Wordless Wednesday

2 Weeks Out

As of yesterday I'm down 13 lbs. WooHoo! I'm feeling pretty good. Sunday I was getting bad pains in my one side whenever I moved, but I think it may have been a trapped gas pocket. By Monday morning it was gone, thank God. It hurt so bad at one point I was in tears.
Yesterday I thought maybe I would try to eat some tuna on half of a weight watcher's pita. Bad idea! One bite and even though I chewed it really well it felt like a rock slid down my throat and was stuck in my stomach. It took awhile for the *stuck* feeling to go away. I won't be trying that again anytime soon.
The kids' school closed today in anticipation of a storm that's supposed to be coming today. The sky does look pretty ominous right now. I'm sure they'll be making me nuts by the end of the day, considering the younger two are already fighting with each other. I can't wait for Spring!

11 Days Post Op

And 11 lbs lost! It would have taken me months to lose 11 lbs before surgery. The pain is only very mild now and on the left side, and the gas pains are pretty much gone. I only get them occasionally after eating or drinking. I saw the surgeon on Thursday and he said everything looks good and to continue with soft foods for now until I go back for my one month visit. Some things I can have are yogurt, sugar free puddings, cheeses, eggs, cream of wheat, oatmeal, tuna with low fat mayo, chicken cooked really moist with gravy and canned fruits and veggies. And of course my protein drinks and sugar free liquids.
I'm feeling pretty good now. I'm feeling more positive than I have in a long time. For a change it finally seems like I can lose this weight and be the old me again.

And a little rant about the cops...
Hubby got 2 tickets in the mail yesterday for our accident. WHAT! One was reckless driving??? And the other improper lane change. This one really has me stumped, the only "lane change" we did was when we where bounced from northbound across the southbound lanes. Please someone tell me how to do that "properly". And what's with the reckless driving, the only cause of the accident was ice on the road. When hubby pointed out where we hit the ice the cop sent the plow guy (who had also pulled over) right over to plow that area. And the next day when we called the police station to find out where the car had been towed they said that unless we knew the exact point of the accident they couldn't tell us, since there were so many accidents on that road that day there were too many to go through to find our paperwork. So please tell me...how is this our fault? I'd really like to know if they gave everyone who had an accident that day a ticket. UGH! We'll be fighting this one.

Update on me

Monday was one week post-op. The scale is down 8 lbs! Before surgery it would have taken me at least 2 months to lose 8 lbs.
I'm still having some pain, but nothing too bad. It hurts most when I try to bend down to pick something up. I've also been overdoing it a bit taking care of the kids which is tiring me out.
My plan has been as soon as the surgeon clears me I'm going to join a gym and go while Christopher goes to school in the morning. This is going to be MY time for ME. I told the woman whose baby I watch that this is my plan. She needs someone in the morning to watch the baby so I won't be watching her anymore. I really need to do this for me. Plus the whole point of us putting Christopher in school was so that I would get a bit of a break. That hasn't been happening. It seems I always have running around to do, which leaves hubby with the baby and that's not fair to him since I was the one who agreed to watch her not him. Not that he complains, but still he isn't getting any of his stuff done either. I'm not really the type of person who loves to watch babies/kids anyway. Of course I love my own, even when they make me nuts, but my 3 are enough. I think having the extra baby all the time is getting to be a bit much for me anyway. I don't do well with screaming babies, they make me want to hid in another room and cry! I barely survived my kids' infant hood, not sure what I was thinking agreeing to watch a 2 month old baby.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Cookies Anyone

Recovering

So I'm home now and 5 days post-op. I've had mostly terrible gas pains and some mild pain in my stomach area. This morning I woke up with more severe pain in my left side. The doctors said this was to be expected, so I knew it was coming. It's the area the camera was inserted through the abdominal wall, which is now sutured closed. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain so I'm not taking anything for it, just dealing with it.
This morning I'm having "thin" cream of wheat hot cereal for breakfast. This is my most solid food since last Sunday and it tastes good! I'm starting to feel foggy minded from lack of anything real to eat. Next week I can add a few things to my diet...
cottage cheese, cheese sticks, canned chicken with gravy on it. Anything really soft that I can tolerate. At one month post-op I can start adding more real foods like chicken, non-starchy veggies, some fruits, etc.
Right now I'm thinking a lot about food. I'm hoping it's only because of how long it's been since I've had real food and that as soon as I am able to eat real foods again that I'm not thinking so much about what I can no longer have.
And just to torture me some more, I've been surrounded by Girl Scout cookies all week. I started with close to a thousand boxes in my house (my whole Brownie troop's order) and am down to just a few hundred finally.

