Well I did it... On Wednesday I had my gastric sleeve and I am day five recovering... It has not been bad. Surprisingly enough. I was worried... I heard all the horror stories and read all the blogs and postings about side effects and recovery issues... I came home on Thursday, I had all my medications already filled and ready... I came home and relaxed and has no nausea, no real pain.. I have had a few incision pains but they haven't been really bad...
I spent a couple of days just lounging in bed and sleeping when I needed too.... Started moving around more on Sunday... Still no gastric issues beyond figuring out what I can and cannot tolerate yet... I have a surgical follow up on Wednesday and hopefully I will get to expand my diet somewhat... We will see...
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Pre-op day 2
Well I fell off the wagon today but nothing drastic... I had the steak, onion, and mushroom out of a Philly Steak Sandwich from Sammys... They are to die for good and the soup just wasn't getting it... Lots of protein though so it really wasn't such a horrible thing. I am spending way too much money on this surgery to sabotage it... Down a pound though.. kind of surprising... Oh well, tomorrow is another day..
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Pre surgery, Day 1
Well yesterday was my pre-op, dietary, clinical appointments. Holy crap that's a lot of information to digest in one sitting... thank goodness they write everything down for you and make it much simpler... For the next two weeks I am on a high protein, liquid diet. Three meals a day, two of which will be high protein shakes, the third meal being soup. It doesn't matter what kind of soup, just soup. The two days prior to my surgery are clear liquid ONLY...
I already bought the Baby Bullet, as I mentioned before, because they are going to make up 2 ounce meals at a time. That way I can control the amount of flavor in each meal... Luckily there is a unflavored protein powder that I can add to the meals to make it easier. It is made by Unjury and comes highly recommended from other post surgery patients.
Protein is the staple of my diet for the rest of my life. 60-80 mg of protein a day, for the rest of my life. That's ok though. Protein is what keeps you feeling full and keeps you from losing muscle mass. Luckily the liquid/protein diet is only for the two weeks prior to the surgery and the two weeks immediately after. Then I get to go to the pureed, mushy meals. Eventually I will be able to go back to "normal" food, just a lot less of it.
Calcium supplements will also be another staple along with a high value, chewable, multi vitamin, designed specifically for gastric surgery patients. Unjury also makes a Lemon Chewable, Calcate brand chewable which is actually good. They also make the multi-berry, chewable, multi vitamin.. I actually ordered all of it online last night so that it would be here and ready by the time I come home from the hospital... They will also be calling in my list of medications that I will be taking immediately following my surgery. I will pick those up next week... Taramadol for pain as I am allergic to Codeine. Phenergan for the nausea that follows the surgery. Keflex for 5 days, as a just in case. Of course all of this is in liquid form, so that's nice.
I am having my last cup of GOOD coffee as we speak lol... but I think in the long run, I will be able to live without it. I had given up sodas a long time ago. Portion control is the base of life from here on out. I can do this.. If you're still reading at this point, I hope I haven't bored you with the details...
I already bought the Baby Bullet, as I mentioned before, because they are going to make up 2 ounce meals at a time. That way I can control the amount of flavor in each meal... Luckily there is a unflavored protein powder that I can add to the meals to make it easier. It is made by Unjury and comes highly recommended from other post surgery patients.
Protein is the staple of my diet for the rest of my life. 60-80 mg of protein a day, for the rest of my life. That's ok though. Protein is what keeps you feeling full and keeps you from losing muscle mass. Luckily the liquid/protein diet is only for the two weeks prior to the surgery and the two weeks immediately after. Then I get to go to the pureed, mushy meals. Eventually I will be able to go back to "normal" food, just a lot less of it.
Calcium supplements will also be another staple along with a high value, chewable, multi vitamin, designed specifically for gastric surgery patients. Unjury also makes a Lemon Chewable, Calcate brand chewable which is actually good. They also make the multi-berry, chewable, multi vitamin.. I actually ordered all of it online last night so that it would be here and ready by the time I come home from the hospital... They will also be calling in my list of medications that I will be taking immediately following my surgery. I will pick those up next week... Taramadol for pain as I am allergic to Codeine. Phenergan for the nausea that follows the surgery. Keflex for 5 days, as a just in case. Of course all of this is in liquid form, so that's nice.
