peaceful_butterfly

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 Hi everyone!

Hope y'all are all having a great day!! I went this morning to see my surgeon for my one week's post-op appointment.  When I weighed in I had lost a total of....drum roll please......14 lbs.!!! Wooooohooooo!  I had lost 12 since the morning of surgery, and 14 since the last time I had been at the doctor!  I am so excited!  That brings my total loss to 29 lbs.!  The doctor said that I was doing a great job with the recovery process.  He looked at my little wounds and everything was healing perfectly.  I have the big wound that had a little bit of an irritation because of the bandaid, but it's getting better day by day-he didn't even say I needed to put medicine on it.  He told me to come back in 3 weeks.  Well I really wanted to go on to purees, and I tried to get him to let me, but he wasn't having it.  I asked him when I could go on to purees and he said that I needed to go ahead and stay on full liquids until the day that it says to go to the purees on the paper.  Booooo!  But that's ok, I went to Walmart and got some new soups that I could puree that will hopefully give me a better flavor at least until I am done with this phase of the diet.  It's only 6 more days, I can handle that!!!

I went to Smoothie King on my way home and got a Gladiator smoothie.  I had waited entirely too long to eat something-I felt like crap.  I was so tired when we left Walmart that I thought I was going to pass out or just stop moving like I was in quicksand.  When I got home I drank about 10 oz. of the smoothie (which is quite a bit, really) and it helped but I think it was just too little too late.  My heart started beating very fast and I just felt like crap.  I feel so much better now.

Had the best soup tonight that I've ever had.  Progreso Low Carb Cheese Chicken Enchilada Style.  OMG it was delicious!!!!  Of course since it is a chunkier soup, I just went ahead and used the immersion blender so that it would be a cream soup only.  After I did that, I put it in the strainer and made sure it was all blended.  It was delicious.  It has such strong flavor and was the best thing I've eaten since I started full liquids.  It has chicken, peppers, and some cheese in it.  It smelled so good that my husband was actually smelling my stuff in the microwave over his pizza that he was baking in the oven.  Ha!  I did not feel the least bit deprived eating that while he ate his pizza, though I do love me some pizza!! I would've chowed down on the other half that he didn't eat had I been able to! Which is, of course, why I had this surgery! haha!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Well I think if I weren't already ready to have WLS, tonight would've done it.  My husband and I went to The Melting Pot to have dinner.  It is one of our favorite places to go, and we went as a last restaurant meal out kind of thing.  I'm self-imposing Medifast on myself until my surgery.   As for my update, I successfully got in with the Nutritionist after calling the bariatric program coordinator.  She has also had the Sleeve and was SO nice!  I didn't want to take another day off work to go to the NUT but there was no way around that.  However, she did make it to where I only had to take one day off work to do the 1 hr. session, the 30 minute one-on-one, and the 1 hr. session with her.  So I got that booked.  Next I called and scheduled my psych evaluation and I have that on the 24th of August.  Bummer in a way because it means me having to leave work early one day, but at this point I just have to do what I have to do to get this surgery on the move!  So that is moving for me.  She said that all of those appointments really didn't need to occur until 4 weeks til my surgery, so I don't see myself having surgery any LATER than mid-September.  

