CatherineTEACH
It's been three months already!
Oct 09, 2011
Hi Friends!
I can hardly believe it but it has been 3 months since I had my surgery. I like to call it my 3 month surgeversary! It has been a GREAT three months. I feel wonderful, and could not ask for things to be any better. Well, I wish I didn't have to constantly be purchasing new clothes for the changing seasons or special functions. The old clothes items just don't look good on me anymore. It can get quite expensive.
Saw Dr. G this week. He was really impressed with my weight loss. Carlos was too! I know that I am a people pleaser so I would much rather have them be impressed than disappointed. It was nice to have the weight loss at his office match my weight loss at home too. I asked him about having a little soda, or a handful of popcorn. His words exactly, "it's not recommended." And then he added that smile at the end. I know what that means. I will not drink or eat soda unless it is a small swig or a kernel or two. I was also excited to hear that I can finally have salad.
After the appointment, I took myself to dinner and ordered a salad. Side note, my doctor is in Austin, but I live in San Antonio. I WAS NOT going to hit Austin traffic on a Friday afternoon until 7 or so. And, it was STILL BAD! Anyway, back to the restaurant.... When I ordered my salad, the waiter asked me, "is this all you want?" I replied with, "yes, and you better bring a to-go box too". He thought I was kidding and just brushed it off. But later when I had to ask for the to-go box he happily packed my salad in the to-go container for me. People look at you funny and think the food isn't good or that something is wrong with it when you don't eat more than an 1/8 of the food on your plate. Oh well, it works for me, so that's all that matters!
This week, I am travelling to see family in Wisconsin. It will be great to see everyone. We are an "eating family", so I am sure this will be a change for everyone. My grandparents are depression era people, so I better box everything up and take it home to them. If I can't eat the leftovers, I am sure they will. I have to admit that I hope they notice my 42 pound weight loss and celebrate it with me. They all know I had the surgery. I chose to not make it a secret with my family or at school. It is WAY easier this way. I nip all the gossip in the bud and can openly and honestly answer any questions anyone has. Anyway, I am Wisconsin bound on Thursday and will return on Sunday. I can't wait!
Hope everyone is doing well. I check the forum often but do not post very often. Life has just gotten too busy.
Night All,
Catherine TEACH
Post-Op Appointment
Jul 14, 2011
Night OH
My surgery!
Jul 11, 2011
I was in and out of sleep until about 6 that evening. I remember having these squeazy things on both of my legs and feeling really comfortable in the bed. The nurses kept telling me about the pain pump and how I could push it every ten minutes.... so I did! My throat hurt and the chloraseptic spray was great to ease the hoarseness. Also, my mouth was really dry. They had these sponge on a stick things that were dipped in water. They were great for my dry mouth. I also had to wear socks, which I was so not impressed with. It's Texas, 100 degrees outside and I had to wear socks (the kinds with the rubber sole things)! Ugh, oh well, it wasn't THAT big of deal! The first nurse had a learning "helper" with her. I am glad as I am a teacher and favor learning otherwise this would have been unnerving. But, I will tell you that the first nurse gave me the most information. She wrote everything planned for me on my white board. She wrote the nurse's name and clinical assistant's name. It changed every 6-12 hours depending on everyone's shifts. I did walk from the bed to the door that night even though my nurse actually didn't want me to. She kept saying, "are you sure?". Um, yes, I want to, I need to, AND it's written on the board! I then got back into bed and told my parents that I wouldn't mind if they went and stayed in the hotel again instead of my room. I felt they would sleep better and to be honest, I wouldn't have known if they were there or not! All night long, the nurses, CA's, checked my blood sugar (not diabetic), blood pressure, and everythinng else so it was kind of hard to sleep but I did.
