therese H.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Yesterday, May 6, was my one year surgiversary!!!

I've lost 110 lbs. & gone from a size 22-24 to a size 12.
I don't have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, acid reflux, a hernia, lemme see, what else????

I had my blood work done last week and the results are all good!

The ObesityHelp website has been an enourmous help to me. In the weeks leading up to surgery and for weeks after, I was scrolling through the posts many times a day. What I read helped me prepare for the good things & the bad things. It helped me learn about what to expect and where things could go wrong.

I went to NeWeigh and the folks there were very warm & friendly and very helpful. Katherine, who leads the support group is a great therapist & teacher. All of the other post-ops have been helpful & supportive.

It is because of ObesityHelp.com  & NeWeigh that my blood work is in tip-top shape, because I learned how to take care of myself from everyone that participates. I have known of folks that do not visit this website pre/post surgery & I really wish they would do their research here to avoid problems. How can more knowledge be a bad thing????

Would I have gastric bypass again?

Yes! I only wish I could have done it sooner, but I don't really have any regrets about that either. It was the right time for me and it has changed my life in so many good ways.

Therese  

Good golly, I had some crazy dreams tonight. Its probably from the pain med, and now I can't go back to sleep and its 3:30 am.
No one ever want to hear you re-tell your dreams, but I can't resist this one 'cuz its too funny (or crazy-heh).

I dreamt that I was in this science-fiction-ey travel machine, to travel to different planets.
The planet we finally ended up on had oceans of melted  butter and land made from real cheddar cheese, the Land of Butter and Cheddar Cheese. Yum. 
We were swimming in the ocean of butter, when this huge vine tendril started growing up from the ocean floor and choking someone in our group. The only way to avoid choking was to start listing all of the vegetables, preferably from Green Giant, that would taste good with butter and/or cheese.

Now, one does not need to understand Freudian dream analysis to figure out where this one came from!
Totally whacked!

Its Saturday evening and I'm worn out!

My first full day home was Thursday and my husband stayed home with me. I was very glad for the company! While I felt like I did a good job getting the protein drinks down and drinking water, I didn't get as much water as I wanted. I did manage to drink about 45 grams of protein.
I kicked my husband out of the bed and into the guest bedroom so that I can prop myself up with pillows and thrash around to my heart's content. I went to sleep that night feeling like I could accomplish my goals without too much stress.
Friday I was on my own because my husband needed to get back  to work. I keep re-reading all of the diet guidelines because I'm really trying hard to follow everything I've been told to do; this is too big a thing to just slob on through it. I am really lucky to be married to an endocrinologist who is patient and understanding (and *not* a control freak! That's me! heh). He is my personal nutritionist! When we go to the grocery store, I ask him to look at everything I put in the  shopping basket to make sure it has the correct or safe ingredients. We went to Whole Foods together this afternoon and he helped me choose soups and supplements. (Ah...how romantic!)

Anyway, back to Friday.
I didn't quite realize, or I was just confused...I just didn't know how I was supposed to get 100 calories of nutrition every 2-2.5 hours just drinking protein drinks and diluted juice. I got quite shaky during the day and even felt kinda hungry. (Oh, that's great. meh.) Once while I was drinking my protein drink I lost track of time, or whatever, while I was working on my computer. At some point I realized that I had sipped, sipped, sipped the whole glass without realizing it and my stomach pouch was quite uncomfortable! I know I didn't go as far as dumping, but it scared me so much! I could have easily done it! This is one of many reasons I quit dieting years ago: I can't keep anything on my brain for very long!!! This really, really freaked me out. Was I over-reacting? Probably, but at the time my mind just started racing down the failure road: Oh, great, I'm going to fail at this, too.
I tried to keep my extreme emotions from my husband, but I think he has a pretty good idea of what is going on in my head. Two of his employees had the surgery last year and have been very encouraging. He told me later that one of them had lectured him about the possibility of me being emotional early on. He kinda stands back and waits for me to ask for help, which is okay. My husband is not my therapist. I told him tonight that there are just some emotions and things that I just can't talk about.
The day did not end well.
Saturday (today) dawned and I was still feeling emotional. (I'm also wondering if the pain med is causing some of this. My incisions still hurt a bit and I'd like to keep taking the pain med for a little while longer, but I not sure if its too high a price to pay if I feeling more depressed.) While I was alone I even got on a crying jag that seemed like would never stop.
Before going to the store we reviewed my nutritional guidelines and decided that, yes, I was allowed full liquids and I could start drinking soups. We went to the store and I even bought some watermelon to juice (omg: it was wonderful!) and a cantelope to juice up later. When we got home I fixed up a potato & leek soup with the Unjury flavorless protein powder. Yum, Yum, Yum is all I need to say about that!

So, tonight, I'm tired and ready to go to bed soonly, but feeling better about my progress. (Ha! Its been less than a week!) I know its a cliche, but I just hafta take it one day at a time.

My surgery is scheduled for 2 days from now, Tuesday, May 6, 2008. I am excited and terrified at the same time. I keep looking at the before & after pix on this site to help me stay encourged by everyone's progress.
My husband has been very supportive and although I think he is worried, he is trying to be strong for me.
I am trying to be prepared as much as possible with the information I've been given about my post-op diet, but I'm very confused by some information that seems contradictory. I'll keep researching.
I'm scheduled to be at the hospital at 5 AM. Ugh. I am a self-employed performing musician and usually don't go to bed before 1 AM. I doubt I'll have much luck sleeping the night before, so maybe I should just stay up and take care of as much business as I can before my surgery.
Our bedroom is upstairs, so I'm afraid that going upstairs is going to be painful when I get home. Maybe not. Maybe with enough pain-killers I won't mind! I had emergency laproscopic gall bladder surgery 10 years ago and didn't take pain meds after about 48 hours because I had to play in an opera orchestra 2 days after surgery. The more I think about that the less I get worried about Tuesday's surgery. I know that the RNY is more difficult, but memories of the gall bladder removal at least gives me some perspective.
Its going to be okay.