ScottsAngel

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Today is a HUGE milestone for me!!!! I stepped on the scale this morning only to see it read 201.5 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!! That is a loss of 100 POUNDS from my highest weight!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! It is hard for me to comprehend that at one point in my life not that long ago I actually carried around 100 pounds more on my body - doesn't seem possible, but I did and I thank God every day that those pounds are gone now! I also realized this morning that at this point I only have about 50 more pounds to go until goal….a nice thought, too!! I have been painting again this week - we are painting the living room and I have been painting the hutch. Painting seems to be a very good exercise, as it works all the muscle groups and the weight really drops off when I do this kind of work!! Wonder what room we should redo next?? LOL "ONE-der-land" is approaching quickly!!

I also had another epiphany a couple of nights ago at dinner. I was craving BBQ chicken on the grill and my favorite meat is dark meat, so we BBQ'd some chicken thighs on the grill. I made some mashed potatoes and noodles and broccoli to go along with them and we had a nice meal. When it came time to eat, I put just a small amount of each on my plate of course, and sat down to eat. I concentrated on my chicken thigh first and ate about ½ of it. Then I had about 2-3 bites of my mashed potatoes and probably 4 or 5 egg noodles. I had 4 or 5 bites of broccoli and I was full - stuffed to the max and had to stop eating. Meanwhile, Scott and the boys were still eating, some on their second chicken thigh and I was done! I told Scott, "Wow, at times like this, I realize just how small my stomach really is now!" I still had overeaten with that small amount of food, but it sure was nice to have eaten a real home-cooked meal!!! Thanksgiving will be very interesting………hmmmm……a piece of turkey, a bite or two of mashed potatoes and possibly a bite of a yam - that ought to do it - what an extremely different lifestyle from that which I was used to before - but I like it!!!!!!!! (Most of the time?!)

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated so it's time. Much has transpired since the last update - both good and bad. Two weekends ago we decided that it would be fun to "remodel" a few rooms in our house! We went and bought some paint and the supplies to build a wall between the living room and what used to be my office space that I shared with the living room. To make a long story short, Scott built a wall and I now have my own office! However, at the same time Scott was building the wall, I decided it would be fun to paint the sitting room - up and down off of a ladder and reaching overhead for 2 days! After 2 coats of paint, the room was starting to look quite different, but unfortunately, my left-sided abdominal pain returned with a vengeance!! The pain is now here all the time, never subsides and has been here since October 16th. I overdid it I guess too soon after surgery. So, poor Scott had to finish the last 2 coats of paint, and it sure looks nice! I have also been suffering with some pretty severe bouts of nausea again quite frequently, mostly related to dairy products, and one time when I had a roast beef sandwich with just a tiny bit of light mayo on it. I am also not able to tolerate one of my favorite presurgery foods anymore, swiss cheese. On the weight side of things, I am hovering at my lowest weight in 20 years - 204.5 pounds!!!!! I told Scott that I want to do something special when I hit "one-der-land," that is when the scale reads "one hundred and anything" (199 or below)!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't weighed what I do now since right after high school - it's a great feeling. Lori had her initial meeting with the folks at Hershey today to start her 6-month diet supervised program!! She said all went well and that her surgery should be some time in April. Good news for Lori - she sounded very excited when telling me about the visit today. Way to go Lori - I can't wait until you are on the "losing side" along with me!!

Today we took Angie shopping for a birthday gift. She chose a pretty opal ring (her birthstone) and a CD player and CD. After that, Scott took Angie home to spend some quality time with her and my mom and I went to lunch together at Garfield's (we shared an appetizer!! Remember- Mom and I both have had gastric bypass!) and then to visit my sister at work and then to visit my uncle and up to his camp. It was nice to spend some time with my mom for a change since she moved away again and was up here for a visit.

As far as weight goes, I have been having trouble with bowel movements lately and have been pretty constipated. Yes, it's a vicious cycle of diarrhea and constipation - from one extreme to the other it seems!! I am having to take 3 tablespoons of Milk of Magnesia daily to keep regular, and when I don't have bowel movements, my weight doesn't budge. I have been at a plateau for about 10 days now at 210 pounds, but that is still a 30-pound weight loss from my original 240 pounds before I took the Fleet's Phospho-Soda presurgery, so I'm happy with that!!!

Another very energetic day today!!! After Scott and the boys left for work and school, I decided to clean the bathroom. After I was done with that, I just kept going with the rest of the house, and before I knew it, I had cleaned the entire house (with the exception of the boys' rooms) all by myself!! I never once experienced the left side pain with all that exertion. When I was done with that, I went on to paint the back garage door. Later that evening, we went down to pick up Angie (Scott's daughter) so that we could spend the next with her since it was her birthday.

