Well yesterday was my 3 wk post op date.  I have lost a total of  34 lbs and 20 since surgery am.  I dont SEE a difference except on the scale numbers - but I am sure it will happen.  I have been wearing "loose fitting clothes" for years now - elastic waist etc.  So dont know if clothes are even getting bigger on me or not.  But - in time I am sure that will happen as well.

I am having the hardest time with remembering all that I need to eat/take during the day.  My water amount I pretty much have down pat - unless I dont feel good that day.  If I "go back to bed" during the day - I am not able to get enough water in either.
When I first read "the rules"  - I thought, "really? why is making sure you drink 80 ounces a potential problem, I drink 120 on an AVERAGE day!"  Now.. I SEE why that can be a potential problem.  The hardest thing is not drinking for awhile after you eat.. that closes even more "time" for you to get that water down!  I am doing the am vitamins without a problem - its the evening ones as I dont seem to remember them until I am nice, cozy in bed and almost asleep.  I think I am going to set up a "area" on my bedside table with a couple days of my evening meds so when this happens I dont have to "get up" and end up saying hell with it.  If this works for me - then I can just "refill" it as needed.

I am also having issues with protein.  I have become lactose intolerant - which totally SUCKS cause I LOVE milk!  And milk is even tasting weird to me now.  1% is actually tasting "too thick".  I got lactaid and it tastes ok - so Im gonna try that - but since I can barely get the 1 1/2 oz of protein (food) in me at  a time - I have to drink 1-2 shakes per day - and they of course want me to get 2-3 servings of milk in as well (milk or yogurt).  I now can eat soft foods - so the kinds of yogurts I like, I can now eat - so thats good.  The hardest part is getting into a routine/habit with all of this.  Im sure it will happen - just afraid of getting myself "sick" in the meantime.  I go back to the Dr May 3 for  my next post op appt - and I think I get bloodwork rx then.  I already have two drs give me rx for bloodwork - but not to be drawn until June 19th - which will be my 3 mo mark.  They want : AST, ALT, Lipid profile, BMP, Hgb A1c. CBC, UA & Vit D.  Im sure Dr. Kim will want more - and am hoping that I can get all this blood drawn at the same time.  Then they can just CC the results to all three Drs lol.

Well thats about it for updates.  9 more days till my 1 mo surgiversary :-) so will blog again around then.
Hugs & prayers to all
Liz

Well as I said last post - things have gotten hectic again.. and just keep getting busier.  We have found a house that is big enough for us and all of our stuff and we all like, in the school zone we need to be in before August 2012.  So - to avoid losing it and not finding something else in time - we have decided to take it.  Problem is no one wants to "hold" a house off a market for more then a few weeks nowadays - so.. moving time it is.  Last night husband and I went to the storage unit and organized it so we can put some things in there that we dont need anymore - but dont want to get rid of (keepsakes etc) as well as a bunch of my mothers things that were here in the house.  We also did the application for the house the other day and the landlord approved us - so today I went down there to start the lease stuff up.  I was told that would be completed and ready for signing by Tuesday 4/10/12.  At that point we have to put down 1 mo rent for them to hold it just until April 27 - which is husbands next check.  After doing that I came home and started bring in the empty boxes I have been collecting from stores for awhile now into the house and got cracking on some basic packing.  Husband and I went thru the boxes we brought back from storage last night and then he got down all the "decorations" around the house (pictures / nic naks etc) and I got it all packed.  Except for actual furniture (which doesnt get "packed")  I have completed the formal dining room, the family room, the eat-in kitchen area and the exercise rooms.  I got all the decorations packed from all over the house as well.  My daughter got a few boxes done from her room and my son got a couple bags of give-away stuff bagged from his room.  So all in all - a productive day.  My stomach hurts a little tonight.  The Dr said I could lift a little now- but I think I over-did it.  Tomorrow is regular household weekly maintenance - ie laundry, ironing, floors etc.  So doubt any packing will get done and Sunday is of course Easter - and in-laws are coming for dinner - so nothing done that day.  And - my week starts in real full blast on Monday as even husband goes back to work.  I have to get daughter to school & husband off to work - then sort son out and him off to school, two dr appts, then a bunch of phone calls that need to happen, then daughter picked up @ 3:30, son home @ 4:30, husband home @ 5 - dinner, then daughter has appt @ 8p.  So... from 6a - 9:30-10p I will be pretty much non-stop.  O my my my. Reminder*** I HATE Mondays!! lol
Next chance I am going to get to pack anything wont be until Tuesday now.  But I plan to have all three bathroom "extra stuff" packed that day and get some things packed from kitchen that I wont need.  Hardest "room" will be garage.  It is STUFFED with a ton of CRAP! lol  Thats gonna be a weekend all by itself.
O well - enough about that.  My "glue" is almost all off and my incisions look really good.  
Still having a hard time getting the three full meals, 1 snack and 1 shake all in - so not hungry and the gag issue I have in the morning hasnt gone away.  The Drs nurse suggested I drink a cup of ginger tea in am and that might settle my pouch so I can eat breakfast - problem is I cant find ginger tea in decaf - which I still have two more weeks of having to drink decaf.  So this morning I figured I would just try a cup of tea - but I was going thru boxes etc and lost track of time (since I dont get hungry to remind me lol) - so .. tea idea actually hurt me this am - cause I didnt even get the shake in.  Threw me totally off for today.  As of right now (10p EST) - I have only had 44 grams of protein - so not good!  I am going to force myself to stay up and have a shake so I get within my necessary amts - but Im already tired.. gotta get a better schedule for all this.
Well - Im off for now.. talk more later.
Hugs & prayers
Liz

 Well so much for "relaxing" and "recovering" lol - real life has kicked in full steam ahead!  Its all good though cause I feel fine (pain wise).  I still dont know what "hungry" is going to feel like as I am having to remind myself to eat at the times they set up for me, take my vitamins and of course... sip, sip, sip.  I have got the morning routine down.  I cant do proper breakfast in the morning, so what I have sorted out for now at least is:

6a up - wake Aly for school; grab pre-mixed liquid vitamin / fiber water (this is only till 2 week post op appt - then should be switched to chewables - which would be much easier and faster) and drink that until gone.

