11 days post op

Starting weight: 234.5
Current weight: 217.2
Total lost: 17.3 lbs.

OK, I promised I'd be honest on this thing, so here goes.

Last Sunday, I ordered stromboli for Scott and Shannon, and I just wanted one little bite, which I took. About 5 minutes later, my world fell apart! I started vomiting, and was in severe pain. This continued for the next 12 hours. I either didn't chew it well enough, or it was the bread, but in any event, that will never happen again! I had NO business trying it anyway, since I was only 4 days post op. For 3 days after that, I could only get fluids down. The doctor's office said I probably had some swelling.

But here, a week later, I'm now able to eat some soft foods - creamy soups, a scrambled egg, mashed potatoes. It's a week early to be eating some of this stuff, but now that all the swelling is gone, I don't seem to have a lot of restriction in the band, and my first fill isn't until March 15, so I get HUNGRY.

I had originally planned to go back to work this past Thursday, but ended up calling the office and asking for the rest of the week, so I'll return tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about that, considering that I run from one end of the office to the other all day long, but hopefully, it'll be ok.

I'm still having a little pain at the port site, but all of the incisions have healed, and all the steri-strips are gone. The best part, of course, is being 17.3 lbs lighter!

I may post some pictures later today.

Progress

Weight: 223.8 lbs.
Total since pre-op diet: 10.7 lbs.
Total since surgery: 5.2 lbs.


I finally got out of the house yesterday, and went to Walmart. That was definitely a chore! I also walked down to the beach today, but Scott had to bring me back up in the golf cart.

I'm trying to stay compliant with my liquid diet, but I started having hunger pains today. This is NOT good! My first fill won't be until 3/20, and I won't start full liquids for another 8 days, and mushy food for another 2 wks after that.

I may have to call and see if I can have an early fill.

Two days post surgery

OK...I suppose if I were younger, this might have been a lot easier, but as of today, I'm getting around quite a bit better. Thank God for Lortab! It tastes nasty in its liquid form, but I can live with that. The first two days were pretty brutal though.

I've lost 3.5 lbs since going into surgery Wednesday morning, so my stats look like this: 234.5/225.5/140 (that's prior weight/current weight/goal weight).

The first layer of bandaids came off last night, and the incisions are looking pretty good. Looks like the scarring will be minimal.

I can get all my maintenance pills down without crushing or cutting, which was a concern. So far, my biggest concern is remembering to "eat"! I have to have 3 protein shakes a day AND 3 liquids from a short list. I guess I'm going to have to schedule times to eat and make sure I get them all in, which will be easier when I'm not sleeping every few hours.

So far, I'm pleased! :)

3 days till lapband!

OK, I had Scott take my before pictures tonight. I've lost 7 lbs since I started my semi-liquid diet on Wednesday, January 31, so I'm down to 227.4.





I'm getting a little nervous, but I'm sure everything will be just fine! *gulp*

Surgery is scheduled!

Well, after almost a year of jumping through hoops, my lapband surgery is scheduled for Valentine's Day. The timing isn't great, but I'll never forget my banding date :)

It also gives me a week off work, and I'll be heading back up to Ohio again during that week to celebrate my daughter's 25th birthday.

I'm on a pre-operative diet, and it's just killing me. There's no way I can stick to it. I have a breakfast of cereal or oatmeal, along with toast or fruit, a protein shake for lunch, and then a dinner consisting of a lean meat and a vegetable, and then another protein shake. Unfortunately, by the time dinner rolls around, I'm just starving and eat more than I should. This is less food than I'd be eating after I get banded! I don't know how they expect me to do this. :(

My starting weight on the pre-operative diet was 234.5. I'm loathe to admit that publicly, but if I'm going to share my journey through lapband, then I need to be honest.

Wish me luck!

And life goes on...

Well, after almost a year on Nutrisystem and almost a year off NS, I'm back to my starting weight. *sigh*

However, I having been going through all the pre-operative stuff for lapband surgery. During the mandatory heart stress test, they found something they didn't like, and I consequently ended up having a heart cath done, which showed the beginning of heart disease. "Lose weight", my cardiologist said. DUH!

I met with the nutritionist today who told me what life will be like after lapband. No carbinated drinks, no fat, no sugar. She commented, "You'll never be able to drink 8 ounces of anything again", which kinda stunned me. This is for real, and it's for life.

But I'm really frigging tired of being fat.

Thursday I have a 2 hour psych evaluation, to make sure I'll stay with this. It makes me want to study up :)

I kid you not...

Tomorrow is national "Take Your Dog to Work Day".

Could you imagine?

I work in a firm on the 39th through 43rd floors of a building - I could only think it would be mass hysteria!

But while I poo-poo *snicker* the idea with the rest of the office cronies...

