Fashion Show ~HELP NEEDED~

Don't get me wrong, I don't need a tutorial on the mechanics of shopping. But after years and years of having such limited choices, I am overwhelmed anytime I try to buy new clothes. There are so many things out there, and I have no idea what to wear.

I have a few events this fall: my sister's baby shower on Saturday, Chicago and an October wedding in northern California. I don't really have anything for any of these occasions, although if I dig deep in my closet maybe I could find something.

In the meantime, here's what I picked up today. I fully intend to return some of it tomorrow, so please be honest in your assessments.

First, a jacket/shirt combo from White House/Black Market. I like the jacket, but can't decide which shirt looks best. The pants need to be hemmed, so disregard the extra 10 inches of fabric hanging at the bottom. Also, I think the Holy Spirit was paying a visit to my closet, based on the blinding light illuminating my saddle bags. Sorry about that.

Horizontal sparkles


Plain


Neckline sparkles


I also found this shirt at Lord & Taylor, which would be fun for a going-to-dinner night.


Unless, of course, it looks like I should be wielding a sword and shouting, "Ahoy matey!"


What do you think? Let me know.

I still don't have anything for the shower or the wedding, so I'm going back for more tomorrow. I can return the undesirables then.

The Good, The Bad and The Party Recap

The good news: I can eat!

The bad news: I can EAT!

The unfill left me with 4.75 cc's in my band, so it's not wide open. But I do feel a difference in hunger, particularly this morning.

The good news: I was so busy yesterday at the party that I barely ate anything.

The bad news: We have leftovers. Red velvet cake ($9.99 at Costco with heavenly cream cheese frosting), dips, chips, brownies, cookies.

The good news: I've invited a slew of in-laws to watch the Giants game today and eat the rest of the leftovers. So I'm going to pull on my big-girl pants and exercise some self control. Hopefully the worst of the temptations will be gone by dinnertime.

Yesterday morning I weighed 201.8. Which is AWESOME because it's sooooo close to being under 200. But it's also kind of a tease because I know I was still dehydrated so the weight loss isn't really true. This morning I clocked in at 204.

I would so love to be under 200 by the time we all get together in Chicago, and I'll keep working for it. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and the party was great. The Hubs started hosting this party in honor of an underappreciated historical figure 14 years ago (this year's honoree: DeWitt Clinton, father of the Erie Canal and the NYC public school system).

I wasn't on the scene when the Hubs started hosting the party, so it was just him and a few college friends with some six-packs of beer and a bowl of M&Ms. When we moved in together in New York I added such elegant touches as chips and dip and cheese and crackers. Over the years it went from being a nighttime adult-only affair where everyone drank beer to an adult-only affair where everyone drank wine to six jillion kids running around our backyard with water guns. Yesterday we had more than 100 people, and the party was catered by Planet Pizza and Costco.

It's now grown into a great mishmash of friends from college, our various jobs, my book club, the kids' friends and their parents and our extended families. I love introducing people who haven't met but have common interests and watching them hit it off. The kids run around and play ball or go in the bouncy castle we rent, swim, play with sidewalk chalk, just generally hang out and have fun.

We had such a good time, in a lot of cases we only see these friends once a year at this party. One family comes from Massachusetts and stays overnight every year, so we always get to hang out, eat leftovers and drink wine with them after we get our six combined kids into bed after the party.

All in all, I'm feeling soooo much better. Planning to go back to the surgeon sometime next week to have some fill added without getting to the awful point I reached last week. I'll have a convo with him then about the poor response I received when I called for help.

Sweet Relief

The surgeon took out 1 cc this afternoon. I can drink now.

I think they thought I was overreacting right up till I stepped on their scale. I've lost nine pounds since my fill last Thursday. I'm sure seven of those pounds are the result of dehydration after a day and a half of throwing up so I'll probably show a gain for the next couple of weeks. I don't care, though.

I've had most of a smoothie from Starbucks, and a few sips of strained chicken noodle soup. So far, so good.

I didn't say much to my surgeon about his staff or the trouble I had getting in touch. I'll tell him when I go back to have some fill put in after the swelling goes down. I was exhausted and dehydrated and in no mood to have a conversation.

I'm amazed how obsessed I got with eating when I couldn't eat a thing. Part of the problem was just before my surgeon appointment I was shopping at Costco for the party, so everything looked really good and everyone was walking around eating the yummy samples while I listlessly pushed my cart.

