6 wks and 1 day Post-Op

Christmas is over with and I went back to work last night! OMG I was so tired from driving the 8-9 hrs back home from Wisconsin I don't know how I did the whole 8 hr work shift. I really really really enjoyed my Christmas with Isaac's family I just love them so much! It was so nice to be able to get to spend so much free time with them and not feel so rushed.

So yesterday was my weigh in day and since I was traveling and unable to weigh in I did it today and I am up 1 lb :( not to to sad about it but I will just need to work really hard the next couple of days to get that lb off and to keep the lbs coming off. Isaac got me Zumba for the Wii for Christmas!!! I cant wait to try it!

I also would love to get Wii Fit and out to use the Wii Ive had sitting here for over a year lol. 

Since I am 6 wks out finally I can swallow my pills again! :) No more crushing them! and I can pretty much tolerate all foods :) except the ones I listed last wk, still gotta wait for a while yet on those!

So for my 6 wk weight here it is... 247.8lbs

April 2012 Heaviest weight: 309 LOSS of 62.2 lbs
Last Dietitian Appt. before insurance approval weight: 286.5 LOSS of 39.7 lbs
Pre-op Testing Day Oct 22, 2012 weight: 281 LOSS of 34.2 lbs
Surgery Date Nov 14th 2012 weight: 272.6 LOSS of 25.8 lbs 
Post-op Wk 1 weight: 265.8(-6.8)LOSS of 19 lbs
Post-op Wk 2 weight: 257.6(-8.2) LOSS of10.8 lbs
Post-op Wk 3 weight: 254.6(-3) LOSS of 7.8 lbs
Post-op Wk 4 weight: 250.2(-4.4) LOSS of 3.4 lbs
Post-op Wk 5 weight: 246.8(-3.4) 

Post-op Wk 6 weight: 247.8(+1)Gain of 1 lb
GOAL 130: 117.8 lbs to GO!

5 wks Post-Op

I'll make this a quick one!! Being 5 wks out its surreal still and I can not even imagine I'd be this happy. I didn't know what life was going to be like after being sleeved until I got sleeved and now that I am sleeved I can say that it is pretty much the same. The first 2 wks were the hardest I'd day just with mood swings and wanting food and being grumpy one minute and happy the next, but at 5 wks out things have pretty much leveled out and I am back to normal I would say.

I am now on the Transitional Stage of the "diet" were I can start to add foods back into my life to see how my new tummy will tolerate them, except the foods that are on the do not eat yet list. Like Beef, Bread, Pasta, Rice.Raw Fruits and Veggies, Popcorn and anything with hidden seeds. On a Good note I can have Iceberg lettuce :) so I can make a mock salad if I wanted too!! :) And since I am able to tolerate fish like Tilapia I can move on to other seafood such as shrimp, crab and scallops.

I am almost back to normal eating still need to make sure that the chicken and pork or turkey that I do eat is still very moist when I do eat it.

My next doctors appt is scheduled for Dec 26th which will probably need to be be rescheduled because I will be driving home from WI and going to work that night, first night back to work since surgery!!! I am thinking it will be okay. I hope so!

So for my 5 wk weigh in here it is . . .246.8!!   I've lost 3.4 lbs this wk.

April 2012 Heaviest weight: 309 LOSS of 62.2 lbs
Last Dietitian Appt. before insurance approval weight: 286.5 LOSS of 39.7 lbs
Pre-op Testing Day Oct 22, 2012 weight: 281 LOSS of 34.2 lbs
Surgery Date Nov 14th 2012 weight: 272.6 LOSS of 25.8 lbs 
Post-op Wk 1 weight: 265.8(-6.8)LOSS of 19 lbs
Post-op Wk 2 weight: 257.6(-8.2) LOSS of10.8 lbs
Post-op Wk 3 weight: 254.6(-3) LOSS of 7.8 lbs
Post-op Wk 4 weight: 250.2(-4.4) LOSS of 3.4 lbs
Post-op Wk 5 weight: 246.8(-3.4)
GOAL 130: 116.8 lbs to GO!

4 wks Post-Op Update/ 1 month Surgiversary!

