8-11-10

Aug 10, 2010

Ok... Yesterday I had my drain pulled, it wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be. My shoulder was hurting like crazy for about 3-4 min then it was over. However, I have this pain in my chest that wont go away. It almost feels like I have something caught...I was able to eat some soup today.. I found a can of bean soup...I mixed it and heated it up.. I had some of the beans chewing until I couldnt chew them anymore and it seemed to go down great..no problems after. Im drinking my protein water like crazy no pain with that. I made chicken fajitas for everyone today...just the meat with onions and peppers..I tried the meat and an onion...just chewed it to get the flavor then spit it out.. Once I realized what I was doing I just about died... Old habits are hard to break. Im sneaking food. God Im only one week out. I have been at home all day alone mostly..Im bored! 
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8-7-10

Aug 07, 2010

Today was awesome... I woke up well rested and not in to much pain. I got right up, got cleaned up, actually did my hair and make up today... hair was not the best but it was done. Got dressed and decided that I wanted to vacuum. It worked out OK... I got a little tired so I relaxed for a minute and then we went to the store. Once we got back I was pretty pooped so I took a nap. We are now watching a movie and I'm having some pain from laughing.. OMG.. "Employee of the month" is pretty cute. When we got home from the store I had a message from my surgeon Dr. Gluck... on a Saturday... He just wanted to make sure I was going OK.. and to call if I needed anything. I have never.. I repeat never had a doctor call me to make sure I was doing OK... He is the best doctor not to mention man. Who ever has him as a physician is one lucky patient.
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Tuesday 8-3-10 - Friday 8-6-10

Aug 06, 2010

Well, I did it.. I was so scarred and almost backed out! I wasnt sure I was going to be able to do this.. what if this doesnt work for me? But, thanks to my wonderfull family, I went with my gutts and stayed true to what I wanted. When I woke up and was on my way up to my room.. I had no pain, I could certainly feel all of that wonderful air they pump into us though. After arriving to my room I got all settled in and fell right back to sleep. I wish I would have known about not being able to take a good regular breath.. the air they use to fill your cavity up gives you no room and when I would try to take a regular breath I would hurt like crazy... my left shoulder was painful also. Mark (My boyfriend) said that would go away in a few days. The rest of the day was Ok... I was not in to much pain.. mostly just out of it, slept alot! The next morning I had to go down for the Barrium swallow...I was nervous about drinking the dye... but it ended up being not so bad.. I have been very very nauseous. By 9am.. I was in so much pain I could hardly stand it. Mark got to the hospital about 9:30ish,.. I just cried when I saw him. I got some pain meds and some nausea meds on board and all was right with the world for about 3 hours...THe HEPARIN shots suck....Holy Moly....They burn something fierce..the good thing is it burns for about as long as it takes for her to give you the shot. So It is do-able. Thursday I was up and in the shower to fast I think..because the pain was pretty awfull and I thought I was going to pass out.. I made it back to my room, got dressed and the binder back on...(GOD I LOVE THAT THING, IT MAKES ME FEEL SECURE) and got back into the bed.. until I got to go home around 10ish. Once home.. I have been good.. I havent been able to sleep in my bed because it is so high off the ground.. so my Kenzi girl made me a nice bed on the couch...learning to sit and get comfortable has been a challenge but again...do-able. I know Im focussing on alot of negative here.. but I wish I would of known some of this. THe pain is not from the incision sites.. it is coming from all the gas/air they put in you..and the area where the JP drain is attached.. THe doc did alot of work there and it is going to be sore.....But again.. it is do-able.
Today I was to start back on my full liquid diet...I made a nice Mocha protein shake with eas/choco rtd and sugar free caffein free mocha latte mix.. international delights...It was pretty good..However, I cant keep it cold as Im only drinking just a bit at a time. Im getting no where near the amount of protein I supposed to be getting, but I am getting some. Fluid intake is great... only taking my pain meds every other time now.. whooo hooo! So enough for now.. Im sure I will write more later!
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Thursday 7-22-10

