Been thinking about doing this for quite a while

Don't know if any of my dear sweet LB followers are still out there but I figure I'll try and write a short post to find out!

Been a lot in my life going on that I need to catch up on in blog form but I just can't post a year's worth of stuff in one post. To make a very long story short since my last post in November 2011... UGH that was over a year ago! Pictures inserted at the most recent I have of my and my DH taken last Christmas!

My Lapband office closed and surgeon moved 4 hours away. :-(

I found a new Surgeon and bariatric office that I absolutely love! :-)  All of the people there, even tho they are all MUCH younger than I am, all seem to understand the band better than even I do after having my 3 year Bandiversary just 2 days ago!!!

Much to my dismay when I found this office and did all of the testing that they needed done before they would ever even see me. (Which I became glad about after I had it done and discovered what was wrong), I was told that My "pouch" and esophagus were stretched out and the Dr was taking all the saline out of my band and we were starting over from day one minus the initial surgery. We Did! ... Only 5 CC's in my band and I was to tight. Was sliming a lot and couldn't eat most of the time and when I could... OMG, I would go hog wild.

All fluid out, 6 months and 3 upper GI swallows later we are happy and ready to start filling again. THANK GOD I had the sensibility to eat right during those 6 - 8 months of non fill because I only gained back 12 of the pound that I had initially lost. WEEE! Long story short I am back to 5 cc's in and back within sight of my goal of 180-185 pounds. Last appointment was 193 lbs. Altho' at last blood work, I am low on calcium. so was told to get more milk and calcium supplements in...

I've also changed jobs, just recently. I have gone from working with juvenile delinquents to working at a State University! I absolutely LOVE it...


If any of my dear sweet Band buddies are still out there I would love to hear from you!

I feel horrible!

Yes I really feel horrible… I haven’t been on this blog of mine since Thanksgiving! That is HORRIBLE! Will You, my fellow bandsters and support people ever be able to forgive me?

In My Absence: Things that I have missed out on celebrating with you are … #1. Christmas & New Year!!! I hope your holidays were all fantastic! Mine were well, let’s just say strenuous BUT happy nonetheless.

At the beginning of November we were informed that my DH would be losing his job as of December 31st Due to the loss of the primary contract at the Company, Unless, of course his company could get another contract before then. Well they did not get the new contract as they were hoping. So, DH is now on unemployment, aggressively looking for work but, in this economy who knows when that will happen. And I am working 2 jobs to help supplement the unemployment money that he is getting. I, on a whim, I picked up a “part-time” job for the holidays! I applied to be a sales associate at “Piercing Pagoda” a jewelry sales kiosk in our local mall, and due to the timing of my application (Black Friday) the manager asked when I could start and I did the following week. On December 1st I started as a “seasonal” sales associate. I had only wanted to get a few extra hours a week but, those few worked out to be 20 -25 /week for the month of December then the first week of January, my manager asked me if I would like to continue on as a regular sales associate… Because DH was now not working, I said yes as long as it didn’t interfere with my chorus’s or quartet. Then the second week of January I got asked again if I would be willing to advance to a “Key holder Associate”. I thought about it and told her yes, again as long as it didn’t interfere with my chorus’s or quartet and that she didn’t schedule me on to many weeknights due to the fact that I am up at 4 am to go to my day job. So I am now officially a trained Key holder and can open and close the store by myself. It’s actually very fun and honestly a “Relief” from my day job as the stress of THAT is getting worse and worse every day!!! I have been told that, that job could quite possibly come to an end this year if our new governor has his way! Supposedly an announcement is being made about budget and employee cuts on Feb 1. I may be sitting here on unemployment with DH soon too. So, I am glad I have this extra thing going on now! This is a picture of me and DH on Christmas Day!

The Second thing that we have missed celebrating together is my BANDIVERSARY!!! I have been banded One complete year as of January 12th 2011. What a day that was one year ago! Hiding my surgery from my father who was having a heart catheterization the same day at the same hospital and then being placed on the SAME FLOOR as I was on… Whew, but I did it! With the help of my DH and a very good friend.

Then a 3rd thing I need to share and vent about is at the end of the year there was a Big write up in our local paper about how the Bariatric Office that I have been dealing with for the last almost 2 years is CLOSING! WTF!!! How can an office that has SSSOOO many patients CLOSE! Now all I can think of when I read this is NOW what am I going to do. I had an appointment on 1/17 and I spoke to the nurses there. My particular surgeon is seeing all of his patients thru till the end of May and then hopefully he will be picked up by another local hospitals bariatric office and I will be able to continue with him. I really don't want to go to anyone else. My port is tilted downward and he is the ONLY one that has been able to hit it in the first try when he gives me fills. Granted the first time was a little tense but now that he knows he is dead on every time!!! So I wait till May now to see where he goes and then I will follow if he is within an hours driving time! I am now to have a teeny fill on 2/21 which means that I will see Dr G and talk to him about a game plan at that time!

