So mad!

Hello friends,

Ok, sorry that the post is not peachy in any shape or form.

First of all, as of Sunday, I have gained 0.8 pounds. WTH? I must add that I have lost 2.5 % fat and gained 1.3% muscle and my visceral fat has decreased by 1% but why the weight gain? This is my second week post up, can't even have real food and I am already gaining. I do measure and only have 1/2 cup at a time, do my walkings and have my water.

Also, you know how everyone says something about sliming, PBs, and all those restrictions you talk about.  You know how they suggest in your guidelines on how not to use a straw? That is the only way I can have water with out burping!!! seriously?

I also, have a sharp pain in my left side when I cough, sneeze, yawn or take a deep breath!

Conclusion: I really don't feel they put the band in! I am not kidding, how is that possible that I am so unlike every other person who has had the band?

So i emailed my coordinator and dietitian asking them about all of the above, you know what my dietician responded? Giving me an overview of what the band is and what it does!! Seriously, I was mad!! I wrote this fiery email to her and decided not to send it. 5567 dollars of the amount I paid is for the support/maintenance. So it is their job to address my worries. I swear to god all she said was not to eat too much and the band is a device to make me stay full for a longer time. Hello, did I say I am having discomfort or did I say I don't get full, no restrictions...

Also, as a part of package , they were supposed to send me a book, it has been more than a month that I am still waiting for it and every time my coordinator says ooh i have sent two, one got returned...
So today I sent her an email DEMANDING to have it sent to me via registered mail. For god sake I have paid 17000 dollars for what??

I am so mad and I am sorry if half of it doesn't make sense. but all the above in addition to my issues with my undergrad students and work deadlines have made me feel so defeated and frustrated.

I cry basically every night, I am not even kidding..

my first challange

So tonight we were invited to a friend's house , there were around 30 of our friends there, none of them know about my lap-band. The only people who knew were my parents, my brother and my husband.
I thought of many different excuses on how not to go, i even thought I'll ask my husband  to go and tell them I am sick. But then I went and had dinner there! She had made so many things, out of which I had pureed sweet potato and some salmon( well, I really had to chew the fish to avoid any problems). Instead of pop, I asked for water.As for the dessert, I had some jello. I realized people do not pay attention to what I eat as much as I thought they would. Mind you these are people who are older than us at least by 20 years. Great friends, love them all.

 I just tried to avoid taking stuff that was constantly offered, I even took a few sweet stuff they offered and left them in my plate. I passed on the alcohol too and stuck to a few cups of tea! I however, told them I am trying to lose weight and prefer not to eat so much :)
Being only 7 days out of surgery, wearing jeans was not that easy but I survived. I can't believe how full I felt and this is with no fills. My doctor doesn't put anything in the band at the time of surgery so I assume  I have 0 cc out of my 10 now. I probably will have a fill in 5 weeks. I am going for a post-op check up on March 15th, see what my doctor says about that.

Have a great Sunday and the rest of the week everyone...

Frustrated!

Hello again,
You can totally tell I am so excited about this blog, right? Also, you can tell I have not been to work or school and instead have been on this blog far too much! Well, I am going back to work on Monday :(

So here is another question: How do you add pictures to your headers< I love to add stuff, feel my blog is so blah...

I am a pound down from yesterday but still am not happy with my weight loss post op. i expected to lose at least 5 pounds this week, I have only lost 2.2 pounds. I read other's journey and they lost a lot more, it scares me now!

Here are some pics of my fat belly after the operation, I know it is not pretty! I can't believe how bloated my abdomen is.

As usual, allergic to any sort of gauze or bandage( the red area around my big incision)

Blurry!

Thank you all for your wonderful kind comments.

Got another question! Has anyone experienced blurry vision after the surgery? My vision is 20/20 but since the surgery I sometimes can't see things clearly.

Another note, I can eat whatever I want and don't have that tight sensation everyone talks about. Water goes down easily, soup, greek yogurt.... is that normal and will this change after the first fill?

Lastly, as soon as I have something( even water) I get this burbs/hiccups, nothing major but still kinda painful.

Ohh and did I tell you I haven't had nausea at all since the surgery? What can I do, I am so excited about it.

I can't tell you how much I love reading every one of your weblogs.. If I fail my courses this semester, we know who to blame!

:)

I am BANDED!!

Hello hello
First of all, I apologize for the long post!
So I got banded on the 24th. We got to Vancouver on the 23rd. Walked for 4-5 hours, did some shoppings and I must confess, I had a bit of grilled meat!! So good
I went to meet with my Anesthesiologist, it only took 10 minutes.
So Friday morning I took another shower with the liquid soap they had sent me. This soap works miracles. I had gotten a big zit on my face, washed it with this one and it was gone the next morning. Also, since I have a very sensitive skin, shaving leaves a lot of bumps on my legs( especially thighs). I washed it with this and again, it was gone!!
So moving to the surgery, I was scheduled for 11:30, sat in a room until 12;10 when  a nurse came and got me and I walked to the OR.  they got me on the bed, the Anes. Doc put in my IV and in a few minutes, I was gone. My husband received a call from my Surgeon at 1:45 to tell him everything went fine. I remember they try to wake me up at 2. God I felt in so much pain. My throat hurt, my stomach hurt and I couldn't stay up and the nurses insist on talking to you!! I remember( and I am sure I was wrong) the nurses talking about complications, so in that situation( not being awake completely) I was thinking that they hadn't put the band and there was complications!!! god was I ever worried.Mind you up to this point, no one has confirmed I have got it!!!
My wonderful husband had got me a beautiful bouquet of red roses and a very cute lady bear :). Prior to our trip he gave me a Movado watch as a gift to tell me how proud he is of me sticking to my diet and doing this :)
 I have 5 incisions the middle one being the biggest one. They really push you to get up and leave the clinic. I so wanted my husband to get lost in Vancouver and get there later so I can sleep! They dressed me and moved me to those recliners and I kept falling asleep. I swear to god the nurses came to visit me every 5 min. Giving me drugs, dressing me up, checking my incisions....

