WLS Update : Nutrition / Weight / Measurment Check

Today was the final scheduled Nutrition ( NUT ) check up. This should have happend over a week ago at my 2 week post op check up but she has been out ill.

We covered alot of ground in our hour today and I feel a little bit better.

Last week was way hard having daya in the hospital, I didnt come close to eating or drinking how I need to daily. The scale proved that. Since last friday I am only down 3lbs ( with clothes on ) and shoulda been more like 5-6lbs down in a week.

My NUT says this is common with stressful times, or lack of drinking etc. Your body thinks your starving it and that it needs to store all it has. So... I will need to work on getting back on track with this.

As far as food goes I am blessed to have an easy pouch. Its not picky as to what I eat unless its loaded with sugar, or carbs and I am already eating soft foods ( think potatoes, eggs, tuna, spreadable cheeses, applesauce etc ). This normally doesnt happen until week 6+. So I am running about 3 weeks ahead of time, and my body is leading the way.

I still need to wait for that longed for salad and veggies, untill the stitches in the pouch are all gone which should be around 8-9 weeks. God - I am craving salad!

As soon as I can get my 80oz in a day or more of liquid I can go back on my kidney meds, and start the calcium - THIS IS A MUST!!! so I need to work harder on that and less worry of getting 6 meals in a day. I am currently eating 2-4 meals if I am lucky.

I can start working up to 40z though... and that will help with my hunger that hits. Still getting about 500-600 kcalories a day!

As to changes, well I posted my moving south post and today I know why it seems that way... CAUSE IT IS!!!! The tape measure said a total of 15.75" have been lost. Those measurements come from my arms, legs, hips, bust and neck! Normally its 8-10" at this stage so again, ahead of the flow even without loosing as much as most do.

All in all a great check up and some good tips to get back on track!

This weeks goals :

DRINKING. ( goal of 80oz / day ). VITAMINS ( 4x day ).

Stats :

3w3d post op - Weight : 197 clothed

Measurements :

BODY PART DAY OF SURGERY (3/27/09) THIS VISIT (4/20/09) DIFFERENCE

Left Arm 14.5" 14" -1.00"

Left Thigh 28.5" 25.75" -2.75"

Left Calf -- -- -2.75"

Chest 50.25" 47.5" -2.75"

Waist 49" 45.5" -3.50"

Hips 50" 48" -2.00"

Neck 15.75" 14.75" -1.00"

Wrist -- -- --

Total Inches Lost -15.75" in just 26 days?! WOW!!!

Feeling : Excellent and full of energy over all. Do get worried as to if I am eating/drinking and doing the right things.

There are no plans to see any of my surgeons or NUT until my 3 month post op. So I may back off posting of stuff. If you have questions please feel free to ask. I like them.

My 3mo is June 27th!

I will try to take monthly pics on my surgiversary dates though! :) . Thats next week for my 1 month!!!

And so are the days of our ...

HOME life's!

Yes!!! Madaya is HOME - H-O-M-E!!
The Dr. told her this morning ( Saturday 4.18.09 ) that IF she could/would eat and drink today and then pee she would let her go home this evening.
Although Madaya didnt like the plan ( the eating & drinking part ) she did it - well at least enough for the nurse to report to Dr. that she was doing ok.
She had been in there today , with grammi watching her, because I had to come home and take care of some things here at the house.

When she arrived home she acted as though nothing had fazed her and all was normal.
Sigh -- I wish we could be as resiliant as children!

Its been a long, tiring, and weird past 5 days - but heres to hoping she gets stronger, and healthier each and every day.

I should mention the Dr. again stated they have no idea what they were actually fighting since the first couple of samples were lost ( again taking that up with hospital board ).
Dr. did say whatever it was we got it early and it was nasty to cause her this much of a pain. We are still sticking to the ideal that it started in her Urinary tract esp. given her history of such things.

Heres some pics and video of the later few days. We didnt take much of the first couple days because of how she was feeling. For privacy and such we will not be sharing much on the blog.

Madaya waves as she gets the freedom to ride a bike - Saturday before going home

Ahhhh - there were monsters under the bed!

