Wednesday, February 28, 2007

DOCTOR'S VISIT

I was really looking forward to seeing my family doctor. Last time I saw her was in Nov. She knew I was getting the surgery , so I couldn't wait to give her some details and see the results from the thourough bloodwork I went for 2 weeks ago.

I really like my doctor...she is great. She is always running late but only because she takes the time she needs with her patients. We may have to wait longer then most but I never mind because I know she will take the time for me when it's my turn also.

She was happy to see me...since I have had diabetis I have seen her on average every 3 months...with a bloodwork just before. She is always ontop of anything . This time she was amazed at the differences apparent after less then a month since surgery.

We went over all the perscriptions I used to have to take....9 in all!...Since surgery there were a few I couldnt take for 2 weeks after (orders from surgeon) and my diabetis meds I stopped myself when my numbers went way down. She looked at all my logs and said I did perfectly in gaging when I could stop and with levels I am doing great! So...all of 27 days after surgery I have gone from taking 9 perscriptions per day to ...

......DRUM ROLL.........

ONLY 3!!!....YES U READ IT RIGHT...ONLY 3!!

I have a bunch of new vitamins to take now ofcourse but thats ok lol..they are NOT perscriptions. Also, in 3 months when I go back, we may be able to cut one more perscription off. I will always have to take the med for my thyroid though..thats for life. But hey its a tiny pill, easy to swallow so I can live with that lol.

She was so thrilled, and told me more then once how proud she was of me. I don't care how old we get in our lives...when you doc says they are proud of you, it just makes u beam lol... She even wanted all the details about the surgery itself..I had meant to bring her a page with a picture on it that I printed off the website but forgot...she could always check it our herself but she is very busy. She had me draw out the anatomy of the surgery on a piece of paper lol...she was really interested. She was so happy I had gone through with it and like other doctors have said over and over again how all the benefits from it are amazing and cost affective in the long run. Something the government hasn't wanted to understand yet.

I have lost 20lbs so far...it's slower then I would like but I have been getting on the treadmill everyday now for the last week. I am thinking that I may be building up some muscle because of it. Muscle weighs more then fat. so.......it's slow but working lol.


My pants still fit. The waist is not cutting into me anymore, they actually fit well...but wow, where my thighs used to fill them....they are totally loose...I swear that the whole 20lbs came off my thighs!!! They flap in the wind, it feels good. ....Let my rephrase that...the PANTS flap in the wind when I walk...NOT my THIGHS!... When I reread that sentence it just sounded WRONG!

(OK, I heard that thought!...I know..by the time I lose as much as I hope, the thighs very well might be flapping in the wind lmao!!....) I will cross that windmill when I get there!

So...a better bill of health already...and getting better.

This just before my 44th bday coming up this Monday.

Guess where we are going?....Same place we went last year. Where u may ask?...Well...last yr for my bday we went to the casino. It turned out to be awesome...my luck was so good we had hours of fun playing with won money and even came home with 900$ lol.

We told ourselves we would do the same thing for my next bday...if I am as lucky...heck, we can make it a tradition. We never go over our set amount ...but if we win, we play longer.

Can't wait!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

DOING GOOD... and... GROWING UP

I haven't posted for a while, I frankly didn't have anything interesting to say. I have started walking on the treadmill and trying to stay away from the scale. I keep telling myself only once a week but it's hard lol.

I have however paid the price for eating to fast, more then once. It really HURTS!... I don't chew enough and boy do I ever feel it. It totally stops me in my tracks...and even if I have only had the one bite....I am done after feeling that pain. It can take some time before it finally works it's way down. As uncomfortable as it is, I am thankful that my new anatomy is doing exactly what it's supposed to.

If I had one frustration it is ..I miss being able to gulp down a good glass of cold water. Nothing beats that when u are thirsty. Now, even a gulp of water , I feel. I have to take it easy because my new stumach acts like a funnel. So I sip alot lol.

Since my food intake is so limited now, what I do eat is all GOOD.. food. No more soda or crap like that and lots of water. I have already seen a difference in my skin. I never had severe acne but even now into my 40's I had blemishes. My skin now is softer, and alot more clear than it's been in years.

So it's all good.
------------------------------------------

I had to post something I got from my friend Sue in an email. I know alot of ppl who will get a kick out of it and recognise themselves. I know I did...although for the record...I CAN STILL SAY THERE ARE A COUPLE I HAVEN'T DONE YET!


25 SIGNS YOU HAVE GROWN UP

25. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.

24. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.

23. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.

22. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.

21. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.

20. You watch the Weather Channel.

19. Your friends marry and divorce instead of "hook up" and "break up."

18. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14

17. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up."

16. You're the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won't turn down the stereo.

15. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.

14. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.

13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.

12. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers.

11. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.

10. You take naps.

9. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.

8. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.

7. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.

6. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good sh*t."

5. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.

4. "I just can't drink the way I used to" replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again."

3. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work

2. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking "What the hell happened?"
... and the number one sign you are getting old is:

1. You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry old a**.

Then you forward it to a bunch of old friends 'cause you know they'll enjoy it.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

BLOG PROBLEMS! and HAPPY VALENTINES!

SORRY...It's been awhile but this time it's not due to my sheer laziness. My computer decided to have some major issues. Took Chris endless tweeking to even enable me to access my own blog. Even worse...I lost all my favorites! EVERYTHING from cool sites to my whole blog list. It will take me a while to get u all back...the good thing is I can get some of you back from direct comment links...I have a few blog ppl who never comment so if you could just take a moment to say a quick hello..I will get u back lol.

I also want to wish a HAPPY VALENTINES../..BONNE ST. VALENTIN to all.
Chris and I already decided that it would be a lean one, given the expense of my surgery, we are very tight to say the least...but it was the greatest gift of all....that being said...he went out this morning before I got up so that when I came upstairs I would enjoy the site of a beautiful bouquet of roses on the table...what a guy.


¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
As for moi.....I got my staples out this week....My visions of a burly nurse with her foot on my stumach holding a pair of pliers...was a bit over exagerated in reality lol....In fact it was almost painless....only one of my 5 incisions put up a fight..ironically it was the smallest of the 5 lol.

She then put that yellow disinfectant on them and more of that tape that remains for days...she said 10 but I told her..if they start to peel next week can I cheat and remove them...shhhhhh don't tell anyone...she said yes.

The best part was seeing my friend Phébé again...we were able to catch up and after we both saw our surgeon we had lunch together. OK...it was cottage cheese but still lunch lol. I really enjoyed talking with her again. We hope to see eachother again soon. Lucky for me she has a brother living not far from me so next time she comes to see him ...I get to steal some of his time while she comes over to my house for a visit.

If I count the weight I lost on the Optifast crap....to date I have lost 18lbs in all. It's not a huge amount but enough to feel more comfortable in my clothes.

The awesome result is that within 4 days of surgery....I have been able to stop taking my diabetis pills all together! That is outstanding....I used to take 3 x 500mg per day. Now I am not taking any. Now some of you may thing...whoaaaaa.....thats dangerous yada yada. Let me assure u that I have been checking my levels 6....yes 6 times a day. Writting it all down in the log book. When its at a certain number ...if I were to take it, it would cause a too low result. I have been very careful and vigïlant. I will also be seeing my family doc in 10 days...so when she puts my little glucometre in her machine it will give her a whole print out at my results along with my own written log. I also went for a whole series of blood work yest .....so she will have all those results when I go to see her.

I am feeling great that some of my meds are not needed. I also started taking my whole batch of perscribed vitamins . We were to start them only 2 weeks after surgery.

So things are looking good. My clothes are feeling better...and I look forward to them actually falling off lol.

My mom and sister went through a bunch of their clothes for me. Packed a huge box of diff sizes they had....they are alot smaller then me btw. I know it will be many lbs before I fit any of them but they will really come in handy when I do...so I don't have to buy much in transition. My sister asked me the other day if I had sorted through them yet. I told her no.

She was like.....WHAT?...YA LAZY BITCH....lol

I told her that I was savouring it.....I am keeping it till I feel I deserve it in a way. She doesn't really get it but it's like this. .....As long as my own clothes fit me...there is no need for anything smaller....when that happens I will feel like I have gotten to the next point. THEN I can break open the box and sort through the diff sizes......I know already that there is NOTHING in that box that will fit me now anyway lol.

So the big box sits in my bedroom , waiting till I decide it is the right time to enjoy the next step.

Call me nuts....call me stupid....call me a lazy bitch lol but you can't call me impulsive...this time anyway lol.

Hugs to my friends...who have been patient
.

Monday, February 05, 2007

NEW FRIENDS

The first evening...when I was finally able to get up..I was shakey at best. With a huge 6foot something orderly at my side helping me push my IV pole around. As I shuffled along like a dunk turtle with arthritis I could not help but notice a lady aproximately my age, doing laps around the nurses station at the speed of light compared to me lol.

Many polite smiles as she wizzed by me with the wheels of her IV pole leaving flames behind her lol. I barely able to crack a smile for fear of hurting more. I thought to myself...Dude..if she had the same surgery as me today...I WANT WHAT SHE'S HAVING!

Sleepless night later...spending as much time as I could sitting up to help get the CO2 moving AWAY from my insides. I got up a few short times in the night.

It made a difference. Later that morning I was just a turtle..not drunk or arthritic thankfully. It must have showed because as I was walking by the room belonging to the IV drag racer. She was sitting up and saw me and said....Oh you look so much better today.

