Bruising

Here is a picture of my stomach after my first fill.  This actually looks better than it did 3 days ago.  It was all black/purple, but seems to be getting better!

Christmas dinner went down well!  My 5 year old niece told me to "watch out for the chicken" because she didn't want me to throw up like at the airport.  Clearly she overheard me telling her mom what happened!!! 

Some people wrote back to me and said they have slight bruising.  Would this be considered slight bruising and I should expect this after fills?  Or is this not normal?

I'm down 21.5 pounds as of 12/24/10!!! 

Merry Christmas!!!!

I made it to South Dakota last night with no travel problems....a small miracle considering the last 4 years of travel have brought many issues.  Delays, cancellations, lost bags, blizzards, etc...this year I walked into LaGuardia Airport and saw the shortest lines I've ever seen.  Both flights took off on time and landed on time.  It's a Christmas Miracle!!!  And it wasn't snowing in South Dakota and the roads were good.

The only problem at the airport was MY FIRST PB!!!!  Let me back up to Wednesday of this week when I got my first fill.  If you've been following me, you'll know I haven't had the best/easiest go since surgery.  I had a long, painful recovery, a leaking incision for over 2 weeks, and one trip to the ER for breathing problems.  So I go to my doctor on Wednesday and was a little nervous, but also excited for my fill.  They lay me down on the table, start DIGGING around looking for my port.  She (physician assistant) was poking and prodding so hard, my whole body was tense and I was screaming inside.  So she "thinks" she found it, put the needle in (OUCH!) and can't find the port.  So she takes the needle out, pokes around with her fingers  some more and says my port is tilted.  She said this isn't common, but it does happen.  She now just has to figure out if it's tilted up or down.  She thinks up.  At this point I feel all the blood drain from my head and feel like I'm going to pass out.  Luckily, I'm already lying down.  She goes in with needle number 2....no luck.  All I can think of is .....of course this is happening to me, nothing has been smooth so far!  She then goes to get the doctor.  He then pokes & prods some more, sticks in needle number 3 and thank the lord, he gets it!

I have had the largest black and blue mark on my stomach since Thursday.  I will take a picture tonight and post it before it  gets better.  It was worse, but still pretty big & gross.  I'm not sure if I should expect this bruising every time?  Or if it's just because they couldn't find it & had to try 3 times?  Anybody else experience this bruising & pain?  She did say once I start losing weight it will be easier to find my port....but in the meantime, I'm not looking forward to fills.

They started me off with 1.0cc in my 10cc band.  I did the rest of that day & the next day liquids/purees like I was suppose to.  On Friday I ate the inside of a chicken fajita panini (chicken already cut small so it was perfect).  I had told a couple people, since my fill was so close to flying and I really wouldn't know what my band was capable, I was planning on not eating anything while in the airport & flying for fear of PBing.  Well, I get to my gate in Detroit and have about 20 minutes before I board.  There was a Fuddruckers right across from my gate.  I figure I would get some chicken fingers & eat the chicken part & try to not eat too much breading.  Well, it took forever to get my food...I saw the chicken fingers come directly out of the fryer and into my hands....sit down at the table and tell myself to let them cool.  But I'm also nervous because I know once they start boarding my flight, it would be quick (very small planes flying into South Dakota so therefore takes about 2 minutes to board everyone :-) )  So I take a bite...I immediately realize it was too big, but it was also sooooo hot.  I instinctively take a drink of water (how many rules have I broken so far...anyone keeping track?!?!?!) and swallow because it's so hot.  I get this tight feeling in my chest, start hiccuping and and I'm like "crap...I can't believe I'm having my first "stuck" in the airport after I was adamant about NOT eating.  My flight is starting to board.  I throw my food away, get up and start walking (more like pacing) and all out panicking on how I'm going to board this plane.  I go to the bathroom (luckily a small bathroom where there was no one by the sink), do a big cough & some of the food comes out.  I still can feel like I'm stuck.  I walk out to make sure the door hasn't closed to my flight.  Run back to the bathroom, do another big cough and the rest came out!!!!

I made the flight!  I guess my band is working!!!!!  The rules will now be followed to a "T" and I hope it's a LONG time (or never would be nice) until the next PB.

For everyone celebrating Christmas today, have a great day and a great time with your family!

Stuck in Bandster Hell

Not much to report here.  My incision has basically stopped leaking.  There is a little here and there, but nothing major.  I'm pretty much back to 100%.  I sometimes have some pain if I'm sleeping on my right side...I know it's my port, so I just deal with it.

I'm suppose to be eating pureed food until I see my doctor on December 22.  I was doing really well for the first 3 weeks.  Then life got in the way.  When I'm running all over NYC with the kids, going from one activity to the other, I barely have time to eat.  Much less find a pureed food.  I have frozen pureed food at their house, but I sometimes leave the house at 8:30am and don't get back to the house until 4:30pm.  Can't really bring frozen food in my bag....I have no where to heat it up.  So I gradually started cheating with my pureed food.  I'm still eating basically all protein like my doctor wants, it's just not pureed.  And it's going down completely fine.  I'm chewing well, taking small bites, etc.  I know there is nothing in my band though, and my old eating habits sneak up on me every once in a while. 