I did score a cute anorak thingy. Size L! It's not loose by any means, but I think it'll work well as the weather gets cooler and wetter.

Thanks to all of you for your concern. It was comforting, and I know you understand more than anyone else.

Now I need to get everything ready for tomorrow's party. The good news: The weather looks gorgeous!

The Misery Continues

Last night I was able to have some chicken broth and a couple ounces of ice water. This morning I was so thirsty, my stomach was growling. I had two sips of juice and then tried a few bites of very thin soup.

No dice.

I'm furious with my doctor - I called yesterday and spoke to someone who kind of blew me off, told me to just take little sips. When I called again in the afternoon to say I was throwing up saliva, the woman said, "I can have him call you, but he's not going to tell you anything different." I said to please have him call me. No call. Last night I had him paged at 8 pm and asked for him to call me back. No call.

I called this morning and he's operating right now. I told the woman I need to see him this afternoon, I can't keep liquids down. She said she'd check with him and let me know.

I have to take my son to the pediatrician to check his wheezing, and I cannot keep running to the bathroom or they're going to think I have an eating disorder.

I have so many errands to run to get ready for a party we're having tomorrow. We have one party a year for our friends, and this is it. It's casual, we order pizza and chicken fingers from a pizza place, but it's big - we have more than 90 people coming tomorrow. I don't have time to be kneeling over the toilet gagging.

I'm angry enough with my surgeon to leave the practice, but there aren't a lot of other people who do this around here. I did call another practice to see if they take post-op patients for aftercare. They said yes but the PA who does all the fills is on vacation and I'd like to talk to her before I start getting records together.

On the upside, I lost three pounds overnight. I can't even get excited about it because I know it's from being dehydrated and because of the misery I've gone through to lose them.

**UPDATE**
Going to have some fluid removed at 1.30 pm. The receptionist told me in the meantime to just take tiny sips. Ha! There's nothing going in at this point, it's all going out. From a few sips of soup 90 minutes ago. Ridiculous.

Worst Morning Ever

All three kids have colds and coughs, so I took them to the pediatrician's office this morning. On the way I had about 2/3 of my daily Zone bar, and within a few minutes realized it wasn't going down well.

As we walked into the office, my 15-month-old immediately started crying because, in addition to her 11-day fever streak and cough, she remembers that this is the place where they stick you with needles. The nurse came in to get the scoop on what's happening, who's got a fever, etc. I had to excuse myself and run down the hall with the baby (she freaks out if I leave her) to throw up.

I came back and the ped examined the kids. Middle Child is wheezing for the first time in his life and had to be nebulized. Older Child is fine so was sent back to the waiting room to watch Toy Story. Baby had to have a toe prick to check her white blood count to determine if her ailment is viral or bacterial (result: not sure, keep an eye on it. super helpful.). I had to excuse myself three more times to go throw up. Middle Child goes back tomorrow to see how nebulizing is working.

On the way out I asked the doctor for a plastic bag, and continued to throw up as I drove home. Question from my compassionate children: Mom, are you going to brush your teeth when we get home? And my personal favorite: Mom, can you please open the windows? It smells in here.

I'm sipping something cold and soothing now, and I can feel that everything is swollen. Damn it. I was going to make a nice dinner tonight too. Now I'm looking up soup recipes on foodnetwork.com.

**UPDATE**
Just threw up the cold drink. I had maybe 3-4 ounces. Spoke to someone at my surgeon's office who says it happens sometimes and I may throw up for the next few days. I asked what if I can't keep liquids down and she said well, that might happen but just try to take really small sips.

Any other suggestions? This is awful.

SIXTY SIXTY SIXTY SIXTY!!

FINALLY!

I've lost 60 pounds (as of yesterday)!!! This was three months to the day that I lost 50 pounds, which means it took me three months to lose 10 pounds. Let's not dwell too much on that, shall we?

As of this morning, I'm actually 61 pounds down, which means I'm officially more than halfway to my goal weight. I know the second half is a lot harder than the first, so I'm gearing up for a war against fat. I will win, because the Force is with me.

I'm pretty happy about all of this, and I know the fill really got things kick-started.

Our houseguests cooked dinner for us the other night, and I was all in a tizzy about what I should do because they were making pasta with truffle butter and crusty bread. Not super band friendly, and I didn't want to 'fess up because I've only known them for a few days. Oh, and I was supposed to be on liquids because I had a fill on Thursday.

