The New Me!

Okay, so I am now 4 days post-op and down 4 lbs from my date of operation weight and 11 lbs from my 1 week pre op/pre liquid diet weight.  I am averaging about a 1 lb per day weight loss.  I have to admit, It has been a roller coaster ride thus far.  The first day absolutely was terrible.  Let me preface this by saying that it started out with a text message from Christina whom I will mention more later in this blog.  She texted me at about 6am to tell me she was thinking about me and to wish me luck.  "She's the best friend I ever had, and I love her...."  The surgery was postponed an hour as my Dr. had an impromptu meeting to attend ...?  The the surgery was underway by 8:30am.  Waking up from the surgery, I was in an immense amount of pain.  The only words I could even say at that point-and believe you me I said it over and again-was "It hurts."  Once I was connected to the morphine pump and got some of it built up in my system, it was much more bearable.  Chris came back to the hospital and stayed with me for about 2 hours then headed home.  My Grandpa arrived shortly after and stayed with me in my morphine stupor for about 2 1/2 hours.  I was so out of it, I would slip in and out of consciousness mid sentence without even realizing I had slipped under again.  He was so understanding.  It was nice to not be alone.  It was about an hour after he got there that the nausea set in.  Every time I would get out of bed to use the restroom, I was hit with an overwhelming wave of it.  It was as bad as morning sickness, only when my body tried to purge whatever was making me feel sick, nothing came out as I was completely empty.  It was followed each time with a case of the most painful hick-ups you could imagine. Now remember, I have 6 abdominal incisions and my insides have all just been surgically rearranged, so dry-heaving was no walk in the park.  They finally gave me some Zofran after about 5 episodes of this.  Day 2 was much better.  Still a lot of pain and some of the nausea, but not to the extent of the day before.  I had 3 visitors-my longtime best girlfriend, Christina arrived with a beautiful card and Tulip plant with 3 blooming pink tulips.  She is my "Idgie."  She provided some well needed comic relief as she always knows just what to say to make me feel better.  Then came my longest high school friend, and truly one of my soul mates, Mike.  He came in bearing the best hug I had gotten in a while, also well needed at the moment, and stayed for about 5 hours visiting with me.  The day ended with Justin-the boy I went to prom with, but have always been too good of friends with to ever be more than friends.    I was just getting the handle on the morphine pump when they d/c'd it and gave me liquid vicodin....bleh!  Each day since has proven to be easier than the last and I would not change getting this surgery for anything.  I am sticking to my decision-as if I had a choice now-but I am also happy with my decision.  More to come later.

This is it!

Well, the day has finally arrived.  It is 4:40am and we will be leaving the hotel in about 20 minutes to go to the hospital.  Today is the day my life changes.  Today is the day my new life begins!  See you all on the other side!

Almost there!

Ok, well, 24 hours from now I will be in pre-op prep.  I am scheduled to check in at 5:30am and the surgery is set to begin at 7:30am.  It should take 60-90 minutes.  Once done, I will be in recovery for 4-6 hours and then if everything is good, they will put me in my room.  They will let me sleep for 4 hours in order to let the anesthesia work its way clear of my body and then they make me walk.  The nurses get you up every hour, on the hour for basically the next 2 days.  I will also be using a spirometer 10 times an hour, every waking hour.  The walking is to help from getting any clots and the spirometer is to help to keep from getting pneumonia.  I am set to be in the hospital for 2-3 days, depending on my recovery.  The day of surgery, my 1st meal post op will be a medicine cup of broth and a medicine cup of jello.  This will be a full meal for me, and I am totally ok with that.  For the 3 weeks to follow, I will be on a full liquid diet, which includes Cream of Wheat, of all things...lol.  For the 3 weeks following that I will be on a soft food diet.  If I can mash it with a fork, I can have it, but again, only about 2 tablespoons full will do.  At 6 weeks post op, I will be able to introduce regular foods back in.  I have been told it will be hit or miss for a while, as both my tastes and tollerance will change.  Foods that I could eat before may make me super sick after,  I also have to take all bites I eat to be no larger than a fingernail, and then must chew it a minimum of 20 times, even jello.  I am never to drink from a straw again, no cabonated beverages, which is ok as I quit soda over a year ago, basically nothing with white sugar and a minimal amount of fresh fruits due to sugar content.  No white starches.  There a lot of other restrictions, but it will be well worth it.  So today is 1 day pre-op.  Today will be interesting to say the least,  At 7am, I will begin my cleansing.  I will take 4 tablets of opti-cleanse with 8 oz of water every 15 minutes for the 1st 20 pills, basically for 1 hour and 15 minutes or 5 times.  Then I wait for it to work.  Once it has done its job and my tummy settles a bit, hopefully around 1pm, we will drive to Phoenix and check into our hotel.  7 pm begins round 2.  I will repeat the 7am routine, but only 4 times this round.  Then once my insides are completely empty, I will have to take a shower and wash with special cleansing soap, to be repeated tomorrow morning before going to the hospital.  And that my friends is it.  I am ready.  I am excited.  I appreciate everyones happy thoughts, well wishes and prayers through these past couple of months and simply ask that you continue sending them my way over the next few days.  Love to all!

Drinking Soda-Very Interesting!

