April 9, 2006 - Well, I began the 2 days of clear liquids required by my surgeon today. It hasn't been bad really. I haven't experienced any severe hunger pain so I'm doing okay. I've been peeing all day but no BM (sorry tmi) but it worries me a little. The food I had yesterday is still in me.. I hope that doesn't affect my surgeon's ability to perform surgery. I just need to keep telling myself he knows what he is doing. He only requires 2 days of clear liquids... not even a bowel prep. I'm always hearing most people having to do 2 weeks of liquids and awful bowel preps... I shouldn't be complaining ya know! So today I've had a can of chicken broth with a scoop of unjury flavorless protein powder, a bottle of Isopure tropical punch protein drink, a cherry sf popsicle, and an orange sf popsicle... oh and almost 64 fl oz. of water. I even walked on the treadmill for 30min. My husband attempted to do this liquid diet with me..but he lasted until about 4 p.m. Sweet of him to suffer with me though Now yesterday, I had Olive Garden... I think this will be the place I will miss the most.. I'm such a pasta lover. ANYWAYS enough about food... one more day and I'll be on the losing side. I'm pretty calm not too nervous yet, though I've had trouble sleeping for the past couple of nights. One more day! My husband took my official "Before" pictures....big ole YUCK! I'll get them posted when I get brave enough lol Until next time...

April 10, 2006 - Tomorrow is the big day...still no BM and Aunt Rosie decided to pay a visit. I was reassured though by a post from one of my fellow Tennesseans. Her surgeon told her that the area of the small bowel they operate on for RNY does not require bowel prep because it's far enough away from the large bowel. So I was relieved to hear that. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and the first thing I thought was 24 hours from now, I'll be in the hospital. I'm still pretty calm. A little anxious to get it over with and excited that I'm able to have this opportunity. Anyways...even though I'm not brave enough to post my official before pictures yet, I'm going to post my measurements I took last night. I took my measurements at the thickest part..So here goes:

Neck - 17"
Right Arm - 19"
Right Wrist - 8"
Bust - 57"
Waist - 59 1/2" (right above belly button)
Hips - 63"
Right Thigh - 36"

