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For those that don't know what that means, "Noche Buena" (or Holy Night) is Christmas Eve...a very important day in the Hispanic culture.  Although mostly the same among our cultures, it varies depending where you're from on how it's celebrated.  For Cubans (like me), we have Lechon Asado (roasted pork), white rice, black beans & yucca (boiled cassava covered in a garlic sauce)...Yummo!  We eat, dance and celebrate awaiting midnight for the birth of baby Jesus when it officially is Christmas Day!

As I reflect on Noche Buenas of the past, especially my childhood, I am reminded of how precious life truly is.  I am so greatful and humbled by the many friends I've developed on this board who have walked with me in my journey,  I want to wish every one of you a wonderful Christmas and may you find under your trees the most important of all gifts...love!  Time and life has a funny way of going on, no matter what happens.  After a couple of years of sadness and grief around this time of year (when I lost so many loved ones), I again am feeling like a kid and looking forward to Christmas Day and new memories.

Thank you, one and all, for taking the time to have answered all my questions, provide unconditional support when challenges made me want to cry and give up and always being there no matter what time of day.  I'm so blessed to have you and this forum to come to.

Merry Christmas!!!

Maria a.k.a. Tinker Bell's mentor
HW ~ SW ~ CW ~ GW
301.5 ~ 290~ 235 ~ 130
 

Wow, I can't believe it, today makes 3 months that my life changed forever.  I don't have any pearls of wisdom, nor deep, soul searching musings.  It's about 6 days before Christmas and I've not even begun with my shopping so I don't have time this month for my usual deep thoughts.  He,he,he...I'm sorta busy living life.  That and everything is just so hard when you only have the use of one hand and it hurts to move those fingers.  Sigh.  Anyways, I just started today my two week break from work and school so I'll be around more until school starts again in the New Year.  I do have one thing to say and that is that I am amazed at how much I've changed physically, emotionally, mentally and every other "ally" you can think of.  I may not have as much loss pound wise as others at 3 months out, but I am losing a ton of inches.  I'm down to a 16 or 18, depending on who makes it, from a whopping 26.  That's between 8 to 10 dress sizes!  And, my back pain is a memory and my neck is slowly appearing...those of you who have shared the beginning of my journey will recall a certain incident with a punk at CVS and his comment about my "no neck"...would love to show that punk my neck now.

Anyways, here are some before and afters...ya'll pardon my dishevelled look from today, I was a bit frazzled, had just gotten off work and am recovering from hand surgery (dang that sucker hurts!) I had on Wednesday so I couldn't use my hands to blowdry my hair and coif it so purty...but not overly bad I might say.

1 day post-op (lordy I can't believe I don't still look like this!:


