Michelle8885

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so tonight my nerves aren't gettingme too much, just my husband. lol.  had such a busy day AGAIN but decided to relax tonight and just hang in the living room. I have 5 loads of laundry staring at me, and two more (washer and dryer) to do.... but probably will do them once my kids go to school in the morning.
so thats another thing, i'm super worried about waht i'm going to do when i have surgery and take care of my youngest who at that point will only be about 9 months. My daughter attends headstart and a week and half before school started i found out that they cancled the busing  which really puts a damper in my  surgery plans. so then i figured i'd send her for as many days as i could and see if another mom could car pool with my husband driving them to school and that mom driving them home, but it looks slim. so i figured id send her as much as i can.... until today when i got a notice home from school (the newsletter) and in it says that attendence is important and needs to be at 85% and have a valid reason. i think a valid enough reason could be that helllo.... i just had surgery and can't lift my son to put in the car to go pick her up. i guess i will just have to ride it all out and see what happens. i dont want to loose her spot in school tho b/c  after surgery with just one kid home its going to be so easy to go to the gym rather than taking two. sigh. i guess my anxiety really isn't down tonight at all.

So, every night i get really anxious over this surgery. i think way to much about it and freak myself out about getting cut open. tonight i went to a support groiup at my surgeons office which helped alot to talk to other patients who either have done this already or who are like me and in the process. it made me feel better for a little while but now its' midnight and i'm sitting here trying to consume as much information on OH as possible to prepare myself.
i just wish that my insurance approval could hurry up and  that i  could get past the bad part. i just fear the pain.
I know i just saw the dr last week on thursday but his person who does all the paperwork said she'd submitt my insurance paperwork to the insurance company and ... ahhhh i guess i'm just getting impatient. i want to know a date for surgery and soon. im just so anxious over getting cut open and  all the pain.
way over thinking this and i'm way tired.i'll try to post again when i'm a little calmer.

can now eat about 3 oz., sometimes less per meal, and I eat 5 small meals two or three hours apart, drinking right up to the meal but not for 30 min. after. Water is still the area I have the most trouble with. I am slightly dehydrated but working on it very hard.

Breakfast--large scrambled egg cooked in Pam with 1 babybel light soft cheese
Late morning--1/3 cup lowfat cottage cheese with a couple tablespoons applesauce
Lunch--2 oz. tuna mixed with low-fat ginger dressing and blenderized in my Bullet
Late afternoon--3 oz. fresh roast beef blenderized with a couple spoons fat-free beef gravy. 3-4 florets broccoli steamed soft and blenderized
Dinner--fresh roasted chicken breast, blenderized, 2 oz. mixed with refried beans and topped with grated cheese and salsa

I cook one "real" meat each day and store two additional meal portions for me each time, so I have plenty good stuff in the frig. If you can't cook, though, you could buy a whole roasted chicen at the grocery for $5 and there are prepared Hormel roast beefs. The beef gives the most protein, tuna next. All of this is about 500 calories.

According to y food tracker (myfitnesspal, free itunes app--GREAT) that's 70 grams of protein but I deduct 10 because I couldn't always finish every bite. By my calculations, 60 grams of protein on whole natural, easily accessible food. There's a lot more I want to try. Today I'm sauteeing fresh spinach and then blenderizing it. Low-fat dressings are a great way to add a little taste and moisture. I have to tell you, if you're struggling to eat, eating good stuff, hard as it seems, really is the way to feel better. And yes, I recognize I'm lucky I'm not lactose intolerant and can tolerate these meats. I can't tolerate artificial proteins yet but will try again. Milk isn't appealing yet.

so today i got my new laptop in the mail..... now i can actually use this site more seeing i spend mosst of my time sitting in the living room watching my kids. yeah for me!
But in news of my surgery ....  i saw the surgeon yesterday and they are pretty positive the insurance company will cover the surgery. I have all my need documentation in for insurance approval and the last thing they needed me to do was just sign some paperwork and go and get blood done for vitamin levels. Done and done. So within the next two weeks i should be hearing back about a surgery date. I asked the lady who does the insurance information about how long it takes to submitt the information and get a response. She told me a day to submit it and about two to three days to hear back as the insurance company i have is pretty good and quick with its responses. That made me one happy camper to know that. As far as surgery dates, she said as of the moment she is schedule for the first few days of october, but by the time she gets all my stuff back it may still be the beginning of october or mid october. This is all so real now i can't beleive its all happening. I'm excited but scared. it was kinda surreal signing the piece of paper acknowledging that i may die as a reseult of the surgery.
But all in all i am ready for this change. I'm ready to start living a new life. My surgeon was impressed that i was following the post op diet, that i had all my paperwork in and filled out and that i was already aware of my 2 week liquid diet  pre-op and post op. so he then quized me on "where/what is good healthy snack." i said 'STRING CHEESE"  so he then asked me  how many fat grams and protein grams.... i knew it all. 
SOOO  now its just a waiting game to see when the insurance approval  comes through and then i''ll find out my date.
 