7:15a - home from taking Aly to school, and usually vitamins finally down, so make an 8oz milk protein shake - drink till gone (here comes the burps.. lol)

7:45a - make sure Alex is up for school - start drinking water.

Noon-1p - make something (if able) for lunch (or a shake if cant cook).

5-6p - dinner w/ family (hardest part of this is the no drink while eating thing.. VERY difficult)

6-6:30p - walk around block

This is when my routine hasnt gotten so good yet.  I am getting VERY tired (like fall asleep with little notice kind of tired) - and VERY early!  So I am not getting my night snack or my night time vitamins in all the time.  Nor am I hitting the 80oz liquid everyday.  Surprising cause I am never without a drink - but its just not enough most days.  I am hoping that once I go to chewable - the vitamins will get easier to get down.  Main problem is I am not fond of the citrus flavor of the multi, so it takes awhile to get the 8-11 ounces down - and I end up falling asleep before I do.  

Last night I was watching Tudors with hubby and with no warning - all of a sudden felt EXTREMELY drunk and exhausted.  Hubby woke me up and helped me to bed and must have even covered me up.  I remember taking a nice long hot shower and feeling nice and relaxed after - and I remember watching the beginning of that episode of Tudors - and Thats all folks lol.  Hopefully the energy comes back.. 

I havent weight myself in a few days and am not gonna until Thursday am.  I go to Dr Kim that day for my 2 week post op - and want an idea of where I will be at.  Since hubby has this week off too - he will be coming with me to this one.   I am looking forward to talking to Dr Kim and finding out really how I am doing.

I also recently found out my sister-in-law had the surgery as well.  EIGHT days after mine!  And neither of us knew the other was even thinking about it till last minute.  Pretty cool huh!?  So there are three members of my family, besides me, that have gotten the bypass.  Sad part is all three of them are up north where our family is from.  So I am all alone down here 

Well its time to get the ball rolling again here.. Gotta LOOOOVE Mondays (SOOOO NOT!) lol

Till next time

hugs & prayers

Liz

 Well yesterday was a difficult day.  Up at 6am for daughter to get ready for school, and husband wanted to go into work for am.  They left @ 7am.  I went into the living room and found the outfit I was going to wear today (husband did laundry last night so..).  I went ahead and folded the two loads that were up on the couch (cant lift etc) and then took my outfit to my room.  Son woke up on his own and got ready for school, then played me a few songs on piano.  So nice to hear him play in the am when its just him and I.  He is so talented.

Anyway - I jumped in shower, got dressed & am sorted.  Then I called the surgeons office to find out about the gas issues still there full on as well as the liquid potassium being too gross to handle anymore.  By then it was time for son to leave for school.  I got him off and went and got my make-up started.  YES! I am doing make up again.  I have let things go so much due to physically feeling so yuk the last yr or so - that I figured if I am gonna get better - I need to make it an internal/emotional/mental kinda thing as well as physical!

After a short while, the Drs nurse called me and informed me he was going to call me in a potassium rx in pill form.  However - they would be low dose so as to get the smaller version of the pill - so I would have to take it twice a day.  No problem!  2 times NO taste vs 1 times REALLY bad taste .. hands down I take the no taste lol.

We then discussed this gas issue that just isnt going away and guess what!?!?   I'm LEONARD!!! (from Big Bang Theory lol)  AND they called ME "COMMON"!!!  Believe that!?!?!? lol  Apparently it is VERY "common" for Gastric Bypass pts to become lactose intolerant.  And that is what is causing my gas, bloating etc now.  (Lovely huh!? lol)  So .. I have a few choices.  a) Give up milk and start taking calcium pills the rest of my life; 2) start drinking lactaid milk; or c) take lactase enzyme meds to "block" the lactose from "me".  I actually like milk - so dont want to give it up .. so #1 option is out, went to Walmart last night to buy a small container of the lactaid 1% - but they didnt have it in stock so... I bought the Lactase enzyme chewable.  I will try these today and see how it goes.

Through out my busy day (CVS for RXs, appt with therapist, "lunch" w/ husband, Murphy's market, pick up daughter, pick up son, brighthouse, walmart) I didnt rest / lay down once!  Totally unusual for me - even BEFORE the surgery.  By the end of dinner (which went uneventfully - thank God!), I was EXHAUSTED!  I layed down to let food settle (about 6:30P) and feel asleep.  Woke up at 11p for about 30 min and then fall back to sleep again.  And slept till 5:20a this am! 

Then - I finally got the slap in the face the Dr warned me about from the scale for getting on it daily - it showed I GAINED 1/2 pound since yesterday am!   Ok - we are officially NOT weighing now but once a week.  I will do it on Sundays - so check on those blogs for weight updates :-).  

Well - its time to get started here .. so till next time xoxox