OK, that is the updates for me! I know there are more things that I am forgetting BUT, for now I will keep the post a little on the shorter side. Not to mention I have a lot of reading to catch up on! How is everyone else out there in Bandland doing? I miss you all!

Happy Thanksgiving Bandland!

Today (and EVERY Day) I am Thankful for my Loving husband, My Family, My Friends, My Faith and My Music!

Today has to be one of the worst Thanksgivings I have ever spent in my life! Or maybe I should look at it as one of the best?

You see, I came down with a Horrible, horrible cold/flu this week. I have been fighting to stay healthy this year as you may or may not remember, my boss and another person in my office retired and I am the only one there that knows "shit about anything" right now. SO, I can't afford to be sick. Well I am! Plus I have a concert on Saturday night and I just don't know how I am going to sing with my voice sounding like a bullfrog in heat right now!

Anyway, I have done NOTHING but lay on the couch under a blanket and watch TV, or sit up with the laptop in my lap! In addition to being sick, DH had to work this afternoon, (he works nights 2:30 - 11) so it wasn't even worth trying to go out and have some turkey at a local restaurant. I was so looking forward to going to my SIL's for her fantabulous dinner spread! She always makes the best dinners when we are having a holiday celebration. But with DH having to work and me being sick, plus we get a "winter weather" advisory and it started snowing at 9 am. We didn't get to go or eat anything "Thanksgivingy" today! I'm SSSOOO bummed, but then again, in a way, I am very thankful that I didn't have to NOT eat "everything in sight" thinking pre-band days and wanting to have it all, just to be miserable afterward as you lay on the couch and sleep while the football game is on!

My hope is to celebrate a very Happy Thanksgiving on Saturday with MY family, eat all the turkey I can (within reason and that 1 cup portion control) and then be able to sing in the concert without a problem. I'm thinking I may be able to kick this thing in the butt if I have another day like today, tomorrow!

♥ ♥ ♥ Have a Wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

DH made the Blahs go away!

I just have to share what my DH said to me right after we finished dinner as I was reading some new posts... He asked me "So, when you post on your blog, why do you refer to me as DH?"

You see, he was under the assumption that I was lovingly calling him a Dick Head!!! 

:-) Yes he is the man I married and love with all my heart! :-)

Thought I'd share that little piece of laughter for my evening!

Sunday Blahs...

I'm feeling  bit blah today, I read all the blogs that I follow and everyone seems to be having some really great accomplishments. And I must say congratulations to you all. As I sit here struggling to even get off the couch myself, I feel horrible that DH is terribly sick with a horrible cold I am fighting to NOT catch it. I am also feeling urges to revert back to my old NON-bander days of laying on the couch all day watching TV and eating.

Of course we are sitting (laying) here watching "Man vs. Food" on the Travel Channel... He is at "The Vortex" in Atlanta, GA. and eating some really big burgers! SOME of them even sound and look really, REALLY good. BUT how would I ever even think I could eat one of those??? (maybe 1/4 of one but never the whole thing). As some of you may remember my sister just moved to Atlanta. Should I tell her to go check out this place and tell me what the food HONESTLY taste like? Maybe they really don't taste as good as this guy says they do and I wouldn't like them at all! :-) (Hey, Wake up stupid honey! You did just finish putting a nice pork loin roast in the crock pot with lots of veggies for dinner. And yesterday you did chicken breast with that homemade "Spanish rice type" sauce over shell pasta). This time of year DH loves that I will cook on the weekends and I love that the Crock pot makes it so easy for me. Then we have lots of left overs for lunches during the week. Since he works nights and I work days it's nice to be able to have our weekend dinners together. They are healthy, and he can eat as much as he wants while I eat my one cup and am done.

After my last fill and unfill, I have settled back into the good eating habits that we all need to have... small bites, chewing lots, little to no liquids till at least 1/2 hour after. And after coming home from Florida, I have had no sliming, which is a really good thing. I am thinking that nerves played a big part in that whole episode! When I got on the scale this morning, I am UNofficially below 180! so why do I feel so blah? I say unofficially because I will not post it as "Official" until the Dr weighs me and I weigh in at that weight! I guess I'm just in one of "those" moods. I know I am doing everything right and I know I am losing, toning and slowly getting to my goal. I just don't understand it sometimes.