Team Outing & Deep Posts

OK.  I'm hungry.  Not aching pains, getting dizzy, ravenous, have-to-have-something-right-this-second-or-I'm-going-to-lose-it hungry...but I'm hungry.  My calories are slowly working their way higher.  For the last week or so, I was seriously lucky to get 400 calories a day.  Now I'm getting closer to between 500-600.  I know that's still way low but there's only so much jello, pudding, soup I can eat.  I also cannot begin to tell you how sick I am of eating these things.  I want to CHEW!  God gave us teeth...we were meant to use them!  As for pain, getting better.  A little pain in the abdomen (maybe still from gas or something?) and of course that shoulder.  The shoulder is getting a little better every day too so that's definitely a good thing.  At least it's progress.  I told myself I wasn't going to get on a scale the first 6 weeks as any weight loss/gain is temporary as I heal.  Well, that didn't happen.  So far I've lost 13 lbs from my surgery date weight of 228.  I fully expect my weight to go up as I start actually eating again and I'm OK with that.  I'm not going to update my ticker until I get my first fill though because that seems to me when it's really "official." 

Yesterday, we had a team outing at work.  We have these every quarter where my group does something "fun" to help build relationships, blah, blah, blah.  We went to Dave & Buster's.  Not sure if they are everywhere but it's basically a restaurant/bar/arcade type place.  A lot of fun!  Oh!  But the food!  My group had chicken tacos, burgers, blackened chicken pasta and the list goes on!  It all looked and smell fantastic!  I got nothing.  The two types of soup they have there were just too "chowdery" or spicy for this phase so I ate before we went and had an iced tea.  There are always a couple people who don't eat when we go out (one is ALWAYS watching her weight and eats her salad before she comes and the other is just the oddest person I've ever met in my life) so I didn't feel too awkward not ordering anything.  I also made sure to place myself at the end of the table next to the only two people who know why I can't eat.  Avoided a lot of questions that way.  *On a side note, does anyone else find these corporate team building things to be horribly stupid??  They start off OK...pick a good destination...a place that should be fun but then you have to play dumb games during lunch to "get to know eachother better" and then there's the people.  I've worked in my group for 4 years now.  We haven't gotten anyone new in at least 2.  I already know these people as well as I need to.  No offense but I can avoid most of the people I work with when I'm at work...don't like them there so I certainly don't like them in the "real world."  There are a couple people I work with that just suck.  Plain and simple.  No if's, and's or but's about it.  Not to mention that if I want to hang out with any of these people, we do it after work, away from the sucky people.  *sigh*  Oh well. 

Moving on to the "deep posts" part of this blog.  It seems every time I turn around lately, someone is having some grand epiphany, is hitting their goal and can get all retrospective, is reaffirming their commitments, etc.  I have nothing deep to contribute right now.  Right now, I feel consumed by healing, trying not to eat, work and my family and very little else.  I haven't been mulling my situation over much since I had my surgery as I feel like I just need to focus on getting back to 100% before I can really commit to anything else.  Did anyone else kind of feel this way after surgery?  Like if you took too deep a look into something, it would scare the hell out of you, so you just deal with what you have to deal with right this second?  Anyway, to all the deep bloggers, I thank you for your bravery and honesty in what you're going through as it's inspirational to see what others must overcome or a good heartfelt reason why you blog or what your goals are.

Now just to respond to some things:  First, thank you all for your words of encouragement.  To Lynda: incisions are doing pretty good. Not too irritated except for the one that seems to hit right at my bra line.  It doesn't bother me but I'm thinking that can't be good for it.  Will also get some cream of wheat this weekend to add some variety.  Catherine - Thanks for the tip on the scar stuff.  Checked it out and it looks good.  Anyone have any idea when I should start using some sort of scar treatment?  To Shante and Angela - Thanks for visiting my blog.  If anyone wants to check out theirs...we were all banded the same day  and Angela could use some encouragement and Shante is doing beautifully - you can visit theirs blogs here and here.

Hope everyone's having a good week.  I'll probably check in on Monday so have a great weekend!

Back to Work & A Crybaby

Hello all!  I am back amongst the living.  I started work again today but I'll be honest... I'm a big ol' cry baby. The pain is mostly gone at this point.  Incisions don't hurt unless I press up against them but they are starting to get itchy.  The pain in my left shoulder is still there.  I even took an extra day off work hoping I could walk it out but it just ain't going anywhere.  Now I'm a little bummed I took the extra day as it did no good and I'm having to suck it up anyway.  Plus my "backup" at work is an idiot and has no idea what she's doing so now I get to redo everything from over the weekend.  Oh well.  Tis life.  I've moved on to "full liquids" so I can have yogurt and creamy soups and what not.  Nice but seriously, I can't wait until I can actually eat something.  Not hungry at all really.  Turns out the doc does put some saline in the band during surgery so I'm hoping that helps with the liquids and bandster hell and all that.  I've got liquids for another 2 weeks before I can move on to mushies...looking forward to eggs and mashed potatoes (not at the same time of course).  Anyway, I know it's actual surgery and all that, but I thought I'd be feeling better by now than I do.  Car rides wreak havoc on me for some reason and the heat (115 here and a little humid which is rare for AZ but it doesn't take much humidity to be miserable at 115) is hitting me really hard right now too.  I went to Sam's Club yesterday just to get some walking in and by the time I was back in the hot car, I was ready for a nap.  Crazy.  Hope everyone's having a good week so far.  Haven't read any blogs since last Tuesday (EEK!) so I've got some catching up to do.  Happy Tuesday!