Let me preface this by saying that I quit drinking Soda in January, 2010.  I remember drinking some sort of soda-usually Coke, since I can remember.  As a young child it was a staple in my house-sadly my parents made sure we had Coca Cola on hand pretty much all of the time, but Milk on the other hand, we could go without....  As a teenager, I would happily enjoy a bottomless cup -usually a "suicide," for those of you unfamiliar with this, it is where you put equal parts of each soda into your cup until it is full.  This bottomless delight was available for a mere $0.55 cents during both breakfast and lunch mind you-and yes I took advantage of that, every day, 5 days a week, for 4 years).  We used it in our pubescence to stay up all night during slumber parties(Mountain Dew runs to Circle K at 2 am were a blast)!  Yes, I have very fond memories of this sugary elixir.  Now fast forward to my present non soda drinking status.  About 2 weeks ago, Chris went to Sonic and bought me an iced tea and a coke for himself.  I was happily Facebooking away, enjoying my tea.  Well, Chris had set his coke next to my tea on the desk, anticipating his turn at the keyboard.  I-not paying attention as I was so engrossed in my own little Facebook world, reached over and grabbed what I thought was my drink and took a big swig-Blech!  I literally gagged!  It was so sweet and pungeant and it actually took me a few seconds to register what this vile stuff was that I was choking down!  I absolutely cannot believe I ever like this stuff and believe you me, it did not taste anything like the memory.  So all of that being said, the following is an article I found on "Eat This, Not That."  Happy Drinking my friends.......

Drinking Soda

Researchers say you can measure a person’s risk of obesity by measuring his or her soda intake. Versus people who don’t drink sweetened sodas, here’s what your daily intake means:

½ can = 26 percent increased risk of being overweight or obese

½ to 1 can = 30.4 percent increased risk

1 to 2 cans = 32.8 percent increased risk

More than 2 cans = 47.2 percent increased risk

That’s a pretty remarkable set of stats. You don’t have to guzzle Double Gulps from 7-Eleven to put yourself at risk—you just need to indulge in one or two cans a day. Wow. And because high-fructose corn syrup is so cheap, food marketers keep making serving sizes bigger (even the “small” at most movie theaters is enough to drown a raccoon). That means we’re drinking more than ever and don’t even realize it: In the 1950s, the average person drank 11 gallons of soda a year. By the mid-2000s, we were drinking 46 gallons a year. A Center for Science in the Public Interest report contained this shocking sentence: “Carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet.”

Pre-op Stuff

Ok, so this morning I got up at 3:30am, after only sleeping 3 hours so that I could get my pre-op out of the way.  Loaded up my little family at 4:30am and we were on our way.  Checked into the hospital at 9am.  From there I was sent in to complete pre-op registration, get labs done and give a urine sample.  I was then taken to complete a mini pulmonary and get an EKG.  I was also supposed to complete a 2nd blood draw to measure the oxygen levels in my blood, but after digging around in the artery vein about 7 different time, she gave up.  I then went to have my stomach ultrasound done, then up to have a chest x-ray and an upper GI.  Let me just tell you, that was the worst part.  You have to swallow a shot of this super fizzy stuff that tastes like salty acid.  Then you have to drink a cup of barium.  Let me tell you, if you haven't ever had to drink this crap, consider yourself lucky!  It literally tasted like blended chalk with a slight berry after-taste, it is also super thick like a milkshake and difficult to drink through a straw because it is so thick.  The best part?  They give it to you luke warm-sooo yummy!  GAG!  Nothing like luke warm chalky sludge on an empty stomach to make your day complete!  The good news?  I am through with everything and the next step is surgery.  I cannot believe how close it is!  I will now be on a liquid diet until Tuesday.  I can have all clear liquids, protien shakes and all the jello I can stand.....I am so lucky I only have to do this for a week as they require you typically to be on the liquid diet for 2 weeks pre-op-I think I would not be fun to be around after 2 weeks of that!  I am so excited that things will be done soon.  I am looking forward to my new life and cannot wait for it to begin!

The date is set!

My surgery ia scheduled for Tuesday, April 19th at 7:30am.  I go to Phoenix tomorrow-have to leave at 4:30am to get there by 9- for all of my pre-op work up.  EKG, Mini Pulmonary, chest x-ray, upper GI and labs.  Then I will be on an oh-so exciting liquid diet of protien shakes and all the jello I can eat til operation day....not so excited about that part, but I will do what it takes!  I cannot believe they scheduled it so quickly!  I am now trying to decide what my "Last Supper" should be as tonight......hmmmm.

Ok.  Saw the pulmonologist and got my clearance.  Everything has been sent to the scheduler at St Lukes, and according to my patient advocate, I will get a call from the sheduling department 1st thing Monday morning.  Almost There!!!

Surgery update

So, the last thing I need for my surgery to be scheduled is a pulmonary clearance.  I have had the Pulmonary Function Test, but now need to actually sit down with the pulmonologist for her write that I am cleared for surgery.  I will meet with her tomorrow at 1pm.  The I will fax it in to the hospital and wait for them to call me to schedule.  They said it will be within 48 hours of getting it, but since tomorrow is Friday, I am thinking I wont have a surgery date until Monday at the earliest-dumb!  The test itself states right on it that everything is normal and the Dr. signed that one, but they need her to actually state cleared for surgery.....SO FRUSTRATING!  Oh well, there is a reason for it, I am sure.  I will post more as I know more.