Can't believe it has been over 2 months...

since I last posted. Summer school has come and gone and we already have 9 student days in for the new school year.

In early July my husband and I had a bit of a mishap on the scooter. I had a sprained wrist, a bruised shoulder, and road rash. He had bruising, road rash, and 5 broken ribs. We did manage to go on vacation to Atlanta to see family there. My uncle had back surgery in July and was having difficulty recovering and ended up having more surgery. He is no longer on pain meds, but all the surgery has taken a toll and recovery has been an uphill climb for both my aunt and uncle. He is doing a bit better, but has a ways to go. On the way home we stopped at Natural Bridge in Virginia. We go past all of these landmarks/historic sites every year and I keep saying that we are going to stop but we never did. Since we left Atlanta earlier than I would have liked since my husband was still have trouble finding a comfortable position for sleeping, I suggested we find someplace to stop and that is the place we decided upon. It was worth the time. We got some, but not as many pictures as I would have liked because I forgot to take the charger and spare battery for the camera.

This Tuesday is the annual picnic for my weight loss support group. Part of the program is Drop Your Drawers. Those who have lost weight come in a before outfit over their new clothing and then reveal their transformation. In a weak moment, I agreed to do this. I had to submit before and after photos. Here are the ones I submitted. The first one was 2 weeks before my first visit with the dietician. I don't remember the date of the second one. The third one was at my daughter's wedding on 5/16/09. The last 2 were taken on 8/30/09. Unfortunately I can't get them in the positions I want them in. Oh well.

I saw the dietician and surgeon

Another update--I had my 3 month follow up with the dietician and my surgeon and I have been declared the poster child for bariatric surgery! My sister was upset because she was told that she was the poster child. I've lost a total of 64.5 pounds; 39 have been lost since surgery. I was on the "small" side for surgery, meaning that I just qualified, they were pleased because the average loss 3 months out is 40-60 pounds. My goal now is to lose 19.5 more pounds before I go back on May 22. My surgeon assured me that I will continue to lose. I thought I'd be in trouble for not journaling my food, but as long as I am where I am supposed to be I don't have to.

Here is a pic of my highest weight

This was taken 2 weeks before I started the program. my sister took pictures the day before my surgery, but they are still on her camera. By then I'd lost about 25 pounds, but I was still unhealthy.

Long time, no blog

It has been almost a month since I last was here. I have been busy, but that is a pretty lame excuse I suppose. I'll begin where I left off.

The inservice day was different. We went on a scavenger hunt in downtown York. The day was cold and the sky was gray, but no precipitation. The purpose was to help cooperate with each other and be better team members. I just wish I would have thought to wear my knee brace. When we were told we would be outside, I thought we would be near the school and not doing so much walking. I will say the day did go quickly.

Thanksgiving was at my sister's, although one of our cousins was in charge of the meal. You must understand that my sister is extremely organized. My cousin was expected between 2:00 and 3:00 on Wednesday afternoon, but did not appear until much later. Apparently he did not leave his house when he planned and before going to my sister's, he took his dogs to a dog park near my sister's house for 1 1/2 hours before coming to her house. This would not have driven her crazy, except he was going to cook the turkey on Wednesday. She feels he needs to acquire some time management skills.

Talk about being busy, I started this post yesterday evening and an just now getting back to it. We had friends for dnner last evening and they got here earlier than they thought they would, so I had to stop. I was too tired to finish last night and there was church this morning with a meeting afterward. I've wrapped some Christmas presents and made some goodies along with making dinner and getting all the dishes in the dishwasher.

My sister and I did our Black Friday shopping early and went out to Dresden, Ohio to Longaberger Baskets. We made a basket and has a great time shopping. Everything was 20% off and we bought plenty. My sister's SUV was jam packed when we came home.

Last Sunday my husband and I went to the Christmas party for his part-time job. Thank heavens for take-out boxes. With those leftovers and the leftovers from Saturday night (we went out) I did not have to cook all week! The food was good, but not the best for a gastric bypass patient. I only lost 1/2 pound that week.

On Thursday evening my sister and I went to our bariatric support group. That was a Christmas party, but the food was gastric bypass patient friendly. We went out to eat before the party and split a meal and each had enough for another meal.

The best news, I am no longer obese!

Only 2 more days at home...

...then it will be back to work (school). I still tire fairly easily, but I do have a few more days to rest. My principal told me that if it is too much, I can do half days for a few days.

The grocery store manager wants a very specific note. I called the surgeon's office and the nurse will send another note and we'll see what happens. The nurse was not happy about having to do another note. My next appointment is 11/20/08.

The time went so fast. Being in the hospital the extra week really cut into time I had planned to do other things. I did some work on my daughter's wedding jewelry and I did get some things listed/relisted on etsy and I'm working on reviving a couple BNR's that I am on. I also wanted to get some items made for some holiday open houses and I did get a few made. If they don't sell after the open houses are over, I will list them on etsy. I have today and tomorrow to get as much done as I can.

