Hey guys,
This is day four since my lap band was placed and I've developed some kind of weird symptoms. I am burping pretty much continiously, especially after drinking. Also I have some lower abdominal pain going on... Kind like there's a fist behind my belly button. I won't even tell you about gas passing... Yuck. Is this all normal guys? Any advice would be helful... I'm kinda worried and the clinic hasn't been much help. Thank!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Surgery Day, Clear Liquids and the Yellow Brick Road to Recovery
Morning everyone!
So, I've officially been banded. It's day 2 of my 5 day clear liquids phase. I don't feel bad at all. A bit of gas pain in my shoulder, and my port incision hurts a little... but other than that, not much pain at all. In fact, this is already a thousand times better than my damn wisdom teeth last month.
We flew into Toronto on Thursday evening, and got into the hotel about midnight. Our flight was delayed so I didn't get to visit the CN Tower and have my last 'pre-band' meal up there. Likely for the best though, because I was so tired by the time we got into the hotel I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep.
The next morning I get into the Clinic at 8:30, as scheduled. I met with Counsellor lady, who took my picture and answered any other questions I had. To be honest, I didn't really have any. I have been reading about this procedure obsessively for almost a year, plus all the great advice from you wonderful ladies... I felt pretty confident going into surgery. It was almost 11 when they asked me to come into the Operating Room. I had been fairly panic free until this point, but I walked into this room and there's all these sharp objected and this surgery bed that looked like something from the movie Hostel... straps for arms and nasty bent stirrup thingies. At this point I'm pretty scared. The nurses and doctors were wonderful tho and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery.
They kept in the Clinic for a few hours and then we (my Mom and I) went back to the hotel room for a nice long afternoon nap. That evening we went for pedicures at the hotel's gorgeous spa. Saturday our flight didn't leave until 3:30 PM, so we had some time to wander around downtown Toronto. What wonderful shopping! Mom and I agreed we would have to come back when we had time to stay and explore. I did find a HOT pair of redneck sex appeal boots, which came home with me. (Thanks, mom!) Anyone who's read this blog from the beginning now knows that my Mama spoils me rotten. That put my total new shoe count for the banding trip up to 3 pairs:
The flight home was probably the worst part of the whole experience. My band felt really tight and it was uncomfortable to be stuck in that little seat for so long. I watched the movie Hanna, which was totally bizarre.
This morning I woke up feeling really good, still a bit of gas but nothing horrible. The Gas-X seems to be helping. The Clinic gave me Dem*erol, but I don't like to take narcotics, so I've just been layering liquid Tyleno*l and Advi*l. Seems to be working fine. Back to work tomorrow, the first day of another week long Audit. Yikes! It should be fine though... if I continue to feel this good I'm not worried about going back to work. Also, I'm not hungry at all, which seems weird considering I haven't eaten in three days. But, hopefully that's a good sign.
Have a great week everyone and thanks for all your encouragement!
So, I've officially been banded. It's day 2 of my 5 day clear liquids phase. I don't feel bad at all. A bit of gas pain in my shoulder, and my port incision hurts a little... but other than that, not much pain at all. In fact, this is already a thousand times better than my damn wisdom teeth last month.
We flew into Toronto on Thursday evening, and got into the hotel about midnight. Our flight was delayed so I didn't get to visit the CN Tower and have my last 'pre-band' meal up there. Likely for the best though, because I was so tired by the time we got into the hotel I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep.
The next morning I get into the Clinic at 8:30, as scheduled. I met with Counsellor lady, who took my picture and answered any other questions I had. To be honest, I didn't really have any. I have been reading about this procedure obsessively for almost a year, plus all the great advice from you wonderful ladies... I felt pretty confident going into surgery. It was almost 11 when they asked me to come into the Operating Room. I had been fairly panic free until this point, but I walked into this room and there's all these sharp objected and this surgery bed that looked like something from the movie Hostel... straps for arms and nasty bent stirrup thingies. At this point I'm pretty scared. The nurses and doctors were wonderful tho and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery.
They kept in the Clinic for a few hours and then we (my Mom and I) went back to the hotel room for a nice long afternoon nap. That evening we went for pedicures at the hotel's gorgeous spa. Saturday our flight didn't leave until 3:30 PM, so we had some time to wander around downtown Toronto. What wonderful shopping! Mom and I agreed we would have to come back when we had time to stay and explore. I did find a HOT pair of redneck sex appeal boots, which came home with me. (Thanks, mom!) Anyone who's read this blog from the beginning now knows that my Mama spoils me rotten. That put my total new shoe count for the banding trip up to 3 pairs:
The flight home was probably the worst part of the whole experience. My band felt really tight and it was uncomfortable to be stuck in that little seat for so long. I watched the movie Hanna, which was totally bizarre.
This morning I woke up feeling really good, still a bit of gas but nothing horrible. The Gas-X seems to be helping. The Clinic gave me Dem*erol, but I don't like to take narcotics, so I've just been layering liquid Tyleno*l and Advi*l. Seems to be working fine. Back to work tomorrow, the first day of another week long Audit. Yikes! It should be fine though... if I continue to feel this good I'm not worried about going back to work. Also, I'm not hungry at all, which seems weird considering I haven't eaten in three days. But, hopefully that's a good sign.
