Post Operative update

Hey all!

It is now day five including the day of my surgery.  I have done extremely well in my opinion.  I have been up and down, taken showers, stuck to my clear liquid diet, drank more protein with each successive day, visited with friends, trolled Facebook,  helped my mom with the dogs, started doing stuff myself instead of asking my mom to make my broth for me or fix my tea and protein.  I really think my recovery has gone as well as I have hoped!

But it's not all unicorns and rainbows either.

I am not one of those lucky people who ceased to crave their favorite foods once I had the surgery.  Of course while I was in the hospital and the day after discharge I didn't really want to do anything but have regular pain medicine and sleep. But now that I am getting back to normal life, I am definitely craving solid food. ESPECIALLY my favorite foods like macaroni and cheese,  boneless buffalo wings, steak, hamburger, pizza ......even the smell of it is getting to be overwhelming.  I just want to have the world's biggest steak all to myself.


But I know that I don't need that; I didn't before my surgery and I definitely don't need it now. So many people think that surgeries like this are an instant fix. I wish it were. But also like so many people, even before having my surgery,  I knew that I was addicted to food. If I get hungry I get cranky, I get headaches, I get nauseated. That is happening some now, but mostly the crankiness; I thankfully have not experienced too much of the nausea or headaches.

I would say today has probably been the worst for me as far as hunger cravings. Which is also a good sign that I am healing well probably.  I think it is partly because I am already tired of the liquid diet, but also I am tired of protein drinks with a sweet taste. I haven't been able to find any unflavored protein yet; I would mix this with my chicken or beef broths. As funny as it seems I am actually a person who prefers salty foods more than sweet foods. Don't get me wrong, I love my share of sweet foods. But I like the salty foods more.

Also, I think I have been confused as to whether I was just experiencing pain or if I was hungry. I have tried to take less and less of my pain medicine, and have been successful.  But since I both drank some protein shots and finally had my pain medicine today, I am not feeling so ravenous.

I have also been trying to distract myself by using this time planning future methods of meal preparation. One of the most important things I plan to do is buy some Bento boxes. These are a Japanese type of product, basically they are compartmentalized food containers. I have been looking at the Gerber brand and the Hello Kitty brand (my favorite! )


                     Gerber food organizer

Hello Kitty Bento Box

I would also like to have this set of small silverware, Hello Kitty brand

Hello Kitty Silverware set, 10 pc

The reason I would like to have these things is to help limit my food intake. I should never need to eat more servings than is found in a kids dinner at a restaurant.  Also, this helps make things a little more fun for me. The silverware should be child size, and as I will be needing to cut my food into pea size portions it will be a relative size. Smaller silverware will also help to prevent me eating a huge heaping mouthful at one time, and will slow me down. I am hoping that this combination will prevent me from stretching my stomach and also prevent me from causing pain to myself.

As far as actual food goes, I have decided to try doing lettuce wraps more than grain wraps. I have had lettuce wraps before and I really like them. As far as switching to non-fat foods. That is really going to get me. I cannot STAND skim milk or low fat cheeses and dairy products. I honestly don't feel like it is worth eating if it is low fat, it just tastes horrible.  So I am going to have to limit my intake of that sort of thing I guess. 

But, I hopefully will get better ideas about making my food tasty yet low fat. I have in the last year discovered that I love both avocado and hummus....I think that will help me a lot.

Here's an inspiring story for us all, to remind us than no matter how hard life is, we can turn it around.

Boy meets girl, loses nearly 400 pounds

Home Safe and Sound.

Hey everyone!

I am home safe and sound at my mom's!

I had to do a diagnostic test to check for leaks in my stomach before I could go home. That really caused me to be nauseous when I got back to my room; in part because of the taste and in part because I had to drink so much.

After that I was able to drink some water and eat a popsicle.

