Another Milestone and a Look Back

Things have been so busy, my three monthiversary since surgery just flew right by. On August 19th I had my appointment for my second fill (if you don’t know what a fill entails, I describe it here). Well, I showed up for my appointment and the PA (physician’s assistant) came in, took a look at my chart and vitals, and told me that my weight loss rate was right where they wanted it and I could consider myself a success story for this juncture in the journey. It’s always nice to hear a few positive words about your progress. Anyway, the end result was that I didn’t get a fill because it was not needed at this point in time, and I go back in six weeks.

Was I upset with not getting a fill? No. I had been a little concerned about getting the fill because I still had a good feeling of restriction and was stuffed in 5-6 bites, so had ambivalent feelings about tightening things up even more. I do know some people who would have gone ballistic if they didn’t get a fill, but each person’s journey is their own, and I really want the band to be there as a reminder not to eat too fast, too much, etc. rather than being a device to stop me from eating. I am a bit of a control freak and want to stay in control. In actuality, my weight loss rate has slowed down a little since right after my first fill, but I figure my body needs a chance to catch up with the weight loss so far.

On the 25th, I had to have a colonoscopy (my doctor nearly flipped when he found out I hadn’t had one prior to my surgery) due to colon cancer running in my family. Pre-surgery this would have not been a big deal – not pleasant, but no extra considerations required. Post surgery, there were things to be considered. Fortunately my gastroenterologist is the same one my surgeon group recommends, so he is familiar with the different weight loss surgeries and the special needs that come with them. Such as, it is impossible for a weight loss surgery patient to drink the 4 liters of liquid necessary in the time frame required. Even taking the pills the requirement is to take 4 pills at a time along with 8 ounces of water (or other clear liquid). You have to do this every 15 minutes five times in succession the night before and 3 times in succession the next morning. The doctor said I could stretch consumption of the liquid to 20 minutes instead of the 15 set as the standard. So I had to figure out how best to accomplish this. I knew downing eight ounces at one time was not going to be a happy situation, so I decided the best method was to space it out as evenly as I could. As a consequence, I took one ounce along with a pill, waited two and half minutes and then had another ounce of water – repeat ad nauseum until all 20 pills had been taken. Let me tell you, even though taking a one ounce drink every two and a half minutes may seem like drinking slowly to you, for me, who is used to drinking that same one ounce every five minutes, it felt quite fast. I was completely stuffed to overflowing by the time I got to the end of the regime. So for me, having to drink so quickly was the worst part of the whole procedure. Oh, and I’m clear and don’t have to do this exercise for another three years.

So has everything been smooth sailing? Pretty much. I’ve had a couple of issues with my knee not wanting to keep treading those thousand steps but that is a fairly normal occurrence because of the different stress points in the body with the changing weight. I usually give my knees a couple of days to settle down, and then back to the parking garage and up and down the steps with me. I need to start working in some additional exercise to help tone muscles (to help combat the flabbiness of the skin), but want to do that slowly. If I try to do too much at once, I’ll do it for awhile and then quit. The trick is to build things into my lifestyle that get me moving more and more without calling it exercise, because I will fail at exercise for the sake of exercise. Is there anything that I feel I need to work on? Yes. I need to work on taking smaller bites. Prior to surgery I didn’t take huge bites, and I have found myself taking bigger bites after surgery. Why? I like hot food. I end up taking bigger bites to consume more of the food while it’s hot, and then much smaller bites once it has cooled. I need to find a way to keep my food warm while I consume it, and then I think the problem will resolve itself.

Rundown on my progress to date:

1. I have lost 25 pounds since weight loss surgery
2. I have lost 59 pounds since orientation
3. I have lost 97 pounds since starting my weight loss journey

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