Have a great week everyone and thanks for all your encouragement!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Today is the day!
Yep... THE day. We flew into Toronto last night and I am on my way out the door to the clinic. Wish me luck!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Pre-Op Detox and the Count Down is ON!
Happy Saturday Everyone!
These last couple days have been much better... so no more super-b*tchy blog posts for me, one was enough. TFG is doing great, and thanks everyone for the well wishing. His wires will come off October 3rd... right about the time I'm doing my last day of mushies. Coincidence? Well, probably, but at least we can suffer through liquids together.
The pre-op detox was tough for the first few days, likely because I was coming down off a 7 year caffeine high. But, I gotta say, I usually drink no less than 3 Diet Pepsi in a day, and for the last week NONE, nada, no cheaty-cheaty. And I feel good! Actually, I feel great, I've got more energy than usual and I'm having a way easier time getting up in the AM... no 45 minutes snooze alarm.
I found these meal replacement bars called Nutribar and they are the bee's knees (yes, I know, but my sister is only little and I had to banish "cat's ass" from my vocabulary because it perplexed her). These bars have 220 Cal, 35%-45% of most of your daily nutrients and they actually taste delicious. They also claim to keep you full for 5 hours, and seem to actually deliver. Anyways, these little buggers saved me from a life of cottage cheese and egg whites so I'm eternally grateful.
So far I haven't gone into a cottage cheese induced rage at work, which is good. We recently did the Myers-Briggs personality test and I discovered I am an 'ENTJ'. Which, pretty much means I shouldn't try to nuture anyone ever. Poor TFG, no wonder I was such a lousy nurse maid. It's actually kinda interesting, and it gives you a good starting point for understanding people you findfriggin impossible... trying. One day I'll tell you the story about why I never EVER do on-line personality tests (Stooopid Eharmony).... but not today!
The time to take pre-op measurements and photos is fast approaching. *GULP* I'm not normally internet-photo shy (see the Pictures from the Crazy Times tab) but for some reason this is causing me a little anxiety. Is it the prospect of putting bikini clad photos on the internet... a little. But mostly, I don't want all of the nice people in blog land to discover...I have no belly buton. There, I said it. And it's horrible. So, nobody laugh when I post the pictures, or at least if you do laugh don't tell me because I'll be traumatized.
So far I've lost 7 lbs on the pre-op detox. I'm hoping to sneak back into 180's before we fly to Toronto on Thursday. In my next post I'm going to do goals/rewards and measurements/pictures... so stay tuned for that hot-mess.
Have a great weekend everyone! XOXO
These last couple days have been much better... so no more super-b*tchy blog posts for me, one was enough. TFG is doing great, and thanks everyone for the well wishing. His wires will come off October 3rd... right about the time I'm doing my last day of mushies. Coincidence? Well, probably, but at least we can suffer through liquids together.
The pre-op detox was tough for the first few days, likely because I was coming down off a 7 year caffeine high. But, I gotta say, I usually drink no less than 3 Diet Pepsi in a day, and for the last week NONE, nada, no cheaty-cheaty. And I feel good! Actually, I feel great, I've got more energy than usual and I'm having a way easier time getting up in the AM... no 45 minutes snooze alarm.
I found these meal replacement bars called Nutribar and they are the bee's knees (yes, I know, but my sister is only little and I had to banish "cat's ass" from my vocabulary because it perplexed her). These bars have 220 Cal, 35%-45% of most of your daily nutrients and they actually taste delicious. They also claim to keep you full for 5 hours, and seem to actually deliver. Anyways, these little buggers saved me from a life of cottage cheese and egg whites so I'm eternally grateful.
So far I haven't gone into a cottage cheese induced rage at work, which is good. We recently did the Myers-Briggs personality test and I discovered I am an 'ENTJ'. Which, pretty much means I shouldn't try to nuture anyone ever. Poor TFG, no wonder I was such a lousy nurse maid. It's actually kinda interesting, and it gives you a good starting point for understanding people you find
The time to take pre-op measurements and photos is fast approaching. *GULP* I'm not normally internet-photo shy (see the Pictures from the Crazy Times tab) but for some reason this is causing me a little anxiety. Is it the prospect of putting bikini clad photos on the internet... a little. But mostly, I don't want all of the nice people in blog land to discover...I have no belly buton. There, I said it. And it's horrible. So, nobody laugh when I post the pictures, or at least if you do laugh don't tell me because I'll be traumatized.
So far I've lost 7 lbs on the pre-op detox. I'm hoping to sneak back into 180's before we fly to Toronto on Thursday. In my next post I'm going to do goals/rewards and measurements/pictures... so stay tuned for that hot-mess.
Have a great weekend everyone! XOXO
Friday, September 2, 2011
Shenanigins, Tomfoolery and... complete and total B*llshit
I'm determined not to become an absentee blogger!
Sorry I fell off the face of the world there... I was on holidays in B.C, and then I came back to a bit of a disaster.
