Lost at the Grocery Store...

Well, work was soooo busy - I really was exhausted by the time the day was finished but no rest for me!  When I got to the doctor appointment today I was 242# (hooray!) and he looked at my incisions and then declared I had five rules to follow from now until goal weight:
1)  Only eat when you're hungry.
2)  Stop eating when you're full.
3)  No liquids with calories.  None, never, nada.
4)  Focus on protein - minimal carbs, lower fat.  But they should be finely ground or soft.
5)  Never drink with or three hours after a meal.
This seems like so much less restriction than I hear from other bandsters!  No mushies, no transitional foods - just right to the diet.   Doesn't that seem strange?  That said, I managed to find a lunch (a few finely diced crab sticks and some mayonnaise) that was nicely filling.  The trouble came when I got to the grocery store.
It felt so strange to have to walk past the beautiful produce.  I know that pasta, bread and rice are no longer on my to eating list but it was still odd to sail past another entire section with an empty cart.  Got to the meat department and then just stared.  What was easy to digest but low fat and could pass through the stoma?  I picked up some marinated shrimp and a little package of lump crab.  Then I found lean ground chicken.  I was on a roll!  But then I hit the diary products - what was OK?  Yogurt and ice cream and milk pass through too easily.  The only thing I could think of was cottage cheese.  Two tubs of low fat.  Three inner aisles yielded almost nothing except two 8 ounce can of nuts and three cans of crystal light mix.  I was looking at this little tiny pile of food to meet my needs for the next four or five days.  That's when I realized how much my life has changed - this is a completely new looking grocery cart.  Still feeling lost...

Back to work

It is one week after surgery (my one week "bandiversary" I believe Polly called it).  That means back to work for me.  I have a full eight hour day (did I mention I am TIRED) and a recheck appointment at my doctor's office to squeeze in over my lunch hour.  Ugh.

Of course work is very busy (I guess my clients missed me - I have lots of special requests to fit in and calls to return - I feel the love but it still makes me tired).  We'll see how the day goes and what the doc says.

Tired, so very, very tired...

I think the low calories do start to get to you after a while.  I had a very busy day (got up at 5:40 to drive to Oak Park for a church meeting and never slowed down), had a potluck in the evening, and also managed to squeeze in 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer.  With only three small, low fat meals during the day I get so tired!  Hopefully tomorrow I will find out I can eat a little more.  Today I made a yummy carrot soup for the potluck which was a big hit but it also was enough that I can have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 
Tomorrow is my first post-op follow up - very interested to hear where I go from here.  This morning I was down to 243.8#.  Don't think I'll make <240 by Tuesday, but who knows?  It is coming off faster than I dared hope.  For now I'm off to the bath...

Pea Soup for dinner

Hunger has again reared its ugly head.  The boys made blueberry waffles and bacon for breakfast, making my pumpkin smoothie seem pretty lame.  So I decided to make something that felt more substantial - split pea soup (doesn't hurt that I have a big ham bone in the freezer).
So I put some onions and butter in the Dutch oven and cooked until the onions were golden.  I then added water and soaked split peas and the frozen ham bone and simmered the whole thing for two hours.  I added a couple of cups of frozen peas about 30 minutes before I finished.  Took the bone out and blended the whole thing.  The I took part and passed it through a strainer to produce  this ultra smooth pea and ham soup.  Yummy!  I added ham and carrots to the remaining unstrained soup for the rest of the family.
It was great to be "eating" the food that everyone else was eating (sort of) instead of smelling great smells and eating my smoothie or broth.  As an added benefit, it drove the smell of bacon out of the house!

Just a little gross...

It has been five days since surgery and I finally pooped!  I realize that's a little gross, but it is such a relief (literally)!  I had started to get concerned Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon I was wise enough to express my concerns to my nurse husband.  Next thing I know he has talked to a pharmacy and run out to the same and came back with two innocent looking amber bottles.  The first one, liquid Senna Leaf Syrup, is stimulant type of laxative.  It has a super thick, sweet almost licorice-like flavor.  After the bitterness of the Lortab, this is almost tasty.  Then he gives me 2 teaspoons of DSS liquid, a stool softener.  This stuff is completely nasty!  It tastes like cherry flavored soap.  And the soap tastes grabs your mouth and hangs on - lasted for over an hour!  Luckily it worked, or I don't think I could have taken another dose of that stuff this morning!  Now he suggests I take 1 teaspoon of each twice a day unless I develop diarrhea.
On the positive side, my weight this morning (after the blessed poop!) was 245.2 - hooray!!  Hopefully the cramping from the Senna Leaf will decrease with this smaller dose.  Here's to only three more days of liquid diet!