I have made it!!!! One Month. One month of being Sleeved there is no going back now! Well there is no going back now even if I wanted to lol Not that I want to. I love my sleeve. My Sleeve!! We shall name my sleeve what does everyone think?? We name our cars, why cant we name our sleeves?? How does Vinny sound? Since my surgery was done at St. Vincent. We can call my sleeve Vinny for short hehe or "Silva" Isaac and I went to see Sky Fall and when watching the movie he lets me know in the middle of the movie that the evil villain  just so happens to kind of resembles my surgeon lol here check it out for yourself. I could not hold in the laughter.

    Dr Ben-Meir.                     "Silva" 

So since Wed of this week was my 4 wk check in with the doctors office I have been moved to "Soft Foods" Yay! I am able to eat things that are still wet and can easily go down. Things like Eggs, Tuna and Chicken Salad made with lite to FF Mayo. Fish like Tilapia, if that goes ok I can try Salmon. Mashed Potatoes with gravy. 

Since being moved to Soft Foods I have tried Hard boiled eggs, Chicken Salad with Olive Oil Mayo, and Mashed Potato's with gravy and shredded pork roast. All have gone down very smooth and very easy, now I haven't been able to eat nearly as much as I would a month ago. I can eat the whole Egg and I am full. I can eat about 1/4 cup of chicken salad and I can full, and about 1/2 cup for Mashed Potato's with gravy with shredded pork roast and I am full.

"Chicken Salad"

I no longer really need to sip my liquids at a month out I can take normal drinks of liquids maybe even a few at a time if needed but I still need to watch and I catch myself trying to drink to fast. Just because I can doesn't mean my sleeve will allow me to, the liquid wont go down as fast as I can put it in, so I have to still take it slow.

AND here is what everyone is wanting to know what is my weight loss for wk 4! And 1 Month of being Sleeved! so here it is!  

I've LOST 4.4 lbs this wk I'm at 250.2 lbs

April 2012 Heaviest weight: 309 LOSS of 58.7 lbs
Last Dietitian Appt. before insurance approval weight: 286.5 LOSS of 36.3 lbs
Pre-op Testing Day Oct 22, 2012 weight: 281 LOSS of 30.8 lbs
Surgery Date Nov 14th 2012 weight: 272.6 LOSS of 22.4 lbs 
Post-op Wk 1 weight: 265.8 LOSS of 15.6 lbs
Post-op Wk 2 weight: 257.6 LOSS of 7.4 lbs
Post-op Wk 3 weight: 254.6 LOSS of 4.4 lbs
Post-op Wk 4 weight: 250.2 
GOAL 130: 120.2 lbs to GO!

3 wks Post Op Today!

Well I am sure everyone is excited and eagerly awaiting my week 3 post & weight loss update, so here it is!!

I am on day 4 of Pureed foods 6 more days to go til next stage. This stage of the plan starts a lot of the rules I will be following for the rest of my life. Here are the Rules!

RULES

1. Eat slowly and chew foods well. Meals should least no more than 30 minutes. Stop eating when you feel full.
2. Nothing to drink  minutes before your meal and you must wait  minutes after your meal to resume drinking fluid.
3. NO liquid Calories (under 10cal/8oz)
4. Every meal should have at least 20 grams of protein.

I can still have a few liquid calories if I am not getting in 20 grams of protein in each meal I can sub. in a protein shake.

A few things I have found I like to eat on this stage is: Chobani Non Fat Greek Yogurt had 23 g of protein in 8 oz. And any Flavor Mio Mixed together MMM Good!

Oatmeal pureed with 1% milk still tastes like oatmeal Imagine that!! 

I still like my cottage cheese 1% small curds. 

I also made FF Refried Beans on the stove and I thinned them down pretty well with beef broth. I melted some cheese on top of them and splashed some hot sauce on top. Very tasty! My FAV!!!

Okay so here is my weigh in for wk 3 I wasn't to excited about it but its still a loss and a loss is a loss is a loss Right? RIGHT!

April 2012 Heaviest weight: 309 LOSS of 54.4 lbs

Last Dietitian Appt. before insurance approval weight: 286.5 LOSS of 31.9 lbs

Pre-op Testing Day Oct 22, 2012 weight: 281 LOSS of 26.4 lbs

Surgery Date Nov 14th 2012 weight: 272.6 LOSS of 18 lbs 

Post-op Wk 1 weight: 265.8 LOSS of 11.2 lbs

Post-op Wk 2 weight: 257.6 LOSS of 3 lbs

Post-op Wk 3 weight: 254.6

GOAL 130: 124.6 lbs to GO!