I kinda wish I could bring my puppy to work ;)

Boy, it's been a long time!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted on this blog...too long, I'm afraid. So, it's update time :)

I've gained back 30 of the 50 lbs I lost last year, and I'm now planning on having lap band surgery. I have to have 6 months of doctor supervised diet, and then a bunch of testing, so this isn't an immediate plan. I'm right on the edge of "acceptable" under the surgery guidelines, so it'll be tricky to show that I've spent 6 months actively dieting, without slipping under the acceptable range.

In the meantime, I'm miserable again...I have to go buy clothes one size larger. It won't be many, believe me, because I do not intend to keep climbing beyond that "acceptable" range.

It's starting to get hot...mid to high 90s, and we discovered our air conditioner needs to be replaced. We've bought a window unit for now, and it's actually keeping up with the heat pretty well.

My garden is finally starting to bloom. One of my oriental lilies has bloomed, and the stargazer lilies aren't far behind...woohoo! The lamb's ear is taking over the area I wanted it to. My gardenia plant (a housewarming present) has blooms on it all the time and smells so wonderful when you walk past it. The caladiums are likewise taking over their designated area. Several people have told us that our yard looks so much better than it did when the previous owners had it. *beam*

I'm on vacation for the next 10 days, which just thrills me. I'm so ready for it. As much as I love Kristi and Kathryn, going up there last October to help Kristi deliver Kathryn was not a vacation. Several people have asked me if I'm going anywhere, and my answer is always the same - I live on a lake, why go anywhere else? I may sneak off to a casino one day though ;)

So yeah, I'm still alive. There's been a lot going on the past couple of weeks, but not something that I want to put out here. (Mom, Dad, Kathy - I'll compose an email this weekend to fill you in.)

I'll try to do better about keeping this blog up. Tawakoni Tales is "our" blog, and I try to keep my personal life off it, since it's read by a lot of people at Scott's work. So this remains my space...although I'm seriously considering a move to WordPress. Time will tell.

Ciao!

Switching Diets

Having tried, and failed, to get back on track with Nutrisystem, I have given up on it.

I will be embarking on the 6 Week Makeover starting this coming Sunday. It is based very much on the same principles as NS, but you learn to use regular foods in a combination meant to jumpstart your metabolism. I had been down to 176 on NS by October of last year, and have slowly worked my way back up to 194.1 (today). I'm NOT happy about this at all.

I still have a ton of NS dinners which I will probably use to supplement this plan, or will throw on ebay to recoup some of my money.

So, wish me luck.

Blogshares NT: !blogshares

To satisfy the desires of one Rantzalot, I am hereby permanently linking to you ;)

Blogshares NT: !blogshares

Missin my baby

Scott is on call this week, and because we live so far out in the country, and he needs to be close 24/7, he is staying in a hotel in Plano for the week. I spent Friday night with him, and then holed up with my laundry (gag...7 loads) and my soaps, and have caught up about a months' worth (I was like 6 or 7 weeks behind...thank God for TIVOs).

But it seems really strange to be without him right now. This time period is an anniversary of sorts...our first online conversation occurred 3/3, our first meeting was 3/5, we first slept together 3/8 (shut up, all you people who just gasped), and on his birthday, 3/17, he asked me to move in with him - although I hadn't been back to my apartment other than to change clothes since the 8th ;)

Since that time period, the only times that we've been apart was when I've gone to my daughter's in Ohio (for a maximum of 5 days) a couple of times.

So this feels really bizarre...specially since it's freaking hot in the house (84 as I write at 7:19p). I really should pack up and go to my man and his air-conditioned room at the hotel....hmmm, do I feel like driving for an hour?

Wow!

My blog is worth $4,516.32.
How much is your blog worth?

On a more serious note...

I have arthritis in both knees. As we know, I'm far too young to have such an affliction! So, last year, I spoke with my orthopedist to see what the current treatments were and he told me about Synvisc.

Synvisc is a synthetic fluid which is injected and mimics the actual fluid in the knee. Administration is a series of three injections into the knee, one injection per week for three weeks.

As you might imagine, this is not a fun procedure. However, I have to admit that the injections actually do work. The really down side is that the treatment only lasts for six months, so you're looking at two series of injections per year. As a relatively new process, some insurance companies are a little reluctant to pay for it, but so far, mine has.

So, if you're afflicted with arthritis in the knees, you might want to look into this.

Losing weight also helps...and I'm back down another 2 lbs! :)

Whew!

I totally worry about this!

This was fun

I think it would have been more satisfying if the test told you which questions you missed. I'm surprised that I missed any of them...let's not tell my bosses ;)

Senior Editor You scored 81 out of a possible 100 (minimum of -20).

