Pictures

So I mentioned that I got my hair cut. Here's before:

And here's after:

So glad I did this before surgery.


Here are my before pics:

I organized my food/supplies so I wouldn't have to go into the other cabinets.

And lat but not least our puppies:

Millie, 11 year old GSP:

Missy: 3-4 year old Coon Hound (just got her this weekend):

ps can you tell I just figured out how to add pics?

Feeling Almost Normal

Tomorrow will be a week since surgery and I'm felling pretty good. Able to get in the fluids and protein required. I'll post about my surgery and hospital stay soon. I'm really glad I was able to stay over night. Since tomorrow is a holiday I don't have to go back to work until Tues, and even then I'm working from home :)

First couple of days I had to force myself to "eat" and drink. Now my appetite is starting to come back. I'm actually getting hungry sometimes. My diet is three 2oz "meals" (full liquids) plus protein shakes for supplementation. I'm supposed to get 75gm protein in each day, and 64-80oz fluids. So in between my "meals" I'm basically drinking shakes/water/isopure drinks. I can also have as much SF jello, broth and SF popsicles I want. Of course, can only eat/drink a couple of oz any one time, hence the continuous drinking.

Tues I can start in with real foods, and I can't wait. Will start with more mushy things tuna/chicken salad, eggs. I will still be restricted on some things, but there are a lot of options.

Burping and farting are my friends.

Never thought I'd be saying that,but its sooo true. Insition pain is ok, but its the gas pains that are the worst. I've been walking in my house'taking gas x and using a hearing pad. Thats helping but I just cant wait until it's gone. So I've been celebration every burp and fart. :)

How much were you able to get down the first couple of days after surgery? I'm drinking constantly but I'm can only get tiny sips in. I'm doing better today but still not getting as much as they wanted. So how was it for you
?

I'm a member of the band!

Surgery went well. Stayed overnight because I wanted to. Didn't get much sleep but I felt better having the nurses around. Home now pains not too bad. Will write more when I'm more withit.

Thanks for all the good thoughts

Tomorrow's the big band day!

Can't believe it's so close. I think I'm as prepared as I can be. Nerves are really starting to kick in. Just hope I can get some sleep tonight. Have to be at the hospital at 6 am and surgery at 8.

Will take some before pics tonight. Probably wont get them posted for awhile. Will post my hair cut pics as well, got 12 inches cut off. I weighed it and it was almost half a pound. Let the weight loss begin!

Ten Things Thursday

1.  Surgery is scheduled for Monday, and I'm starting to freak out.  It's getting really real, and I'm nervous, scared, excited. 

2.  Had my nutrition and pre-op nurse class today.  Got my post op diet, not as restrictive as I thought.  As I knew, no real pre-op diet, except light meals the day before (I'm planning on doing liquids for the day).  Post op is full liquids for the first week, then slowly move into "real" food.

3.  Getting a massage saturday morning and I can't wait.  I hold my stress in my shoulders and they are sooo tight right now.

4.  Getting my hair chopped off saturday afternoon.  I'll post pics after, but it should be about 11-12 inched that are taken off.

5.  Final weigh in before surgery was 326.1.  UGH, can't believe i weigh that much,  but it will be the last time I ever weigh that much.

6.  Class was supposed to be a full day, but since there was only 2 of us we were able to finish by 1pm. Instead of going into work I went shopping, did a little work around the house and am playing on the computer.

7.  We have found our newest member of the family.  I posted before about having to put down our boxer Emma.  Well originally we were going to get another boxer, but we someho ended up with a Coon Hound.  Her name is Mississippi, and she's about 3-4 years old.  She's a rescue so we don't know too much about her.  She's a sweety, and can't wait until she's with us.  I wanted to wait until after surgery to bring her home.

8.  We currently have an 11-12 year old German Shorthaired Pointer, and it was hard finding another dog she got along with.  She's a little neurotic.

9.  I still have so much I wanted to get done before surgery, not sure how much I'll actually get done.  One of the big projects is to go through my closests and arrange clothes by size.  I have everything from 26/28 down to 16/18.  Won't have to buy new clothes for a while...  won't have to but probably will.

10.  I want to thank everything who is following me and is helping me as I start my journey into bandland.  It means so much to have others who understand what I'm going through.

One Week to go!!

