OH HAPPY DAY!

No, I haven't lost anymore weight...the scale has been shockingly immobile since September. I was exactly 414 from September to the week before Christmas...then I gained 8 pounds over the holidays *sigh* It's from all the sugary beverages and baked goods we've had in the house (the baked stuff all came from friends and relatives that kept giving it to us). I know it's my own fault, but I also know I'll lose it again. Everyone has some bad times with the Band. So as of New Year's Day, my weight was 422, I'll weigh myself again tomorrow to see if cutting down on the drinks and sweets have helped. For now I'm not going to change my weight on the sidebar since hopefully it will flux back down.

Now that that's out of the way, I haven't forgotten about you all. I just truly, honestly, had nothing to post. I still haven't had a fill because of money. I had my surgery in June, and I've only had one fill of 1 cc.

But now! For the good news!

I just found out today that my insurance benefits are changing. NO MORE COPAYS! NOTHING OUT OF POCKET!! Do you know what this means? ...

It means I can get a fill. I can get as many fills as I need without having to switch doctors or worry about money!

I'm going to call tomorrow for an appointment since it usually takes a few weeks to get in, and my new benefits go into effect on Feb 1st.

HALLELUJAH!

Need a Fill...

I do have some restriction, I eat a little less than I did before the fill, but it's still way more than I should be able to eat. I don't really have to chew my food any more than I did before the band (though I still try to chew well just to avoid problems). BUT...I found out from my insurance that now my copay for fills is $250 every time since they do it in the hospital. Soo...I have to either wait until I have $250, which won't be for AWHILE, or switch to the NYU program where they do fills in the office. What a pain.

I'm down 32 pounds now, but I haven't weighed myself the last week or two. I just want restriction already. I didn't plan on money being such a holdback for the success of my Band.

Thanks for all your comments so far :)

First Fill Experience

So yesterday I had my first fill. I was a little upset at first, because my appointment was at 9:30, I arrived before 9:00, and my doctor didn't show up until after 10. However, I felt bad though when he did come, he was in his scrubs yet and had just gotten out of surgery. Oops.

I think their fluoroscopy setup is a little different than others have. I had to stand on a little step with my back against a vertical table, basically, and the machine slid down in front of my stomach. Then I had to drink some barium (which, to be perfectly honest to people who haven't had this done yet, the taste is really NOT as bad as everyone says. It's like a thin, chalky milkshake, not the horrible disgusting thing some people make it out to be). Once he got a good idea of how the plumbing was flowing, they rotated the entire table and scope backwards until I was laying down. Kinda cool.

Now is the icky part. He found my port on the scope TV thing, but he had a hard time finding it in my stomach. 1) My port is ALOT lower than my scar which he originally said it should be right under. Like about 4 inches lower. 2) He did numb it first, but he kept pushing around (which still kinda hurt) trying to find my port and about halfway through asked for a different needle. I didn't watch him do any of this due to my needle phobia, but when I took the bandaid off later, I have about 6 or 7 needle holes and a nice big bruise to round it all out. So he did the fill and they turned the table back upright and had me drink again.

They took a picture and he showed me afterward. He tried pointing out my band, but I couldn't really see it. I could see the clips that are around my stomach holding it in place though, and that was creepy. But what WAS cool is seeing the barium stuff just sitting above my pouch, which means there's restriction of some sort.

He put 1 cc in, but when I asked how big my band was, he said 10 or 12 ccs...makes me nervous that he didn't know which it was. I know it's a Vanguard though. 1 cc doesn't seem like much, but he said that was aggressive for a first fill. We'll see.

Good news though, he told me I don't have to see my dietician anymore to get fills, because I told him she doesn't tell me anything I don't already know. I was considering going to another doctor and now I hope I don't have to, the dietician was killing me at $75 every month for no reason.