Smiling more easily now...I popped into her room. She was rooming with another younger woman probably in her 20's. We exchanged obvious info about surgerys. They had both had the Banding done. Hense her ability to zip by me the night before. Still done by laprascopy but less invasive. Was not surprising I was so much more out of it having had the whole gastric bypass.
They were both allowed to leave this one day after surgery.

Thankfully not before we were able to do some laps around the nurses station together this time. Also sit down and get to know eachother alittle. We will call her Phébé. Phébé and I seemed to hit it off right away. We found that we had so many similarities about eachother over and above the fact that we had just gone through this in our lives. It became comical how many things we had in common. We exchanged contact information and have corrisponded back and forth already.

I look forward to seeing her again soon. I was able to schedule my post op doctors appointment right next to hers on the 12th. We can comizerate as they yank all the staples on our tummys out lol.

How lucky am I to have someone with whom I can exhange and compare experiences with, who is going through the same thing as me at the very same time.

Next post will be about the other lovely lady I met who moved in as my roomy the night before my departure.
Hugs till then.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

HOME ATLAST!

First...I have to say thankyou to all of you who asked about me. Chris was bombarded by inquiries and well wishes in yahoo and blogger and Second LIfe...he was as touched by it as I was when he told me.

It's so good to be home...snuggled up in my comfy pj's feeling mostly like a wet rag but thats ok lol. WOW..I am glad that’s over!

The operationg itself went well…it’s the before and after that was horrible. If any of you have ever been Intubated while awake, you will be able to relate. I would not wish it on my worst enemy let me tell you.

Before going up to surgery, I was met in my room by the anesthesiologist (spelling) who explained how things would happen. Being that I was overweight he said that it is safer to do the intubation while still awake. The whole process would take about 20 minutes.

It was the longest 20 minutes I have ever felt. Once in the operating theatre he gave me a thick yucky liquid to swish in my mouth and gargle as deep as I could without swallowing. I did this twice. It totally froze the inside of my mouth and down part of my thoat which in itself is disconcerting because you feel like the throat isn’t working properly once its numb. But it gets worse.

He then has to make sure that u are frozen all the way down to the lungs…so he has a metal tube that sprays a water like liquid and puts that down the throat past where its already numb…the liquid makes u feel like u are drowning and with your gag reflex its being kicked right back out..omg it was horrible…he had to do this 3 times consecutively, deeper each time.

Now he has to intubate me…he explains that as soon as its in, I will be out cold…because once in, I will have the impression of not being able to breath at all. So he has the mouth spreader with the light shining down my throat and proceeds to put the tube down there but he's having difficulty..my gag reflex is really kicking in and he is still trying.

Mean while as he pulls out and trys again, the nurse is saying ‘’ It’s not going in!….Can’t get it in there’’ TALK ABOUT STATING THE OBVIOUS!... Had my vocal cords not been incompacitated right then I would have told her to SHUT THE FUCK UP…HELLO..I THINK WE CAN ALL SEE AND FEEL IT NOT GETTING IN , I DON’T NEED U TO FREAK ME OUT MORE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

It took him 3 trys to get it in …..I don’t fault him this however. I know myself that my throat has little room. It is the cause of my sleep apnea. Thankfully once he got it, I did not choke for more then a few seconds, I was out cold as quickly as he said I would be.

The saying '' IS IT IN YET?'' could not be more fitting lol. budumpbump!

The surgery itself took about 2 hours. I woke woke up in due time but the pain horrible. Not from the surgry itself. It was caused by the Co2 they bloat your stumach with in order to have room and see what they are doing.

The pressure it causes after is horrible. I was getting shots of morafine and anti-inflamitories consequtively whick hardly caused a dent in the pain...the only thing that would help was to get up and move.

I begged to get up to be able to relieve the pain but they wouldnt let me up till that evening. After any surgery everyones throat is dry and sensitive...but after my ordeal I had coughed up some blood and my vocal box was totally shot lol...could barely talk all day and night.

My sweet Chris was at my side every moment..he was up like a shot to wet a cloth to let me suck on it to wet my mouth abit..I was not able to drink anything yet but the mouth is so dry after that it's inpossible find any siliva. He had his ear bend close to hear me when I whispered anything...I was blessed to have him there. Doing anything he could but I know he felt so helpless while I was in so much pain. He only left that evening when visiting hours were over...totally exhausted.

I have 5 stapled incisions spread around my stumach. Not big at all..Way better then a long line own my front. This way its less invasive and also the reason I am already home now.

So this has been day one...the worse really..and its OVER!!!

How's that for an update? lol..its graphic and detailed...but hey..even after all that...I am so glad I did it. Now its about healing and being carefull.

I will probably blog again tomorrow. Hugs to all who took a moment to ask about me or just sent good thoughts my way this week...it was all good and my heart is warmed by all of you.