In response to the hair style poll on my last post, I told my hairdresser yesterday that I needed to have it trimmed and shaped but to let it grow some more. I think she thought I was kidding about asking my blog readers what to do with it, but I really appreciated the direction! I looked through a bunch of old photos this weekend and saw quite a variety of body shapes and hair styles – and the thinner me looked cute with shorter layered hair, but the fluffier me definitely looks better with longer locks. There’s always room to cut it off later but I’m not a Tressy doll with a button on my back to make the hair grow or shrink at will!
Speaking of thinner, I’ve now lost 42 lbs since April 3rd. It’s finally starting to show up enough that I’m down sizes in pants, tops, underwear, and bras. I’ve done some massive weeding of the things even I think are too loose to wear now – and I’m someone who thinks loose=fitting, since tight=too small in my head. I tend to want to hide the lumpy areas under looser more A-line tops that don’t cling to my hips and look weird. I’ve watched enough Stacy and Clinton to know what I should wear but finding it is another story. It will be interesting to see how that changes as I move down in size ranges to different stores.
My lapband surgery is now 11 days away and I swing between anxiety and readiness to have it done and start the next phase of my life. Many bandsters (as they call themselves) call it their second birthday because everything changes from that point on. If, of course, the bandster actually follows the very tight rules about what you can eat at what stage of the process. There are definitely people who get themselves into big trouble by continuing to eat the levels of food they were eating pre-surgery. Um, doesn’t work like that.
I’ve been running around a little like a headless chicken, though without the blood, working on my pre-op To Do List. I’m stocking up on assorted flavors of Crystal Light, fat free broth, and small bottles of Boost, which are the only things I can have for the first 2 weeks post-op. Note that I can only have one bottle of Boost per day, divided into 4 2-oz. portions. So I don’t need TOO many bottles!
My doctor doesn’t want his patients to take pills for 2 months post-op, so all my meds need to be switched either to liquid form or be crushed before I can take them. I talked to a pharmacist this week to find out which fall in which category, and was dismayed to discover that the stuff I take for my knee inflammation isn’t available in liquid form and cannot be crushed. I need to talk to my primary care doc tomorrow to see what my options are. It doesn’t help at all that I can’t take such medication AT ALL for 2-weeks pre- and post-op. My knee already is telling me that things are not normal. A new study cane is in order for the next few weeks.
Last night I went through my Flickr pictures and made a set of favorites. Take a look if you have a chance! Right now it’s 41 degrees with steady light rain, and I’m not planning to go anywhere. I have some house cleaning to do, laundry, bill paying, and lots of tidying. Time to get to it. Thanks for listening to my rambles.
Random Thoughts of a Disordered Mind 
I can understand your anxiety/excitement, Anne. As you know, it’s normal to feel this way. Just keep it weighted (truly, no joke intended) on the side of excitement and you’ll be fine.
I did a lot of research before committing to my WLS and still visit a good number of community forums (although this is becoming less useful now that I’m almost three months out). I continue to find it interesting that many of us who found it almost impossible to lose weight before considering surgery were able to lose once we knew we were working toward the goal of WLS. I suppose is says something about the power of a dream (although I also know that many of us had certain weight standards we had to meet before our surgery could take place).
Since I’m in your age group, Anne, and so many of the WLS candidates (and “graduates”) I come in contact with are usually in their 20s and 30s, I’ve been interested in your perspective on WLS and will look forward to hearing how things are going once you’ve had the surgery. My problem was never losing weight — I’ve lost, and lost, and…well, you get the idea, and I’ve reached goal weights over and over throughout my life. Keeping it off has been my challenge, in spite of low daily calorie counts and exercise (there is so much that we still don’t know about why some of us gain and some of us don’t, etc., etc., ad nauseam). Ultimately, the catalyzing effect of WLS seemed to me to be the best option for an active and healthy future.
You have my best wishes for a very successful surgery and a fast recovery.
P.S. I’m sure your list is comprehensive, but just in case, one item that I appreciated having was chapstick. It was so welcome after surgery during the time that I wasn’t allowed to drink anything, including water (I think that rule applies to lap band patient too, as well as RNY patients, but I could be wrong).
Good luck with the upcoming surgery. And, congratulations on already getting on the right path by getting it together and losing 42 lbs already! Pretty good work to have done that just since April.
Oh, Clara’s right about the chapstick. Vaseline or chapsticks were what my mom desired the most while she was in the hospital this spring.
Wow, I can’t believe it’s going to be in 11 days. How exciting and yes, I can understand the anxiety. But you’ve done such great work with food now for a while and I feel very confident about you. I wish I could come up and help take care of you and visit. (If you need me, let me know — I’d enjoy a trip to snowy NE.)
Congratulations on the weight-loss and I will be thinking of you in the coming days.
Sometimes a light trim of the hair is all that is needed to give it that little hmmphf .
42 pounds is great already!!! Congrats!! 🙂
Hanging with my Burner friends this weekend, I said to one (who I hadn’t seen at BM this year)…you really look like you’ve lost weight. Yes! She’s lost 60 lbs. and had the lap band. She loves it. I am very excited to hear your further progress!!