Alana

So lately I've been having pains in my right abdomen and after days of testing, it was determined to be my gall bladder. My family has a history of gb problems and my doctor said it was functioning at 4%. Normal gb's function at 35% - ergo, it was time to take it out. I had my surgery on Friday and it was done laproscopically like the LapBand, so I thought I'd handle it as well as I handled that surgery. OMG. The pain is infinitely worse. I feel like I've been in multiple car accidents all while being stabbed in the stomach repeatedly. During my LapBand surgery, I was up and walking as soon as the anesthesia wore off, I had minimal gas pain, and felt great. Right now I feel like an old woman, the gas pain is endless, and I need help doing EVERYTHING, including going to the bathroom. I feel like an invalid. In addition to my LapBand scars (which you can barely see anymore) I now have 4 more scars - 3 across the right side of my abdomen and 1 in my bellybutton. The doctor said it would take at least a week before I felt like myself, so I have a feeling this will be a very long week..

I've been amping up my exercise lately and my friend introduced me to a great workout that you can do in your own home. She saw it on an exercise video. It's squats, so they can be done in your own home and will really give your legs a workout. Give yourself plenty of room. Do one squat, then take a step forward. Do two consecutive squats and take another step forward. Do three consecutive squats and so on until you get to ten. It's HARD, but it's a great workout. I did two sets of it last night and I can FEEL the burn in my quads and glutes, so I know it's working. I've also been working my arms out using a 6.6lb TheraBand Soft Weight ball. I hold it behind my head and work out my triceps, do curls for my biceps, and raise it over my head for an all-over arm workout. I started doing 3 sets of 10 reps and I've progressed to 3 sets of 20 reps. I can feel such a difference in my arms! Remember, for women it is more beneficial to do more repetitions rather than to increase the weights in your workout. Hope this helps!

Hey Jazzy! I just try to eat smaller meals and have a supply of healthy snacks on hand in case I feel "the urge". I walk each morning before work and I take 2 aerobic classes a week - a bellydancing class and a Zumba class. Both are extremely fun ways to work out. My highest weight was 248 and I'm down to 211. Might not seem like a whole lot for 7 months, but I'm happy with my progression and I can't wait to get into Onederland! I really think the exercise is what has helped me to not GAIN any weight. Mona, the link is: http://thewordbuffet.blogspot.com/ - I haven't updated in a while, but I will try to get something up today. Glad you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

Thanks! You're the reason I came back, Mona!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here! I was in a rut about not losing weight recently - my weight loss has kind of stalled. I thankfully didn't gain a pound over the holidays and that's when it hit me: I have not GAINED weight in over 7 months! Before the surgery, do you know how much weight I could gain in 7 months? To me, not gaining ANY weight in 7 months is as much as a scale victory as losing weight. Clearly, I'd prefer to be celebrating my weight loss, but we have to celebrate the fact that we're not GAINING weight, either. Just thought I'd share that with you guys! Alana

Hi Sue, I live in Tallahassee, FL and I actually drive up to Moultrie, GA to get my fills done thru Fill Centers USA. However, I know they have locations in Tampa and St. Petersburg. Not certain about Orlando, but I think those would be the closest to you. I only go to GA because it's closer to me than driving down to Tampa. The fill nurse in GA is always helpful, polite, and efficient. Hope it helps! Alana

I do, too! I am meeting with mine about breast reduction and tummy tuck/panniculectomy. I don't know which one it'll be. For those who don't know, panniculectomy is removal of the pannus, which is an overhang of skin that rests on the pelvic bone. It's also called a "Mother's apron". I don't plan to have my surgery until I lose more weight, but I definitely wanted to go in for a consult. Good luck at yours, Kitty!

Well, I haven't really seen the scale drop lately, but my "skinny" jeans are too big! They sag at my buck and I keep having to pull them up. These are jeans I hadn't fit into for 2 years and now they're too big! I can't wait to buy more clothes, but I think I'll wait just a bit longer till I see another significant drop on the scale. Who else has had a non-scale victory lately?

So glad to hear you're ok, Kim! I was thinking about you yesterday. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to deal with Hanna, but we'll see how that goes. It doesn't look great right now. Stupid storms!

Congrats! I can't wait to get to there.

Thanks, ladies. When I went back to see my primary doctor, he said he felt the combination of the two drugs (Levaquin and Tramadol) was too strong for me and caused an allergic reaction. I had all the side effects listed for both (nausea, vomiting, dizziness, insomnia) so he put me on a Cephlaxin (sp?) and it seems to be working much better. Darn mosquitos!!

Remember when I thought I had a spider bite? Turned out to be a staph infection, probably from being bitten by a mosquito. The doctors gave me a shot of antibiotic and a prescription for a different oral antibiotic. That night I felt itchy, jittery, and anxious so I thought I was having a reaction to the antibiotics. I called the doctor back the next morning and I got an appt. with one of my primary care doctors associates, who had the worst bedside manner of any doctor I've ever been to. She gave me a new prescription for a very strong antibiotic (750mg each pill) and a prescription for a pain pill because the area around the infection was hurting really bad. I went to the pharmacy to pick them up and it turned out she sent it to the wrong pharmacy. Waited 10 extra minutes for it to be transferred only to find out she never sent the prescription for the pain med. Waited 20 extra minutes to have that sent over only to find out she forgot to fill in the quantity for how many pills. By this time it was after 5pm and I had to wait 45 minutes for the after hours nurse to reach her and find out how many pain pills she intended to prescribe me. UGH. So, I go home, my boyfriend makes me soup, I take the pills, he gives me a long foot massage and I go to bed. By midnight, I'm bent over the toilet throwing up harder than I ever have in my life. Let me tell you, soup doesn't taste great coming back up. Twenty minutes later, I'm back at the toilet throwing up even harder. At one point, I was throwing up for so long I HAD to take a breath and I ended up choking on my own vomit. I have so many broken capillaries on my face from straining so hard that my face is purple. Every muscle in my back, neck, side, even bottom is super sore. I made an immediate appt to see MY doctor and he took excellent care of me. I decided to forego the pain pills this time and he prescribed a much better antibiotic. I also complained about the other doctor and he said he'd take care of it. I love that man. He's a friend of the family and always takes such good care of me. Well, that's my drama. Had to complain. Sitting here praying I don't sneeze because my muscles just can't take it. Also a little worried about my band because of how violent my vomiting was, but I think I'm ok. I would know if it slipped, right? I mean, it's stitched to our stomachs, so I can't imagine I wouldn't feel a difference. I'm eating ok now and things are going down easily. Just sticking to liquids mainly. What a week..