If an error gets by you, it has to be pretty darn sneaky. If your career path has nothing to do with English, there's a good chance you've got a better grasp on this language than most of your coworkers ever will.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 64% on corrections

Link: The Proofreading Test written by standingwave on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Weekend Update

Scott's mom is still in the hospital and not doing terribly well. She told the doctors and nurses today that she wants DNRs put in place (Do Not Resusitate), and she will have an outpatient DNR as well...meaning if she has another heart attack, all the paramedics will be able to do is provide her with comfort care - meds to ease the pain, and that's it.

I took Shannon to see her grandmother today and it took her 10 minutes to even realize Shannon was standing there - and of course, all this DNR talk occurred right in front of Shannon. I felt so bad for her...she was stricken, when she realized her grandma is giving up.

Scott's taking it pretty hard too, which is to be expected. His mom made sure she told me again what she wanted done, because she knows Scott won't be in good shape when it happens, and she wants me to make sure it's done. *sigh*

Scott and a friend who has been staying with us the past couple of weeks spent all weekend getting the electrical done on the boathouse and on the dock...it looks so much better and infinitely safer! It was literally a fire waiting to happen before.

I had to take Jonah to the vet yesterday to get his booster injections and on heartworm provention. He also had an ear infection that was bothering him pretty badly for the past week. I thought it was mites and felt really bad that I didn't get him to the vet sooner!

Guess that's it for now!

Good news, bad news

Good news: I'm down 4.7 pounds since Monday. Bad news: I'm not doing it 100%.

Good news: It's raining. Bad news: It's raining.

Scott's been catching catfish all week, and last night, I got to reel one in..it was only about 3-4 lbs, but it was fun nonetheless. I have officially become a fishing widow, and he lives and breathes barometric pressure changes, weather changes, and for the first time in my life, I have a weather station in my home. Fortunately, it's an attractive little contraption :)

Scott's mom is in the hospital again. She had another heart attack on Wednesday night. It wasn't a severe one (as heart attacks go); however, with all of her allergies to medications, and her kidneys functioning at 20% of normal, they can't treat her as aggressively as they would an otherwise healthy person. So they're going to try and treat her with aspirin and other medications they know she isn't allergic to, before they decide to do a heart catheter.

I don't know how I've gotten ANYTHING done this week because I've been hooked reading Dooce.com. Heather, if you ever see this, I hold you personally responsible for my dishes not being done!! Ever tried reading FIVE years of someone's blog? Someone who posts pretty religiously? It takes a lot of time, even if you read fast like I do. Then there's the pictures...over 500 of them at this point in time. Now I know why her site is referred to as the "venerable Dooce.com"! It's certainly a site to aspire to.

Right decision :)

So, after making the decision to return to Nutrisystem, I chose Monday, January 30, as my "restart" date.

When I woke up yesterday, I hit the scale and was staggered to see 189.3! YIKES!!

I hit the scale this morning and, drum-roll please...I'm down to 187.3...TWO whole pounds since yesterday.

It's really too bad that my mind hates dieting, because my body sure loves it!

Food Decision Made

Back here, I was trying to decide whether to stay on Nutrisystem (or go back to, in reality)or go/stay off, because we have undertaken a contract on a meat/freezer package which costs the $5 more per month than NS.

After giving it a great deal of thought (and gaining back 8 pounds!), we've decided to do both. This means that I will be cooking him meals, instead of him eating TV dinners *groan* . He'd had enough of them, and really, I can't blame him, because that's how I've felt about NS. But, my weight is creeping up again, and I hadn't lost all I wanted to in the first place, so it makes more sense to stick with it, or the past year of expense and the agony of dieting will have been for nothing, and I just can't have that.

I have to say though, that after a year, more or less, of eating boxed foods, it is very odd to look into a 19.2 cubic foot freezer (it's bigger than my refrigerator!) and see a mass of frozen red meat. Anticipating lots of company and cookouts, we stocked up on hamburger and a few steaks. I don't think I've seen raw red meat more than twice in the past 12 months...I'm suddenly feeling really happy about my decision to return to boxed food.

I must be doing something wrong

I've been reading a new-to-me blog called "Dooce.com" written by a gal named Heather. As I always do when finding a new blog, I read from the earliest post forward. Heather mentions in her blog, as others have in their blogs, that she receives hate mail.

Since I don't receive hate mail, I must be doing something wrong. Perhaps I don't slam people, religion, cities, whatever, often enough. Maybe my life is too idyllic and without angst. Possibly, I don't cuss enough (at least on here - offline, I swear like a sailor!). Maybe I'm just boring (which is probably true).

Of course, the highest number of readers this blog has ever received in one day was like 55, and since I assume most of those are friends and family, they'd have no reason to send me hate mail anyway.

So, what do I need to do around here to get more attention and maybe even some hate mail?