Focusing on Food

My youngest daughter had her winter semi-formal dance this weekend. She is a freshman. It is the first time she received a corsage. It was an exciting weekend for her. She is my last one at home, so I'm enjoying these moments as much as I can.

We made the Skinny Taste Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms the other night. Delicious and lots for leftovers!

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1962732

I have not had a recipe from them yet that I did not like.

Since I'm a week out from revision my main focus is tracking my food. I see my dr. next week and hope to get back into some exercise.

I have been recording all of my food for the day on Calorie Counter in the am so then I have a plan in front of me.

I increased protein today. My goal is to keep it close to at least 80 gm a day.

This is my basic food plan for these two weeks post-op. If I need a tweak at the end of the day I will have a tbsp of peanut butter.

Breakfast:
Cream of Wheat/Skim Milk/NF Dry milk for extra protein/splenda

200 cal/13 gm protein

Lunch
1 c, Chicken Chili Skinny Taste/Lite Sour Cream/Colby Jack Shredded cheese
340 cal/26 gm protein

Dinner
1 small Salisbury steak/green beans
285 cal/24 gm protein

Snacks

3 slices Summer Sausage/2 slices Swiss cheese
1 tbsp Cool Whip Lite/SF jello/Sobes
280 cal/16.5 gm protein

Total = 1105 cal/79.47 gm protein

Have a great week everyone! :)

Itching

My largest incision around my port is starting to get itchy as it heals. I didn't know if I should be putting anything on it so soon after surgery. I was thinking a little bio-oil sounds good about now.

Little by Little! My weight this morning was 188.8 which is 2.4 lbs. down since Monday. I have been very diligent writing down what I eat every day in my journal. I know that it helps to document somewhere and I am a woman on a mission! My goal is to record my weight on my blog every Monday.

I found a couple of wonderful recipes on the Zip List that I fixed this week. What I like about Ziplist is that you click on the recipe you like and it composes your shopping list for you.

http://get.ziplist.com/

Baked Potato Soup

www.skinnytaste.com/2011/02/baked-potato-soup.html

This was one of the best potato soup recipes I have had. I has cauliflower blended in and it gives a nice consistency to the soup and helps to make it healthier. :) Loved the bacon too...protein!
This recipe was 207.6 calories per 1 cup serving/11.9 g protein

The other one I LOVED was:

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili
www.skinnytaste.com/2008/11/crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili-4-pts.html

This one was easy to prepare...just open a lot of cans and dump in! The most prep was chopping one onion. Lots of leftovers for meals during the week.
203.7 calories per 1 1/4 cup serving/16.9 g protein

Watched the movie "This Means War" with Reese Witherspoon before my surgery. It was fun and the guys were fun to watch.

The other new thing I found this week is "Words with Friends" on my smart phone. Very addicting!

It feels good to be back in blogland and catching up with everyone. I'm telling you over the course of a year, some of you have gotten right down SKINNY! :)

Happy weekend everyone!

Janice 2.0 - Newly Revised

I had my revision surgery on Monday. My husband says I'm now a new version of the old. Just updated technology, so he affectionately calls me "Janice 2.0". I was in the hospital less than six hours total. Much quicker than the initial surgery. I'm at the office today; probably will just spend half a day.

My dr. confirmed what I read about the Realize Band having a volunteer recall for the reason of the tubes coming disconnected from the ports. He has not used the Realize band himself for over the past year for that reason. I was banded about 21 months ago. See articles below:

Realize band recall
There was a voluntary recall of Realize bands that were not yet placed in patients. The problem was with a connector that connected the tubing to the port would sometimes disconnect. The main issue with this is if ever the band needed to be removed the surgeon would need to make sure they do not lose this piece. I prefer to use the Allergan Lap-Band in my patients which has been approved by the FDA for a longer period of time in the USA.
Doctor's Website

Shawn Garber, MD
Long Island Bariatric Surgeon
+1
Realize Recall...What Does It mean For You?
In a word? NOTHING! The recall of the Realize Band was voluntary and involved only bands that were still sitting on the shelf! Patients that have had Realize Bands placed inside of them definitely DO NOT have to have their band removed. The voluntary recall involved a technical issue with the tubing and the port that to my knowledge had never caused a reportable problem for patients. The company had devised a way to improve the mechanics... more
Doctor's Website

Lloyd Stegemann, MD
Corpus Christi Bariatric Surgeon

My dr. reconnected the tube to a new port and shortened it. He also used two binder clasps (whatever they are called:) to attach the tube to the new port. The new port is the replaced/improved port for the recalled Realize part. My dr. has done over 1000 lapbands and has never had one of his patients become disconnected. I'm his first personal disconnect. :) That being said, he has done reconnections for other patients who had their lapbands done elsewhere. He did say this was extremely rare. At the time he did the surgery, my tube was hanging out around my appendix.