 I spent some time doing a Word-find puzzle and coloring. Then I layed down again for a while. My Roxicet pain medicine actually wore off an hour before I could take it again. So I was pretty miserable after I got discharged until I got home. Then I could take my pain medicine and put on my compression socks to help prevent blood clots. I walked around my mom's house a couple of times and was able to take in a small amount of protein and water again.


Here are some "before" pictures,  although I am quite swollen from my surgery, so you should account for that.

My starting weight is 265 lbs and my clothing size is either 22 or 3X as of today.

Thank you so much to all the well wishes and those following my story. Also thanks to my many friends and family who called or visited me during this time; I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me.

Also special thanks to my surgeon Dr. O. Raphael Nwanguma, his Nurse Practitioner Teresa Stidham, and his staff at Bluegrass Bariatric Surgical Associates. Also to the numerous clinical staff who had a part of my care at The Medical Center thank you. I cannot thank you all enough! They were all so fantastic to me at both places!

I will try to stay updated at least every two weeks!

Successful Surgery!

Hello everyone!  Now that the day has calmed down and I have gotten some sleep, I thought I would share how my surgery went!

Everyone said I did great!

My day officially started at 5:30 AM when I was told to be at the hospital.  We got here on time and waited to get back for a little while. My prep nurse had me change into some sort of paper gown that I wore to surgery. Of course I was nervous, and crying a bit as I seem to do when I am really tired and anxious.  I had my first blown vein ever, when  the nurse inserted my first IV. It looked fine until the nurse tried to run fluid. So she ended up having to place in my hand, which wasn't bad actually. The blown vein doesn't hurt either.  she also gave me a nausea patch that went behind my ear.

During this time a friend named Kayla, who is a surgical tech student graduating in May,  came to visit me while she was doing her clinicals. I was so grateful that she came to visit!

After they had me all set, they let my mom come back while the surgeon, anesthesiologist,  and my OR nurse came to speak with me and take me to surgery. Which of course I was mortified that I had two males because of the issue I had with being naked and not really wanting a Foley Catheter. Thankfully however, they knocked me out before doing that so I suffered none of my usual embarrassment.

After the OR nurse gave me a blood thinner injection,  we were off to the operating room. I just barely remember being wheeled in and scooting over to the operating table. I remember vaguely that they put some kind of boards on the sides of the table for my arms. The next thing I barely remember is waking up slightly in the operating room and hearing them say that I wanted my catheter out before I left surgery and felt that removed. Again thankfully, I was still loopy so barely remember it, and so I really wasn't embarrassed. ..thank God.

When I got to recovery, my nurse there ended up giving me two morphine injections and made sure I was stable. Then she called and gave a report to my nurse for my admission .

My mom and my friend Amanda were waiting in my room when I got there. Yay! They helped the admission nurse, Amy, to get me settled. Also, I had a ton of pillows and have used about all of them. I even brought my own on the suggestion of a friend, Amy Wells. Thank goodness I did follow her advice because it really helped my pain to sit up and press a pillow to my stomach.

I tried lying in bed for a while but at the time it was too uncomfortable.  So they fixed up a chair for me and I sat in that for a few hours. That and the dilaudid they have been giving me about every two hours, mixed with liquid IV acetaminophen has really helped me.

I also got up two or 3 times to go walking and to use the restroom. That also helped my pain although it was a bit painful at first to do so. Otherwise,  they have had compression. Devices on my legs off and on to prevent blood clots.

There have been a couple of times when sharp pain has made me nauseous,  but as soon as I received pain Medicine I felt better within 5 to 10 minutes. Also, my throat was really  sore from intubation so my surgeon let me have a throat spray called Chloraseptic; that helped tremendously with my dry throat. I have also gotten albuterol nebulizer every 4 hours and Zofran to help with my nausea.


I finally managed to get comfortable and go to sleep.  But so far everything has been good. The clinical staff have been completely awesome to me. Hopefully I will feel even better today! I will have to have another UGI to check for leaks in my staple line. But after I pass that test I should go home with my mom for a few days.

My Nurse Practitioner said she was really proud of me for walking so soon, and that I was her best patient right now. Woo hoo!


