rubyinhand

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I am nearly a week post op and feeling great! I've been walking everyday and trying to keep busy. I want to go to the gym but my endurance is kind of low right now. After about 20 mins of walking my back starts to ache and I'm done! When I first begin my walk I feel like I can go on for miles, but that doesn't happen. This is the first time in years that I've had more than a week off work, and I just don't know what to do with myself! i went to Michael's yesterday and bought some paint and teracota pots. Then I went to Lowes and bought some pretty flowers. When I got home I painted and glazed all 8 pots I boughts, and planted the flowers. Well, that took all of 3 hours of my time! Back to boredom for me. I may go today and buy a new book maybe.

4 of my 5 steri-strips have come off and everything looks fine. I have little itchy bumps around my incisions, just where there was excess Dermabond. I  thought it was the healing of the incisions that were healing, but after the steri-strips were off I realized that the incisions don't itch, just the rash surrounding them. I think I remember having the same reaction with the incisions from my cholesectomy, just not as bad.  I've been putting some Burt's Bee's ResQ Ointment on the bumps since last night and things are looking better.

Oh, and I'm still on a liqiud diet. I'm dying for something to chew. I definitely have some head hunger going on. And it definitely dosn't help that I'm bored either,  because that's when I used to do a lot of my eating. But, this too shall pass.

Wow...I really just had WLS. It still doesn't seem real to me yet.

I'm still taking my vicodin, so this post will be rather scatter-brained I'm sure. I'm just trying to get all my thoughts out there before they disappear!

I was Dr.Akkary's first surgery of the day on the 18th and all went fine and well. I remember crawling over onto the OR table and seeing everyone's smiling faces, and I remember that I couldn't exhale out of that mask they put on me...and then it was over. In my early post op hours I used my morphine PCA a lot. I can't remember the pain now, but I remember pushing that button a lot. And then the nausea and vomitting. I associated the n&v with the morphine so I stopped hitting the button and went without pain medicine for a good while. The Rx in the PCA was changed to something I could tolerate a little better, but I still was afraid to push the button. :(   Everytime I used the PCA or when they gave me metoperol I threw up. The nurses alternated Zofran with Fenergrin to help ease the nausea, and let me tell you, I wouldn't have made it without it. I threw up during my barium swallow too. That was not fun. I was instructed to keep taking sips, but I knew that my new pouch couldn't handle anymore.

I had a steady stream of visitors during my hospital stay, all in part because I work at the hospital where I had my surgery. I realized just how much my co-workers care about me! I'm off work until the 5th of June so I'm excited for my co-workers to see the little transformations upon my return.

With the fear of surgery behind me I now worry about hernias and when I'm going to poop again! haha!

I went to the store today and bought a few things to drink when I start my 2 week liquid diet on Monday. I'm allowed sugar-free Carnation Instant Breakfast, broth, Jell-o, popsicles, ect...
I was starting to worry about how I'm going to get through the 2 weeks, but I work pretty much every day during the first week so I will be too busy to realize that I'm hungry. And I have a great support system at the hospital I work at, so there's going to be a lot of people to motivate me everyday. And I figure that by the 2nd week the hunger will subside a little, and the reality of surgery on the 18th will kick in some more and I will able to motivate myself.

Gotta get back to my movie...Grease!

I received a call this morning from the surgeon's office, and appearantly the doctor I saw yesterday forgot to mention that my surgeon is going to be out of town the week that my surgery is scheduled for. So now I'm rescheduled for May 18th. I'm just bummed because I had taken off work from both my jobs in preparation for the 11th. Oh well, it's out of my hands.

So today was an interesting day. I had an appointment with my nutritionist (130pm) and my surgeon (2pm), and then I was scheduled to have some work done at pre-admissions. I got off work this morning at 730am, went to bed  at 8am, and then woke up at 1230pm to make it to the doctor in time *yawn*.
I arrived at the Dr's at 120pm, and they finally called me back at 2pm. After dozing off in the chair, a doctor (one of my surgeon's residents) comes in at 235pm in place of my surgeon because he was running behind in the OR. So we discussed the risks and benefits of the surgery and I signed the consent form. We left to write some prescriptions for post-op and he said he would be right back. At 305pm a nurse comes in to escort me to pre-admissions. Wait...what? Where's my nutritionist? I was supposed to begin me 2 week pre-op liquid diet today, and I had questions about life after surgery. After inquiring about the whereabouts of the nutritionist the nurse says, "Yeah, she's not here today. She won't be here all week. Isn't that something?". Why was I even scheduled to meet with her? How come no one called me? I could have slept an extra half hour! :)   The nurse asked the resident about the diet, but he knew nothing about it. Go figure. What the hell is going on here?
I went to pre-admissions, flustered. I knocked over a snack basket on the counter (haha), and just ended up rescheduling the pre-op testing for tomorrow. At this point it was 330pm, and I had to be at work again at 500pm, so I didnt' have time to complete the testing. Grr.
My surgery is in 13 days. Yay!

I also talked to my manager today about taking off work, and that went surprisingly well. I'm off for almost 4 weeks with pay. Yay!

Everyone has told me that they already see a change in me, and  I haven't even had surgery yet. Everyone is saying that I seem more upbeat and happier in general. I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is the new and improved me.

Tuesday morning I received a phone call from WVU's Bariatric center. I was sleeping and wasn't going to answer the phone, but I saw the 293 number and knew I should answer. I always answer the 293 and 598 numbers because I know they are calling from the hospital...and since I work there I am always hoping for low census for the day. Hey, who doesn't want a day off!
Anyways, I was approved! I owe a big high-five to Ann and Doreen for submitting everything to the insurance and taking care of all that mess for me.
I will complete all of my pre-op mumbo jumbo on April 27th and I will report to the operating table on May 11th.
I'm excited, and a part of me is getting scared now. But I have complete faith in Dr. Akkary and his team and I know that they will work together to ensure the best possible result for me.

On Monday I had what I hope is my last appointment with my PCP before surgery. Monday concluded my 6 month diet so I telephone the Bariatric Center at WVU on Thursday to let them know that I'm done and to make sure there is nothing left to do before they submit all of my hard work to the insurance company. They told me they would call me back. No call back today, but I'll let them slide because I'm not sure if today (Good Friday) is considered a holiday to administrative personnel at the hospital. All I know is that I'm anxious for everything to be submitted to the insurance. I know I've completed all of my prerequisites per the insurance, so I am hoping they submit everything next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

I have an appointment with my PCP on the 6th, and this appointment will conclude my 6 month medically supervised diet. I've been on the diet since July 2008, but in September 2008 my insurance changed their policy and was no longer covering WLS. After I received that phone call I fell off the band wagon and didn't see my PCP that month to follow up with the diet. In November I got back on track and restarted my 6 month diet (my insurance requires 6 consecutive months). So I am hopeful to submit all of my hard work to the insurance company this month, and possibly get a surgical date for May if everyone at MSBCBS works as fast as I would like them to.