Ask And You Shall Receive

That fill that was doing absolutely nothing for me?  You know, the one I was just complaining about in the prior post?  Yeah, well, I must have really pissed it off because yesterday and today I have be T-I-G-H-T, tight!  Wowza!  Have been eating tortillas since I was banded with no problems - not anymore.  In fact I almost had a PB incident here at work during lunch.  I actually had to run into the bathroom.  And of course, me being me, I checked all the stalls and saw someone was in the last one so I went back in the hall and paced.  Didn't want to gross out the lone person in the bathroom, heaven forbid!  Noooo, I'd rather feel like a golf ball is stuck in my esophagus for an eternity.  Thankfully, I became unstuck and no longer had to worry about bathroom occupancy.  Bet that was more than you needed to know!  Oh the joys of being banded!

It remains to be seen if this restriction will last, but I must say it is nice to finally, truly, feel the band working!

To Fill Or Not To Fill???

So I bit the bullet and moved up my next fill from 4 weeks to 3 weeks.  Now I just have to remember to be a bit more assertive with whomever is giving me that fill!  Right now I can only eat about a cup of food at a time, but I get hungry about 2 hours later.  Today I had oatmeal with almonds and skim milk for breakfast and I couldn't even eat the full serving.  I had that at 7am and by 9am at work it felt like I hadn't eaten a thing!  So I had a banana.  Guess what?  I don't think I like bananas much.  Could only eat about half of that before it started tasting "funny"...For lunch I brought left over asparagus risotto and sliced peaches.  The risotto really seemed to fill me up yesterday so hopefully it will do the same today!

Hope everyone has a good Monday!  Looking forward to watching The Bachelor finale tonight...even though I already know the outcome (thanks Reality Steve).

Weekend Photo Essay

First, thanks to everyone who commented on my last post.  Your encouragement is much appreciated!  I know it takes a while to get restriction and I definitely need to work on my patience! 

I went to Trader Joe's today to do my grocery shopping.  Picked up a lot of different items (all between 90 and 250 calories per serving):


OATMEAL, ALMONDS & BROWN SUGAR



ASPARAGUS RISOTTO



CHEESE ENCHILADAS



POLENTA, SPINACH & PEAS



MINI BEEF TACOS



MY ESSENTIAL UNSWEETENED TEA AND SKIM MILK



PRE-SLICED CANTALOUPE AND WATERMELON





VEGGIE EGG ROLLS

I have also been walking more...the weather has been perfect.  Sunny and in the 70s. 

And finally here's my 2 month picture:

Are You There Restriction? It's Me, Amanda.

I keep calling and calling.  Still, no answer.  I read these blogs where people speak of "tightness" and I am jealous.  What does that feel like?  'Cause these 1.4 ccs are not cutting it.  I really feel that I am having to "diet" meaning my band isn't helping me as much as I think it should.  My PA said I can go back in 3 weeks for another fill and I think I am going to take her up on that offer, because this, quite frankly, SUCKS.  I am still losing, albeit s-l-o-w-l-y.  So that's good.  And I know I have to get better with the exercising...but still!  I feel if I ask the PA to be more "aggressive" she'll...I don't know...spank me??  Yell at me??  Yank my band out and say NO MORE???  Maybe I just need to be more agressive myself at my next appointment.

Anyway - onto the weekend.  Thank GOD!

Fill Number Two

Got my second fill today and you aren't going to believe how much they gave me!  Ready?  Wait for it...A WHOLE 0.4 CCs!!  Sweet Baby Jesus, was I disappointed.  I thought for sure I would at the very least get one whole cc bringing me to 2 ccs in total.  Nope.  So this was my experience (would love if other bandsters would chime in and let me know if this is typically how their fills go):

Water - ready to drink!

This is my "fill room"!

First, let me start off by saying that I apparently had 2 ccs in my band when I was originally banded (I had thought it was completely empty) - the nurse confirmed this when I asked again if I only had 1 cc put in during my last fill.  She said "they took 2 out and put 1 in".  Glad to know I am so on top of the fluids going into my body.

Anyway, the PA came in and found my port quite easily enough and removed the 1 cc I had in there and put in 3 ccs.  Then I drank the water and she asked if I could "feel the water trying to bubble back up in my esophagus"...???  I sort of could (I guess).  So she removed some saline.  Then I drank again.  I told her this time the water went down easier.  She told me she was going to take a bit more out since food is harder to get down than water.  And that's how I ended up with a whopping 1.4 ccs TOTAL in my band.  She did say I could come back in 3 weeks instead of 4 if I didn't feel good restriction.  So we shall see.  Today is back to liquids so the real test will come later this week.

Here's hoping to some good restriction!

Monday Ponderings

So I get my second fill tomorrow.  I am beyond excited.  I still am in search of that elusive restriction.  I am hoping this fill will be a bit more helpful than the last.

As we tend to do in blog land, I have been reading more and more blogs and I've run across an interesting phenomenon:  Band Vacations (having their bands completely deflated for a period of time).  This has me completely flummoxed.  Why would you want to take a vacation and thus set up possible failure??  To me, the best part of the band is if you want to "cheat" and have something lacking nutritional value, you can, but your band keeps you from over induldging.  I guess there are a few bandsters out there that miss eating in abundance?  I am not judging - I am merely reacting, as I can't imagine myself ever doing this.  I guess I looked at this journey as continuum.  I don't ever want to "go back" - if I never get to eat 4 pieces of pizza again, oh well.  I will gladly settle for one.

I'll report back after my fill tomorrow...until then...

Fail. ...so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!

So, remember that stroller I got for Jake that I was so darn excited about last week? Haven't. Used. It. Once.  Yes, I have somewhat valid excuses - had a pretty bad cold this weekend that lasted through Monday and then Jake a had a bug of some sort.  But still.  I need to put the blinders on and FOCUS.  We all know that exercise is muy importante, right?  Now I just need to get that little nugget of info from my brain to my behind.  So I am challenging myself - starting tomorrow - no more excuses.  Time to get the ole arse in gear.