Blood Test

Nov 08, 2009

I have my 6 month check-up coming up on Nov 19, so I went in this past Friday morning (11/6/09) to get my blood work taken.  The surgeons office said I needed to get the blood work done 2 weeks before the appt because apparently they send some of the blood to California for testing.  So I couldn't take any vitamins or supplements for 24 hours prior to the test and I had to fast for 12 hours prior so I scheduled the blood work to be done at 9:00 A.M.  I can handle not eating from 9pm the following evening.  So I get to the clinic at 9am, they are running late so I don't even get to the lab until about 9:30, but this time I'm getting very hungry.  I'm used to having my morning protein shake by 8:00 A.M.  Then it turns out the lab has never seen 1/2 of the tests I have to have before so it takes them about 45 minutes to figure out what the codes are for the tests and to figure out how many vials of blood they have to take.  Some of the blood had to be frozen and some of it even had to be protected from the light!

So it's about 10:30 now and they decide they are ready to take my blood.  1.) I am REALLY hungry now, 2.) I HATE needles and tend to get woozy, 3.) My veins are really hard to find.  I tell the lab tech they usually have better luck going for the top of my hand with a butterfly, but she insists they have to use a regular needle at the inside of my elbow because they need to take so much blood.  No kidding - I think they took about 10 vials of blood. By about the 8th vial the needle really starts to hurt in my arm, they've taken a ton of blood and I start getting really hot and woozy.  Sure enough, they finish and I'm about to pass out! I feel like I'm going to throw up and they get me some fruit juice to drink, they think I"m sick since they took so much blood and I wasn't able to eat.  Then I'm freaking out because I'm worried the fruit juice will have too much sugar in it and it might make me sick! What an ordeal. They end up putting me in a wheelchair and getting me to lie down on a bed for awhile.  I'm glad that's over and I don't want to EVER go through THAT again!

On a brighter note, I had to go shopping again on Friday!!  I just went jean shopping about 1 month ago and the pants are falling off me!  My husband was like "Didn't we just buy you those?"  Sorry - I can't help it!  So this time I bought one pair of 12's and one size 10!!!!  I can't believe it!   I bought a couple of shirts and they had to be size L, cause now the XL's are too big!  I'm down 63lbs to 162 and I just can't believe it.  I had one dress that I wore about 8 years ago that was my goal dress.  I wanted to someday fit back into that dress.  I tried it on Friday night - it FIT!!!  It is a size 12 and I couldn't believe it fit with some extra room!!!

Even though I know I have lost weight, I still don't feel like I look any thinner when I see pictures of myself.  I guess it's because my face and neck are still chubby and that's what has always bothered me the most.  And of course that is the first thing I see in a photo is my neck and face!  I think I might have to come to the realization that my face/neck might ALWAYS be a bit chubby.  So even though I am really happy with being at a size 12, I still hope to make it to my own personal goal of 75 lbs lost which would put me at 150.  Only 12 more to go - I don't think that's unattainable.  Only time will tell.

I still say WLS was the best thing that has happened to me in a long, long time!!

Marion

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