So anyway, I have stashes of Medifast that I was doing earlier in the Spring, and I've decided I'm just going to start doing Medifast.  Even if I'm not on a mandated liquid diet, I can start losing by myself so that I won't have so much to lose post-op.  So we went to Melting Pot tonight.  Here's where the embarrassment came in.  The host decided to sit us in a booth.  Even with my large size I have NEVER had a problem fitting in a booth.  Now, I am not sitting in on sliding up and down the cushion and having a ball, but I have certainly never had to ask to be seated somewhere else.  Well, I think it's quite possible that he seated us in the smallest booth available to mankind.  The entrance to the booth was blocked halfway by a decorative piece of wood so even my 145-150 lb. husband had to shimmy in there.  Well we approached the table and I knew right away this was going to be like playing Tetris for me to get in there, if it was even possible.  I tried once, twice, as the little host asked if we were there for a special occasion.  I went to the restroom and just gathered myself, knowing that I either was going to have to pole vault myself over the decorative wood entrance to the seat and become a stuffed sausage in the booth, or I was going to have to ask for another seat.  So I come back to the seat and try one more time without the audience of the host and then told my husband that this was just NOT going to work out.  He told me we should just move our stuff to the booth across, but the host said that one was reserved.  Like someone called and said "Hi I'd like the third table on the right in the front".  But nevertheless we just asked if there were other booths like that one available and he found it for us.  Problem solved and I was able to get in this one.  Now it was not the most comfortable because I wasn't really able to shift my weight off my butt much because of the way I had to sit to be comfortable, but it just helped me realize that I am SICK of this problem and am going to change it.  I can't WAIT to go back there for our anniversary in April (which we always do) and be able to sit in the crazy booth that is only meant for thin people.  It was completely embarrassing and I hated every moment of it, but luckily my hubby and i laugh a lot and so we just laughed it off.  Only because we knew that change was coming, I think.  

I can't believe I was gutsy enough to post that on here considering how horrible it was, but I do know that others on here have talked multiple times about having problems with booths, so I didn't feel so apprehensive about posting!  Goodnight all!!

So I finished everything I needed to get done that is within my power.  Did the Barium Swallow yesterday, which was no big deal at all.  Now I need to see the nutritionist and the psychiatrist. I had still not heard from the nutritionist so I called her this afternoon and they said that my packet was faxed over on the 22nd, and that was the day of their meeting.  Well the nutritionist said that my packet had still not made it to her so it was probably still on the pre-certification lady's desk.  I asked her when the next meeting was going to be and she told me that not until the 12th or 26th of August!!  I was so aggravated.  I told her that I had anticipated being fast tracked because I go back to school on the 9th and wanted to be done with all my appointments before going back to work.  She couldn't even guarantee me a spot for the 12th.  It was too late to call the surgeon's office so I emailed them and let them know that I was disappointed and needed their help fast tracking.  If I don't hear from them tomorrow morning I'll be calling and reiterating what I said!  I know they can't make miracles happen but the surgeon, nurse, and I had talked about this issue and they seemed to be ok with it, so that's the only reason I was a little irritated.  

On a positive note, I did go and sit down and talk with my principal.  As some of you might remember I posted about this and how worried I was about taking the time off.  Before I went to visit with her I went down to the Human Resources department at the school board office and found out all of the requirements for taking my medical leave.  I have 90 days of medical leave that I haven't taken.  I'll get paid for 10 full days and then get 65% of my pay after that.  I have money saved and have heard from some people that going back after about 4 weeks is good because you've finished eating the liquids and mushies and you can be somewhat normal when you go back, so as long as my surgeon will give me the recommendation to stay off that long that's what I am planning on doing.  She's totally down with the surgery now that I explained that I'd take care of getting the sub acquainted with my routines, lesson plans, procedures, etc.  We had a great conversation about it and I explained everything to her and she was very receptive.  So now I am so relieved and can go into this knowing that not only do I have 100% support from everyone I've told, but I will not have to worry about animosity from my boss for taking the time off.

Lastly, I've started telling some of my other family members since it's a pretty sure thing now.  I told all of my cousins (we are close) and I told my grandparents.  I had debated on whether or not to tell them because they do worry about surgeries and those kinds of things--they are in their 80s and they do sit around and worry about us, but in the end I decided that they probably already worry about me because of my health and they want me to be around for longer.  They took it so well and actually had tears in their eyes they were so happy for me.  Everyone has been really supportive.  Haven't told any more friends yet though.  I told all my closest friends, so the other people I'll probably just tell them as they notice the weight I'm losing.