Today was another BUSY day!! I woke up thinking about the closet organizers Scott had in the garage for sale. I decided that the smallest one should fit in our laundry room for storage and then we could attach a rod to the wall and use that for a drying rod for shirts that we don't dry in the dryer! Scott liked the idea as well, so our day started off by installing that organizer and rod in the laundry room. It is fantastic and works out great! After that, I started to wash the car and then Scott joined me, and we spent about 4 hours detailing the Mustang, making it look like a brand new car!! It had been awhile, so she was in bad need of a good cleaning up! After that, Lori brought Ryan over to play with Dakota for awhile and then we took Ryan home and delivered the two remaining closet organizers to Lori's house, as she bought those from Scott to install in her house. On the way to Lori's, I got an insatiable craving for ice cream!! I told Scott that we must leave Lori's house to allow enough time to stop at the grocery store to investigate some sugar-free ice cream flavors. We ended up buying three different brands/flavors of sugar-free ice cream that night to try. The Reglan that Dr. Marymor prescribed at my 6-week follow-up visit has helped tremendously with my nausea, so I take one of those pills before eating dairy products or things that I know make me nauseous. I tried some of the butter pecan ice cream; it was delicious and satisfied my craving, along with giving me some protein!

What a beautiful autumn Saturday morning! The sun was shining and the leaves were falling, so I decided to take Grayson (my weimaraner) out for a walk. Much to my surprise, I was able to walk 2 full laps around the cemetery (40 minutes of walking!) with NO LEFT SIDE PAIN!! I could not believe it??!! This was the first time since my wound infection/seroma that I didn't get pain on my left side after 15 minutes of walking/being on my feet. We also went out and bought some mums for the porch today. We put them in pots and sat them on the steps. Lori and Phil came by and visited for a couple of hours today. We were supposed to go to the Aaronsburg Dutch Fall Festival today, but the main reason I've gone there in the past was to EAT (apple dumplings, homemade stickies out of a hot oven, bread, ham and bean soup, ice cream), which I can't do anymore, so I didn't see any reason to go this year. My how life changes post bypass surgery!! You learn to find different things to do on autumn weekends instead of frequenting all the festivals to eat!!

Today was my 6-week follow-up appointment with Dr. Marymor at Barix. The trip down this time was actually much more pleasant than at my 2-week checkup. We encountered quite heavy rain storms in Harrisburg on the way home, but made the entire trip in the daylight which helped a great deal. I have now lost 25% of my excess body weight according to Barix calculations which is where most WLS patients are at 3 months postop, so I am ahead of the game and Dr. Marymor told me not to be surprised if my weight loss slows down at some point to compensate for the jump I already have on the numbers. He told me he wouldn't be surprised if I lost 90 or 100 pounds, but not to be upset if I only lost the 65 to 75 pounds that is the average 65% to 75% goal of excess weight lost with this surgery. We talked at some length about my ongoing problems with chronic extreme nausea on an ongoing daily basis, along with the left-sided debilitating abdominal pain which presents itself after I stand or walk for any time greater than 20 minutes. Dr. Marymor seemed somewhat puzzled by these symptoms, as they are what he considers atypical for his general surgical population. He ordered a barium study, which came back perfectly normal, and he wrote for Reglan for me to take 3 times a day before each of my main meals to try to help with the nausea. He also wrote me a prescription for Zofran to help combat the nausea when it occurs, but when I went to fill the prescriptions, I found out my insurance does not cover this medication. Therefore, I will stick with my Phenergan for times of severe nausea and rest; this seems to work best for me. He also agreed with extending my short-term disability by 3 weeks to try to give me time to gain more strength so that I am able to sit and work at least 4 hours at a time, as up to this point, I am unable to do so. I am not able to sit at my computer for more than an hour or two at one time without needing a rest break. Dr. Marymor also addressed the severe diarrhea that I have been battling for the previous 4 days, at times not even being able to keep water in me. By removing all dairy products and sugar-free/sucralose products from my diet, this problem has seemed to improve somewhat. He encouraged me to continue to do what I felt best in that area and gradually add new foods as I felt ready. I was also informed by the nutritionist that I would now need to begin adding 1000 mg of calcium to my regimen daily by the way of consuming 2 Extra-Strength Tums in order to prevent calcium deficiency and osteoporosis later in life. Wow - so much to compensate for now that my caloric and nutrient intake is so little. I have also been somewhat lax with my walking regimen due to my overall weakness and lethargy. I was very encouraged by all staff and motivated to resume that part of my recovery/routine. Scott and I ate a small lunch at Barix before getting back on the road for the long ride home.