So as you can see I have lost 3 lbs more this week and this brings the total loss to 18 lbs since day of Surgery Nov 14th 2012.

2 wks post op. Today! Doctor's check in tomorrow.

Today marks 2 wks since surgery. Its been a bumpy, but smooth road I guess you can say. Can you even say its bump and smooth?? Well I am getting the rest I need with a bump here and there. A week ago I had to have Isaac take me to the doctors office because I was having the worst pains in my abdomen on the right side below my incision sight, so I knew it wasn't from the surgery or a complication of the incision, but I didn't know what it was. When I got there they kept enforcing the idea that it was just constipation... Constipation?? I had no idea what this felt like because I had never experienced it before, had I known I surely wouldn't have gone all the way into Cleveland for it. Well Dr. Ben Meir prescribed Colace in liquid or tablet form so I could crush it, good luck finding either, had to get Peri- Colace with a mild laxative in it which came in a tablet form. And Miralax. He said we should be getting about 17 grams of fiber in our diet and on a liquid diet we aren't getting in any. That plus the pain pills is a nice combo for constipation. Nice huh!! Well Two Peri-Colace tablets and some Fiber later did the trick!  I know make sure I had the 17g of fiber to my juice in the am and haven't had any problems.

                        


Enough about poop!

So that was Wed last Week. Thursday Turkey-day was the first day I was feeling up to doing my hair and make up. Dinner was at my moms house and I was looking forward to going over there and spending the day with everyone, I had no idea how hard it was going to be to see all the food and not be able to have any of it. I had to pack my own dinner for Thanksgiving this year. Sad I know, but it's my own choices that brought me here and I am happy with them. So for dinner I brought 1% milk, diet cranberry juice and creamy potato soup. I ate with everyone else, but all I wanted to do was dig into the veggie tray hehe.

Thanksgiving Day 2012

This Monday I was really sore, so I took it easy and laid on the couch with the heating pad and my book most of the day! I have been giving myself the Lovenox shots in my abdomen and they have given me some pretty big bruises, so I think those might be contributing to my soreness. 

I am still on liquids until tomorrow I can start eating one cup of pureed foods a day along with my liquid diet to see how my body handles it. I think I will do just fine with it honestly. I am so ready to start eating other foods than soup. I have mainly been eating Cream of soups, Tomato soups, 1% milk, diet cranberry juice, water, Poweraid Zero, Propel Zero, Crystal Light and Chicken Broth. I did find some diet hot chocolate that is pretty good. Oh and Hot Tea. Yes it gets boring and FAST!

So for my weight in I have decided to make Wed. my weight in days since surgery was on a Wed and what better day than Hump day to do it? So here goes. 

• April 2012 Heaviest weight: 309 LOSS of 51.4 lbs
• Last Dietitian Appt. before insurance approval for surgery weight: 286.5 LOSS of 28.9 lbs
• Surgery Date Nov 14th 2012 weight: 272.6 LOSS of 15 lbs 
• Post-op Wk 1 weight: 265.8 LOSS of 8.2 lbs
• Post-op Wk 2 weight: 257.6

So I have hit a MAJOR Goal!! of 50+ lbs lost since my heaviest I am still in shock and cant believe it. When will it hit me that I am losing weight?

Until next week... Have a good week everyone!

Tomorrow is 1 wk Post-Op.

I can not believe it has been almost a full week since surgery! I went in to the hospital on Wednesday November 14th, 2012 at 6 am got checking in to admissions, and then we headed to the elevators to head upstairs to the third floor. The elevator doors closed and then.... Nothing happened we (me and 14 other people) were stuck in the elevator for 35 mins. One guy called the fire department to let them know what was going on and they showed up and were very rude and wouldn't let us know what was going on. Eventually they got the doors open.

I couldn't help but think if this was they way the rest of the day was going to go, I wanted to walk right back out the front doors and not look back. But I have great support there with me Isaac drove me there, My mom, dad, little sister and baby Niece were all there before I went into surgery and were there waiting for me after. 

