I can’t sleep!

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A lot of my content was moved private recently, so that I can have a chance to review what I have on my site and see where things are. Some of the topics and posts will be modified or moved to another sub-topic and others may be just left private indefinitely.

Also, I will be including a new section on my experiences with UNUM Provident as I feel that there are not enough personal experiences to allow others to make a reasonable assessment of the company itself. Yes, they are an insurance company and have certain obligations as such. But, I have had an overall decent experience thus far (except for some wrinkles; which we have been ironing out along the way). They are not the worst company in the world, but definitely have some things to work on. In this new section, I will begin including information about my personal encounters with them as well as some of the requirements they are asking of me to maintain my claim with them under Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Keep an eye out for these changes as they will be underway over the next month or so as my site receives a new look and feel to it also!

Jer passed his final Microsoft to be deemed a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of my husband, he is really pushing himself and beginning to achieve goals that I know he once thought were beyond his reach.

Great job, Jeremy!

I love you so much and am glad that you’ve decided to share your life with me. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband or best friend.

Last night I had a stuck episode and that landed me in the ER.. hours later, the doctor telling me nothing is wrong. So today I finally made it back to my surgeon’s office to have my band looked at. After going over what happened the day before, she determined that it was simply something stuck in my band and that if it happens again to use a small amount of meat tenderizer, mixed with water (she did warn some of this may come back up!) to help break down the food that is stuck.

I must say that my surgeon’s office has changed dramatically! For one, they are in a new and more upscale location.. and two, they have hired almost all new staff. I used to dread going to her office because of the staff. They seemed so miserable with their job and unhappy with life. This really brought me down and at times, pissed me off so much that I just couldn’t bring myself to go there. Believe this, it was very hard to call them and even consider trying to get an appointment today. Thankfully, the person I spoke with was so kind and has been there a while. That person would be Michelle, a fellow wls post-op who knows first hand what it is like to go through the struggle with obesity. After our talk today, I feel so much more confident that I can do this. So here’s what we did.

1. Complete unfill of my band. Although I am unhappy about this, I understand that the first step is to resolve any underlying swelling or irritation my stomach is experiencing. We did schedule an appointment for 3 weeks away to begin fills again, but first the irritation must be dealt with.

2. I was given information about the support groups that are going on in the area. Apparently the practice has really pushed the post-op care and now are encouraging more activity within the practice to help bring patients the knowledge and support they need. For me, I believe this is going to be vital to my success. It’s hard to think that I will need to rely on others for support as I am usually a very independent person, except for my husband, I count on him for so much..

3. We discussed nutrition. I will be seeing a nutritionist at every visit and am being asked to bring my food log to show her what I am eating and how I am feeling with my band. I am also to monitor my thoughts on food to see if part of my issue is dealing with food itself. Also, there was a lot of discussion surrounding supplements and I was given information on some that the office carries. She says there is no pressure to purchase from her, but I should consider at least some shakes and protein bar supplements to help curb the appetite. Her idea is that if I have something like this in the house instead of cookies or popcorn, I will go for that instead.

4. We discussed the importance of keeping my depression and anxiety under control. Stress and anxiety directly effect my band’s performance, making me incredibly tighter during times when I need to be loose and loose when I need to be tighter. This is something I have a handle on now, but I will need to keep in check for the band to be successful.

5. The doctor and I had a full heart to heart about both of our expectations and our history together. She admitted that her practice did not focus on post-op care for some time but reassured me that her goal is to focus on complete patient care now and she wants me to be a part of that. Now, she may be a good sales man, but I really do believe that her office has gotten better. She is straight to the point and honest about what I need to do and I was honest with her in what I have and have not done.

Overall, I believe I am ready to give this a good try. I am scheduled to go back at the end of this month for a refill. At that time, we will begin pushing nutrition much harder and I am going to be reporting on my food journal and thoughts.

I was even given some homework by Michelle for my support group- I need to list 10 reasons I want to lose weight. At first, I thought this would be easy, but I want the reasons to be meaningful for me so I am going to give the idea some thought before I just tack it out. So far though, it’s looking like this:

1. Relieve joint pains

2. See relief from PCOS so that I can become pregnant

3. See myself for what I know I am on the inside.

4. Have increased energy and vitality

5.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. See what I mean? It will be quite interesting to see how this lists progresses.

Right now, I’m changing medicines from Lexapro to Cymbalta. Withdrawal has been crazy. I feel panicky all of the time and even though the doctors say that Cymbalta will help with the pain, I’m noticing increased pains throughout my body. At first I thought it was just withdrawal from the previous medicine, but I’m starting to believe that it is a lot more than that.

Definitely will be talking to the doctor about this as she explained that Cymbalta helps alleviate pain, not increase.