Week 6 Update

Well there isn't really much to update on.

Weight: 115.8 kg (255.3 lbs)
Total so far:  10 kg (22.05)

So I haven't really lost anything since last week.  I have done a bit more walking and drinking a lot more water.  But it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference.  I do find I'm hungry and ready to eat at least 45 mins before my next meal time (and I'm currently supposed to eat every 2 hrs).  So I think that's a good sign that all the swelling from surgery has gone away and my band is far too loose.  Thankfully on August 12th I am supposed to go back to the surgeon and hopefully he'll do a fill on my band.

The good news is now that it is week 6, I get to eat real food!  Like whatever I can stomach (literally).  So I managed to nibble on some GF egg pasta earlier this week, and last night *drum roll please* I ate rice!!!  Most of you reading probably think, big deal..it's rice.  If you know me, like really know me, you'd know what a big deal that is for me.  I haven't eaten rice in about 8 weeks now.  And rice is by far my favorite thing in the world to eat.  My dad told me when I was a kid "you are what you eat, and someday you're going to turn into a bowl of rice".  lol  And I've read online that many people after surgery can't eat rice or pasta.  Well I was able to eat both!!  Woohoo!!  That might change in 2 weeks once I get my fill, so this weekend we are so ordering chinese!!!  hehehe

Well that's about it for the weekly update.  :)

Hole Update

Such a catchy title don't you think?

Well, I've had an eventful day!

*** Warning!!  Post contains graphic pictures.  Do not read if you have a weak stomach.***

I went to the dr.'s at my local vårdcentral @ 10 am this morning to talk to the doc about a few things.  While I was there I had her check my oh so sexy wound.  Well she had a look and said oh boy!  Always a good sign when the docs are like shocked.  lol.  Well she said it is now infected and was quite full of puss (come on, you know you think that's hot!).  lol.  So she spent like 15 mins trying to clean everything out of it and pushing around on my belly going "does this hurt?....how about this?"  It was a wonderful way to start the day!

So, she gets it cleaned out takes a look inside (yes inside!) and says "hold on, I need to get a colleague."  The other doc comes in and he takes a gander too, they have a chat in swedish and then he leaves.  Then my doc turns to me and gives me the good news (insert sarcasm).  So I still have a hole in my side, and oh it's now infected so I need antibiotics, and she thinks it would be best to get it closed up with stitches.  She's not sure if she should do it or send me to the ER to have a surgeon look at it and handle it.  She tries calling the hospital and getting ahold of someone with no luck.  So she just sends me over to the hospital with a note from her to help explain things and hopefully speed the process up.  HA!

So I try to figure out a way to get to and from the hospital, discovering everyone is either out of town, busy or working.  So I have to take the bus, no big deal except I was in a bit of pain from all the poking and stabbing around in my side.

I get to the ER at about 12:30 pm and thankfully there was only 2 people in the waiting room.  I register and give my dr.'s note to the registrar, get a cup to pee in (only god knows why) and go back to sitting in the waiting room.

At about 1:15, I get called into a triage room where a nurse says she wants to take blood and blood pressure...all the usual suspects.  So I lay down and stick my arm out and warn the woman that she is better off getting blood from the hand not the arm.  So she tries to do her thing, but is unable.  Why?  Because my body is being uncooperative and my veins decided to play hide and seek.  The whole time she's shaking her head and looks so frustrated.  Then she takes a hail mary jab into my arm and doesn't find the vein.  So she goes to get another nurse.  He tries to find my veins, but ends up looking equally as frustrated and disheartened.  So he starts with my hand.  No luck, so he tries all kinds of things, using an IV needle, pumping up a blood pressure cuff, then loosening it, flushing the vein with etc.  Only after he did the flush thing I noticed that the liquid seemed to all gather in a tube like shape down the top of my hand.  Like it looked funky!  Like I had a bank roll of coins under my skin.  I asked "um, is that normal? is it supposed to do that?"  What do you think his answer was?  "No."  Of course!  Well he kept trying and after about 45 mins he was able to get 2 vials of blood out of me.  Never in my life has it been so difficult for anyone to get blood out of me.  Hahaha.

