Well...I knew this would happen...but that doesn't mean I have to be real happy about it.
So I finally got my shrinking hiney to my surgeon yesterday. I weighed in and according to their scale, I've lost 78 pounds. When I started this, 80 was my first goal. I knew if I could reach that, I could maybe lose another 10. So 2 pounds from my goal, not bad. Dr. Dean walked in and told me I looked amazing, told me how proud he was, and we fist bumped. LOL! I just shook my head. He said, "What? You're not happy with 80 pounds? What's wrong with you?!" I told him it hasn't been a good 4.5 months. He pulled out his note pad and asked what the problem was.
I told him all my struggles over the past few months. How I can't keep anything down. Nothing. I keep just enough fluid in to keep dehydration from setting in, but other than that, everything I eat comes up. He asked if I was experiencing acid reflux. Oh absolutely. He asked if it happened at night when I was laying down. Oh absolutely. That's the worst. He then told me something I was thrilled to hear: I'm normal, it's okay, there is a solution...and the solution is not 3 months of liquids! YIPPEE!
Soooo....long story short....he removed all the liquid from my band. This means my stomach is a normal stomach, pretty much as if I don't even have the band. Due to the excessive vomiting and acid reflux, my stomach and esophagus are extrememly swollen and irritated. In 6 weeks I will go back and he will start giving me a 1 cc fill every few weeks until I reach restriction. This 6 weeks will allow my insides to chill out, relax, and get back to normal.
Great, right? Uhh...I don't know yet.
This means months of living life basically without a lap band. If I could lose weight without the band, I would have never gotten it! I now have to really work at this weight loss thing. I have to re-learn making good choices, get serious about exercising, watch portion sizes and snack choices. And since I've sold all my size 14jeans...I MUST make this extra effort to maintain my weight.
Early last year, I cut off all fast food. It's my weakness and I love it. In November, I started slacking off and eating whatever I wanted because I knew I was just going to throw it all up. So now I have challenged myself with breaking that fast food addiction again. I know I can do it!
Dr. Dean told me to weigh every day. This will help me monitor my weight and make any necessary food/exercise changes quickly. He once again stressed the importance of exercising. If I add that in, even though I'm able to eat now, I should be able to maintain...maybe even lose some more. He also told me he didn't want to see me come back in March having gained 15 pounds. I do NOT want to disappoint him. So not only do I not want to go backwards and undo all the good I've done, I don't want to let him down either.
I have my work cut out for me. It's only been 24 hours, but I've made some pretty good choices so far. The challenge is to continue making those choices for another 984 hours. :)
