Surgery: check!

I am sitting in bed watching old episodes of The Office drinking water and chicken broth (in small amounts, of course). I am in relatively little to no pain. I slept a while when I got home and kept a bowl close by in case I got sick but didn't. Dr. Nirmul said surgery went perfectly. I vaguely remember waking up and getting dressed. The car ride home went well and quickly, thankfully. My Mom has been so helpful and I am very grateful for her.

I really am feeling great. I'm still taking the lortab and probably will today and tomorrow just so it doesn't wear off and am in a lot of pain but I don't think I will be. I only have a little discomfort from gas but the gas x strips have been great. The surgeon said to go walking for about 15 minutes later this evening so I'll be doing that tonight. 

My sister/Mom got these for me along with a balloon and card and gift card. I'm blessed with a great family! :)

Sorry if this is a little scatterbrained, I'm blaming the drugs. :)

EDIT:: I am definitely experiencing the left shoulder gas pain. It's weird to feel pain in my shoulder from gas... Good thing I can take more gas x strips! 

Day 10 of 14 of pre op

Whooo! In the double numbers of this diet being almost over!! It's hard to stick to this diet when I am still pre op because my stomach isn't telling me it's full. It's saying, "where is all the freakin' food I normally get??"

This week went fairly quickly. Being busy helps distract me from how I want to anything and everything. It's gotten to the point where when a commercial comes on TV and it's for something I don't even necessarily like, I catch myself thinking and sometimes saying out loud, "Mmmm, (instert random food here)." My roommate has been getting quite the kick out of it. The other day we were watching TV and I mumbled something about wanting Red Lobster after a commercial and she started cracking up. She knows I don't eat seafood. She asked me if I have even eaten there and I told her only once and I protested the entire time. Hahaha, it's gotten out of control.

I went to my local lap band support group on Thursday. There was only like 6 of us there and the patient advocate said it's because everyone is on summer schedule and we should be up to 10-15 in September. It went really well though, we went around the room and gave our name and if we are pre or post op and any questions that we had. There were three of us there that were pre op and the other three were: 5 weeks, 2 months and like 1 year out. It was a nice group of women, I think I'm going to like going every month. :)

I got a call from the surgery center yesterday with my surgery time. For now my check-in is at 9 a.m. on Thursday, unless someone cancels, which will move me up. I like the 9 a.m. slot. It will be enough time to sleep in a little but not enough time to be starving before I get there.

Also, yesterday I got all my grocery shopping done for post op. I picked up my prescriptions. One liquid lortab in tropical fruit flavor, one liquid antibiotic in strawberry flavor and one oral dissolving tablet for nausea. Can I just tell you that somewhere around the age of 8-10 I decided that any and all medicine that I have to get will be in pill form and I will figure out how to take them even if I choke to death on it because I HATE liquid medicine that much. I have very vivid memories of massive fits being thrown when it came time for medicine when it was liquid. And I do mean MASSIVE fits. Soooo, this should be interesting... Haha!

So in my post op grocery shopping I picked up some pretty good things. I got a mega package of ramen noodles, I'll just be throwing away the noddles but if you mix the powder mix with hot water, it is the best chicken broth you'll ever have. My Mom uses it to cook with.. Haha Anyways, I also got diet cranberry pomegranate juice. I couldn't find any no sugar added juice so I just got this one to alternate if I'm hating water or something. I also got sugar free jello, I got lemon lime and strawberry. After 48 hours I can start working in "smooshies" and I need to start getting in protein. I have my protein drinks (obviously), cottage cheese (yum!), yogurt (both greek and regular) and pudding. And can I just say, I am excited to eat this pudding? I got pretty excited in the grocery store.. Haha

This coming week is going to be VERY busy. This weekend I am just kind of getting random things done around the house, cleaning up and what not and then Monday afternoon I am going to work and not leaving til Wednesday afternoon. Yup, that's right. My job is working with this little boy with autism and I've been working with him and his family for the last two, almost three years now. The Mom is a teacher and single Mother of four, (11, 10, 7, 18 months). She is paying me out of pocket to watch the kids for a few days while she goes to a training conference for her school. I am super comfortable with the kids and they listen to me really well so I'm not at all worried about that. In fact, I am a little appreciative because I will be so busy this week will fly by! Monday afternoon/evening we will just hang out and then Tuesday morning I have class so I'll pack the kids up and drop them off at their grandma's til I finish and then we are going to go down to my sister in law's so they can play/swim with my nephews (16, 13, 11, 10, 9) and I can see my Mom because she will have flown in on Monday. Wednesday will be the same of packing them up, dropping off at grandma's while I have class and them picking them up and just hanging out until their other-side grandpa gets off work and takes over because then I will be driving back down to my sister in laws to pick up Mom and come back to my house to spend the night and be ready for surgery the next morning! Whew, I'm worn out just explaining this week! Haha

I'm not sure I'll be updating again before surgery but I will definitely be updating as soon as I'm moving around after surgery! I will try to remember as much as I can to tell you all about it! Have a great coming week, everyone!!

