This post is related to my previous post:

Katie, I'd be more than happy to answer Lap Band questions. There's a ton of us who will answer questions for you. Just ask.

LDSwims - I'd be happy to share my daughter's 6 cell picture with you, but I CAN'T FIND IT! I haven't looked for it for a while, until you just asked. But crap, now it's no where to be found. I was convinced it was in her baby book, but it's not. Dag gumit!. I know it's somewhere, because we'd never throw that away. But shoot, I really wanted to share it! I know I'll come across it. In the mean time, I'll share current pics:

This is Gabby. She just finished her first year of preschool. She loves yellow, and is very concerned about not being naughty. She DOES NOT want anyone mad at her.



This is Karina. She'll start her first year of preschool this August. She is the goofiest kid I know. She's always got some funny thing to say or do. I'm forever laughing at this kid, and she loves it. She also talks non stop. My dad always teased me that he sent me to preschool a year early cause I talked so much and he needed a break. I always thought it was a joke, until Karina started talking. Now I get it. She'll tell you that the only time she stops talking is when she sleeps. She uses words like actually, usually, and supposedly more than any little kid I know. She also corrects her big sister if she mispronounces a word. Seriously, this kid is verbal.



The dog in the pic is Roxie. She's a 10 month old Pug/Rat Terrier mix. She's full grown, and weighs about 10 lbs. She's the girls' pet. We got her around Halloween last year when the girls started adopting dead lady bugs and callling them "lil fella." We thought they needed a pet. Plus, my hubby and I have always had a dog, so we were anxious to get one, too. We could just use the kids as an excuse. She's a good pooch, she potty trained better than any dog I've ever tried. She puts up with the girls' abuse, and still snuggles with them when they're all tired. She's a good fit for our family.

Anway, that's more about ME!

Just a little stuff about me. . .

First off, welcome to all of my new followers. They are BELLA, MAD WOMAN, Flabby McGee, HALEY and KATIE, ALEX, JACK SH*T, Nwanonymom, and Pamela. I hope I'm as cool as you think I am, cause I know you think I'm cool. Also, if I couldn't find a link for you, just send it my way, and I'll update this post.

As I have so many new followers, I thought I'd do a post with some basic informaion about me. I think some of this stuff might even be new to the ladies that have been here forever, so maybe it's still worth reading!

I am a 29 year old stay at home mom. I'll turn 30 this December. I have two daughters, Karina is 3 and Gabby (Gabrielle) is 4. I live in small town Nebraska. Actually, to me, it's not that small of a town (pop. 4000 or so) because I grew up on a farm. We have two grocery stores for heaven's sake, this is not a small town!

My daugters are 14 months apart. We had been married for several years and were ready to start a family. After about 6 months of no pregnancy, we started talking to docs about any potential problems. We went through several different fertility people, and about a year and a half after we really started trying to get pregnant, we got some difinitive test results. My hubby has an astronomically low sperm count. So, we went strait to in vitro. So Gabby was conceived in a petri dish, along with some other embryos. We had 3 implanted, but only one took, so that's how we got Gabs. I actually have a picture of her in a petri dish when she was 6 cells, so that's cool.

So after Gabby's born, my OB asks if I want birth control, and of course I say no (remember, we were told we couldn't have our own babies - duh!). I nursed Gabs until she was six months old, and then got pregnant THE VERY NEXT WEEK. Needless to say, my hubby was VERY proud of himself. Turns out he's not as worthless in the procreating department was we thought. And that's how we have Karina. We're done having kids, we're happy with our little family of four. The whole world is built for a family of four - think Disney vacation pacakges and toothbrush holders.

I quit working the day before my second daugther was born. I was a project analyst at a local student loan company, and I LOVED it. I loved my job, I loved the company I worked for, and I loved the people I worked with. It wasn't hard to quit at the time, because I knew how much full time day care for 2 kids was going to cost me, but as my kids get bigger, I miss working more and more. Plus, they're not babies any more, and I'm realizing that they don't need me 24 hours a day any more. Karina will go to full time kindergarten in a little over two years, so I plan to go back to work then. It helps that at least two of my former bosses at said company have tried to talk me into coming back to work several times, so I'm pretty sure I'll have a job at that company that I loved whenever it is I'm ready to go back to work. It's a good thing to have in my back pocket.

