First Goal Met!

Mondays are my weigh-in day and I would have posted then, but I couldn't seem to shake the waah!s. Incidentally I'm feeling better today. Thank you to the ladies who commented. It did make it easier knowing it is a semi-normal thing.

On the right side of my blog under "On the Grill" you'll find my tickers and my goal list. Please note the awesomeness that is me having marked off my first goal!

I'm currently cooking my way to rareness!

Starting weight: 261 #

First Goal weight: 250 #

weigh in day weight: 248 #

Exceeded goal by: 2 #

I am by no means expecting to meet one of those goals every week. Honestly I'm shocked that I've already lost 13 pounds. My current timeline for each goal is simply a weigh-in day in the hopefully close future.

I figure it is a good system, because by not specifying a date I will never fail. I will always either be working on a goal, meeting a goal or exceeding a goal. That has to be good for the psyche, right?

I wonder how much I'll lose before I actually see a significant change resulting in a smaller clothing size?

Introducing Bella the LapBand

I'm back at home with my Bella in place!

I got to the hospital at 10:30 and was being wheeled back for surgery by 11:30. I don't remember much of the ride down there. In fact, aside from scootching over onto the table I'm completely blank until recovery.

In recovery, they kept waking me up and telling me to breathe deep. Apparently my sat rate kept dropping into the low 60's. It seemed like it took forever for me to come to. I was a thirsty, sleepy, and nauseated mess of a girl for a good bit. The queasiness was the worst because you really want to expel, but are terrified of jarring the freshly placed band. Normally they'd give phenergan, but I'm allergic... I was kept on nasal oxygen until midnight.

I got wheeled to my room around 2:45. Around 3:15 I was wheel-chaired down to radiology for a barium swallow. Bella was in place, and aside from an air pocket where they stitched her in, everything was perfect. Nothing to worry about, it will dissipate. Oddly, the Barium helped to settle my nausea.

After that I was back in bed dozing in and out until around 6:00 when they brought me a tray of dinner. (Crystal Light, Sugar-free cherry jello, and chicken bullion) The cold stuff was harder to drink, it made me aware of my incisions. The bullion was heaven though.

I only had a couple bouts with the gas pains in my shoulder. They were't really bad and I managed to ease them by tapping my chest and changing position in the bed. Then there was a lot of burping.

As far as the pain goes, I have five incisions, but the one at the top with the port is the only one that is tender. Mostly it feels like I did way too many crunches at the gym. My incisions are all glued shut with dermabond, so I am able to shower.

I'm trying to keep this coherent, but I still find myself nodding off. I haven't had any pain meds since 6:00am so I guess I just need the rest.

I'll update more after a nap.

Ok I was going to update after a nap, but my brilliant self tried to go it without the pain meds today. No Go. Taking big dose of pain meds and going to bed. I'll read over this when I'm more coherent and answer any questions then too.

The Rules (according to my RN)

The Bariatric Nurse at my surgical clinic is very blunt and to the point. I think it's safe to say that by now the info she's given out has been drilled into my head.

But for reference sake, after surgery:

• 24 hours clear liquids only
• 2 weeks full liquid diet
• 2 weeks of mushy/puree foods
• slowly introduce regular foods
• 1 multi-vitamin daily on empty stomach (still trying to find a non-pill I can tolerate)
• 1 Calcium Citrate + D daily on empty stomach (still looking for this in non-pill form too)
• plenty of water but stop drinking from 30 mins before a meal to 30 mins after
• must consume a minimum of 80 grams of protein daily
• must not exceed 5 grams of sugar in 20 minutes
• consume foods in the following order: protein, vegetable, carb/starch
• No carbonated beverages, no drinking with a straw, no alcohol, and don't get knocked up
• Do not put anything in your mouth that is larger than a pencil eraser.
• Eat carefully, things like whole nuts and gummy candies can create a blockage if accidentally swallowed whole.

After a fill: (to help reduce potential swelling)

• 2 days full liquids
• ease into regular diet

Out of all that, the points that I think I'll have the most trouble with are the no drinking straw thing and figuring how to stuff 80 grams of protein in. I guess I should put more effort into protein shake and bar shopping. Wouldn't it be great if the nutrition stores had little samples to try. You know, individually wrapped like the fun size candy bars. Of course, it might reduce overall sales. Cause it sucks forking out a pile of cash for something that tastes like fish and garden rocks. Of course you don't know that until you get home. Oh, and what's with the GIANT tubs of the protein powder mixes? I guess they're great if you love the stuff, but what I want is an individual sized packet to buy so I can find something I like.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed their breath smelling like a formula fed baby after taking in a protein powder drink. Today I mixed an unflavored protein powder into a SoBee Fuji Apple and Pear Lifewater. It wasn't bad tasting at first. I couldn't get through the whole bottle in one go. When I came back to it about an hour later, it had this aftertaste that was reminicent of infant formula. My breath smelled like that too until I could get home and take care of it. YUCK.