Home from the hospital - UPDATE!

I'm back home after surgery. I'm happy to say the surgery itself and the hospital stay after were uneventful. Just the normal recovery pain, though I did get up and walk alot. Lots of gas pain, but I tend to get this anytime I have surgery so it was expected.
Now the eventful part...
I was discharged Wednesday and the weather here was pretty bad. Lots of rain, flooding and icy/slushy spots on the road. Well I live about an hour from the hospital and halfway home we hit an ice spot and got into a pretty bad accident. When we hit the ice patch hubby tried to get control of the minivan but there was a water tanker next to us that we ended up hitting. This spun us around, then the back of our van hit the tanker's tire which catapulted us across the snowy median and across 2 lanes southbound then into the guard rail where we finally stopped several feet from the road. All 3 kids were in the car and thank God no one was hurt. All the windows in the back of the car broke out, the passenger side is all banged up and neither of the sliding doors would open. It could have been alot worse, we could easily have flipped where the median was or there could have been oncoming traffic southbound. So someone was definitely watching out for us.
Two guys who saw the accident stopped and called 911, the cops were there within minutes, and the ambulance came fast too. The paramedics checked us all out, then took me back to the hospital just to be sure everything from the surgery was ok. The PA in the ER was going to do a CT scan but the surgeon came in and told her not to, then he admitted me for overnight observation even though everything looked ok. They did a urine sample to check for blood and check my H&H all night long to make sure I didn't have any internal bleeding. Hubby ended up having to take the kids to a hotel near the hospital for the night and in the morning my dad's girlfriend came to get us and bring us home.
I'm still sore from surgery but considering what could have been I'm not complaining. Right now I'm still sipping water, tea, broth, and having jello and sugar free italian ices. Right now I just started a no sugar added applesauce. So far so good.
Hubby has been great in taking care of the kids and house for me.
So that's my unexpected adventure.

It's prep. day

Tomorrow is the big day. Wish me luck and a speedy recovery! Any and all prayers are also welcomed and appreciated!
So...today is prep day. This is stomach surgery after all so I do need to be "cleaned out". I'll just leave it at that and allow you to imagine how my day is going.
And clear liquids only today. Right now I'm just feeling pretty tired, think maybe I'll try to take a nap in a bit. The kids stayed at my MIL's house last night and DH is over there picking them up now so it's really quiet here...except for the fiercely howling wind outside.
We didn't make it to the party last night, we got hit with more snow right at the time we would have been driving. It normally would have been an hour and a half drive (including 25 miles on I80) but I'm sure with the snow it would have been at least 2 hrs to get there. I actually had to try to explain how it logically did not make sense for us to go to hubby. Though in the end he finally did agree that it probably wasn't the best idea to drive that far in a snow storm, especially just to go to the party for someone he only works with and I don't even know.
Tomorrow I'll be leaving my house at 6am to get to the hospital by 7. I'll be back home sometime on Wednesday and will post an update on how it went when I'm feeling up to it. Right now I'm cold so I'm going to go make a mug of hot chicken broth to warm me up...yum!
*See* you on the other side of surgery!

Didn't do much today

Kyleigh was home from school sick today with a fever and a cough. Which didn't stop her from bugging me all day! I had to keep telling her to go back in the room and lay down.
Other than that I just watched the baby that I babysit for and took care of my "ferocious beast". He is only 3 but very stubborn and persistent. He actually tries to stare down hubby, which is not a good thing. I just wish I knew a productive way to deal with him. Time outs don't work and I usually just end up more frustrated. So if anyone has tips for dealing with an overly aggressive, and destructive 3 year old I'd love to hear them!
Tomorrow will be my busy, running around day. Only 3 days til surgery! I had my last piece of pizza (for a very long time) and washed it down with my last soda tonight.