I asked him why he didn't just replace the whole Realize system and he said that would have involved a much more invasive procedure. The recall concern was with the port and connecting tube and that is the part I had changed out.

I just have three incisions (I will post a pic later in the week). Not too bad.

All in all I'm felling pretty good. He did put some saline in the band during the surgery so I would have some restriction; not much though. He didn't want to have to do an unfill while I was still a bit swollen from surgery. So we erred on the side of a light fill. I had liquids after surgery the first day and now I am pretty much back on my bandster diet. I've been keeping to under 1000 calories a day (soup, LOVE cream of wheat, jello....) just because that is what sounds the best right now.

My weight was 191.2 the morning of surgery. Goal is 160 by the end of July. Back on the band wagon!

Happy Hump Day!

Surgery Tomorrw and Goals in Place

Revision surgery tomorrow. My fourteen year old daughter asked me today if I was looking forward to it. I raised my eyebrow at her and she said, "You know, at least you won't be in pain any more." She is right. :) Know that if you are in pain, something is not right.

I was inspired byMaria from Last Train out of Fatland who shared her goals. I'm trying to get myself pepped up before my surgery and thought a few goals would help keep my morale up. Kind of like a coach before the big game. :)

I'm just setting goals for six months out. I can't see further than that down the tunnel.

February - July 2012

Weight Goal July = 160 lbs.

That is aggressive, but only 12 lbs. less than I weighed before I became unplugged, so it is doable.

*Track my food daily using Calorie Counter

*Plan weekly meals and stick to daily plans.
*Eat out no more than 1x a week.

*Go to the gym 4x a week. Focus weights, bike, and swimming.

Steam room and jacuzzi are the reward. :)

*When weather gets better, take some bike rides on our local trail.

*When weather gets better, take my dog on a daily walk.

Back to finishing up odds and ends at work, so I can take it easy this week.

Happy sunshiney weekend!

One week until Revision

I feel like I'm being "edited" with my "revision" surgery. So my first 18 months has just been a rough draft. :) So what happened in September is that the tube became disconnected from my port and was just floating around in my abdomen. I didn't know that THIS was the case at the time; that is just when my lower abdominal pains began. I knew right away. I went to the OB/GYN three times, gastro dr (colonoscopy/barium swallow), neurologist...I told all of the drs. that I had lapband and none of them seemed to think there could be a correlation between the pain and the band.

September is also the month I slowly started gaining weight. All in all, I gained about 15 lbs. from September to January. I kept putting off my 18 mos. check up with my band dr. just because I was so focused on my abdominal pains and I was embarrassed by my weight gain. Hind sight is 20/20. It seems like such a "duh" moment looking back on it. I just hope if anyone else has similar concerns, no matter what their circumstances they make their band dr. their first stop. I would have saved a lot of money in unnecessary tests with the other drs.

I had my EKG and bloodwork done at the hospital lab on Sat. That is it before this surgery. No special diet, etc. beforehand. Just no food and drink after midnight the day before. My revision surgery is scheduled for a week from today. It will be good to be back on the bandwagon.

My questions for the dr:

1) Any idea why this might have happened?

2) What can we do so this doesn't happen again?

3) Approximately what percentage of patients does this happen to? I have not heard about this much. My googling on the Internet found a couple of people that had this happen. Both had revision surgery and all is fine.

From the dr. notes, it looks like I'm getting a new port and tube.

I feel more aware of what is happening before this surgery than I did initial surgery to get the band. It gives me more confidence in myself and the band...knowing what to expect.

I went to http://get.ziplist.com/ to get some menus for planning this week. I like it because it creates a shopping list when you click on a recipe you like. They had a good variety of recipes from http://www.skinnytaste.com/. It was nice because it gives calories, fat, etc.