I went in to surgery at 7:45 am only 15 mins later than what they scheduled it for. I remember them saying they were going to give me some oxygen and to just breathe in and that was all. I woke up in my hospital suite and there was my family waiting for me. I took one walk with Isaac that night, and when my parents and sis and aunt came back to visit that night I took another walk. I was told Dr. Ben Meir fixed my hiatial hernia that was lot bigger that the upper gi showed. Which made surgery a little bit longer. But Im not quite sure how long the whole thing lasted or took. I remember being in me room and it was like 3 ish.

This was the view from my hospital room suite. Downtown Cleveland.

My second day there I thought I hurt my left shoulder lifting myself into the bed, so they took me to get an x-ray when they did my leak test, and everything looked fine. So I had to deal with the shoulder pain for another day, On Friday they came to removed my drain and Brook the PA said that sometimes the drain can get stuck on the diaphragm and can cause shoulder pain. and she said it would only take 3 seconds and she would be done removing the drain, it was going to feel like I was going down a roller coaster. I counted 1-2-3 and it was out and the shoulder pain was gone! Weird I know, but true.

I was in the hospital for an extra day due to my heart rate being a little high, funny how it went down as soon as they said I could go home. I came home Saturday, Nov 17th. Sunday was rough I was tired and didn't want to do anything I couldn't get my fluids down and I just wanted to sleep. The past two days have been getting better. I can shower on my own, but I still get extremely exhausted from it. 

Here are a couple pictures of my incisions:

This is my ugly belly, it has a told of 5 incisions I believe. The one on the very top is where the drain was place underneath the gauze is a open hole that will lose on its own. I have to keep it covered until it scabs over.
Second one with gauze and green wrap  is where they removed the round curvature  of my stomach, this is the most painful of sites, because it has the most traumatic things done to it. The other three are sealed up with internal stitches and glue on the outside. Now the lower dark spots you see are where I give myself Lovenox injections those are small bruises.

This is an up close shot of the incision where they removed the round curvature  of my stomach. I was able to removed the gauze on Monday. Its all closed and healed.

I weighted myself a day early this week I was planning on doing it every Wed. But I got on the scale this am just for giggles. And I weighed in at 267 lbs. My heaviest was in April at 309, surgery day I was 272, when I came home from hospital I was still 272. Today 1 week from surgery well 1 day away from 1 week from surgery I am at 267 lbs. a loss of 5lbs and  42 lb loss from my heaviest! I still am so happy I made this decision! 

6am... 7:30am!!!

SO this is it!! I got my Magnesium Citrate down and lets just say its doing it job. LOL I have been keeping up with my fluids so I dont get dehydrated. Dinner tonight is Chicken stock mmm yumm-o! Ive called the hospital and they have me as the 1st surgery of the day! I gotta be there at 6am and surgery is at 7:30 am. 

I have prepared for this moment for the last 9 months I could have had a baby in the time is took be to get to this point lol. Well lets get this over with first and then we can start to talk about that baby! :)

I want to Thank my wonderful supportive and amazing boyfriend Isaac Welch, who has done nothing but been the best not only for the past 9 months, but for the past 3 years. With out him I'm not sure Id be able to be this strong. He reminds me daily of how strong I truly can be and it amazes me how much someone can truly love me.

I want to say Thank you to my wonderful family for being so supportive and being there for me to listen to me vent and talk about all that is going on. and My mom and Dad and sister for being willing to be at the hospital for my support at 6am tomorrow morning.

I want to say Thank you to Isaac's family for taking me in and making me feel like one of the family from the first day you all met me, and for supporting me in the life changing decision I have chosen to make. You all make me feel so loved and cared about!

And Thank you to all my friends and Facebook friends and VST friends who have made these past few months go by so quickly. And thank you Facebook friends for welcoming my many many posts of this journey I am on and for being willing to lend me your words that mean so much.

Thank you Stephanie, Robyn and my sleeve bff Sannah for talking to me and listening to me and answering my questions whenever possible. Sannah I know you will get your call soon and I will continue to be here for you through your surgery and after; you have become an awesome part of this journey for me and a wonderful addition to my life so thank you thank you thank you!

And last but not least Thank you for all who so kind heartily donated/helped me raise the money I needed to have for surgery with out you this truly wouldn't have been possible your kind hearts touched me beyond my wildest dream and I cant say thank you enough!

It is time to let the good times roll.