Thanksgiving, a doc visit, leaving a job, a unstuck scale

From the title you can tell a lot has happened in the few weeks.  First off, I celebrated my second holiday since surgery - that's if you count Halloween...and I certainly do.  Any holiday where I passed up a buch of candy is a holiday to count!  Thanksgiving was last Thursday and I celebrated with my extended family, the Larsons.  They had a big spread and I was very good and stuck right to my plan.  I ate a couple of ounces of turkey and I took 1/2 cup of a vegtable that I could eat.  I concentrated on my meal and the conversation at the table and not what everybody else was eating.  It all went find.  I didn't really feel like I was missing out on anything.  Well, to be honest, I would have liked to had some dressing and gravy, but I resisted.  I had orginally thought that I would stay home and not participated in a meal, but that is not what I need to be doing.  I need to be a part of the real world even if I can't eat the way everybody else does. Two holidays down and two to go.  I'll make it.

I went back to see my surgeon for my 5 week post surgery visit and all was well.  I had some concerns but he settled those for me. I'll tell you what they were only as a learning situation.  Normally, I would not discuss my bowel habits, but this is  sort of important.  They tell you early on that after surgery you will either have diarrhea or be constipated.  I won in the constipation arena.  No sign of poop unless I take a laxative.  The surgeon suggests good old Milk of Magnesia.  I have childhood nightmares of MOM (for short).  It was my mother's laxative of choice and the cure for most anything was wrong with you. My mother's theory was that if you didn't feel good, it was because you needed a "good cleaning out".  After being a nurse for 25 years, I know that you can not feel well for many OTHER reasons.....but a "good cleaning out" never hurt anybody.  Anyway, the good doc suggest I take a fiber supplement.  He did say that he knew I was eating the right things because a diet high in protein will make you constipated.  I guess that was a compliment.  I was also concerned because I would get this "stuck feeling" in the middle of my chest, like my food was not going down.  I asked him what that feeling meant and he said, "that means your mean is over".  I think I had mentioned that you can get an esophageal stricture and need to have your esophagus stretched.  According to the doc, that is only when you have that "stuck feeling" all the time.  The occasional feeling I feel is probably a sign that I am full.  You might think that would be easy to tell, but it isn't.  Lastly, in the afternoon I get nauseated and puny feeling.  He wasn't completely sure about that one, but thinks it might be that I'm not drinking enough and it could be dehydration. That is a good possibility.  So, I'm trying drink more, especially in the afternoon.  The good news is that I now have no physical restrictions and don't have to see him again for 5 months.  He told me that he probably wouldn't recognize me the next time he sees me.  I told him that I was going to be soooo cute and he told me I was already cute.  Besides the fact that he is a talented surgeon, this is the real reason I love this guy.  Herman, my brother, says that is the only reason I like him so much.  This is not completely true. But, granted, I do like being told of my cuteness. He did tell me that I needed to bump up my exercise a notch and get that heartbeat up and sweat a little.  I could choose not to like him as much because of that statement, but it's hard to deny that he is right about that.  I do walk Phoebe, but even I know that is not enough.  So, I'm working on getting in some more exercise.

Even though I am on disability, I have been working a few hours a week to keep my brain from turning to mush.  I'm pretty sure I have talked about working with a young woman/girl who has severe cerebral palse. The job is not really a nursing job, although the other ladies and I do nursing care for her. I am the only one of her caretakers who has a nursing degree.  The job title is habitational tech which means you don't get paid anywhere near a nurse's salary. Moving on.  While I have been out because of surgery, I discovered that another person was hired on making more money than me.  This person, who I do not know, unfortunately told someone else her salary.  Big mistake.  I went to the supervisor and confronted her with this only to get a suprising answer.  She said I should have asked for more money.  I had been led to believe that there was no money because part of our pay had just been cut.  Turns out, I was wrong.  Now, I have been working for this agency for a year and this makes me feel that I have been being used.  Maybe I was just being stupid, but I honestly thought from what were were being told that there was no money for increases in salary.  Then, they go and hire someone else making more than me.  That will never do.  I have more experience and I've been there longer.  It's time to go.  I do love this patient.  But, to be honest, I have been getting bored and was frequently frustrated with the surroundings of my work there. I've been unhappy there for a while. It's not all about the money or rank. That just gave me a good reason to leave - not that I really needed one.  I'm working out a notice and then looking for something else where I can utilize my skills. I know this has nothing to do with my weight loss, but in a way it does.  I hope to one day be able to get back into nursing.  This may be a step in that direction.  Sometimes things have a way of working themselves out.