April 13, 2006 - I survived!!!! I just got home from the hospital. Definitely a lot of soreness! I had to show up at 5:30 a.m. for surgery. I went to the second floor and was handed a restaurant style buzzer thingy. ... we only had a short wait before it started beeping. I was sent to a small room where a nurse checked my vital signs, gave me some pepcid and small sip of water. (by the way dr. houston only requires 2 days of clear liquids prior to surgery, and nothing after midnight the day of surgery) She also gave me a patch to put behind my ear...its for motion sickness, prevent you from getting nausous and a shot of blood thinner. This one burns for a bit after it is injected. I had to give a urine sample to check for pregnancy. Then I had to change into the gown. Shortly after, my family was able to come back to see me while I waited for someone to take me to the holding area. (They were given the same type buzzer. It's also how they were notified throughout the procedure) My family kept me pretty relaxed and calm. Finally this little man comes in to get me... I was thinking how is this man suppose to wheel me in this big hospital bed..but he managed to do it. I said goodbye to my family and for some reason I was laughing and they were laughing. I thought I looked silly being rolled by this little man lol and they agreed lol So we get to the holding area and its FREEZING cold, he did give me a blanket that had been warmed. This is where I met with the anesthesiologists. One hooked an IV into my left wrist. It wasn't painful at all. This IV is used to sedate you in order to put the Central IV in your neck. So, I waited a few minutes while a mixture of emotions ran through me, tears, excitement, laughter, etc. Several people checked on me, everyone was super nice. I saw Dr. Houston briefly, asked if I had any questions and he realized I hadn't been given my central IV yet. So here comes the anestheisologist, I'm finally given something for sedation. I think I blacked out for a minute or two because next thing I realize I'm in the operating room and being asked to move from the bed to the operating table. I remember someone saying that I needed more sedation because I was wide awake. It is EXTRA freezing cold in there. Someone puts a mask over my nose and mouth, I take a few deep breaths and the next thing I remember is waking up in pain. Someone was telling me to take a deep breath and I felt something yanked out of my mouth. I told someone to put me back to sleep. I don't know what was happening, everything is such a blur...finally I'm in my room, my family brought me flowers and my husband is taking pictures of me. I'm pretty alert here but really wanting to just close my eyes and sleep, but everyone was there wanting to talk to me. They're trying to keep me in good spirits, I try to laugh but it really really hurts. I couldn't have anything to drink for the entire day. That was pretty miserable. I also had a catheter... that wasn't fun either. I had to walk with it too. I was hooked up to the IV, morphine pump, and the compression stockings that inflate and deflate on your legs and a heart monitor which constantly is beeping. They really want you to start walking and doing your breathing exercises. I walked twice after sugery and had to inhale from the breathing spirometer. When I finally got to sleep, I was awoken every other hour it seems like, people checking my vitals, injecting medicine into my line, checking my bag of saline/potassium solution, injecting blood thinner into my arm. Everyone was great! The next day Dr. Houston came in and checked over my chart, he got rid of the beeping heart monitor and told me I could start sipping liquids and he would get one of the nurses to remove the catheter. That was the best feeling. I was so happy. I could get something wet into my mouth and didn't have to carry around a pee bag! At lunch, I was served a tray of jello, iced tea, chicken broth, and one of the ABB pure protein drinks. These are horrible! I like the Isopure better. My husband brought me one from home. I was feeling a lot better. My stomach was still pretty sore as was my neck from the Central IV. Personally, I thought the IV in the neck was the worst. Its more like a long narrow tube...my husband said it looked to be about 8 inches long when it was pulled out. It was also stitched into place. This was a bit on the painful side for me. Anyways, on the second day, I walked about 7 times and barely got the 24 ounces of liquids in. During the day, I saw a nutritionalist and someone from the pharmacy. Around dinner time, Dr. Houston came back to check everything. Everything was looking great and said that I'd probably get to go home the next day. I was still pretty sore at this time. I used my morphine pump occassionally during the day and then everytime someone woke me up during the night so I could get back to sleep. Oh, getting in and out of bed is pretty painful, but the more you walk, the less pain you have as well as gas. On the third day, Dr. Houston gives me the ok to be discharged. The IV came out around 11:30, it wasn't a pleasant experience. Dr. Houston came in for the official discharge around 1 p.m. Went over some basics and wrote a prescription for demerol, pepcid, and something for the preventioin of gallstones. At 2 o'clock, I was out the door. I had to leave in a wheelchair and pushed up an incline from the hospital to the garage. I was very embarrassed because this guy was having a really hard time pushing me. Oh well. I'm still a little sore and a little gassy, but I feel almost like myself. I am still having a hard time comprehending that I actually had the surgery. I can't wait for some weight to start falling off. I have my first post-op appointment Thursday. I'm now home and have walked up and down the street in our subdivision and have been sipping on my water and isopure. I'm hoping each day will get better and easier... Until next time...

April 14,2006 - I went to bed pretty early lastnight and had a hard time finding a comfortable spot. I hate sleeping on my back. I'm a stomach sleeper. I managed to sleep in my bed but it is really a pain trying to get up without using stomach muscles. I do have a recliner but its similar to a wingback chair so it isn't exactly comfortable. But it is a lot easier getting up and down than the bed. I miss the hospital bed LOL I woke up really swollen feeling this morning. Need to really concentrate getting my liquids in. I did take my previcid, actigall, and blood pressure pill. We'll see how the day goes.

April 18,2006 - A week ago, I had sugery. According to my scales, I've lost 18lbs. I'm sitting at 340lbs. I weighed 358 at my surgeon consultation a little over a month ago. I was doing pretty well until Sunday and my energy levels just plumented. I kept getting light headed and dizzy every time I stood up, took a shower, went to the mail box and my heart would race. I went to the YMCA yesterday thinking I'll be able to do a 30 min. walk on the treadmill. I barely made it for 15 min. at 2.0mph. It's been hard getting these protein drinks in...even watered down. I have no trouble with any of the other liquids I've had. I started getting a feeling/pain in my stomach area that is comparable to pre-op when I would go without eating for a very long period of time...where you're so hungry, it hurts. Yeah, hard to believe I ever went without food for a period of time, well go to college :-) One semester, every Tuesday I had classes from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. blah! Anyways, I started eating some sf jello and it helped a lot. I had been only drinking water and the protein drink. Well anyways, tomorrow is another day and only one more week of liquids.