The fun goes on. I have been struggling with 4 or 5 days of chronic diarrhea and severe nausea now. For 2 days, I was not able to even retain sips of water. After 2 days of these symptoms, I called Dr. Marymor, and he suggested that I refrain from consuming all products labeled "sugar-free" to avoid the ingredient "sucralose," and to avoid all dairy products for a day or so to see if that improves my symptoms. He also agreed with my request to try Imodium to seek relief from the profound diarrhea I am experiencing. I have now been trying those measures for 2 days without much relief. I am trying hard to get in 50 to 60 ounces of liquids each day to prevent dehydration, as I feel weak, dizzy and lethargic without any energy whatsoever, probably from lack of nutrition. Barix told me it could be a virus I have contracted and not necessarily symptoms resulting from the surgery. Whatever it is, I wish it would run its course and be gone. It is not fun to feel nauseous and sick 24/7 for days on end. When I put food up to my mouth and try to take a bite, I am overcome with nausea and nearly vomit. I am trying to live under the motto of "This, too, shall pass." Up to this point, I feel this surgery has been anything but the right choice for me. Despite the fact I am rapidly losing weight (I have now lost 33 pounds in 6 weeks), this is not a way I would have chosen to do it. It is not fun to feel unwell all the time. I just want to start feeling well again - SOON!!! Tomorrow is my 6-week follow-up appointment with Dr. Marymor at Barix. Hopefully he will have some kind of encouragement and good news to offer.

Another downer of a day today. I awoke at 3:00 AM this morning with severe 8-9/10 chest/epigastric pain and I could not get back to sleep. I tossed and turned until 6:30 and then got up and tried to start my day. The more I moved around, the worse the pain got. By 8:00 AM, I called Dr. Marymor and explained that the pain I had been having yesterday, just left and mid of my incision, had moved during the night and was now in my chest/epigastrium area. He said it could be gas, sutures pulling or anything, and that I should go to the emergency room and have the physician there call him when I got there. Scott had a very important meeting that he could not miss, so he took me to the ER and dropped me off for another whirlwind of testing and diagnostics. After undergoing another complete battery of laboratory tests (I had to be stuck 4 times today because I was so dehydrated and my veins would not cooperate!), chest x-rays, abdominal x-rays, etc., it was determined that I did not have an obstruction, no free air in my abdominal or chest area, all my labs were normal, etc. I was given a GI cocktail to drink upon my arrival because the pain was epigastric, and the ER doctor was thinking the problem might be acid related. I was also begun on IV fluids and received 2 liters of fluids which helped with the dehydration. I received 6 mg of Morphine for pain, which did help, but did not completely alleviate the pain. My final diagnoses on discharge were a diaphragm strain/pull and/or acid problem (I had tried spaghetti sauce for the first time last night - just 2 teaspoons!, but apparently it did not agree with me.) I was advised to keep doing what I have been doing with my walking, etc., but not to overdo it with lifting, pushing, pulling, etc. and see what happens. However, on a more positive note, my weight loss is progressing slowly, as I am down to 214 pounds now, for a total loss so far since surgery of 26 pounds in just about 5 weeks.

Today was a very bad day for me. A major setback in my progress. I woke up August 10th with midsternal chest pains and shortness of breath. Of course, working in the medical field, sometimes I know too much, and I was fearing the worst, a blood clot somewhere. We also noticed this morning that right at the middle of my incision it was bright red, an area about the size of an orange, which indicated an infection. It was also very painful around this reddened area of my incision and had been for about 2 days, a burning pain. So, Scott took the day off from work, and we called my primary care doctor, who advised us to go straight to the emergency room which we did. They took us straight back for evaluation as soon as we arrived, hooked me up to a telemetry monitor, EKG, did a portable chest x-ray, got lots of labs, an IV was established, and I was sent for a stat CT scan of my chest. All of these studies were negative, thank the Lord. So, after spending about 5 hours in the ER being monitored, etc., I was sent home on high dose broad spectrum antibiotics and told to watch the redness.

Approximately 3 hours later, when I got up from a chair to walk across the room, my incision opened up and pus drainage came gushing out everywhere. This was quite alarming for Scott and me, as we had no idea what was happening. We called EMS to come because we didn't know what had happened, if my incision had opened up or what. Then we called Dr. Marymor, who instructed Scott that this was all very normal for a wound infection, and that it was just my body's way of ridding itself of the infection buildup and to let it out, to not try to stop the drainage. The EMS crew arrived, evaluated me and said what was happening with my incision looked normal, and I did not end up being transported back to the hospital at Dr. Marymor's instruction. He said to remain at home and let the infection drain, keep it clean and take the antibiotics. Scott said that Dr. Marymor seemed to be somewhat miffed at us for "overreacting" to the situation, but we had no idea what was happening and the whole event was very scary to us. After about ¼ to ½ cup of drainage that evening, it has continued to ooze for 2 days and the pain has lessened, the redness is decreasing, although it is still very tender in that area. Needless to say, I am now back to sleeping on the futon downstairs, as my bed is too high to climb into with the soreness that has returned to my incision site. I have been struggling with daily depression with this setback. This surgery is really difficult emotionally on me. I have vowed to try to get in more protein and more liquids each day to try to help with the healing process!! Wish me luck……I need all the hopes and prayers I can get right now.