Happy Its Friday!!

Well, nothing much new has happened to me including no new weight loss. I know its normal, but I've stayed the same for the last 3 days and I'm on liquids. I'm hungry too!!! I've been drinking my protein shakes and it does help with the hunger, but I'm really tired of them. I called the Dr office today and asked if I could change up my diet on Monday since I'm 2 weeks post op and they did say I could add a light salad with tuna, so that adds a whole bunch of new textures to my diet. I can't wait!!!! I guess that would officially start the mushie phase!!! Finally!! They only want me to do that for one meal and continue the protein shakes during the day so that I can get that big weight loss in the beginning. Anyway, just the ok to eat one mushie meal is wonderful!!!!

I love to go shopping and I kinda miss buying clothes when I find a good deal, but I want to wait till I loose more to make a lot of purchases and the weather is going to be changing here in SoCal. As I mentioned, I bought one pair of jean at an awsome price that are snug on me, so when I loose a little more I'll switch to those. My current jeans are looking a little sloppy and baggy. I did try on some jeans today, but didn't buy. I usually shop in the big girls section and am usually a solid 18. I tried on a pair of size 16 (in the regular section of the store) and they fit great!!! yeah!!!! I also grabbed a 14 to try and they were just a little too tight to button, but in another 15-20 lbs, I'll be in a 14. As far as tops go, don't thing that has changed too much.

Well, gotta go for now..........Have a great Friday.

Just an Update

Ok, well I've been eating the wrong things, by mistake, so I'm back to the liquid protein diet and just broth soups. Nothing blended or mushie until Monday (2 weeks post op). I hope I didn't hurt anything starting the mushies too early, but I feel fine and nothing ever felt like it was even close to getting stuck. My mom and I like to do lunch and the movies together during the week. We try to get together at least once a week, but lately its been more often, just to keep our minds off Granny. We went to our favorite chineese resturant and I had egg flower soup and only ate the broth. I bought a container to go, so I can snack on it the rest of the week. She also made stew for dinner last night and put some of the broth in a container for me to eat for dinner tonight. We went shopping after lunch and found some good bargins at the mall. I bought a new pair of jeans on clearance. They were a little tight to allow for some weight loss. My current jeans are starting to look too loose and I love to wear jeans, so I think I will continue to buy a new pair of smaller size as each bigger size gets loose. I'm a good shopper and usually find great deals on sale or clearance. I'm not going to get any fancy name brands until I get really close to my goal unless they are too good a price to pass up. I can't wait to fit into a pair of 7 For all Mankind jeans (that will be a great day when I can fit into a pair and I will splurge for those). I'm feeling good. I'm down 18 pounds now. I've been teetering between 17 and 18 pounds for a couple days now and today I got my monthly friend, so I think when my friend is gone, the 18 pounds will stick and hopefully it will be 19 or 20.

Anyway, my incisions are feeling good. I feel great and I'm sleeping a little better. Still can't wait until I can sleep on my stomach, but I think it will happen in the next week by the way I'm feeling.

One thing I've been thinking about is pills and medication. I have a binder full of instructions and it says I should crush tablets, but capsuls and gel caps are usually ok to swallow. I'm afraid to find out. Luckily I don't take a whole lot of meds and I've switched to chewable vitamins (yuck, but better than crushing a regular one). The only one I do take regularly is a capsul for acne. I've been avoiding it, buy am breaking out and really need to start taking it regularly. Today I cut the top off the capsul and put it in a swig of crystal light and swallowed. It was so disgusting and don't know how long I can do that. Do capsuls really go down ok and should I try it? Its not that big, but I don't want it to get stuck, I'm too early in this process to have it get stuck.

Later Today

Well, today has been a real good day and I felt like a "normal" person today. Let me tell you how my day went and you'll now what I mean by "normal". Today was Lunch on the Lawn at my kids school. Basically, once a month you bring lunch for your kids at school and eat in the library with them. I usually pick up fast food and eat 1/2 with one kid and the other 1/2 with the other. My kids love me to come, not to visit with me, but for the food, of course. I sit and socialize with the other moms. I did pick them up fast food and I didn't have anything and no one asked me why. After Lunch on the Lawn, a good friend invited me to go have a Starbucks Coffee with her. This is what we always do, not lunch, just Starbucks. I usually have an Iced Pumpkin Spice Late or an Iced White Chocolate Mocha, but I decided to get a Skinny Vanilla Latte (Sugar Free Vanilla syrup, Espresso and Non Fat milk). It tasted pretty good (not as good as Pumpkin Spice Latte) and I felt good about myself for not having the extra sugar or empty calories and I felt like a "normal" person just going for coffee with girlfriends. I didn't feel different because I was banded. I was starving, so I'm having Split Pea Soup as I type, and the Iced Coffee kinda made my stomach ache a little, nothing real bad, I think it might be the coldness of it or because I was super hungry. I don't know??? I have Iced Espresso with artificial sweetener every morning, so I know it wasn't the coffee. Anyway, its not that big a deal. I enjoyed my day!!