People always tell me that I'm lucky I "get" to stay home with my kids. I know that I'm lucky, but I always correct them and say that it didn't just happen. We sold our new house that we built in the city, and moved to a 107 year old house in our small town. My husband took a different job that changed his commute from 20 mins to 1 hour and 15 mins. We downgraded cars. We live on a MUCH tighter budget. My point is that we sacrificed a lot for me to be able to stay home. It wasn't easy, but thus far, we've made it work.

My hubby and I met in kindergarten, and have been married for almost 9 years. He's a systems analyst at a large local bank. He also has been teaching night classes at a local community college, but he didn't get a class over the summer term. He was SUPPOSED to have one, and we planned on that money, but they took it away about 2 weeks before class was supposed to start. Something about a budget crisis, and all the adjuncts' classes were given to the full time faculty. Frankly, it sucks. That was $1600 we were supposed to have this summer. Vacation is going on the credit card this year, I guess. Don't get too worked up, we take cheap vacations. It'll pry be no more than $500 or $600. We're just hoping that he can get a class next term and we can get back on track.

Also, I'll fill you in on the story behind my W.I.D.T.H. cards to Jack Sh*t, as that's where some of you found me:

My mom died of ovarian cancer on Christmas day, 1992. I had just turned 12 a few weeks before. My older half sister was 22, and my younger brother was 10. She was pretty heavy, I think probably around 300 lbs when she was diagnosed in March. She had been in pain for quite sometime (I remember her walking around holding her side cause it hurt), but my parents just didn't go to the doc - they toughed it out. Well, that obviously failed miserably for my mom. They tried a few months of chemo, but it was just to far gone. We were told in October that they weren't going to do anything else. We brought her home, and she stayed in a medical bed in the living room until she passed away. My dad still lives on the farm. He'll be 56 next month, and he's never remarried.

My older sister has a husband and a 14 year old son. My brother has a wife and three crazy boys, ages 5, 3, and 1. My family and my brother's family spend a lot of time together. We live about an hour apart. Our kids love each other, and it's a lot of fun to have cousins the same age.

Now for the band info:

I wanted to get the band because I didn't want to end up in my mom's situation. I've been told that ovarian cancer is related to obesity, and at the very least, obesity makes it harder to detect. Additionally, my grandma on my mom's side has had breast cancer, and my grandma on my dad's side has diabetes. It just seems like I have all sorts of opportunities for failing health, and I didn't want obesity to contribute. I wanted to take care of my health now, instead of waiting til it went downhill. Currently, I have zero obesity related complications, but I didn't want to sit around and wait for it to happen before doing anything about it.

I had surgery on March 11 with Dr Kirshenbaum in Denver because his prices were reasonable. My insurance doesn't cover weight loss surgery, so I was on my own. It took me about a year to get the money to do the surgery, so here's hoping there are no complications, because I can't afford it. I travel to Denver for my fills, because that's the cheapest route. Although, now flights and rental cars are going up, and in a month, I'll be required to pay $25 for my fills. With pricier flights and cars, and now paying a bit for the fill, it'll be costing me around $225-$250, whereas previously, I've been doing it for around $175. There's a doc in Omaha that I found that does fills for $150, so I'm starting to think long and hard about that. Obviously, there's the money aspect, but the most appealing part to me is that I could just go whenever I wanted to. Right now, I have to buy a flight and all that crap. It would be a dream to be able to just drive for an hour to get a fill. I don't know, we'll see, I'm really happy with Dr K, I don't want to leave him, but money talks. It's like leaving your hairdresser - it feels really awkward.

Holy crapoly, that's the longest post on the face of the earth. Wow. Anyway, that's my story in a (really large) nutshell.

Thanks for your time!

Ok, you guys are, like, the coolest people on the face of the earth!

I mention Ali over at PETALS and PEDALS, and while I took a nap, she got 9 more followers, which surpasses her goal of one follower for every pound lost!

Bascially, you guys are the bomb!

The best part is that I don't think she's noticed yet. At least she hasn't said anything, so that makes me inclined to believe she hasn't seen it. I can't wait til she does!

WOOT!

Gotta Help a Sista Out.