Jul 22, 2010

Hmmmm...I'm hungry! LOL...
Well it is day four of my liquid diet.. I'm finally feeling full after I do my shakes.. I decided that I needed to make my shakes a little bigger.. so I added four more ounces of milk and another handful of ice.. That was the trick.. it made it a little creamier and got a lot more so I was finally full. I just had a bowl of tomato herb soup from Campbell's...it came in a little green box.. wow lots of flavor..very savory...very good! No headaches... alittle grouchy....but whats new...I'm a mom, girlfriend...full time employee...friend...:) the list could go on.. we ladies don't get enough gratitude! I do find myself wanting to cheat.. I keep thinking I could have a salad.. (something to chew) it would just run right through me.. but I haven't. I keep thinking god...If i want to cheat now.. what am I going to be like after the surgery? The feeling that I want to smoke has been there today.. not so much the last few days.. but today it is pretty strong..I actually lit one up and took a puff.. made me sick.. hurt my throat.. and smelled nasty.. go figure! Then I got pretty upset with myself thinking...shit.. I shouldn't of done that.. It's all good though..
I have been keeping very very busy.. I started walking and actually did a mile with out stopping, breathing heavy or having serious cramps in my calf's. WOW... I can do this.. I will succeed! I felt so good after too. I'm going to go out tomorrow to by new running/walking shoes..  So another day is almost over.. and I'm down 4 pounds since Monday.. looking good!
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Wednesday 7-20-10

Jul 20, 2010

So I went to my pre-op appointment on Wednesday the 14th. It is about three hours from our house so it was an all day experience. Lucky for us they let me do my blood work, pre-op class and see the doctor all on the same day.  I started to get nervous after that appointment because it's really getting real... all of these things are running through my head. Will this work for me, will I fail at this too? I see some postings on here that state people are blending up lasagna to a puree and they are able to digest it fine.. what .....lasagna..isint that what got us here in the first place? My god.. I dont want to be blending lasagna or peanutbutter cups...I want to change my life any learn to eat healthy forever. I started my liquid fast yesterday.. I did pretty good and today Is even better, I am not having any headaches as I stopped the caffeine a while ago. The only thing I cant get past is that my tummy keeps groweling and I cant make it stop. Mark says it is my mind telling me Im hungry, but I will tell you..it is my tummy.. I am starving.. I can suck down the water, drink my shakes, jello and puddings...but I have yet to feel full. I hope this ends soon. Tonight when I got out of work we went to Meijers to pick up some yogurt and a few things for Mark & Kenzi to eat... OMG..the smells in the store.. I have never been in tune with the way a store smells  like I was tonight.. I swear everything smelled sooooo good!  I also found myself looking at some of the foods in my refrigerator and saying OMG...I might eswell throw all of this stuff out.. I wont be eating it anytime soon, I also saw a few food comercials on tv that had me saying.. I will never be eating that again.  Im not sad that I wont be having this stuff.. it just crossed my mind. God, I dont want to fail. Mark is doing so good, and he seemed and still seems so strong mentaly. How the hell does he do it? Im also scarred that  Im going to have a hard time during surgery because I used to smoke.. I dont even want to go there. So wow.. Im done whinning.. Sorry! I do have to say it does make me feel better to type it out! Im sure that I will be blogging more the closer I get..
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Oh the waiting game!

Jun 22, 2010

It's getting closer and closer. Im just about three days out from my last cigarette sweeeet right! OMG!!! I have done pretty good until tonight.. I want to smoke so bad.. I thinks it's because Im bored.. The house is cleaned, the laundry is almost complete and I want to smoke.. This to shall pass right? I have also found that the closer I get to my surgery date, Im thinking about all the food that I think I will never be able to eat again.. Hmmm.. So I want a Chili dog from Mr. Dons, I want a greasy cheese burger and onion rings from one of the local bars with a really cold beer. What the heck am I doing? Our son graduated this week and the open house we had lots of healthy foods, stuff that Mark could eat.. Protein, protein..protein.. and more protein.. We had meatballs, beans, cheese, and then fruit, veggies, pickles...then CAKE...white cake, with icing that smelled heavenly.. Lol.. I have to admit.. I started out having just a bite.. then a sliver...then a whole friggin piece. This is truely mental.. I think, no I know that food is just as addicting as drugs and  alcohol... the only difference is we need food to survive. Since January 2010 Mark & I made a decision to change our life's, we want to get healthy and live along time. It actually has been fairly easy up until the last two weeks, I have had a steady weight loss..1-2 pounds a week.. feeling pretty good, watching Mark loose weight like crazy is making it easier, so I dont know why all these evil thoughts have started to take over...any thoughts anyone????
I guess Im going to go to bed..I have no cigarettes..so Im good.. no ucky food in the house...even better.. going to curl up with my man and dream of my new life. ;)
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Saturday 6-5-2010

