i have no problems getting in enough fluids.  it was just the first week, really, when the esophagus and stomach were cranky and angry at having been disturbed.  Now I drink rather large sips... I carry fluids with me everywhere.  i've been running all over town with my friends, doing errands, etc.  then I come home and take a huge nap. 
my body continues to shrink even though I've cheated in some pretty STUPID ways (a small box of fruit mentos, for example). 

I also gave in to some food cravings by eating soup (Avgolemono - greek pureed rice-chicken-lemon soup)... it made me feel like a human again just to have some different kinds of soup from fancy restaurants.

now I'm going to the family cabin by a lake... it will be a controlled food environment so I am going to try to force myself to eat these gross weight loss drinks for a week.  see how much weight I can melt off while I'm there.  nice exercise options at the cabin... i'm planning on doing a ton of gentle walking.

p.s. i haven't weighed myself because I'm still too fat for my own scale =(
it will weigh my honey but for me it says :ERR:

i think, in order for me to get enough fluids,
- the drink shouldn't be too cold
- i have to putter around the house while I'm drinking so the burps come up (or have my honey burp me like a baby)...
- the drink shouldn't be too thick (my stomach has informed me that Jell-O is a solid because it felt too tight down there for too long)
- any drink i take in should have at least some protein in it
- i am using a baby bottle to take small portions of water without air.  that's right: a Playtex VentAire Advanced bottle.. it's really great.  So what, I carry a baby bottle.  you have a blinking bluetooth thing in your ear and that looks dumber.

oh, i feel so much better.  I really turned a corner yesterday and I went for a big walk around the Castro with my honey.   Of course some of the weight is already melting off but I'm not thinking about weight loss...
I'm obsessed with getting enough fluids, nutrients, walkies, and doing the breathing treatment.  I guess i will weigh myself some day soon.

  thank God, it's Saturday and my surgery is Wednesday at 11 am.  I wanted to be the first case but some dude had to go first because he needs both Cirangle and another surgeon.  I wanted to be first so I wouldn't be so hungry, sitting there waiting and making myself nervous. 

I finally started the pre-op liquid protein diet yesterday; i figured better late than never.  LOTS of diarrhea from these protein shakes I'm testing out.  glucerna, muscle milk caused me the worst GI distress.  I had to take immodium to stop the torture. 

I also have a little cold that I'm trying to get rid of before surgery.

So, my primary care physician signed me off for my surgery... that was a huge relief.  When she did my physical, I weighed in at 232 pounds.  That means I gained 18 pounds in the last 4 months while waiting for surgery.  i'm quite ashamed about that. 

I got a call from the surgery coordinator at Cirangle's office saying that they'd "never received" the paperwork I sent them a month ago: a huge consent form, EKG, colonoscopy results, endoscopy results.... and that I need to send them again.  The fact that she does have the endoscopy results in my file lead me to realize that they received my packet and lost/misfiled it.  Now, normally I wouldn't be too upset about something like this, but I have a phobia that something will stop me from getting my surgery on Wednesday.  When they lost my paperwork that made me VERY nervous.  I have to bring them the copies of everything on Monday.  (Thank God I made copies).

so I'll spend this last week running around, getting things in order.  There's so many things to have done... EKG, labs, primary care doctor's visit, etc.  I am afraid that if I don't do all this pre-op stuff perfectly that something will block me from having this surgery. 

I feel more optimistic today than I've felt in years.  I actually cracked a smile while I was going to get my preoperative labs drawn.  It made me realize how depressed this extra weight has made me.

I am so fat right now that I can barely walk.  I waddled down the street, caught the bus to the lab and walked back home-- that was so exhausting for me.  I feel like I'm wearing an 80-pound backpack.  I'm going to take a nap!