Down 23!!

It's slow going, pound by pound, and some days not even anything down. I went to my regular Primary Care doc and she is pleased as she can be at my progress. I was down 23 from her charts. Right now all med levels will stay the same, but she expects diabetic meds to get decreased in coming months as well as BP meds and maybe even the cholesterol meds. My next lapband surgeon's appointment is on January 28th, and I will be getting another band fill around that time.

I went up to Lake Lanier yesterday with a friend of mine who knows the area as he grew up there, and let me tell you, the drought is BAD. I know some of you have asked me about our drought situation here in the southeast United States and I took some unreal pics. I will post them here. Lake Lanier supplies most of Atlanta and most of northern Georgia with water. It's a huge reservoir that encompasses 2 or 3 counties.

Me, December 30, 2008--Lake Lanier

First band fill.....weeee!!!

I know some of you have said I have had no updates to the blog in a while.........sorry about that, it is just that there have been no real changes.

I have been at a stand still on my weight for over 2 weeks now......it's been discouraging but at my doctor's appointment last Friday they said a "plateau" is VERY VERY normal and I was down 17 pounds. The doctor said that is VERY good. His words to me were "let's not forget you have lost this weight with nothing in your band"........There is something very psychological about the number "20" (as in pounds).........and my scale had at one point said I was down 20, but I was playing around with 2 to 4 pounds. Some days I was down 16, others I was down 20.

It was good to see Doctor "S" (as we call him) again. He used some lydocaine to deaden the area of the port, then stuck an 18 gauge needle in, he asked me to look at the screen (something like an ultrasound) and you could see the needle go in. He injected 4 cc's of saline and then they tilted the table up so the fun part could start. They handed me some barium to drink. YUMMM!!! NOT!! The doctor said to look at the screen and then take some sips. I got to see the barium go down the esophigus and into the "pouch" and he adjusted the amount of saline a little bit to make the band opening into the main part of the stomach the right size. The whole procedure took all of 5 minutes.

I am primarily on liquids until tomorrow, but I have had a few soft foods and some baby food bananas. It's all gone down pretty well. I feel fuller faster, which is what they are trying to achieve.

My next fill will be in 4 weeks. My next doc's appt. is in 5 weeks I believe.

Let's hope I am now over my plateau!!!!!!