Lots of Updates

Hi guys! I have been gone a long time, but I was really waiting on answers to share with you.

I have not been felling well. It turns out my Gallbladder needs to come out it has been making my band tight. I am scheduled for surgery on 3/29/13 with a General Surgeon that also places Lap Bands. I have had so many medical test since last year to try an determine what was causing the pain under my rib cage my right side, what was making my hair fall out (low Iron levels), and what was causing me to be Anemic.

I have had an Ultrasound on my Gallbladder that showed nothing.
A CT with contrast on my stomach that showed nothing.
A Pipida scan that shows my Gallbladder is function at 87% which is not normal, but hyperactive.
I had an upper and lower scope, that showed my Lap Band is not eroding and I have no ulcers.
I had a small bowel x-ray that also showed nothing.

On the Gallbladder front I have no stones and I have no sludge. It hurts all of the time and it does not matter what I eat or drink. Sometimes the pain is worst when I am hungry. I met the General Surgeon the other day and he said that Lap Band corrosion or slippage can act similar to Gallbladder pain. However, we have ruled out my Lap Band, so he wants to take out my Gallbladder.

Turns out there is a high number of Bariactric Patients that need to have their Gallbladders removed within 18 months of their Bariactric surgery. 

My Lap Band Surgeon will not adjust me until after my Gallbladder is removed. So maybe in a few months I can have a fill.

I am Anemic but the doctors cannot figure out why. I have no ulcers and I have no obvious internal blood loss. So Now I am taking 325mg of Iron 3x a day and my hair stopped falling out.

I am holding at the same weight and I have 6.25ccs in my 10cc band and I'm down a total of 35lbs from 272 at the start of my pre-opt diet on 5/10/12.  I am almost a year post-opt and I really thought that I would be 75lbs down by now, but I did not expect to have this Gallbladder issues, so hopefully the organ being removed will relive my symptoms.

Hi kids!

I hit the Lap Band trifecta.... I may have mentioned that I work in Flood Insurance, so you might be able to imagine that my work has been BUSY!!!! The hurricane has put a small cramp in my FEMA project, so work has been stressing me out, it's that time of the month, and something irritated my stomach all of this equals stomach burning. I really thought that one of the supplements I have been taken just irritated my stomach, no big deal. So I took some Maloxx, still some burning the next day, and Tuesday I finally call my surgeons office, but they were closed, so I paged the the on call person and awesome NP Karen called me back. I told her about my burning sensation and she said it sounded like I was too tight, I told her that I haven't been getting stuck. She got me into the office first thing Wednesday (yesterday).

Lets recap, on 9/7/12 I had .4 cc removed from my band. A month later I went in for a fill and was told no, because I wasn't feeling well. On Wednesday, Karen had me do a barium swallow and stand in front of the x-ray machine, then she said "take another drink, hmmm." As I swallowed the barium you could see it going down and then stop way above my band. Weird, and then I took a 3rd drink..... So, it's not that my band was to tight, but that my stomach was irritated and that was causing the hang up. Karen still removed .5cc from my band due to the inflammation in my stomach. Good news is, I'm still down even after having fluid removed and my stomach stopped burning. I'm taking a round of Prilosec.

Such a Long Time Since I Blogged!!

Lets start off with the numbers. I have 6.75ccs in my 10cc band and I'm down a total of 35lbs from 272 at the start of my pre-opt diet on 5/10/12. 

I went to my surgeons office on 9/4/12 to get another fill, but I felt horrible that day and the NP Karen said no.... I'm really close to being in the Green Zone and when I was over filled she took out .4ccs, so I think I need .15-.2ccs to be there. Anyway she sent me for blood work to check my vitamin levels, thyroid levels, etc and everything came back as normal. I'm going to get a copy of my results and see if I'm on the low side. She thought I was going to be vitamin D deficient, so I upped my supplement intake on my own from 400iu to 2000iu and some of the symptoms I have been dealing with have subsided like my hands hurting, however my hair is still shedding, brain fog, etc.... I did read an article about Hypothyroidism II and the difficulty in diagnosing thyroid issues.

So on the weight loss front, yeah I'm losing weight!! Boooooo (says my brain... YEAHHHHHH says my tummy) Culver's Pumpkin Pecan Concrete is back and so yummy.

Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!

Lets start off with the numbers. I have 6.75ccs in my 10cc band and I'm down a total of 31.5lbs since my pre-opt diet at 272 on 5/10/12.

Ok, so I had a .4cc unfill on 9/4/12. When I went for my unfil, I was up 2lbs, so now I'm down 3.5lbs.

For national Talk Like a Pirate Day, if you dressed like a pirate you got a free dozen glaze doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. So this morning we dress my 18 month old up as a pirate and collected the bounty plus 3 additional free doughnuts.

Here is what I learned today. Doughnuts in the morning (ya know, when your tighter than normal) is not a good idea. I did not get stuck but there was the ever so awesome slimming...... and since we were on the road to the babysitters, I decided to spit out of the window (I wasn't driving) which landed on the back sit window (yuck) at least I was nice enough to not spit in my husbands cup. 

It has been a rough few weeks. On the food front it could have been worse. I'm down, so that's awesome! I'm working out more. By the way, I didn't go through with my 2 mile walk. After the lose of my friend and some other things, I just wanted to stay home and clean. I'm looking at 5ks coming up in the area.

Unfill and Bad News

On Monday I was stuck and I knew I was too tight, but I was able to get into the surgeons office on Tuesday and get .4cc removed, so I have 6.75cc in my 10cc band. Funny thing, I was 2 lbs up even though I had been too tight to really eat for a few days. I also found out that when your too tight, when the needle is put into the port the saline that needs to be removed just comes out on it's own.


On Wednesday, my best friend's husband passed away unexpectedly. He was only 37 and had been battling weight problems and some of the health issues that go with being over weight for a long time. He had surgery to convert from the Lap Band to Gastric Bypass last April and was down 140lbs. His Sleep Apnea was gone and things were looking up.  At this point the cause of death is unknown and the full Autopsy will not be back for a few weeks.

I feel horrible for my friend and I just keep thinking that 32 is too young to be a widow. How would I handle it if this happened to me. I'm certain of one thing, we need to get a Will set up with a guardian named for out child. It's just scary to think about.

Vote for Paxton - A Shameless Plug

I entered my son in the Gerber Generation Photo Search contest on Facebook. We would apperciate all the votes we can get! See how cute he is.....

To Vote you have to have a Facebook page. Go to www.facebook.com/gerber (the "Website"), click on the Photo Search thumbnail, "Like" the page to become a Fan (if you are not already a Fan), allow the "Photo Search 2012" application when prompted to "Get App." You should be able to click on the "Vote Now" link at the top. At the bottom you will see the Find Your Favorite Face Seacrh Window, under the Baby info you can enter Paxton's ID 61343 to easliy find him and vote.

 Voting ends on 9/24/12.

Please let me know if your child has an entry or if there are any issues with the instructions.

TOO TIGHT!!

I was suppose to have another fill last week, but I called and told them I didn't need a fill and scheduled a just in case appointment for 9/19. Since I didn't get a fill, you'd think I would be OK, but I'm not. I'm pretty sure that I was close too or in the "green zone" before this week, but now I'm too tight. What happened? I'm not sure, but I have been on liquid antibiotics for an infection, so maybe that's is the culprit.

I have noticed that my band just keep getting tighter and today I got stuck for the first time eating protein in a restaurant.  I actually had to make myself throw up to relieve the pressure. Yep that sucked.  I'm going to call the surgeons office tomorrow and see if I can get a slight unfill ASAP, until then I'm going to have to be careful.