I picked out:

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Baked Potato Soup
Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

Skinny Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

I figured I could eat a small portion of any of these dishes. They are all from Skinny Taste. :)

I'm sure next week will be a different story after the revision surgery.

Happy Monday everyone!

Surgery Date & BYOC

Going to have surgery on 2/20 to RECONNECT the tube, etc. I feel like I have been unplugged. :) I think I am getting new equipment. I will know more next week.

The biggest advice I can give is get to your dr. if you are gaining weight, don't be embarrassed. I could have figured all of this out back in the fall if I had not let my pride get in the way. All is well now that I know what the problem is and can get it fixed.

I'm committed to getting back to blogging regularly. That helped in the past to keep me mentally connected and focused on my goals.

This is the first time I have responded to a BYOC.

1. Name a Valentine gift you would NOT want to receive.

Definitely chocolate. My husband gives me a BIG box each year. Maybe I should have him start reading my blog. :) This year I asked for dinner and a movie. Want to see "This Means War" with Reese Witherspoon and "The Vow" with Rachel McAdams. Okay, I may have said no to chocolate, but I wouldn't be against a small bag of movie popcorn.

2. What's your vacation personality? Do you act/eat/talk/do things differently or completely opposite from when you are not on vacation?

I guess I would need to actually GO on a vacation to have a vacation personality. All of my trips seem to always be business related. I would want to veg/chill and not pay any attention to time and schedules. Read, do a little sightseeing, maybe even go ziplining, drink a glass of wine...

3. Describe yourself in 5 POSITIVE words.

Kind

Organized

Nurturing

Positive

Funny

4. Do you have any phobias or irrational fears or dislikes?

Heights, big spiders with fangs and snakes. There was a snake on the sidewalk downtown in our city. I refused to go on that side of the street. Ended up with 5 policemen tracking down the snake in a restaurant window. The 3 1/2 foot snake was tasered. We live in a small town...what can I say? :)

5. Repeat question: Summarize your week in blog land and in real life.

This is my coming back to blogland week. I have missed it. It had been over a year since I posted. People have gotten a LOT skinnier, had babies, etc. It was fun to read stories of fellow bloggers. Life goes on.

Real life is getting my revision surgery. I feel like a car with maintenance problems. I have been in pain the past five months and did not know why, so it is a BIG relief to solve that mystery. If I could have the surgery tomorrow I would. I am confident now I can get back on track after this surgery. Can't wait to exercise again and lose the 20 lbs. I gained since Sept.

Happy weekend everyone!

Janice

Tube Disconnected from Port

Wow...it has been over a year since I have posted. I realize how much of a help the support of the band community can be.

Anyways, long story short. I was banded in May 2010. All went well and I was losing weight, slowly and steadily. I only had a few fills that first year, because I wanted to be comfortable and not too tight. I left my teaching job in June this past year and changed jobs. My oldest daughter went off to college. I started gaining weight in the fall and chalked it up to "life-style" changes. Also, in September I started having abdominal pains/groin...all over the place. My ob/gyn did a pelvic ultrasound/blood work/urine tests...all good. Gastro dr. did colonoscopy/barium test...all ok. I thought I was going crazy. I kept mentioning other possibilities to the drs including asking if my lapband could have anything to do with it and we all thought, "nah, too far from that area...how could they be related." So tests, dollars spent and time later...

Finally, made it to my lapband dr. 18 month visit. I kept rescheduling it because of the other tests and plus I was embarrassed because I had gained weight. I told him that I thought it was about time I had a fill since I was gaining weight. When he went in to remove fluid, nothing came out which concerned him. Then he put fluid in and tried to pull that out and nothing came out.
He was concerned that I might have a leak in my band which would explain that I had no restriction and hence a weight gain.

I went to the hospital today and they were going to inject the die to see where there might be a leak. No need for the radiologist to do that. He could see on the XRay that my tube was disconnected from the port and hanging lose in my abdomen. That explained the pain in the abdomen that was moving around. Part of me feels relieved at least to understand where that pain was coming from and not feel like I was going crazy.

My dr. is supposed to call me back today or Monday and discuss the options.

I didn't know if anyone else has gone through this. At least I have an explanation for the weight gain and ab pain. Sometimes you learn as you go and I thought I was being as proactive as I could be.

Thanks for any input!!!

I promise to get back into the blog swing. I need it. Missed everyone!