It’s Friday Folks!

I’m so excited for this weekend I can barely contain myself.  In addition to preparing for my surgery I, along with three  others have been working our tails off getting ready for our 30 year high school class reunion. I am filled with enough excitement to make me want to POP! There are a few people coming that I literally not seen since the night we graduated from high school on June 6, 1981. Football tonight, entertainment and food tomorrow night ……………. ***scratch***

Everything has it’s hurdles. Tomorrow night is going to be the largest hurdle I’ve had to face since this week started. If you’ve been keeping up then you know that I started a liquid diet on Monday morning in preparation for my upcoming gastric bypass.  This week has been much easier than I thought it would be and I’m honestly not worried about the ‘concession stand junk’ at the ball game tonight. I am, however worried about the food being laid out tomorrow night.  ALL of my favorites … BBQ sliders, cheeseburger sliders, fruits, veggies, wings … all the good stuff that I can’t have. Thank goodness we aren’t having stuffed mushrooms. I’m almost certain I would have to give in and have a few.  I”m planning to go in armed with my protein shake and some sugar free pudding in the event that I just have to have something of solid consistency in my mouth.  I’ve made it all this week … surely I can make it through one night!

On that note … this morning’s weigh-in had me down 10lbs since Monday.  YES! People … that is 10lbs in FOUR days! YES! Since I started liquids on Monday morning about 7am … until I hit the scales this morning about 6:30am … I had dropped TEN POUNDS!!

Only unfortunate … I have NOTHING to wear this weekend so I’m going to raid some closets tonight.  10lbs folks … four day … can you believe it???!!

Stay tuned on Monday for a rundown of the weekend … diet, excitement, and maybe even an updated photo!

Thank you for taking this journey with me.

Preparing For a Two Week Liquid Diet

Three days into a two week liquid diet, in preparation for surgery on October 17th, and I can honestly say it’s not bad, not bad at all. Sure I’ve been a bit hungry but it’s a different kind of hunger. Sometimes you experience hunger simply because you smell food that … well just smells delicious. Sometimes you experience hunger when you see food or find a new recipe you’d like to try. Sometimes you experience hunger and you really are hungry. Sometimes you experience hunger and you’re actually thirsty.

With all of these I’ve walked a very thin line this week. I started with liquids about 7:15 on Monday morning. By bedtime, with nothing of consistency all day, I was starting to panic thinking I would not be able to do this. I woke up Tuesday morning and I thought I was totally famished. I drank a glass of water and proceeded to get ready for the day. I soon realized that I wasn’t hungry anymore so maybe I was just thirsty. This morning when I woke up I didn’t even think about food or drink. I felt fine.  Each day has been tough, but not as tough as I expected. My goal is to keep my diet high in protein, low calorie, and low carbohydrates. Monday I consumed a total of 86 grams of protein. I did this with protein shakes and Greek yogurt.  Tuesday I consumed 55 grams of protein. I had a meeting Tuesday night and forgot to drink another protein shake before bedtime.  So far today I have consumed about  65 grams of protein. If I have another protein shake tonight then I’ll top out today with over 80 grams of protein.  I’m trying to keep calories below 1000 each day. I think I’ve stayed below all three days.

Another friend is Crystal Light Metabolism + Green Tea Peach Mango (that’s a mouth full!).  After while, drinking nothing but water gets old. Adding flavor not only helps, but this particular flavor is really, really good.  I haven’t had a diet soda, not even a taste of one, since Sunday. I was expecting the caffeine headache but so far I haven’t gotten a headache at all.  I honestly haven’t even thought of a diet soda.  I prefer my soda with hearty solid food and since I can’t have those … why bother?

I weighed myself on Sunday morning and knew what my goal was for surgery. I needed to lose 13.5lbs. I had put some weight back on since my visit with the surgeon. It’s easy to do and I knew the liquid was coming so I ATE. Not excessively, but thing that I should not have been eating.  End of day Monday I hopped on the scale again and kinda freaked. I had gained ONE pound. I struggled to not give up. Tuesday night when I weighed I was down FOUR pounds. I believe the weight gain on Monday was from fluid. I ran myself crazy on Tuesday and hardly had any fluid retention at all. I’m anxious to see what the scales say tonight.  This weekend I will also go back on my Lasix fluid medication to pull off any excess fluid that may be trying to hang out and weigh me down. I want to be well hydrated for my surgery, but I don’t want the excessive, unnecessary, crazy fluid that I normally have.

What else … OH YEAH!  What did I do over the weekend to prepare for what I knew Monday morning would bring?

I enjoyed eating of course!! Friday evening we went out for dinner.  I enjoyed my most favorite meal of all … Prime Rib, baked potato, salad, and yeast rolls. Heather ordered a huge hot fudge brownie for everyone to share for dessert … I had one bite and it just wasn’t appetizing so I skipped it. While it was a lot of food … it was pretty healthy so I wasn’t worried.  Saturday morning I made homemade biscuits & gravy for breakfast. The boys could eat that three times a day and I knew it would be a while before Nanny made biscuits & gravy again. I enjoyed that with sausage and over easy eggs.  We had dinner out at a special open house celebration with a local volunteer fire department. Dinner consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, and chips.  I finished Saturday off with a Nestle Ice Cream Cone.  Sunday morning I fed the boys breakfast of cold cereal and milk then I hopped in the shower to get ready for church. By the time I had everyone ready to head out the door for church I realized that I didn’t have time for breakfast so I grabbed a protein shake and headed out. After church we went out for lunch and once again I enjoyed Prime Rib with all the trimmings.  I considered this ‘my last supper’.   However, that wasn’t the case.  Heather ordered pizza for dinner and I enjoyed pizza for my last supper. After the kids went to bed I had a chocolate bar and prepared for what was to come.