I also wanted to mention that because I didn't need the Nutritionist Eval for insurance purposes, my doctor didn't require it. I was a cash pay, so didn't neet a lot of the pre op requirements. I know they are for my own good, but was trying to save cash. Well, because I didn't have this, I kind of feel a little unsure of exactly what I can eat. I know the hospital release paperwork said to drink clear liquids for the first day and then move on to liquid protein drinks after the first day. On day 3, I was starving and after a 2 week pre op protein drink diet, I was sick of protein. I called the Office and the gal said I could have Slit Peas soup, broths, anything really liquified. She added to stay away from cream soups because of the high fat and calories, but that tells me I could have them if I choose to, but beware of how much I'm eating. Right now that is about 1/2 cup at a time, so I don't thing the cream thing is a real concern right now. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of split pea soup (love it), some really runny cream of wheat without lumps. I've tried Yougart, pudding and everything has been fine. I don't want to hurt my band or do anything wrong, but all these things are feeling fine, so I'm going to keep doing these and anything that has this sort of consistancy. I realize, I'm not supposed to chew anything and that it should probably be no thicker than yogurt or split pea soup. My next Dr. appt isin't for 4 more weeks, when the nurse said I can start eating regular food. I was hoping to try regular foods before that. It makes sense to me to try before I get a fill. Anyway, I think I'll go on for a week or two and call the office when I get desperate for something else. Any suggestions or anyone want to tell me how their post op diets were would be great???? How long until the band is officially healed and some experimentation would not do harm???? I know that is probably a question for my Dr., but just curious what everyone else thinks. How long after surgery did you have your first PB???? (what exactly does PB stand for??? I think it means throw up)

Well.....lots of questions....lots of info..... Thanks for reading

One Week Post Op and Doing Great!!!

Hi there!! Well, today is a week post op to the day and I'm feeling great. I have 4 small incision sites and one large one. The large one hurts at times, I think it's when I do too much, It feels like its opening up, but its not. I put neosporin on them and covered them with bandages and it feels much better today. I don't know where my port site is, but I think I figured it out last night. One side is much soarer the the other when I sleep at night and that must be the side. I feel like my abdomen is still swollen where the incisions are especially after I eat. I have such trouble sleeping at night. I like to sleep on my stomach and I miss it so much. Can't wait till I can do it again. How long will that take????

I really miss my kickboxing class at the gym. I really want to get back into it, but know I'm not ready yet. How long will it take to get back into vigirous exercise???? I'm thinking maybe take this week off and then go back on my 3rd week post op. I don't want to hurt anything, but If my incisions feel ok, I'm thinking I will be ok.

gotta go.....I might post again later today.

Rainy Day

Well, today was Saturday and a rainy day and I just felt like lying around all day. I did get out for a short walk with hubby. We went to a party with friends last night. This group of friends likes to hang out and drink and eat and talk. I usually drink beer when we all hang out, but I realize that I will not be able to do that anymore. I know I'm not supposed to drink carbonated drinks (not exactly sure the reason...does it hurt....or does it expand your stomach pouch???), so I've been thinking what to do in our social crowd and decided I'd either switch to wine (I don't like it straight, a little White Zinfindale with a little diet 7up after carbonation is taken out) or I could try to mix up some concouxion (sp???) like Crystal Light with a little Vodka. Anyway, I know surgery was less than a week ago and I wasn't on pain meds anymore, so I probably could have had one drink, but I decided to just bring Crystal Light and pour it in a cup and drink it like an acholoic beverage and it was fine. No one asked what I was drinking, I had a great time socializing with friends and we stayed till midnight. I was exhausted and went home to bed, kids stayed the night over our friends house, so I got to sleep in. One sticky situation was when a friend, who never cooks, told me she made homemade salsa and I need to try it. I just said "ok" and kept talking and it never came up again. I have to admit, I was thinking, what can I do or say to get out of trying it. I almost thought maybe I could grab a chip scoop a small amount of salsa and eat it off without biting the chip and chew good and hope everything goes down ok. Well, I didn't have to worry about it after all.

Sorry for the babbling......talk to you soon..

