KateClivex

So, I had my surgery on Monday the 18th and came home from the hospital on Thursday. Have to say the staff at the hospital was wonderful.....too bad I got the roommate from HELL! Is there no such thing as hospital ettiquite????? This woman was so loud and obnoxious....on the phone constantly, swearing and just an over-all b***h. Made my stay almost unbearable....the staff felt so bad for me and tried to get me out of the room...but they were full. Anyway (thanks for letting me vent), everything went well and I am feeling pretty good....except for the Gas!!! OY>>> I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband who has been right by my side the whole time, changing my dressings, forcing me to drink the dreaded water, etc. Am even going to venture out tom. and go to a baby shower for a while....think I can liquify some cake..LOL!
want to say Thanks for all the well wishes you guys sent me and for your words of advice. This is a journey and we all have a story to tell.....mine is just beginning and I am so excited but have to rememebr this is not a quick fix. There is lots of work ahead but one day at a time sounds good to me right now.
 
Take care,
Ellen

I am finally half way through the this! I have to admit that it's been hard. It's not because I've had stomach hunger or head hunger. It's because I miss eating. Last night, I went to my mother's house and it was tapas night. This morning my roommate made ham, onions and eggs. I love eggs. (heavy sigh) Oh well moving onward, all of this will be over in one week. Woo Hoo! Not to mention that as of friday I've lost 5 pounds. A pound a day is pretty good. If I could only do it for 86 days in a row. Hahah!
 
I have been think about getting a few tattoos. Here are a few ideas:
 
1.) Promise tattoo on my pinky finger, for the promise I am making to take the best care of myself from now on.
 
2.) "You never know how strong you are until being stong is is the only thing you have left"
 
3.) "Enough" because no matter what anyone says, I am good enough, smart enough, thin enough and beautiful enough. In addition, I have to remind myself that I have enough food and stuff. I think I like this one the most. What do you think?
 
If you are reading this, good luck in your journey. I wish you the best of everything.

Tonight I had an appointment at Lahey, well I thought I had 2, but it turned out into being a class with a few other ladies there. It hosted by the other bariatric nurse & nutritionist (we get assigned a team, but I've met the other "team" during these group meetings). It was an overall good presentation with some good to know info. It started off with the nurse giving an us an idea what to expect on the day of surgery & how to best prepare. The 2nd portion was the nutritionist going over our after surgery diet & supplements.
 
I thought that I already knew quite a bit from reading other folk's posts, but I did learn some things tonight:

No driving for 1 week after the surgery
Prior to the surgery, no vitamins for 2 weeks & no pain medications other than Tylenol
Breathing exercises 40-50 times day (to help prevent pneumonia)
No gas-x strips required, they'll provide some if needed (after I just ordered some, of course)
Prilosec for 1 month & Actigall (gallstone prevention) for 6 months
Bye Bye steak & pork for about 3 months. Also raw veggies other than lettuce & tomatoes
If a food gets stuck, DO NOT TAKE A SIP of something to try to fix it (get up and walk around instead)
Being full is not going to be experienced the same way. Hiccups, burps or a runny nose could be the signal

 
I had been growing a little concerned seeing people posting about dealing with their insurance companies & with approval/denial forms. It seems Lahey took care of all that, and if an issue does/did come up they try to resolve it. Pretty nice
 
Overall, feeling pretty good. Next week has a total of 7 appointments for me (groan) but I think some of them will just kinda slide into one another (hospital admissions to the nurse examination, etc) so it shouldn't be too too bad. The reality of all this is starting to lurk back into the picture, but I'm not freaking out again (yet).