Friday, February 25, 2011

HOLY MOLY

Wow! It is amazing what .3cc in my band can do. Wednesday, when I had the fill, I didn't notice a big difference other than gurgling. I ate respectively given the new fill. I had a chocolate banana protein shake, sausage potato soup for lunch and dinner.

Thursday I ate just fine. I had 1 egg for breakfast with laughing cow cheese. I had gotten lunch ordered in. Chicken breast, chicken wing, salad, carrot souffle. I only ate the little meat off the wing, about 3 tiny bites of the breast and all of the carrot souffle. It took me 2 hours to finish that. I took the meat left off the chicken breast and shredded it on top of my salad and put that away in the fridge. I ended up eating that for dinner. I didn't get stuck but it was tight after a few bites which made it slow going.

Today has been a WHOLE different story. I tried to eat eggs this morning. Keyword, tried. It wasn't that is was really stuck as it was like my chest/throat tightened up. It was painful after about 4 bites so that was all I ate. A few hours later I tried to go to lunch with my husband and ended up getting "tight" after about 4 bites. I ended up eating 2 bites of refried beans and 2 bites of chimichanga, mostly the meat before I got tight. I brought home almost all of the chimi, refried beans, all of the rice, and the guacamole.  I spit up a little but I didn't throw up. My chest/throat still feels tight and that was 5 hours ago. Atleast I know what I am having for dinner. I am chalking up the tightness to some swelling from the fill. It has been 2 months since my last one so it is like new all over again.

Since having the fill two days ago, I have lost a half pound. It is truly a good feeling to see myself back on track. Once again, I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that without this surgery I would have continued to gain weight because when the band is loose, so are my lips. I go right back to shoveling the food in without a second thought. So much for learning new habits. The only new habit I have kept is no soft drinks. I ocassionally think about a soft drink, even seem to taste it in my mouth when thinking about it, but I have not had a single since my last intake visit March 25, 2010, almost a year now.

So, a random thought here, my surgeon's office said they did a lot of layoffs recently. I am a little concerned with that. This office is usually bustling with people both patients and office workers. It was very quiet and no one was in the waiting room which has never happened before. I sure hope they don't close this office. They have one in a nearby town but it isn't that nearby.

I am eating right now, my leftover lunch, and it is tight going down. It's not a stuck feeling so much as a tightness. It isn't really painful but it feels like to could be at any moment. I am just typing and eating slow, enjoying my meal.

I hope this finds everyone doing well! Check out my updated recipes.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Fill up

I went in today for a fill. I am officially down 95 lbs. I haven't had a fill since December but since this weekend I knew I must get a fill. I was talking to the nurse practioner about it and she said it was good that I came in right away rather than waiting and continue to eat all that food.

Because I haven't had a fill since December, Laura didn't want me to be too tight or uncomfortable with swelling so I got .3cc in my band today.

I had a chocolate banana protein shake for breakfast, sausage potato soup for lunch and dinner. I don't see much difference right now. I remember the last time I got a fill, I was fine for a week then all of a sudden I was tight big time. She told me to give it a few weeks to see how it does.

I simply couldn't be happier. This again was the best decision I ever made and would do again in a heartbeat. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have waited so long.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Fill 'er up

Well, I think now it is time for a fill. I have PIGGED out today. I had eggs for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch(I haven't eaten bread in 3 months, no problem at all today) and 2 chicken breast patties with marinara and fettucini//alfredo. My belly is very uncomfortable and rightly so. I have not been able to eat like that in forever. I will be calling Monday to make an appointment.

I don't know why all of a sudden I can eat everything. Just yesterday things were getting stuck. This makes no sense to me. I will be really confused if tomorrow I am back to being stuck.

This is a short post today. Nothing much going on lately so will be back soon...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The things I ponder...female issues

This has been a quiet week. I have had nothing major going on food or otherwise. I am now down 95 lbs. The weight loss has been slow going lately and I am okay with that. I am not gaining which is part of the goal.

I am eating three meals a day, mostly protein. I have upped my roughage intake lately because of constipation issues. It took a few days but finally it kicked in and I feel so much better. It was touch and go there for a while and though I would never have any relief. Such is the side effects of having mostly protein everyday.

My day usually begins with 2 eggs, 2 wedges of laughing cow lite cheese at 8:30 am. I have an orange or clementine for snack. I eat lunch around 1 or 1:30pm. Yesterday I didn't eat lunch until 3pm. It's mainly when I am hungry. I had a bowl of white chili with cheese, lite sour cream and fritos. Dinner was around 8pm. I had about a cup of crockpot chicken and stuffing(I have updated my recipe). I also had a bowl of rice crispies cereal with milk for a snack. That was all I ate yesterday. I had 3 bottles of Vitamin Water Zero.