But that's all for now. I will update tomorrow how my UGI test went.

Pre-Surgery Jitters

I can't believe it is finally the night before surgery. Two weeks ago I wondered if my surgery would ever happen and now it seems so suddenly here.

I think I have done everything I can right now. Cleaned up the house somewhat, cleaned my CPAP equipment (that I do not even want to take), washed some clothes, packed my bags, made semi-homemade soap....and worried about every little thing with regard to my surgery.

Did I do my diet good enough to shrink my liver? Because it seems like I haven't lost any weight this week. But people keep telling me I have. I don't know until surgery time because I don't own a scale.

Am I packing everything I need? Am I packing too much?

Will my surgery go ok? Does the anesthesiologist REALLY know what they're doing....or are they dyslexic with numbers?

Why the hell do I have to bring my CPAP machine when I haven't used it in a year or more? I'm pretty sure if I'm stable I'll be fine without it and will only be irritated by having to wear it. Doubtless there will be arguments about this with my nurse or respiratory therapy or my doctor. But the anesthesiologist threatened to re-intubate me after surgery if I didn't bring it.

Also, I have an extremely large amount of anxiety about being naked in front of people. No telling how many people have said that I won't care once they give me some kind of medicine. ...but I'm pretty sure I will care unless it knocks me out. I think I would rather it knock me out. I don't want to have to see or talk to anyone that sees me naked. I think I am more anxious about this than the actual surgery.

Everyone keeps telling me that "oh the staff won't care, they've seen it all a million times before." Well duh, so have I! I used to work there at the hospital where I'm having my surgery. It's completely different when you are the patient and all these people are potentially going to be looking at you. Possibly judging you because you are overweight.  I care about myself, but I can't put aside a lifetime of disparaging remarks overnight.

But this has been going around and around in my head for 11 months since I started this process. I knew that I would be like this, and I'm just going to have to suck it up and barge through it.


And probably cry like a baby.

But then I'll be ok. :)

So here's to hoping that I will have an update with a positive surgery result and far less anxiety by tomorrow afternoon!

My "skinny" Bucket List

Since my surgery has officially been set for April 24, 2014, I decided to do a fun blog about things I would like to do after I have lost some weight and healed up! Money is always a factor of course. Some of these things are bucket list items I have always wanted to do. So here goes in no particular order!

1. Learn Wing Chun, specifically the Yip Man Branch (teacher of Bruce Lee).
2. Learn Belly dancing. 
3. Learn to scuba dive and go scuba diving.
4. Wear a bikini!
5. Ride roller coasters again.
6. Begin a weight training program. 
7. Go horseback riding again. Learn how to properly ride a horse.
8. Go hike the entire Appalachian Trail.
9. Hike to various waterfalls in the Smoky Mountains. 
10. Go hiking in the Grand Canyon.
11. Learn to snowboard.
12. Go hiking in the Great Redwood Forest.
13. Go camping/ hiking at Yellowstone National Park.
14. Go on the wild cave tour at Mammoth Cave National Park.
15. Visit the Great Pyramids and other ancient wonders of Egypt. (That's a lifelong wish)
16. Visit the United Kingdom and Ireland to see castles and Stonehenge. 
17. Go to Hawaii (I'm going in September 2014!)
18. Wear sophisticated and elegant clothing!
19. Go on a date! (They need better game than the leading line: "Hey Beautiful, what yo name is?")
20. Visit the Harry Potter  theme park at Universal Studios.
21. Go kayaking. 
22. Learn to fly a plane.
23. Go Parasailing. 
24. Swim with dolphins! (I will get to do this in September! )
25. Get the job that I want!
26. Have children! Get Married!
27. Adopt children!
28. Visit Japan and visit the Emperor's Palace and the traditional temples.
29. Visit the Taj Mahal. 
30. Ride a camel.
31. Visit the Mayan ruins....as many as possible.
32. Visit Morocco. 
33. Visit Greece.
34. Visit Italy again.
35. Visit Russia.
36. Visit Turkey.
37. Visit Israel.
38. Visit Germany and tour the concentration camps, Normandy beach, and other WWII historical sites.
39. Drive like Mario Andretti down the German Autobahn.....within reason...of course. (I'm sure this will never happen. No need to worry.)
40. Take Latin dancing classes with a male partner.
41. Sing in a choir again. 
42. Go water skiing and water tubing.
43. Wear a couture gown.
44. Join the Red Cross disaster relief program and volunteer during natural disasters.
45. Learn how to be an EMT/First Responder.
46. Learn 911 dispatching.
47. Be a police officer.
48. Be a forensic specialist homicide detective.
49. Write a work of fiction that gets published.
50. Help build a house with Habit for Humanity. 
51. Participate in a 5K.

