Naming Laney

The idea to name my band was a thought I had. I did not put a lot of thought into it until the other night. My husband was talking to a friend of his and had noticed she lost a great amount of weight.

So he asked her how she did it and she told him she had Lap Band Surgery in Aug 2006. So that just opened up a whole slew of questioning. First him telling her that I just had it done. So between my questions that he asked her and then questions she asked him on my surgery. She gave me a lot of GREAT advice. She emailed me stuff she has gone through etc. It was so nice of her to do this. I am forever grateful to her for this and also saying anytime I have any questions she will be glad to answer. It is nice to know someone that has gone through this several years out. I really will be looking to her! So to Steph - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

One of her suggestions if I had not was to name my band. She gave examples on how it will be easier to tell my hubby that Laney does not feel good, Laney does not want that, Laney is talking back, Laney is stuffed, etc. So I was off the baby naming sites to come up with my band name.

I was funny about it first, but than I found a site that let me search by meanings of names. So I did searches on names that meant: Thin, Tiny, Small, Slender, Beautiful, Light, Weight. In the search of the name Light, I found Laney = Torch, Bright Light. Well, since my last name is Delaney and my band is my torch, it is going to lead me and show me the way to my thinner self. It is my Bright Shinning Star inside of me. So I never looked back and Laney was born.

I have bonded very well with her. But she does not like me to sleep right now. I don't know if it is just I have to get used to her still but when I lay on my back I can feel the weight of her pulling down and makes my chest hurt.

I can't sleep on my tummy right now because of the port and soreness. I have been able to sleep on one side and she does not pull as much but every morning I wake up with the tightness in my chest. I am wondering if this is what everyone means by feeling tight in the morning. I know waking I am not hungry at all. I have to force myself to drink and around noon I finally eat (well drink) something.

I am suppose to be on 2 weeks clear liquids than 2 weeks full liquids than 2 weeks soft foods. This is the part of the surgery that bothers me. Not having to do this but how many doctors are different in this. (Even Pre OP they vary so much) I have talked with people that the day after they are released from the hospital are able to eat mushy foods right away up to people like Steph (who was banded 3 years ago) had to do clear liquids for 6 WEEKS!

Most that I have talked to from my surgeons office have altered their post op diet to do a week of clear, a week of full, 2 weeks of mushy and than 2 weeks of soft. (My has no mushy phase which to me is odd) So I have adopted this to my post op diet. Even the official lap band site says post op care, 2 weeks clear/full liquids, 2 weeks mushy, 2 weeks soft. So I don't know why my surgeon ignores the mushy phase.

Laney is happy. She was starting to get hungry and wanted more than just water, apply juice, broth, SF jello. Every time I even thought of getting on of those items she would groan. I introduced SF pudding to her the other day and she got quite full with that. Then I gave her some cream of potato soup and she loved that.

Yesterday I had 4 oz of mashed potato (I know I know that is mushy not full liquid) But it was a nice small amount that I ate really slow and was really good! I also cheated a little more and had a piece of pepperoni with some cheese on it off a slice a pizza my family was having. I chewed it so well it was like a thick shake. It was good but Laney said it was too soon for that because of the spices. So I won't be doing that again soon.

Tonight she is enjoying a nice bowl of broccoli & cheese soup. After staining out the chunks. So far she is loving that.

Today I weighed myself and in total (tickers are not updated) I have lost 25 lbs. I have not been 275 lbs in several years. It is so nice to be back at this weight and I am hopeful to keep losing like I am, but I know that I will plateau at some point but I will not let it set me back!

So until next time...