Diabetes
Diabetes...really one of the worst diseases out there. Why is it so bad? Well, let's see...it causes heart problems, it can cause blindness, it can cause you to lose limbs, usually legs, it can shut down your kidneys, it causes neuropathy in your feet and elsewhere. And that is just some of the complications. Now diabetes is not just a disease of the obese, I know lots of obese folks who do not have diabetes (yet) but if you have a genetic tendency to high blood sugars and you become obese you are at a much higher risk. I was diagnosed with diabetes about 17 years ago. Over the years since that diagnosis my blood sugars and therefore my blood tests around the diabetes have grown progressively worse. At the time I first went to see my surgeon, Dr. Joshua Long, I was on Metformin, taking four 500mg. tablets per day, I was on glimepiride, taking two 4mg tablets a day, I was on Victoza, taking an injection of 1.8 units daily and I was injecting 44 units of insulin twice a day. I have read that many diabetics are able to go off their meds with some of them never taking anymore once they leave the hospital. My doctor told me that surely my diabetes would improve but because I have had it for so long odds weren't real good that I would be one of those people. Well, boys and girls, I am here to tell you that as of 2 days ago I am off all of the above mentioned medications. !! Yes, that's right, all of them! My blood sugars, which used to run as high as nearly 500 are now stable at 80 - 120 most of the time. My endocrinologist said even if I have an occasional blood sugar as high as 160, not to worry because as more of my weight comes off those should be a thing of the past. All I can say is...Woo hoo!! For those of you reading this who suffer from diabetes, there is hope!
On a lighter note, I am getting into trouble as far as having any clothes to wear. I have long since given away anything any smaller than a size 20 pants or a 2x top and those are getting really baggy. I can take all of my size 20 jeans off without unbuttoning them. So my dear, sweet niece told me she had a bunch of clothes she would bring over that she can no longer wear due to her weight gain. I was so excited. Day before yesterday, her dad, my brother, brought them by. I spent a couple hours going through 4 large bins of clothes. The 1st bin contained all size 10's, the 2nd bin all size 12's and the other 2 bins contain a bit of both of those sizes and some large sizes. Well, as much as I wish that those would fit me now, we all know you don't go right from a 20 to a 10, there has to be all those in-between sizes first so as cute as many of those clothes are I will have to wait. And to add to the humor I have to tell you...Okay, when it comes to boobs the good Lord just did not bless me with much and no matter how much weight I gain it does not go to my chest. I have a B-cup and I just go from a 36-B to a 38-B to a 40-B, etc., as I need more to go around under the bust. My niece had about 5 bras in the bins that are too small for her now. I had to look. They are 40-DD's. My hubby can only dream, lol!
Down to 206 today, which means 1 more pound and I will have lost 40! I can see those 100's coming! I have seen on a lot of blogs where they call it "Onederland" I am so excited and have to come up with a non-food way to celebrate!
Thanks for listening again today, my friends, see ya' soon!
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.Thursday, September 19, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Ah, exercise!
I have never been a really active person as an adult. As a kid I was never still, I was a major tomboy and I climbed trees, rode bikes, played crazy games and kept myself moving all the time. I don't know what happened but except for spurts of activity over the years I just haven't exercised much at all. Now here I am, 63 years old, just had gastric bypass and I absolutely have to exercise to help get the weight off and more importantly, to keep it off! But here's the rub; I am now so disabled that I can't do much of anything. I am making a big effort though. I walk on my treadmill about 10 minutes. Before surgery I was getting close to 15 but I have had to kind of start over at the 1 minute point and I am getting to the 10 regularly. Most active people just won't get this, I know. I am on 2 liters of oxygen so that slows me down a little but the main issue is my back and my joints. I have had a knee and a hip replaced and I need the other knee and hip replaced. My replaced knee hurts more than the one I haven't had done so I am not rushing to have another major surgery that might not give me positive results anyway. I walk with a cane and I cannot walk very far or stand up for very long because of something I have in my spine called lumbar stenosis. My prayer is that losing a lot of weight will ease up the pressure on my back and my joints so much that it won't be such an issue. Time will tell and in the interim I am trying to be faithful to my good old treadmill. One of the blogs I love is http://www.300poundsdown.com/. It was the first blog I ever read and Holly continues to inspire me every day. In the beginning she could only walk to her mailbox but she did that and gradually she made it to the next mailbox and then the next. She continued to push herself and at some point on her journey she has run a 5K and she has lost about 240 pounds so far. I have age and physical limitations to fight against, she had a lot more pounds to deal with than I do but the point is to do a little and then do a little more and keep increasing as you can. I just saw this article at The American Journal of Health Promotion about a study that has proven that even little short bouts of exercise are beneficial. Yay! Good news, huh? If you'd like to read it here is the link. http://www.ajhpcontents.com/doi/abs/10.4278/ajhp.120606-QUAL-286 So if you struggle like I do to move for whatever the reason, just do a little. It counts!