Ok that's all I can think of right now! I may update with more later!

Extremely Excited and hopeful!

It has only been one week, but so many things have happened since I last wrote.

In my last blog, I wrote how frustrated I was at my setbacks due to needing cardiac clearance and problems with scheduling. First let me say that miracles do happen, and they are brought about by extremely kind and generous people.

After my initial cardiac visit, I had gone over to my bariatric surgeon's office to let them know the timeframe for my cardiac clearance. Unbeknownst to me, when the bariatric office found out, they called the cardiologist office and asked them to move up my tests and appointments. They were kind enough to do so, and since last week I have had a stress cardiac echo, a baseline cardiac echo, and then today I received cardiac clearance.  What's more, the cardiologist advised me that my bariatric surgeon would receive my clearance letter in two days.


But guess what?! I just received a call that the cardiologist had already sent his cardiac clearance for me, and that they are submitting my case to the insurance company!

In anticipation of my surgery,  I will meet with my surgeon this Thursday,  April 17 for a pre-op visit.

The best news of all? We are shooting to have my surgery by April 24, which is just over a week from today!!!!!! I am tentatively hopeful, but I feel that everything from here on out will go well. This month I have received numerous setbacks,  but now that I am over them, I think the surgery and life will fall into place!


Keeping my fingers crossed!

Beyond Frustrated

I'd like to preface this blog, by saying I have the utmost respect and trust for my doctors involved in this process for my Bariatric Surgery.


Having said that, I currently would like to scream and throw the biggest tantrum ever. I had to go get Cardiac clearance for my surgery today. I'm thinking, 'I don't have a heart history,  this should be a piece of cake.'

WRONG.

He asks me, "Do you have shortness of air when going up a hill?" I reply, "Yes." We had already discussed my Asthma and lack of exercise.  So he says, "Okay, I want to schedule a baseline echo of your heart and a stress Echo of your heart. When are you planning to have your surgery?" I tell him I would like to have it before April is over, but I am still in need of Pre-Approval from my insurance.  Thus the reason for today's visit. He takes me to the scheduling desk and they inform me that I can get in this week for the stress echo, but I can't get into the baseline echo at their office until the 21st of the month. Plus I can't schedule my follow-up visit with the cardiologist for 4 weeks. Well at that I just busted out crying.

Another damn month of trying to get this surgery. This is literally the only thing holding me back from asking for approval from insurance.  Not only that, but the job that I have been wanting to work at for more than 3 years is going to be hiring in a month. Assuming that I were to get this job, does that mean I would have to choose between having my surgery and taking the job?

My stress level over this is out the roof. Not to mention, I happen to have met some people who just a month or two ago decided to have the same surgery, and now they have had their surgery. Today is 10 months or more that I have been trying to get this surgery.

Of all the things to delay my surgery I thought it would be the Pulmonary Clearance,  but that was a breeze.


This is just how the whole process has gone for me; I'll think I'm close, only to have setback after setback. I am really trying to stay positive,  but it's getting very difficult.  I keep saying, "I'm going to be able to get my surgery, it's going to happen!" But then I wonder, is it really? Because it seems like the universe keeps trying to tell me no.