3 months post op today

Maria a.k.a. Tinker Bell's mentor
HW ~ SW ~ CW ~ GW
301.5 ~ 290~ 235 ~ 130
 

OMG!  I felt like such a princess!  I appologize for not being around too much lately, but I'm trying to get organized with the Holidays and my upcoming hand surgery (carpel tunnel) and it just seems to get away from me to attempt to come in here.  By the time I'm done with my day it's past midnite and I just fall exhausted to bed.  But I had to come in here to share this incredible evening with you all.  I am still so overly excited that I can barely sleep...and I'm soooooo exhausted but I'm just so revved up from my evening. Here's what happened.  My hubby had done me a favor last week of taking in my wedding rings (solitaire, enhancer & band) in for its semi-annual service (cleaning, etc.) because I didn't have time to do it, and if you don't take it in, well it voids the warranty on it.  Anyway, he took it in for me, but tells me it has to be repaired because the prongs on my solitaire was worn and had to be replaced and the solitaire enhancer had a loose diamond and returned with only my wedding band.  I thought nothing of it for prongs do wear out and my enhancer had a loose diamond once and I lost it diamond so didn't want that to happen again.  Well...there was no worn prong nor loose diamond.  What my bear of a darling hubby did was upgrade my soltaire to a full 1 carat and the enhancer had to be adjusted to make room for the bigger diamond.  So that was my early Christmas present from hubby that had me all blubbering cause I did not expect it.  And I was all made up and ready to go to my company's Christmas party...so we had to redo my make-up for I ruined it with my silly blubbering.  James was sooo excited to give it to me early and that just made it even more of a tear jerker for me. Then we go to the Christmas party for which I did not expect to have the reaction from people that I got.  I had people all over me wanting to take pictures with me because I looked so totally different than I did earlier today at work.  It was like a fairy tale to me!  I felt soooooooo pretty!  I was wearing a nice evening dress in size 16 that I had not worn for years and strappy high heels!  I was wearing strappy high heels ya'll!!!!  ME!!!  Oh, my God!  What was even more amazing was that I FELT pretty and secure and confident and loving every minute of the flash of the camera!  And I DANCED!  Yippe!  I danced and danced and danced without pain in my back and I was on cloud nine!  My feet are aching from all the boogying I did tonight.  I have no idea how much weight I've lost total.  At the last weigh in I had lost a total of 52 pounds, and that was a couple weeks ago.  I don't get weighed again until two weeks from now when I have my 3 month follow-up with Dr. Gagner, so I'll let you know then.  Here are a couple of pictures from tonight: Me with hubby With my friend Thayra who I always say I want to grow up to look like: Me on the far left with my strappy high heels with some of my co-workers!!! Maria a.k.a. Tinker Bell's mentor HW ~ SW ~ CW ~ GW 301.5 ~ 290~ 240 ~ 130

Well, tonight was date night with DH and he took me to the Keys for dinner, Islamorada to be exact.  I thank God that I live so way down south in Miami that going to Key Largo is maybe 20 minutes and Islamorada 40 minutes...tops!  But I digress.

I had not had beef since BEFORE surgery a little more than two months ago..trust me, that's rough for a Cuban to go without beef.  I was afraid of eating beef because well, my tummy makes sure to let me know with pain that it doesn't agree with certain foods.  So beef was the LAST food item I dared introduce.  DH took me to the Green Turtle Inn restaurant where Saturdays they have a prime rib special.  OMG!  OMG! OMG!  What a way to welcome beef back into my life!!!  Ya'll that was the MOST tastiest piece of meat I've ever eaten...either they make it really good or I've never been lucky enough to eat something so buttery smooth.  They have a Queen size and King size...ahem, I ordered the Queen, had a third of the piece, gave DH another third of the prime rib and brought home the last third where it is sitting in my fridge waiting for me to devour it.  Can you imagine if I'd had ordered the King size?  I could have fed a small army of DSers with that!

Anyway, I wanted to share that now I can eat anything and everything and am soooooo loving my DS even more!  Oh, and almost a half a century of weightloss...48 to be exact.  I know I'm gonna hit half a century by next week!

Maria a.k.a. Tinker Bell's mentor
HW ~ SW ~ CW ~ GW
301.5 ~ 290~ 242 ~ 130

Well, I'm a day late, but cut a busy gal some slack please.  Here it is two months since my life has changed forever and I am so eternally grateful for my DS!  I'm loving the compliments, the holy cow I didn't recognize you's and the second glances from people I see every day but who are noticing the changes are coming drastically from one week to the next, and sometimes from one day to the next.  But most of all, I'm loving the extra attention DH seems to be providing these days.  He, he, he!  I'm 46 pounds lighter and feeling that much more sexier and comfortable in my own skin.  I love it, I love it, I love it!!!  Here are some pics to compare before and now.  I'm amazed at how fast this journey is and loving every minute of every hairpin turn and heartstopping speed.  Let me know what you think.

ETA:  my niece in Virginia just saw my photo and said, and I quote, "Holy moly, you look HOT".  I love it!  I'm considered a hottie (a 41 year old mind you) by my own niece who is 22 years old.  Now that's just icing on the cake!!!

