October 25, 2010

It is official I am healed enough to go home. Home health was here today and dismissed me from their care. I still have a couple of little sores that are open but nothing major enough for them to continue to treat me. The original wound is healed.

Tomorrow I will start the process of going home. I will take as much stuff as my car will take and then on Wednesday when my mom comes into town she will bring the rest. Tyger will stay out here until after my mom's surgery just in case she needs me. No need to uproot him twice. I don't think she will need me but you never know. Her surgery is November 3. It should be outpatient but they may keep her but we aren't anticipating that.

So I am excited that I get to go home. It will be nice to be in my own surroundings. Don't get me wrong it has been nice being here but I like living on my own.

October 5 2010

I am so tired of being sick all the time. I was doing so good healthwise and then I started to get sick again. I can only blame myself but it is maddening just the same. I bought some Cupcake Pebbles cereal after reading the label and thinking it was safe because there were no offending ingredients but have still been very sick ever since eating it and I have been eating it a lot because it tastes very good. Of course it tastes good it is a kids cereal. I emailed the company to see if their cereals are gluten free and they told me no none of their cereals are gluten free. Why am I stuck with bland cereal or expensive cereal?

Why can't I be creative in what I eat like a normal person? Why do I have to stick with the same foods over and over? I hate being gluten intolerant.

Sept. 17, 2010

Ok, I saw Dr. Baker today and although I knew I was going to gain weight I still didn't like it. I gained 7 pounds and plan on taking it back off by the time I see him in November. I am hoping that by the time I see him I will be close if not there to my goal of being below 200 pounds but I am cautiously optomistic. I will just have to be more diligent in my way of eating and when I get hungry instead of reaching for chocolate reach for celery. I do have my tootsie pops which help also with the sweet tooth cravings and they aren't too high calorie and are individually wrapped and take awhile to eat. He did remind me today that I am to be eating fat free cheese and I guess that would mean fat free mayo too. I may try fat free cream cheese in my lettuce wraps instead as that isn't so bad caloriewise. He also reminded me that I am not to be drinking with my meals 30 minutes before and 1 hour after. That is going to be a hard one to break as I get some serious dry mouth. Maybe I suck a mint or something. If it gets to bad I can ask him about that. He was encouraged by the fact that mom and I are going on a walk for the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County tomorrow. Which means we are getting up really early as registration is at 7:00 and the walk begins at 7:45. So I will work on the things I need to work on and then go from there. I am working on a DVD that I workout on I bought at Vintage Stock with some money mom and dad gave for my birthday and if you do the whole tape you will have walked 4 miles. I am about 2/3 way through it. Now that it has gotten cooler at night I need to go walking on the Bella Vista walking trail but don't want to go alone so need a walking buddy. I have an idea of someone to ask and will ask soon.

So this is it for now.

Jan

July 27, 2010

I just got home from seeing Dr. Baker and got a good report. I have been taken off my wound vac and have put on a wet/dry bandage. I have to have that changed twice a day so I guess that means that home health will be coming every day at least once a day and then mom will be changing it at night. Not really sure how that is going to work Dr. Baker was in a hurry and we didn't get a chance to ask him so I guess we will find out tomorrow. He didn't give us many supplies so I guess that means home health will be coming.

I learned a valuable lesson though don't mix blue cheese with feta cheese it makes your tummy hurt. We stopped at Whole foods for lunch and so I could look at their gluten free foods as I am trying the gluten free lifestyle for awhile to see if it makes me feel better and we ate at the salad bar and it made my stomach upset and that is the only thing I can think of because I was the only one that got sick. So don't try this at home LOL. I was impressed with their selection of gluten free products though and we are going to start getting our quinoa there as it is a lot cheaper there than up here and a little cheaper than at Kroger plus it is right off of the highway.

So the good thing is I am healing well enough to be taken off the wound vac and hopefully soon enough to go home. I will need to figure out things though to have in place when the urge to go down to the neighbor's house and bum a smoke hits so I don't do that as it is hard for me fight the urge. I wasn't able to resist in the short term time I was at home. I know it is bad for me and I know I don't need to do it but the addiction is a hard one to give up. So I need to come up with things to take the place of that.