Once again, the blog babes helped in a big way. While I loved Jennifer's suggestion that I have a stomach bug (complemented with the phrase "ass faucet") and Barbara's about taking an "emergency" phone call, I knew I couldn't pull off either of those. I'm a bad liar.

A couple of you mentioned that your docs don't require liquids after a fill, which made me feel better about having a few bites of the pasta. So I ate the cheese they served as an appetizer, a glass of red wine, some avocado from the salad and a few teeeny bites of the pasta. When I asked the Hubs for the avocado he wasn't eating, he said, "I'll trade you for some pasta," and took most of mine, thus saving me from sitting there with a full plate. Love that guy.

Hair Makeover

My hair is thinning (please, God, let it come back) and I've desperately needed an overhaul for a while.

Here's the result of today's cut and color:




It'd be swell if I was having gangbusters weight loss to go with the hair loss, but notsomuch. I predict yesterday's fill will help get things kick-started, as will my stepped-up workouts.

I was complaining to Hairdresser Amy about how much my luscious tresses have thinned out lately. She's been cutting my hair for seven years, so she was puzzled and kept asking what's going on. I told her about the surgery and she said, "Well, thank God, I was about to send you to an endocrinologist because I was afraid you're really sick."

Thanks for all the great dinner suggestions. I think I'm going to have a few bites, push it around the plate, slip some to the Hubs if I can, and plead an upset stomach if anyone notices. I bought wine, and I'm planning to keep refilling the chefs' glasses so they'll be too tipsy to notice that I'm not eating much.

Sorry I haven't been commenting and reading as much as usual. It's been one thing after another here, but I'm sure it'll calm down next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Trouble in River City

Hoooo boy, I need some help here. As we lingered over a dinner of leftovers and blended black bean soup (guess who had that), Houseguests mentioned that they are going to cook dinner for us tomorrow night.

Their favorite recipe: Pasta with truffle butter, and a nice loaf of crusty bread.

They're out at Whole Foods right now buying the ingredients.

Now, on a normal band day I could probably fake it with a few very small bites, maybe switching plates with Hubs halfway through. But I'm post-fill and supposed to be on liquids until Saturday.

What to do, what to do? Please advise. xoxo

Fill 'Er Up

Today I had my first fill since March. I'm a little nervous about it because the last time I was at this level (5.75 cc's in a 10 cc band), I could eat virtually no solids. It was difficult and a pain in the ass because it really limited where and when I could have a meal. After two months at 5.75 I had my surgeon take me down to 5.5 cc's.

But lately I've been dancing around the same numbers on the scale, and I'm feeling hungry within 90 minutes or two hours after my meals so I know it's time for something. My surgeon put me back up to 5.75 today and told me to take it really, really slow in going back to solids. I'm on thin liquids today, regular liquids Friday/Sat and mushies on Sunday, then transitioning to solids gradually.

The good news here is, I expect this will help me get through the plateau. And it's possible that I've lost enough weight since March that 5.75 won't be as tight now as it was then. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Our houseguests are really nice, and their kids are sweet and well-behaved - better behaved than mine, but that's another topic for another day - so all is well on that front. I made a big dinner last night (pastitsio, salad, wine and berry cobbler) for everyone so I can keep it casual for the next few nights. I'm hoping that'll make it less noticeable that I'm only on liquids.

In the meantime, I'm heading to the gym for a workout. Cue the Rocky theme song...

I'm Sore. But That's a Good Thing, Probably.

I went back to the gym today. I meant to go back a few months ago, but then I had a stuck episode and vomited all over the parking lot and in my car. It was awkward.

So I guess what really happened was, I finally got up the nerve to show my face at the gym again. And while I was there, I worked out with a trainer. He was good, tough without being ridiculous. I didn't cry. I can feel the muscle fatigue and I know tomorrow I'll be sore and Wednesday I'll be in pain and then I'll be OK again on Thursday. Which is good because I have another appointment then.

In unrelated news, Oldest Child starts second grade tomorrow. Cannot believe summer is already over.

Also, we have a family I've never met and know virtually nothing about arriving tomorrow to live with us for a week. The husband is a colleague of my husband, and they're moving here from San Francisco with two very young children. Hubs invited them to stay with us while their furniture is en route. Wish me luck.