The next thing I knew, it was 6:00am. I tried to sleep on and off but I wanted to be fully awake at 8:00am because that was when my barium swallow was scheduled. I feared what everyone had told me, "they'll force you to "chug" it", "it'll make you throw up", etc. This nice kid, who graduated from Texas State in Finance but couldn't find a job, rolled me down to the scanning area. I didn't wait long. They rolled me back and then asked me to get up. Um, I can't do that on my own! Don't you guys know this is a bariatric patient that is not feeling so steady on pain meds?! I actually had my head about me and asked for phenegram (or whatever it is called) to make sure I wasn't nauseous. This was actually a pre-emptive measure for during and after the barium swallow. So they helped me up and into the scanner thing. The nurse or coordinator in there was not nice, she had NO bedside manner, well that was until I told her I thought I was going to throw up. Then, she was super nice! Ha! I had to take swallows of the stuff, and it tasted like lysol but it wasn't as bad as I thought. She then asked me to turn sideways and I barely fit in the machine. I am not even that big. I asked her what she did for bigger patients and she said, "well, we just squeeze them in there". WHAT?!! Are you kidding me?! Ugh, she was horrible! Then the nice kid came back and rolled me to my room where my mom and dad were. The rest of the day was resting, medicating, drinking broth/crystal light, etc. I walked again that afternoon and again that evening. Dinner time rolled around and I still hadn't seen Dr. Ganta. I was wondering where in the world he was! Was I leaving tonight or tomorrow? My parents were less than thrilled wtih the unknown of staying another night or not. I couldn't control that. They kept calling Dr. Ganta the "Phantom". Oh, I forgot to mention, that for the past 6 hours I had had a BRAND NEW nurse (on her own!). Oh my, she was so timid, scared, asked a ton of questions of my Dr.'s office, etc. I know she was trying and she was super sweet but dang, I needed someone who knew what they were doing! Finally, Dr. Ganta walked in at about 7:30pm and I was sitting in the chair instead of the bed. He was quite impressed and couldn't believe it. I was glad my parents were at dinner because I didn't think they would be "nice" to him! He said that I could decide to go home or stay but that he was taking me off the pain drip. Again, I was sitting in the hospital chair sipping my soup and crystal light. I probably didn't look all that bad. I didn't feel all that bad either! I said, "o.k. then I am going home!" He was very nice but we were frank with each other. I like that about him. Then the oh so new nurse came in and gave me the liquid hydrochodone, it was nasty. I got dressed, rolled out of the hospital and headed home.
My mom stayed with me the first night (Wednesday). I attempted to sleep lying on my back in my bed but by the first time for pain meds, my back was killing me so I had to move to the recliner. I will tell you about my back problems on my blog (they started in surgery). I have NEVER had back problems until Tuesday, July 5th! That night at 11:45pm (time for next dose of meds), I moved to the recliner, and continued my pain meds every four hours. Thursday I spent the day in the recliner. This was the day with the most pain from about 2-4pm. I couldn't shake it. It was all gas pain, not incision pain though. I spent the day in and out of sleeping, and watching tv. My friend brought my dog back home. It was great to see him, but he desparately wanted to get into my lap and that was not going to happen! I slept in my bed all of THursday night. I just slept on my back and kinda turned my body to the right and to the left to give my back a break. Oh wait, I forgot to make a note... I started my cycle today. Oh the fun. Thank goodness I was still able to use a tampon.
I am on the road to recovery and feel like I am healing faster than I thought I would. I am still on liquids. My doctor is rather strict. Sometimes I appreciate it and sometimes I don't. I know this is different for everyone but my post-op regimine is 2 weeks clear liquids, then progressively adding these things for the next couple of weeks. 2 weeks full liquids, 2 weeks pureed foods, 2 weeks soft foods, and then regular food. I can't wait to see where this journey takes me!
Things to pack for the hospital (my experience only):
Mouth Spray (chloraseptic or something of the sort)
Gas X
Slippers
Robe (so people can't see your butt, even though I really didn't care who saw what while I was there!)
Comfy clothes- something you can wear into the hospital and back out of the hospital
Pillow for the ride home (hold it against your stomach for the bumps)
Toothbrush and Toothpaste
For The Ladies- Pads (just in case), a front close sports bra without underwires, and hipster panties (the full briefs may rub your steri-strips)
Tomorrow's the day!!!
