaps) that I can get back to eating solid food is a good thing!

Plus, I will share that at one point while waiting for the insurance, there was a conversation with the scheduler about just having the band / port removed and scar capsule out but no other surgery (which didn't seem to be an option from what my doctor said, but I digress)... my reaction to that absolutely shocked me because I was so terrified of going back to the over-300-pound person, and I really hadn't realized how deeply that was in my subconscious.

So... long story short, my 5 years and 3 months with the band has been great, but I'm ready for this new chapter in my weight-loss journey!  Although there is a lot to learn, I feel like I have a good idea from the last 5 years as to how this new tool will affect me and I know how successful I've been and can't wait to move forward!

I WILL begin blogging more again - I want to hold myself accountable, and also help anyone else who might be going through this!

Many thanks to my group of "Bandits" on FB and others that have supported me through this the last few weeks... one of them gently reminded me that I need to help others too by sharing, so I am!

I see the nutritionist Monday and the NP and surgeon Tuesday (plus have my battery of pre-op and lab work done)... will post a bit more then about what else I find out!

And on the personal front, for those of you who are a faithful-folk, I would welcome any and all prayers going into next Thursday.   And if you don't pray, good karma, thoughts, or general good vibes are welcomed too!