 My newest health issue so to speak is my periods. Not the best subject but one I am concerned about. In July 2009 I had the ablation surgery. My periods did not go away. BUMMER!! I have APS, antiphosophilid Antibody Syndrome. It is a blood clotting disorder that we feel is responsible for my miscarriage many many years ago, post-partum hemorrhage, and TIA to name a few. This may also be the reason why the ablation did not cause my periods to stop. Just a theory. Anyway, my periods became irregular after the surgery. The hot flashes were horrendous. They were so intense it felt like I had the flu where I was sweating profusely and shivering. They would last non stop for hours, then I would start my period and they would subside. After a few months of this bliss, my periods became even more erratic. The hot flashes eased up and the periods were slightly normal for about a month or two, then I started having more than one period a month. It was mostly spotting for a few days at a time a few times a month. This month 4 full fledged periods. I am thinking what the HECK!! Last night or should I say about 2 this morning I woke up in a pure sweat. I went the bathroom and there my period was full force. REALLY???? That would be number 4 since January 19th. I haven't had my annual exam since 2009. Yeah I know...not a good thing. So I had made my appointment last week for March to get my exam and the dreaded 1st mammogram.

My question to my doctor will be could my lapband be causing this or is it the weightloss? Either way....FIX IT!! I had tubal ligation in 2004 so having more children is not an issue just fix it. What are your issues since being banded? I know that weightloss itself can cause issues with periods but I wonder if the band plays any role?

Still not ready for a fill. I am eating a little more at each sitting but I still get stuck daily on something even soft foods so I feel a fill is not the best choice right now. If I start to gain then definitely will rethink that.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Vitamin Water Zero

Ok, so I feel the need to defend Vitamin Water Zero because a national morning news program did a piece on Vitamin Water and how bad it is for you. They told how Vitamin Water makes claims about who needs a flu shot when you can drink it? They compared it to regular soft drinks. While I agree, regular Vitamin Water is not a good choice and frankly just as bad as a regular sugar laden soft drink, they did not give any mention to Vitamin Water Zero. Fair? I think not. And the flu thing is just plain silly and dumb. Bad Vitamin Water, bad bad bad...

Now this is for those who don't use artificial sweeteners and are heavily addicted to soft drinks. That would have been me prior to March 25, 2010. A little background on me...I drank regular soft drinks always. I have a high sensitivity/allergy to artificial sweeteners. I was hospitalized for it once so yeah I don't touch the stuff if I can help it. I have to have a large dose (as in a diet soft drink) of it to have slight problems but long term use or using it while my immune system is compromised will cause major problems to develop.

So, I drank regular sugar laden soft drinks daily. I had 2-3 20 oz bottles of Big Red daily at work and then 2-3 12 oz cans of grape soda at home each day. Sometimes more. I had tried the Vitamin Water 10 and found it had a funny aftertaste and wasn't all that good. I tried it though and it didn't cause any reactions so I drank one a day, maybe. Then they came out with Vitamin Water Zero. On March 25, I had my last intake and scheduled my Lap Band surgery. That day I quit soft drinks for good, cold turkey. I picked up Vitamin Water Zero and never looked back.

Here's the skinny on it. It is made with Stevia taken from www.stevia.com.

Stevia is a South American herb that has been used as a sweetener by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for hundreds of years. The leaves of this small, green Stevia rebaudiana plant have a delicious and refreshing taste that can be 30 times sweeter than sugar.

Stevia has many excellent properties. The body does not metabolize the sweet glycosides from the stevia leaf or any of its processed forms - so there is no caloric intake. Stevia doesn't adversely affect blood glucose levels and may be used freely by diabetics.

Now, for my personal opinion and remember this is personal so everyone is different. I am diabetic and have had no problems what so ever with my blood sugar while using Vitamin Water Zero. I also have not had one cold, knock on wood, or the flu or any problems. I have children and they have been sick with the flu, colds, strep throat, even my husband has "caught" all of it, but not me. I wake up feeling like something is coming on but then it goes away. Now is this due to Vitamin Water Zero? I don't know but I do know I caught EVERYTHING that was going around but since drinking the Vitamin Water Zero I have caught nothing. Coincidence? Maybe. I figure the vitamins can't hurt. I only drink Vitamin Water Zero Rise flavor. It is orange. You have to be careful because some of the other flavors have natural caffeine in them and I don't drink any caffeine. Now, some that drink diet drinks think the Vitamin Water Zero is too sweet tasting. I find it is just right considering I used to drink regular soft drinks.

