Angela J.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Lately, I have been wondering a lot of things.  One being, why everytime that I eat meat do I start to get the "foamies?"  I cannot eat meat lately for the life of me.  I chew it, it goes down, after about 20 minutes my saliva just kicks in, and it either comes up, or I am in pain for awhile.  I am ready to give up on meat, but thinking I should call my dr since I was able to eat meat at weeks out with no complications. 

Why are my teenagers so annoying?  Anyone?  Sometimes when they come at me with the "my life is ending" look, or talk, I just want to get all up in their face telling them that my life is still going even with their poor ass attitudes!

Will my husband ever start his new job?  Waiting for this job is like waiting for rain in the sahara.

Why do we stall?  Man, seriously... go away. 

Feeling Yucky...

  Tonight I am sitting here feeling yucky. I ordered pizza for the kids, and I decided to eat three pizza tops. I wanted to eat all of the protein, which was fine until I thought I should eat a buffalo chicken. BIG MISTAKE! It didn't come back up, but I believe I would feel better if it would come up.

So, I am sitting here watching "A Walk to Remember" with the kids. What a great movie. I love anything Nicholas Sparks, they are such romantic love stories. I know for me it allowed me to believe that a love like that was out there for me, when I didn't believe it was possible. Just like a school girl hehe.

My daughter just took off from Minneapolis about 20 minutes ago, and is flying high in the air currently. She has a layover in Charlotte, NC and then she'll be flying into JAX. It's going to be a late night for me, but a happy one. I cannot wait to pick her up to spend the summer with us. She is very excited. Of course she wants to head to the beach tomorrow lol. I am not sure how she will manage not getting home until about 130am. But, well see.

Tyler seems to have found himself a girl to talk to online. He even told me about her. Her name is Keira, and she is OVER 18, and lives in our town. I invited her for dinner any night that she could. So, I am looking forward to meeting her.

Someday's are such a struggle with drinking. I know I haven't been getting in enough liquids to save a bee's life. I really have to start trying to measure and make sure I am drinking enough liquid. My lips have been really dry because of this. Not to mention, in this Florida heat, it wouldnt take long to dehydrate at the beach.

I can't wait to have my husband back home from his mini-vacation. Once he comes home though I know he won't be here with us for long. He will be leaving soon after... which, is sad, but alright. We were told we cannot name his company, or talk about anything to do with his new job, so I am not really sure what I can and can't say. Of course, there are certain people whom I trust that I will share information with, and they will know what is going on as well. But, this rule makes it quite hard to talk about in my blog. I don't think I am even supposed to talk about him being gone. I will have to get the rules and use them to my advantage.

I am really missing Hawaii lately. I never thought that I would even say that in a sentence in my life because while we lived there it was not fun. I really didn't enjoy my five years there much. Now, I can't wait until Wendy moves to Maui, and I can get some vacation time to head back. I would move back there if I home schooled our girls, and lived on a different island. Oahu is just terrible, its way too racist for my white skin.

I want to rename my blog, but can't think of anything clicky to rename it. Any idea's let me know. I have now started a few blogs and deleted them for various reasons. I don't want to delete this one. I really love to blog even though my thoughts are so random it doesn't help my writing skills much.

I may have to try to nap again before I go get Jess at the airport. I am just beat tonight again. I can't wait until all the after effects of this surgery are out of my system.

Support Group WHAT?

  Today has been a very productive day so far. I slept good last night, woke up around 7am, did some house stuff, then got ready to head out to run some errands. Went to one of my favorite stores, Ross, and then headed to Walmart to get some protein packed food. Today, I decided I was going to attempt to eat a kid’s chicken nugget from Chick-Fil-A. I ate it just fine, but I think the Ranch Sauce made me sick to my stomach. I then laid down for a little nappy, and woke up to get ready for the support group meeting.

I am still a little unsure about this meeting. I have never been fond of groups, and support groups are no different. Not to mention I have to speak tonight. I know I said that I would, but now that tonight is here, I still don’t know what to speak about. I am not fond about being near any sort of bariatric place for a prolonged time, people tend to size me up. One day I heard a heavier lady talking to a friend wondering what I would be doing there, after she asked me if I had, had the surgery yet. I tend to feel out of place because I am on the smaller side for an RNY. But, no matter how small, but yet large one is, it doesn’t matter. Everyone there has health issues, weight issues, and other emotion problems going on. I believe that together we should unite and not wonder why I had my surgery, or why so and so had hers.

