Alligator Farm!

I had a good eating day today so far....tonight will tell the tale. We are going to see a very local production of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in St. Augustine. Should be interesting to say the least. My niece keeps asking what its about. I told her she'll have to see it to believe it. She is now afraid!

Before the show we are going for dinner at Mezzaluna. It is an Italian Restaurant/Pizza place. I am praying that I can still eat pizza, albeit, very slowly/carefully. We'll see! I can always go with a smooshed up meatball, right?

I finally uploaded some pics from our big outing at the Alligator Farm. Lots of fun but definitely one of those places that you only need to visit once!

Albino Alligator



The Gangs all here!



Me and Stephen



Me and Stephen



My daughter Mallory & my niece Elayna



Mallory & Kevin (her fiance)



Me and my Mallory

Ahhhh...Sweet Relief!

Thank you for all your words of encouragement to get the unfill. Best decision I made! I had .15cc's of my .35cc fill taken out! What a difference it made immediately! I am so glad I went to see Dr. D today. He even explained that with everything I have been through these past two months, he is certain that stress is playing a huge part of my tightness. He further explained that when the body is stressed, you retain more fluid which in turn adds to your tightness. Light-bulb moment because leading up to my 2nd fill, right after my Dad and BIL died, I all of a sudden started feeling restriction again and the fill added to that. By the time I had my 3rd fill, I think we just over-did it with the amount of .35cc's not thinking about the stress factor.

My husband, on the other hand, almost got punched in the nose by me while in the exam room waiting for the doctor. The nurse commented that I had lost 3 lbs in the one week since I'd been there. Steve said "why don't you just leave your fill/restriction alone...at this rate, you will be at goal in a month!" At first I thought he was kidding...he wasn't! He really didn't get it at first why this not eating thing was not good but after I explained and then the Dr. explained more, he was ok with it. Are you kidding me? I was at the point where I was going to start gnawing on his arm in the car on the drive to the doctors office. I was so hungry. I wasn't even able to drink coffee again this morning! Came right back up after a sip.

I am happy to say that I had 1/2 of a hamburger with ketchup (no bun) for dinner and a little bit of the ice cream from last night. It felt so good to eat and not get stuck. I took tiny bites and ate slowwwwww. He also suggested I take Prilosec for a month to make sure my stomach quiets down from all the inflamation.

The only good thing that came from this episode is that this morning, for the first time in at least 8 years, I saw 189 on the scale! Not sure if it will be there tomorrow but that is ok, it was there today and it will be back! I feel it!

Going for the unfill tomorrow

Still having issues with my fill and I have an appt. tomorrow at 2 for an unfill. Yesterday was strange, I had problems with my coffee in the morning than also with water at the gym. I than had a few teaspoons of egg salad at lunch and it didn't go down. Later in the day I was picking while I was cooking and I didn't have any problems! I ate some fried corn, macaroni salad, 2 bites of a rib and a few chocolate chip cookies.

This morning, when I woke up I was thinking that maybe I was past the tightness and I wouldn't be needing an unfill...well, that was before my coffee! I couldn't drink water at the gym and I even tried some grits for lunch. No go. I called and made an appt. for tomorrow. Dinner was a few bites of left over fried corn and that did it! STuck again. I am now slowly drinking a cup of tea. I am so hungry and I am at this moment thinking that I may try a little ice cream, just to get something down. (ice cream went down very slow but it went down with only a hiccup)

My daughter and her fiance are leaving for NY tomorrow but my niece will be with me until this Sunday. We went to the Alligator Farm...pretty cool but SMELLY! Oy! I was going to hold a baby Alligator, no really I was, until the girl told me that he was projectile pooping on a few people before me. Uh, no thanks! I was not being pooped on by no Gator!

I will let y'all know how the unfill goes tomorrow!

So far...still a little tight today

Last night I was able to eat 1/2 cup of ice cream but even that didn't just slide on down! Me thinks I may be a little too tight as I was not able to comfortably drink a cup of coffee this morning. My doctor is closed today for the holiday but will be open tomorrow so I guess I will call depending on what happens today.

I'm going to the gym in a little while and i will slowly try to drink some water and than I will try some yogurt when I get home. I even had trouble drinking my water yesterday! He put in .35 cc's last Thursday and maybe if he pulls out .1 or even a little more I will feel better. The irony of this is that he originally put in .8cc's!!! Can you imagine? That was not happening as I couldn't even get down one sip of water!

I made some kick-ass meatballs in marinara sauce last night and I felt like crying when I couldn't eat even 1/2 without it coming up! Everyone was oohing and aahing about how good they were and thats when I said to myself that I shouldn't be feeling like this. Up until now, I was able to eat just about anything but just a little of it and when I couldn't even eat a smooshed up meatball, I knew something was wrong!

Ok, my fickle little band...you have until the end of today to let me know if we are heading back to Dr. D on Wednesday or not! This will not be the most pleasant trip either as we have to take Mallory and Kevin to Orlando International Airport and the doctors office is not exactly on the way. Its probably like 50 miles on the other side of the airport which will add another 100 miles to my 200 round trip ride to the airport! Good thing my husband doesn't mind driving!

Our plans changed today so we will be having a BBQ later on and will be going to the Alligator Farm tomorrow instead. This Alligator Farm better be interesting or everyone will kill me as I seem to be the only one who is excited about it!

I will let you all know what I decide to do about the un-fill! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday America!

