Celebration: 100th Band-Aid Post!

I’m shaking the dust off of my blog and celebrating Entry No. 100 in my chronicles of my journey to health and wellness. First, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the medical professionals, online friends, prayer warriors and supporters who have stuck by me through thick and less-thick for almost two years now.

I’ve gone way, way too long without posting and I think it’s because I wanted so badly to post a new picture on my blog. I will probably never stop cringing when I see pictures of myself. If the camera adds 10 pounds to normal-weight folks, it must add at least 50 to those of us fighting our weight demons. Thanks to my bestest buddt, my bestest hubby and my bestest new angelette Cindee, I have new pictures that I’m not afraid to look at.

Gosh, where do all those chins come from??

If a picture says a thousand words, mine are shouting “YOU AREN’T THERE YET” in a chorus. But I’m not at all depressed about it because of the YET. It also speaks volumes to how far I’ve come.

If you were around in the beginning of the journey, you read that I started near 350 pounds and was not the healthiest bulb in the pack. There are about five certifiable diseases that qualify you for weight loss surgery. I think I had all of them, but one. Let’s see: Diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, degenerative back disease and I have danced with congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema after my sweet princess Cecilia was born.

I’m STILL a big chick, yes, but if you go down the list, I have normal blood sugars, I “should” take one medicine to control my blood pressure (down from 4, but boy, do I get mad/stressed), I don’t sleep with a CPAP machine any more and my back only hurts when I do something stupid. Some other ailments have gotten better. I have improved PCOS symptoms and the masses in my uterus and ovaries that I thought would kill me, for sure, have shrunk or disappeared.

Click here for profile

My faithful readers know that my biggest challenge has been non-lap band related. I am without a doubt, the HERNIA QUEEN. I had a hernia repair, got a staph infection, got the wound opened twice, had a hernia repair, had a hernia repair and this apast January, had a hernia repair. My props and unchanging gratitude go to SupaDoc Karl LeBlanc. (Side note, I’m writing this why traveling through the little town that my beloved SupaDoc was born. Really, this very second! Ok, truth be known, I’m eating Sunday lunch at a seafood restaurant there with my laptop on the table. Golly, people, the computer is clean!)

Anyhoo, (lunch was great, but not at all sinful), I think it's nothing short of a miracle that my bariatric surgeon was also a world renowned hernia specialist. Dude’s like a non-stop shop for "everything Frances." After seven surgeries, if I had an abdominal tattoo, it would read “KARL SCALPED HERE.” As it is, my precious princess thinks every scar or bo-bo means “Dr. DeBlanc” has been around. (What, your 3-year-old doesn't regularly talk about bariatric surgeons?)


Look: Dr. Cece!
My Lap Band device has done everything that it was supposed to. I eat less and it helps with that. When I eat junk, the band isn’t responsible – choice is still up to the patient. In May, we noticed that I had sprung a leak. That’s where the blog left off – “Poof, fill be gone!” Early this month, I got a good size fill to see how much time it would take to be empty again. Well, geez, wouldn’t ya know the leak went away and I was hurting to drink herbal tea at times, none the less, solid protein.

SupaDoc has a new fellow surgeon who laid claim to the leak clogging up when he did the fill under the watchful eye of his proctor. This master in training is from Alabama and is as cute as hound pup in a magnolia patch. He said, with his best ‘Bama twang, “That's right; I got sticky spit!” (--> a real keeper)

I’m a big advocate of bringing new surgeons into the bariatric field and I surely hope Dr. James Corder III decides to stick around in this field because those of us trapped by obesity’s pain need all the super docs we can get.

That super fill lasted a week and a half before I whimped out and asked for a slight unfill. I lost about 8 pounds during that time, but it wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world.

I’m about 15 pounds away from my milestone of 100 pounds loss. I would like to do it this month or near my two-year “banderversary.” Maybe I won’t make it. I’ve often said I wanted to get to be a “very fit” size 18, after reaching near a Size 32. Well, yesterday, I tried on and purchased some “snug” size 18 jean shorts. I’m in them without pain, but it’s not smooth enough to say I’m a Size 18. So, I guess I need to look at the inches and muscle mass more than the ‘evil scale.’

I’m not only eating, but craving more fresh vegetables than any other time in my life and unlike before, I know corn and potatoes shouldn’t count as vegetables. We shop for fresh veggies near the house and I’m always looking for new ways to experiment with spinach, zucchini, eggplant and avocadoes. (I am an avocado fiend!)

August is going to be a busy month on the Band-aid Blog. I’ve been saving up and I plan to start posting recipes and new healthy food choices starting tomorrow with my “Sauteed Spinach and Shrimp with Feta Crumbles.”

Stick around, check back or just use RSS to stay abreast on my progress and blessings. Thanks for caring and for reading.


When the whole world is new, anything is possible