I now understand Bandster Hell a little bit better.  Everyone keeps asking me "how much have you  lost?"  They're expecting a HUGE number because it's been almost 4 weeks.  I try to explain that there is nothing in my band right now, that it's basically all my own willpower at this point.  Most people don't get it, no matter how many details I give them.  I'm happy with my 17 pound weight loss, but other don't seem to be.  It's very frustrating.  I feel like I could eat anything.  I'm trying to keep myself in check and not go overboard.....but I probably wouldn't need this band if I could do that successfully.  I stopped weighing myself so I wouldn't have to answer the "how much have you lost?" question.

Ten more days until I get my first fill.  I'm a little nervous....I get my fill on December 22.  I fly home on December 24.  I've heard people on the blogs say how they get tight after flying.  So between my first fill & a flight right after....Christmas dinner might be very little food or liquids only.  But I'm also excited to get the next part of my journey under way.  The pain is gone, I feel good....now I'm ready to lose some weight!!!! 

Bring on the saline!!!!!!.....and good riddance to Bandster Hell.  May I never visit you again!

1st week back at work...lots of tears & a trip to the Emergency Room for 7 hours!

I haven't written for quite a while.  I'll start by saying my friend and I had a great Thanksgiving weekend together.  We cooked so much food, but I did really well with my pureed food!  The first picture is our "before" picture with her "normal" food and my puree food.  I had turkey/gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry jelly, and green beans.  The second picture is our "after" plates!  She couldn't believe that was all I ate.  It was so delicious and I was completely satisfied.

So after the great weekend with my friend, my week started off not so great.  I had a conference call my bosses (I'm a nanny, so it was the mom & dad on the phone) on Sunday night, before my first day back on Monday.  In one breathe they're saying how much they love me, support me, I'm part of their family, etc.  In the next breathe they basically accused me of not doing my research to know I was going to be out for 2 weeks, that I couldn't be in the pool for 4-5 weeks, and that I couldn't lift more than 7 pounds for 4-5 weeks.  Now, you  must know that there is another full-time nanny that I work with at this house.  We both work M-F and split the 3 girls and split the responsibilities.  The parents told me they feel completely blindsided that I won't be able to do my job "to the full potential" for the next 4-5 weeks.  I was ready to lose it.  I have been with this family for 1 1/2 years.  I have always gone above & beyond the job desciption and they tell me it all the time.  So I asked them that for the next 4-5 weeks if I could mainly do the 2 older girls and not the 2 year old because she requires a lot of lifting (in/out of crib, in/out of cabs in NYC, on/off changing table, in/out of highchair, etc).  They gave me such a hard time and I almost lost it on the phone.  I've been SOOOOO emotional and that put me right over the edge.  They refused to give me 3 sick days....yet the last nanny who was only with them for 8 months, took 6 or 7 sick days and was paid with no questions asked.  I've been with them 1 1/2 years, NEVER called out sick, and for those 3 sick days that I asked for, they said NO.  I won't keep going because I could write a novel on this subject.  There are alot of other things I won't get into, but this just started the week off horribly.

A little back track...I started getting these very severe, piercing pains on my left side, in my left rib/lung/breast area.  It hurt to breathe, take deep breaths, etc.  I couldn't imagine there was still gas from the surgery 10 days out, but I fought the pain from Friday night to Monday.  I finally called my doctor, who told me that I need to come in immediately for a CAT scan!  So after my bosses were so rude and unsupportive....I had to leave work at 2pm on my first day back.  I was so upset.  I went to urgent care...was there 2 1/2 hrs.  They sent me to the Emergency Room where I sat for the next 7 hours.  They did blood & urine tests, a chest xray, a CAT scan, and a sonogram of my leg.  They thought they saw some blockage in my leg from the cat scan, so that's why they ordered the sonogram of my leg.  Of course it turned out to be NOTHING.  SOOOOO frustrating.  My incision was infected, so at least I was able to get an antibiotic for that.  Don't get my wrong, I'm glad it wasn't a blood clot like they thought, but now I had to take another 1/2 day off work.

But it's Friday....I made it through my first week!  I don't feel 100%, but almost there.  My incision is still leaking.  Has anyone else had this issue?  It will be 2 weeks on Sunday since it's been leaking.  I have a single incision in my belly button.  It's slowly leaking less and less, but still definitely leaking.  My emotional stability is getting a little better, but WOW.  This crying business needs to stop already!

Ok, if you're still reading this, THANK YOU!  I'll stop writing.  I need to write more often so this doesn't happen.  Thanks for listening.