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This is for Amber.  These pancakes have been saving my life the last couple of days. I got the recipe from www.bariatriceating.com
1/2 c. cottage cheese
1 egg
1/2 medium onion
2 tbs. flour
1 tbs. butter
salt and pepper to taste
Saute the onion in the butter till the onion is well done. Beat the egg slightly then mix with cottage cheese, flour, salt, and pepper. Spray griddle with Pam and brown on one side, flip and cook till done. Make sure the first side is well done before flip or it will fall apart. 
These taste almost just like potato cakes.
Some people substitute Splenda and Cinnamon for the onion, salt, and pepper.
yummy yummy

I've been havign these odd little spasms in my hands for the last week or so and it was annoying at first but the longer it went on the worse it became.  I went Friday to have my blood checked and my potassium was pretty low.  It should be over 3.5 I think she said and it was about 2.3.  Dr. Boyce prescribed oral potassium.  It is probably the most vile thing I have ever tasted.  The worst part is that it isn't really helping the spasms in my hands.  They have only become worse the longer this goes on.  I think if they have not improved by Tuesday that I am going to have them recheck the bloodwork and then order a potassium IV of some sort to get this ball rolling.  My hands are locking up like a 90 year old woman's.
I've only lost a couple of pounds in the last week or so.  That was sort of dissapointing.  I haven't been able to work out though so I guess it is my own fault.  Dean has a kidney stone right now so any plans we have are balancing on whether he passes that in the next day or two.  If it isn't gone by Tuesday I suppose I'll have to call his urologist and see if they can't work him in that day. Then maybe we can work out on Tuesday.  We really need to set days that we work out so that we can go and get it done.  I would much prefer that we go during the morning but Dean likes to go at night and it isn't fiscally sound for us to drive all that way twice in one day unless he decided that he was going to start going before he goes to work everyday.  
I am going to order some of the protein shots from be.com as soon as I can get the secure server problems fixed with my computer.  
School starts on the 16th again.  I am throwing a baby shower on the 14th and the boys' birthday party is the 13th, then Rachel's birthday is the 23rd and I haven't decided what to do for her party. THEN I'M 30 IN FEBRUARY. BLAH

Went to see Dr. Boyce on Friday and I was down 30.5 lbs.  We have been working out a few days a week at the gym.  I have been walking on the treadmill, using the elyptical, and riding the bike.  Kelly told me to start doing a few reps with light weights for my arms.
I'm going to update my pic tonight.
I finally started my period yesterday.  OMG the cramps are horrendous, I feel weak and sleepy, and all I want to do is eat carbs.  Any sort of protein right now is gagging me.  I have a real problem with eating meat that I cook.  I think that Dean and I are going to have to work out some sort of deal where he fixes the meats and I do something else.  
Everyone has been sick here.  Noah had strep twice in the last month, Caleb has some sort of respitory crap, and Rachel has strep now.  Hopefully the break for Christmas will give them some time to recoup their immunity and get back on track.