Day 4 and the return of hunger

I know this sounds hard to believe, but today is the first time since surgery that I've been truly hungry.  I've been tempted by the brownies in the cookie jar, the pizza in the fridge and the candy in the candy dish.   I really want to EAT.  Instead, for breakfast I had a pumpkin "shake" (skim milk, slim fast powder, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice) and I had coffee with skim milk as a mid-morning snack.  The problem is, I still feel REALLY hungry.  Now I realize that the band is not currently filled, so there is no restriction and, therefore, no effect on my level of hungriness.  But it feels like a rip off after all I've been through.  Reminding myself I have just four more days of this liquid diet then I see the doctor again.  I don't think they fill yet, but at least I'll get to talk to the doctor.  I have to just go one day at a time...for today that's taking my liquid diet and no cheating!

Lapband, Day 3

Last night I actually looked forward to dinner  It was the first meal I've had in weeks that I actually wanted to eat.  Rich made a warm vichyssoise - it was delicious.  I had about 2/3 of a cup, which made me feel stuffed.  It was a big improvement over the prior meals of canned tomato soup and slim fast.  Today I'm going to make a pumpkin soup for dinner (I think the boys will have make your own pizzas, since we have all the ingredients for that and need to eat them up!) but left over vichyssoise is dinner.
I'm also feeling a lot less painful, so I may spend 15 minutes on the treadmill today if that's OK with my doctor.  I want to start losing the weight ASAP!

Describing surgery yesterday...

This was a post for the lapbandtalk site.  I didn't know if I could find it again so I transferred it here.

I got up yesterday at the usual time and took a shower, being very careful to clean my belly button (my husband is a former OR nurse and I've heard horror stories of the stuff they find during scrubbing!) and folds.  Got dressed in loose-fitting, comfortable clothes and slip on shoes with warm socks.  Luckily, I had six months of dieting before the surgery and had lost almost 30# so I had plenty of loose clothes available.  We left for the hospital about 8:30 for an 11am surgery.
Check in was unremarkable, then we were sent to surgery waiting for about 15-20 minutes before being brought back to the pre-op room.  Once there, I  changed into the blue gown (open in the back), the calf "massagers" and the treaded blue slippers before I got onto the gurney.  The gown was then hooked to  warm air blower - how great is that?!?!  They covered my feel with a warmed blanket and reviewed my surgery with me.  There was a TV in the room and my husband was with me.  Very comfortable (aside from the fact I was starving and thirsty).
A different nurse then came in and started an IV.  She numbed the area first so I never even felt it.   She also gave me an injection of heparin in my stomach (that did sting a lot but it passed after 15 minutes or so) and two pills (famotidine and metronidazole) with a teeny cup of ice water.  That little bit of water tasted sooo good!  The anesthesiologist came in and introduced himself and asked a few questions as did the nurse anesthetist.  I was ready to go!
We were then informed by the charge nurse that there would be about an hour delay due to some complications with the prior surgery.  I dozed a while and used the bathroom while waiting.  I admit, hearing that there was some trouble with the surgery before mine gave me a little bit of trepidation but not so much that I needed the Versed they offered.  About 12:15 the OR nurse came and wheeled me off to the surgery room.  I scooted from my gurney onto the surgery table and they gave me a nice support for my head and hooked up the EKG.  They gave me an injection and put the oxygen mask over my face and I then was out until I woke in recovery.
When I woke up, I had a really dry mouth and a little abdominal soreness but it was really not bad.  The nurses kept checking on me because I would drift in and out (I was so nice and warm and cozy, it was hard not to just sleep!).  I looked at the clock when I first woke up and it was about two.  They transferred me back to my original pre-op room about 2:45.  There I was given a sip of water (heaven!) and allowed to sit up.  I asked to walk around and visit the bathroom. 
I did have some shoulder pain by now and the incisions were a little sore but walking seemed to help.  I walked 15-20 laps around the nurses station and they decided I could go home.  It was about 3:45.  Stopped to pick up the liquid pain meds and I was home by 4:30.
Only attempted water and a little sugar free jello and was in bed by 9 pm.  The whole process was smooth and I am thrilled with how easy it all was.  Looking forward to getting off the liquid diet next week, though!

