One Week Post-Op

This morning was my one week post-op appointment with my surgeon. He removed the dressings on the incisions, said they looked good, asked me how I was doing, and that was pretty much it. I scheduled my first fill for August 30th, my one month bandiversary!

What I’m most excited about however, is my progress. According to MY scale, I’ve lost seventeen (17!!) pounds along this path to normal, and even more exciting than that, I’m just one pound away from a weight starting with a “1”. Yep, that’s right, this morning I weighed 200.5! There’s a number I haven’t seen for a very long time. So here is what my path looks like so far:

June 7th, 2010 – 217.5 – The day I met with my new primary care physician, and my highest weight ever.

July 20th, 2010 – 213.5 – The start of my 10 day pre-op diet.

July 30th, 2010 – 207.0 – Surgery day!!

August 6th, 2010 – 200.5 – One week post-op.

I haven’t exactly determined what my goal weight is yet, but I’m thinking somewhere between 125 and 130. Ideally, my goal isn’t a weight, but a dress size. I’d really like to be a solid size 8, possibly a 6 depending on the cut of clothing, but an 8 sounds like a great size for me. I’m short and have a huge head, so I’m afraid I’d look like a bobble head doll if I were to be any smaller than that.

But while my end goal is still a little up in the air, I have three very distinct interim milestones that I plan to celebrate! And while every single pound lost is, in my mind, cause for a balloon-and-streamers-type celebration, I’ve chosen the following:

190 pounds – No Longer “Severely Obese”
163 pounds – No Longer “Obese”
136 pounds – No Longer “Overweight”

And when I was trying to decide how to celebrate or reward myself for achieving these goals, I knew one thing, I wanted to include my husband and son. My list of “reasons why”, for the most part, is all about them. And while I was the one that underwent the surgery, the lap band effects their day-to-day lives as well. So for each of these milestones, I wanted to find something to do, as a family, that I’ve let my weight hold me back from.

Once I’m down to 190 pounds, we’ve decided to take a day hike, either in the foothills or the mountains and have a picnic. Nothing too challenging, as my son is only three and I’ll still be fairly out of shape. Hiking is something my husband loved to do prior to meeting me, but work, life, marriage and kids soon took over. I’ve never been an “outdoorsy” person, but I’d like for my son to enjoy all that nature has to offer.

It was pretty difficult to find a family reward for my 163 milestone. Due to the timing of the surgery, I expect to hit this goal sometime during the winter. Since we do live in Colorado, I suggested skiing. Though I grew up here, I never really got into skiing. I’ve been a handful of times, and enjoyed it, but it’s expensive, and requires lots of equipment and travel time. Geoff loved to ski. Loved it, that is, until he ran into a tree and almost died 10 years ago. So he nixed that idea. In thinking more about it, I realized at 163, I’d be at about the same weight I was when we went on our honeymoon, and I still have the bathing suit I took to Costa Rica that (in theory) should fit. So we decided we’d take a day off from work, and head to one of the indoor waterparks we have here in town. Generally, anytime we go to the pool or beach, or anywhere that requires me to wear a swim suit, I hide beneath a cover up and refuse to get in, while my husband plays with my son. This time, I will play!

And the final milestone is a big one! Because that is when I will finally be NORMAL. So this one will be celebrated like nobody's business. Family pictures. And not just my little nucleus of a family, but the entire family. I’m talking about renting a photographer for an entire morning, or day if I must, and get pictures with my parents, my sister and her family, my husband’s parents, sister and brother, and his dad, stepmom and brothers. One of my “reasons why” is to be in pictures with my family again, and we are going to take some serious pictures.

I’m excited, still scared, but can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend in the path!