One day post-op:


Two days post-op with Karla & her son:


Two months post-op:



Maria a.k.a. Tinker Bell's mentor
HW ~ SW ~ CW ~ GW
301.5 ~ 290~ 242 ~ 130

OK, I just have to say that I keep pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming.  I just LOVE  the reactions I'm getting from my own family, my coworkers, my friends and now my doctor & his wife.

Today I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Ross to see how I've been doing since I had to cancel my last appointment with him due to my brother-in-law's death.  Dr. Ross said I looked so pretty and asked if his wife has seen me yet, when I said no, he called her in to take a look at me.  Mrs. Ross was so amazed at how much I've changed in 7 weeks!  She kept saying how youthful my skin has become and how young and beautiful I looked. And I have to admit that I'm loving this attention I'm getting.  It's weird but I love it at the same time.  Earlier at work a co-worker said that my cheeks and chin have become more defined and now I look like I have a heart shaped face.  Awesome!

I stop to reflect on how wonderful this feeling is and how grateful I am to have been blessed with the opportunity to get my DS.  In 7 weeks I've lost more (41 pounds!!!) than I ever did in 3 years with my Lap-Band...the scale read 249!!!  That's BELOW 250!  Yippeeee!!!!  I never lost more than 35 pounds with my band so this is amazing.  I'm still learning to eat, I guess I'm a slow learner of when to stop, but my tummy knows.  I still eat with my eyes so I'm getting used to learning what portions are right for me.  I can mostly eat anything, except I've not introduced beef yet...working up my nerve to do that.  My tummy has a tendency to hurt if it doesn't like something new I've introduced to it.

Bathroom issues are getting more regular...in the morning, then between 5 & 6PM and before bedtime.  Without fail.  What I find so funny is the morning trip.  It matters not what time I wake up, when I do wake up, for sure no more than 5 minutes pass that I have to run to the toilet.  I'm still not having BM with any substance, but I believe as I introduce more fiber to my diet it'll get more...ah...solid?  The reason I say this is because when I do include fiber in my day, such as some hot cereal for breakfast, I notice the difference in the next bathroom trip.  I find that some things go right through me if I eat them...tomatoes or the soft, leafy lettuce.  I don't eat a lot of them yet, but I was missing veggies and ate some about two times already. 

I still eat protein first but still must supplement with protein drinks cause I can never eat enough to get my daily allotment of protein.  I've discovered after many attempts that I am indeed lactose intolerant and must accept it.  So Laictaid milk and dairy products it shall be.  I just bought the new Lactaid ice-cream but have yet to try it.

And next week I'm starting a workout routine with a physical trainer at work so I know I'll begin to melt away even faster.  Look out world...Cuban hottie in the making!!!

I'm beginning to see why so many of us post "I love my DS"...it's incredible what it does!

Let me start somewhere cause its been an incredibly wonderful week of small and HUGE wows.  It started after we got back from Tennessee and all the sadness that entailed and I get back to work/school (same place, remember?).  Any who, I'm walking towards the bathroom when I keep getting interrupted and people want to hug me for condolences and welcome backs and just marvel and talk about how different I look.  I'm loving it but gotta go, KWIM?  Nature is calling loudly and my innards are protesting at quite a few higher decibels than normal.  So I notice that with my new plumbing, I need to go as soon as I feel something...not when its pressing to go.  OK, mark another one down for experience.  This is on Tuesday and it seemed I brought the Tennessee weather down to Miami cause we got a cold snap and man, it felt worse than Tennessee with our humidity.  So after a day of catcalls (loving it) and being called skinny mini (love it more) and Thalia (say what? she's a hot mamma & married to Tommy Motola or however ya spell it) I'm headed towards the parking lot and along the very long walk all I'm thinking is holy cow, its sooooooo freaking cold why didn't I bring a sweater.  Not until I reached my car did I realize that I was complaining to myself about the cold and NOT about my back!!!!  And I was moving at a clip...pretty fast since I was freezing....AND it was a good distance from my office...for goodness sake I work at a university with a rather sizable parking lot.  My back was NOT hurting.  Holy cow!