Jul 04, 2011
I got emotional today. Mom and Dad are with me in Austin, but I had to say goodbye to my brother. I didn't even know it was coming and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was hugging him and I cried and cried. My mom tried to touch me and hug me too but that only made it worse and I screamed at her to stop. Mean, I know, and I apologized later. My mom is the BEST mom ever and I never mean to hurt her but her touch makes me cry even more in times that are sad or stressful. I guess it's a mom thing. Hugging her makes me sadder and more emotional. I guess I totally let me guard down with her and I would have been a blubbering idiot. Let me repeat, I LOVE my mom and I am sad that I did that to her.
Dinner tonight consisted of tortilla soup broth at Iron Cactus. The waiter and cook staff were so understanding that I could only have broth that they strained the soup for me and brought me a bowl of the best broth ever! Kudos to you Iron Cactus!
We're in a hotel here in Downtown Austin since I have to be at the hospital at 6:00am. Yikes! That is early!
I am excited and my nerves have finally started to calm down. We shall see how tomorrow goes though. I am pre-menstrual cycle so my emotions are super high. Geesh, that's all I need now to add to this event.
Have a great night and I will blog again when I am lucid and able to!
Catherine
Last night in my bed before Surgery!
Jul 03, 2011
On a side note, and this is the worst part (in Texas)... my AC died today! It's hot as HELL! I am sleeping with a cold, wet towel that I put in the fridge an hour ago, and the fan going at full speed. The windows are open but the air is just not moving through the room. I should be but I am more . I wish the temperature fit my mood!
Night all!
Pre-Op Appointment Complete, next up SURGERY!
Jul 01, 2011
I have done so well on the liquids and lean protein pre-op diet that I am a wee bit nervous about the 48 hours of clear liquids. I just don't want to be hungry. My family has an issue with low blood sugar when we are hungry and let me tell you, it ain't pretty! The best way for me to make it through it to keep myself oober busy. Not sure how I am going to do this but I need to. Watching TV, sitting around the house, isn't going to cut it. I need to do something, go somewhere. Hmmm, I wonder what I will do or where I will go....
Till we chat again...
7 pounds!
Jun 30, 2011
I find myself trying to reason with myself, but I ultimately come back to "this is for you", "give yourself a chance". I don't know if I have EVER done that. I have always put others first. This is me time and I am going to enjoy/live through every minute of it.
Ta, ta for now... heading to the 'rents house for by brother to grill some chicken for me. I am eating the heck out of grilled chicken! Love it... :-)
Pre-Op Diet and Caffeine Kick
Jun 28, 2011
The worst thing to quit was my diet sodas. I LOVE diet soda and didn't realize how addicted to them I was. When I stopped drinking the sodas, I slept for two days (or so it seemed). I was in definite caffeine withdrawal. But, I am ok now. It took two weeks but I am o.k.! I quit sodas three weeks pre-op so that I could quit everything else two weeks pre-op and not have a mental breakdown!
The first day or two of the pre-op diet was not that bad. I did well on my liquids and protein for dinner. It only became hard on Day 4 when everyone I was with wanted to do lunch. I had to decide to go or stay home. I decided to go and just drink the broth from soup. Not so bad all in all but it was hard to say no to the regular things I always said yes to.
Day 5 was tough... the movies! I LOVE going to the movies. But, as a food addict, I guess you can guess that I was more addicted to the popcorn than to the movies. As a kid, we ALWAYS had popcorn. The popcorn that was popped on the stove with oil. As you can imagine, it was the good popcorn to me. :-)
Day 6 was also tough... the birthday party with pizza and cake! Two of my other favorite foods. I decided to not "hang around the food" but to help with the little ones in the play area. I think what works best for me is distractability and being able to text supportive friends. The friends have to be supportive and not condecendingly supportive. In other words, they need to tell me I am doing well, but not go over the top with praise. I prefer praise so much more than criticism. I am highly sensitive to criticism.
Also, and I am sorry that I tend to be a bit random, but I keep a journal of everything I eat and drink. It also includes a place for events and emotions. I need to track those as well so I know what triggers me to eat and what triggers me to make better choices about food.
Next goal... getting back into the exercise routine. Walked my dog tonight for 30 minutes. Tomorrow, we will swim. But, I have free access to a gym so I really should use it. :-)
Night all...