High Anxiety

The closer it gets to Monday the higher my anxiety level is getting. Everything is making me twitchy and irritable right now. I feel like I'm going to freak out at any moment. And I swear the kids can sense this (especially "the ferocious beast" aka: Christopher) and feed off it to see exactly how far they can push mommy before I really do go insane. *ummmmm* (Can anyone say "mommy needs yoga time!")

And my husband chooses this Sat of all nights to decide that we need to go out. He wants to go to a 50th birthday party for some guy at work. Not even one I've ever heard him talk about before. So he goes and arranges for his parents to take the kids sat overnight. Great, but they are an hour and a half away. So we have to go drop off the kids there in NY, go to the party in NJ from 6-11pm then come home to PA. Then Sunday go back to NY to get the kids. Not really what I want to be doing this weekend. He says "but we never go anywhere". Well, do you think maybe you could've asked your parents to take the kids some other weekend, um...I don't know...any other weekend up til now??? Then we could have had a *date night*. Men!

Thursday Thirteen #1

Thirteen Things about Kelly 1. I have a wonderful hubby, and 3 great kids. 2. We have 2 dogs, 4 cats a bunny and 2 geckos 3. I grew up in NY and now live in PA 4. My favorite color is green 5. I'm addicted to all the Law & Order and CSI shows. 6. I babysit a friend's baby girl...who is screaming her head off for no apparent reason right now. 7. I am a Girl Scout leader & Sunday school teacher 8. I never finished college after I got pregnant with my oldest child. 9. I love taking pictures of my kids, animals and anything in nature. 10. I'm not a very patient person 11. I LOVE tigers 12. I HATE doing laundry & washing dishes 13. I have 1 sister

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

I snapped!

Yesterday we had to do our taxes, which we went to an H&R Block set up at Wal-Mart to do. Well I was there I figured I pick up a few things we needed since we were almost out of the kids snacks, milk, bread, etc. Well there I ran into my friend who had the surgery last summer. I told her mine is on Monday and she was telling me to be prepared to feel crappy for the first two weeks. After that I'd start feeling better. Ok, no problem. I knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park.
Then I get to the grocery section and start realizing in just a few days I won't be able to have some of my favorite goodies anymore. Next thing I know I've got cookies, chips and ice cream in my cart. Up til now I've been pretty good at cutting out the junk in preparation for surgery and after.
At the checkout I got a king size Snicker bar, and for lunch and then again last night ate a bunch of chocolate chip cookies. The good news is hubby and my littlest helped me eat them so there's not much left to get into today. I'm not too big on chips so there not calling my name, at the time I grabbed them I think I wanted them just because I knew I wasn't going to be having them again anytime soon. The ice cream now is a different story. More likely than not that pint of Ben & Jerry's (my biggest addiction) will be gone by the time I go to bed tonight. But I have no plans to go back to any stores between now and Monday so I will not be getting anymore junk.
I did get all of my after surgery stuff already so I'm all set with that.

It's really real!

Yesterday I went down to the hospital for my pre-admission testing. While I was sitting there with the nurse it hit me, this is really happening. Up until now I've been excited but pretty much just going through the motions of what needed to be done in order to be approved for the surgery. Well now that I've been approved and it's less than a week away it's really hitting me. I'm excited but also anxious. It's going to be a huge change in my life afterward. I worry if I'll be able to make the changes needed in order to stay healthy during the weight loss period and afterward. And also once I get to goal if I'll be strong enough to stay there. I feel fairly confident that I can, but there is still that apprehension in the back of my mind that comes with any new experience. I've got plans set and have been filling the house with after surgery "foods" (more like liquids) and getting protein drinks. And after the doctor okays me I plan on joining a local gym. So I do have plans, as long as I stick to them all should go fairly smoothly!

Not as bad as I thought....

