Stress+the band=no bueno

So I had my first real bout of heavy duty stress yesterday.  It is CRAZY the effect it had on my stomach now that I have my band.  I felt an extreme pressure on my stomach, not that it was an intense sharp pain but it was a dull irritating pain. I'm not sure of how much of it was in my mind or how much was really real but all I know is that I was miserable.  Stress has always had a pretty sever impact on me.  Anger has always made it worse and I can say for a fact I was ANGRY.  In fact I don't think I have been that angry in months.  Just need to keep working on how to tune out that angry emotion and conduct myself to deal with it differently. 

Luckily my band today feels fine.  I can't wait to sleep on my side though. SOOOO tired of sleeping on my back.  It is doing really bad things to my neck.  I cant wait to get a full restful nights sleep.  Hopefully in the next few weeks of healing that will change.  I think that as I lose more weight it will change also.  I don't have sleep apnea or anything like that but my body compensates for my weight and I hardly move in my sleep so I wake up feeling stiff and irritable.  May give the side sleep thing a whirl tonight.  Till next time...

~Me

First Post-op Visit

So I went for my first post op visit.  Didn't expect to really see a difference on the scale yet but to my surprise I am 15lbs lighter since surgery 11 days ago!!  That is a total of 27lbs all together!!  I am so excited.  This was just the validation I needed to realize that this was the path I was meant to take.  I'm not gonna lie I cried.  Happy tears but tears none the less lol.  I didn't really hit me until today that I'm really able to do this.  The self doubt is minimal at this point and I couldn't be much happier.  I think my doctor was pretty shocked how well I've done so far too.  I have more determination than ever at this point and I can't wait til I can use this tool to the best of my ability. 

I was told that my band is 10cc's and I will get my first saline injection on May 17th.  He told me that my first fill would be 3cc's and it would be adjusted from there.  I really can't believe how quickly all of this is going.  In 3 days I will be allowed to eat mushy foods.  I'll be on that for 2 weeks.  Then its on to my fill and on to solid foods.  YAY!!!  All in all this has been a really great day :)

~Me

Week 1

I was banded on April 15th, 2011 at 7:30am by Dr. Richard Pucci in Suffern NY.  The surgery took place at Good Samaritan hospital.  The staff was amazing and all went smoothly.  I was supposed to be in the hospital until about 4pm and actually left at 11:45am.  The recovery went really quickly and all was well.  I have been on the go ever since.  The first day I actually went to my family's house and spent time over there.  I didn't have the pain I expected to have.  I was really tired but I'm assuming that's because of all of the medication that was in me.  The gas pains were pretty harsh.  They bounced back and forth between my shoulder and under my rib cage but that was to be expected.  I tried to do it all by myself as far as getting what I needed.  I've never really been the type of person to ask for help. 

Second day I went to the hospital to sit with my cousin.  I was feeling pretty good so I figured it wasn't a terrible idea.  After all they said they wanted me moving as much as possible.  I think me moving was one of the main reasons that I recovered so quickly.  Gas was still a torture but I was still able to function so thats all that really mattered to me.  I did get some charlie horses around my incisions but I was told that would go away.  

I had a lot of trouble getting anything down the 2nd-4th day but that was because the stomach was really swollen.  The pain in my chest was pretty sever the 3rd day, even when I only took tiny sips it felt like it took forever to get it down.  Not really feeling hungry at this point.  I'm on clear liquids for 2 weeks and then full liquids for another 2 weeks.  Of course being on all liquids means you get to know your bathroom really well lol.  I sure do miss chewing too!  By the 5th day my gas pains were pretty much gone and I had FINALLY burped!  I was so happy I wanted to throw a freaking party.  By the 1 week mark I had a really huge bruise surface below my incisions however I am feeling almost back to normal.  Been keeping up with my vitamins and protein.  Got a stiff neck from the way I had to sleep (sitting up) but I'm sure that will get better with time as well. 

Right before the surgery I joined a lap band support group online and have found it extremely helpful.  There many wonderful people on there and the people that I have met in the chat room so far are pretty kick ass.  Anway I have a doctors appointment tomorrow (4/26) at 1:30 so I will update on how I'm doing once I get back for there.


~Me

A little bit about me...

My name is Pamela and I am 29 years old.  I decided to blog my journey through my lap band surgery and all though I already have the band it's still brand new to me.  I am a big girl that has lived my life hearing those oh so wonderful words "you have such a pretty face"  Blah Blah Blah!  I am fully accepting that I have a weight problem and thankfully I decided to take the step to change that.  From the start I planned to lose about 242lbs.  My goal weight is somewhere between 150-170 but I'm not limiting myself to losing to get to a specific weight.

I have a huge support system that I am thankful for and although there are a few people that are not as supportive as I would like them to be I just keep reminding myself that I didn't do this for them I did it for me.  Thank you in advance for taking the time to go through my journey with me.  I will try to update on a regular basis.

~Me