I am having my last cup of GOOD coffee as we speak lol... but I think in the long run, I will be able to live without it. I had given up sodas a long time ago. Portion control is the base of life from here on out. I can do this.. If you're still reading at this point, I hope I haven't bored you with the details...
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Change is on the way....
Back in June, I lost my long time job. At first I thought that it was going to be HORRIBLE. Turns out, it was probably what I needed. I had fallen into a rut and didn't even realize it. The economy tanked in 2007 and the field of sales that I was in was closely tied to the economy (I sell motorcycle parts). I took a huge pay hit and along with excessive repairs needed, I ended up losing my house, 4 years to the day after I purchased it. I wound up moving in with my long term boyfriend. The boyfriend and I happened to work together and now we were living together. 24/7 together.. Yeah, not good. I was also sitting behind a desk more than 8 hours a day, celebratory lunches, and the kids are now grown which means less activity when not at work.
I found work at a former competing company, no surprise there. Except, now I get to work from home.. Every ones dream job, right? Sure, unless you were already overweight and tipping the scales well over 200 lbs. WHO??? ME? Yep... I now officially outweigh my little brother who is 6'4" tall... This is NOT ACCEPTABLE... When I started my adult life, I weighed 105 lbs dripping wet and I am 5'6" tall. Even after three kids, I weighed 115 lbs. I could eat pretty much anything , whenever I wanted and it never showed... Those days are over.
Obesity runs in the family. Both aunts, on my fathers side, died well in excess of 250 lbs and well under 5'5" tall.. They passed years ago, with and from a whole host of health issues and I do not intend to repeat their mistakes. Information on my mothers side isn't available due to adoption. I will cover that another time.
I have the most beautiful, happy, loving grandson in all of the world. I will refer to him as monkey butt (that's a story for another time) and I intend to grow old, watching and participating in his life. Right now, I already have trouble participating and I refuse to allow this to continue.
This is the start of my journey through weight loss through surgery. Some people will complain I am taking the "easy" way out.. Let me give you a little history.
1. I am flat footed. Now that might not sound like anything special but that actually keeps me from participating in a lot of exercise routines due to extreme pain. Of course it is also part of the problem as long distance walking or extended periods on my feet caused me pain even when I didn't tip the scales over 200 lbs. But back then, it was manageable. Now, not so much.
2. Years prior, junior high to be exact, I had my right knee cap broken. As a result, my knee cap likes to move around more than yours and it limits my mobility due to the excess weight.
3. Headaches... I was not aware that they can be tied to excess weight. I spend more time with a low grade headache, than not.
4. My thyroid is normal. What is normal? Normal for you might not be normal for me? Even the Dr. admitted that, but with no baseline to work with, obviously they cannot treat it. So it turns out that I am Vitamin D deficient. How deficient you ask? The average, Caucasian, middle aged woman should be as close to 100 as possible. As the Dr. told me, if I was a teenager, I would have Rickets. My level was 11... Hmmm... that's not good.
5. Post menopausal. Medically necessary, hysterectomy at age 24 without sufficient hormone therapy due to a family history of breast cancer.
6. Horrible eating habits. Processed foods due to convenience. A meat and potatoes diet when not eating out. Not to mention a weakness for bread... Not big on sugar. I don't drink sodas. Once up of coffee a day. Water the rest of the day... just not near enough of it..
So as you can see, I had my share of reasons (and excuses) for my excess weight. They are also the reasons why you won't find me running around the block. Especially since I live in a locale where 5 months out of the year we are in excess of 100 degree temps. Join a gym? Well, we will cover the self esteem, convenience, cost issues in another entry.
Funny thing is, even though I am 35.5 BMI I am actually healthy as a horse.. No high blood pressure. No pre-diabetes. No hernias (which are apparently common to excess weight). No sleep apnea. The only thing I do have was high cholesterol, controlled by medication and diet.. Or at least it was. So even if I had insurance right now, they wouldn't cover it. So when I lost my job, I pulled my entire 401k out and am using it to pay for my gastric sleeve surgery. That way I can write it off to Uncle Sam, next tax time.
