03.26.08
Posted in wls at 8:01 pm by admin
…I can weigh myself on the home scale. It obviously needed to have the battery replaced. So now, I have the new battery installed and am just at the limit of the scale. Since I have no idea how it compares to the doc’s scale, I’m going to use it just to see the changes, not worry about what the actual number is.
Pureed food is going fine so far. One week down and 5 to go. Alicia gave me some protein powders the other day So I tried one of them today. Umm… I don’t think I used enough for the amount of water I had, so I wasn’t terribly impressed with that one so far. I’ll keep trying them since I know that getting enough protein will be an issue. She also gave me a page printed from BariatricEating.com with some pureed food suggestions that gave me some ideas to expand my horizons a bit. Salsa here I come. It’s not something I’ve normally eaten much of, but I can see that it could be a really good flavoring for eggs or cottage cheese. So I when I stopped at the grocery store today, that was one of the things that I was sure to pick up. We have some for Chuck, but he likes it hotter than I do, and I’ll want to puree mine, so to each their own.
Yesterday I didn’t get out for a walk. I was whipped. Monday I was on the run ALL DAY LONG, so yesterday I crashed. Today I had a meeting w/ Jim in the morning then I was sure to get out for 1.5 miles this afternoon. Missing 1 day of the last week isn’t terrible, as long as I don’t make a practice of it. While I was downtown I talked to Stephanie, who is wanting to get out to do some walking. We decided that some weeks when I come down, we’ll have to try walking together during her lunch to give us both a change of pace and some company.
Sunday’s going to be the first time I go “out” to eat. We always celebrate birthdays with John and Kelly, and mine is this week, so I get to pick this time. I usually pick a chinese buffet, but that obviously isn’t an option for me now. We talked about a regular chinese restaurant since I’d really like to have some hot and sour soup, but I think that would be a bit too hard. So, we’re going to Panera’s. Looking at the menu, I should have the choice of French Onion, Low-Fat Chicken Noodle, Broccoli Cheddar, Low Fat Vegetarian Black Bean, and Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice soup. Hmm… decisions, decisions. The best for me is probably the LF Veggie black bean, but that’s not sounding very birthday-like. Actually none of them sound very birthday-like. After that, I told them I have coupons for Cold Stone Creamery, which is in the same plaza, so they can have some ice cream in my honor. I even have a birthday coupon (go to the site and register, you can print out a birthday coupon for some free ice cream good 7 days before or after your birthday) What a glutton for punishment, huh?
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03.23.08
Posted in Crochet, wls at 8:42 pm by Shari
I finally got myself busy on that crochet project. Got the first flower (the purple one with distinct leaves and a yellow center) nearly done and then realized that I mis-read the instructions. The back layer of petals had dtr’s in there that I read as tr’s, so my petals aren’t quite as big as they should be. No, I’m not going to do it again. The scale is too small for me to keep going at it, so I’ll finish up the center of that flower and move on to the second and apologize for it being not quite correct.
I’ve managed to step up the walking a bit the last few days… well, Friday and today I walked about 1.5 miles each day. Yesterday Chuck and I went out with Amber, to see if I’d be able to walk her (I couldn’t) and Chuck was having trouble with pains in his head, so we didn’t go as far as I’ve been going, but I had been on my feet a LOT at work all day, so I still had a lot of walking in for the day overall. I should try to find a 9v battery and see if I can weigh myself on the home scale we have now or not. Last week it said I was 445 lbs - NOT! and since it hasn’t been used in forever, I’m guessing it needs the battery replaced before I even try it again. Yesterday I wore a new shirt for work. It was 2 sizes smaller than what I would’ve chosen a few months ago. Yeah, it was a little snug, but not terribly so and dang, did it feel good to wear something that wasn’t so baggy. I’m still wearing my pants, baggy though they may be, because most of them are still staying up for now.
The other cool thing since surgery is that my average fasting sugar has been 84! Yippee! I’m finally past the problem I was having with constipation and hopefully now that I’m eating a little bit and trying to get more fluid in, that’ll stay resolved.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to a regular work schedule. I did work 3 days last week, but not all in a row and one of them was pretty short. The only thing different will be that I’m also going to be dealing with sharing rides with Chuck at the same time. I’ll just be sure to do my best to get enough rest so I don’t get overtired, since I have been napping a bit most days and won’t have as much time for that as we go forward until we have another car.
So on that note, I’d say it’s time for bed now if I’m going to walk in the morning before work.