Update

Hi all.  First, I wanted to thank all of you for your well wishes and support.  It meant so much going into surgery knowing that people were pulling for me.  Surgery went well.  Lapband is in.  I was back home by 10:30 a.m.  Crazy how fast that went.  I'm having a lot of gas related pain throughout my shoulders and stomach.  I can't really distinguish between the gas pain and the incision pain at this point.  I've been trying walking and Gas X but it's providing very temporary relief.  I was given Vicodin and while I've never had it before, I was under the impression that it would kind of knock me on my ass and it just doesn't.  Doesn't seem like it does a whole lot for the pain at all.  So that brings us to 2 a.m. and I just can't sleep.  Been up most of the night and just can't find a comfy position.  I don't own a recliner which I've heard is how most people got some sleep.  I've tried by big comfy chair w/footstool in the living room, the couch and the bed... no luck.  Heating pad provides some relief but so sick of being sitting up or on my back even with the heating pad.  Hoping this gas pain is very temporary.  I only haev 4 incisions and only one seems particularly big so that's kinda cool.  I sipped on water, gatorade and some broth yesterday.  I have no idea how much it was...just kept sipping very slowly all day.  I will try to get better about measuring it as I go to make sure I'm getting enough.  OK.  Just wanted to post a quick note to say thanks and give y'all an update.  Will post again later.

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the big day.  Surgery is at 7:30 so I have to be there by 6 to do some preop testing and stuff.  Starting to get pretty nervous about the whole thing.   I'm not too nervous about the surgery itself as I feel I have one of the best surgeons in the state doing the procedure.  It's more the after-surgery stuff like pain, recovery, a month of liquids and whether or not it will work in the end.  I've never been a very good dieter so there is a fear out there that I'll somehow fail with the band just like I have all the times before.  I'm pushing those thoughts out for now.  My mom gave me her official "I think you should reconsider" speech a couple days ago but I knew that was coming... was just surprised that it took this long.  I think I'm all stocked up on everything I need so not too many worries there.  My hubby took tomorrow, Thursday and Friday off so that he can stay with me which will be nice.  I'll probably check in Thursday and let y'all know how it went.  Wish me luck!

New Blog Link

A couple of people asked for a link to my new blog...  it is here.

Things are going pretty good.  Getting a little nervous about surgery - the recovery and the changes specifically.  I went and got all the stuff I'll initially need.  Thank you so much for the suggestions!  I will probably do a quick post tomorrow and then after surgery on Wednseday or Thursday.

Happy Monday!

Shopping List

Happy Thursday!

OK...so I'm starting my shopping list to get everything I need for surgery and directly following.  I'm open to any and all advice you have.  The one thing I'm not sure about is HOW MUCH of this stuff to buy?  I'm on liquids for 3 weeks following surgery, then on to "soft" foods (mushies) and then regular food.  Obviously, I'm not worried about the mushy or regular food.  But I have no idea how much of these liquids to buy.  They include juice, crystal light, carnation instant breakfast, soups, yogurt, frozen custard, popsicles, V8.  How thirsty/hungry were you the week after surgery?  Outside of the liquids, there are some basics I figure I need:

• Heating pad (thanks ladies)
• Liquid Tylenol
• Daily vitamins
• Mederma or some kind of scar cream (opinions on these?)
• Chapstick (another good suggestion)
• Viactiv (not a big milk drinker so nutritionist recommended this (thoughts?)

I appreciate your help with this.  I'd hate to make my hubby run out because we forgot something uber-important.  Getting so excited...and nervous...and yes, having some second thoughts.  Can you believe it?  I ponder this for 2 years, go through all the insurance hoops, am devestated when I get denied and then I have second thoughts!  I think I'm crazy.  Certifiably looney...regardless of what the psychological evaluation said. 

Surgery Date

I have a date! My surgery date is August 18th. Yep...next Wednesday! Holy Cow! It took me almost 10 months to go through everything and they set my date for just a week from approval. Amazing how that works, eh? I have a lot to do to prepare and am looking to veteran bandsters for help on what I'm going to need after. I've read enough to know some basics like Liquid Tylenol, Gax X or something similar, but is there any product, pillow, etc. that made you more comfortable as you recovered? So excited!

By the way, my daughter is doing great with the whole kindergarten thing. She loves her teacher and is already learning tons. She says she hasn't made any friends yet (my heart goes out to her when she says this) but I know this will come in time. Even she has said, "I think I just have to get used to them." Such a smart kid!

I have received several inquiries as to whether or not I'd be resurrecting this blog.  The short answer is "yes for now."  I like my other blog better in that it's more encompassing of my life overall but I can't beat the lapband support that this blog provides so this post, for instance, is a double post - posted on both blogs because I'm so excited about it.  I think eventually this blog will phase out and hopefully by then, all of you will be so enraptured my witty banter that you'll want to move over just to get your weekly pandaism.  We'll see how that goes.
Happy Hump Day everybody!

APPROVED!

Word came in today... I am approved!  No date yet...gotta wait for the letter to reach the doc's office but we got the verbal approval today!  So excited!