How's this for a mysterious post?

Instead of going to find out what was wrong with my band on Wednesday, I got a positive pregnancy test and had to cancel.  X-rays are bad for babies! ;)

There's more to that story but I don't have time to post it.. but I do have a picture of what I saw on Thursday morning. :)

I'll post the entire story really soon.  But to sum it up... I still don't know what's wrong with my band and now I won't, possibly, for another year.  We are thrilled and can't wait til Fall! :)

Happy Valentine's Day AND 100 followers!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day to all my 100 followers!!! Wow, who would have thunk that one!? :)

On to regular news... I scheduled my upper GI for February 24th at 8 AM.  It's at the hospital in Madison and I'm pretty much super excited to get it done so I can, hopefully, have some answers.  

Along those lines, I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone that commented on, or even just read, my blog entry about all this mess.  I think a part of me expected all of you to bail on me because I feel like I'm not a "real" bandster for some reason.  I have a band, yes, but it's not working properly.  Hopefully one day I'll have things up and running correctly and I'll get to utilize all the wonderful information you ladies have taught me.  In the mean time, if anyone knows anyone else in my shoes, send them my way!  I'd love to be able to help someone.  That would really make me feel better.

We had company Saturday.  My BFF, Leann, came to visit from Indiana.  She brought her fiancé and son (who happens to be 3 days older than my daughter) as well and we had a great time!  We went to bd's Mongolian Grill for dinner and then followed that up with some tubing at Cascade Mountain.  What a fun night!!  We got there with about an hour and 15 minutes left to tube and we took advantage until we were icicles.  They stayed at a hotel (for reasons unknown to me, we have a spare room and plenty of extra space) in town and came back for breakfast this morning.  I cooked an egg casserole-y thing and we had fresh fruit and toast with it.  They had another destination in Wisconsin today so they left before noon.  

I got on my computer to play around and then went up to cuddle in bed with my family (they were watching movies in bed) and promptly fell asleep... for 3 hours! LOL!  It felt great to catch up on sleep though.  We stayed up until midnight last night doing wedding projects and talking.  She also brought my bridesmaid dress along.  I've mentioned the dress in a past post.  It FIT!  :)  I felt a little compressed in the upper abdominal area so there needs to be a little hard work to improve that.  I'll be doing a lot of dress adjustments during the ceremony so I need to be able to MOVE, lol.  I'll post pics (she took them) when I get them! :) 

Hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend! :)

Coming out of hiding.. with semi-bad news

Well, I am the same as everyone (most..) else and I hid when something was wrong.  *hangs head in shame*

I went in for another fill today and went armed with a speech to give.  I was ready to fight for myself and was VERY happy to find out that I didn't have to.  My nurse practitioner (NP) came armed as well.  She talked to my surgeon last night about me and they have a plan for me.  I was ranting on and on about how I'm gaining weight and it CAN NOT be all my fault.  I exercise 4 times a week and recently added in boot camp classes when possible, too.  I drink only water and milk (before meals or between as a snack) and until very recently have been following eating guidelines quite closely.  Only "until recently" because I have been feeling SO down that I've been stuffing my face with junk.  I admit this though.

My NP just nodded and sat there looking awfully sympathetic.  When I finally shut up and let her talk she told me their plan.  I'm to get an esophagram as soon as possible.  They said they have ruled out all other possibilities and are ready to look into more serious problems.  She expressed to me that they do NOT think this is my fault.  They think something is wrong with the band.  She said one of two things are likely at this point: 1) the band slipped up around my esophagus, thus, creating no pouch.  or 2) the band slipped down further or some of my stomach has prolapsed through the band.  Again, this problem would have made a larger pouch.

Both issues would explain the urge to look for food all the time and my seemingly insatiable appetite lately.  The first issue would explain why I feel some "stuck" feelings sometimes when I eat (but they pass quickly.. like a clogged drain) and why I get the hiccups when I take a drink while eating or eat too quickly.

So.. this continues the saga of Tiffani. :(

IF one of these proves to be true there is one solution.  Surgery.  I'm self-pay, in case you forgot.  I asked if the surgeons would donate their time or some such to help cut down on costs and she said she didn't know because I was the first person she knew of this being a possibility for since working there (she started in August).  She said it was definitely worth exploring though if we need to.

The NP sat with me for probably 30 minutes.  Our appt was a 15 minute time slot.  She had tears in her eyes right along with me when I sat there taking this all in.

Obviously, I got no fill.  I will be called soon to schedule my appt for that test and we'll go from there.  She said our next step would be to look for a leak but they really don't think I'm showing signs of that happening.

I would have so many decisions to make if this (any of this!) is the case... remove the band, replace the band, reposition the existing band.... UGH UGH UGH :( :( :(  I hate this.

Did I mention I'm 5 lbs away from weighing what I weighed on my date of surgery?  Yeah.  Something's wrong.