April 28, 2006 - MY FIRST TWO and A HALF WEEK SUMMARY:
I'm doing pretty good right now. I can tell you, in all honesty, the first week home was rough. I was released from the hospital Thursday and I felt so good especially coming out of a major surgery. I was walking around, went to the movies, did some yard work and was staying pretty busy. Then Sunday came and it was like someone turned my light switch off. I couldn't even walk to my mailbox and back without being out of breath and heart racing. My surgeon said it was because I wasn't getting enough protein in. The liquid protein drink was horrible. I wanted all of my "comfort" foods so badly, but I knew I couldn't have them. Getting over the food was the worse for me. I was very emotional...cried at the drop of a hat. I never thought of myself being so attached to food. I was even dreaming about it! My husband helped as much as he could...making sure I was drinking my protein and getting my water in. He didn't even eat in front of me that first few days.
Anyways, the second week got a little better. I was able to get most of my protein and water in. Instead of the liquid protein, you'll be allowed the EAS Carb Advant Edge drinks...they taste a lot better than the liquid protein. Towards the end of the second week, I no longer had thoughts of food. I felt a little stronger each day and I eventually went back to the gym that Thursday though I couldn't do nearly what I could do pre-op but I'm working my way back up to it. I started the soft/blended stage of foods this past Tuesday. I was a bit timid at first. My body hadn't had anything but liquids since April 8th. It's been okay so far and I feel a lot better now that I can have actual food although its mushy. I haven't had any phsyical problems except for some weird burping everytime I took a sip of liquids. Overall the transition was something I expected.. I expected the loss of food, the tiredness, etc. but I can say even though I had all these expectations... I didn't realize truly how hard it would be especially in regard to food.

I started back to work on 4/26 and I did a water aerobics class that evening. Needless to say I was pretty tired when I finally got home and even more so yesterday morning. But I know, that I have to push through it in order to overcome it. Oh and another piece of advice, get your husband or someone else to hide your scales... I had my husband do it because the scale hadn't moved in over a week. Now that is frustrating....seeing the scale not moving when you're not eating anything.

May 4, 2006 - I'm now officially 24 years old. My birthday was this past Monday on the 1st. I got a lot of phone calls and well wishes. My granny even bought me little mini cupcakes. She meant well. I was good and didn't eat any. I've been sticking faithfully to no carbs and have been exercising. It's been challenging getting in all of my water now that I'm eating soft/well chewed foods. I'm really trying though! The scale has yet to move. I know the weight will eventually come off - I HOPE! I don't see how the weight would stay by eating less that 500 calories a day. I worry that I'm not doing something right.

May 5, 2006 - Just thought I'd update my measurements. Even though I've only lost 21lbs. I've lost inches.. YAY!!!

Neck - 16 1/2"
Right Arm - 16 1/2"
Right Wrist - 8"
Bust - 51 1/2"
Waist - 55" (right above belly button)
Hips - 60"
Right Thigh - 33"

Total inches lost = 19.5"

May 8, 2006 - I'M AN AUNT!!! YAYYY! Michael Ryan "Mikey" came into the world at 3:20 p.m. weighing in at 8lbs and 6 oz., 20.5 inches long. He's a big one! He is so beautiful. I'm absolutely in love with him. In other news, I finally lost 5lbs. I thought it would never happen! I was so happy to finally see that scale move. I haven't been able to exercise in the past couple of days. I spent time with my brother and his wife and family yesterday and then I spent all day at the hospital today. I actually have tried several things this past weekend with no problems. Grilled chicken and brocolli (only a bite) from Chili's, vegetable beef soup at the hospital - It was either that or bar-b-que chicken. I was afraid the sauce would have a lot of sugar in it. Anyways, the soup stayed down..I mostly had just the liquid part with a few pieces of tender ground beef. Then I had just a plain grilled chicken breast from Sonic. It was pretty dry but it stayed down. Eating has become such a chore and I'm eating pretty much the same things everyday. Well tomorrow is my monday - ugh. Until next time...

May 27, 2006 - I had my 6 wk. doc appointment yesterday. I'm offically down 40lbs. He said that I should aim for 40lbs in the next six weeks. It seems so unrealistic...we'll see how it goes.