The rest of the week I just have such a wonderful time because I'm noticing the changes myself.  I was told that I even walk differently by various people.  From what I'm told I had developed a very stiff walk (due to the back issues) that made me waddle from side to side.  But now I'm down to a size 20 from a 26 (is that 6 dress sizes or 3?) and am dressing cuter, and apparently have nicer hair even.  This is all feedback I'm getting.  I'm liking it.  I'm loving it. I'm living it!!!

Now today was a chart topper.  I went to do my civic duty and vote because I will not, due to scheduling conflict be able to vote on Election Day so am grateful we have early voting.  I went and made the lines for the polls.  Little did I know that my civic duty would turn into a 4 1/2 hour sojourn.  I did not plan for this to happen so it messed my whole day and schedule.  Didn't take my vits as scheduled (I will be better prepared next time and not leave home without my vits for ANY occasion), didn't eat anything during that time, but I did manage to drink almost my daily allowance of liquids due to all the water they handed out.  What I noticed the most was that it took a full hour of me standing in the hot sun before I started to feel any discomfort in my back.  One hour?!  Holy crap I'm loving this!

I have not weighed myself...I refuse to, I rather wait till my follow-up appointments at Dr. Ross' or Dr. Gagner's.  But I sure feel like I've lost more than my 35 pounds at last weigh in.  I cannot wait to see what I will look and feel like at the end of my journey.  However, in the meantime?  I'm loving all the ports my journey is taking me...what sights to see!  What aromas to inhale!  What textures to taste!  All my senses are A-L-I-V-E!!!  And I am reminded of a simple phrase a wonderful, late Cuban artist used to call out...Azucar!!!  Viva Celia Cruz!!!

I love my DS!!!

Nothing major...

Who am I kidding...it's huge for me.

Hubby gave me a hug today (he's been doing that a LOT lately) and he just flippantly said, "you're melting away".  I said, "Why? Cause your arms go all around me now?"  And he said, "Yes, you're disappearing on me".

I love this!!!  My hubby (everyone thinks he's a bear) who is the most sweetest teddy bear inside and tough on the outside is paying more attention to me.  He's always been sweet, loving and never ONCE made me feel my weight was an issue.  He can be gruff, but he's never made a comment or acted like I was less than the most beautiful woman in the world to him.  He always called me beautiful...but now I feel it!  I guess my confidence level is building because I feel better and healthier every day.  And now when he hugs me, I feel tiny in his arms...and I'm not even started on the serious weight loss!!

Last night I started to measure some of my jewelry that I have outgrown or bought thinking that one day I would be thin enough to wear them.  There is progress!  They don't fit quite right yet, but I can see and feel the difference!  James is right!  And I quote, "I'm melting, I'm melting"...LOL!

Post Date: 10/13/08 7:16 pm
Hey ya'll...I'm baaaaaack!

Had a fantabulous weekend at Marco Island...man it was nice and VERY romantic. Got a lot of excercise walking on the beach (hotel right on beach) shelling and man those sunsets on the west coast are to die for!!!  I ended up being in a lot of pain yesterday when I went to bed.  I attribute it to all the bending picking up shells and being all mushy with DH cuz I wrote "Maria loves James" inside a big heart in the sand.  That is hard work when you are not 100% yerself, know what I mean?  Had to come back to reality today though...I kept asking James if we could PLEASE run away and live forever on room service.  LOLOLOLOL!!!

