Karen T.

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 If you think you might need an unfill because of constant PBing, acid reflux and difficulty drinking at times...don't wait! I feel so much better. I still have good restriction after they took .6 cc out of my band.

I still haven't heard from the doc about my CT scan of the hernias. Guess I'll have to give him a call...

 DO NOT get a CT scan when your band is tight. It's virtually impossible to drink the two huge bottles of thick, chalky banana flavored barium in 1 hour. Finally they got tired of waiting and let me drink the apple juice barium. (Why didn't they offer that one to begin with? It tasted just like apple juice and went down soooooooo much easier...) After it was over the technician said their lapbad patients are usually unfilled before a scan. Oh well, at least it's over.

Of course the results won't be revealed until I talk to my doctor...stay tuned...

On another note I'm back to not being able to eat...I miss eating...I guess I'm going to have to get a bit of an unfill...I was really hoping to avoid that.

 Okay, so, I went to Austin this weekend with my husband to visit one of my best friends and her boyfriend who loves to cook. Of course our main source of entertainment was food...especially since it rained all freakin' weekend. So, I was having trouble eating before we left. As a matter of fact, it's been getting worse and worse for the last couple of weeks, turning to protein shakes when nothing else would stay down. Saturday night I was finally able to get down some kind of Japanese broth and crab rangoon(chewed the creamiest of smoothness)...mmmmmm... (while everyone else ate terriaki steaks, shrimp, chicken and fried rice prepared at our table by a chef/comedian who made the rice beat like a heart and an exploding onion volcano. (You had to be there...)

Anyway.

Sunday morning I couldn't eat the eggs benedict and by Sunday afternoon I couldn't even drink anything, much less try a taste of potato salad and brisket. Worried I was going to dehydrate we left for Dallas. On Monday I still couldn't eat. On Tuesday I went to see my WL doc. He seemed to think I had been doing something bad to my band (ie: eating too much or not chewing enough) but I assured him that wasn't true. When he questioned me further he decided the medications I'm taking for blood pressure are probably irritating my stomach and causing the stoma to swell shut. Sooooo I've been on clear liquids since Sunday, stopped taking the meds and finally today at about 2:00 I was able to eat....we had a party for someone who came back from maternity leave and someone (God bless them) had brought in queso and chips.  I know it's not on the diet but at least it had protein in it.

In the meantime the doc wants me to have a CT scan of hernias I have (pre-lapband) so he can do surgery in late November. So I called the imaging place today (while I was chewing very carefully some chip slathered in queso) and they've scheduled it for Friday. Guess what...they want me to fast from midnight to 2 p.m. Will the starvation never end???? 

 ...and I'm determined not to gain what I've worked so hard to lose. (Okay, it wasn't really that hard.) At least while I'm off I can swim every day...as a matter of fact, I'm headed out to the pool right now!

Sometimes I feel disappointed that the weight is coming off so slowly. I KNOW I'm eating a whole lot less than I used to. I also know I'm not exercising like I should. I have plans to get a treadmill when it gets too cold to do water aerobics. But today the scales were down another pound...and I remind myself what a 1 pound bag of coffee feels like to hold in your hands. That's a lot!

 I've been "planning" on taking up my pants instead of buying intermediate sizes. So I had my husband stack them up after washing instead of hanging them up. (Yes, I know...my husband does the laundry...he's a dream come true.) Anyway, the "stack" just stared at me all weekend, seeming to mock me for my procrastination. Soooooooooo I decided this morning I would set the machine up and thread it (the really hard part about sewing) and take them up one a day each morning before I put them on.

It worked out great! I took up an inch on the inside of each leg of my gray pants and an inch in the seat. Now I don't have to worry about them falling off.

I plan on keeping one pair "as is" so someday I can do the ole "stand in one leg and hold the other side out" so everyone can be amazed at how big I was.

 I had a hard time eating today. For breakfast I just had coffee. I never drank the stuff until after the surgery but now I look forward to it's warming goodness, even when it's in the high 90s outside. For lunch we went to eat Mexican but I could tell before I started it wasn't going to go down. So I asked for my to go box before I even started. A couple of bites of guacamole and that was it for me.

Needless to say, this afternoon, I was starving. 

Can someone tell me why cookies and Cheetos go down sooooooooooooo smoothly? Such creamy goodness and perfect to chase the sweet with the salty...

Now it's 10:40 p.m. and that's all I've had today. Not bad on the calorie count but my nutritionist would have a coronary (and I feel slightly guilty.) Guess I'll go heat up my chicken enchilada and refried beans...

Yes, that's right. I was up to a size 32 in pants--something I'm not very proud of. You have to go to some pretty special stores to find those puppies, mostly online. Even the Lane Bryant store doesn't carry that size.

Anyway, before banding I bought some size 28 black pants because they were on sale at Avenue.com for 9.99. This weekend I thought, "wonder if I can fit in those pants yet?" AND I COULD!!! Wore them on Monday to work!

Fortunately my mother taught me how to sew (beginning to be a lost art) so I plan on taking most of my clothes up along the way, especially the pants.

Notice I said, "plan"...we'll see...it sure is fun buying smaller sizes...

 Friday morning my husband asked where I was going. I thought he already knew I was on my way to the WL doctor so I said, "Don't you remember...I'm going to see Dr. Fill."

We laughed about it, especially since my husband HATES Dr. Phil.

Then I told the receptionist, nurse and doctor. They also laughed and said they'd never heard it before, which surprised me. I figured it was an old joke. Anyway, thought I'd share it with y'all...

Of course, I've already answered this question by having a band strapped around my stomach, rendering me unable to binge. The reason I bring this up is because I never thought of myself as a binge eater. I thought I just ate normal amounts of really high-calorie food. But now, I'm rethinking this.

Take today, for instance. I belong to a writer's club at work and we had a published author come for a book signing. We brought some snacks for the event, so we have leftovers. In the past I think by the end of the day I would have finished off my "leftover" so I wouldn't have to bother taking it home. What was I thinking? Was I a human garbage disposal? Was I really doing anyone any favors by eating an entire bowl of chips and dip? If I didn't want to schlep it home, couldn't I have thrown it away?

I guess it goes back to all those starving children in third world countries I was raised on. If I could I would send them my chips and dips...