Day 7 of 14 of pre op

So I had my pre op appointment yesterday. I was there for a surprisingly long time (About two hours). At first it was a group (9 of us) and we were taken back to hear a presentation and then we were taken back to the waiting room to wait for one on ones with the surgeon. I didn't have many questions and I feel like I am really prepped for surgery but it was nice to meet the surgeon before the actual day of surgery. They gave me a little goody bag with a diary/pen, measuring cup and a one minute timer to help with in-between bite timing. I'm think the timer will be getting the most use. The surgeon was hopeful that since I recovered so well and quickly from getting my gallbladder out a few years ago that this will be similar for me.

I got a note for school and took it in to my teacher and she immediately starting counting out how many days it was that I would miss and said "Well, it doesn't put you over the attendance policy, so that's good." I had a gut feeling that she wouldn't be excusing it. I bet if I make a big deal out of it and raise a little attention to it, she would excuse it but I just don't think it's worth my time. I will just have to be careful all semester to not go over.

This week I got the amazing news that I passed my first Literary test at 120 words per minute!! I have to pass three tests at 98% accuracy to move on to the next speed class. Passing the first test at any speed is always the hardest because of the mental "this is too fast, I can't get it" thought process. I have to get to 180 to pass out of my Literary class. I hope that even with surgery coming up and missing a few days, it won't set me back too much!

Monday and Tuesday I made a delicious snack that was all veggies.. so guilt free! I peeled and sliced squash, sliced orange bell peppers (my favorite) and about a third of an onion and sauteed it in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). I just used a little seasoned salt and pepper and it was Mmm, mmm, good! I even made it again that night with my dinner.

Today, I went to lunch with a couple of girls from my court reporting program. So tonight I'll be having a protein shake for dinner. I got a salad with chicken and when they both ordered dessert I opted out. I did however, take ONE bite of both of theirs (had to try both!) I don't feel bad because I could have ordered a whole one!

When we were at lunch my friend said, "A week from tomorrow is surgery, are you ready?" The floor dropped out from under me after hearing her say it that way. HOLY CRAP, that is soon!! Ugh. I have to get over these nerves! I get a little flutter of panic every time I think about it. Ugh.

Today I got a killer migraine. Thank goodness the family that I work for's Mom is a teacher and off work right now and she could take him to speech therapy for me. I pretty much have slept on and off since coming home from lunch with the girls. Maybe it's a result of the nerves? Maybe I need a Prozac? haha

Day 5 of 14 of pre op

Things are going normal. Pretty boring weekend. I stuck to the diet will and I even found the V8 juice with caffeine. It doesn't taste amazing but it gives me the caffeine I need so I drink it.

Today is my sister in law's birthday so I went down to Queen Creek to make a birthday cake for her. I wasn't even tempted to cheat. I brought a shake and tomatoes and celery. If I felt the need to snack I had one of those. My sister in law and I like to make personalized birthday cakes for each member of the family. We have kind of played with fondant and other things to try and make them cool. They are obviously by no means professional, just something fun. She requested a scrabble board cake. Very challenging! Haha It definitely didn't come out how I pictured it, but she liked it.

Tomorrow is my pre op appointment and I was just called to be reminded of it about an hour ago. I had NO idea that my full payment was due tomorrow! I am scrambling. Mom and I were not prepared for that. I'm REALLY hoping that we don't have to push surgery back. Mom already has plane tickets bought... I'm sure it will work out fine. I'm just mildly freaking out.

I did something last night for the first time, I made and ate Tilapia! I DON'T eat fish but I was only on day 3 and already getting tired of chicken. To make it, I sprayed the skillet with non stick spray and heated it to medium heat. I rinse and patted dry the fish, salted and peppered both sides and threw it on. I cooked it for about 4 minutes on one side after squeezing lemon juice on it and flipped it and cooked it another three minutes. Only a few of the bites were really fishy tasting but all in all, I'd make it again.