First of all, my mother is in much better spirits...still threatening to jump out the window of her hospital room but much better none-the-less. Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. Hopefully she will get good news in the next day or so and be able to come home!

Mallory, Kevin and Elayna arrived yesterday afternoon from NY and so far, everyone seems to be having a great time! We went to the beach last night for the fireworks and even with some rain, they put on a great show and we had a wonderful time.

My fill that I had on Thursday seems to be giving me a hard time. I was fine on Friday during the liquid day and yesterday on mushies was fine also. Today was another story altogether. I got stuck on coffee, thank stuck on water, than stuck at breakfast (1/2 piece of toast, 1/2 egg and piece bacon), lunch was about 2 teaspons of egg salad..stuck and dinner was 1/2 meatball with sauce and guess what? Stuck! Not good. I was able to get water and a cup of tea down after all that so maybe I just need to go a little slower? My band now has 2.95 cc's in a 4 cc band. The doctor originally put in .8 but took more than 1/2 out when water did n't go down. I thought he was crazy when he told me what he put in and thankfully, he took it right out.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July! We are headed to the Alligator Farm tomorrow.

Update on my Mama and BYOC

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers on my blog yesterday about my mom. She is still in the hospital and unfortunately, they will be keeping her through the weekend as they have still not determined exactly what bacteria they are treating her for. She is currently on 3 antibiotics and one seems to be helping her as she is showing signs that the infection is getting smaller. She is a horrible patient though and just wants to go home. I can't blame her really but she has to listen to the doctor as she really doesnt have any other choice.

I will keep you posted on her progress/condition.

On to BYOC:

1. Seeing that it’s a patriotic holiday of sorts I thought of this one: Where were you on September 11th?

I was working for a Bank on Long Island and I was in with my Executive Vice President talking to one of our Investment Bankers who worked on the 104th floor of the WTC. We were talking when the first plane hit the North Tower and he said "I have to go...there is something going on next door". He didn't make it out that day. All they found was his wallet. Very sad...he was 38 years old and had two young children. He was one of too many who died that day. I left work soon after and went to both of my daughters schools and took them home. I didn't want them out of my sight.

2. What is your idea of fun? If given the chance to skip work/life for an entire day, what would you do? (assume you’d be by yourself) I would go shopping...I love to shop and very rarely find time to go by myself.

3. Suggestion from a follower. Some blog questions.

How many blogs do you follow? About 125
Do you read them all or just your faves? I read them all
Do you comment a little, a lot, on all? I try to comment on as many as I can if I have something of value to add, especially on those that comment on my blog.
Have you ever unfollowed someone because of something they said or you didn’t like their blog? Only 1 person. I just got to the point with this blogger that it wasn't helping me on my journey by reading her blog. She was eating around her band like crazy and asking for help but she obviously didn't want it.
Do you routinely unfollow and why
see above: I have only unfollowed the one blog and I have had one person unfollow me. I still follow the person who unfollowed me and it makes me crazy wondering why she unfollowed me :(


4. Repeat question. Pick one day and one healthy thing you’ll do for just that day next week. I can't narrow it down to one day but I will keep exercising

5. Repeat "Make someone a superstar" question. Whose blog or blog comment stuck with you this week and why?
Amy's Glass Closet

Oh, no....here I go again!

I have tried to avoid blogging all week thinking that all I seem to have to talk about lately is gloom and doom. Who wants bad news all the time, right?

My mom was admitted into the hospital on Monday due to symptoms of stomach bloating and a painful "lump". When I asked my mom how long she has had the "lump" she said, at least a week or so. Thats my mother! She'll tell you she doesn't feel well but than tells you she is fine. Anyway, she finally went to the doctor on Monday and he admitted her for a CT scan and colonoscopy.

The CT scan was done Monday afternoon and they determined that she had a cyst the size of a baseball in her stomach possibly caused by diverticulitis. On Tuesday, they drained the cyst and confirmed that it was puss filled as opposed to blood. They have been waiting for the biopsy of the fluid to come back to determine what course of treatment to take. In the interim, yesterday they did yet another CT scan and determined the the infection is actually more out of than in the stomach and its a big infection. Under the microscope they are thinking its a Staph infection but still cannot be sure until they get the test results back.

To make a long story short, each day she has thought she would be going home but today the doctor said to plan on staying in the hospital at least until MONDAY! He does not want her to go until he is certain what he is treating and says she will be on intravenous IV for a long time. She can do this at home but not this weekend as it is a holiday weekend and he wants her in the hospital where he can monitor her.

Please say a prayer for my mother. When I heard the word "staph infection", well you know where my mind went. On the other hand, based on what my family has been through in the last 7 weeks, i cannot imagine a God who would give us more to deal with so I am pretty sure that all we need to do is pray for my mother to get well so she can come home.

I am so torn right now as I want to jump on a plane and go to NY but I also have Mallory, Kevin and Elayna flying down to FL on Saturday. Do we cancel their trip so I can go to my mother? For at least today, we are leaving the plans as they are thinking that worst case, we can all fly to NY during the week if things change.

I am leaving in a few minutes to go to my Fill appointment than we are continuing on to STeves dads house in West Palm Beach where we will be spending the night. I will be home tomorrow afternoon and I will update y'all on my mothers condition. You have no idea what all of you mean to me. Thank you for ALWAYS being here for me! I love you all!