Sorry for the absence!!

Oh wow... It's been over a week since I posted!! :( Let me try to catch up!

I had my 1 month doctor appointment. He gave me a bill of good health, told me I was doing great, and that now I need to start eating. He asked what I had mostly been eating so far.. I said "Beans".. he said.. Okay.. now lets start graduating to Big Girl food.. LOL! :) The point is to find out what I can tolerate, and also to ensure that there is no "stenosis" (scar tissue that closes the stomach opening) So I've been experementing with different foods... and wow.... my feelings of pride about not having gotten sick yet.... out the window!!

Now.. let me clarify... I haven't eaten anything too fatty or too sugary that makes me sick... my problem has been too DRY! Oh my, if you swallow something that is too dry, it's not going down.... thus what doesn't come down, must come up! So I've been having to be very careful and take very small bites... which is normal.. but it's very much a learning process! :)

I'm down 2 sizes and really feeling great, and I've lost 33 lbs!! :) Yeahoo!!

I'll try to post a picture soon! :)

1 week Post-op appointment

Well.. today it's been almost a week.

I think about what this day was like for me last week.... (seems like so long ago), I was starving... having been on liquid diet for going on 2 days, my head hurt, I was just not having that much fun. But I was excited for surgery the next day, lots of anticipation, last minute though-processes, etc. They called that night and rescheduled me for a later time which was a let down of sorts, because I really wanted to just get it done! :) But, as we know, it all worked out just fine! :)

Now this week... post-surgery... I'm still on the same diet.. and other than being tired of liquid and broth and needing to "Chew" something... I really am not hungry hardly at all... this little pouch is amazing! I know it grows a little in the healing process and you become a little more hungry... but for right now ..that's where I'm at!

So back to today, I had to be a the doctor at 8:00 am and I drove myself! Yipee!! :) I got there, and they weighed me and then showed me into a room. I was dreading this part to tell you the truth... staple removal .... I was so scared... I was praying! :) But you know what?? It wasn't that bad! It burned and stung a little bit, but she was fast at removing them and next thing I know... all done! (Thank you GOD!)

Then I attended a Nutrition class again, and got my orders for the next 2 weeks... all so much clearer to me than the first time I went... I'm guessing because it's REAL now.. :) I took lots of notes on what gets stuck, what causes dumping, what will make me vomit, etc... So hopefully when I start eating puree' foods tomorrow, I'll make the right choices! One interesting thing I learned was that my opening from stomach to intestins is the size of a drinking straw! Interesting fact!!!

My friend tells me that Taco-Bell Pinto's and cheese was one of her first "meals"... I think that sounds yummy for me too! Beans are a good source of protein, and Taco-Bell's are the right consistency (they must be thin and more runny.. not the type that "plop" on the plate).. So I look forward to that.. wish me luck. I'll try (for the sake of the journey) to post foods that work ... though not all foods are the same for all people.. but I'm blogging MY journey.. so it works for this blog! :)

I saw Dr. Felix after the class, he gave me a good clean bill of health, reminded me about liquid intake, vitamins, care of wounds, etc.... and then told me to come back in 3 weeks! The nutrition instructor told me I'd be on puree for 2 weeks before I graduated to regular eating... but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to go to any new stages unless Dr. Felix clears me to do so.(And I don't see him again for 3 weeks) If I can't get clarification, I'm gonna take the safe route. He said that this stage is to get me used to food, but also to test out my opening and make sure I don't develop "stenosis" which is the closing of your opening from stomach to intestines, due to scaring.

So all is well... tomorrow I get to start a new phase of my diet.. so glad to be done with broth! :)

Total Pounds Lost: 15

(I'll try to do inches again soon)

Health Clearance

Well.. I had my doctor's appointment today (Primary Care Physician) and he cleared me for the surgery!! Yeahoo!

This part of the process was necessary for both the insurance company and the surgeon. He needed to look at my labs, verify that I don't have any health risks that would cause me to die in surgery, or after! :) I'm told they checked for any heart conditions, anemia, lung issues, etc....

So now we just have to hope that he can get his letter of approval to the surgeon today or tomorrow morning (he said he'd hurry! :)) , and then the surgeon's office will be faxing all information to the insurance company, and then Wa-la.. we wait for approval and a surgery date!! (Still hoping for first week of August.. think we can make it?)

I'm praying hard now... there's always the fear that since I'm a newly insured with this company, they possibly might feel it's too soon for them to be paying out for a surgery (though I did verify that I didn't have any pre-existing "hold" flags on my account/ID) And according to the surgeon's office, they usually see "my scenario" breeze through in a weeks time! So we are now praying for favor in that area...

Oh and this too... at the doctors office this morning I weighed in slightly below the BMI requirement (should have drank more water).. but the primary dr.'s letter of approval doesn't include those #'s ... the surgeons #'s are used... so we are also praying that the insurance company doesn't request the primary's chart information!! (Primary Dr. says he has never had to submit his chart for this kind of clearance)

So now for the most difficult part... WAITING!!

Any of you that know me... you know I'm not very good at this part... so we are praying about this too! :)

Lots of prayer in this post!! (Please join me!) :)

YEA!!

Just got a call from the primary care physician that has to sign off on my surgery (saying that the labs show that I'm healthy enough)...

I have an appointment at 10am on Monday morning!!! :) Yipee!!

After that appointment, only 2 more steps:

1) Insurance approval (which takes about a week)
2) Schedule Surgery Date.

Oh yeah... I'm doin the dance! :)

Initial appointments..

Tuesday, July 14th was a fun day! :)

I started out at 9am attending the nutrition class that's manditory before having the surgery. They explained all that I would need to know about how to eat during those first days, weeks, months, and then for a lifetime.. Of course I know I'm going to need ALOT more of those classes, because my head was spinning when I left there! :) But I at least got a great overview about what to expect when it comes to the new way of eating!

It was great to see 3 people in that class, coming in for a refresher, they had just had the surgery 5 days earlier and they looked like they were doing and feeling great! I must admit I was shocked, because every surgery I've ever had, I sure didn't look like that 5 days later.. but this one is apparently so minimally invasive, since it's done laproscopic, that you really don't have alot of pain afterwards.

I learned all about the amounts that we would be able to eat for the first little while... wow.. amazing! I guess I should stock up in these:

We learned all about the "Dumping Syndrom", where you become extremely sick when you eat too fast, or too much sugar, etc.... Apparently that is your friend... it will slap your hand (to put it nicely) if you don't eat right! I don't look forward to experiencing this, but hopefull I won't have to go through it too much, because I want to learn to eat RIGHT!

I also got to see the clinical phsycologist, to do my Psych Evaluation (also required)... she said I'm not crazy! :) (Brian said he wants a do-over!) LOL!


Then I got to weigh in, measure my height, and take an AWFUL picture (apparently the camera is set up to make you look really bad, so that you'll be even more happy with your final self at the end of the journey.... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) :) :)


After that I got to see Dr. Felix, go over health history and chat a bit about the outcome of the surgery. He assured me that my infertility will be a thing of the past if ovulation (PCOS) is my only problem (which according to OBGYN, it is)... so that's good.... :)


I am completely stoked about this whole thing, and I'm learning quickly that alot of people have a very strong opinion about this surgery... but opinions are like armpits, right?? We all have them, and sometimes they stink! :) I am doing this for me... for my family (and the hopes of future members of our family)... and for my health! So I don't care about negativity anymore... it's my life and I plan to live it! :) :)

Next step: Labs required for health clearance, and sign-off from MD... then insurance approval, then scheduled surgery date.... Yipee...

We are shooting for first or second week of August! Hopefully we can get it all to go through that fast!