On a happy note, I'll be able to get back on the scooter tomorrow!!

An Even Happier Day!

My computer is acting weird and I have no idea how to fix it. I trued to add photos to my last post, showing photos of all the stuff related to my TPN, which is nutrition through a PICC line, which is sort of like an IV on steroids. Let me say it was a lot and I had forgotton to take photos of some of the items because I only used them for the first 10 days. Anyway, I had 4 appointments yesterday, and I was able to have the PICC line removed! At this point, I am on liquids only, but will be able to try things like mashed potatoes and applesauce by the end of the week. I'll be going back to work on Monday.

I'm relisteing some things on etsy and trying to get some pieces made that I won't list yet because I want to have an open house mid-November. If theu sell at the open house, I will have saved the etsy fee. If they don't sell at the open house, I'll have some items ready to list afterwards. i'm still working on jewelry for my daughter's wedding and her veil. When I saw the price of a veil in the bridal shop I almost fainted! Same thing with the tiara. The bridal shop one was more elaborate and the jeweled area larger. I told her I will add some crystals and pearls to the Wilton one so it doesn't have the "just-out-of-the-box" look.

I have an item I want to relist today, some Christmas earrings to find, and since I had a sale, a package to mail. I also need to finish the protein fortified jello.

Happy Day!

It is taking so little to make me happy. Starting with my Sunday TPN bag, I go on an 18 hour run. That means six glorious hours with no "feedbag" attached to me! To add to my happiness is that my upper GI study is on October 27 at 8:00 am and then I see the surgeon's nurse practioner at 1:00 that same day. If there are no signs of leakage, the TPN may be discontinued and that means I can eat, at least what a gastric bypass patient is permitted to drink right after surgery. When I spoke with the surgeon yesterday, she did say that as soon as I can show I can tolerate drinking, I'll be able to move through the stages of starting to eat again more quickly that usual since they will know because of the swallow study that I will be healed.

On another note, I'll have to get my sister to send me my pre-surgery photos so I can post them, even though they do not show me at my largest, since between the presurgery nutrition phase and the presurgery liquid diet phase, I lost over 20 pounds.

A rough road

When I last posted I was in the 8 day liquid fast phase preparing for surgery. I lost weight on the liquid fast (who wouldn't lose weight on less than 100 calories a day?) Surgery went as scheduled on Wednesday October 1, after some difficulty getting an IV started, which did not surprise me at all. I was discharged on Friday, October 3 as planned, but I did not have a good feeling about it. On Sunday, the left side of my stomach was swollen, warm, and I felt a lump near one of the incision sites. After talking to the the resident on call my husband took me to the ER and after numerous tests, they decided to keep me overnight. It turned out I had a small leak. The surgeon tried a stent to "cover" the leak area so I could eat, however, I was unable to tolerate the stent, even when it was repositioned, so it was removed because was unable to swallow with it in place. Now I have a PICC line and get TPN and nothing by mouth, not even water. Tomorrow I should find out when my swallow study is scheduled, which will probably be in 2 weeks. I see the surgeon on October 29.

My husband is a bit worn out from running to the hospital since it is a 90 mile round trip. Plus he had to deal with being that far away and getting phone calls from the doctor requesting consent for one of the stent proceedures since I was not in condition to give consent for anything.

I am sick of Carnation Instant Breakfast!

I can't believe that I am so sick of the sweetness of it. I've been having chicken broth as a "side dish" with it just to cut the aweetness. I'll be switching to protein powder tomorrow, combining unflavored and vanilla with water. Hopefully it won't be so sweet. I'll also get to have 2 1/2 cups of 100% fruit juice tomorrow. Two days down, six to go!

Moving right along!

I had my last pre-op nutrition appointment last Friday. Yesterday I had my anesthesia appointment and the visit with the surgeon's nurse and signed the consent forms. I began my 8 day fast. Rigt now I am hungry and am on my last shake of the day. Today I did Carnation Instant Breakfast (sugar free, of course). I can have more sugar free jello, which I will do. According to the dietician, the hunger will go away after the third day. I hope so. I also have protein powder so I can have something different later in the week; I just need to get some fruit juice. I found out today that my insurance has committed to pay for the surgery!

As far as school goes, I survived my first IEP conference and am working the the IEP I need to ave finished before I go on medical leave.

Longaberger Baskets, etsy, and countdown to surgery

I had a sale on etsy today! Christmas is coming and I sold one of these cute mini stockings. Go here to see the details. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14805493

My sister and I are trying to qualify one of us so that when we go to Dresden in November we will get discounts at the factory store there. There is a sale at the online factory tore until September 4. Go to www.longaberger.com/donnamarsh andyou'll save money and I'l get a little closer to my goal.

Surgery is scheduled for October 1! It can't come soon enough.