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Down 33#!  Check out the progress photos in my album.  I don't see it yet in the mirror (maybe because I didn't really look at myself in the mirror for so long, it's hard to break that habit) but I can sure see a change when I look at the pictures.

Well, I've been banded for a week now.  And while I have nowhere near enough experience with this just yet to say that I'm an expert, I feel like I'm doing pretty well with it.  Full liquids are getting a little old, but it's nothing like the total deprivation of the 10-day pre-op diet.  I get hungry, I have my half a cup of soup, I feel full.  Repeat every couple of hours.  The only thing that bugs me is waking in the middle of the night with my stomach roaring... I have to get up and eat a little something before I can go back to sleep.  It's like having a baby that can't sleep through the night yet, only I'm the baby.  Even with all this continual eating, I'm only getting in 1200 calories or so.  And that's a chore!  Dang, I'll be glad when I get to solids & can start eating by the "normal" band rules.

Well, all looked well at the barium swallow test, so I'm clear for full liquids.  Boy am I hungry!  Going back to work tomorrow, too.

A slightly funny story that I told the anesthesiologist & nurses yesterday:  On the night before my surgery, I just plain didn't sleep well -- between the nine million bathroom trips with the phospho soda, and the lying awake wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into, well, it just wasn't all that restful.  Typical, I suppose.  Towards morning I finally fell into a deeper sleep, only to DREAM about FOOD.  No fooling!  In my dream, I was at a Hallowe'en party (everyone was wearing costumes) and there were party trays everywhere.  I kept forgetting that I was instructed not to eat, and take some little nibbly -- then suddenly remember "Oh crap!  I'm not supposed to eat anything!  Now I can't have the surgery!"  I did this over and over again in the dream.  I ate a ton of dream food -- three hard-boiled eggs, some chips and salsa, a chicken leg, and some Hallowe'en candy.  Pretty silly, huh?

Today was the day... I am now home and banded!  The surgery itself was a breeze compared to the torture of the 10-day pre-op diet and the phospho-soda misery.  Dr. K and her staff were really top-notch.  They made sure I felt comfortable and relaxed every step of the way.  The actual procedure took about an hour... I ended up spending a little extra time in recovery because my blood pressure was so low, they wanted to make sure it came up to something near normal.  My very wonderful huz stayed with me for all the parts where I was awake.  Such a sweetie, he's already made a couple of runs to the store for things that I forgot to pick up.

Snoozing, drinking a little fruit juice, snoozing a little more... I'm just hanging out here at home.  So far I haven't had much pain, I took a couple of chewable Tylenol & that's enough to take care of it. 

I'm a bandster!

Bye for a bit, I'm going spinning for four days!

I've decided to blog my WLS journey separately, since I'm not ready to reveal the surgery on my "public" blog.  Kinda confusing.  Anyway, it's starting to feel real!  I'm on my third day of liquids and my surgery is scheduled in ONE WEEK.  Wow!  I'm getting excited, I can't wait!

Some little part of me still feels like "geez, can't you do this on your own" but I refuse to listen to it.  Twenty years of steady weight gain has showed me that NO, I'm not going to be able to do this without changing something about my physiology.  Perhaps it's just an unlucky gene I inherited or something, but if I can use a surgical tool to help correct it, why the hell not?  Did I feel ashamed or inadequate when I became nearsighted and then chose to get LASIK to correct it?  Duh!