ObesityHelp

Here I start my 4th week out from surgery.  Weight loss has stalled (all of last week) so I am putting the scale away for a while.  I am following my surgeon's and his staff's directions to the letter so it was causing me some frustration. 

Last weekend (the 5th) I fainted at a graduation party.  I ate my lunch before I left,  brought lots of water but was too nauseous to really keep putting in enough water.  I vomitted a few times and the last time I fainted.  Lucky for my the girl's uncle was an EMT.  He determined that I was dehydrated and advised to see my doctor on Monday. Conveniently enough, I had scheduled an appoinment with my PCP to discuss the meds I have been on and how we go about testing to get me off them as is needed.  My PCP also thought it was dehydration but checked for electrolites to make sure everything was balanced.

Due to the fainting episode on Sunday, I did not take my blood pressure med that morning thinking that the med may have contributed to my fainting episode.  My BP was 113/78 without meds.  His advice, don't take it for a week, take BP daily..let's look at the data.  Well, it is not 'official' yet because he wasn't working today, but I did talk to his nurse and gave her the numbers...the highest was 118/78, once..she said that he would call me back tomorrow but that she thinks he will tell me to stop taking it:)  I also recently had my A1C done for diabetes..that was 5.9, which is not as low as they would like it (5.6 or lower)..but it was down from 7.8 the last time I had it done.  So it is in the right direction, but not quite there..so will probably have to wait 3 months until the next test to get off that med (I take Metformin for Type-2 diabetes)..they halved the med immediately after surgery...so I consider that progress.

Next Monday I return to work (teachers report back) and I have a NP appointment with my surgeon's office...so we will keep plugging away and focus on continuing to be healthy.

Thanks for reading.

Is it really?  Wow a week since I've had my insides rearranged.  It is hard to believe and I still don't quite believe it is true.  I am still feeling great, getting walking in, all my fluids and protien.  This coming week is going to be exciting..I start soft protiens.  I said earlier this week that I feel like someone has pushed a 'restart' button on my life.  I remember decades ago thinking, if only I could start back a square one I wouldn't make the same bad eating decisions.  It never seemed realistic or possible, but here it is, my do-over.  I have learned a lot about myself so far in this journey.

My follow up appointment with my surgeon is on Wed. Technically I don't need someone to drive me but I do have a friend who said she could take me and it will be fun seeing her.  She recently rejoined WW a she too is overweight.  She knew that was what I was doing and how I lost over 40 lbs pre-op.  She doesn't know about the operation.  In an email last week she wrote how I was an inspiration to her and how she hoped that would keep her focused on doing well on WW again.  I haven't decided yet if I am going to tell her on Wednesday..it was my original plan to do so on the way to the appointment.  She is someone I can trust, so that is not a problem.  I don't want my future weight loss to misguide her as being solely attributed to WW and the gym. So I probably will tell her.

Tomorrow's activitity is to go through my clothes, I have a lot of them. I am getting rid of my 281 lb clothes now that I am more than 40 lbs lighter since that start day.  I have enough clothes to get me through the month of August (or at least until I start school on the 20th).  I believe I will need to obtain new clothes..lucky for me I left a lot of smaller sized clothing at my mom's house when I got married 15 yrs ago.  I expected that she got rid of those..she didn't.  I will be picking those up this week and seeing if any of them will work in the short term. Closer to the end of August, I will splurge (not too much) on new bras and a few pairs of pants, if I need them.  I am very lucky to have two friends, one who lost 38 lbs recently and has size 18-20 pants she'd love to give me, and another friend who has lost 17 lbs and is considering WLS to whom I can give my clothes to.  Shopping in your own closet is so much fun...I found a size 14 suit that I kept as a dream..my 12 yr old daughter wore the jacket in a play (she needed to be a conductor)..it was big on her as she is an 8/10..I think back into that suit is a goal..oh yeah...I guess I should set some of those:)

I had my surgery very early yesterday.  I spent most of the day sleeping off anesthesia.  I didn't sleep well last night, probably because of sleeping so much during the day.  So how did surgery go?  To quote my surgeon "You made me work a little harder for this one, but it's done and it went well."  He told me I had  swollen liver (even after the 2 weeks liquid diet). This is when my husband asked him if I didn't have this surgery, would this liver issue have caused me probems down the line.  The surgeon said that I would absolutely had, not to mention the diabetes He also told my husband that getting the weight off will help both those condidtions.  During recovery, my husband said to me "I guess the surgery was the right thing to do."  So now, finally, I think he's on board.

I have been feeling great today, started eating a clear liquid..love the broth..jello not so much.  I get to go home tomorrow. 

Let my new life begin!

Well, we are back from our vacation in Maine.  Overall, it went well.  The family and our guests all had grilled meats (which my husband cooked) and various sides.  I had my shakes.  I took many recipes with me and had a variety of flavors to experiment with.  By the end of the week I was wishing I had a cheeseburger flavored shake (cheeseburgers aren't even my favorite food).  What I learned the most from this week is the food/person relationship.  One of the things we never talked about in our behavior classes was food as an addiction.  I am feeling this very badly now.  I feel like a herion addict, only it's food (or what I imagine that to be).  

