BrookLayne

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And my kids have a completely different Mom than they did last year! :) I now down 88 lbs. Only 20 lbs left until my surgeons goal. That being said, I only lost 5 lbs in the last month. I did a little bouncing around from 194 to 190. But once I got under 200 I never went back over it. I dont want to see a 2 anything ever again! I have noticed a definate slow down in the weight coming off. But I am assuming that is normal. My body dropped 88 lbs in 7 months. Thats pretty amazing. No wonder I want to hold on to this last 20 lbs so badly LOL

I have been dealing with some unrelated other health issues as well, so my excercise has slowed down, which I believe is a big contributer to my slower losses. I was having severe head and neck pain along with some tingling in my arm, blurry vision, and numbness in my foot. So after trying out some pain meds, my doc sent me for an MRI. The MRI showed one lesion on my brain, which was enough to start a whole roller coaster of other events. I am going to see a neurologist tomorrow. Its a little scary right now because i have so many symptoms that are pointing towards MS. Auto-immune issues run in my family and honestly, if I do have it, alot of things I have had happen in the past would make alot of sense now. But we will see. Its a very difficult disease to get a positive diagnosis on, so I am ready for a long road of not knowing ahead. Which of course is the hardest to deal with. **sigh** I am happy that I have lost so much weight though. I beleive with all my heart that I will be able to deal with whatever lies ahead health wise much eaiser without packing around the extra weight and bad eating habits.

So I guess thats it from here. My babies are starting 6th and 2nd grade tomorrow. I am excited and terrified for them at the same time. Especially my 6th grader. How can she be in 6th grade????? She was just 2 years old explaining to me how she was "big nuff to go to skoo Momma!" Oh boy. I just might need a tissue tomorrow LOL

I have been getting some nasty-grams reminding me that I havent updated here since March and its now Summertime!

So as of this morning, I am down from 278 lbs to 208 lbs. 70 lbs gone since January 14, 2008. I feel really good. About 38 lbs left to go until my surgeons goal. If I go less than that, fantasic. If not, thats ok too. I feel so good at this point that if I didnt lose a single pound more, I would be ok. My BMI has dropped from 43.1 to 32.6. Still high but such a difference in 5 months! I have gone from a 22 to a 14/16. My energy level is good most of the time. I did find out that I am a bit anemic and my Vitamin D level is a little low. So I am taking Bariatric Advantage Iron pills along with Biotin, Calcium with vitamin D, and Flintstones chewables.

I did start losing hair around 3 months, which is a little earlier, but my doc is contributing that to the lower iron levels along with needing more protien. I have always been very good aout getting 65-80 grams of protien a day, but apparently I needed more. So that has been emotionally hard to deal with. But this week, the hair loss has slowed down quite a bit and I can see little hairs sticking up where they are growing back in. yeah! Go hairs!

I am really looking forward to the warmer weather, camping and spending time at the pool. Its going to be a good Summer! I will try not to let so much time go by without updating again!

If you want to see more photos and keep a little better track of my progress, feel free to Friend Request me at myspace.com! My myspace addy is www.myspace.com/brooklayne

Today is March 25 and I am 10 weeks post-op! Today the scale said 230.4 which means I am down 48.4 lbs. Almost 50 lbs in 2 1/2 months. That takes Awhile to sink into my brain! I have gone from a loose 22/tight 20 to a loose18/tight 16. I actually bought a pair of workout pants at Target from the REGULAR section! They are still XL but they didnt come from the plus size department. I need new scrubs for work. I started in a 2XL pant, quickly dropped to an XL after surgery and now need to pick up some larges ASAP LOL So I am definately seeing changes in clothing. I can feel and see changes in my body too. I still feel fat and hope that I can get past that. The last time I weighed 230 lbs was about 6 years ago. My next goal is of course...under 200 LOL My energy level is definately on the upswing! I used to come home from work and sit on the couch. Then go to bed. Now I go home, play with the dogs, water flowers, make dinner, play with the kids, do laundry, sweep the floor. I feel more human. The only food issues I am having is meat. It is a hard one for me. I can eat ground or shredded meat: turkey, beef, as long as its moist. But chunks of chicken breast, even lunch meat, steak...I have to eat like one bite an hour otherwise it gets stuck and makes a reappearance. Blech. Other than that, food choices are good. I am happy to be on to fresh veggies. Snap peas are my favorite snack right now. I have tried things like corn chips (stupid) and I can eat them, but I just plain dont feel as good when I eat those things. I dont dump but I get queasy. So whats the point? Ohhh....and my husband found the Worldwide Nutrition protien shakes at Trader Joes. YUM! I actually really like them! 35 grams of protein in one 12 oz can. Thats the bomb right now! That may well be the difference between losing my hair and keeping it LOL Only downside is the closest Trader Joes is an hour drive. Aw well. I will try and update pictures here soon. I am bad about getting pictures taken of me! But my 7 year old is usually up for a photo shoot, so I will have to wrangle up his help pretty quick. Happy Spring everyone!