This time next week, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be a member of the BAND. Can't believe it's this close, also can't believe I have to wait another week.  I'm so not going to be productive this week. I've got my class on Thursday, so right now I'm just focusing on making it until then. Then Saturday I'm getting my hair chopped off, should have about 12 inches to donate.  Can't wait for that either, so that's what I'll focus on after the class.  Short term goals are good for me. :)


Finished up strong with goals for last week:


Thursday:  AdvantEDGE® Carb Control Chocolate blended with banana and no soda.  The shake had a good chocolate flavor.


Friday:  Oh Yeah! Chocolate shake, blended with a banana and PB2. PB2 is basically dried peanut butter, it has a lot less fat and calories than regular peanut butter, and it tastes the same.  One caffeinated soda.


Took the weekend off from shakes, and had 2 caffeinated sodas. So overall not great, but not bad.  Today I gave into temptation and had a yummy apple strudel for breakfast (yeah I know not a great choice, but not beating myself up about it).  So shake for lunch:


Premier Protein Shake, Vanilla blended with some strawberries and raspberries...so yummy! Just got these from Costo this weekend (there's a coupon this week for $5 off a case, bought 2 cases, so glad I like them.)

Inside of two weeks

I've read a lot about peoples pre-op diet.  My doctor doesn't require any special diet, except the day before surgery.  I'm glad I don't have anything I HAVE to do, but I want to use these two weeks to ease myself into the new lifestyle.  Mind you I have already adopted some bandster rules : chew everything a lot, eat slowly, drink lots of water, don't drink with meals.

That being from what I've seen I'll be on liquids for almost a month post-op (clear for a week, then full).  I'm not certain though, I have my class to learn all that next week.  So my goal for this week is to replace breakfast with a protein shake, and to reduce soda.  I've already cut the soda down a lot, caffeinated is 1 per day (down from 3-4) and non-caffeinated is 1 (down from 2-3).

It's Wednesday to how am I doing...

Monday was hard, 8 am meeting at work, didn't plan for making the shake, so had usual breakfast of a muffin (probably the last one for a very long time).  and 2 sodas for the day, 1 caffeinated and 1 non.

Tues:  Unjury vanila protein powder with fresh strawberries blended with milk and NO soda :).  Not sure I liked the unjury it has an after taste to me.  I can do it, jut not my favorite.

Wed: AdvantEDGE® Carb Control Strawberry ready to drink shake blended with a banana.  I did pick up a Diet Pepsi, but that will be my only soda today (I promise).  I really liked the shake, didn't have any after taste to me.

small victory against negative thoughts

Today was busy at work and had to spend quality time chained to my desk. Needless to say I didn't get a lot of walking in most of the day. As I was leaving for the daylight I took a long walk around the buildings,but still I was only around 7,000. I told myself it was ok,cause I could take my dog for a walk when I got home. Problem was by the time I got home...

My head hurt,my foot hurt,I was tired, it was too hot out...so my plan was changing to curl up on the couch...

BUT...I changed my clothes,put on my sneakers, grabbed the Millie dog any headed out before I could change my mind...

It wasn't pretty, i was sweating up a storm i'm sure my face was bright read but i added almost 3,000 steps. Whoohoo!

So the moral of the story is don't let that negative Nellie that lives in your head to win.

Got My Date!!!

Got the call today from the surgeons office and I am officially on the schedule for May 21st at 8am.  I am so happy!! (and nervous). I had actually gotten a call from them yesterday that I missed. Of course when I called back I got their voicemail, so I had to wait for them to call again.  I didn't let the phone leave my sight all day today, just to make sure I didn't miss it again.

So, in just a little under three weeks I will officially be hopping on the Bandwagon.  I've got to start making my lists...I'm a big list person, got that from my mom.  I make lists of my lists and even add things to the list after I've done them just to be able to cross them off ;)

Seriously, I need to officially make my list of items to have on hand prior to surgery.  I've been gathering some things along the way, just so I don't have to get everything all at once.  Here's what I have so far:

•      Assortment of powdered proteins (I've been sampling to see which I like best, now I just need to buy  more)
•      Assortment of pre-made protein shakes
•      Gas X
•      Milk of Magnesia
•      Heating pad
•      small plates and bowls
•      small forks and spoons
•      chewable vitamins (although I don't really like them, I'll use us the bottle before I switch brands)
•      blender bottle
•      magic bullet (i've had this for years)  anyone know where I can get extra cups?
•      small dixie cups for sipping fluids the first couple of days

I have an all day nutrition class on the 17th, so I'll do a major shopping trip that weekend before surgery.  Anyone have suggestions about things that were/ are helpful for you?