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03.20.08
Posted in Crochet, knitting, wls at 12:09 pm by Shari
Last night was our support group meeting. There was 11 or 12 people there, in addition to Theresa (clinical nurse) and Jeanne (dietician) who were running it. A couple of people were pre-op, 3 of us were 1 or 2 weeks out, a couple were just starting on “real” food and one lady was 3 yrs out. Mostly we had had gastric bypass but 2 were lapband patients. The topic was mindful eating. I totally understand what they are talking about, but it did come up that when you’re sitting by yourself, trying to make 3 oz of something last you 30 minutes and can’t do anything else, it’s pretty hard to do.
It was good to meet some other folks and hear their experiences. It was also good to get to ask my big question - I know I’m not getting quite enough liquids in, which is resulting in being constipated… what can I do, while I work on more liquids, to relieve that. I just didn’t know if it was okay to take a laxative or not. The answer, it’s just fine, so I went out to get some Phillips as soon after the meeting as I could.
Yesterday was also my first day back at work. Mario was SO relieved to hand everything back to me and go over his notes from while I was out. Things went pretty smoothly. There was a little problem that once I got to the root of it, turned out to be my fault, so I have a phone call to make to that guest to apologize.
I did a lot of walking while I was at work, apparently, because by the end of the day I had over 7000 steps - and that’s without having a chance to take a walk! It was miserable, rainy, etc yesterday. I intended to walk in the hallways at the school when I went to go home w/ Chuck, but was too tired by that point.
I did make sure to get out for a walk this morning. It’s cold and windy out there, but I did it anyway. As I walked west, it was really windy so I had to lean into the wind to make that work. Of course, by the time I turned around, the wind died down and didn’t help carry me the other direction.
I’ve actually been getting some crafting done lately too. I’m working on the knitted matinee swing jacket for myself(!) as a sample for the April skein gang and a pair of socks. The socks are in a regia mini-ringel that is primarily a dark olive with lt blue, medium blue, very light green and medium apple green stripes. I’m using Lucy Neatby’s Mermaid sock pattern (more or less) from Cool Socks, Warm Feet. It’s turning out nice. I have the first sock to about the middle of the foot now, the second sock is started and down to where I knit in the waste yarn for the heel. I keep procrastinating on the March crochet project. I went gangbusters on the first section of the first flower and it’s languished there. Skein gang is only a week away so I’ve got to get moving on that one. Chuck did get my sewing machine set up too, so I’d better make use of it since I fussed at him so much to get it set up for me 
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03.18.08
Posted in wls at 11:59 am by Shari
I got a call yesterday that there was an opening at Dr D’s this morning. I didn’t get home til late, so by the time I called this morning, someone else had taken it. A few minutes later, there was a cancellation so I still managed to get in!
So it was the big day - how much had I lost? Could I drive? Eat pureed food? When I got there, Teresa was just finishing her appointment. We had shared before that we hoped to be down 20 lbs by now and she told me she was. Yes - it wasn’t an unreasonable goal. Well…. apparently it was a little aggressive for me. I’m down a total of 15 since just before the surgery, 62 total since 10/18. That means I’m still not QUITE at the point to weigh myself on the home scale 
He said everything looks good - he’s pleased with my progress. No limitations - just don’t try to lift 100 lbs. Sure, Doc, I’ll keep that in mind. We talked about how hard it is to get all the liquid in and that they are getting a support group going starting tomorrow night. He said I should be shooting for walking 2 miles a day, 5 days a week. Yesterdays walk, which I felt REALLY good about was 1 mile - I have a ways to go on that.
Speaking of walking - what a surprise to find that the walks I’m going on are registering as aerobic steps on the pedometer. Pre-surgery I never saw any steps register as aerobic. That was a nice thing to find out.
Doc’s suggestion for a first pureed food was to get a can of my favorite soup and puree that. Well, I’m not much for soup in general, but I had picked up a can of italian wedding soup recently, so that’s what I fixed when I got home. It looks pretty ugly, but tastes just fine
Now it’s time for a walk. It’s supposed to start raining here soon, so I want to get at least one walk in today. We have several days of crappy weather coming, but I’m going to start shooting for getting out 2 times each day for 3/4 of a mile each time and work up from there. I’m “reading” a book on the mp3 player and getting into it, so that’s helping pass the time while I’m walking.
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03.14.08
Posted in wls at 9:33 am by Shari
…. and still feeling WONDERFUL.
