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!

A visit to the surgeon

Weight loss has started again! The doctor was pleased with my weight loss and how I looked! When I lose 6 more pounds I will no longer be obese, just overweight. Yes, it is a big deal.

I have been busy working to fill orders as a result of my Open House. I've finished 7 pieces and have one more to go (as of now). I hope to get another order or two or sell some things on etsy.

I started back at the deli on Saturday. My 10 year anniversary occurred while I was off. There was a small pin for me commemorating the anniversary. Because I am taking off this coming weekend I'm working tomorrow night and possibly Wednesday night.

In school, the students are in only two days this week. There is an inservice day on Wednesday. We've been told to dress to be outside all day and to lock cell phones and other valuables in our cars, but to have ID with us. A bit of a mystery, don't you think?

I'm Bummed

Weight loss has come to a standstill. I'm told this is normal, but that doesn't make me like it any better. I guess I need to get back to walking on the treadmill again.

My sales on etsy aren't doing well either. I did do 2 Open Houses and did almost $300 worth of sales, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I guess I'll just have to try some different designs to try to appeal to a larger audience.

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here so Christmas won't be far behind. I'm finding it hard to get into the spirit of things. The thought of Christmas shopping just overwhelms me right now. Hopefully I'll feel differently in a few days.

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.