I'll be two weeks out on Monday but Dean is watching UT play Kentucky, the kids are outside playing in the beautiful weather that is so unusual and I have a free minute so I'll go ahead and do it before I don't do it on Monday. I feel a lot better about the decision that I have made.
  I'm not sure that I have more energy because I'm sleeping a whole lot but emotionally I feel better about my decision. The first week after surgery I wanted to cry over the food that I wanted and that I almost stuck in my mouth.  I'm so glad that we came home instead of spending anymore time at my mom's because she had so many things that were upsetting me. I asked her to put a bag of Hershey's cherry cordials in the cabinet out of sight and she asked why, I said they are aggravating me. She huffed around about it but did it anyways.
I can start eating pureed foods on Monday and I will be glad for that. Dr. Boyce has me on full liquids right now.  I can have milk, diluted fruit juice, water, pedialyte, sugar free popsicles, and broths.  I've been draining the liquid portion off of progresso soups and drinking that about once a day. 
I sort of struggled about whether to post this or not but if this is a journal of the good and the bad then this is the bad. Thursday I ate some solid food. I took a tiny bit of turkey and put some gravy on it and shredded the turkey up and ate it.  I also ate some green beans and the inside of a devilled egg (not the white part). Thursday night I had a moment of insanity and I was feeling sorry for myself and I ate a whole deviled egg and only chewed it twice. Then without thinking I ate another one almost without chewing it at all. OMG OMG OMG OMG for the rest of the night I thought I was going to die.  Those two eggs were stuck in my pouch and would not move.  Everytime I would try drink a drink of water it would come back up, I tried to drink Lortab pain medicine and it just sat in my throat. I got up and walked around a bit but that food would not move. I started freaking out and checking my drain every few minutes to see if there was blood in it.  I was convinced that my pouch was going to bust it hurt so badly.  Finally about three hours later I felt the food shift and I started drinking water.  I would take a drink and it would go down and then about 30 seconds later it would gurgle.  The only thing I can compare it to is when you have a jar of sand and you put water in it and when the water finally gets to the bottom of the sand the air bubble will move and gurgle at the top.  When I figured out that I could get water down I FLOODED my pouch over the next two hours.  I drank two 16.9 ounce bottles of water and it finally cleared all of that out at about 4am. That was my one and only lesson on eating. I am never eating anything that is not in my level of the plan EVER again. That was more painful than the surgery.
During this whole time I was supposed to have gotten up at 3am to go black friday shopping with my neighbor but there was no way I was leaving this house after that ordeal. 
Dean got online and did all of our black friday shopping online.  So, not only did I not have to get out in the cold I also got all of our deals that I was afraid I was going to miss.  Isn't my husband great? 
Yesterday I felt like garbage.  I'm not sure if it was my Thursday ordeal or what but I got up in the morning and didn't drink anything and I promptly passed out in the playroom in my chair.  I sat up for a little while and when Dean went to fix the kids lunch I went back to bed and slept for three hours.  I woke up around 4 or 5 and it had been 12 hours and I hadn't had anything to drink.  I got a bottle of water but every drink I took nauseated me. I then WENT BACK TO SLEEP in my chair for another hour or so. I took my temperature and it was 101.6 and my side was hurting really bad. 
Finally I decided to make myself take something in and I drained the liquid off of some progresso soup and drank it down.  That tasted so good that I drank some more of that with a glass of milk.  I felt a million times better after I put some calories in my body.  I drank two more bottles of water before the night was over and I went to bed before midnight.  Those two devilled eggs completely wore me out and I will repeat and say that I will NEVER EVER do that again.
OH oh, before I end this I weighed myself on the 8th day (Tuesday) and I had lost 14 lbs. I am now at 211.  Hopefully, by the one month mark I can be in Onederland.  
Dean is doing really well with his eating and drinking.  He is taking all of his vitamins and supplements like he should and he is writing all of his intake down in a little notepad that he keeps in his pocket.  Later on in the day he breaks down his intake and figures his liquid ounces, calories, fats, carbohydrates, and protein for the day. I have to start doing this when I get on pureed foods. 
He can't wait to start working out.  I can tell such a difference in his appearance since he started this. Everything is slimming down and his leg that bothered him for so long is already slimmer than it was and the swelling is gone.
OK that was long enough.

Well, I'm one week out of my surgery. I feel lots better.  My drain is still leaking like crazy around the entry site and not hardly any through the actual drain.  That's annoying.

