Weight at last weigh in: 135.4kg
Current Weight: 133.1
Amount of saline in balloon : 1610ml
Amount added: 100ml
Amount lost since last entry: 2.3kg
OK, so Tuesday the 6th July saw me back at the Obesity Clinic for my last 'monthly' appointment! From now on I will be seeing them every 3 months.
I am 800g off making my 20kg lost goal! 20kg in a year isn't a bad achievement I don't think! It's been slow, consistent and gentle, which I'm told is great for sustained weight loss.
I'll do something I haven't done before, and kind of tell you guys what I went through with each element of my appointments. They are 4-fold. I see;
Warren - Psychologist
Taryn - Dietician
Michelle - Nurse
and
Dr Layani - Surgeon
Warren:
This time I had to fill out a questionnaire. I had to do it at my first consultation, then again at 6 months (I think). They compare my answers and see how my over all mental well-being is going. Whether it's improving or not with my weight loss.
I hop on the scales and tell Warren my weight. He writes it on a print out that's all about me. He asks me questions off this sheet of paper...eg how have my sleeping habits been? Alcohol & Drug usage and exercise habits. We discuss what I should be doing and what I might be able to do to increase my exercise mentality and self-efficacy. He has a real thing about my depression being linked my self-efficacy. Which is always amusing for me, because he says it with a South-African accent.
He's usually pretty happy with me, I made my lifestyle change early on, eg fixed my food issues, so it's just mainly been about getting me out there and exercising more. At the moment I'm without a car so he agreed that I'm doing enough incidental exercise and I don't' need to be adding 'dedicated' exercise as well. He tells me I can do this, that I'm already doing well and that I'm a really pretty girl and so much will open up for me when I get to the end of my journey. I'm flattered of course, it's always nice to be told I'm pretty lol.
We agree that I need to use my pedometer more, which I VOW I will do...as soon as I find it! I mention my portion sizes have increased, and I'm having earlier dinners so Warren suggests I speak to Taryn about what I can do, maybe have a 4th meal.
Taryn:
I walk in, and weigh myself yet again. Her scales are 200g different to Warrens so I tell her to write down Warren's scale measurement :P.
We discuss my increased portions and decide that I need to have a larger lunch, really cram it in there or maybe have a milkshake with banana in it around 3pm. Maybe add some protein powder, but if I ever have to drink that crap again it'll be too soon so I agree to milk and banana...I'll add some vanilla essence too though.
I say I want a 100ml adjustment and Taryn agrees it could help.
I go out and wait to see Dr Layani, but Michelle comes and tells me she needs me to do a wee. lol. I have to have a pregnancy test. Joy... NOT. I go off with my little jar and do what is needed and as soon as I come back into the office and take a seat, Dr Layani calls me in.
Dr Layani:
I go in, he says hi and shakes my hand. Asks how I am doing, how much I've lost and if I need an adjustment. I tell him I'd like 100ml and he says ok. We go through to the 'procedure' room and I assume the position.
The 'Position' is laying on the bed, shirt up to my bra level, skirt pulled down to below my belly button. He feels around for my port then jabs a long needle into it.
I have to admit, that always feels weird. I can feel the port pushing into what ever organs are below it and it feels strange and foreign. He starts to push the fluid in and I can feel my implant getting heavier on my stomach. I can always feel it, I'm very in-tune with my body. Dr L mentioned that out of all the percutaneous placements he did (the procedure has been changed to laproscopically now)that mine is the one he got perfect. Which makes me feel great and terrible, because one of my friends is one he didn't get perfect and her balloon has to come out.
Once the adjustment is done Dr L says goodbye and slips back into his office.
Michelle:
She does my lovely pregnancy test, which comes up negative (it'd want to, I have a contraceptive implant which I had put in 1 month before my surgery). She then does my measurements and takes my temperature.
Then I get to come out and sign my form, so Dr Layani can charge Vibrynt for his time, and I finally get to leave!
I did get given a box full of tubes though to get my 12 month bloods done, so off I toddled over to the Pathology Collection Centre and they took 8 vials of blood!
Geez it's fun being a lab rat...NOT! I'm not funny with needles at all, I can even watch them going in, but having that much blood taken when you've had to fast (for both the adjustment and the blood test) isn't great for wanting to stay upright when you stand. I felt quite woozy after that and went and had some lunch.
I'm always told to stick to fluids for 24 hours after my adjustment, but as I've mentioned before I never do that and I'm just fine. When I try to stick to fluids I end up in heaps of pain. So I have a small amount of food and always feel heaps better.
So, over all it's quite an involved process! One that I only have to go through once every 3 months now! I will continue to update this blog though, when I remember, with my weight loss updates.
My next step is to purchase a set of scales that can actually read my weight and don't cost a fortune. The ones at the department store across the road were like $20 but only went up to 120kg. I'm still 13kg too heavy to weigh myself on them. The higher weight ones are around $50.
Will let you know how I go.
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