Anyway, this is my personal opinion and in no way claims to be right for everyone but suggests this as an alternative and something that has worked for me.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Slimed...oh my!

Well, I had the MOST horrific experience yesterday. So traumatizing I am just now able to write about it. I will preface this by saying I have had a few sliming episodes. They happened, I dealt with it and moved on. Nothing spectacular. I must correct this. I did have one spectacular episode and that was when my esophogus was so stressed that it started having spasms and I continued to throw up every 15 minutes for hours and hours. That freaked me out. So other than that I handled them just fine. Yesterday was another story all together.
WARNING...TMI....long story...

OK, so yesterday was a day like any other. I got up, got ready for work, got my daughter ready for school. The difference was I took her to school instead of having her ride the bus. I chose to skip breakfast because I was going to order an early lunch.

After getting to work, I am in the break room getting some hot chocolate with my boss. She's getting a honey bun. Yum mm...honey bun. Dang, I haven't had one of those in years I thought to myself. So I decided I would get one and heat it up in the microwave. OMG...it smelled good and I was starving having skipped breakfast that morning. So I go back to my desk with hot chocolate in one hand and hot and melty honey bun in the other. I paced myself and ate half of the honey bun and I was done, full and satisfied. Or so I thought. About 5 minutes later I felt the tightening in my throat. I felt the increase in saliva. It was getting worse. The pain was really bad. I tried the hot chocolate since hot liquids tend to help things go down. In retrospect that was not a good idea seeing how I now suspect that caused the honey bun to swell. I felt it coming back up. Kind of prairie dogging it in my throat. Then I felt my tongue getting tingly and that is a sure sign of what was to come, or come up. I made my way to the bathroom and to my horror it was full and there was a line. There was no way I could make it to the far end of the building to the other bathroom. Finally a stall opened up and it was at the end, thank you GOD. We have motion-sensored toilets so as soon as I shut the door it started to flush, I took the opportunity and the honey bun came right up, along with the hot chocolate. So sorry to see you go my friend. Of course, I felt much much better. So I waited a few seconds and left to wash my hands. I went back to my desk.
I thought I was in the clear. I just needed to relax a little. Well, about 10 minutes later I felt the tightening again only this time not so bad or painful. I just figured a little walking around and gravity would help things along. So I walked around and then I had to go to the bathroom to pee. I went in and again it was full. Really?? I waited but this time I got a middle stall. Dang my bad luck!
What happened next will be burned into my very soul. I sat down to use the restroom and without warning, no signs at all, a HUGE HUGE glob of slime just came up. It was probably the equivalent of about 2 cups. No kidding. It was slipping through my hands and fingers right down into my underwear and jeans and eventually running onto the floor. A large puddle. I was grabbing for toilet paper trying to pull it out of my drawers. It was not working, it was too slimey and thick. I eventually got it out but not before my underwear and jeans were soaked down the back and a streak down my leg. I also had a slick of slime down my shirt.

What was I going to do? I was mortified. The bathroom was packed. I was sitting there with wet jeans and underwear and a wet shirt. I kept inspecting my jeans and it appeared the wetness was limited to my butt. i knew my shirt was long enough to cover my butt. There was still the matter of a streak of wetness down the leg. I couldn't hide that. And the wetness of my shirt I could say I spilled something. The problem is I couldn't go home. One because it wasn't my lunch hour and I was having lunch delivered and I just can't leave work.  People would know if I went home and changed provided I got out of there without anyone seeing my pants. I realized the slime doesn't smell at all, that was good. Now I know this is gross but I had no choice. When the bathroom was finally clear I got out pulled my shirt down in the back and inspected it in the mirror. Okay so unless someone was checking by rear out I should be okay except for this area around the back crotch area looked like I peed. Then there was the leg, oh and my shirt. I grabbed some paper towels and about that time someone came in. I pretended to dab at my shirt like I was cleaning it. Then I did clean it. Went back to my desk and sat down. My boss asked me what happened to my shirt. I said I spilled something on it. True dat.
I then turned on my fan to dry my shirt and then pointed it down and periodically sat so it blew on my backside. To make sure no smell I used some strong smelling hand sanitizer and when no one was looking would rub it on the wet areas. I sat there for 3 hours before my jeans no longer looked wet. I was self conscious all day but there was nothing I could do. I wasn't leaving able to leave.

To put this in perspective, this happened around 10:30 am. I don't get off work until 8 pm. So you see I had a long day to sit and think about it while sitting in it. OMG...no more honey buns for me!!