Do you guys eat fish? How do you cook it?

Day 5 is almost over. Thank goodness this pre op diet is actually going fairly quickly!

Day 2 of 14 of pre op

Well yesterday wasn't fun. It wasn't terrible though. My protein shakes are really tasty so that helps. I drank three and a half smart waters yesterday. So about that's over 14 cups of water. I think all that water really helped me with the hunger. About 2pm I got slammed with a caffeine headache. I actually broke and had a Diet Pepsi. :( But I was texting with a friend and she told me that V8 makes a sugar-free drink with caffeine. She is so helpful and supportive, truly the best friend I could ever ask for. I've been in Arizona while she is in Kansas for the last three years and we haven't grown apart at all. Oops, back on topic.. Haha. Anyway, I am going to go look for it when I go grocery shopping today.

I am going to go to Sprouts, even though, I have kind of been boycotting them since they bought out my FAVORITE produce store, Sunflower. Spouts will have the biggest selection of veggies for me to pick from. I plan on buying quite a bit and cutting them all up and putting them in baggies for easy grabbing when I am hungry and need something.

I made yesterday a lot harder on myself than I needed to. I didn't have much produce and basically no veggies, which is unlimited on this diet. Stupid. Yesterday I was fairly busy, though. I spent most of the day with my new roommate who just moved to the area. We ran a couple errands and I showed her around the our immediate area. I remember what it was like when I moved here and didn't know a single person so I figured I could help her out. But we were so busy helping to get her furniture that I didn't get home to eat dinner until 8:30pm! This is where I got bad, instead of just cooking the chicken that I had defrosted and marinating in the fridge when my other roommate was going to get Applebee's-to-go and offered to get me the salad we always get, since it's two for twenty. I said yes and got the Oriental Salad but asked for grilled chicken instead of crispy. When we got the food home, we realized there wasn't a single drop of dressing in it or on the side. I guess that's karma for trying to cheat on my first day... Haha! So I ended up lightly drizzling it with my homemade low fat ranch and picked all the chicken out and then ate about a third of the salad while avoiding the low mien noodles. All in all it wasn't too bad, the dressing is the most unhealthy part of that salad. It's all romaine lettuce, cabbage and carrots with low mien noodles and almonds.

But today is a new start! It's only 10am and I've already had a whole smart water and a protein shake. I'm going to go grocery shopping once I finish homework and shower. Whooo!

Day 1 of 14 of pre-op

All right, folks.

Day one, numero uno, a fresh start, the new beginning. Finally.

I weighed in today. I was 300.6 this morning. It's not my highest (that was 312) but I think the last time I willingly got on my own scale I was 285. Last night I cleaned out my fridge and pantry. No point in keeping food around that I can't eat and will go bad without me noticing.

This was my fridge last night. I am going grocery shopping tomorrow for more produce. Right now I am sitting in class on break drinking my protein shake and water. I took my gummy daily vitamins this morning. (Which are delish, by the way.) I snapped a couple of before pictures this morning before I left for class. I rarely take pictures of anything more than my face. So looking at these picture, I realize that I am much bigger than I picture myself in my head.

Oh well, at least the numbers are only going to go down from here!!!

Nerves are kicking in!

On Thursday (6th) I start my pre-op diet. Next Tuesday (11th) I meet with the surgeon for my pre-op appointment. That next Thursday (14th) I go to a support group. On Monday (17th) Mom flies in to be my nurse and the 20th is surgery! This month is going to fly by. At any given moment I am either having a full on panic attack or I am completely at peace and ready to go! My panic isn't that I'm doubtful. I don't even have words to express my panic. I called Mom earlier to talk about it and I almost started bawling. I held it back just because I didn't want her to worry. And because I know I have no valid worries about the surgery. Well, no valid worries about the after effects of the surgery because I am ready for all those changes. It's just the surgery itself that is making me panic, which I know is silly because it is such a routine surgery and the risks are minimal but I have always been the kind of person that when I have a headache I go through a checklist before I reach for the Advil:
Am I hungry? Nope.
Do I need some caffeine? Nope.
Am I dehydrated? Nope.
Is it the environment/noise/smells giving me a headache? Nope.
Okay, take a couple Advil.

I guess I have kind of done a similar checklist of trying to loose weight without the band for the last 8 years of my life and now I am finally reaching for the Advil (surgery).

I'll update on Thursday with my pre-op diet weight!