My friend Ali over at PETALS and PEDALS mentioned the other day that she wished she had a follower for every pound she's lost.

Right now, she has 37 followers, but has lost a whopping 44 lbs (if that's wrong Ali, please let me know. I'm looking at your ticker)! In only 4 months since banding!

I'd like to help her to her goal of one follower for every pound lost. I don't have that many more followers than she does, but perhaps we could spread the word? She recently went through a slipped band procedure, and is just getting back on track, so she could really use some love.

So head on over and check her out. I'm sure it'll be worth your time. Plus, she's a fellow Nebraskan, so that makes her extra specially awesome!

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!!!!!

Now Jack Sh*t is following me!! AAAAHHHHH!!

This is as exciting as when Amy W started following me! If Amy is the Oprah of Blogland, than surely Jack Shi*t is the Dr. Phil, don't you think?

****Edit: Can someone please tell me how to make my links a color that stands out from my regular text? I link every blog I reference, but you'd never know it, because it's not a different color. I've fiddled with it for a while, but I must be Bloggerly challenged.

50 Followers!

Yesterday, I got 2 more followers, bringing me up to 50. Wow! I never would have guessed that I would have so many people interested in me!

I've seen someone say that she wished she had a follower for each pound that she lost. I wish I'd lost a pound for each follower I have!

Such is life, I'll get there!

I'm Impatient

I sure hope Jack Sh*t posts my W.I.D.T.H pictures that I sent him a few days ago. I figure I could get a couple of followers out of that, don't you think? He even responded to my email that I sent and told me it was "powerful." Hmm. I hope he didn't forget me!

All you beotches are gonna be jealous!

I just made an appointment for my first ever brazillian wax! Woot!

Now let's just hope I maintain the balls to go through with it. I got about 2 weeks to chicken out . . .

Yay for me!

I FINALLY, FINALLY crossed the 20 lbs lost mark! As of yesterday, I am 10 weeks out from surgery. I guess that means 2 lbs per week, which I think anyone would be happy with. Therefore, I will be, too!

And technically, I passed it with over a pound to spare, so hopefully, that pound will keep me above the 20lb mark when I "bounce" for the next freakin' two weeks, cause that's what I do. Anywho, YAY!

You wanna know why this 20 lb threshold is so freaking important to me? Because I always crapped out on WW around the 20 lb mark. I can't tell you how many times I lost 20 lbs on WW. It always took me about 2 months or so, which just seemed to be my limit. Towards the end of my attempts to lose on WW, I always got that, "I just can't do this anymore" feeling around the 20 lb mark.

But now I'm past that point, and with the band, I feel like I haven't even started yet, as I still have very little restriction, if any. 21 lbs down, and I haven't even started! YAY!

My Note Cards

I got this idea from LAP BAND GAL, who got the borrowed it from JACK SH*T, GETTIN' FIT.

Restriction

Yeah, I don't have it.

Holy hell, I'm getting frustrated here.

I have 4.5cc in my 10cc band. That occurred over 2 fills. My 3rd fill is scheduled for June 7th. I've lost 4 lbs since my first fill a little over a month ago.

Do I really need to be "dieting"?

The only thing I pay attention to is my protein and my water. I've done a good job getting my 60g of protein a day and a moderate job of waiting until after I eat to drink my water.

Thus far, in my book, I haven't been dieting. I've been getting my protein in any form, and then more or less eating what I want - after I make sure I have my protein. Do I need to friggin go on WW? If I have to keep track of points, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to poke out someone's eyeball with a fork.

I ask myself if I'm eating too many slider foods, but then I realized, I wouldn't know what a slider is exactly, because I don't think I've ever had restriction on foods that would stick with me.

This is getting so old.

And the really crappy part is that I have no idea how this will ever change. When I go get my fill, my doc fills me up until water feels tight, then backs it off a tenth of a cc or so. Basically, he's supposedly filling me to the point right before water is a problem.

So how is that going to change? Next time I go in, we'll do the same thing, and I'll be in the same boat - not losing.

Perhaps I'm telling him wrong about when the water feels tight? Maybe I have no idea what it really feels like? I wonder if he'd put like 4 more cc's in my band just so I could really feel what it feels like to not be able to get water down comfortably.

I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels here, and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. I have faith in my doc, but I just don't see how anything will be different after more fills.

