2 weeks of updates

My updates are supposed to be on Wednesday, but I forgot to post last week.  I, unfortunately, had to go the emergency room Sept 22nd.  My heart was racing and I was having chest pains, chills, dizziness, shortness of breath...I felt horrible.  I sent my husband an email at work and told him that I did not feel well.  He called me and told me he was coming home.  I hate going to the hospital but this time I knew I needed to go.  We get there and they do an EKG on me and determine that I had not had a heart attack.  Praise the Lord!  They do blood work and a chest x-ray.  It turns out I had pneumonia.  They put antibiotics in my IV and keep me there for a while then released me with a prescription for more antibiotics.  I talked to friend of mine on the phone who has also had WLS and she is prior military with medical experience and we discussed my whole pneumonia situation and came to the conclusion that my band was too tight.  I knew it was too tight but I had not gone for an unfill because I was losing weight so fast.  Unfortunately, I was suffering from reflux, constant PB episodes and frequently could not even keep down water.  But, I was losing weight and that was all that I could see...I wasn't concerned that I was doing harm to myself.  The reflux that I was having at night, I am sure, caused me to get fluid into my lungs...thus resulting in pneumonia.  When I had my follow-up appointment with my regular doctor, she agreed that that was likely the cause.  I called the WLS doc for an unfill and they got me in first thing the next morning.  I had 0.5 cc taken out putting me back to 6.5 cc.  I can eat and drink normally again.  So...the moral of the story is do not suffer with an overfill.  If your fill is giving you reflux, constant PBs, you cannot drink water without getting stuck...please, get an adjustment!!!  What I went through was not pleasant at all.

Well on to more happy news.

I went to the YMCA on Wednesday, Sept. 28th to take a tour.  I have been wanting to do something more than my elliptical.  I talked to my husband that night and he told me that he would get me a 6 month membership.  I officially joined Friday, Sept 30th and have done a 5k on the treadmill everyday since (except for Sunday cuz they are closed).  I gave myself a personal goal of 100 miles by December 2.  If I keep with my 5k a day pace, I will surely make it.  Now mind you...I am wogging (walking/jogging) as I have not worked up to running yet...but I am moving my butt which is what I needed to do.  Oh...and what about December 2nd.  That is the date of my husband's Christmas party with his job.  I haven't been to the Christmas party in a couple of years because I have just been too fat and did feel like being the fattest one at the party again and again.  Having lost weight, I feel so much better about myself and gladly accepted my husband's invite to go to the party.

Okay...and on to my weigh-in.  drum roll

238 pounds.  I am out of the 240s.  Downward I go and now I am off to the Y.  Have a great day!

Weekly update. I'm down 2 pounds!!!

Woke up this morning weighing 241 pounds.  YAY!!!  So close to the 230s.  What am I doing?  Lots of protein and using the elliptical.

Thank you Sarah

I want to thank my follower, Sarah, for sending me a message and checking up on me.

I have had quite a year.  I had open heart surgery November 26, 2010.  My last update on my blog here was December 8, 2010.  Well, the following Monday,December 13, 2010, I went to the doctor complaining about the stitches for the drain tube sites below my chest.  They checked me in and I did not realize that my heart was racing.  My mind was wrapped up in the irritation of the stitches, not knowing that my resting heart rate was something like 150-160 bpm.  Thats like someone running and I was just sitting there.  The doctor had to cardiovert me (he had to electrically shock my heart back into normal rhythm) and I ended up with an overnight stay for observation.

I took it easy over the next couple of months and then started cardiac rehabilitation at the end of February.  This was a supervised exercise program to get my heart back in shape and I ended up losing a few pounds and inches too.  It was 12 weeks long and I loved it.  I wish insurance would have paid for it forever.  It made me so much stronger.  That ended in May.  A couple weeks later school ended for the kids.  So...I tried to stay active and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  I didn't get loads of exercise though because my kids are 13, 5, and 3 so the pool was pretty much me splashing around in the shallow end with the younger two.

For the most part, the first half off the year I had Lap Band on the back burner.  I kept my band on the loose side and more concentrated on getting my heart healthy.  The kids started school last month and I have since had a nice fill and have started doing a variety of exercise DVDs.  My restriction is really good right now.

When I started my Lap Band journey, I was wearing size 24 and some 26 or 4x.  I weighed 297 pounds.  Today, I wear a size 20 and some 18s.  I weighed in this morning at 243 pounds.  I would have hoped that a year after gastric banding surgery I would have lost more than 54 pounds, but considering all that I have gone through, I am not going to beat myself up over it at all.  I just took my measurements and I am very happy at the loss.  I will post those under my measurement tab.

Thank you again, Sarah.  It was a great prompt for me to get back on here.  And thank you to all my followers for not dumping me.  Look forward to more frequent updates.

week 16 long time, no see

I haven't even looked back to see what my last post says, but I wanted to just journal where I am now.  So much has been going on in the past few months.  I mentioned before that it was discovered that I had some heart issues.  The past couple of months have been filled with appointments of EKGs, echocardiograms, MRIs, various doctor appointments, etc.... well...On Wednesday November 24th (the day before Thanksgiving) I had open heart surgery.  It was only a matter of time that I would have had heart failure and I would not have known if I had not had the lapband surgery because I had no symptoms.  I am still recovering and active weight loss has not been a major priority but I am continuing to stick to my eating plan and am making progress.  I didn't weigh myself today but I did on Monday and I was 258.  All things considered, I am pleased with my progress.

Can I get a High 5....how about a High 4 for 4 pounds lost!!! Week 8 update vlog

week 7 weight 272
week 8 weight 268
starting weight 297
total lost 29 pounds

took my measurements

I went ahead and made a tab for my measurements.  I am pretty excited about the numbers.

Week 7 update vlog

Finally 25 pounds down!!!!

I am sorry if this takes a long time to upload.  I probably should be youtubing, but I am just not comfortable with being that public.  I feel more secure in the blog environment with the ease of the vlog.  Oh...and sorry it is a little late...AGAIN.  

Anywho...I am going to post an update of measurements down at the bottom of my blog.  I was playing around with the measuring tape and I was floored.  That will be a little later today, so be sure to check out the numbers.  Shocker to me.