I’ve been getting better about going out for walks and started wearing my pedometer again so I can at least track how much I’m walking for reference. I’ll use it to set mini-goals too.
Monday I was worried about how swollen the lower part of my right leg was. I have a lot of swelling at the bottom of both legs anyway, but this bothered me because one was more swollen than the other, so I called Dr. D’s office. They had me go right in to radiology at the hospital for a doppler scan of the leg and fortunately everything was fine. While I was at the complex, I stopped up at the doc’s office to weigh myself. I was down an additional 6 lbs, making a total of 53 lbs since 10/18. I had been hoping for more than that, but I’ll take it.
That was actually the impetus to get walking more again. We had gone for a walk on Thursday, then on Friday we were out to run errands before bad weather struck over the weekend, so I did a fair bit of walking that day. Saturday and Sunday were miserable, so I didn’t get out at all then. Monday was a lot of walking at the hospital, and since then, I’ve walked each day.
I had hoped to make it to my knitting group on Monday afternoon but was at the hospital instead, but that evening I went to the knitting guild meeting. Talk about a few shocked looks! I totally hadn’t expected to be able to be there this month, but there I was.
Tuesday evening I made it to Louise’s shop for knitting group there too.
Wednesday’s big event was going to the laundromat. NJ came to help me. Between her and Chuck they moved the laundry to and from the car. At the laundromat we put everything on top of the rolling carts so I could move it easily and as long as I was only doing an item to two at a time, there was no problem. So I’m all caught up on my laundry (Not Chuck’s and not the extras like sheets and towels, but MY laundry is done ) I did feel it a little bit in my stomach later that day and the next, but not a lot - really just like I’d done a few crunches.
Chuck’s got some errands to be done tomorrow and I do as well, so I suggested we split them up a bit - some today and some tomorrow. I wanted to get to JA’s today to see Fran and Cindy and maybe a few other folks that might be working so I’m doing that today. The mortgage has to be paid too, and the dog soon needs food. Tomorrow we can do the rest.
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03.09.08
Posted in wls at 9:06 am by Shari
Of course, you think you’re with it when you’re not. I could tell that I was tired and slipping sometimes, but looking back, I was more out of it than I thought at the time. One thing I DID know was I asked if Chuck had called Shaundra and Mom and the answer was no. So we made those phone calls quickly. Shaundra had been worried when she didn’t hear before 1 how things were going and had called both my phone (which had no power, therefore didn’t ring) and my mom. We also tried to send out a text message to my distribution list, but apparently closed the phone before it completed, so that didn’t go out. Shaun did send a note out, though, so at least there was some news shared.
I started using the pain pump (every 10 minutes I could hit it) until the first time I went for a walk - about 8pm. After that, I resorted to using it only just before a walk. By later Tuesday, I decided that using every 1/2 hr was more reasonable. I wasn’t in much pain, but I didn’t want to overdo things and/or be a martyr about it.
My SIL, Shannon, stopped by to pick up my MIL and came up to visit for a few minutes. I remember her being there, but that I was losing it then. Chuck stayed around til I went for my first walk, but I was fading, so I told him to go ahead home at that point. After that it was typical hospital stay stuff - coming in for vitals just about when you were ready to sleep, or were sleeping, checking the IV, respiratory therapy coming to “help” me with my CPAP machine (I’ve been on it for something like 9 yrs - I’m pretty self-sufficient there).
My roomie while there, D, had had Lapband surgery right after my bypass on Monday. She was a little bit ahead of me in recovery, but that’s expected because it’s not quite as invasive. She couldn’t sleep at all the first night, so the many times we were awake we could chat.
Tuesday morning my mouth was SO DRY. I can’t remember a time that brushing my teeth felt better. Other than dragging the IV pole with me, I was able to get around pretty well. I even got good at taking off the “boots” to get out of bed, though I had to have someone come to put them back on when I went back to bed. D and I were both pretty consistently getting up to walk before they came to get us - we both wanted to do everything we could to make it go better. Turns out we are both Aries and want to be in control of the situation all the time.
We both got to go down to Radiology on Tuesday morning to do a barium swallow to make sure there were no leaks. It was cool seeing the xrays they did - I could see a staple, and how small the pouch was. I could definitely feel it too. I’d guess it was about 2oz we had to drink, and I DEFINITELY felt it.