Talking to Grammy telling her the daily news - Friday

Trying to stay awake after an IV Antibiotic round - Thursday

Passed out from the meds - Thursday

Daya tells us how it is :

All better cuteness :

*** PLEASE EXCUSE MY TIRED APPEARANCE - ITS TRUE I AM TIRED!!! ****

WLS Update : 3 week post op

Its been 3 weeks since my surgery and I think maybe this update should be called " Headed down south " seriously!
I think all my body parts are doing just that.
Maybe its me, but maybe its not I think I am begining to see things moving.... but whey do they have to move south?!
My breast esp... sad. At this rate I will be a double KNEE instead of a double D!
my belly, is definetely sitting different these days, and I seem to pick up a new change daily.
Mike says he can see it in my face ( the weight loss ) but I dont see ANYTHING yet.. only feel the whole moving parts things?! They said thats normal.
I should be down another 5-7lbs this week, and I will find out Monday at my NUT ( YES IT STILL HASNT HAPPENED ) consult.
I eat refried beans, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese etc all very well, but at my 2oz meals I still struggle to get 6 meals down a day + all my water.

With roo being in the Hossy all week it kinda made it much harder to take the great care of ME. I will spend this next week or so catching up on my intake, nutrients and the like though.

Stats :
3 weeks post op - feeling fantastic!
Weight : ______ unknown but guessing 190ish.

Madaya …. Madaya … Madaya…..
Always keeping us on our toes and this week is no different.
I took her in Tuesday to see the Dr. because her mole on the back of her head has been growing at an alarming rate. At the appointment I also went over the mysterious rash? She had on her face - it looked like raised zits, but not with the head. Dr. looked and said looks like Eczema - I wasn’t shocked since she seems to be having a flare up.
What I didn’t cover with the Dr. is that Madaya still ( from a few weeks back ) is spiking temps, not eating/drinking well and in general just not herself.
Ok so I am human and I make mistakes.
Madaya and I went on with our day - and by 5pm she was sooooo hot ( 104.2 ) and sooo out of it that she was just laying there gazing into space. Saying she was tired, but wouldn’t rest type of deal.

I called the office, told them what was going on they said “ have her checked at ER we cant get her in… “.
So feeling like an idiot ( I hate hate HATE (did I say HATE?!) the ER ) I brought her into Valley ER to be checked.
We checked in around 5:30 - and didn’t leave until 1:30AM!
They found her to be dehydrated - put a couple bags of fluid through her…
They found her to have elevated white counts ( about 4 times what it should be ) - started antibiotics…
But heres the kicker ( hence why I HATE E.R’s ) . They told her dr. on the phone that she was absolutely fine!!!
Her dr. said send them home, I will follow up in the morning.
Well…

Skipping forward to Wednesday morning - we couldn’t get to her Dr. until 1:00pm. Upon our arrival the Dr looked at her - agreed that she was indeed not “ looking completely normal “ and told us the events she was unhappy with :
1.) The ER staff didn’t send off the ONLY tiny amount of urine we managed to get in 24hrs! ( THEY TOSSED IT! Even after our dr. specifically asked them to culture it!
2.) The ER gave her RED Tylenol ( remember shes allergic- highly - to red dye )
3.) The ER told her that “ Madaya appears happy, healthy and unwarranted of admissions”
Our dr. was furious! She said that with counts like that ( white counts ) and labs looking like hers theres no reason to believe its something simple and that by far madaya’s urine, even in office, showed severe dehydration. Her advice was IV antibiotic therapy, and hydration in Hospital so we could monitor exactly whats going on. Assuming only ( because they lost the cultures ) that we were trying to find/attack the Urinary System since shes had this before….
So looks like our dr. will be taking things up with the Hospital soon, since she sits on the board of directors.

Ok so we get check in Wednesday - Happy Anniversary to Mike and I!!! & Madaya gets her IV ( NEVER FUN FOR HER TO GET!!! ) and they started the IV antibiotics and fluid. She wasn’t putting out near what she was taking in via IV so they kind of figured her body was tyring to reset itself and they warned us it could be a few days…
We got her blood labs back Thursday Morning , that the bacteria hadn’t spread into her blood, so it wasn’t as advanced as first thought
Side Note : Madaya was at the Hossy in October of 08 for the EXACT issue at hand - other than it did spread to her blood, and was found to had developed Ecoli. That was the Dr’s first fears since apparently once it happens it easily happens or can happen again?!
So we were glad we obviously caught it early before it spread. Too bad though we don’t know what we caught. At anyrate the Dr. said that IF we can get her to pee more, and take more via mouth instead of IV and then get all the IV meds in that we could MAYBE go home the next day…
Sigh.

