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So, here I am sitting in my pj's. I woke up an hour ago but was determined to eat first thing. I am doing okay just a couple of weeks out from surgery. I made the mistake of adding frozen raspberries to my protein smoothie and had to pick them off my tongue yesterday morning. Now, I wonder how many seeds I saw on the plate of the remaining smoothie...it was like an ant invasion! I have frozen strawberries to add to make the smoothies. Do they contain lots of seeds. My sieve is not fine enough to catch them.

The morning breakfast was actually a soup that I had made, blended and frozen in small ice cube nuggets. I also have cubes but I decided to start with less than a cube this morning as it contains tomato sauce, hamburg, and all sorts of veggies. I was also cooking up some winter squash from the farm stand in Wayland. All summer and into the fall, I would stop and get tomatoes, green beans, and several kinds of squash. I had used most of this squash in a soup, and froze chunks of it. Now, to cook, blend, and place in an ice cube tray. I licked the spatula and the squash was yummy. 

I woke at 6 19 with a very cold face. My bi pap machine mask was sending cold air out. I usually have less trouble with this newest of masks. I discovered later that the water was gone. I went to the bathroom where I had tremendous gas. My mouth was extremely dry as it has been with this mask. I went to bed so late and forgot to bring a bottle of water to sip. I went back to bed and just lay under the covers. I must have fallen back to sleep as it was 9 when I woke. There are times I just lay in bed with issues of air from the mask, or just not able to fall asleep. I know it was certainly late enough. I did not have to rise at 5 to get to work.

Last night, after waiting for my mom to get home from my aunt's party, I was blogging and researching on my new computer. I should have gone to bed but checked to see if Mom was online. She had sent me a coat and I wanted to tell her it fit. It is a 14. My cousin was online also or her husband playing games in Pogo. I know she would have been tired because she hosted the party for her mom. She also put pictures on youtube of my aunt with the 71 candles on her cake, and one of my mom holding my cousin's grandson. 

So, I got my second wind. I read some more from Before and After. I am near the end, and see recipes, and warnings. Like keep reading labels because there is lots of hidden sugar in products

I was reading the catalogs that came in the mail, and just put my head back on the couch. It is my new couch. I love it. I was wearing my prayer shawl given to me in the hospital. Oh, so comfy.

Now, if I got up and went to bed and my bi-pap I would have spoiled the nap. I may have even slept longer. I do not want to sleep long during the day or it will throw me off.

I woke thinking that I better eat and had sweet potato and applesauce. I now am drinking water. It will be 60 ounces of fluid when I finish! 

I have lost weight and am wearing clothes that I purchased at the second hand store in the last town we lived in. I never even went there for all those fourteen years. I just did not think they would have clothes for me, and I kept gaining weight! 

My mom sent me a coat she wore at my grandfather's funeral. I opened the box, unbuttoned the coat, and tried it on. It is size 14. I could button it. I am sure I will wear it when I need a nice warm coat. My new coat for Christmas is size 1x from Kohl's. I purposely bought it smaller.

So, I have clothes in all sizes down from that store in Maynard, and from an American Heart Thrift store. I bought lots of pants because I was tripping over the huge ones I had outgrown. I even have some pants from Walmart that are still with the tags if I grow too slim I will return them.

I have Joe Boxer size 1x and size L for hanging out or exercising. I have given away many many bags of clothes. The last went to St Vincent de Paul on Franklin St in Framingham on my old route. Wow, if it was there when I had that route, I would be shopping there. I found their racks a bit confusing and will wait until I am in 'normal' pant size to purchase clothes there. I found coupons in the local paper and will use them and there discount days. 

Just checking out the place, I found a sweater for Marley at 2T a bit big but so cute, and a 4T purple dress for Maya. I often shopped for the fill in clothes for my daughters, Amy and Kris, when they were young. One day, while driving past the store, Kris pointed out that my mom shops there to friends in my van!

Last evening, I spent a considerable amount of time writing on my blog with so many details. I think I have learned. This is a new computer and sometimes the connection goes dormant even with me working on something. 

I have very little computer knowledge and would dearly love to know more. It would help to correct some minor problems with the new computer. 

I learn quick and for today the one thing I will use is the knowledge gained from yesterday's mistake.

I will copy and paste this blog should the connection get lost all the work wil not be lost.

So, here I was trying to figure out how to get my day started. I made a protein smoothie with three slices of frozen banana, 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries, 3 ounces of Dannon Light and Fit raspberry yogurt, two teaspoons of cottage cheese, and 4 ounces of V8 Diet Berry juice. I mixed it all in the Magic Bullet. So, did you catch my error? Besides it being to thick to drink, and adding 2 more ounces of juice? Yes, frozen raspberries have seeds! Post op I would have not been bothered much, but no seeds are allowed. I am home alone so I could keep pulling them off my tongue. 

This drink took me 90 minutes to swallow. 

I am drinking water now, and will have lunch later. Do I have some blended soup already prepared in ice cube size amounts or do I have some more oatmeal? I have had oatmeal and well blended chicken soup in broth every day for 4 days. 