On the weight loss front I am down another pound or so. I was stuck for a few days. My weight this morning was 208 down from 245. That is 37 pounds so far! Woo hoo! I am such a slave to the scale! I hope I can someday become the person who only gets on once a week but for now I can't seem to stop myself. That scale just stares at me and says, "Ah come on, you know you have to check!" And I give in to it, lol!
I have never been a really active person as an adult. As a kid I was never still, I was a major tomboy and I climbed trees, rode bikes, played crazy games and kept myself moving all the time. I don't know what happened but except for spurts of activity over the years I just haven't exercised much at all. Now here I am, 63 years old, just had gastric bypass and I absolutely have to exercise to help get the weight off and more importantly, to keep it off! But here's the rub; I am now so disabled that I can't do much of anything. I am making a big effort though. I walk on my treadmill about 10 minutes. Before surgery I was getting close to 15 but I have had to kind of start over at the 1 minute point and I am getting to the 10 regularly. Most active people just won't get this, I know. I am on 2 liters of oxygen so that slows me down a little but the main issue is my back and my joints. I have had a knee and a hip replaced and I need the other knee and hip replaced. My replaced knee hurts more than the one I haven't had done so I am not rushing to have another major surgery that might not give me positive results anyway. I walk with a cane and I cannot walk very far or stand up for very long because of something I have in my spine called lumbar stenosis. My prayer is that losing a lot of weight will ease up the pressure on my back and my joints so much that it won't be such an issue. Time will tell and in the interim I am trying to be faithful to my good old treadmill. One of the blogs I love is http://www.300poundsdown.com/. It was the first blog I ever read and Holly continues to inspire me every day. In the beginning she could only walk to her mailbox but she did that and gradually she made it to the next mailbox and then the next. She continued to push herself and at some point on her journey she has run a 5K and she has lost about 240 pounds so far. I have age and physical limitations to fight against, she had a lot more pounds to deal with than I do but the point is to do a little and then do a little more and keep increasing as you can. I just saw this article at The American Journal of Health Promotion about a study that has proven that even little short bouts of exercise are beneficial. Yay! Good news, huh? If you'd like to read it here is the link. http://www.ajhpcontents.com/doi/abs/10.4278/ajhp.120606-QUAL-286 So if you struggle like I do to move for whatever the reason, just do a little. It counts!
On the weight loss front I am down another pound or so. I was stuck for a few days. My weight this morning was 208 down from 245. That is 37 pounds so far! Woo hoo! I am such a slave to the scale! I hope I can someday become the person who only gets on once a week but for now I can't seem to stop myself. That scale just stares at me and says, "Ah come on, you know you have to check!" And I give in to it, lol!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Day 18 Post-Op
Well, we are still drowning here in Colorado! It was sunny for a while this morning and then suddenly it got cloudy, tornado sirens started going off, it began to rain really hard then it began to hail also. Our street quickly became a river up over the curbs. I keep expecting cars to start moving from the deep water!
Anyway, onto matters at hand. I am having a lot of pain in my abdomen, just a couple inches above where the drain was. It is a little swollen in that area and I have no clue what the problem is. Yesterday, and last night, I actually took pain medication again and I hadn't done that since Sunday, 5 days before! I guess if it doesn't resolve by Monday I will have to break down and call the doc. I just won't do it on the weekend unless I think I might be dying. My DH gets so upset with me, lol!
Still moving along with the pureed diet. I am finding it almost harder than the liquid diet because I have a few choices and it is making me think more about "real food" and by that I mean food that has some substance to it. I like tuna, I like canned chicken, but I like the chunks not this slurry that I have to turn it into! The flavor is fine, for example, I had some white meat canned chicken and I added a couple Tbs. of cottage cheese to it and a healthy amount of Mrs. Dash seasoning, not too bad! But after reading a blog I love titled http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ and looking at her post about her days of pureed foods, I sent DH to the store for some corned beef hash. Now once I pureed it, it looked almost the same as my refried beans but gosh it tasted good! I have never been much of a fan of hash but for right now it is the best thing I have tasted on this leg of the journey. Woo hoo!!
Well, I guess that is all that is new or different for today. My weight wasn't down any today but I am not worried. Not to get too graphic but I was always very regular with bms. I went every morning like clockwork and now all of that has changed. It looks like every 3-4 days is the norm for now and it's been 3. Hard to lose much weight when you are putting stuff in but not getting anything out. Tomorrow will be the day, I am sure of it, lol!