Lets skip forward to today . Friday morning - her Dr. seen her said she looks tons better, definitely got the right meds on board to see this kind of improvement and that we will stick to the course. Today they will turn down her IV in hopes of her body taking over and drinking/voiding as much as it should and that we would work on nutrition. The blood from the last panel also looked clear and to be getting better on the white counts so that IF Madaya can do these things ( Drink, Eat, Void ) and keep the fevers down ( so far so good though! ) that we WILL go home Saturday.
Lets hope….
Madaya is so much like mommy and daddy. In order for her to look sick, act sick shes gotta be way past sick.
Even with those counts the only clue was that she was ONCE IN A WHILE spiking a temp. Other than that we woulda had no clue! Shes a tough lil shit!

I have no connection to the net at the Hospital so I will be updating as I can. I haven’t been away from her much - obviously J .

Happy hippity hop!

And Happy Easter too!

The day was slow at first - I was feeling kinda ill from the night before, mike was at work and daya well.. shes 2!

So when I finally got up some umph to do something I began to make the food. Ironic considering I cant & didn't eat any of it with the exception of 1/2 a deviled egg :). When I took Kia outside to potty, I came in to find roo scurring about trying to hide her stuff she unwrapped ( she found her lil easter treats : rabbit, playdough and book ) she said " sorry momma " and was affraid she was going to get into trouble. Cutie she is!

Around 1 everyone got here and we hid the fun filled eggs in the yard. Ok, actually Daddy and uncle curt ( curtain as daya says ) hid them.
After they eggs and suprizes were all hidden we all took the kiddos (5) out and let them run around to find the eggs.
Mike and Curt did a great job hiding them even Morgan had a hard time finding some and hes the oldest.
the lil's loved it too!

After they gathered all their eggs we came inside - just in time for the rainstorm - and cracked them all to reveal their gifts.
Madaya got a stick pony, madagascar , madagascar 2, little peoples, books, garden tools and some misc fun candies, bubbles, toys.

All the kids had fun, and began to play.
The adults sat around waiting and then they ate dinner. They all said it was good - and I will trust that :)>

After dinner we played Wii and Xbox 360 and then people started to disapear... come 9pm I was wiped.
Daya was snoring in her lil chair, and daddy was in the " zone " . lol...
a good end to a great day.
Happy Easter.

Here are some snapshots of our day :

Yeah I know... they ARE cute :)


Um.. " momma you dropped an egg " ( see her finger pointing)

" I find one too momma!"

Plucking it out of the grass

Funny smile in the tub... she " loves chocolate! " HA!

Shes so freaking funny that it ANT funny!

We have been having a problem with " water ants " in our kitchen. while totally disgusted I am guessing theres moisture under the kitchen floor... anyways daya swears these things are her friends.
Shes down right adimit they are her ANTS!
She gets down on the floor and " talks " to them but .... SHE SMASHES THEM TOO!!! humph, some kind of friend huh?!

Anyways I had left a mess of packing peanuts ( think big green foam chunks ) in the kitchen today and when roo discovered them tonight she freaks and says " oooooh my momma the ants made a big poooooopy mess " " ants poooooop every-where! ".
I almost pissed myself laughing .... seriously where does she get this stuff. She REALLY thinks these things were ant poop!!!

these tiny lil ants - and this big ol packing peanut. Only from the mouth of babe's!

Maybe you had to see it for yourself but it was FUNNY!

WLS Update : 2 week post op

Well... Here I am 14 days post op with the update promised.

This journey has been amazing, and this leg of the trip is proving to be no different. With up's and down's and bumps and dead ends its a thrill in the least.

Today was my 2 week post op apt. I didnt get to meet with the Nutritionist because she was out ill ( so this has been resched. for tuesday 4/14 ) but I did get to meet with my nurse pract.

it was a great visit.

Lets just say I am deffinetely in the HAPPY ZONE. I am currently loosing about 1.2lbs a day - and the scale today said exactly what we hoped....

Welcome me to "ONE"derland :) .

I weighed in fully " loaded " at 199 today! I will never again see myself at 200+ lbs. I could have cried I was so happy.

It is estimated that w/out clothes etc I would be around 195ish - but hey I am not baring anything for a scale :) Ill take the clothes and all and Im thrilled.

Megan ( nurse ) said I am healing much quicker than most, and thats a plus to being young. She gave me the green light to excersize and start this next journey of my new life. I also get to start more puree's and soft foods and of course this will be up to the NUT too.

