Jennrose32

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I haven't written anything in awhile, but it's just been super busy around here.  "Here", by the way, is my mother's house.  I am in the unfortunate situation of being 25 (almost 26!) and being forced to move back home.  That's a whole 'nother blog post, maybe.  I don't know if that's something I want to delve into here.  Anyway, a week after I had my RNY, my mother had a hysterectomy.  And one week after that, our dog died.  And soon after that, my step dad had back surgery.  And we got a new puppy last Monday.  I wasn't really ready to get another dog yet, since it hadn't even been three weeks since Maggie died.  But it wasn't my call, so I'm just dealing with it.  I also go to school full time, and am studying separate from that to take the medical coding certification exam.  And I'm trying to get ahead of school because I'm going to San Diego in May and I don't want to worry about school while I'm there.  So, yeah.  Been busy.  I'm not on OH every day, and when I am like to check the Rants & Raves board the most.  The people there tend to have my sense of humor.  
In terms of my surgery...I'm almost 5 weeks post op now.  My weight has gone down, but I tend to weigh and measure myself on Mondays, so I'll be updating that tomorrow.  My pants are definitely looser, which is awesome.  I'm eating soft foods now, and I practically live on refried beans and cheese.  I still don't like the protein drinks, so I tend to avoid those, which isn't good.  I also learned that although I love going to the gym first thing in the morning, I still need to eat something first or I'll feel like fainting while I'm there.  NOT GOOD.  I've been cheating a little on the soft foods part, since I've been eating real meats that the family is also eating.  Chicken breast sits really hard in the pouch and hurts, so I'm staying away from chicken for awhile.  Pouch wasn't fond of shrimp, either, which made me sad.  But I've had beef, pork, ham and fish without a problem.  I just eat a tiny bit and chew like mad.  Anyway, I'll be updating the health tracker tomorrow! 

 The nausea that started yesterday is continuing.  I did go to the gym this morning, and walked on the treadmill for 37 minutes.  And then I went and attended my first support group meeting at OHSU.  It was interesting.  The topic was cravings, and I met some people that were a year or more post op.  They were doing great.  I got maybe 15-20 grams of protein this morning in my Isopure drink, before I didn't think I could drink anymore.  I know I need to be getting my protein in, though.  I thought I would try another of the Chike samples I got.  I tried the banana the other day and actually liked it, although still too sweet for my tastes.  Well, I blended up the strawberry.  Took one sip and knew that if I tried to continue I was gonna hurl.  So I threw that out.  A few days ago I made a chai protein blend that Pam T. wrote about, so I thought I would try that instead.  I drank maybe a quarter of it before feeling sick.  So I tried Muscle Milk Lite.  I had one the other day and thought it was okay; today, not so much.  Ugh.  I'm going to concentrate on water for the rest of the day, I think.  Hopefully this nausea will pass.  I can't help but wonder if it's related to the headache, which showed up the morning after I started taking my birth control pill again.  I don't know.  I need to make an appointment with my regular doc to get some blood drawn, and I'm going to talk to her about getting an IUD put in.  Maybe that will help.  

 This weekend was really hard, but it didn't have anything to do with my RNY.  My family has three dogs, and one of them was diagnosed with cancer last year.  We paid for her to have surgery, and the tumor (on the top of her skull) was successfully removed.  She was fine for about a year, then a few weeks ago she started coughing a lot.  I took her to the vet about three weeks ago, and they did X-rays.  Her cancer was back, and had spread to her lungs.  There was nothing else we could do.  Long story short, she came inside from the backyard on Saturday night and collapsed in the dining room.  She died there about 10 minutes later.  On Sunday we had to take her body to the Humane Society to have her cremated.  So this weekend really sucked.  
In terms of my weight loss journey, yesterday was my two week post op checkup, and I've lost 17.5 lbs. since my surgery on March 30, and 25 lbs. total since my highest weight of 270 on March 1st.  Yesterday I got about 58 grams of protein in, and only about 25 oz of water.  Not so good.  This morning I woke up with a headache.  I used to get migraines all the time, and my PCP prescribed me muscle relaxers, which took care of them.  I've been using the muscle relaxers at night, too, to get rid of the insomnia and restless legs that I've had since surgery.  But for some reason something didn't work, and I woke with a headache.  My mom, a nurse, suggested that I take one of the oxycodone that was prescribed for me for pain after surgery.  I took one, and almost immediately started feeling woozy and dizzy.  I thought that eating something might help, so I tried a little cottage cheese.  2 tiny bites later and I was throwing up, for the first time since surgery.  I still feel totally weak and dizzy, but I'm just resting now and drinking water.  Hopefully things get better.