Well, I suppose it is time that I post about my own surgery. 
We got to the hospital at 6 and the nurses took me right back to the prep area. They made me wash my belly off, gave me a pregnancy test, and put a patch behind my ear to prevent nausea. My mom and Dean were with me in the prep room.  I was really scared but I was trying to keep it light because I didn't want to cry.
At about 7:15 they came to take me to the holding area.  I said goodbye to my mom and Dean and they took me down. The nurses started the IV, put the plexi pulse things on my feet, and asked me all kinds of questions.  They had some sort of mix up about whether or not I had taken a pregnancy test so we had to wait on that.  They finally got the negative on that and started a Verced drip. 
It took awhile for me to be effected by the Verced but the next I remember is waking up in the recovery room.  I was in pain and really nauseated.  I kept thinking what have I done? There was an elderly lady next to me in the recovery room and she was crying and screaming HELP ME.  She kept wanting to move her leg but apparently she had total knee replacement and they wouldn't allow her to move it.  The nurses tried to make her comfortable and tried to keep her quiet but she just kept screaming.  I was in pain and disoriented and my blood pressure was getting higher the more she screamed.  I begged them to send me to a room so that I could get away from her and they finally relented and sent me up. 
Dean and my mom were waiting on me in the room.  I got up there and Dean put some chapstick on my lips.  My mom had to leave to get my children.  I told her goodbye and asked her to tell the kids that I loved them. 
I fell back asleep for an hour or so and then I wanted to walk some of the gas pain off. I got up and walked and then came back to bed.  I started my liquids then too.  Starting then if I got up to pee I would walk down the hall and back. I really think this helped me fight the gas pain and kept me feeling ok.
Sarah, one of the nurses in Dr. Boyce's office, came by to see me that afternoon and she took Dean's JP drain out while she was there lol.  I told her she didn't know what she was getting into when she came into my room. 
I had the same night nurse that Dean had on his first night and she was TERRIBLE. She's lazy and incompassionate and I couldn't stand her. I would ask for pain meds and she would take 30 minutes getting in there to give them to me. Then when she saw that I was allergic to Zofran and Reglan she acted like I was a drug seeker, uh yeah I'm going to have major surgery so that I can get a couple shots of phenergan...uh no.  I told her that both of my allergies happened in the hospital in 2002 and that they were documented if she wanted to check.  I was so glad when the morning nurse came back and I requested that I not get that nurse again.
After that my stay was pretty uneventful. Dr. Boyce said that my surgery was ideal and that everything went excellent. I had an ultrasound of my legs on Wednesday morning just to make sure I didn't have blood clots and then they released me. 
We went back to my mom's last night and spent the night.  I was pretty worn out and was dozing in and out most of the time.  Caleb was glad to see me.  He crawled up on the couch next to me and started sucking his thumb and watching tv. 
Today is our first day home. We brought Caleb and Rachel with us and left the older two with my mom so that she can get them ready for school tomorrow and take them to catch the bus.
My pouch has been pretty happy until this afternoon.  I drank a little bit of Crystal Lite and omg I thought I was going to die. It tasted like pure lemon juice and it burned going down and cramped really bad. I had to take a dose of pain meds to keep it from hurting.  Then I went back to plain warm water. I love the proticcino stuff from Dr. Boyce's office and I'm going to get some Chocolate Mint from bariatriceating.com I think I'm also going to try the Nectar cappiccino (sp?) from BE.  
I haven't really had any cravings yet.  The hardest thing for me is that I'm so used to sticking stuff in my mouth without thinking that I have to watch it.  My mom had a big bag of Hershey's cherry cordials and I reached in the bag before I thought.  Then I had to pull back. I've done this with a few things. Another example is Caleb had a pop tart this morning and left part of it on the bookshelf and I almost put it in my mouth without thinking and had to remind myself to not do it.  It's just habit more than craving and I have to break the habit.

It's 4:30 on the morning of my surgery.  We have to leave at 5 to be at the hospital by 6.  All I can say is that they need to give me something for anxiety ASAP.  I didn't lie down to sleep until after 1 this morning and then probably didn't fall asleep until after 2. As soon as the clock went off at 4 I jumped up. 
 I came in here to check my boards and I made my "pre-surgery post" before I went to bed so it seems sort of redundant to say ok I'm off to the hospital, no really this time I'm leaving , noooo this time it's for real. So, here I sit, waiting to leave.
I hate having surgery.  I hate being put to sleep. I hate giving my everything to someone else and saying, "here it is, I trust you." The truth is that I don't trust anyone very much so it's very hard to hand over my being and my children's future to a single man who will still be playing with his own kids at the end of the day no matter what happens. 
I trust Dr. Boyce more than I would any surgeon and I trusted him to take my gall bladder out last year. He seems very compassionate and as nice as any surgeon can be. I just despise the idea of elective surgery. uuuuuuuugggggghhhhhh I'm dreading this. 
There's nothing but death and infomercials on television so I suppose I should go and wake Dean up and just leave early.  My momma is going too.  Hopefully she will be chipper as usual to help with my mood. 
OK this is it, I'm leaving. I'll be back on Wednesday and refuse to accept any other option.

I'm pretty nervous about my surgery.  I can't believe that it is Monday.  At first I was worried about blood clots and now I'm just worried about being put to sleep.  I should know by now that I don't have a problem with anesthesia.  I've been put out five times.  
I need to concentrate this weekend on getting my house in order and not thinking about leaving my children motherless.