Yes, its true. I am missing 14.6 lbs! since my surgery. However, I do not plan to send out a search party for them. I would prefer they stay lost!

I was cleared to move to Stage II foods. My first taste of something that wasnt a clear liquid was cottage cheese. It was the best cottage cheese ever. LOL For dinner last night, I had refried beans with reduced fat cheese. I also mixed half a scoop of unflavored soy protein in them. I tolerated everything fine. My kids were laughing at my Barbie size portions LOL But it was plenty for me! Which is emotionally wierd, ya know? But it works, so thats what counts.

I am going to make a pot of split pea soup and then freeze it in smaller containers that I can microwave later. And I am going to make the Baked Ricotta recipe that came from eggfaces site. I have been craving that since I had surgery! I also know that it is something that my family will like and I will enjoy cooking something for them again! My hubby has been doing all of that and I feel a bit out of touch with everyone!

So thats my update - 14.6 lbs.

My next appointment is a week from Thursday.

Not with food! I have been good LOL But I did buy a scale and I weighed. I have lost 7 lbs since Tuesday. Very cool. Ok...back to drinking!

Yes, I admit it: I am feeling whiny, and weepy, and blah and tired, and bored and discouraged. I really didnt think I would be one of the kind to complain about this boring liquid diet or results not being fast enough (I KNOW its ONLY been a few days LOL) but I am totally complaining. I miss food. Big surprise there LOL Not to the point that I would be willing to cheat anytime soon, but its definatly an adjustment. I didnt realize how much time when into preparing to eat LOL We are having friends over and my initial thought was excitement about having food. Oops. No food for me. It should be about seeing friends, but its still hard. I figured out today that I am falling a little short on the amount of protien that I should be getting so I am making a few changes today. I am also tired of not doing much. I miss taking care of my kids. Hubby is being awesome and doing so much! I should be grateful  but mostly I am just bored and grouchy. I know this healing phase and liquid diet phase is really a short time in the whole scheme of things, so I am trying to focus on that instead of the instant gratification that I would like to have. I havent weighed (partly because I dont have a scale yet LOL) but I thinking I might need to drum up the energy to go scale shopping. I think that if I see some results on the scale then it will make the rest of this crud better. I remember reading posts before I had surgery about people complaining about broth and clear liquids and thinking: What the heck? Suck it up. Its only a week or two. (mine is only a week, thank goodness!) And now here I sit, wanting anything BUT a clear liquid. What a baby I am! Its only a few more days. (Thats my motto right now LOL) I am going to get out today and look at paint samples at the Home Depot. Its just a little trip and hubby said he would paint if I picked out the colors! Yeah! We moved into a new house in October and the only room that has been painted is my sons room. Lots of white walls still left to cover with color. That would definately cheer me up!

ok, back to drinking, walking, resting, whining! :)

I'm home! My surgery went well. I checked in in the first preop room (there were two) and got all settled. It was very busy that day. I was scheduled for surgery between 12:30 and 1:30. At 2:00 I was still in the first waiting room. Apparently both my hubby and I fell asleep at that point because the next thing I remember is some guy named Wally asking me what my name was. Even my hubby was out of it LOL So off we went with Wally to the second preop waiting room. I was on a motorized gurney and man could that thing scoot! My hair was blowing in the wind down the hall LOL My hubby almost had to run to catch up. It was pretty funny. Wally parked me in the next waiting area and said he would see me after surgery. A short time later, my doc came in. She apologized for the wait. Apparently the other two cases in front of me went longer because they had both had surgery in the past, so there was scar tissue to go through etc. I assured her I had not had surgery before, so I should be the easy one. I met the nurse, cant remember her name. Signed something she gave me and then anestheseologist popped in. I signed something from him. He said he would make sure I was asleep...I said he BETTER LOL Then he came back with a little syringe of something. I remember going through the double doors. I do not remember saying bye to my hubby but I remember them showing him where to wait and that I would come back by there on my way to my room. Then we were in the OR. I remember alot of people in little blue hats. Some big blue surgery lights on the ceiling and thats it. I woke up 2 seconds later to a very annoying nurse telling me to wake up. She actually was very nice, but I thought she was annoying because I was still sleepy. I remember blinking and having a very dry mouth. I asked for water, she said no. I asked for SOMETHING moist to wipe my lips of with. She asked if I was nauseated. I said no but if dont get my mouth wiped off I am going to throw-up. Then Wally was back and we were racing down the hallway again LOL Hubby didnt recognize me until I smiled. I was very pale and my face was all droopy. He said he got scared at that point because I looked like I had a stroke or something. Got to my room and started the whole requests for something to wipe my mouth off with. Hubby was awesome and got me all cleaned up. He watched the news and talked to my friend Jaime who came to check on me. I dont remember much accept pushing the pain meds and wiping off my very dry mouth. It was pretty late and I was pretty out of it, so I didnt walk that night.