Most people are supportive.  I thought my husband was coming around to being on my side. Sadly, I believe I am wrong.  For example, when I would get up to make one of my shakes his comments were "Well you signed up for it."  It was uncalled for hostility.  My sister and brother in law came up to visit on vacation.  I told my husband that my sister was going to be at the hospital on Monday (the 23rd)  for the day of the surgery.  That is when she told me that both she and her husband were going to be there all day.  My husband was a bit surprised.  My sister knows he has not been the most supportive. So I am glad they will both be there. 

On the way home from vacation we have a tradition of stopping for lunch at a particular restaurant, one of my favorites.  My husband asked if we were going to meet him and the kids there (we take 2 cars due to people and stuff)..I said we would pass.  Then we get home, another tradition is to go to my favorite italian restaurant once we are done unpacking..so he asked if it would be ok to go.  I told him..you go, I am going to they gym.  These two actions are ok and I handled them well.  Don't ask me to sit in my favorite restaurant and not be able to eat. Tonight was a totally different thing..we spent the day out at an event..I brought my 2 pre-made shakes..they had a bbq..I was ok with that.  We get home and my husband asks what I am going to make for dinner.  I said I would find something to fix..then he asked the kids what they wanted.  My daughter (11yrs old) says chinese.  Do they go out to eat it?  Nope..they order take out and bring it in to the house.  I went upstairs and watched tv.  I thought I handled it well..they should be able to eat what they want.  Apparently, my husband was upset that I did not join them for dinner.  I did very nicely tell him that I am not going to sit at the table and smell the chinese food while drinking a shake.  If he continued to insist on ordering things like that, I will be eating separately..so I handled it the best way I could.

Here's why I am upset:  I was obsessing over what was downstairs.  I couldn't concentrate on the television or the book I am reading.  I was plotting ways to sneak a chicken finger from the left overs when everyone goes to sleep. I was ridiculous.  I was mad..mostly at myself.  What would happen if I had one little chicken finger, one little spoonful of pork fried rice?  I have decided that I hate unstructured weekends. Good news, not that much in the way of leftovers and hubby is taking it for lunch tomorrow..it's in separate containers and he will be able to tell if I so much take a small finger..yup I even had my fingers on them.

Update on that Elusive 1 Pound:  Before vacation I went to WW for my weigh in..I had been on the liquid diet for a few days..lost 2.2 lbs..so ha to the elusive pound..now I can say I lost more than 30 lbs.  After vacation week, again went to WW for my weekly weigh in..lost 6.2 lbs and am less than 2 lbs from hitting the 40 lb mark.

On vacation we kayaked (for 3 hours), hiked (twice), I walked the mud flats a whole bunch of times with my MP3 player.  All that was awesome!  So overall a good week.  This last one is going to be tough..but I will be getting together with a few women from our behavioral management class..one woman had the surgery a little over a week ago, I have mine next week, and the other woman hasn't been scheduled yet.  I will also be popping in to work this week and haven't seen these people since the 3rd week in June (remember I am a teacher).  So I think that will be a good support for the week!

Well..I am less than a month from surgery.

I worked and worked and still have not lost the 1 lb to get me to 30 lbs lost..29 is good, I get that, but I really wanted the 30.  I am not surprised though since that number is below the weight that I and my doctors have determined that my body can lose on it's own.  I get to the 250 range and my metabolism and such shut down keeping me at this weight.  So in comes the liquid diet..just in time:)

I went to all my pre op appointments yesterday.  The NP was thrilled at my progress, I a was not..hence the damn 1 lb.  She said oh don't worry about that..the HRM will take care of that part. So my numbers from the 8 vials of blood they took last week are pretty good.  I am low on vitamins D and B1.  So I will be getting supplements later today for those.  She was like "Let's talk about your iron levels."  I replied "Let's not. I have genetic anemia (Thallasemia) and no amount of iron pills is going to help that."  Her reply was "You are right.  Cross that off the list and I will make a note so that it is clear."  That kind of annoyed me that my PCP knows that (and she keeps trying to push iron supplements as well) and it wasn't listed in my file. Progress:  my husband asked about the appointments.  He's still on the fence and unsure about the whole surgery thing. 

Also at the appointment, the liquid diet was explained.  I purchased my 19 day supply and get to start today..Happy 4th of July! I am pretty excited about it though..to get rid of that damn pound and to see me on my way.  I will be leaving for vacation with my family on Friday..I think this is going to be good..no way I will gain weight and I have a variety of physical activities planned to keep me and the family busy.  I have my special box packed with a variety of sugar free/fat free instant puddings, flavored extracts, and sugar free syrups. I feel like a chemist! 

I usually have a theme for vacation. I didn't make one this year.  My husband asked what the theme was, my 11 yr old daughter replied, "Getting Healthy" or "Finding Your Inner Athlete."  Love that girl!  So there it is..healthy theme vacation!

Wish me luck..will check in when I get back from vacation.