Dean had several people come to the hospital and wait while he had his surgery.  His mother, both his dads, his aunt, his bil, his grandmother, and his best friend were all there with me to wait. That was good in a way but they were all so emotional that it got both of us very emotional after we had gotten beyond that point already.
His surgery was supposed to be at 11 and he waited patiently for several hours before he became antsy. They came and gave him some heparin shots in his belly during this time and put a patch behind his ear for nausea.  
Finally at 11 the nurse came in and told him that Dr. Boyce had just started the surgery before him and that it would be awhile before he went back.  That did not make him very happy.  We sat and watched the Price Is Right and then the noon news.  They didn't come to get him to go to the holding room until nearly 1pm.  
He would have to tell you what happened in the holding room and right before surgery but I think it went something like, get iv, talk to Dr. Boyce and anesthesiologist (this just reminded me that I didn't get to speak with anesthesia during my preop on Monday hmm that was completely random). 
They called at 1:50 to tell us that Dr. Boyce had started the surgery and that everything was going well.  Parkwest was renovated last year and they have this nifty system where you get flashing, vibrating discs (like at the Outback lol) to tell you that they have news about your family. Dean's family and I took the disc and went downstairs to have some lunch. 
Dr. Boyce called at about 3:00 to tell us that the surgery was going well. I want to say that it was about 5:00 when he called to speak with us.  We all went back to the family consult room and Dr. Boyce told us that everything went well as far as he could see. Everyone except for me, Dean's dad and his best friend. His mom and stepdad went to get the kids to take them trick or treating. 
At 6:00 I went to the desk to ask when Dean would go to his room and they told me that he had just been taken up to 526 and that his dad and I could go up to be with him.  
When we got to the room Dean looked horrible and was moaning about needing to pee (even though he had a foley in). The nurse kept trying to assure him that he had a catheter in and that he DIDN'T need to pee.  He assured her that in fact he DID need to pee lol.  She told him that he had to walk 100 feet before they could remove the foley.  He asked how far that was and she told him it was to the end of the hall and back.  He jumped out of bed, pushing the IV pole, and took off down the hall way.  His gown was flapping in the breeze with his dad walking behind him trying to keep the world from seeing his rear. 
When he got back to the bed he called the nurse and told her to TAKE IT OUT! She took it out, gave him a dose of demerol, and then he promptly passed out.  He tells me now that the entire time this was going on that he kept wondering why he had done this, that it didn't hurt this bad to be fat lol.  The entire time this was going on I was saying to myself there is no way in hell they are doing this to ME in two weeks! He was out of it most of the night except to ask for nausea and pain meds and to take one more walk before bed. 
The next day he felt much better and got up to walk several times.  He also found out that bubbles in the protein drink are BAD and that burping hurts. 
There wasn't anything remarkable about his hospital stay.  Other than the RN that he had the first night he had great care, no complications, and a good experience.  

Before I forget what it was really like I thought I should write about Dean's surgery day from my point of view. 
The day before the surgery was a Monday.  Noah was supposed to have went to Cub Scouts but we decided that he would skip that night.  Luke did have a baseball game so we went to that and then we took the kids to Wendy's.  Dean must have been feeling all lovey because he let the kids get happy meals and he NEVER lets them get happy meals.  We went home and he let the boys stay up late and spend time with him and he told them how much he loved them. We laid awake until about 1am and talked about the surgery and various other things. 
Tuesday morning we woke up and had to get Luke and Noah ready for Halloween.  Noah was Clark Kent and Luke was a baseball player.  After we got them on the bus we took Rachel and Caleb to my mamaw's to spend the day.  They jumped up to the bar and ate mini wheats, grapes, bananas, and drank apple juice.  I told Dean that if they didn't have a bm for someone today that it would be a miracle.  I think Rachel was scared that her daddy was going to the hospital and she wouldn't talk to him or give him a hug.  
When we got to the hospital they took Dean right back to the pre-op area.  We had been told the week before by the drs office to be there at 11 for a 1pm surgery. The hospital had told us oh no the drs office doesn't know you have to be there at 9 for an 11 surgery.  
When they took him back to the preop room they gave him a gown, some cute little socks with tread on the bottom, and a scrub brush thing to clean his belly with.  I scrubbed his belly for him and got him settled into the bed.  Right after he got into the bed his dad showed up. 

I'm going to stop here and post the rest next time.