So back to me needing to come up with something to speak about tonight. I was thinking about speaking of what brought me to have the surgery, but it’s different from most peoples. I know I just said everyone is different, but I would really like to speak about something that everyone in the room can relate to. I feel that if I could bring to the table something everyone in the room can relate to, I will have done my job, and done it well. So, I guess I am walking in there blind, and I will be feeling the water out before I speak.

My knees are killing me from my walk yesterday, but my hair looks great after I washed it this morning and did something with it!!! Today has been good so far.

Slow Days...

  Today went by way to slow… again. I really feel the need to be more active, but just can’t motivate myself to do so. I did get a wild hair “up my you know” what, and decided to go meet the girls half way. Well, my half way turned into a mile there and a mile back because they were lolly gagging on their walk home. The poor dog could barely make it home, but I was in no shape to stop, bend over, and pick her up. I was lucky to have made it home myself. I could totally tell that I just had surgery after walking about ½ a mile, however, it did feel good to have walked today, more than just around the block.

I have been eating as much protein as I can input into my body, and I can tell. It shows by allowing my body to stay awake without needing rest for longer periods of time. I just wish I could ditch these weird dreams I am having since the surgery. These dreams are not ideal when a husband is MIA at training for 14 days, and getting ready to deploy back to Iraq. It makes for interesting nights when you wake up in the dark with no one to cuddle up to. A nice big dog that will bark at anything is what I think I need to remedy the situation; I just need to get through this summer, and all of our traveling first. Yes, our traveling is taking precedence this summer.

My teeth have been sore lately. When I wake up in the morning they are moved, and cause pain. I hope that I didn’t hurt them by taking my braces off early. I was told they would move back, which they are, but seem to still be moving back after four months time. I may have to re-brace the uppers. I hope not.

I am really missing my husband. It’s going to be hard getting back into deployment phase. Hopefully being away from home will help with that a lot. I feel like the time is going to fly by even with him away. I need to start planning on where and what were going to be doing in Vegas for when he comes home on his first 30 day break. I can’t wait.

3 weeks post op today...

  I am three weeks post op today. I have really had to relearn how to eat again. Somethings go down easier than others, while some foods are just way better for me to be eating. I am eating a lot of chicken because it's so rich in protein, and with me being allergic to the whey protein, I have to be getting that protein in any way possible.

So far I have been doing great with the tool I have been given. I am still only able to eat small amounts of food, about 2 oz. I eat everything that my family eats, I just eat smaller amounts. If they eat pizza, I only eat the pizza tops, and make sure not to eat the crust because that would expand in my pouch thus leaving no room for anything with protein.

Today I was feeling so good I decided to vacuum out the car. Big mistake! HUGE! I should have never done that, my tummy has been throbbing since I got back in the house. If it continues I will have to take some tylenol. I am still leaking the dissolving fat through my belly button incision. The bariatric dr. said this was totally normal.

My husband left today for 14 days to go train for his upcoming job in Iraq. He is somewhere in Louisiana, but he has cell service! Honestly, that is all I care about. With school being over for the summer for me, I have found myself looking for something to do today. I am just so bored without homework running my day.

I can't wait until it's time to start traveling with the kids. Check, oh Check, where are you????

I am sort of excited about TLC's summer line up to start. I also need to order HBO so I can see the True Blood season 3. It's starting in a couple of weeks. I have turned into a couch potato over the past few weeks. I have always enjoyed my shows, but my list is starting to grow.

This was a very random blog. Posted by Angela at 2:25 PM

May 3rd was the start of my new life.

  I have struggled with my weight since my second child, in 1994. My highest was my pre-surgery weight of 256, and my lowest was a two year span that I had to workout on a daily basis from 2006-2008. As soon as I had to stop working out because of a knee injury, I started gaining weight that was noticeable almost within a couple of weeks. At that point I began to get frustrated about my weight again, I bought a treadmill, tried to lower my calorie intake, but neither was working. I was also diagnosed with Hypothyroidism during this point. I started having Hypertensive blood pressure reads due to the weight gain, and my GERD was getting unbearable. I went to my doctor and asked her what we can do, she suggested several things, and then ended with Weight Loss Surgery (WLS). I did not explain much to her, just asked for the referral to a surgeon, and started the process.

My journey started in October of 2009 in Hawaii. My husband has been to every step of the process with me, he has truly been my rock throughout this whole process. Since the beginning he has helped me do everything I have had to get done. I was not able to have my surgery in Hawaii because we were in the middle of a move back to the mainland, and I would have to fly way to early, which can increase the possibility of clotting.