I'm starting to feel like a failure. I mean, there are some who don't lose with, even with the band . . . .

Can we just talk about my boobs here?

My boobs are shrinking. That makes me sad. I like my boobs. I don't want to lose them. Granted, my boobs aren't fantatic or anything, but they suit me just fine. I don't have Amy's boob pool problem, and if I have the right bra/shirt combo, I think they look mighty fine.

I dug out another "new" shirt (I've had it for a while, it just hasn't fit for a time) yesterday. It buttons about half way down. For some reason, the buttons don't always stay buttoned, so after wrestling with the kids for a bit, they came undone. Frankly, I liked the look, although this isn't how I wore the shirt out in public while we were running errands yesterday. But, I did take a picture for posterity, and I'll share it with you:

Your view:



And this is my view:



Don't you just want to motorboat them? I do.

Why I go to Denver

DiZneDiVa asked me yesterday why I go to Denver. I've gotten a few new followers lately, so I'll just do a whole post about that.

Bottom line is that I'm self pay. My insurance has a specific exclusion for WLS, so there was literaly no hope that it would be paid for. Didn't matter how much I weighed, what comorbids I had. No insurance. Because of that, it took me about a year and a half to get the money together to make this happen. During that time, I researched docs.

I live close to both Lincoln and Omaha, NE. Both cities have really good band doctors. The doc in Lincoln wanted about $17K, the doc in Omaha was around $16K. I considered going to Mexico for surgery at a cost of about $8K, but my hubby was REALLY uncomfortable with that idea.

I found Dr Kirshenbaum in Denver through Lap Band Talk. His patients seemed very happy with him. His whole deal is that he tries to make his cost reasonable enough to keep people from going to Mexico. Dr K charged me just a tad under $10K. My fills during the first 3 months are free, and then subsequent fills are $25 (Robin, did you see that went up from $15?).

I definitely looked into aftercare here at home with the same docs I looked at for surgery, but it was more expesive than going to Denver. The docs in Lincoln wanted $250 ($350 for flouro) for a fill, the docs in Omaha want about the same, but with $1000 buy in first. I can fly to Denver, rent a car, and fly back in the same day for about $175. So that's what I'm doing. Plus, I get to see my orginal surgeon.

Since doing all this, I've come to realize there's a band doc in Grand Island that I never looked into. I still really haven't priced them. However, GI is about a 2 1/2 hour drive, so I don't know how much easier that would be, really. I'd still have to find childcare for the whole day (my kids are too little to handle that much time in the car), and I'd spend a lot more time actually "traveling," which I wouldn't be thrilled about.

So, thus far, it seems that going back to Dr K in Denver is still my best bet. I really like him, so I'm not really complaining. The hassle is just tiresome sometimes.

Denver Airport WiFi

So I fly to Denver for my fills, and it seems that I won't be staying the night (childcare is too difficult to come up with for 2 strait weekdays). So, I've been flying in, doing my fill, and flying back the same day. Not too big a deal, as the flight is ony an hour each way. Additionally, my doctor's office is only about a 15 minute drive from the airport, so the whole thing is not that lengthy.

Unfortunately, the flights aren't timed the best, so I get into Denver WAY too early, and generally have to leave WAY too late. For instance, this last time, I landed in Denver at 7:30 am, didn't have my appt until 2:15, and then didn't take off again until 7:30 pm.

As such, I have a lot of time to kill. Sure, I could go shopping, but I can't do that for a whole day, especially by myself. Obviously, I can't find a good place to have dinner/lunch, as it's a fill day!

What I'd like to do is hang out in the airport and dork around online. I could people watch, catch up on Facebook and Blogger, and maybe even watch some Hulu. However, the WiFi at DIA sucks donkey butt.

I don't get it? My little dinky airport on Omaha has fantastic free WiFi. Why can't a huge airport like DIA have a decent connection? Every time I go, I'm hopeful something has changed and I can use my laptop for a few hours in the airport. No such luck. I takes me about 10 minutes to connect to the network, and when it is connected, it's terribly slow. I have yet to get FB to even load completely. Then, after being slow for a few minutes, I lose the connection entirely. WTF?

