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Thanks to the LPN at the office, who lost my testing/lab results and took over 6 weeks to let me know, even though I called to verify they got the paperwork, every week for six weeks to no avail. I am finally getting ready to be scheduled for surgery. Annoyingly, I have to get one more weigh-in due to her mistake and I can't get in to get weighed until Monday, plus my period started 10 days early and my weight is up by 2 lbs. I have struggled with weight loss that is why I am here, but never in my life, have I struggled so much to lose 5% of my original weight, until I started the bariatric program. Maybe it's the stress affecting me more than I realize. These 2 period pounds are putting me above the goal weight, even though last week I was 10 lbs below the goal weight. Honestly, I am pissed at this nurse screwing my stuff up and not informing me when I called over and over again. She has single-handedly affected my finances, my school scheduling, and my struggle to stay positive with her incompetence, not to mention she is cutting it really close to my surgery being at a time when it will be a struggle to get to the clinic that is 3 hours away up a mountain (not a hill), and the roads get super icy and snow covered. That is what is on my mind!

Over six weeks ago I had finished the testing my surgeon required pre-surgery.  I had my regular doctor fax the surgeon my results, and I called to verify the results were received per the instructions given to me by the surgery clinic. 

I called once a week for 6 weeks and never got a callback. The coordinator for the bariatric program under my insurance called to do a check-in with me, as she does every couple of months. I told her what had been going on, she emailed the clinic.

The next day I got a message from my scheduler, in myChart at the clinic informing me she had never seen my paperwork and results from the tests and to have them re-faxed. I thought it was funny she did not want to call me to tell me this. My doctor faxed the info right away and the scheduler told me she got the tests and sent them to the surgeon. I told her that this was really frustrating because I had tried many times to contact her and verify that she had received the paperwork per the clinic binder instructions and the clinic coordinator.  Honestly why ignore someone when you could take 2 seconds to call them back or send a myChart message?

11days post-op. I will get my two week checkup in two days. Everything seems to be healing well; I have been fortunate to be off work and able to lay down a lot. However, I have been able to work up to walking 1.5 miles per day. I wish I could stretch a bit more, but I want to be very careful with my healing incisions- I've got 5 of them to look after.

Swallowing is getting better. I have been eating some sugar free popsicles in between shots of ProT Gold and protein shakes. I'm really looking forward to getting the go ahead for soft foods like eggs and yogurt in a couple of days.

Something that helped me today was something I saw someone else mention in a forum... I cannot recall who it was. But they mentioned that they drink "proffee" in the mornings. As a fan of the occasional black coffee with hot chocolate, I made a version this morning with decaf coffee and a warmed up chocolate protein drink. T'was divine, and gave me a feeling of normalcy for the first time in awhile.

Immersion day at Mt Auburn was three days ago and I'm excited to get this ball rolling. I have my required appointments set up through mid-October and tomorrow I need to call my PCP to make sure referrals have been submitted. I've ordered some protein powders to taste test and one bottle of bariatric vitamins to get started. My preliminary lab work has been done.  Reading through all the material I was given, I've identified quite a few areas that will need work for long term success. I've chosen two for right now: planning my eating and tracking my fluids.

Starting tomorrow, I've set reminders on my phone to have breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack at regular intervals every day. And I've ordered a large water bottle to keep next to me while I work. I find I don't drink a lot of water, but I like unsweetened hibiscus and rooibos iced tea, so I'll be trying to drink that. I've got a paper habit tracker to help me see how I do. Starting small. I usually set too many goals and then I go overboard for a week or two before falling apart completely and giving up on everything. 

A little more than one week post-op update:

Pain - My incision pain decreased enough for me to feel comfortable most of the day on Tuesday, Day 6. As of today, Friday, Day 9, I can get in and out of chairs without feeling my incision pulling and needing to put pressure on it. I was able to drive my teen to work in the next town, with the support of a seatbelt pillow. I stopped by the local rail trail and had a short walk in the greenery yesterday. I'm planning to up my walking now that I don't have so much pain, but I want to take it slow so I don't overexert myself. My legs are starting to cramp from inactivity.

I've been building up to my hydration and protein goals daily, and worked up to 4 oz of liquid intake every 30 minutes. I didn't really have a schedule until I woke up on Wednesday, Day 7, feeling absolutely ravenous. The day before I had concentrated on hydration and come up a little shorter on my protein goals. So I made a spreadsheet, to plan out my protein and hydration intake according to what my stomach was capable of now, and discovered I could get a bit more in if I paid more attention to things. Yesterday, I made 72 g protein and 64 oz hydration/36 of which was clear liquids.

I have medications/vitamins to take 4 times a day, and I had been following the 30 min before/after for them, just in case, because I wanted to make sure they were absorbed. However, my dietician told me this morning that I didn't need to do that. So that clears up significantly more time for clear liquid hydration!

I weighed myself yesterday, and discovered that in the first week since surgery, I've lost 23 lbs. Part of me thinks that is a worryingly large number, but also probably a great deal of it is water weight. I did some measurements, and it appears that most of the weight has come from my arms and bust (of course). My clothes don't appear to fit differently yet, but I haven't worn most of them yet. I did notice while putting my face serums and creams on that my cheekbones and jawline seem more prominent.

One of my first NSVs is that my left ankle used to swell after sitting all day. Recently, despite sitting most of the day during recovery, my ankles have matched in size and slenderness. It's very exciting!

The best news of all is that I met with my dietician this morning and been cleared for advancing to more foods. Our program has weeks 1-3 set aside for full liquid diet, so that is what I was prepared for. My dietician said that starting today, I can start making protein shakes with fruit, and I can also have fully blended soups of any type. So that expands my diet significantly! Also, I am permitted to move to stage 3, purees, next wednesday.

1.7 kilograms lost the past week, well before was 1.4.  Very happy!  Stepping on the scales is weird, I anticipate the worst for some reason, the relief is great when the numbers keep going down.  I'm sitting on 131.2 now, I'll be I the 120's next week or the week after!  150's, 140's, 130's, coming for you 120's!