We discussed my options for my kidney medication and my calcium needs etc and again, will re-eval with the NUT but looks like I am moving in the right direction.

No blood work today - but in a few months a whole battery of tests to come. She said that it looks and sounds as though I am picture perfect for what they want 2 weeks post op. In fact maybe a bit ahead :) Each body heals at its own pace and I need to listen to my insides too!

If things keep going right on - its estimated I will see my goal ( 130lbs ) around the end of summer!

My goal of health is already being realized - I am off of ALL diabeties meds, all chloresterol and blood pressure meds and strictly down to my thyroid meds ( which will too change ) and soon to go back on my kidney meds!

Stats :
2 weeks post op! Feeling fantastic, not much pain at all. Walking well and looking forward to more excersize.

Eating about 4 - 2oz meals a day. Need to work up to 6 meals.

Weight : 199 fully clothed @ Dr's office today :) WELCOME TO "ONE"derland!

Heres comes peter cotton tail...

... Hoping down the easter trail...

I cannot beleive that easter is almost here.
This year holds many emotions.
First of all lets remember what and why we celebrate Easter as a holiday.
Jesus was risen!
Much like that I tend to think that so has our life. This past year has come full circle.
I remember spending last easter sunday surrounded by my family ( all of whom will be here again ) watching roo hunt easter eggs... and staring at the man I love, but at that time so distant ( we were seperated ). This year is egg-citing. Mike is very much here, active in our life, our marriage and our daughters world. Im looking forward to that.
Our marriage really has been risen. I didnt think it could be. I often had worries, but when you add it all up its true. Full circle.

In a few days we will hopefully ( because of weather ) be outside watching our lil roo scatter around and find eggs in which we have hidden some yummies and some fun things for her to discover.
I thought it would be good to share why we hunt eggs, and where the tradition comes from - in case you didnt know :)

Christian route :
The egg is seen as symbol of the grave and life renewed or resurrected by breaking out of it. The red dye often used as a primary color for the " Easter egg " supposedly symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world and human redemption through the blood shed in the sacrifice of the crucifixion.
The egg itself is a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.

Theres your lesson of the day :)
Now in our world we use plastic colorful eggs. This year we will also have 6 special eggs for Madaya to find that will lead to her other gifts. We do not do " easter baskets " so to speak. We will give her a chocolate bunny and a small treat in the morning - followed by church service and then a day with family.
I enjoy easter.

Hoping this easter is Egg-stra special!

WLS Update : 6 days post op

Its been a week thats for sure! Im tired, Im very sore, and in general just do not feel like myself.

Tomarrow marks a week, so I thought I would do a quick update.



I am now drinking about 34oz a day. I know doesnt sound great, but I need to push for more like 60!! - Very hard to do when your tummy only allows an ounce at a time MAX. Do the math.



I am also working on 4 - 1oz meals a day. They have been mainly soup, yogurt, pudding etc.



For the most part I think im right on track.

Something cool happened today though. I decided to " try on " all my rings....

on my ring finger. My wedding ring hasnt fit in months, and the majority of the others in years! so I put them on one by one on my ring finger and 1 is even TOO BIG!!!

I took a pic of it after I lined them all up on the finger later :).


I also weighed myself - I know shame shame... at dayas dr today.



Scale said..... drum roll please....



205!!!!!



Im close to " ONEderland " already!!



My 2 week post op is April 10th. I will update then.

Madayas got " no more wigglies "

Thought I would update with the most wonderful news for Madaya that we have heard in a while. Daddy and I took her to Dr. Drain - her allergy specialist today for her 3rd check up. The last time she failed misserably, and had to go on new medication for her N.A.R.E.S ( bacteria in the nose that cause allergies and infections etc ), at that time she also continued to prevacid for her reflux as this has been a big part of things.

Since that visit 2 months ago weve been good about watching out for dyes ( remember shes allergic to red, yellow and blue die, Anatto, Yellow Corn and Corn Syrup ). Weve used the new med, and kept on top of her " tummy pill "

It paid off. NO MORE NOSE WIGGLIES ( nares ). AND THE BEST : Shes gained 1/2 lb!!!
Shes now 22.5lbs and 33inches. Our lil roo is finally growing, although still small.

We will stay on the meds a little while more to make sure all stays well - then re-check.

Heres some pics of her at the dr's.
Sorry the pic's arent great -my cell sucks!