Erynn Z.

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Today is exactly one week after my surgery. Overall I'm recovering really well, aside from some head-hunger. I went to my bariatric support group last night, and I can do a lot of things around the house for myself (just a lot slower than usual.) I can even lay on my side with no problems already!

I have a drain, and about a foot of closely-spaced staples in my belly. Hopefully the drain will be coming out on Thursday. Nothing's giving me too much trouble. I've been taking pain meds only as needed; I don't need them regularly anymore.

The best part, though, is that I stepped on the scale this morning, and weighed in at 259!!!! That's 9.5lbs in one week! I'm amazed. When I first saw my surgeon, I was at 277. This one week after surgery has taken off almost as many pounds as working out and eating better did during the whole 2 months beforehand!

250s!!! Wow!!!!

OMG I AM SOOOOO BORED!!! *WHINE*

I never thought I would see the day that I'd be sick of watching TV and sitting in front of the computer, but it's here! Gah! I just want to get up off this couch!

Maybe I'll read a magazine or something.

Overall I'm feeling much better today than yesterday (I haven't even had any pain meds yet.) Also, instead of trying pudding today, I'm going to try mashed potatoes made with broth. YUM!

I can't wait until I'm back to normal.

Today I took my first post-op shower (as opposed to a spongebath.) It was SO refreshing! Mom was able to rig up a shower seat using a barstool, a large plastic shopping bag, and some towels, (Look out MacGuyver!) and aside from having to be careful to not get a direct hit to the incision from my apartment's abnormally high water pressure, things went quite smoothly.

I can sit on the couch and even lean into the armrest today, (yay progress!) so I've been watching a lot of movies. Stairs aren't as big of a deal as I thought they'd be, and I walked down to the first floor and chit-chatted with the mail lady for awhile this afternoon.

In other news, my cat has appointed himself the belly-pillow holder-downer. He's really confused about this whole thing. :-)

Surgery went well. Of note were the following: 1) I had man-sized intestines (26-27 ft of them,) and 2) I had an undiscovered ovarian cyst that had already popped! (that must've been what made me bleed for a month.) That makes me angry with my PCP for not catching it. I think I'll be switching doctors this year.

The post op experience hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, so that's good. Coughing and laughing hurt a lot, and I'm in pain, but it's not uncontrollable pain.

Sleeping at home is weird. I  think my new bed will be the couch for awhile, because I can't get comfy in my real bed.

Last night I had some difficulty. I woke up several times with bad gas and diarrhea. I felt SO dehydrated afterwards. I'm sipping the water like crazy now, and that seems to be helping. I also took some more pain meds at 7am, and since then I've been ok for the most part (though I can feel gas pressure again. I hope it comes out in burp form this time.)

I think today I will give applesauce a try. Chicken broth isn't sounding very appealing anymore. I kind of blame it for last night a little bit.

I mean the title quite literally, I assure you!

So far, things have been going ok for the most part. Having a cold yesterday meant I only ate one meal (chicken breast, spinach, and cheese,) and two apples, so I'm not very worried. The bowel prep stuff tasted like arse this morning, but at least it was quick. I have to take it again at 5pm, too. Bleah!!!!

The BP sheet said that I could eat a light breakfast beforehand, but I wasn't hungry (strange!) so I skipped breakfast and took the Fleet Phospho-Soda an hour early. Now I'm just waiting, and drinking warm water in the meantime (for my cold.)

As far as the cold goes, I had a sore throat when I woke up this morning, but I took 2 dayquill caps and have been drinking a lot of warm water, and it seems to be helping. I'm determined to have surgery tomorrow, no matter what it takes!

Also, the ticker has been scrapped in favor of a simple signature stating stats. It was too difficult to maintain it properly.

I was doing so good before Christmas. This morning the scale said 179.5, so I've adjusted my ticker. That's fine; I'm sure I'll lose some during bowel prep on Monday, and I plan to eat better quality food this week. It's going to be hard, though. Tonight is my friend's birthday, and ice cream pie will be served. Plus, Sunday is New Years Eve, and I'm sure I'll be drinking a little bit if I go out.

Overall I've been doing well with working out regularly, so that's good. I LOVE my laptop with the TV tuner. My dresser is the perfect height for it when I'm on the exercise bike, so I just plug in my laptop and watch TV while I work out!

Less than a week left.... Excited and scared! Excited and scared!

Behold, my weight loss ticker! I've already lost some weight from my highest, thanks to increasing protein, decreasing carbs, and working out regularly. When I first visited my surgeon, I was 277. After Thanksgiving, I stepped on the scale to read 285! Yikes! But that quickly came off, and this morning I saw 270.5!!! I'm happy about that, so I created my ticker early, to celebrate. Now I hope I can get through Christmas and New Year's Eve without gaining! Anyway, here it is:

Two weeks from now, I will officially be a switch sister! Yay! 

I went in for my pre-admission testing this morning. I talked with a nurse about my surgery, met with the anesthesiologist, and and had a routine blood draw and chest x-ray. I've overcome my fears of the epidural, so I'm happy about that. I don't want all of the drowsiness associated with a morphine pump.

After the hospital, I headed over to Dr. Hares' office to meet with Jackie to sign all of the consent forms and talk about the bowel prep and what to expect post-op. There's nothing left to do now until surgery!

I have to say I'm surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I think it's because I went through the whole two-week-freak back in November, when my surgery was going to be Dec. 7th. The other factor is that I can lose myself in Christmas and New Years activities, so that's helping.

I'm excited. This time I'm ready! Come and get me, life-changing freight train!

OMG! I just got the call from Carol; I get to keep my date! I'm scheduled for 7:30AM on January 2nd at Huron Valley Sinai!!!! FOR SURE!!!!!

YYYYYAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! *squeal*

Well, I should've known. This could be a good change, or a bad change, I'm not sure yet.

Jackie called, and she got Huron Valley to match St. John Oakland! So I can have my surgery there! (YAY!) I'm excited about that.

However, I may not be able to keep my date. I should know on Monday. Yikes, the thought of pushing it back yet again scares me. It's starting to feel like the surgery that will never really happen, it will just get pushed back forever. First Dec. 4th, then Dec. 7th, after that Jan 2nd, now when?