I find the mushroom soup, oatmeal, applesauce, cottage cheese, and yogurt go down easily and I have no issues. I have had small amounts of broccoli, sweet potato, baby prunes. I do look forward to adding more to my diet with the frozen soup. I added other soups, and sugar free jello on a grocery shopping trip. 

I had been doing well losing weight with tuna from Bumble Bee and made a wonderful tuna casserole for my husband with the lemon pepper tuna. I had brought home the tuna from work because I will be out so long, and wondered if it would make a good casserole. He loved it. 

My surgeon said to make sure I add salt because if I do not the water I drink will just go through me, and will not keep me hydrated. I found a prepackaged broccoli and cheese individual pack that I cooked and blended storing half for another day.

My fridge has my shelf for yogurt, cottage cheese, and leftovers in small containers. 

I am down to 248 pounds. In 18 months, I could be down to near where my eldest daughter is now. I will look fantastic.

Many people who had not seen me in a few weeks over Advent, Christmas, and New Year saw me Sunday in size 18 Old Navy pants, and size 18-20w striped blouse. I looked so good, and had my picture taken.

I remember so many years ago when I had to go into size 18, and how bad I felt because of that. So, working my way down from 24 and 26 is the challenge I started facing since Thanksgiving 06. I am using my estimate of my highest weight to be 340 though 336 is the recorded weight on my Primary Care Physician's report. So, I am nearing a hundred pound weight loss with most of it coming off from August 07.

I did well in surgery. I just wrote an enormous report and lost Internet connection, and lost it all.

Oh, well, I should have copied and pasted. 

I was down to 248.4. I am happy with the weight loss. I have seen it may be less than some. I am down 92 pounds from Nov 2006. Let us see how well I do in a year with this surgery.

Yes, the night before the operation is almost here. I am at work until 6 PM.

I had a light lunch of turkey soup, grapes, and a tangelo. I have to eat in my postal vehicle and knocked over the soup. Good soup on the carpet! I enjoy grapes, and knew this vegetable stand sold soup after 11 am. I ended up eating my hummus for snack. It will tide me over til supper.

Just now wondering what I will eat for supper. I am thinking peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But do not have bread. So, I will have to get more creative.

It is just a few days till the surgery that will change my life. I expect that I may get nervous at some point during the next three days. I have not experienced any nervousness at all.

I was hoping to have today off from work. It would have meant three days off in a row. It seems like the rest I will have for the six week recovery will be my only respite except some vacation time.

So pray for me on Jan 3rd.

Well, I am at work and just answering the phones today. I think the most calls are about our closing early or the name of their letter carrier to leave a tip.
 Other than that, it is slow. I am on this web site to pass the time so I do not fall asleep. Another call...and ending with a pleasant Merry Christmas. That is so nice.
I am just a few days from the WLS. I had to sew up my uniform pants because they were dragging in the wet muddy snow. I decided since I only had 7 days left to just sew up two pair of pants. I do wash them nightly, though.
I have not ordered pants for post op as yet because I am not sure how much I will weigh.
Another opportunity to tell someone came today, but I just let it pass. I was in the bulk mail office where my husband works with another clerk. A customer who owns many Domino's Pizza Shops said his friend lost weight because he had surgery. I let it pass as I had not told my husband's friend, the postal clerk, and did not want to share it with the customer.
Yet, I am telling more people. I even find that friend's are discussing it with other people. A friend whose daughter and grandson were coming up the stairs at church stopped me and told me that a mutual friend, who is in need of surgery spoke to her about my upcoming surgery. Yes, I said. She said, she needed to have her jaws wired shut. I looked at her as she left going past and up the stairs and noticed she had perhaps put on an additional 60 pounds since I had spoken with her last. 
Is that normal to start noticing others who need the surgery? Or is it just me and my caring nature?
I know that I have lost weight, and am encouraged by the people who notice. One tall, handsome man at work said,"Hey, look at Linda she is melting away!" I know that his wife must have told him!
I am comfortable with this at this stage of the pre op!
So, I continue to clean, and do nesting activities at home. It is in part because of Christmas, and the family coming over, but also, I expect company after the operation.
I have a lot of freed up space, but still do need to declutter, and get rid of things. 
I will work on it more when I have my strength back, and the rest periods between eating tiny portions, and drinking water. Oh, I mean, sipping water. 
I am all ready for Christmas. I thought I was all set on Saturday, when my husband said you have more gifts for Kris then Amy. I was not quite sure this was true, but knew that I did get several clearance items for Kris.
We headed to the mall, and I saw a Macy's so sent him in with a hundred dollars to purchase a gift certificate.
She works at Macy's and this will be perfect for her.
So, there are so many gifts that it will never be an under the tree Christmas. He wrapped and I bought. This morning, I wrapped three things for him. He does not know that I even bought them. 

This should be easy as pie. I have had operations in this hospital before for polyps. I know, I will have a great surgical team and wonderful follow up nursing. It is terrific that they spend so much time seeing if I have any issues before surgery.