So then I'm banished back to the waiting room.  Where I sit until 4:15 pm.  Talk about frustrating.  Did I mention I'm supposed to eat every couple hrs and I was supposed to eat lunch at 1, and my snack at like 3-4.  Yup, missed them both.  So I was like starving and getting a headache and majorly grumpy!

When it was time to see the doc I get pulled back into the triage room.  Give her the deets again.  She takes a look and says agrees it's infected, but tells me she won't do stitches at this stage because of risk of infection. Huh? Ok.  So she writes a script for antibiotics, puts some butterfly tape on it as well as a waterproof bandage and sends me home.  So that was a long ass day just to get taped up!

ER doc says I need to go back to the vårdcentral doc on Monday and have it all looked at, cleaned, and redressed again.  It is such a good thing that I live really close to the vårdcentral.  Thankfully it's only like a 7 min walk.  Otherwise I'd be annoyed by the constant back and forth to the docs.  Also a wonderful thing that I have a free health card, so all these visits aren't costing me anything but patience and occasional bus fare.  lol.

Here comes some pics of the beautiful wound I have.  I know these pics aren't the best in the world.  It's hard to take pics of your side with your phone.  lol.  But you get the idea.

Week 5 Update

It's been 5 weeks since surgery and ugh, I'm not overly thrilled with what's happening.  I didn't post the week 4 update because I was extremely busy and stressed last week and didn't really lose much.  Last weeks weight (week 4) was 116.4 kg (256.6 lbs)

Current weight: 115.9 kg (255.5 lbs).
Weight loss to date: 9.7 kg (21.5 lbs).

So as you can see I only lost .5 kg = 1 lb.

Here's the thing, I should have lost more last week since I was still on liquid and I walked and got exercise like every single day.  And yet, it sucks!!!! I have been on the "puree" stage for this past week and honestly haven't been walking that much.  I'm just so tired!!  It's been like 90 + degrees (F) here and there is no AC!!!!  So i've been sweating and roasting to death for like 2 weeks now.  And considering we have sunlight for about 20 hrs a day here at the moment it's kind of hard to escape the sun and heat.  I know, I know...all a bunch of excuses.  blah blah blah whatever!  So I have resigned myself to be better about that.  I am even going to check out a gym down the street from where we live to see about perhaps giving them a go.  They have a pilates class!! I do love me some pilates! :)  But I have to wait until my stomach is all healed.  Since I have a gaping hole in my side and agitated all my incision points a few weeks ago.

Here's the other thing that has me frustrated and concerned! I find I'm hungry now like all the freaking time!!!!  Within like 45 mins of eating (about 45 mins before my next meal) I can feel I'm hungry.  And I've started having meat cravings again.  Thankfully I crave that rather then sugar.  But I'm feeling really unsatisfied when it comes to food.  And it's not a mental thing.  For the first 3 - 3.5 weeks I hated eating what I had to eat and wanted real food, but I never really felt hungry.  Now I feel hungry.  So I think my band might need to be adjusted.  I go back to see the doc in 3 weeks, and hopefully he'll do a fill then.  I'll be damned if I'm going to go through all of this and lose 1 lb a week or worse NOTHING.

So this weeks update...sucks!  I am very unhappy at the moment.  However, I do get to eat stuff other then milk and yogurt!  Yeah!

Hopefully next weeks numbers are better.

-FXA

D’oh! Don’t try this at home kids!

Written on Wednesday July 7, 2010

***Caution!!!! This is a more graphic post including pictures. If you have a weak stomach or are easily grossed out, you should probably not read on!***

Since I've had no internet, I haven't been able to post regularly and I have to write these blogs on MSWord, and then publish later when the internet is all fixed. And I haven't had time to write about what happened last week. So let me fill you in now.