Lastly, my scale is not broken afterall.  I went for 10 days and the scales did not move.  That is very frustrating, even though I have lost a lot of weight already.  Finally, I got a drop of 4 pounds last week.  This makes 44 lbs less of me.  My clothes are getting baggy.  The nurse at the surgeons office and the surgeon himself  told me that this is normal.  Sometimes the scale doesn't show a loss, but you are still losing inches.  I did not measure before surgery mainly because I didn't want to know those numbers.  Other weight loss buds tell me that it helps to measure when the scale is not moving.  Oh well.....too late for that.  I can tell I'm losing even if those scales don't say it every time I step on them.  I'm making progress.  Hooray for me.

That is enough for now.  I may have rambled on so excuse me.  I'll try and blog more often so the entries won't be so long.

Stay tune for more adventures.

Woof, meow x 2 and xoxoxo from Bonnie (the shrinking woman)

Odds and ends - and a little bragging

Thought it was about time for another update as to what's going on.  I am trying to relax more and just settle in to my new life.  I'm still experimenting on the best time to eat lunch and dinner.  Breakfast is a given.  Thirty minutes after I eat breakfast, I take my morning meds.  I think last time I was whinning about how awful the vitimins taste.  The one I hate the most is the calcium citrate and I have to take it 3 times a day.  It is chocolate flavored chalk.  I discovered they sell a "chewy bite" calcium that is like eating a soft candy.  I have ordered them and hope they will taste better that the chalk.  I have tasted one in a sample pack and it was good.  The other vitamins I can tolerate and I don't take so many times a day.  I'm usually not ready for lunch at noon, but I'm try to have it by 2pm.  I'm sure I mentioned that the protein powder I am using now makes me want to gag.  I have ordered some samples of other powders and I'm in the process of sampling new flavors.  I had a chocolate/peanutbutter yesterday that wasn't too bad.  I'm supposed to have a protein shake for lunch, so I've got to find something that I can get down.  I've been eating dinner about 7pm, but I sometimes get that "low blood sugar" feeling before that. It is sort of a nauseated, hungry feeling.  The obvious thing would be to just move dinner back to 6pm, but that's not a good time.  When I start back to work, I will be getting off at 6.   I'm not supposed to eat between meals or I think I could have a little snack to get me to 7.  I tried drinking water, but it didn't help much.  I'll figure it out.

The other thing I'm struggling with is a feeling that my food is stuck in the middle of my chest, and not going down.  It doesn't hurt, it's just a little unsettling.  I know that there is a possibility of having an esophageal stricture after surgery.  When the surgeon is making your new stomach (pouch), they tighten up the opening of where the esophagus meets your stomach. It makes it harder for the food to pass through.  It is easily fixed by having an endoscopy and stretching the esophagus a little.  The only problem with that is the endoscopy has to be done in the hospital as an outpatient.  I really don't want to do that, but I guess I'll do what has to be done.  I see the surgeon again on Nov. 21.  I guess I'll see what he has to say about it then. The feeling evetually goes away, but it takes a while.  I have talked to others who have this same feeling, so I know it's nothing serious.

Last of all, let be brag a little.  I know it's not Wednesday, which was the day I was only going to weigh, but I found myself weighing this morning.  39 pounds as of today.  That's pretty spectacular!  That is since I started my preop diet on Oct. 2.  The jeans I have on are getting pretty baggy and that's a great feeling.  I've got to stop weighing so often, though.  I went a day or 2 with no loss on the scale and got discouraged.  I may have to take my scales down to my brother's house and that way I can't just  weigh whenever I want.  I don't need to make myself discouraged when I know that weight fluctuates from day to day.

I've been putting off going to the support group in Gainesville.  It is a long way to go, but I know I need the support of other people who are experiencing the same things I am.  I have found a forum on the computer that is just for the people who had the same surgery I have had.  You can ask questions and get a variety of answers.  It's been good, but I know that it would be helpful to talk to people in person for support, too.  I am going on Tues. evening.  No excuses.

That's it, I guess.  I've not gone back to my part time job, yet, but I'm thinking about the week of Thanksgiving to start back.  I've really been taking it easy, but I know that getting back into a routine will be helpful, too. I will not over do, but start off easy.  I certainly don't want to mess anything up.

Until next time,
woof, meow and xoxo from Bonnie