Well, we are still drowning here in Colorado! It was sunny for a while this morning and then suddenly it got cloudy, tornado sirens started going off, it began to rain really hard then it began to hail also. Our street quickly became a river up over the curbs. I keep expecting cars to start moving from the deep water!
Anyway, onto matters at hand. I am having a lot of pain in my abdomen, just a couple inches above where the drain was. It is a little swollen in that area and I have no clue what the problem is. Yesterday, and last night, I actually took pain medication again and I hadn't done that since Sunday, 5 days before! I guess if it doesn't resolve by Monday I will have to break down and call the doc. I just won't do it on the weekend unless I think I might be dying. My DH gets so upset with me, lol!
Still moving along with the pureed diet. I am finding it almost harder than the liquid diet because I have a few choices and it is making me think more about "real food" and by that I mean food that has some substance to it. I like tuna, I like canned chicken, but I like the chunks not this slurry that I have to turn it into! The flavor is fine, for example, I had some white meat canned chicken and I added a couple Tbs. of cottage cheese to it and a healthy amount of Mrs. Dash seasoning, not too bad! But after reading a blog I love titled http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ and looking at her post about her days of pureed foods, I sent DH to the store for some corned beef hash. Now once I pureed it, it looked almost the same as my refried beans but gosh it tasted good! I have never been much of a fan of hash but for right now it is the best thing I have tasted on this leg of the journey. Woo hoo!!
Well, I guess that is all that is new or different for today. My weight wasn't down any today but I am not worried. Not to get too graphic but I was always very regular with bms. I went every morning like clockwork and now all of that has changed. It looks like every 3-4 days is the norm for now and it's been 3. Hard to lose much weight when you are putting stuff in but not getting anything out. Tomorrow will be the day, I am sure of it, lol!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Colorado is a desert!
Okay, make sure you realize that is desert not dessert! We are a state that is considered to be high desert. We seldom get much rain and we have been in a drought for a few years but suddenly we are drowning here in Colorado and it is so unusual I'm not sure we know what to do. Flooding, roads washed out, even a few deaths! So sad!
On a different note though. I have been thinking about vitamins. I started on my regimen of bariatric vitamins a few days ago and it is pretty tough. I have to get a handle on it because this is something I will have to do for the rest of my life, and so will you if you have had or are going to have bariatric surgery. It is not optional, it is part of what is going to keep you healthy. If you have a bypass like I had it is especially crucial. Our new, surgically altered systems do not absorb enough nutrients from the foods we eat to keep us healthy. We have to supplement. But wow! Okay, here is what I am taking now. A chewable multivitamin and the one I chose requires that you chew 4 a day. Chewable calcium citrate (you must have this form, not calcium carbonate) the brand I bought requires 4 a day to get your 2000mgs in and they are huge! Vitamin D3, fortunately it is 1 tiny little soft gel.. B-50 Complex - 2 capsules daily, Sublingual B-12, only 1! Then in addition I am taking a chewable iron because I have been anemic most of my life and I have added Biotin because there is some evidence that it might help slow down the hair loss we can all expect to experience to some degree. If you weren't counting, that is 14 pills. And I am still on several medications. This has to be done every single day, we can't blow it off so I am thinking that as time goes on I am going to try really hard to find good replacements that require less pills. I can't afford to toss these out and buy new ones so for now I am stuck but down the road...hopefully there is a better solution. Regardless I will do what I need to. I had this surgery to live longer and maybe get rid of some of the comorbidities that I have been dealing with so I don't want to trade them for diseases caused by lack of vitamins! Are you with me out there!!??
Today I tried mixing my canned white meat chicken with some cottage cheese and a good shake or two of Mrs. Dash's Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning. It was actually pretty tasty. I am still not really hungry but since I need to eat pureed foods and I need to get in 60-80 grams of protein I figure it can't hurt if it has some flavor, right?
That's all I have for today, have mainly been mulling over the whole vitamin issue and thought I would share!
Okay, make sure you realize that is desert not dessert! We are a state that is considered to be high desert. We seldom get much rain and we have been in a drought for a few years but suddenly we are drowning here in Colorado and it is so unusual I'm not sure we know what to do. Flooding, roads washed out, even a few deaths! So sad!