Last Wednesday (June 30^th) I went back to the hospital in Nyköping to get my staples removed. Woohoo right?! Yeah, well staples out and tape on (which was to stay on for 1 week).

Since we moved into our new apartment last week, I have been trying to do a little unpacking here and there. But doc says…no strenuous activity for 6 weeks. Perhaps they should be a bit clearer on what qualifies as strenuous activity. Or perhaps I'm an idiot! Lol.

After getting home from the hospital last Wed, I tried to do some unpacking. And it was like 10 pm at night and I had the brilliant idea to move a box that was holding one of those back massagers (I'm talking a very light and relatively small box). I wanted to put it on the very top shelf in the closet system in my bedroom. (I have floor to ceiling closets and probably like 8-9 ft ceilings). I couldn't reach just by standing on my tippy toes, so I held the box over my head with both arms extended and then jumped and tried to throw the box up onto the top shelf. I know what you're thinking!! She's an idiot! Duh! Well about half a millisecond after doing this I felt horrible pain throughout my abdomen. It felt like I just ripped open all the incision points and not to mention my already funky and slanted placed port (in my chest above my sternum) must have moved and stabbed into my left chest muscle. Oh joy!!!! So I hunched over, hobbled to the bed and tried to lay down while screaming in pain. My boyfriend comes in and is like stunned to see me in so much pain and trying so desperately to find a position that is remotely comfortable to lay in.

We were told before we left the hospital right after surgery that if there were any emergencies or situations to call Nyköping emergency room first and possibly go there rather than our local hospital. As they don't deal with this kind of surgical procedure at our local hospital. So we called the ER in Nyköping, only to be told they had no idea and to call 1177 (which is like the what to do if I stick a pen in my eye hotline number). They advise you on what you should do or where to go. But the answer I've gotten every time I've called is "Well it's up to you if you want to go to the hospital or not". So they have been extremely helpful thus far. Lol. Nyköping is like over an hr drive away and I wasn't sure they could do anything.

My first fear was I just yanked the stomach band and it's like around my esophagus now or something. Then my next thought was, shit I just ripped open the incisions. But I looked down at the tape and I didn't see blood gushing or anything. So I figured the inside part of the incision (like deep down in my belly) likely haven't healed yet and I probably tore them.

So we didn't go to the ER, we decided to wait until morning and call my surgeons nurse at the hospital. She said give it 24 hrs and then if the pain is still an issue come down to the hospital. Well for 2 days after I couldn't really eat so much without feeling horribly nauseous. But I think that was more to do with the pain pills then anything. And after a couple days I was back to eating like normal. Yeah I still had occasional pain inside my belly (especially on the left side). And yeah the tape on the far left incision looked like there was some dried blood on it in the center. But I thought maybe that was normal! Wrong!

Late last night my boyfriend and I decided to take the tape off and give everything a look-see. We did the far left incision pretty much last. I noticed some small amounts of dried blood here and there on the other incisions, but nothing to write home (or I suppose on here) about. When I got to the far left one my boyfriend had to do it because it was a bit too difficult for me. So he starts taking the tape off and is like

From the first dr. visit to see how bad it was

"Ugh, I think we have a problem here. I don't think this one is ready to be removed"

To which my response was "Why? What's wrong."

Then he said "Umm, there's like a hole here."

"Huh?"

So he gets a flashlight and a mirror for me to see properly. And sure enough there is a hole. Not like needle point or pencil point hole. I mean I couldn't stick my finger in it or anything. But yeah, a hole. That isn't supposed to happen. So obviously when I hurt myself last week I did rip open my incision…on the outside. On top of that there's some stuff coming out of it, and it isn't blood. And the area around it is looking a bit red and inflamed. So I'm thinking yippee and infection to boot! So first thing this morning I got up and called my surgeons nurse again. She tells me I need to go to my local vårdcentral (government run doctors office) and have someone look at it, clean it and put proper dressing on it.