Jun 04, 2010

Ok..so the plan was to write every day... NOT! It got kind of crazy waiting for a date and thought I didn't really have anything to offer. But know I have a date. I actually had two dates. My first date was for July 20,2010 but....of course there is a butt.... When I notified my employer that I finally had my date she approved it right away...then called me about three hours later and said oh Shannon can you change your date as I have approved to many people to be off that week... WHAT!!!!!
So I tried to find coverage for the first week... but she just kept begging please... please.. I'm soo sorry! What was I supposed to do? So...........I called my doc and they were awesome.. I love Patty C. My new date is August 3, 2010. I was soo very excited and then instantly scarred. What if I cant stop smoking.. what If I gain the weight back.. oh shit.. .what if it doesn't work and I don't loose weight? My boyfriend is still having a hard time once in a while getting all of his liquid in and the protein that seems to be ok.. so that makes me wonder if I will be able to do it. He is so strong and can do just about anything he puts his mind to.
So as far as the smoking goes.. I have these nicotine patches.. I wear them everyday, and still fire up. Not as much of course I'm down to about 3 a day. I thought that was all I smoked to begin with... so I originally bought the stage 2, but quickly found out I was smoking about 8-10 a day. I started a food journal... or a journal of what ever touches my lips.. including brushing my teeth.. It's crazy.. to see what all you put in your mouth. It makes you get really honest with yourself and take a good hard look at your life.. Boy! As far as Mark (my boyfriend) he is doing so good.. I cant believe the transformation not only in his appearance but his attitude towards life. He was a 6x and is down to a 3x. I couldn't be more proud of him. He never used to want to go out to eat...well go anywhere or do anything for that matter. But now when Friday rolls around he all like "so what are we going to do for fun this weekend", before is was like oh god..we get to finally sleep in and not do anything.. there were times we wouldn't even get out of our Jammie's on Sundays.. we would just sit around the house and watch tv, I would clean the house and do laundry. Life is really great right now.. I'm almost scarred to have my surgery as I don't want to have to be laid up for a minute. I'm hoping to be off work for only three weeks. I have a desk job so I could probably go back sooner.. I think I'm going to wait a little longer so I can get used to putting soft things into my tummy and learn how to drink. Mark had a hard time with that also.. he went back to work after two weeks and had a time adjusting.. at work we get two fifteen minute breaks and a 1/2 hour lunch break. He is an engineer at our local hospital so he is always going.. fixing something or making rounds. He couldn't just stop and eat or drink. with it being warmer out he couldn't put his water bottle in his coat. So I think I'm going to wait that extra week so I can learn what my new tummy is going to do. So it is Saturday morning.. and I have some Black Crow concert tickets to buy..they are going on sale in about an hour.. OMG.. I cant believe we are going to a concert.. how fun is that. We are from the days of Big Hair bands... love me some ACDC, Metallica,  the black crows are awesome to. So until next time, be healthy.
Shannon
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May 7th, Approved!

May 07, 2010

So last night I got the letter in the mail from Dr. Glucks office. I got APPROVED...yea. So know I wait... just need the surgery date.
I guess I could start by saying alittle bit about myself. I am 36 years old, two children and a wonderful, wonderful man.. a fabulous job...but I'm a little over 300 pounds and can hardly breath anymore. I smoke about a half a pack a day, and love me some Sweet's and diet coke.. lol.
I have been over weight for as long as I can remember, but have never been one to let it define who I am. I have wanted to have this surgery for at least 10 years or so. I actually went about 9 1/2 years ago to a surgeon and my insurance company denied me. I was devastated and just went on with my life. In Nov 2007 I started a new job and found out the Insurance I have would cover the procedure. How awesome I thought. Then after much investigation i found out that If I went to a hospital with in my organization..(I work for a Trinity Hospital) that it would be covered at 100%. Wow! Did I say WOW!!! Then I met Dr. Brian Gluck in Muskegon Michigan, what a wonderful caring man. He believes this surgery is a tool and a journey.. his office staff are the most wonderful caring people I think I have ever met. So there you have it.. alittle about me.. I plan on keeping a journal from here on out because I have found myself wanting to see what it's like for people mentally and physically right from the beginning. So maybe there is someone out there that might be able to get something out of what I say or do..and if it helps just one person..then hey it'll be all worth it.. Plus I am finding that the more I type the more at ease I feel... weird hu!

Shannon
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About Me
Battle Creek, MI
Location
34.0
BMI
RNY
Surgery
08/03/2010
Surgery Date
Mar 01, 2010
Member Since

Friends 15

Latest Blog 8

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