July 14, 2010

I found out today that I am no longer able to drive for awhile. When I had gone to see Dr. Baker last he had released me to drive and I was able to go home. Well that didn't last long when he found out that made it so I was no longer eligible for home health. I am having to move back in with mom and dad :(. I don't understand why I can't go to the wound care center for my wound care. I don't see what the deal is. I guess he has his reasons though. I am waiting to hear back from him. Mom will have to take me back into town when they get home as I need to get my daily meds. I dole them out weekly and I do that on Wednesday's. Just what she wants to do drive more after being in the car all day. They are on their way home from Colorado.

So needless to say I am bummed. I see Dr. Baker again on July 30th and then will see if I am able to get rid of the wound vac. When I saw him last he said just a couple of more weeks. So I will be looking forward to getting rid of this thing.

July 2 2010

I am so excited I get to go home. I saw Dr. Baker today and asked him when do I get to drive and go home? He teased me and asked if I could drive before. He then said as long as I'm not on any pain killers that he didn't see a problem with me driving. So tomorrow and over the weekend I will be moving back home. I will be taking Tyger with me. He may like it out here at my parents but it was never to be a permanent thing. Right now Tyger is asleep on the desk beside me I think he knows something is up but he can't figure out what it is. I hope he doesn't meow the whole way back home. I guess when Rex brought him out here he cried almost the whole way. Tyger doesn't like cars.

But I am excited about going home and hopefully soon getting rid of this wound vac. I asked him when I would be getting rid of it and he said probably with in the next few weeks. So hopefully when I go to see him July 30 he will give the ok to get rid of it.

I know it has been awhile since I have posted so I thought I would bring you all up to speed on what is going on.

I saw Dr. Baker yesterday and he said I have to stay with mom and dad one more month. He is afraid if I go back home that old habits die hard and he thinks that if I go back home I will fall back into old habits namely smoking and not eating as I should. So I can be policed better out here. I wasn't real happy when I heard that but I understand why he is doing it. I guess healing any way I can is better than anything. At least we haven't killed each other. We are getting along better than I thought we would. I thought we would be at each other's throats by now but we aren't and it has me kind of shocked. At least it's not a permanant thing. I go back and see Dr. Baker on June 1 and he said I might and should be able to go home then. I think I should be closed up or nearly closed up by then.

We stopped at Toad Suck Days on the way back from Little Rock yesterday so I got my walk in, sore toe and all. I had my toe nail "operated" on they took part of it off on Tuesday to prevent it from becoming ingrown again. Dr. Byrum said my toenail was very curved and this should stop that problem. I know it did in my left foot. The problem is that this time it is hurting a lot more not sure why but it is. I got the good stuff though and it is helping. I could use my crutches but I hate using those. I am on those enough as it is. Anyway back to Toad Suck Days. They mainly had food vendors and I had a corndog. Mom had a polish sausage and Dad had tornado potatoes which he said were basically potato chips on a stick that were fresh out of the fryer. He said they were good. We also got a funnel cake. Gotta have one of those when you are at a festival. Dad got some good pictures which I'm sure he will post on his facebook page. There was a street band playing and some swing dancers they sure were good, very agile. I think they were going to be on the news probably in Little Rock because someone was filming them.

But I think the highlight of the day for me was when I got to see the TIV (tornado interception vehicle) it is from this show called Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel. It was going East as we were going West. I just happened to be looking out my window and saw it go by. I freaked out. I always wondered if I would ever get to see it as we are close to tornado alley. I think they were driving TIV 1 because that is what it looked like. I know in past seasons the second one they built has had problems and they have to go back to the first one and so we will see when they start to show the show again. But anyway I was excited.

I guess that is all for now.

Wednesday April 7 2010

I went to see Dr. Baker yesterday and got a good report. The little black spots the home health nurse and mom were seeing was foam. I was so excited. No hospital for me. The first time in the last 2 visits that I haven't had to go to the hospital after seeing him. I did get busted for smoking though. I had a moment of weakness and bummed some from the neighbor. I really need to figure out a way to handle the cravings and what to do when the urge to go down to the neighbor's house happens. Something to work out with Savannah.