Protein and mushies

Ok, so I called the doctor's office today to find out when I can eat more than just protein and liquids (I'm so sick of all my protein drinks). They said until my first check up in 5 weeks. I was like "what" I can't handle this for 5 weeks. Then the nurse added that I can eat blended foods like blended fruit, apple sauce, split pea soup etc. Just nothing chunky. Well, that opens up a whole new world for me. I've been so board with this protein shake stuff and, to be honest, have been finding it hard to get in enough protein and calories in a day. I can't believe I just said that, but its true. I find I have no middle ground, I'm either sooooo hungry or over stuffed. I guess it will take time to find a happy medium where I know how much to eat. Anyway, after talking to the nurse, I opened up a can of Split Pea soup and divided it into 4 containers and I ate one and it was dreamy. I wasn't full, so I ate another and then I was so stuffed, I had to lay down and I was full for a couple of hours. Then, a few hours later, I made a protein shake. A couple frozen straberries, 1 cup milk, 1/2 banana and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. Blended that up and that was great. Again, I was so stuffed after and that lasted a couple hours. It's interesting how making dinner for my kids and hubby isin't as bad as I thought it would be. I'll let you know in a week or two if I still feel the same way, but for now, I'm just happy to be eating stuff a little more interesting. I'm thinking yogurt and sugar free pudding would be ok too, so I might try those later this week. Anyone have any good receipes for me or something they loved when they were at this stage???

Sorry for babbling......feeling great!!!

Surgery Day Story

Hi all, well, I decided its time to post my surgery day story. On MLK day, I went in for surgery and had to be at the Rancho Specialty Hospital by 8 am to check in.

The kids were off school, so my mom had them overnight and me and hubby just had to get up, get ready and go to the hospital. No traffic, so we got there about 30 min early and checked in early. Then we waited in the waiting room until the nurse called me at about 8:15am. I was taken back to the pre op room (by myself) and there they took last minute bloodwork, put in my IV, had me change into the beautiful gown and socks and put my items in a bag. It was cold in the room, so they gave me a nice warmed blanket and there I sad while doctors and nurses whizzed in and out of the room sometimes stopping to talk and ask me the usual questions like "what is your name", "what is your birthdate?" and "what are you here for today?". Then the Doctor came in to talk a little about surgery. By the way, after I was all comfy on my gurney, they called my hubby in to join me until I went to surgery. I was surprised that I was not nervous. I expected to be extreemly nervous, but I was actually excited. I had a weird sense of calm and I was confident everything would be just fine. I was taken back to the surgery room around 11:15 and that room was even colder, so they gave me another warmed blanket and all the people in the room whizzed around me putting on bloodpressure cuffs, temperature thing on my forehead and the anesthesiaologist put something WONDERFUL in my IV. I don't know what it was and I don't even remember him telling me he was doing it, but it was nice. It made me feel sleepy and happy. Then, next thing I know the anesthesiaologis said I was going to go to sleep and they would see me in a little bit. Then I woke up as I was being wheeled back into the recovery room and I was groggy and I remember the nurse calling my name and telling me to wake up. I think the clock said 11:45and then the nurse started giving me water. My left shoulder hurt (they said due to anesthesia) and the nurse gave me some pain meds in my IV. Next think I know, she had me get up to use the rest room. Then she helped me change into my clothes and by 12:45 I was being wheeled out the back door to my husband waiting in the car. We got home by about 2pm and I crushed my pain meds and went to bed. The gas was the worst. I don't remember having much gas pressure when I got home, but it came later that evening. The hot water bottle helped tremendously and my shoulder pain seemed to go away around 6 that evening. The gas pain still comes and goes. It seems after I drink a shake or something, I have a lot of gas built up and if I lay down it helps. I can't wait until the gas is completly gone.

Yesterday--- Jan 21st, was my Granny's funeral and I was able to attend and no one even noticed anything. It was sad, but I got through it and was able to attend the after gathering as well. I just found a seat over in a corner with my good friends and sat and chatted the entire time. All in all, my pain level was fine. I did stop to crush my pain pills in the bathroom and take a little just to keep the pain at bay.

Today -- Jan 22nd I took my bandages off to take a look for the first time. I didn't get instructions on how to take care of them, but I think they need to breathe a little, so I took a shower and took them off. They look ok, but I hate seeing them, for some reason when the bandages are on, I feel like I have a little padding. I might put some back on if I go out today. I feel terribly constipated though (sorry if its too much info). I drank some tea to help with that situation, so hopefully, I will feel more comfortable later this evening. I feel so bloated. Of course, I keep stepping on the scale and it looks like I lost another 2 pounds. Wish it was more considering I'm barly drinking 2 shakes a day, about 300 calories. I worry that I'm not getting enough calories in and my body is storing fat. I'm going to try to drink 3 shakes today.