On a different note though. I have been thinking about vitamins. I started on my regimen of bariatric vitamins a few days ago and it is pretty tough. I have to get a handle on it because this is something I will have to do for the rest of my life, and so will you if you have had or are going to have bariatric surgery. It is not optional, it is part of what is going to keep you healthy. If you have a bypass like I had it is especially crucial. Our new, surgically altered systems do not absorb enough nutrients from the foods we eat to keep us healthy. We have to supplement. But wow! Okay, here is what I am taking now. A chewable multivitamin and the one I chose requires that you chew 4 a day. Chewable calcium citrate (you must have this form, not calcium carbonate) the brand I bought requires 4 a day to get your 2000mgs in and they are huge! Vitamin D3, fortunately it is 1 tiny little soft gel.. B-50 Complex - 2 capsules daily, Sublingual B-12, only 1! Then in addition I am taking a chewable iron because I have been anemic most of my life and I have added Biotin because there is some evidence that it might help slow down the hair loss we can all expect to experience to some degree. If you weren't counting, that is 14 pills. And I am still on several medications. This has to be done every single day, we can't blow it off so I am thinking that as time goes on I am going to try really hard to find good replacements that require less pills. I can't afford to toss these out and buy new ones so for now I am stuck but down the road...hopefully there is a better solution. Regardless I will do what I need to. I had this surgery to live longer and maybe get rid of some of the comorbidities that I have been dealing with so I don't want to trade them for diseases caused by lack of vitamins! Are you with me out there!!??
Today I tried mixing my canned white meat chicken with some cottage cheese and a good shake or two of Mrs. Dash's Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning. It was actually pretty tasty. I am still not really hungry but since I need to eat pureed foods and I need to get in 60-80 grams of protein I figure it can't hurt if it has some flavor, right?
That's all I have for today, have mainly been mulling over the whole vitamin issue and thought I would share!
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
2 weeks post-op!
Sorry I have been missing in action for a few days. I am completely computer illiterate when it comes to troubleshooting and I was unable to log in to post anything. I had to wait until DH had a few moments to take a look and help me figure it out. Turns out I wasn't the only blogger here at BlogSpot with the problem and there was a fix posted and now I am up and running again.
Today was a bit of a milestone for me. I had my 2 week post-op appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Joshua Long. First, of course, I went through the usual stuff, blood pressure check, weigh in, etc. It is a funny feeling to be anxious to get on the scale at the doctor's office, well, actually it is a funny feeling to want to get on a scale anywhere, anytime, lol! But that was my feeling. Then lo and behold I am 11 pounds down from the surgery 2 weeks ago. Added to what I lost by making the recommended changes in my life (see the first blog entry for what those were) I am down 33 pounds in the last 4 months. My hubby suddenly stopped in his tracks tonight and stared at me and then said, "Wow, I can really see in your face that you have lost weight!" Okay, thanks honey, but why is it always just in the face at first? I mean, 33 pounds is a lot of sticks of butter, 132 of them to be exact. Why couldn't he (or anyone) have said, "Wow, your butt looks better!" or "Wow, those hips are really shrinking!" But no, it is always the face! Now I don't believe I have lost 33 pounds in my face, lol, but I guess since you are still wearing the same clothes and though they are starting to be big on you, in some ways because of that you kind of look the same to people.
The doc removed all my steri-strips from the incisions, counting where the drain was located there are a total of 5 incisions. He said they looked great and I wasn't going to have much in the way of scars after a few months. Everything looks great and he gave me my operative report. It is a play by play report of exactly everything they did during surgery. I haven't gotten around to reading the whole thing. It is 5 pages long so I will put it right by my Kindle and when I go to bed I will let my brain fight over whether I want to read that or the nice murder mystery I am currently reading, lol! He told me that something had looked a little off in my stomach so he did a biopsy and I am happy to report it came back just fine
Another issue I am dealing with is the diabetes. Now when I say it is an issue it is because I am not sure what has happened. Lots of people get totally off of their insulin and/or medications after bypass surgery. The doc told me that I might not see that result because I have been diabetic for so long, however, I told him that I always plan for the best. Before starting this journey I was on 88 units of insulin (44 twice daily) 4-500 mg Metformin, 1.8 units of Victoza and 2 glimepiride tablets. I went off the Metformin a few days before surgery and have not taken any since. I had worked down to 20 units of insulin twice a day before surgery and now I have only given myself 10 units, 2 different times. Most days I am only taking 1 glimepiride or sometimes a half of one. So bottom line is that the diabetes seems to be resolving. I may have a different experience once I start eating a more regular diet but for now I am pumped!!