aw, that's so sweet! at least he made an attempt. my boyfriend has been very supportive and bought me a new pair of athletic shoes so I could work out better. yay for great supporters!

Plus, weight loss that is more gradual is better for your skin as it attempts to snap back and regain it's elasticity.

Well, the majority of the storm seems to be out of our area. We're still getting a few lingering bands here and there. I had to drive over a median to go to work this morning as my street is still really flooded. There are ducks, snakes, turtles, etc all out on the streets because of the lake overflowing. I somehow got bitten by something, maybe a spider, and my left leg has been really swollen since yesterday. I have felt a little feverish off and on and have no appetite. I am not sure if it is a spider because there is no puncture wound like most spider bites have. I tried icing it for a long time last night and the swelling only went down a little bit. It's very painful to the touch and hot. Ugh! Not a great weekend, but glad to be safe and sound.

Well, folks, Fay is just now starting to leave my area, but we got almost 20 inches of rain and I can't leave my townhouse. The lake behind me flooded and came out into the streets and you can't drive. Looks like I'll probably be here the rest of the day from the amount of water. My electricity came back on around 3am and has stayed on, so at least there's that. And I have plenty of band-friendly food to tide me over. It's gonna be a long day... Hope anyone else affected by the storm is doing well!

I hope this doesn't sound rude, but I felt the need to say it. While Dr. Miranda is considered a doctor in Mexico, she would not be in the US. Nutritionists are not considered doctors here. When it comes to the major decisions, leave those up to the surgeons there. Not that the nutrionial aspect isn't important in this. And as someone said earlier, of all the people at the OCC, Dr. Miranda is the only person I didn't enjoy meeting and working with. She was very critical. She even went so far as to tell me about her nose job and how she was able to follow all of her doctors orders perfectly, so why couldn't I? I don't think a nose job and the LapBand surgery are quite on the same level. It seems like no matter what you tell her, she just automatically assumes that you did something wrong and disobeyed her orders. I had my surgery back in May and my conversations with her STILL bother me.

First of all, congrats on the weight you lost so far. Dr. Miranda told me I needed to lose 20 lbs by surgery and I ended up only losing 7 and still had the surgery. I was going through a lot of "female" issues and it really made the weight loss hard. She chastised me quite a bit on the phone and via email before the surgery despite an email from my gyno saying a 20 lbs weight loss wasn't realistic with what I was going through. I was sooooo nervous going there thinking I was going to be turned away and in the end it was fine. Just relax, keep up what you've been doing, and you'll be fine. Like Phoenix said, Dr. Ortiz will make the call. If you feel like she is still being unrealistic when you get there, request to speak to him directly about the situation. You'll do great, you've done so well! Keep your head up, sweetie!

wow, I'm a little surprised at that. I know they have to be realistic, but I would have thought there would be more compassion. I'm sorry he spoke that way to you, but DO NOT let it discourage you from succeeding. The fills are neccessary, the will power is neccessary and they will work hand in hand. Keep you chin up, ok?

First of all, you cannot let your family and friends make this decision for you. I know their input is important, but this is YOUR decision. I have had 2 surgeries in the United States and I can honestly say that my experience at the OCC was better than both combined. The staff is more friendly, the facility is cleaner, and the doctors were more competent. I'm a licensed massage therapist, so I know all about health regulations and health code standards and their facililty followed them all to the letter. I felt like their number 1 priority during my entire stay there and they did everything they could to make sure I was taken care of. I stayed in the hospital overnight and it felt more like vacation than recovering my surgery. I walked the halls to help expel the gas, there was an endless supply of popsicles, juice, and water, I watched movies on my flat screen tv, and slept in a bed that was more comfortable than the bed in the actual hotel. It was the BEST decision I ever made and I could not have picked a better location to have this done at. PLEASE do not let their uncertainty derail you from the path you want to take. Show them this forum and educate them. They're only scared because they don't know. If you have any other questions, please let any of us know.

I got a pretty good size fill this past Saturday (up to 2.6 cc's now) and I still feel like I'm eating more than I should be. I'm hoping my restriction kicks in soon! I did notice I was down 3 lbs from what the fill nurse said my weight was on Saturday, so I'm hoping that's accurate!

you look positively gorgeous!

Thanks, everyone! I haven't felt a TON of restriction yet, but I guess more than before.

I REALLY want to get a Wii and Wii Fit by Christmastime. I've looked a few times, but they were always out! Starting in September, I'm going to start belly dancing classes to help tone my tummy. A friend of mine did it and lost 25 lbs in 6 months, so hopefully I have the same luck!

I had my second fill in Moultrie, GA this past weekend with Darlene. I received another cc of saline bringing my total up to 2.6 cc's. My band can hold up to 4 cc's, so I know I have good restriction. I'm still on liquids through tonight, but I can feel it with every sip. Yay for restriction.