So far, I was hungry all day yesterday on liquids until dinner, where Matt made this nice and thick cheese soup, which filled me up something good. I wasn't hungry when I woke up this morning, which is a first. I ate breakfast (mushy) simply because I knew if I didn't, I'd be starving later. I did get hungry around 12 and ate lunch at 1. I ate maybe 1-1.5 cups of mushies, but I couldn't tell if I was hungry or full while I was eating. But then, I wasn't hungry at all when I got home from work, which by then I'm usually starving. I ate some dinner, which ended up being probably less than 1/2 cup of food. I just knew I didn't need to eat more. It was actually a good feeling, but I was sad that I couldn't eat more. This is my biggest dilemma with the band--I just love food. I was offered a calzone tonight and I really wanted it, but I just wasn't hungry and abstained (not to mention I'm still on mushies). It's hard to get used to.

Hopefully it will be worth it in the next few weeks!

Woooo! 30 Pounds GONE!

I lost a whopping 3 pounds this week (which is awesome, I've been teetering between losing zero to one pound a week for the last month or two). So that brings my total so far up to 30 pounds lost :D I'm very happy! The crazy thing is that I didn't really watch what I ate this week since I knew I had a fill coming (I didn't pig out, but I didn't practice extra care). Weird, huh?

First Fill Scheduled!

I had an appointment with my surgeon and dietician last Wednesday (August 8th). First off, I wish it was as easy as just asking for a fill when I'm getting so hungry and eating more than I should be able to. My program has a pretty strict 3-month waiting period between surgery and the first fill. My 3 months is actually up Sept. 12, but I asked my doctor if I could get it a few weeks early. He actually agreed without any argument, BUT he's on vacation for 2 weeks now, so I'm getting it on Sept. 4, only a week early. I still lost another pound last week so now I'm down to 26 lost, but I haven't weighed myself this week. He's going to give me as much fill as I want, he said he goes by what the patient wants, to build up gradually or more aggressively. I'll take the aggressive, thanks :)

I don't like my dietician though. You can tell she's never had a problem with food or weight and she just doesn't get what it's like to be hungry. The one thing I don't like about my program is they focus on the dieting portion more than fills. They actually discourage fills as often as they can. If I was going to do this with a diet, I wouldn't need the surgery. After my first fill, I might look into seeing another surgeon for my fills and save all the worthless money paying cash for my dietician everytime.

Still Alive...Not Much News

Recap of the last month or so of weigh-ins: week 1: 1 pound lost, week 2: exactly the same weight, week 3, GAINED 1.5 pounds, this week: lost 2 pounds, putting me almost exactly where I was a month ago (well, -.2 pounds). I can't complain too much though, since I haven't been eating the greatest. I need a fill badly, I can eat much more than I should be able to, maybe 1.5 cups of food? I haven't really measured. And I'm starting to get hungry between meals again. I'm not supposed to get a fill for another month, but I see my doc and dietician next week and I'm going to ask if I can get one sooner, since otherwise I will just keep gaining the weight back.

Other than that, not much going on with my band. Sometimes I can feel it like pinching a little, or maybe it's just being hyper-aware that it's there, so I hope there's nothing wrong with it (like slippage, etc.) Now if I could just lose the weight :(

Is This Restriction?

I only have a vague idea of "restriction" - that you are full on a small amount of food and not hungry all the time, but not sure what exactly it should feel like, if that makes sense. Wednesday, I had a Lean Cuisine Chicken Club Panini for lunch, these tiny sandwiches that pre-band, I would eat as a snack and still be hungry. I probably could have eaten 3 of them without flinching before the surgery. However, when I ate one for lunch around 1 PM, I was still full until about 5 PM, when the first little inkling of hunger started coming back. On mushies, I was hungry within an hour or two. Is this what restriction is? Or is it just shock for my stomach going from 3 oz of mushy food to 4 or 5 ounces of more filling solid food? I don't want to get my hopes up, but it seems pretty consistent the last few days, I'm not hungry for awhile after meals. Of course, since I'm back on solids, I haven't been eating the greatest choices, but it's conscious and I know I'm not going to be eating again like this.