Tuesday afternoon I was able to start getting ice chips. Boy did that feel good. I was plenty hydrated by then w/ the IV’s, but having something in my mouth was wonderful. I got flowers and a teddy bear - sent by my mom, daughter and 2 brothers. Mary stopped by to visit and then Linda. Eventually Chuck got there to visit too. That’s when he told me about his adventure of the previous day - the van had died while I ws on the operating table, which meant my MIL got to ride w/ the cops to the hospital and Chuck had to get towed to the garage and have SIL Shannon pick him up to take him to our house for my car before he could get back to the hospital.
One of the other gals from the education session at the doc’s office had her surgery on Tuesday, and it turns out she was 2 doors down from D and I. I didn’tvisit her that day, but on Wednesday we had a couple chances to visit.
Wednesday morning I was finally able to get some clear liquids. Not much at a time, but at least there was something more going into me. I’m not much on one for broth based soups, but I’ve truly come to enjoy that chicken broth. Not beef broth so much, but definitely chicken broth.
After office hours on Wednesday, Dr. D came back to discharge us. Yippee! Linda came back to give me a ride home since we realized that getting in and especially OUT of the Suburu might not be very comfortable for me.
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03.08.08
Posted in wls at 11:19 am by Shari
I got up at 4am to shower. Wrong - the laxative was still working it’s magic so I spent time on that first. I got worried about being able to continue if I wasn’t completely empty. Showered and got Chuck moving. Got frustrated because we didn’t get out the door by 5am - closer the 5:10 and we still had to stop for coffee for Chuck. We got to the hospital a few minutes late and very quickly whipped out the camera that Laura gave me for taking a “before” picture. Took that pic and headed to the elevator. The people on the elevator were giving us a “look” and I realize the guard standing next to me is talking on his walkie-talking and asking if there’s a policy about taking pictures on hospital property. I immediately told him I was there for gastric bypass and simply wanted a “before” picture. When the others left the elevator, he told me that others had “reported” that I took the pic and he just had to call. I don’t think he felt there was a problem, and I think it was the other people on the elevator that reported it, so he was just smoothing ruffled feathers.
Once we’re up where we need to be and they start prepping me, I told them immediately that they should call IV Services. Of course they want to look themselves to see if they can do it, but they did eventually make the call. Pam, who had done my last IV Services call, came with someone else - I think she was training her. When the other gal pulled out the tourniquet, she said “Oh, no, don’t bother - she’s a blood pressure cuff and warm compresses case” Even at that they had trouble - they finally thought they had something but my arm was blue, so they had to take everything off, get circulation back and then go after it again. Apparently the blood pressure cuff + a tourniquet helps. They used a small needle that wasn’t going to be enough for anesthesia, but was enough to pull the needed blood and do what they had to to make me start to go under.
From there, things went fine. I went back, met the anesthesiologist, saw Dr. D, signed forms and in I went.
When I woke up in recovery, the very first thing I saw was a clock and it was 11:30. I dozed off and on and was in my room at about 2:30. Somewhere along the line, before I had a chance to ask or look, I heard, or was told (I’m fuzzy on how it happened) that the surgery was done laparoscopically. Yippee!
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03.06.08
Posted in wls at 8:50 am by Shari
I couldn’t have imagined that I’d feel like this so soon after surgery. I had prepped myself that there’d be a lot of pain and stuff, that it would be a fair bit of time til I was bouncing back, and that mindset was a godsend. Everything that went better than I thought it would was a blessing and made the whole experience better.
Since I do want to be able to write up the whole experience, I’m going to journal it over several entries. Suffice to say, though, that I haven’t a single regret about my decision to go this route. And, I DID knit at the hospital.
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03.02.08
Posted in wls at 10:32 pm by Shari
which means I should be sleeping, but obviously I’m not.
Lots of good conversations today with family and friends. Lots of work to be done at work to keep my mind off of things. I feel odd that I’m not terribly nervous. I had an attack of nerves this morning when I first woke up and realized it was less than 24 hrs. I had a few moments of anxiety at work but that was more about wanting to be done earlier than I was getting done, I think. Now that it’s even closer, I’m feeling pretty good.
Still waiting to feel like I’ve really emptied my system. The laxative did kick in, but it hasn’t been as bad as I’ve heard others describe the reaction, so I’m assuming there’s more to come.
Chuck has a cold which has him worried. We aren’t sleeping the same place tonight - keeping some distance between us so that I hopefully don’t catch it. Since I probably should be near the bathroom, I’ll bring my cpap and stuff downstairs tonight and sleep in the living room, since our only bathroom is downstairs.
I’m gonna finish loading up the MP3 player and then it’ll be time to hit the hay.
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