 Alright, so KFC's "sandwich" IS good for some people.  Not me, since I had RNY, but for those people who had the DS, this thing fits them to a T.  I'm still a big advocate of eating locally as much as possible, and not eating factory food, but I'm not stupid.  Not everyone can afford to eat free range chicken, and not everyone has locally grown food readily available.  So bravo to those who are able to see something like this and use it to HELP themselves.  So there ya go.

Today in the main forum on this site, someone started a thread about a new "sandwich" that KFC is putting out.  Their feelings on it was that it was disgusting.  In case you hadn't heard, this new "sandwich" is two pieces of fried chicken with bacon, cheese and probably mayo in the middle.  No bread, since the chicken is the bread.  I personally wanna gag at the idea of it.  Anyway, what is bothering me is the kind of posts that followed the original; people saying that because of their surgery, they are planning on having this monstrosity, because their body no longer absorbs as much of the fat (apparently they had a DS).  Others were saying that they were going to eat as much of it as they could, because it was basically just a bunch of protein, right?  Wrong.  Yes, this thing is gonna be loaded with protein.  It's also gonna be loaded with fat, and even though your body may not absorb as much of the fat, it is still going to absorb some, and what it takes in is going to be bad fat.  And really, isn't fast food probably one of the reasons we needed this surgery in the first place?  If you are blessed enough, and lucky enough, to get this surgery, this second chance, why would you abuse it, 'just because you could'?  I'm really disappointed in some of these people, and I don't understand their reasoning in the least.  I chose not to comment on the thread, since others had already tried and were labeled 'food purists'.  Which I personally don't think would be a bad thing to be at all.  I am a self-admitted hippie eater.  What got me fat were carbs, plain and simple.  I love my bread, and I adore pasta.  But I love being healthy more, and knowing that if I wanted to go on a hike someday, I will be able to.  I love the idea of being able to keep up with any possible children I have, and being able to dance the night away with the great man I will someday meet.  Or, just dancing by myself.  It doesn't matter.  I was given this chance, this opportunity, to change my life around.  No "sandwich" from KFC is worth ruining that. 

  I went to the gym today, 11 days after having my RNY.  I'm not doing anything strenuous until my surgeon clears me, but I figured walking on the treadmill wouldn't be bad, since I'm supposed to be walking anyway (that, and walking in my neighborhood is a REALLY bad idea.)  So I went, and I tried to start at my normal speed (3.5) but that was too much, so I knocked it down to 2.5 and it went okay.  Anyway, after my 30 minutes were up, I went to the women's locker room and I weighed myself.  Normally, I weigh myself on Mondays, but my gym has the old fashioned sliding scales, and those are supposed to be more accurate.  I moved the baseline to 250, like always.  And the top of the scale clunked down.  I needed to move the baseline to 200.  For the first time in years.  For the first time that I can remember, I am under 250 lbs.  I have lost 16.5 lbs since I had my RNY 11 days ago.  And I have lost 24 lbs since my all time high weight of 270 on March 1st.  I am so freakin' happy. 

 So, this is my first blog post.  A little about me:  You can call me Jennifer or Jenn; if you call me Jenny I will ignore you and pretend I didn't hear it.  I am 25 going on 50, ambitious, and have survived a lot of crap in my short years.  I'm currently living in Portland, OR, and I'm finishing up my Bachelor's degree.  My major is technically Liberal Arts, but I'm focusing on theater.  I love acting, and a nice side effect of having WLS is that I (hopefully) won't get cast as the mother all the time.  I first stumbled upon the OH site a year ago, and didn't really do much.  I was still very much in the "looking for a miracle" stage of my weight loss journey.  I looked around a little, realized that there was a lot of information about weight loss surgery, and left.  I didn't want to resort to surgery; for me, it was the last option, and it hadn't even crossed my mind.  I kinda wish it had, since I would have had the summer to recuperate, but to be honest, I hadn't hit rock bottom yet, hadn't been able to admit that I had a problem.  I was obsessed with food.  Sometime in September, I finally talked to my doctor about weight loss surgery, and she said she thought I was a good candidate.  She referred me to a surgeon, and I submitted all of my paperwork to their program.  But every time I tried to call the center to find out what was going on, I was treated very snidely and rudely.  I decided that if that was what they were like over the phone, I didn't want to find out what it would be like in person.  I chose another WLS program, at the same hospital that my mother works at, and things moved very quickly from there.  And I still hadn't heard from the other program (I didn't tell them I was switching).  In fact, I didn't hear from them until a week before my surgery date, and that was to tell me that they were ready to submit paperwork to my insurance! Uh, no thanks.  Anyway, I had RNY on March 30th, 2010, and I'm still learning.  I'm not sure what vitamins to be on , or a lot of the other basics, but I'm here.  And I'm starting a new journey, a new life, one that isn't controlled by food all the time.