Friday March 26 2010

Well it has been awhile since I have updated but I have been in the hospital off and on. I wasn't eating correctly and got an infection in my incision point. When I went to see Dr. Baker about a month ago my infection had eaten away my stitches and it was open all the way down. So I got whisked away to surgery and it got opened up all the way and I got a wound vac got put on. I have had that since then and will have that until it heals. The wound vac heals the wound from inside out so even though the wound isn't together at the top of the wound it will eventually get there. I hurt some but not as much as I used to.

I am staying out here at Mom and Dad's so they can monitor my eating since Dr.Baker thinks I wasn't eating right. I wasn't getting enough protein in. So until my next doctor appointment I will be here.

Friday Februrary 26, 2010

Well I went to the doctor yesterday and Shannon his nurse practionner told me I have an infection in my wound so the stitches couldn't come out nor could my drain. I was pretty bummed but kind of expected it. I was put on a round of antibiotics and am to put this cream on it twice day. The cream is triple antibiotic cream. I don't know why my body likes to go into infection mode when I have surgery. I am glad though mom had this housedress I could wear though. It is thick enough that I don't have to wear panties so I don't have any thing rubbing on my incision point because that was about to run up a tree. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday and maybe it will be healed enough for him to take out my drain and stitches then. I have my doubts just by the way it looks but we will see. Don't worry this isn't a show and tell post.

But pray that my infection goes away soon so I can have my drain taken out because I hate this thing.

Wednesday February 24 2010

Well tomorrow I go get my stitches out and my drain. I had 2 drains when I came home but one fell out last week. But Dr. Baker told me not to worry about it that the other drain would take its place. I guess it is doing its job. I will be happy when it comes out though it is a pain in the hiney to deal with.

My pain level has been tolerable lately I haven't had to take anything stronger than my Ultram except for today I had to have mom bring me some of Dad's pills which he doesn't take anymore.
They seem to be working except for the fact they knock me out.

I had to go get some blood drawn on Monday to have my thyroid checked to see if my level was too high and found out it is normal. But anyway while I was there I asked if I could go back to my doctor's area and weigh and they said sure anytime. So I did and I about fell off the scale because since my surgery I have lost 12lbs. Which if Dr. Bakers scale matches Dr. Byrum's scale I am only 26 pounds away from my ultimate goal. I am so very stinkin excited.

I will definitely post about that when I get back from Little Rock tomorrow.


Jan

Friday February 19

Well I weighed yesterday and it was a big letdown. I only lost 2 pounds. I thought I would have lost at least 5. But nope just 2. My therapist and I talked about it and we decided it is because I am still pretty swollen so must have some water weight in there. I just got off my period so it isn't that. Why is that everytime I go in for surgery the next week I get my period even if I just had it? What a wonky body I have.

I am still not able to eat a whole lot and food just doesn't really interest me a whole lot. I have to remind myself to eat. Although I ate better today. All my frozen meals have been eaten so now I'm going to actually have to cook tomorrow. Unless I just survive on fish sticks and cheddar broccoli rice. I could do it but probably won't.

I did the nose irrigation thingy today and that was so funky I did get a lot of stuff out of my nose though so hopefully this will work and I won't have to go back on an antibiotic. I have already been on 2 rounds of them. I admit though I quit taking the second round when I went into the hospital last week.

I am having to fight the urge to just hop in the car and drive around. I miss driving. I hate having to depend on people to drive me around. I know my mom doesn't mind but it is still annoying.

Wednesday Februrary 17

Well I weigh in tomorrow so we will see how much I actually lost. I am bracing myself for some small number. That way I won't be disappointed if a huge number isn't there.

