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Had to get an emergency unfill yesterday. I've been at 9.6 cc's in my band since 6/30/11 and have had no problem - I finally started losing weight from that point forward. But these past few weeks have been really weird. My band seemed super tight and I had days in a row where I could barely get even liquids down and would throw it back up. I looked it up and saw that my cycle could cause me to retain water, making my band tighter, so I figured that was the reason. After a week, it seemed to get better, but then a week later, I was experiencing the same issues. I seemed to not be able to get any food down without it coming back up. I got a migraine on Thursday, and couldn't get water down to take any medicine for it. So migraine + nausea + no meds or water = more nausea and vomiting and perpetuating the irritation of my stomach. I would try to take sips of water and as soon as they hit the bottom of my stomach, it would hurt really bad. After pushing through the weekend like this, barely getting water down, I went to the doctor yesterday and they did an upper GI to make sure the band had not slipped. Luckily, it was in perfect position, but my stomach was swollen/inflamed so they needed to loosen the band. Barely a hairline of liquid could get through since my stomach was so irritated. They took out 2 cc's so I am now at 7.6 cc's. I'm on liquids for a week to give my stomach a chance to heal, so I'll probably do a lot of veggie juicing with veggies that have anti-inflammatory qualities to help in the healing.
I'm glad the band didn't slip, and that I got a chance to see for myself that it was in perfect position since it has been in there for a year and a half now. I am concerned that once the swelling goes down, the 7.6 cc's is not going to be enough to give me any restriction and that I will gain weight back. I didn't feel any restriction before until I hit that "sweet spot" for me of 9.6 cc's.
Since I am cash pay, it cost me $290 to get the unfill, and another $250 for the upper GI, and to go back in 6 weeks for a refill would also cost $290. Maybe I'll be lucky and find that now that I am smaller, the 7.6 cc's could work okay. Fingers crossed!
The doctor's scale had me at 146.0 yesterday, and at 197.0 when I had been there last in June of 2011. My home scale is what I go off of and it was at 143.6 this morning, so my total weight lost since day one of this journey is 71.4 pounds. I think I am aiming for 125 pounds, so that would be another 18.6 pounds to go. I'm being flexible with my ultimate goal since it really depends on how I look and feel in my own skin at that time. Speaking of skin...ughh... anybody now a good tailor? I think I need a new birthday suit! I seriously wonder if some of this extra could be removed and donated to burn victims or those needing skin grafts.
Ok, that is it for now. Looking forward to some broth today! :)
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143.6 lb
Lost so far: 71.4 lb.
Still to go: 18.6 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
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losing 1.0 lb a week
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