 I think you are missing the healthy "middle ground" here... not weighing yourself every single day but also not throwing away the scale entirely. When I was still losing and found myself being affected emotionally based on what the scale said and getting frustrated when it did not move or did not move "enough", I started weighing myself once a week, on the same day every week. I will be 4 years post-op in a few days and am maintaining at only 5-7 pounds up, and I STILL weigh myself only once per week. That is often enough that I can catch any weight creep before it becomes a problem, but not so frequently that I obsess over a couple of pounds.

I also instituted a 5-pound gain limit for myself. I have found that I can easily fluctuate as much as 6 pounds because of normal water retention, so the 5 pound limit allows for that but does not allow me to gain more than what I can take back off in a couple of weeks. If I am at (or just above!) that 5 pound limit 2 weeks in a row (ok, I confess, if I am right at that limit I sometimes weigh myself mid-week just to check on whether it is water or not), I increase my protein just a bit, increase my water, and cut out all carbs that are not dairy, veggies, or fruits (and I seriously limit the fruits). I have been able to take the few extra pounds off in about 2 weeks.

So deficiencies in the following can result in:

B1 or Thiamin
- irreversible neuromuscular disorders
- permanent defects in learning and short-term memory
- coma (aww.. this isn't so bad..)
- death (Nothing worth worrying about, right?)

B9 or Folate (Folic Acid)
- forgetfulness
- irritability
- hostility
- paranoid behaviors

B12 or Cobalamine
- neurologic sumptoms
- numbness and tingling of extremeties
- difficulty walking
- memory loss
- disorientation
- megalobalstic anemia
- permanent neural impairment
- extreme delusions
- hallucinations
- overt psychois
+ Permanent damage can occur if treatment doesn't start soon enough!

Calcium
- chronic low intake creates metabolic bone disease presenting as
- osteoporosis
- osteomalacia
- hypoparathyroidism
- combo of above
- muscle cramping
- hypotension
- bone pain

Vitamin D
- rachitic tetany
- mucle pain and spasms
- weakness
- bone pain
- decrease in daily calcium absorption
- rickets (osteomalacia)
- osteoporosis
- concentrations in blood greater than or equal to 80nmol/L, there was a 50% reduction in colorectal cancer rates
- concentrations in blood greater than or equal to 50nmol/L, there was a 50% reduced risk of prostate cancer
- risk for type 1 diabetes increased dramatically in vitamin D deficient children
- higher circulating levels of vitamin D linked to a significantly lower Multiple Schlrosis risk

Iron
- anemia
- fatigue
- hair loss
- feeling cold
- pagophagia (constant desire to eat ice -- pica)
- decreased immune function

Zinc
- decreased sense of smell
- altered taste
- poor wound healing
- poor appetite
- hair loss
- low libido
- lethargy

Vitamin A
- problems with skin and mucous membranes
- dry hair
- broken nails
- increased risk of infections
- linked to anemia and iron absorption
- ophthalmologic consequences such as night blindness

• These are the rules I follow: 
  

• *Drink 48-64 ounces liquids daily

• *No more than 20 grams of Fat per day
• *Must eat at least 60 grams of Protein a day (80-100 grams at 1200 calories a day)
• *No more than 100 grams of Carbohydrate per day
• *No more than 15 grams of Sugar per meal (Sugar is a Carbohydrate)
• *Stop drinking Water 30 minutes before a meal
• *Begin drinking Water 30 minutes after a meal
• *Eat 3 meals a day (no further than 4 hours apart) (I began 1 protein snack at 1200 calories a day at least 2 hours from breakfast) (I began 2 protein snacks at 1550 calories a day at least 2 hours from breakfast and 2 hours from lunch)
• *3-6 Months After Surgery: I ate 600-700 calories a day
• *6-9 Months After Surgery: I ate 800-900 calories a day
• *9-12 Months After Surgery: I ate 1000 calories a day
• *12-18 Months After Surgery: eat 1200 calories a day (I ate 1200 calories a day until 15 months when I reached my goal weight)
• *18 Months after surgery (or when goal weight is reached before 18 months): Maintenance calories (BMR & Activity Level) (Malabsorption of calories lasts approximately 18 months) (I now eat 1550 calories a day since 16 months and my activity level is Sedentary) (My Activity Level is Sedentary because I do not do a formal exercise program due to Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis)

My dietician told me to eat 5 small meals a day. this is something i usuaullly do not do. I usually eat two meals a day and thats it bc i gain weight so easily. I drink alot of water rather than eating. but she assured me that if i would just follow the post op diet now that i would find myself loosing weight.  Well this started on august 1st. So i've bought the plain greek yougurt,  string cheese,  cottage cheese,  crystal light (flavored the greek yogurt with it YUM!) lean protein at dinner with veggies. Complex carbs  in there as well. Well. guess what. One week of this at 5 meals a day and i've gained 4 lbs. not a happy camper. i hope this surgery changes this.

So as i sit here and i read the forums and look at before and after pics I get even more anxious! I have 16 days till my first surgeons office appt and that is just an appointment with a social worker to go over support for after surgery. I just wish i could get in to see the surgeon and get my insurance approval going. Cuz i know thats going to be what takes the longest. Then hopefully i will get my surgery date! I'm not a patient person.... so u can only imagine the agony this is causing me!