I am still kind of swollen so I know there is some water weight in there which is why I am not expecting some huge number. I am betting on 210ish. But I don't make it there I need to learn that it is ok that it is just a number on a scale and how I feel physically is how I should judge on how I am doing not just by how I am doing by the number on the scale. I don't know how it is that it gets engrained into our heads that we need to weigh such and such a number and then we aren't happy unless we are at that number. I should be happy I can shop at Old Navy now whereas before I couldn't. Soon I will be able to shop The Gap and Banana Republic. I want to be able to base myself on what stores I can shop in and buy trendy clothes. As I have said before..maybe not on here but to other people my main goal in life is to not have to shop on the plus size section at Walmart. I am getting close to my goal. I picked up a pair of XL pants yesterday and almost bought them but didn't have the $9 to buy them. They were some cute workout windpants. The windpants I have are from the mens section and they are 2x's and I just swim in them but still wear them because they are comfy.

I can't wait until the swelling goes down and I can buy some new stuff.

Sunday Feburary 14

Ok so here it is Valentine's day. The pain level is tolerable. I woke up and haven't taken a pain pill yet. I hurt some but not bad enough to take a pill. I imagine as the day wears on that might change as mom and I are disinfecting my apartment. I feel bad though because she seems to be having to do most of the work as I get worn out so easily. Yesterday was the first day we started and I fell asleep on the couch. Mom understands but I still feel bad. It is my apartment so I should be the one doing the work not her. Plus I don't think safety wise I should be doing a whole lot with these incisions. What if one of them got some rogue germ in them and I got another infection? I remember my staph infection and that wasn't fun. Luckily it shouldn't take too long to get it done and I don't have to worry about it.

The not smoking thing is ok but again I am out at my parents house where the temptation level is fairly low. I am going home today so the temptation level will be high again so we will see how I do. I plan on asking mom to stop by the store to pick me up some mints and some more vitamin C and zinc suckers. Those seem to help the cravings the best and they taste the best.

I am wearing a size 1x shirt right now and it fits WOOHOO!! I am wearing my mom's jeans and they are just hanging off of me. I knew they would so we will see how my jeans fit. I had to put a belt on to wear these jeans but I needed something with pockets in them to put the bulb part of my drains. I am so excited though that I am wearing a 1x shirt. My main goal for this whole thing was to not have to shop in the plus size section at Walmart and it looks like my goal is coming true.

Friday Feburary 12 2010 after the surgery

Well I made to the other side. I am still sore but every day seems to get bit better. The mack truck that hit me seems to have left the area. The ride back from Little Rock yesterday wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We stopped a few times so I could get out and walk around. Boy was it ever cold. Remind me to bring a better coat next time. We met one lady at one of our stops that had gastric bypass 3 months ago and she said she had lost 180lbs in 3 months and she wasn't keeping any food down so Dr. Baker had to put a feeding tube back in her. Then mom and I were shocked when she hopped in the drivers seat and drove away. I'm not sure when I am able to drive again. I forgot to ask and their office is closed for lunch right now. So I will have to call them this afternoon. My belly doesn't look like a big loaf of bread anymore and it is taking getting some used too. But I know I will enjoy the end result.

Monday morning the morning of my surgery

Well here it is the morning of my surgery.

It snowed this morning so I am a bit worried that Dr. Baker won't be able to get into the hospital because they say that the roads are really bad. I guess I should have told his staff where we were spending the night. Oh well its a bit late for that now.

Dad is chomping at the bit to get going so this is going to be a small post.

So pray that all goes well today.

Here's seeing you on the skinny side.

Sunday night the night before my surgery.

Well we are here in Little Rock. I think things are going to be ok. The Saints won the Superbowl I was able to avoid the temptation of the cigarette today. So that was a good thing.

Dad and I talked about it on the way here to Little Rock and we decided that if I could continue to not smoke he would go half with me so I can get my ipod. So I figured out what I would give up this month and I am giving up my beloved boots because by the time I am able to put them on it will be spring and I won't be able to wear them and they will be to hot to wear them plus I do have a black pair so it's not like I don't have boots. Plus I am giving up my Biggest Loser DVD because by the time I am ready to do it I may not want to do it and plus the library has DVD's that I can borrow for free. Also I belong to Blockbuster Online and I'm sure they have workout DVD's I can borrow. So after I get home from the hospital Dad can order my Ipod for me. I am going to order it from Walmart so I can get site to store so I don't have to pay for shipping. This is also an incentive to keep me smoke free. He said he would pay half of my ipod if I stay smoke free but if he catches me smoking I'm sure there will be a price to pay and I'm sure the price I pay would be me giving up the ipod. So there is the incentive stay smoke free so I can keep the ipod. It will be an ipod shuffle. So I am excited about that. Plus it will be a good thing for me to be able to start to walk with. That is my goal this spring and summer is to get outside and walk.