Today I have my pre-surgery appointments with the dietitian and others. I have been reading everything I can find on the surgery and post op. One very helpful website is The Gastric Sleeve. I have purchased a Baby Bullet blender system which also comes with food containers that are exactly the size I will need for food portions after surgery. I am now researching the protein drinks/powders that will be the basis of my diet. If anyone has any suggestions, please comment with information..
I will continue to update the blog during this journey. You will probably learn more about me than you ever wanted to know. I will do my best to answer any questions..
I found work at a former competing company, no surprise there. Except, now I get to work from home.. Every ones dream job, right? Sure, unless you were already overweight and tipping the scales well over 200 lbs. WHO??? ME? Yep... I now officially outweigh my little brother who is 6'4" tall... This is NOT ACCEPTABLE... When I started my adult life, I weighed 105 lbs dripping wet and I am 5'6" tall. Even after three kids, I weighed 115 lbs. I could eat pretty much anything , whenever I wanted and it never showed... Those days are over.
Obesity runs in the family. Both aunts, on my fathers side, died well in excess of 250 lbs and well under 5'5" tall.. They passed years ago, with and from a whole host of health issues and I do not intend to repeat their mistakes. Information on my mothers side isn't available due to adoption. I will cover that another time.
I have the most beautiful, happy, loving grandson in all of the world. I will refer to him as monkey butt (that's a story for another time) and I intend to grow old, watching and participating in his life. Right now, I already have trouble participating and I refuse to allow this to continue.
This is the start of my journey through weight loss through surgery. Some people will complain I am taking the "easy" way out.. Let me give you a little history.
1. I am flat footed. Now that might not sound like anything special but that actually keeps me from participating in a lot of exercise routines due to extreme pain. Of course it is also part of the problem as long distance walking or extended periods on my feet caused me pain even when I didn't tip the scales over 200 lbs. But back then, it was manageable. Now, not so much.
2. Years prior, junior high to be exact, I had my right knee cap broken. As a result, my knee cap likes to move around more than yours and it limits my mobility due to the excess weight.
3. Headaches... I was not aware that they can be tied to excess weight. I spend more time with a low grade headache, than not.
4. My thyroid is normal. What is normal? Normal for you might not be normal for me? Even the Dr. admitted that, but with no baseline to work with, obviously they cannot treat it. So it turns out that I am Vitamin D deficient. How deficient you ask? The average, Caucasian, middle aged woman should be as close to 100 as possible. As the Dr. told me, if I was a teenager, I would have Rickets. My level was 11... Hmmm... that's not good.
5. Post menopausal. Medically necessary, hysterectomy at age 24 without sufficient hormone therapy due to a family history of breast cancer.
6. Horrible eating habits. Processed foods due to convenience. A meat and potatoes diet when not eating out. Not to mention a weakness for bread... Not big on sugar. I don't drink sodas. Once up of coffee a day. Water the rest of the day... just not near enough of it..
So as you can see, I had my share of reasons (and excuses) for my excess weight. They are also the reasons why you won't find me running around the block. Especially since I live in a locale where 5 months out of the year we are in excess of 100 degree temps. Join a gym? Well, we will cover the self esteem, convenience, cost issues in another entry.
Funny thing is, even though I am 35.5 BMI I am actually healthy as a horse.. No high blood pressure. No pre-diabetes. No hernias (which are apparently common to excess weight). No sleep apnea. The only thing I do have was high cholesterol, controlled by medication and diet.. Or at least it was. So even if I had insurance right now, they wouldn't cover it. So when I lost my job, I pulled my entire 401k out and am using it to pay for my gastric sleeve surgery. That way I can write it off to Uncle Sam, next tax time.
Today I have my pre-surgery appointments with the dietitian and others. I have been reading everything I can find on the surgery and post op. One very helpful website is The Gastric Sleeve. I have purchased a Baby Bullet blender system which also comes with food containers that are exactly the size I will need for food portions after surgery. I am now researching the protein drinks/powders that will be the basis of my diet. If anyone has any suggestions, please comment with information..
I will continue to update the blog during this journey. You will probably learn more about me than you ever wanted to know. I will do my best to answer any questions..
Friday, June 8, 2012
Another curve in the road...