I have a high stress job... yeah, I know everyone says that, but I really do. I'm responsible for investigating and determining root cause of personnel and process related safety incidents for a large oil and gas company. It's the kind of job middle aged, highly educated men get. I'm a 23 year old female with a technical school diploma. So anyway, the pressure is always on, and I desperately needed an escape. So I took 10 days holidays and took off to B.C. I floated around on a houseboat in the Shuswaps and drank in excess for 4 days... it was great. There we costumes and fake boobs... very much like floating Vegas. Then I came home.
The plan was to spend the next 5 days riding my ATV out in the west country... not quite the mountains, but working on getting there. I just bought a new quad this year... her name is Bella and she's a beauty. She replaced Beaskly, who was not a beauty, but was very rugged. TFG came out to join us Thursday after work and we all went for one last tear before tucking into the vodka for the night.
TFG was in an accident when we were almost back to the road. His quad rolled unexpectedly and landed on him. It was single handedly the most horrible thing I've ever seen and I'm pretty sure I'll always see it as slow motion milli second by milli second action when I think of it. He was injured pretty badly, his jaw was broken in 2 places and he was bleeding from a pretty nasty gash on his head. Once we rescued him from the bush (that's a story for another day) he spent 3 days waiting for surgery in the local hospital... gotta love Alberta Healthcare.
Anyway, he's home now and doing much better. I returned to work in the middle of a Corporate Audit, which made the last 3 days suck too. I started my pre-op detox today. It's 2 weeks long and pretty much all you can eat is egg whites and cottage cheese... it's gonna be a rough 2 weeks. TFG is also on an involuntary jaw-wired-shut diet, so we will be on liquids together as of Sept 16th.
I'm not as scared as I thought I would be to have surgery. Mostly, I'm afraid that this desperate, last ditch attempt to get healthy and escape the diet rollar coaster will fail too. I'm terrified that there is no solution and I will be fat and unhappy forever, except now I'll be fat and unhappy with a foriegn object installed in me. Pleasant thoughts, eh? I'm not normally such a downer but I think the last week has gotten the better of me. Between the broke jaw, the in-laws, and the corporate audit I want to stick my head in a tub of Ben and Jerry's and never surface again. Invisible Ice Cream Ostrich Power.
Anyways, have a great long weekend everyone! Hopefully this detox won't cause me to committ a homicide or anything like that, and the next time we chat I'll be a bandster! Oh, and to all you ladies headed off to Chicago have a BLAST! It looks like a great time :)
Sorry I fell off the face of the world there... I was on holidays in B.C, and then I came back to a bit of a disaster.
I have a high stress job... yeah, I know everyone says that, but I really do. I'm responsible for investigating and determining root cause of personnel and process related safety incidents for a large oil and gas company. It's the kind of job middle aged, highly educated men get. I'm a 23 year old female with a technical school diploma. So anyway, the pressure is always on, and I desperately needed an escape. So I took 10 days holidays and took off to B.C. I floated around on a houseboat in the Shuswaps and drank in excess for 4 days... it was great. There we costumes and fake boobs... very much like floating Vegas. Then I came home.
The plan was to spend the next 5 days riding my ATV out in the west country... not quite the mountains, but working on getting there. I just bought a new quad this year... her name is Bella and she's a beauty. She replaced Beaskly, who was not a beauty, but was very rugged. TFG came out to join us Thursday after work and we all went for one last tear before tucking into the vodka for the night.
TFG was in an accident when we were almost back to the road. His quad rolled unexpectedly and landed on him. It was single handedly the most horrible thing I've ever seen and I'm pretty sure I'll always see it as slow motion milli second by milli second action when I think of it. He was injured pretty badly, his jaw was broken in 2 places and he was bleeding from a pretty nasty gash on his head. Once we rescued him from the bush (that's a story for another day) he spent 3 days waiting for surgery in the local hospital... gotta love Alberta Healthcare.
Anyway, he's home now and doing much better. I returned to work in the middle of a Corporate Audit, which made the last 3 days suck too. I started my pre-op detox today. It's 2 weeks long and pretty much all you can eat is egg whites and cottage cheese... it's gonna be a rough 2 weeks. TFG is also on an involuntary jaw-wired-shut diet, so we will be on liquids together as of Sept 16th.
I'm not as scared as I thought I would be to have surgery. Mostly, I'm afraid that this desperate, last ditch attempt to get healthy and escape the diet rollar coaster will fail too. I'm terrified that there is no solution and I will be fat and unhappy forever, except now I'll be fat and unhappy with a foriegn object installed in me. Pleasant thoughts, eh? I'm not normally such a downer but I think the last week has gotten the better of me. Between the broke jaw, the in-laws, and the corporate audit I want to stick my head in a tub of Ben and Jerry's and never surface again. Invisible Ice Cream Ostrich Power.
Anyways, have a great long weekend everyone! Hopefully this detox won't cause me to committ a homicide or anything like that, and the next time we chat I'll be a bandster! Oh, and to all you ladies headed off to Chicago have a BLAST! It looks like a great time :)
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