Next day was a hassle to get them to take out the catheter and take of the circulation things on my legs. Without taking those off I couldnt get up and walk and I really wanted too. My doc was surprised when she came in at 10:20 am and i still hadnt walked. I assured her that I wanted to walk, I just had to get this stuff off. She found the nurse (Her name is Char and if you ever get her at Mercy San Juan....RUN AWAY!) told her that I needed to be walking and to make it happen. An hour later she finally got around to me. I work in a hospital and this was totally unacceptable. We also had to hear how busy she was and how everyone was in more pain than I was and that was why it took so long to get to me. Bottom line is, her CNA could have gotten me dc'd from the cath and the leg things and I could have walked. I didnt need her to walk with me, I just needed her to get me ready. Anyways, she thought I was difficult, my hubby was a no-it-all (hes a paramedic LOL) and I thought she had no bedside manner whats-so-ever, so it was a F U N day LOL I walked that afternoon and started on clear liquids. I have had no nausea and am tolerating all the clear liquids just fine. Today is day 4 and I have just a twinge of feeling hungry. I had some issues with not being able to urinate but once I stopped the morphine, that problem fixed itself. I was able to come home Wednesday morning.

I have been walking about 1/3 of a mile twice a day. Taking my vitamens, drinking my liquids and protein. I feel pretty good. Minimal pain meds on board and really looking forward to some soft food next week. I havent weighed myself and I dont plan on it until I see the doctor on Tuesday. Right now I am focusing and liquids and walking instead of if I am loosing any weight. I am sooo bored with the broth, etc. But there is an end in sight, so I am hanging in there.

All in all, everything went awesome.

I can now turn my countdown in to hours! This week has creeped by, but now its Saturday and surgery is on Monday. I am feeling pretty good. I have been dealing with some severe tension type headaches. The muscles in my neck and shoulders are getting so tense and painful. I know its got to be stress. Thank God for my hubby and his strong hands! He gets me all loosened up for a short time anyways. I am hoping this goes away after surgery. I would hate to have to deal with this along with learning everything else and recovery.

So I had a huge moron moment. I forgot to pick up my Fleet Prep Kit at the pharmacy yesterday. The pharmacy is closed today and tomorrow and i needed to do the Fleet prep tomorrow. I work in the radiology department at a hospital and we use the Fleet Prep Kit #1 for our Barium Enema patients. So I am going to use the one we use at my hospital and hope that it does the job that my surgeon wanted done. Otherwise, I may have to postpone my surgery and that thought makes me so sad. And so freaking mad at myself! I can not believe I forgot to pick up my prescription! Ack.

ok, I am going to go paint my toenails. I should go get a pedicure but I cant treat myself after I forgot to get the prep kit LOL Dumb dumb.

I have a bridal shower to go to this afternoon. Then tomorrow will just be at home waiting for time to pass LOL

Here we go...its the New Year! 14 day countdown. I have all my preop appointments scheduled with the hospital and Dr Machado tomorrow. Then one more week of work, and the journey starts.  Its been an odd week with the kids away at my mom and dads. I havent worked because of the New Years holiday and I have just been puttering around the house. Went to work out yesterday and they were closed (eyeroll). So we went for a bike ride instead. Problem is we live in the FLAT valley of CA so it definately was not as good of a workout as I would have gotten if the gym was open. Ah well. I am gong to take the dogs for a walk today and then hopefullly have enough time after all my appointments tomorrow to be able to get a good workout in at the gym. I still dont love the gym thing, but I feel so proud of myself when I do go. So its worth the pain in the butt to get over there! LOL

I came to a BIG realization yesterday after looking at page after page on here. (OH) If I want to succeed (and I DO!) then it is vital for me to follow my doctors protocol to the tee. I have all my post op Stage Diets and info in page protectors in a binder. I have been reading the heck out of them this past week. I dont want to be one of the people who is testing my new tummy just to see if I throw up. Ack. I want this to work more than I have wanted anything to work, ever.  So I will be one of those anal people who do not waiver off the path that the doc sets for quite some time! LOL  I know that changes are coming, but instead of mourning the fact that I cant eat this or that...I want to embrace the changes. I am excited that I will be able to eat some mashed potatoes again. Thats my favorite good ever, so some Stage II bites of taters are in my future. And thats a happy thought! 

Well, I am off to do some craft room organizing! I will be off work for 4 - 6 weeks (I took the time because I had the time to take! So I am using it LOL) and I am hoping to feel up to doing some  scrapbooking while I recoup.

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been cleaning out closets today. All of a sudden I felt the need to make sure things like that are done. Kind of like nesting syndrome when you are pregnant LOL The kids are at my parents for the week and hubby is at work. Kind of lonely here in a quiet house :) I wanted to sit down and write letters to my kids (ya know...the "just in case" kind) but without them being here its too sad to even think about. I will do it before I go for surgery though. Its important to me to make sure I can say some things to them if, God forbid, anything does happen.

Have I mentioned: I'm excited!!!