Sunday the day before surgery

Well the nerves are starting to set in. I know I have nothing to worry about but I know every surgery is major surgery and the whatif's are starting to rear their ugly head. What if all the food I ate yesterday made me gain too much weight and he cancels the surgery? What if I can't continue to not smoke? What if I look to wierd without a belly button? I know that one is way too wierd but it is something I am wondering about. When I went for my appointment with the doctor he told me that I may come out on the other side of surgery without a belly button. He may not be able to put it back on. Well it's not like I'm going to be wearing a bikini or anything LOL. What if I get another staph infection? That is the main one I am obsessing about. Last time I had major surgery on my belly region I got a staph infection. So that is why I am obsessing about it. The last 2 surgeries I have had on my belly region have ended with me getting a staph infection and they were both so nasty looking and smelling that and it seemed that it took forever for it to heal. The staph I got when I had my gastric bypass took almost 6 months to heal. My scar looks very funky but it is going to go bye bye when they do the surgery tomorrow so I don't have to worry about looking at the funky scar anymore.

So those of you that read this before my surgery pray that I don't get a staph infection again.

Pre plastic surgery

This was me 5 years ago. Presurgery. I had Gastric Bypass surgery in May of 2005. May 11 of 2005 if you want to be specific. Monday I go in and have all the excess skin taken off and have my hernia repaired. I am strangely calm about the whole deal. I guess I know I have worked so hard for this day to come. I trust my surgeon and know that he will do a great job and if he could operate on me weighing 442 and have me come out on the other side doing awesome. He can operate on me at 218.6 and have me come out even better.

I am supposed to be at the hospital at 7:30 Monday morning. I will be at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock. Dr. Baker said I would be there for 3-4 days. I kind of figured that since that is how long I was there for my bypass surgery.

My Gastric bypass surgery saved my life. I eat small meals throughout the day and although I don't exercise I whole lot I do do some exercise. I have DVD I do. It is a Biggest Loser Boot Camp. Boy Howdy that thing is hard and it gets ya moving. I do that about once a week. I know I should do it more than that but I don't but I am still losing weight so something is working. I have arthritis in my knees so doing major aerobics is kind of a no-no because it hurts to bad. If I could afford a membership to a gym that had a pool I would swim or do water aerobics but I can't afford it. I am on disability due to my size but soon that isn't going to be an issue but the main reason I am on disability is my mental health issues. That in itself could be another blog.

I no longer require daily nebulizer treatments and I can't even remember the last time I was at the ER for an asthma attack. I'm surprised the hospital hasn't sent someone to see if I'm ok LOL. I was in the ER practically everyday with an asthma attack before and soon after my surgery. I am still clumsy so still end up on crutches quit often but it doesn't kill me like it used to. Last time I had an asthma attack I had to search around my apartment for my stuff because I knew I had it but just couldn't find it it had been so long since I had used it. I found it used it and it corrected itself within about a day instead me having to go to the ER be hospitalized and deal with all that. The last time I was hospitalized they wanted to me to come home on oxygen but my pulse ox wouldn't stay low enough with me resting. So they got me up and had me walk all over the hospital and then come back and take the pulse ox and it still wouldn't stay low enough for me to come home with oxygen. So having the surgery has taken so much fat off of my lungs that my pulmnologist said the last time he tested them it was like I never even had asthma anymore but I had to have the inhalers because I smoke. I am quitting though and that is so hard because I will even get a whiff of one and then bam the craving will hit. I heard once that quitting smoking is harder than getting off of heroin. I wouldn't know because I have never had to get off of heroin but boy howdy this kicking the nicotine is about to do me in.

Anyway here is a picture taken of me a few months ago so you can get a sense of what I look like now and then after I get home I will get a picture taken of me so you can judge to see how much fat was taken off of me.