And that brings me to one more thing before I stop for today. Yesterday I moved from the liquid diet to the pureed diet. I was so excited to add a few new things to the mix. I started out the morning with some cottage cheese pureed with a little unflavored Unjury protein powder. It tasted okay but I was kind of like, "Bleh." Then later I had some refried beans pureed in the food processor, again they were okay but nothing to write home about. For dinner I had some white albacore tuna pureed with some chicken broth and once again it was just okay. Perhaps I set myself up getting so excited about different food, perhaps my taste buds have changed as so many people say they do. Who knows? The bottom line at this point anyway is to gradually see how your new little pouch handles different things and that is what you really want to focus on. Elisabeth Bailey, who is the counselor on my posse (I just decided today that that is what I am calling all the wonderful staff at my surgeon's office) kept telling us over and over that we need to take care of, even baby our new little pouch because we don't want to stretch it out too much or too soon. So that is what I am going to do!
Sorry I have been missing in action for a few days. I am completely computer illiterate when it comes to troubleshooting and I was unable to log in to post anything. I had to wait until DH had a few moments to take a look and help me figure it out. Turns out I wasn't the only blogger here at BlogSpot with the problem and there was a fix posted and now I am up and running again.
Today was a bit of a milestone for me. I had my 2 week post-op appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Joshua Long. First, of course, I went through the usual stuff, blood pressure check, weigh in, etc. It is a funny feeling to be anxious to get on the scale at the doctor's office, well, actually it is a funny feeling to want to get on a scale anywhere, anytime, lol! But that was my feeling. Then lo and behold I am 11 pounds down from the surgery 2 weeks ago. Added to what I lost by making the recommended changes in my life (see the first blog entry for what those were) I am down 33 pounds in the last 4 months. My hubby suddenly stopped in his tracks tonight and stared at me and then said, "Wow, I can really see in your face that you have lost weight!" Okay, thanks honey, but why is it always just in the face at first? I mean, 33 pounds is a lot of sticks of butter, 132 of them to be exact. Why couldn't he (or anyone) have said, "Wow, your butt looks better!" or "Wow, those hips are really shrinking!" But no, it is always the face! Now I don't believe I have lost 33 pounds in my face, lol, but I guess since you are still wearing the same clothes and though they are starting to be big on you, in some ways because of that you kind of look the same to people.
The doc removed all my steri-strips from the incisions, counting where the drain was located there are a total of 5 incisions. He said they looked great and I wasn't going to have much in the way of scars after a few months. Everything looks great and he gave me my operative report. It is a play by play report of exactly everything they did during surgery. I haven't gotten around to reading the whole thing. It is 5 pages long so I will put it right by my Kindle and when I go to bed I will let my brain fight over whether I want to read that or the nice murder mystery I am currently reading, lol! He told me that something had looked a little off in my stomach so he did a biopsy and I am happy to report it came back just fine
Another issue I am dealing with is the diabetes. Now when I say it is an issue it is because I am not sure what has happened. Lots of people get totally off of their insulin and/or medications after bypass surgery. The doc told me that I might not see that result because I have been diabetic for so long, however, I told him that I always plan for the best. Before starting this journey I was on 88 units of insulin (44 twice daily) 4-500 mg Metformin, 1.8 units of Victoza and 2 glimepiride tablets. I went off the Metformin a few days before surgery and have not taken any since. I had worked down to 20 units of insulin twice a day before surgery and now I have only given myself 10 units, 2 different times. Most days I am only taking 1 glimepiride or sometimes a half of one. So bottom line is that the diabetes seems to be resolving. I may have a different experience once I start eating a more regular diet but for now I am pumped!!
And that brings me to one more thing before I stop for today. Yesterday I moved from the liquid diet to the pureed diet. I was so excited to add a few new things to the mix. I started out the morning with some cottage cheese pureed with a little unflavored Unjury protein powder. It tasted okay but I was kind of like, "Bleh." Then later I had some refried beans pureed in the food processor, again they were okay but nothing to write home about. For dinner I had some white albacore tuna pureed with some chicken broth and once again it was just okay. Perhaps I set myself up getting so excited about different food, perhaps my taste buds have changed as so many people say they do. Who knows? The bottom line at this point anyway is to gradually see how your new little pouch handles different things and that is what you really want to focus on. Elisabeth Bailey, who is the counselor on my posse (I just decided today that that is what I am calling all the wonderful staff at my surgeon's office) kept telling us over and over that we need to take care of, even baby our new little pouch because we don't want to stretch it out too much or too soon. So that is what I am going to do!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Day 13 - Post-op
Well, life never goes the way you plan it out in your head, does it? For the last few days, intermittently, I have been getting a really severe pain in my lower right abdomen. I had spoken to my doctor about it a few days ago and after asking me a bunch of questions and discussing it we decided it was probably caused by the drain I have in me and since I would be getting it out on the 11th we would watch and see. Yesterday morning that pain woke me up. I painstakingly took myself off to the bathroom hoping that that was the problem. I peed pretty good but that didn't help and nothing else was going to happen so I made my way back to the bed. It hurt so bad that I was crying. My hubby and daughter were downstairs enjoying their weekly time of bonding over zombie movies. I always think I have to be tough so I managed to lay down on my back and if I didn't move even a centimeter it wasn't too bad but any movement at all sent a stabbing sensation to that area, I was also beginning to feel nauseous. After dealing with it alone for over an hour and a half I finally called downstairs and asked Steve if he would come up. He was there immediately, took one look at me and asked what was wrong. I told him and he said, "Call the doctor, right now!" So I got hold of the doctor and he finally said I needed to go to the ER. Off we went!