Anyway, I had a follow up with my PCP today and he didn't like the way two of my incisions have not been healing well.  The one in my belly button looks like it has pus, but it isn't pus and the one next to it is a bit swollen and oozes discharge quite a bit.  I thought it might be a seroma but Dr. Ross said it wasn't and that it wasn't a keloid pushing pus out either.  The discharge is a bit yellowish and watery and sometimes tinged with blood (like last night when I ended up being in so much pain).  He took a swab of my belly button and said that he wanted to rule out MERSA.    WTF?!  How the hell do you get it?  I didn't think to ask him.  I have to go back on Thursday.  He gave me a shot in the butt of some antibiotics and said he'll get the results back  by Thursday and if it is MERSA then I would do a 10 day antibiotic treatment.  He said he wanted to be agressive and stay on top of things so that I heal properly.  Shit!  I just got off doing a 7 day treatment for my urinary tract infection.  No more please!

Dr. Ross also found that my hemoglobin(sp) was low and sent me immediately to Smoothie King to have a protein infused smoothie.  He said to ask for an Angel Food and to tell them to make it skinny (no sweetners) and with two Splendas and one or two shots of protein and to ask for a child's size since I won't be able to do the small (20 oz).  I got the smallest I could (forgot about the kids size) and it took me hours to finish it.  I had them do two servigs of the protein (30 grams) and it was good.  But it worked.  Cause by the end of the night I was able to have an additional 28 grams of protein that I ate and the 15 grams I had for breakfast brought me to a total of 73 grams of protein!  I have been waiting for my order from Vitalady of my Banana Scream but in the meantime I was doing Atkins...however, it is too much volume of shake and too little protein.  I will do the Smoothie King shakes (kiddie size from now on) until I do get my supplies because I do not want to continue struggling with my extremely low energy level due to malnutrition.  Geez!  Kicking myself in the pants for not ordering sooner, I was taste tasting all the flavors to see which I liked post op and didn't realize I was setting myself up for trouble by not ordering at least two of each flavor or another item that could give me lots of protein in small shots.  I guess learning off your own mistakes is the mother of all education.

Post Date: 10/9/08 4:13 pm
Hey everyone, sorry I didn't post yesterday, I've been a little busy.  Had my post-op follow up with Dr. Gagner and everything is good.  At first he wasn't there so Genevieve took care of me.  All my incisions are good except for the one in my belly button which has some superficial discharge and the one on my right side which has a keloid (sp?) and some redness.  Nothing major.  Nothing hurts.  Gave me instructions to care for them and I was about to leave when Dr. Gagner walks in.  He wanted to see me himself...is this man for real?  I mean I was practically out the door, he didn't have to take the time to do so but I am so glad he did!!!  As I lay down on the exam table for a second time he says his now famous words that he never used on me in the pre-op visits..."Talk to me".  So talk I did.  Then he asked me how this surgery was different than the one I had for my Band.  I said..well the pain was the worst, but if I never lose another pound again it was worth it for I am no longer diabetic!!!  He had to smile at that.  I actually made the man crack a smile! Anyway...all is good and I have to go back in two weeks so they can see my incisions.

Now graduation...oh, boy!  Can't believe its HERE!!!  Tomorrow is my graduation ceremony and party so I may be out for a bit.  We are on the way now to the hotel in Downtown Miami (Hyatt) where the ceremony will take place tomorrow (at the James L. Knight Center) so we don't have to worry about traffic and me getting there late.  AND...hubby has given me the MOST wonderful present!!!  A weekend at Marco Island as a graduation present!!!  We are staying at the Hilton right on the beach!!!  He said a moonlit walk on the beach was in the works.  I've been getting slimmer and the man is getting desperate (wink, wink).  Since surgery was literally a pain and then Aunt Flow came for a visit, the poor man has been on a love diet.  I'm going on a romantic weekend and get reacquainted with DH if ya'll know what I mean.  Been a while so pardon the frankness of my words.

Tootles, time to celebrate life's accomplishments and get frisky as well.