I am unemployed. Not words that I am accustomed to hearing myself say, I haven't been unemployed since 1992. I have spent the last 11 years at Tucker Rocky, selling motorcycle parts. Nothing life and death, little or no stress.. Couldn't be a more fun industry to be in. It really couldn't have happened at a better time though. I am debt free.. I have a little money in the bank.. I refuse to stress over this. I am going to take my vacation that was already scheduled and then I will come back and decide what I am going to do.. I have found out that the parent company is restructuring so this really isn't a surprise.. I mean, they are advertising management positions, that they want to pay 12-16 an hour? That is considerably less than what I was making and hard for them to justify. I will concede that I was not one to play the "games" or keep my mouth shut..
I could go back to law enforcement.. but the hours suck, they pay isn't great, and the politics suck worse. I assured a number of my dealers that have called me at home, that I would let them know where I land. I have already been told on more than one occasion that they will happily follow me. That the reason they bought from Tucker, wasn't because of Tucker, it was because of me. That makes you feel good..
I won't go to work for Parts Unlimited, I cannot subscribe to their business ethic. I have however, been in contact with and contacted by other distributors that I could see myself working for. We will just have to wait and see...
On the good news side of things, I bought a motorcycle. I sold my old V-Star to a co-worker and bought myself a Road Star 1700... Oh lord I should have done that a long time ago.. I love this bike.. I bought a few toys and extras for the bike before I left Tucker and I spent this evening putting the new saddlebags and drivers back rest on the bike... I will take it for a test ride tomorrow and see how this goes.. More on that, tomorrow..
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Trying to understand...
You hear a lot of talk about "artificial intelligence" and things like that... Can someone please explain why we would want ARTIFICIAL intelligence when the NATURAL intelligence isn't all it cracked up to be? Artificial intelligence is only as good as the person inputing the information right? I mean, look around. Do you know what the Darwin Awards are? Yep, that's the example at the very lowest end.. the true, unadulterated idiots of society... But how many people do you know now, that would qualify for an award in their daily lives? I am sure every once in a while, we are all idiots, once. I didn't think I knew all that many. I was wrong. I admit it. I was wrong. Obviously I have been operating with rose colored glasses or blinders (not sure which) or maybe alternating...
No, the things I am trying to really wrap my head around these days, are the LAZY individuals, who don't take the time to verify/read/confirm/check their posts, texts, ads, and articles before they hit send.
Now, I know I have to walk a thin line and be careful, because some of the guilty might actually be reading this.. so I will be nice (what a change huh?) and not mention any names.. Prime examples:
"Hi, I need sale item." I read this post and have to shake my head.. Now we all know that punctuation, spelling, and grammer all work together to make for an understandable conversation. Right? Now, as a grammer Nazi, I take that sentence as "Hi, I am looking for a sale item" UGH! No, it turns out it should have read "Hi, I need to SELL an item"... Sale/Sell... you knew what she meant, right?
Websters Dictionary and/or a Thesaurus... They aren't expensive and I will do you one better.. Online? THEY ARE FREE! Dictionary.com... it isn't hard, I promise...
Or another example, found on one of the Buy, Sell, Trade sites.... "looking for a bed"... That's it. Nothing more. Thank God, nothing less or it really wouldn't have been an ad. "Looking for a bed"... Twin? Bunk? King? Dog? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR...? Why is this so difficult?
Or there is the ad that someone has up and you go through the 50 questions, what size? What color? yadda yadda yadda... then at the very end, not a minute and a half after the last descriptive question, you get "Still available?" REALLY? Do you think that they would take the time to answer 50 questions about the item if it was already gone?
Or there was the lady in the parking lot the other day. It is a commercial parking lot with a 4 way intersection that involves a 3 way stop... Yes I am aware that is the DUMBEST thing you have ever seen, but, as the city officials felt this was BETTER, who am I to question their "intelligence". But I digress... I am stopped, so are three other vehicles. Count that again? I am stopped, so are three other vehicles.. yes that makes 4 vehicles stopped at a 3 way stop intersection. The three of us that are required to stop are nice enough to attempt to wave through the other driver. She is oblivious to it so as the first vehicle stopped, I attempt to proceed through the intersection... Now she wakes up and proceed to scream at me that it is a 4 way stop and she had the right of way... Really? REALLY? Maybe if you took that damn phone out of your ear, you might have been able to see that you were the idiot who STOPPED when it wasn't required or necessary.