So yesterday (Sat) we took my Brownie troop ice skating. Only 4 out of 10 girls came and the moms (and one dad). We had tons of fun and for most of the girls it was their first time. They all did terrific. It was my 3rd time ever in my life on the ice. Once when I was 12, once last year with hubby and the older 2 kids and yesterday.
Now I'm probably about 30 lbs heavier than last year so I figured I be dying on the ice and that today I'd be sore as anything. Well it turns out that I'm not sore at all from skating and I being on the ice wasn't too bad.
I am sore, however, from the lovely spill I took. Now picture my big ole' butt heading toward where my daughter and 2 other girls are. One girl slid into where my daughter and another were standing holding hands. I go to reach out to keep them from falling and *bam* take a nasty fall myself. All you heard was *whack* as I fell onto my well padded bottom (still hurt even with all the padding!). What hurt worse was the fact that as I fell I put my elbow down and it drove right into the ice. My arm went totally numb and my fingers started tingling. Now up to this point I'd been doing great. We had a total of 1 hr 45 min to be on the ice. Wouldn't you know it, this happened 1 hr and 40 min after we got there. That's my life! So now the feeling starts coming back, and I'm wishing for numbness again. It is hurting like hell. At this point it's time to get the girls out of their skates and head home. As we're driving the hour and a half back I'm contemplating going to urgent care, but decide against it. I figure I'll go today if I wake up still in pain.
Well, I wake up this morning not thinking of my arm and as I go to roll out of bed lean right on that elbow...*wham* I see stars. The good news is that it seems to just be that I badly bruised it and as long as I don't touch it or lean on it I'm ok. My ego on the other hand....well, you can imagine :-)

Getting Here

Well, it's been a journey already just to get to this point. Obviously I didn't just wake up one morning and decide surgery would be a great thing to do to lose weight.
I've been overweight since my early teens. I've done just about every diet there is. Some have worked, some haven't. The most successful for me was always Weight Watchers. However, I've always gained whatever weight I've lost back, and more. I gained, and lost with each of my 3 pregnancies. After my last child was born I was able to lose some, but not much. Over the past 3 years I've managed to gain it all back. I am now as heavy as I was the day my youngest was born. This is my highest weight. 219#'s. It hurts me just to write that number. I can't believe I've let it get to this. All of my recent (past year) attempts at weight loss have failed. I've spoken with my doctor and she thinks that because I've yo-yo dieted so much in my life my body no longer is cooperating with my weight loss attempts. After speaking with a friend of mine, who had RNY last year, who is doing so well with it I decided to look into it more. I had been considering LapBand but now also started thinking about RNY. So I took the first step and called the surgeon's office and made an appt to attend their seminar. My friend was kind enough to come with me to the seminar for support, which was truly great. I learned alot about both LapBand and RNY and that night made my decision to go with RNY.
Ok, so I've made my decision...now what?
Well, it's not so simple. There is a whole process required to get to where I am now. I went and saw their nutritionist for a whole discussion on what to expect after surgery, how I eat now, things that will change after surgery and the vitamins and protein supplements I'll need to take the rest of my life. Next up, the psychological appt. I spoke with the psychologist and had to complete a lovely 300+ questionaire that assesses if I'm "sane" enough to make the decision to have this procedure. Ok, done. Lab work...lots of it. Done. Letter from my primary doctor. Done.
OK great, I'm feeling really good about this now. Wham! The surgeon's office calls and says my insurance changed their policy and now I have to prove 6 consecutive months of medically supervised weight loss attempt. Ok, now I'm a little worried. I know I've seen my primary doctor on a regular basis but can't remember if there are 6 consecutive months of visits. So after a few days of phone tag with them I get the good new that there are and they type up a paper for the insurance. Wonderful!
Now it's wait and see if I get approved. This feels like forever, when in reality it's only a week and a half. Then one glorious day the insurance lady at the office calls and says I've been approved! Yay!!!
So up next...I do a 3 hr pre-op class at the office with other patients scheduled for surgery. They mostly go over information already given and some new stuff. And they make sure you have no questions and know exactly what to expect during and after surgery. They also make sure all paperwork is in place for the hospital. Done. Great!
Now on this coming Monday, the 4th, I go to the hospital for pre-admission testing and finally on the 11th will be my surgery!!! WooHoo!!!
Can you tell I'm excited? I'm also getting nervous as the date gets closer. I'm not scared about the surgery, but more worried about if I'm going to be strong enough to do all that is required in the beginning after surgery. I think I will, but it is still a huge change in my life so of course I'm a bit apprehensive about it.
So that's my story so far. Check back for updates as my journey progesses. It has only just begun.