 One other thing that they will do is check my gall bladder with an ultrasound an hour before the pre op pre test.

I am not in school any  more but pre test??

It had been a terrific week up until the snowstorm of Dec 13th where I spent almost thirty minutes getting a few hundred yards in my vehicle back into the post office lot. Next thing, I discovered that some who had meant to leave work from the post office at 2 waited out the early rush. I mean early because there had been a snow emergency called and the children were being released from school, and businesses were letting their employees leave early.

So, perhaps we had a self induced gridlock by all hype about the storm. It caused the plows, and sanders a lot of problems because they could not get the job done. Next morning, it was clear down to the pavement on the main roads.

Just to let you know it was a terrible ride home. Every hill was causing the drivers to slide back, the trucks were impeded, and the slush was freezing on our windshield. It took us 4 hours to get home. We did stop at a Dunkin Donuts for coffee for my husband, and hot chocolate for me. I needed it. I had been doing without caffeine for so long that I am almost weaned off it.

We rode the last half hour without wiper blades, as the motor went. Luckily, it just needed to be reset the next day and the blades replaced. I thought they looked as if they were praying for us. It was necessary.

Next, we got an icy sleety storm on Sunday, and missed church, and the Advent Workshop which is a craft workshop that I have a large part in at church every year. I was glad it was cancelled as I am a wimp on ice. 

Major concerns that I am praying about this week. I do not want to fall or be hurt before the operation with the ice remnant on the walkways and driveways. I do not want a major snowstorm on Jan. 3rd (2008). I am praying the weather is okay to drive. 

I also pray that I get sleep the night before the surgery!

I have been sharing my story of weight loss, and letting my friends, coworkers, and members of my church know what I intend to do in Jan.
There are a few overweight individuals who are beginning to listen to me with an open mind. Some, though, continue to be concerned that I will have problems further down the line. 
I am nesting. Yes, I think, you can call what I am doing nesting. I am making a better home with less clutter..........giving away those clothes that have 3x on them. I dropped two coats off at church for Rosie's Place. I know that the clients there will love the chocolate brown coat with the fur hood. I loved it. I also gave up a Hornets jacket that my sister had given to me after her weight loss surgery.
My sister, Judy, and my cousin, Sherri, have both had the RNY surgery. I am learning a lot from them. I also know that there is a better support system at Newton Wellesley Hospital then where they had the surgery.
Tomorrow, I will go to one of their support meetings that meets at 6 30 to 8 pm. We have a small notebook with instructional pages, recipes for the blended diet, and a sheet where we get an initial to show that we have attended meetings, and all the pre op testing. 
Monday, I was in a large group of women and one man who will have the surgery done within the next month. One woman will have another doctor in the practice operate on her the same day as me...January 3rd.
It is a large group, but after seeing each other in the meetings over the past months, and listening to each other Monday. I am sure there will be more comraderie. 
After all, we are morbidly obese, and we did not shun each other, did not make insulting remarks, or stare! 
I am down to 262 pounds. I would like to be down to near 250 by Jan 3rd. I do not know if that is realistic with the holidays. I am a visual eater...if I see it...I could eat it.

It was a wonderful sunny day once we went south towards where my daughter lives. Her husband was cooking the turkey with the fixings, and I was cooking the ham today. I know this is typical of the aging mind, but I lost one dessert. How could I lose a pan of brownies. I actually had the pan under the platter of appetizers that I had cut. So, I kept saying to my husband you must have put the brownies in the car. They are not here. Was God trying to let me know that the brownies can disappear...only to be eaten by the fit?

As usual, we had far too much food and lots of leftovers. My eldest daughter is also on a diet and had lost another pound. My second daughter is trying to lose weight which will help her in her work enviornment. She is very smart, and manages at a store called DSW. It sells discounted shoes. She is not sure that she projects the right image with her added pounds. Someone other than her was just promoted to be the manager of the store that is walking distance from her home. 

Since I have family, I have stresses. One daughter is out working her dream job where she sells magazines door to door. Yes, it is not our dream job, and no I do not find it a good job for her. She has had issues around work, and earlier school. So, she is working and traveling all around the country.

Today, she called us twice. I sure miss her. 

The good news of Thanksgiving is that she called. It is often that on holidays, birthdays and anniversaries that she is not available to us. With this traveling magazine job, we have not contact information for her at all. We can only wait until she calls.

The second good news of Thanksgiving is that I lost 12 pounds since I began the process with Dr Gazmuri. The nurse is very pleased.

I posted my new weight at 270 pounds. 

A concern is that my vitamin D was found to be low, and I have to take one pill a week for six weeks. At first, I was thinking that since the operation was scheduled in six weeks would it mean that I would not get the same date? The nurse quickly reassured me that vitamin D would not preclude me from the operation. 

So, December 3rd, I go to find out the information about the blended diet which I will be on for four weeks following surgery. Then on Dec 20th I have a gall bladder scan, and pre op workup. I said that I am available for cancellations. It would be good to get it done before the New Year.