On a historic day like today with the Dalai Lama visiting San Diego, I found it nice to reflect on where I am and at my almost 9th band-iversary, get a fill. My monthly appointment with Dr. Ellner was moved up a week because I really wanted to get refilled. I need it, more than that - I wanted it.
I am down a pound from last month woo hoo but my blood work shows that my B12 is down to a level at around 400 and Dr. Ellner says that around 700 is where most people generally feel, "good." This would explain why I have been feeling so down and very low energy these last two weeks. I ordered a new B12 sub lingual B12 that should arrive this week. I'm still waiting on my test results of my Vitamin D results and Calcium level results.
So I received a "refill" of 1.5 mL and I'm excited about how full I'll feel when I'm able to start eating again on Friday.
Regarding my hair, it is growing back and I did show Dr. Ellner. The one thing about my hair that is weird that she wants me to ask Dr. Gilboa (my Determatologist) about is why is my hair (head, arm, leg, everywhere) growing back, white. There are very few hairs growing back black or dark. A majority of the hair is stark white. There are still places that are void of hair but the hair that IS growing back is slow and void of color.
His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama is in San Diego for two days speaking about Compassion, Global Impact of Climate Change, Peace and Universal Ethics - Compassion Without Borders is the name of the tour and I feel lucky because even though I wasn't lucky enough to attend in person, I am able (through the wonderful technology of today) to watch via the web through live streaming and I have a great seat. What a treat and it makes me think of my own inner peace and my peace with others.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
March Madness!
So here I am. Adventures of hair loss and Lap-Bander. I went in for my 8th month follow up with Dr. Ellner on March 28th with my status update of not yet feeling full, even with the last fill. She said there is sometimes "back squirt" - like a little leakage that occurs when one is getting a fill. So I'm supposed to be at 8.5 ccs and Dr. Ellner actually unfilled my entire band and it showed that I was only 6.5 ccs full which confirmed, back squirt. So she filled me to 8.5 ccs and I thought I was OK. I loved the "full feeling." I did however have complications (darn it).
At Disneyland, with friends on April 4th, I was eating lunch and got stuck, felt my mouth get foamy and that horrible saliva frothing that I only read about on LapBandTalk.com. I then ran to the closest bathroom to cough up and throw up. I felt fine after that but yuck. A little pain in the band area but all-in-all fine. I did however notice that I couldn't take big gulps of drink. I would feel it get stuck. I forced myself to ignore it because I loved that I was finally feeling restriction.
On Thursday, April 5th, I was eating a flour tortilla for lunch and took a drink of water and once again felt the frothing and yuckiness which caused me to have to expel again. Once again, I didn't want to call the doctor right away in hopes that I could just work through this but I knew after I tried to take another sip of water and it was hard to get down that I would have to call. I waited until the next morning to make the call.
Friday, April 6th - The doctor is not in her office that day but does emergency calls from another office, if needed. I called Dr. Ellner's office and I was told that I needed to get fluid removed to loosen up the band. I met Dr. Ellner within the hour and she was so nice and understanding about what I was going through. She removed a full 2 ccs because she said the swelling needed to go down in my stomach before she could refill. She said she could probably refill back up to 1.5 ccs but that 2 ccs was probably too much.
Now for the hair issue. Hubby and I were just reviewing the photos and could not believe how much hair I've lost in a month. I had appointment number two last week with the dermatologist for the steroid shots. Horribly painful - I stopped counting after 30 shots in my head. I think there were about 10 more after I stopped counting. I am also going to acupuncture every two weeks as well as continuing the Rogaine regiment twice a day. I am however very lazy when it comes to take the oral meds. I hate taking them.
At Disneyland, with friends on April 4th, I was eating lunch and got stuck, felt my mouth get foamy and that horrible saliva frothing that I only read about on LapBandTalk.com. I then ran to the closest bathroom to cough up and throw up. I felt fine after that but yuck. A little pain in the band area but all-in-all fine. I did however notice that I couldn't take big gulps of drink. I would feel it get stuck. I forced myself to ignore it because I loved that I was finally feeling restriction.
On Thursday, April 5th, I was eating a flour tortilla for lunch and took a drink of water and once again felt the frothing and yuckiness which caused me to have to expel again. Once again, I didn't want to call the doctor right away in hopes that I could just work through this but I knew after I tried to take another sip of water and it was hard to get down that I would have to call. I waited until the next morning to make the call.
Friday, April 6th - The doctor is not in her office that day but does emergency calls from another office, if needed. I called Dr. Ellner's office and I was told that I needed to get fluid removed to loosen up the band. I met Dr. Ellner within the hour and she was so nice and understanding about what I was going through. She removed a full 2 ccs because she said the swelling needed to go down in my stomach before she could refill. She said she could probably refill back up to 1.5 ccs but that 2 ccs was probably too much.
Now for the hair issue. Hubby and I were just reviewing the photos and could not believe how much hair I've lost in a month. I had appointment number two last week with the dermatologist for the steroid shots. Horribly painful - I stopped counting after 30 shots in my head. I think there were about 10 more after I stopped counting. I am also going to acupuncture every two weeks as well as continuing the Rogaine regiment twice a day. I am however very lazy when it comes to take the oral meds. I hate taking them.
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