Nothing much else to report...just hoping I hear good news back from the surgeon's office tomorrow! I have an appointment tomorrow to talk about my food allergies with my ENT.  Should be interesting finding out which of those foods I have to avoid forever.  It's actually great that I'll be able to know those things before I meet with the nutritionist-she'll have her hands full with me! Haha!  Later everyone!! :)

So, I went to my consultation today.  Turns out my stupid insurance doesn't even approve the sleeve, only the RNY and the LapBand.  Luckily I had the $$ to pay cash pay, so I am having it anyway.  I don't want to change to another surgery just because I want insurance to pay.  It sucks, but I want the sleeve, you know?  I had my bloodwork, EKG, and chest xray done. Waiting on call from the Imaging place to get the Barium Swallow test done ,waiting on Nut. to call to get that appointment, which is 1 hour seminar and 30 minute one-on-one, and I have to call an schedule an appt. with the psychiatrist tomorrow. They gave me four names so I'd like to get in with whoever can see me first.  

Anyway, I also found out today that I have some crazy food allergies and that could be affecting my weight!!!!!  I had an allergy panel done two weeks ago and I knew I was semi-allergic to nuts, so I went and had it done.  Well, it turns out I'm allergic to chicken, pork, milk, eggs, wheat, barley, nuts, baker's yeast, potatoes, shrimp, and others I can't even remember.  Of course i'm allergic to a bunch of other stuff too like molds, etc., but I already knew that.  But apparently having food allergies can make you retain water badly because you tend to eat the foods that you are allergic to!!!!!  So I have to go to the allergist and start taking under the tongue (sublingual) drops!  They said shots are too dangerous for me with all my allergies.  I cannot believe this.  I was really looking forward to eating eggs after the surgery, and Lord knows chicken has been a staple in every single diet I've ever done.  Crazy.  

If there are any of you out there that know anything about food allergies I sure would like to hear what you think!  I definitely know this is not the main cause of my weight because let's face it, I overeat and don't make the right choices.  But the things I was told, the things I've read....they all add up to about 10-15 extra lbs. from water retention due to allergies.  At least.  They also talk about food allergies in relation to fatigue, migraines, depression, etc.  I can't wait to see if the drops and avoiding the foods help me lose weight in addition to the WLS!

I read someone's blog tonight talking about their apprehensions at sharing their choice with their family/friends.  I'm actually nervous about that part too.  I've told my mom/stepdad and dad/stepmom, they were all elated.  I plan on telling the rest of my family once a date is set.  I know they'll just be happy that I'm doing something about my health and making a choice to do it. As for my friends, I've told four of my friends.  I also told my Supervisor at work because she's going to have to help me get a replacement while I'm gone.  I'm a school librarian and I know that someone is going to have to fill in for me.  That's where my concern comes in-I've got to tell my Principal at some point, and at an elementary school news travels fast, so I think I'm going to just tell people when they ask, that way I don't have to try to remember who I told and who I didn't.  I'm sure they'd all know anyone since we have all of the gossipers!  There was a lady that got some kind of surgery last year---she didn't tell anyone but came back and lost a LOT of weight and it honestly was pretty obvious to all of us that she had something done, and she chose not to tell anyone, and it was just kinda weird.  We all knew she had done something but didn't really know what to say, so I think that it would be best if I'm upfront about it.  There was another girl that I had gone to school with as well as working with for a while, and I saw her after I hadn't seen her for a while, and she had lost a drastic amount of weight.  When I asked her what she did she told me she had WLS.  I don't remember what she had-think it might have been gastric bypass,  and she looked good and was very up front about things.  Any recommendations?

Well after stalking the boards for a week I've officially joined.  For some reason I wanted to wait to join until I had an appointment with my doctor.  I first started thinking about this process in April 2008 and at that point was considering the Lap Band surgery.  I have to say that I'm so glad that I waited because I have read horror stories about the Lap Band.  I am thankful that I waited two years (even though I gained like 50 lbs) but now I am sure that the sleeve is right for me.   Monday I called and my insurance was approved right then and there-80% coverage after the deductible.  I have my consultation with the doctor on Wednesday the 21st of July.  I am hoping that I can have my tests and surgery date scheduled before I go back to work from being out for the summer, but we'll see.  No matter when it is, it's time!  I hope this ball moves fast!