Anyways, my husband came to pick me up at 3:30. He had already filled my Liquid Codeine prescription. We went to the hotel,  I was in so much pain. I only got up a few times to have my Codeine and sip water and went back to sleep. The gas pain is really something!!!!

My abdomen was so big as if I was 8 months pregnant. I also had a bit of bleeding which stopped right away.
So comes Saturday, I thought I could go walking in Stanley park with my husband. Who are those people who said they went to CN tower the day after the surgery? I would like to know how they did that.  I was in so much pain crying the whole time. My  husband was trying to make me get up and walk every hour but it was too painful.I think I managed to do it 5 times and each time it took me a minute before i started screaming from pain. I am normally pretty good with pain but this was different.
Sunday morning we had to go to the airport at 5 am! We managed to pass the security line and go in front of the line because of my surgery. As lucky as I am , we had 40 minutes delay, so we got to Calgary at 9:45. From this ride and all the walkings to and from gates, I had a bit of bleeding. Got home and my lovely parents had put flowers in every corner of our house. My mom had already made my soup( we'll get to the food later) and she had even cooked for my husband so he didn't have to do anything.
My Sunday was a bit better than Saturday but I still needed help to get up, I am not much better, less pain and can get up with a bit of manoeuvre. I probably finished a whole pack of  Gas-X in those two days!

Strangely enough I had my main pain on the right side( right  shoulder). Then it moved to my left side of abdomen by Sunday. Couldn't drink anything, just made myself drink my water. I tried having a short black starbucks coffee and couldn't. I am a coffee lover and it was odd not to crave that. I had a few sips of my apple juice but it had so much sugar that I felt I was drinking pure sugar!
When I got home, as I mentioned my mom had already made me some soup. God did it ever taste so good. She had made it with real chicken broth( she made it herself) and green lentils, and watercress, she then blended it and passed it through a strainer, it was so gooooood. She also made me cauliflower soup, so good. Tomorrow I am having mushroom soup with skim milk.

One very important thing: I didn't have any nausea or vomiting, I was so afraid of that.

So now my questions:
1-I am having difficulties getting something to eat for breakfast. I have been having half a cup of skim milk with a tea spoon of honey( warmed up).
2-As soon as I have my meal( 1/2 cup of any liquid) I get a slight pain in my left side, is that normal?

Haven't weighed myself yet and am not planning on doing so until next week, but before I left for the surgery, I was down 16 pounds.

Lots of love to all of you,

3 More days! and SWLC

Hello my fellow bloggers,

3 more days and I will be banded, can't believe how fast the time passed by. I am excited for first being banded and second for the fact that I am going to Vancouver. Love the city, to me it is the most beautiful city in Canada. If you haven't got a chance to visit it, please make sure you put it on your "places to visit THIS year" list. The water, weather, friendly and relaxed people, shopping.. so many things...

We arrive early Thursday, have my appointment with ANES at 2 pm. So we probably will drive around   (we are renting a car), go to the appointment, check in at the hotel and go back to going to different places. 

I just talked to my Coordinator and she told me( although she said she is supposed to advise me not to), that I can have a sensible meal on Thursday since I have been so good up to now. almost 13 pounds weight loss in the last 12 days!

 I know many of you are telling me not to do it and with all honestly, I might change my mind by then, but I really am dying for some grilled meat, nothing huge, just a bit of grilled meat. I am sure my stomach won't tolerate a big burger or something huge since I haven't had much to eat in the last few days. I still welcome everyone's comments. That is why I write, would like to hear from all of you, how was your experience? did you eat anything the day before?

Is there anyone from SWLC  here? I would like to hear people's experience  with them or if possible my surgeon. Dr. Philip Mitchell.

Btw, my ketosis strips are still light purple or dark pink, still a good sign.

I am thinking I might not be able to write until after surgery, so wish me luck all! 

Pre-Op and restaurant!!

Never thought I could go to a restaurant during this time, but I did as we were going out with a friend. So I looked at the menu( Earl's) and their Salads were all something I could not eat, caesar Salad, Asian Salad and then I found a mixed green salad. The only problem was it came with feta cheese, glazed pecans, beans and sliced apples!! I asked the waitress to bring me the salad without any of the above, she kindly offered to replace those with celery and cucumbers.  I also asked for the dressing to be on the side and instead got some lime wedges! It was nothing like my hubby's bacon mushroom cheddar burger with yam fries or my friend's steak and mashed potato with a caesar salad but it did fill me a bit!!! So another successful night for me! Day 9 down, 5 to go!
I was really worried last week as my ketosis strips started to be negative, I emailed my coordinator and she told me not to worry as long as I am losing weight. As soon as I read her email, my strips are not negative anymore, actually they are either light purple or dark pink which is good.
I have lost more than 11 pounds so far, I know the weight loss will not be like this after the surgery as I will be eating carbs and other stuff. But I still think I did pretty good. It is so funny how I am not craving carbs anymore( well maybe a bit) but mainly crave chicken breasts or something,

Wish me luck as I still have another 5 days,