So to make a very long story short, they sent me to ct scan, they ruled out kidney stones and decided it wasn't appendicitis but the ER doc said that he and my doc had reviewed the scan together and there was something a little funky near my appendix. They removed my drain while I was there and all I can say about that is, "Hallelujah!" The doc told me when they released me that there was a 50/50 chance that I would be back within 24-48 hours with appendicitis! So far, so good. I feel so much better just having that drain out of me. I think it was something drain related causing the pain. I haven't even had any pain medication since leaving the ER nearly 24 hours ago.
On another note is the weight loss. If you have been reading since the beginning then you know that I went up 8 pounds after coming home from the hospital. I really didn't stress too much about that. I knew it had to be fluid. Since then I have lost that 8 pounds and another 5 on top of it. My weight this morning was...drumroll...213. That is down a total of 32 pounds since first meeting with the surgeon. I know I am weird in this bariatric world but I really don't want to lose it too fast. I am physically unable to exercise much still and if I lose really fast then I will just have more ugly excess skin to deal with. Sigh. Am I complaining? I sure shouldn't be, should I? Okay, so I will leave the weight loss speed and the excess skin in God's hands. He always takes good care of my so why would He stop now!?
One thing I have to mention. Others have mentioned it on their blogs but we always think we are gonna be different, we are gonna do better. It is this: It is so tough to get all your protein and your fluids in. It seems strange to me that someone who could down an entire half gallon of ice cream, or eat 5-6 pieces of thick pizza and breadsticks and soda would have any difficulty drinking 40+ ounces of water and other liquid or getting in 60+ grams of protein but it is true. You are not really hungry and right now at the last day of my liquid diet, I am pretty tired of protein shakes. I am excited for tomorrow when I move to the pureed diet. I will be adding cottage cheese, non-fat yogurt, canned chicken and tuna (blended with broth to be like baby food) and a few other things. Just to have something to kind of "chew" will be great!! Come back soon to see how it goes!
Well, life never goes the way you plan it out in your head, does it? For the last few days, intermittently, I have been getting a really severe pain in my lower right abdomen. I had spoken to my doctor about it a few days ago and after asking me a bunch of questions and discussing it we decided it was probably caused by the drain I have in me and since I would be getting it out on the 11th we would watch and see. Yesterday morning that pain woke me up. I painstakingly took myself off to the bathroom hoping that that was the problem. I peed pretty good but that didn't help and nothing else was going to happen so I made my way back to the bed. It hurt so bad that I was crying. My hubby and daughter were downstairs enjoying their weekly time of bonding over zombie movies. I always think I have to be tough so I managed to lay down on my back and if I didn't move even a centimeter it wasn't too bad but any movement at all sent a stabbing sensation to that area, I was also beginning to feel nauseous. After dealing with it alone for over an hour and a half I finally called downstairs and asked Steve if he would come up. He was there immediately, took one look at me and asked what was wrong. I told him and he said, "Call the doctor, right now!" So I got hold of the doctor and he finally said I needed to go to the ER. Off we went!
So to make a very long story short, they sent me to ct scan, they ruled out kidney stones and decided it wasn't appendicitis but the ER doc said that he and my doc had reviewed the scan together and there was something a little funky near my appendix. They removed my drain while I was there and all I can say about that is, "Hallelujah!" The doc told me when they released me that there was a 50/50 chance that I would be back within 24-48 hours with appendicitis! So far, so good. I feel so much better just having that drain out of me. I think it was something drain related causing the pain. I haven't even had any pain medication since leaving the ER nearly 24 hours ago.