Home from surgery

I am banded. :)

We got to the hospital and checked in and eventually got into the pre-op room.  Lots of questions, IV started, medication administered, wrapped in the warm air jacket that kept me toasty all through the process.  I was surprised at how relaxed I felt.  Reading all about the process definitely made a big difference going in - I knew what to expect.   I woke up pretty slowly and felt shaky and sore, but really pretty good.  It took about an hour for surgery time and I was in post op another 90 minutes and in recovery 90 minutes before they let me go home.
After surgery, I got up and walked as soon as I could.  There is some shoulder pain and I have a little oozing from my stab incisions but, overall, I am feeling pretty good.  I'm getting up and walking in a few.  I've had a couple 16 ounce glasses of water (gotta keep hydrated!) a sip at a time and about 1/2 cup of sugar free jello.  The jello did make me a little nauseated so I've backed off on anything else.  I may have 1/2 cup of broth before bed...we'll see.

Surgery Today!

Good morning!
It's 7:45 am and I am ready to leave for the hospital.  I haven't had solid food for 24+ hours and nothing to drink since about 9:30 last night.  The scale this morning read 247.1, which means I lost a total of 30.5 pounds with all the pre-operative stuff that was required.  I was hoping for more, but I think I did well.  It took almost exactly six months for this process but I made good use of the time.  I think what I was most surprised about was all the pre-op testing that was needed.  Especially considering I had normal blood pressure, no diabetes (or even pre-diabetes), was able to do vigorous exercise and had been seeing multiple doctors regularly.  Oh well, it was their money (and my time!).

This morning, I mostly feel excited.  I know I am going to be very sore when I get home tonight.  I also know I will probably have a lot of trouble eating anything for a couple weeks.  It's that process I plan to write about here.  So, I'll talk to you again when I've been banded!

Tomorrow...

Well, tomorrow at 11 am I get banded.  I've been on a liquid diet the last 10 hours and feeling CRAZY hungry.  Planning a hot bath and an early bed.

Thought I would post a photo from today...this is me at 248# (29# down from day 1).

One more meal

I have breakfast tomorrow, then the pre-op liquid diet.  I am getting very excited!

Three days to go

I had a meeting at my church last night and before we begin we all sit in a circle and share what is going on in our lives.  For the first time I told everyone I was having a Lap Band surgery this Monday.  I haven't been hiding my plans, but I really haven't talked about it either.  I was surprised at how emotional I felt telling people about it! 
I was also surprised at the variety of responses I got from people. 
One woman was shocked that I would take such a "drastic" step just to control my weight!  I told her I was 100# overweight and had lost and regained the same 50# for more than 10 years.  A drastic step is called for, methinks!  I don't know that she was convinced, but at least she wasn't calling me crazy anymore.
Another woman thought the whole thing was too scary - she heard about lots of people who had recently died having the procedure and thought I was nuts to risk my life in such a "risky" surgery when I had a family to think about.  I did remind her I had nearly the same anesthesia about a month ago for a knee surgery and had no problems.  There are risks, I guess, of lacerating my liver, other bleeding, etc.  But I have no risk factors (normal blood pressure, no diabetes, etc) and it should help me avoid so many health issues in my old age!  Her I do think I convinced.
Most everyone else was very supportive - most knew someone who had the procedure and liked it.  I also did get some cautionary tales of people who gained all the weight back, but I knew about that.  The coolest thing was one woman, whom I admire very much, telling me that I was her hero.  She said I was brave to have the surgery, but even more brave to be so public about it.  Made me cry...

Four Days and Counting

Weighed in at 247 this morning.  That makes a total of 30# lost with the six month preoperative work...not too bad!  Should easily skate in under the 245 mark for Monday.
Getting pretty crabby from this diet.  Saw a photo of a tomato today and was literally salivating.  Really miss pasta and fruit.  And this zero carb diet will be followed with a week of a liquid diet.  I'm hoping for another 2-3 pounds off from that BUT I may get a rebound form this low carb thing...I don't know anyone who went from Atkins to low calorie...maybe it won't be so pronounced.  So my current goal is 240 to start the month of March, then try and lose 10# a month for a couple of months.  

Finally have a date!

I have had to jump through a couple more hoops (the aforementioned upper GI PLUS two unpleasant little cardiac tests) but I finally have approval from both the insurance company and the surgeon. I am currently doing the pre-operative liver shrinking diet...ugh!  It's about 800-1000 calories, minimal carbs, lean meats and non-starchy veggies.  With WW and this pre-op diet, I will be down over 30 pounds before my surgery.  I'm hoping for a pre-operative weight of about 245.  Right now I'm 249, and the surgery is scheduled for February 21...so it's not just possible, but likely.  I might even be under 240!
For now, I'm hungry and cranky and just wish it was the 21st already!