Do I miss eating … Sure!  Wouldn’t you?  I would give anything to go home to chili beans with cheese and cornbread for dinner … or maybe grilled ranch burgers … or even grilled BBQ chicken.  But I can’t! Plain and simple … I can’t eat solids and I’m honestly okay with that.  I will enjoy a cup of creamed chicken soup then have a small dish of sugar free/fat free pudding later. I will finish off my day with a protein shake.  I’m doing it … and I’m honestly okay!

Thank you for taking this journey with me. Today I am 12 days away from having a surgery that will change my life forever.

It’s Official!

All of my testing is done. If I had to choose the one I hated the most, it would, without a doubt, be the Stress Echo. Oh My Granny! That was the most horrible thing I honestly believe I have ever endured!  Now that all of the test are behind me it is time to move on to the important stuff … SURGERY!

I am excited to announce that I have an official surgery date scheduled. I have pre-op testing on Friday, October 14, 2011. That will pretty much be an all day event. I will see the surgeon to confirm that my weight is where it needs to be and that nothing new has occurred since my initial visit with him. I will then go to the hospital to preregister and visit with Anesthesia. There may or may not be additional blood work done by Anesthesia. Of course my hopes are .. NOT. I’ve had enough testing to last me a lifetime.  I was a little surprised to find out that my surgery is actually at the St. Joseph Campus of Mission Hospital System rather than at Mission itself. It’s ok … just surprised is all.  My mama had her knee replacements both done at St. Joseph and she did okay. I don’t have to worry about eating hospital food so my only concern will be my care. I just hope they don’t stick me down on the end of a hallway and forget about me being there 🙂

Once everything is completed on the 14th I’ll spend the weekend ‘putting my affairs in order’.  This will include pre-packing as much of the boys lunch as I can and matching outfits for them to wear to school while I am in the hospital. Hopefully only two days!  Peyton will stay with my Mama so his clothes will have to be packed. I’ll have to prepare a bag for myself and charge my laptop so I can keep up.   Heather will be home for Brady & Chance but I’m the one who always does these things, so to save confusion, aggravation, and worry I’ll do as much as I can before hand so all she’ll have to do is toss Brady’s lunch in his bag and get them dressed for the day.  Shouldn’t be to tough … right??

Bright and early on Monday morning, October 17th, 2011,  I’ll head on over to Asheville for the day I’ve waited for since early spring. I have to arrive at St. Joseph Hospital at 7:00 am.  Surgery is scheduled for 9:00am. All is well and at peace in my heart about this surgery.  I have considered all options and at this point I believe this is the best option for me.

On Monday, October 3, 2011 I will begin a high protein liquid diet. The liquid diet will continue for two to three weeks after my surgery. Does this bother me? Of course it does! I am a meat and potato person.  Can I survive on liquids alone?  You bet I can!  It’s part of the process and something that isn’t foreign to me. I’ve known since the beginning a time would come when I had to stop eating completely … no solids … no meat … no potatoes. Only thing I can put in my mouth has to be considered liquid.  NOW … that does include things like sugar free jello/puddings, low fat/fat free yogurt, and sugar free popsicles.   I will be drinking a lot of diet green tea, three or four protein shakes per day, lots of water and Crystal Light.  I’ll have beef and chicken broth with added protein powder and the final downside … I will have to completely give up my Diet Pepsi.  I’ve cut way down … now it’s time to give them up for good.  I do, however, plan to go out this weekend and have a large ribeye steak, baked potato loaded with butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon, a salad, and a glass or two of sweet tea.

Keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks … I may post some recent photos and some photos of my liquid diet. I will definitely have surgery day photos and post surgery photos. Hopefully as the weight comes off I’ll find myself wanting to be in front of the camera more often.

Quick Update …

Stress Echo and Chest X-Ray is scheduled for Monday, September 26th.  Next step will be to schedule surgery!!!

Also … received a call today with my Endoscopy results. I did test positive for H Pylori Bacteria which requires two weeks of medication before I can have surgery. I start that medication this afternoon so I should still be good for surgery in about two and a half to three weeks.

I’m getting excited!!

One Final Test Then …

I have one final hurdle to cross and I will be ready to schedule my surgery.  I received Insurance approval on September 12th and made several calls before I was finally able to speak with the right person to get these last test scheduled.  Yesterday morning, bright and early, I woke up and drove over to Asheville to have the Endoscopy done. I had hoped to work part of the day but the sedation meds they used kicked this old girls tail. I feel like I lost part of a day in life. I honestly don’t remember the trip home and I slept most of the afternoon on the sofa at Mama’s then slept really good last night.  While I still felt a little sluggish this morning, as the day has progressed, I have felt more alert and awake.

I was finally able to schedule the last pre-op tests needed.  I go on Monday, Sept. 26, 2011 for the Stress Echo and the Chest X-Ray.  Again, two simple test that do not require a lot of time. I dread the stress echo but it’s a short lived experience and it does put me one step closer to my surgery.  Once these tests are complete on Monday I’m hoping to get a call later next week to schedule my surgery.

Now to get back on the correct eating path and get/keep the extra weight off and be prepared for the two week liquid diet.  Sorta like the Little Engine That Could … I think I can … I think I can … I think I can …