On another note is the weight loss. If you have been reading since the beginning then you know that I went up 8 pounds after coming home from the hospital. I really didn't stress too much about that. I knew it had to be fluid. Since then I have lost that 8 pounds and another 5 on top of it. My weight this morning was...drumroll...213. That is down a total of 32 pounds since first meeting with the surgeon. I know I am weird in this bariatric world but I really don't want to lose it too fast. I am physically unable to exercise much still and if I lose really fast then I will just have more ugly excess skin to deal with. Sigh. Am I complaining? I sure shouldn't be, should I? Okay, so I will leave the weight loss speed and the excess skin in God's hands. He always takes good care of my so why would He stop now!?
One thing I have to mention. Others have mentioned it on their blogs but we always think we are gonna be different, we are gonna do better. It is this: It is so tough to get all your protein and your fluids in. It seems strange to me that someone who could down an entire half gallon of ice cream, or eat 5-6 pieces of thick pizza and breadsticks and soda would have any difficulty drinking 40+ ounces of water and other liquid or getting in 60+ grams of protein but it is true. You are not really hungry and right now at the last day of my liquid diet, I am pretty tired of protein shakes. I am excited for tomorrow when I move to the pureed diet. I will be adding cottage cheese, non-fat yogurt, canned chicken and tuna (blended with broth to be like baby food) and a few other things. Just to have something to kind of "chew" will be great!! Come back soon to see how it goes!
Friday, September 6, 2013
I am still alive!
Just in case anyone was beginning to wonder about me, I am still here, lol!
Surgery was 8/27 and everything went fine despite me being a much higher risk than the average patient. It took about 2 and 1/2 hours then I spent a couple hours in the recovery room before being whisked off to my suite...uh, room. I was not allowed a sip of water, not even an ice chip until more than 24 hours later when I had my leak test. That was really hard. You are given those little spongy things that are on a stick that you can moisten your lips and tongue with but you are told that if you feel any water in your mouth to spit it out and not swallow!! Who cared about food, I just wanted moisture. The leak test was an experience, if you've ever had a test for a hiatal hernia or to look at your esophagus it is just like that. You have to drink this incredibly horrible tasting stuff that makes barium seem like fine wine. This stuff smells like floor wax and the technician and I decided it tastes like what we would imagine floor wax tastes like. NASTY! Then they scan you for any leaks. All was fine and when I got back to my room I was cleared to start having liquids. You are still on a clear liquid diet and the menu you use to call room service is pretty funny in my book. You can choose from a variety of herbal teas, 3 kinds of low-sodium broth (chicken, beef or vegetable) and sugar-free jello. You can really add variety to your life by choosing a different tea and a different broth each time. Jello was pretty much one flavor available. Red. Which really isn't a flavor but you get my drift.
The nurses and staff at Parker Adventist Hospital were awesome. I have been in many different hospitals and it has been my experience that when you ring for a nurse be prepared to wait. Well, every time I rang someone would answer immediately and after I told them what I needed there was someone there to help me immediately. My doctor and his staff were there everyday and I felt really cared about. My niece, Amber, came one day and brought my daughter, Shannon. I sat in the chair and we played the board game, Sequence, it was a nice change of pace and helped a lot to pass the time.
I went home on 8/29 and was so happy to be able to sleep in my own bed. Hubby was mighty glad, too. Except for the year he was in Viet Nam, it has been a rare night for us to not be together and he said there was just something wrong with the bed without me in it. Of course, I was thinking,
"Yeah, it has some room in it!"
I came home with a drain as it seems many bariatric patients do. It is not comfortable and it is not pretty but you deal with it. At first I was having to empty the little receptacle (which looks like a clear, plastic grenade) several times a day but now it has slowed down to about once a day and even then it isn't very full. You have to keep a log of when you empty it and how much was in it to take back to the doctor when you have it removed.
Food wise, I am still on the liquid diet until the middle of next week. The only really new and kind of different thing I have added is strained 98% Fat-free cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup made with skim milk, however, it tastes wonderful. You will find you are sick of things that are sweet. Did I really say that? It's true, shakes, jello, crystal light, flavored water, all of them are sweet and so the slightly salty, savory taste of hot (well, at least pretty warm) soup tastes really good.
Be prepared to not really care much if you put anything in your new little stomach. You aren't hungry or you don't feel like you want anything so you have to make it your mission to get some protein into your body. My surgeon requires 60-80 grams daily and it is tough. He doesn't recommend that you start on the vitamin regimen for a week or so as you heal so it is doubly important that you push yourself to get some protein in your body. You will be tired and weak just from the trauma of surgery so don't make it any worse. I won't lie to you, I am struggling to do it. Yesterday my protein total ended up being 59 grams and that was a concerted effort. I am finding I just want to have something that I can really chew. Try chewing jello, lol! It doesn't really work.