But the kicker, was this morning.. Coming into work on I35W.. Northbound, South of downtown Fort Worth... Now traffic is flowing and for once, flowing well.. That is until we are approaching Alta Mesa... All the sudden, everyone is hitting their brakes.. the speed dropped well over 30 mph... And why? Motoring in the middle lane is a proud mother. She is so proud that she is doing 42 mph AND playing patty cake with her child, who is in the BACK SEAT OF THE AUTOMOBILE... with the interior light on. In traffic. To top it all off? The child wasn't even in a car seat... Couldn't have been over 4 years old... Yep. She is a such a good, attentive mom that she nearly gets her and the kid killed.. UNBELIEVABLE... I honked? She waved and smiled.. completely oblivious to the funeral procession of speeding vehicles that she has derailed...
I say no thank you to artificle intelligence.. at least until the real deal is better than what we have now...
No, the things I am trying to really wrap my head around these days, are the LAZY individuals, who don't take the time to verify/read/confirm/check their posts, texts, ads, and articles before they hit send.
Now, I know I have to walk a thin line and be careful, because some of the guilty might actually be reading this.. so I will be nice (what a change huh?) and not mention any names.. Prime examples:
"Hi, I need sale item." I read this post and have to shake my head.. Now we all know that punctuation, spelling, and grammer all work together to make for an understandable conversation. Right? Now, as a grammer Nazi, I take that sentence as "Hi, I am looking for a sale item" UGH! No, it turns out it should have read "Hi, I need to SELL an item"... Sale/Sell... you knew what she meant, right?
Websters Dictionary and/or a Thesaurus... They aren't expensive and I will do you one better.. Online? THEY ARE FREE! Dictionary.com... it isn't hard, I promise...
Or another example, found on one of the Buy, Sell, Trade sites.... "looking for a bed"... That's it. Nothing more. Thank God, nothing less or it really wouldn't have been an ad. "Looking for a bed"... Twin? Bunk? King? Dog? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR...? Why is this so difficult?
Or there is the ad that someone has up and you go through the 50 questions, what size? What color? yadda yadda yadda... then at the very end, not a minute and a half after the last descriptive question, you get "Still available?" REALLY? Do you think that they would take the time to answer 50 questions about the item if it was already gone?
Or there was the lady in the parking lot the other day. It is a commercial parking lot with a 4 way intersection that involves a 3 way stop... Yes I am aware that is the DUMBEST thing you have ever seen, but, as the city officials felt this was BETTER, who am I to question their "intelligence". But I digress... I am stopped, so are three other vehicles. Count that again? I am stopped, so are three other vehicles.. yes that makes 4 vehicles stopped at a 3 way stop intersection. The three of us that are required to stop are nice enough to attempt to wave through the other driver. She is oblivious to it so as the first vehicle stopped, I attempt to proceed through the intersection... Now she wakes up and proceed to scream at me that it is a 4 way stop and she had the right of way... Really? REALLY? Maybe if you took that damn phone out of your ear, you might have been able to see that you were the idiot who STOPPED when it wasn't required or necessary.
But the kicker, was this morning.. Coming into work on I35W.. Northbound, South of downtown Fort Worth... Now traffic is flowing and for once, flowing well.. That is until we are approaching Alta Mesa... All the sudden, everyone is hitting their brakes.. the speed dropped well over 30 mph... And why? Motoring in the middle lane is a proud mother. She is so proud that she is doing 42 mph AND playing patty cake with her child, who is in the BACK SEAT OF THE AUTOMOBILE... with the interior light on. In traffic. To top it all off? The child wasn't even in a car seat... Couldn't have been over 4 years old... Yep. She is a such a good, attentive mom that she nearly gets her and the kid killed.. UNBELIEVABLE... I honked? She waved and smiled.. completely oblivious to the funeral procession of speeding vehicles that she has derailed...
I say no thank you to artificle intelligence.. at least until the real deal is better than what we have now...
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