It's such a bummer. I don't want to go to a Starbucks to use their connection, because I want to curl up with my little pillow and blanky I've packed somewhere in the airport. You don't look funny if you're laying on the floor at an airport, but that might get some strange reactions at a coffee shop.

Anyway, it frustrates me. Last time, I took a movie to watch, which was fine, but I'd much rather chat with someone on FB. It's dumb.

A question for Robin (and Gen, too, if you see this)

Robin commented on my previous post that she just rescheduled a fill.

Robin, can you answer some questions for me? And Gen, I would appreciate your input, too:

When you reschedule, what do you do for flights? Am I the only one that buys my flights like a month in advance? Do you buy the flight early, and just eat the cost if you reschedule your fill, or, do you just wait until the day before your appointment (to make sure you're actually going) before buying your ticket?

As you may have gathered, I'm an extreme bargain hunter here, so I really don't want to pay more than $135 for my flight, as that's the best I've seen it. Additionally, if I reserve my car at just the right time (either prior to about 6 weeks before my travel date OR within two weeks of my travel) I can get just the right price on that, too. So I'm planning my travel about a month in advance, with about a $175 investment into each appointment. I just can't not go.

Anyway, I'm just curious how you ladies do it. I'm not aware of any other bloggers that would be able to give me advice about traveling, are you?


And water update:

I like all of your advice about drinking right up until I start eating, and then waiting 45 minutes. I can definitely do that. It's the 2 1/2 hour water blackout that is tough for me. I just get way too thirsty!

Jeez, I've been MIA.

Not really sure why, I guess I just have nothing important to say! I'm still keeping up with all of your blogs, though!

I got my second fill a week ago today. Another 2.1cc, so that's 4.5cc in my 10cc band. I still don't feel much restriction. I seem to be losing with this fill (unlike my first fill), but at a snail's pace.

I've been doing much better about my protein. I think it's because I finally got myself some really great protein rich foods, so now I'm not tied to supplements. And as I'm not feeling that much restiction, I seem to be able to eat all 60g of my required protein on most days. I still have a supplement here and there, but if I choose the right foods throughout the day, I can get to 60g with just my normal food.

I sure am jealous of you folks that can just take a short drive to your doctor. I think this journey is going to take me longer because I keep stalling out, waiting for my next fill. It's just a pain in the butt. I guess I should be grateful that I have the band, even if it is going to take me twice as long. *sigh* But man, if I lived close to my doc, I'd be in there every week! Such is life . . .

One of my main weightloss goals relates to a wedding that I'm in in October. The bride is quite frugal, which works well for me, because I am too. She found her dress on Craigslist, and helped us bridesmaids find our dresses on Ebay. I didn't want to buy a dress too early, but I found a great deal ($55 for a $175 dress) that was clearly too small at the time, so I had to give it a shot. I think I bought it in February, so I've had it a while. I keep trying it on, because I want to know if/when this thing will fit. I can't get it zipped, but I can get it more zipped than I could a while back. Anyway, I just REALLY want this dress to fit by October, because I don't want to have to find another one! I got such a great deal on this one, I'd hate to have to spend more on another dress. Additionally, it's a beautiful green ball gown, and I REALLY like it, so I want it to work!!!

Moving on . . .

How do you all get your water in during the day? If I wait 1/2 hour before eating through 2 hours after eating (that's a good bandster, right?), that pretty much takes me up to my next meal. With the restriction I have, I'm getting hungry at the 2 - 2 1/2 hour mark. So when am I supposed to drink my water? It's like I have to choose - I'm hungry AND thirsty right now, but if I have a glass of water, I can't eat for a while. But if I have something to eat, I can't drink for two hours! I don't know how to do it.

Maybe it would help if I had a bit better restriction, and could go 4 hours without being hungry?? Then I could have my water at the 2 hour mark, but still not need to eat for another two hours? Is that possible? If so, I haven't felt it yet.

This water business is hard for me. In my pre-band life, I drank ALOT of water. I always have. I'm not big on soda or any alcohol, or any flavored beverages of any sort. I just always drink water. Now with the band, I still drink a lot of water, but it's running into my meal times. Thus far, I've just more or less been disregarding that rule, but I want to improve on it. Now that I don't have to worry so much about getting my protein in, I want to tackle the water rule.

Help me!