I am not complaining, I am not sorry I did this, I just want this blog to be helpful and honest and it won't be if I pretend all is fine and dandy. I still have some pain, I don't have any energy but I am looking forward to that turning around soon. Oh and it is a good thing I don't freak out easily because I got on my scale the day after coming home and I was up 8 pounds from my pre-op weight, 8 pounds! But I knew it was just fluids and as I have emptied that drain over and over and watched the scale start coming down it has proven to be true.
Drum roll, please. My weight on 4/29/13 was 245, my weight today 9/6/13 was 215.8. I had lost 25 pounds pre-op and now the scale is starting to move and 4 more pounds have left me.
Long post today but I needed to catch up. See you all soon!
Just in case anyone was beginning to wonder about me, I am still here, lol!
Surgery was 8/27 and everything went fine despite me being a much higher risk than the average patient. It took about 2 and 1/2 hours then I spent a couple hours in the recovery room before being whisked off to my suite...uh, room. I was not allowed a sip of water, not even an ice chip until more than 24 hours later when I had my leak test. That was really hard. You are given those little spongy things that are on a stick that you can moisten your lips and tongue with but you are told that if you feel any water in your mouth to spit it out and not swallow!! Who cared about food, I just wanted moisture. The leak test was an experience, if you've ever had a test for a hiatal hernia or to look at your esophagus it is just like that. You have to drink this incredibly horrible tasting stuff that makes barium seem like fine wine. This stuff smells like floor wax and the technician and I decided it tastes like what we would imagine floor wax tastes like. NASTY! Then they scan you for any leaks. All was fine and when I got back to my room I was cleared to start having liquids. You are still on a clear liquid diet and the menu you use to call room service is pretty funny in my book. You can choose from a variety of herbal teas, 3 kinds of low-sodium broth (chicken, beef or vegetable) and sugar-free jello. You can really add variety to your life by choosing a different tea and a different broth each time. Jello was pretty much one flavor available. Red. Which really isn't a flavor but you get my drift.
The nurses and staff at Parker Adventist Hospital were awesome. I have been in many different hospitals and it has been my experience that when you ring for a nurse be prepared to wait. Well, every time I rang someone would answer immediately and after I told them what I needed there was someone there to help me immediately. My doctor and his staff were there everyday and I felt really cared about. My niece, Amber, came one day and brought my daughter, Shannon. I sat in the chair and we played the board game, Sequence, it was a nice change of pace and helped a lot to pass the time.
I went home on 8/29 and was so happy to be able to sleep in my own bed. Hubby was mighty glad, too. Except for the year he was in Viet Nam, it has been a rare night for us to not be together and he said there was just something wrong with the bed without me in it. Of course, I was thinking,
"Yeah, it has some room in it!"
I came home with a drain as it seems many bariatric patients do. It is not comfortable and it is not pretty but you deal with it. At first I was having to empty the little receptacle (which looks like a clear, plastic grenade) several times a day but now it has slowed down to about once a day and even then it isn't very full. You have to keep a log of when you empty it and how much was in it to take back to the doctor when you have it removed.
Food wise, I am still on the liquid diet until the middle of next week. The only really new and kind of different thing I have added is strained 98% Fat-free cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup made with skim milk, however, it tastes wonderful. You will find you are sick of things that are sweet. Did I really say that? It's true, shakes, jello, crystal light, flavored water, all of them are sweet and so the slightly salty, savory taste of hot (well, at least pretty warm) soup tastes really good.
Be prepared to not really care much if you put anything in your new little stomach. You aren't hungry or you don't feel like you want anything so you have to make it your mission to get some protein into your body. My surgeon requires 60-80 grams daily and it is tough. He doesn't recommend that you start on the vitamin regimen for a week or so as you heal so it is doubly important that you push yourself to get some protein in your body. You will be tired and weak just from the trauma of surgery so don't make it any worse. I won't lie to you, I am struggling to do it. Yesterday my protein total ended up being 59 grams and that was a concerted effort. I am finding I just want to have something that I can really chew. Try chewing jello, lol! It doesn't really work.
I am not complaining, I am not sorry I did this, I just want this blog to be helpful and honest and it won't be if I pretend all is fine and dandy. I still have some pain, I don't have any energy but I am looking forward to that turning around soon. Oh and it is a good thing I don't freak out easily because I got on my scale the day after coming home and I was up 8 pounds from my pre-op weight, 8 pounds! But I knew it was just fluids and as I have emptied that drain over and over and watched the scale start coming down it has proven to be true.
Drum roll, please. My weight on 4/29/13 was 245, my weight today 9/6/13 was 215.8. I had lost 25 pounds pre-op and now the scale is starting to move and 4 more pounds have left me.
Long post today but I needed to catch up. See you all soon!
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