After getting settled into our home in Florida I started looking for a new Bariatric Surgeon, around my new area. After locating two, I picked the one I wanted, and we were on our way. I chose Dr. Sharma, in Jacksonville, FL. Dr. Sharma studied at Pittsburgh, which is one of the largest Bariatric Institutes in the world. I was quite confident in Dr. Sharma. Before I saw him I had done plenty of research on WLS. Dr. Sharma was quite intrigued with my knowledge of the subject at hand. Everything went very fast after my initial appointment because I had done almost everything before leaving Hawaii. I was approved by insurance, and had a surgery date within three weeks. My date was May 3rd, 2010.

I had a lot to get in order before my surgery date. I only had 5 days to prepare when I found out my surgery date. I had to finish 2 weeks of school work, get my house in order, prep everyone as to how to keep the house just how I like it (LOL), and make sure I had my advance directive filled out properly just in case something bad were to happen in surgery. I then tried to relax the weekend before.

The morning of my surgery came early, and the next thing I knew we were on our way to the hospital. The ride is about 35 minutes, and I swear it only took 10 minutes. We got all checked in, and were directed upstairs to pre-op. I remember going potty, getting undressed, and them trying to start an IV on me (GOOD LUCK PEOPLE). After a couple pokes they decided to bring me into the OR to get this done. I woke up with 22 attempts, and still had to get another one after one of my veins blew after surgery.

After waking up I don't remember being in a lot of pain at first. I remember them telling me that I had to breathe deeply because my O2 level's were very low. I am pretty sure I asked her to shut up, because I couldn't take a deep breath. Sorry lady. I then remember them telling me they were transporting me to my room, I don't remember opening my eyes once on my ride upstairs. At this point I remember being in a lot of pain, and I think I was shaking as well. I heard my husbands voice, but didn't open my eyes much still. I finally started becoming more aware after a couple hours. My eyes started opening, and I started to form words that actually made some sense. The first night was a little uncomfortable, but tolerable until I started vomiting. I asked for them to change my pain medicine right away that morning, and they did, a few hours after that I stopped vomiting, and life was much better. I felt like I was finally on my way to recovery.

As the day progressed I was up and walking, and talking with my husband throughout the day between rests. I stayed that night, and was released in the afternoon on the third day. Going home was hard, the car ride hurt just a little. After getting home I immediately felt more comfortable, and was sleeping soon after, with about 8 pillows haha. Everyday since my surgery I have felt better. I feel almost back to normal until I eat.

Eating has become a struggle, one which I will deal with for the rest of my life. Choosing WLS means vitamins, water, small amounts of food, and protein shakes. I am now 13 days post-op today, and I am still learning how to get this all in. I am eating real food, everything that I make my family for dinner, and tolerating it just fine. I have not vomited since the second day after surgery.

When I eat, I choose my protein first, I chew every bite at least 20 times, I eat with baby spoons-to ensure I will not take too large of a bite and forget to chew, I eat only 2 oz. at a time, and no drinking for 30 minutes after a meal. These are all things that before surgery, I thought looked easy as heck, and the reality of it, is that they are not that easy. Some of the hardest parts of the surgery so far for me have been:

No Milk
No drink with my meal
Remembering to chew every bite 20 times
Getting my vitamins in daily

Some doctors don't want their patients to be eating food yet, they would still be on a liquid only diet. Dr. Sharma wants his patients to let their stomach's lead them. If your stomach doesn't approve, it will show you. I have personal goals, but none of them are with my old eating habits. I didn't eat sweets, I didn't overeat, but for dinner, I didn't binge, and I didn't constantly eat. My issue's were different so making sure I don't overeat isn't going to be a problem.

Some people have asked me what are some of the things I like about having the surgery so far. My far the number one thing is having no hunger feeling, this doesn't come back for about 12-18 months typically. It was done though a single incision, through my belly button. Dr. Sharma is featuring me in a medical journal, I will be sure to share that when I get it.

So, 13 days out, and I have already lost 24 pounds (by form of malnutrition), and I feel lighter. I am still tired and need my rest throughout the day, and when I move to fast, or cough I can feel that I had surgery, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I am so ready to take some more weight off and start walking, and working out again.

I couldn't have done this without the solid support of my husband, my family, and my friends. They have all been very supportive of my choice. My husband leaves soon for his new job so this journey might get a little jolted, but we are so happy he got the job he wanted, and he gets to go back to the sandbox to play around with guns once again!

I put a lot of information into this first blog to get caught up on where I am at so far. Hopefully, the rest will just be updates, and informative. I plan on writing about my journey, and life.

Thank you for reading.

Angela