I went to the vårdcentral on Wed. Nurse said I didn't have an infection!! Score! But she put some packing gauze or something into the wound, and then more stuff on top, and then a big ole bandaid. And told me I had to come back on Friday to get it all cleaned and redressed again.

2nd visit on Friday

Then on Friday I went and had my wound cleaned again, and this time she put some clear gel on some special sponge like gauze and then a big waterproof bandage on top and told me to come back on Monday.

Well it's Monday (July 12^th) now. I went back again this morning. Went through the same process as Friday, only this time I got her to give me the stuff to take home so I can do this at home, rather than go back to the vårdcentral twice a week to get it fixed. So I'm done going back there unless there is an issue. J Woohoo!!!

Funny side story: You have to give your personnummer whenever you go to the vårdcentral. And I've gone so often in the last week, that as soon as the receptionist saw me this morning she put it into the computer without me telling her. She has my personnummer memorized. Hahahaha. How sad is that?

Yup, so go me! What can I say, I like to keep things interesting! I have to have something to write about on here! Hahaha

-FXA

Dating while banded

While I'm not currently on the dating scene, as I live with my boyfriend of over 2 years, I got to thinking. How does one go on dates when they have been banded or some other wls.

Picture the scenario. You meet a guy in a college classroom, or at a bar or wherever people seem to meet people. It's been say 6 months since your surgery and you're on solid foods, and have already lost let's say 50 lbs. You and the mystery person have a wonderful chat, decide to exchange number. Within the next couple days he calls and asks if you would like to get together for dinner on Friday night. First big decision….would you want your first date with someone new to be someplace involving food where you will quite obviously be restricted with eating. So let's say you decide to go ahead with dinner.

Fast forward to Friday evening and its date night. You're already a basket of nerves as is typical for first dates. Then you get to the restaurant, sit down, look at the menu and oh shit! What are you going to order? And does it come in children's portion, as you can't actually eat a full size portion. Steak is most likely out of the question, can go for some kind of chicken or fish dish, or you could play it extra safe and get salad. Then you have to think," gee, I hope this date doesn't take more than 3 hrs because then I have to eat again." (Or at least that's how my solid food diet goes…should I ever freaking get to that point).

So you decide to order some kind of grilled chicken with veggies and a baked potato dish. You decide against asking if it can be made into a kiddie portion figuring that will only garner more questions and confused looks. During dinner you take tiny bites, chew forever, and take a very long time to eat maybe ¼ of the food that is actually on the plate, and then say "Ah, that was delicious, I'm stuffed." At which point your date looks across the table and see's you have barely touched your food and quite possibly thinks to himself "oh god, it's one of those types that is practically anorexic and is obsessed with not eating too much". Well he'd be half right (at least I know I'm obsessed about what I'm eating since surgery). At this point he might actually say something like "Oh you don't seem very hungry, did you have a meal before our date" or some silly question along those lines. In which case, you can choose to explain why your limited with food intake.

For the sake of this blog, we'll say he silently acknowledged the very small meal you had for dinner, and then decided to not think too much of it. You guys had a great time during dinner, so then he asks if you're in a rush to get home or if you'd like to continue the evening, by moving on to a bar or a movie or some late night option. At which time you are internally jumping for glee that this stud of a man is having a great time and doesn't want the date to end either!! (This is of course based on the assumption that you like him as well and are having a great time).

Off you go to a bar. Where you can't drink too much now! All those empty calories, but hey, it's a special occasion! Live a little!! But you still can't drink too much because you will likely end up getting trashed and trashed on the first date isn't so sexy. So you nurse your first drink. Then nurse your second. Next thing you know….it's meal time again! Crap!! What to do, what do do?? Hmm, well you didn't eat much at dinner, so maybe he won't be surprised if you're hungry again. Any normal person would be after that tiny meal. So you ask the bartender if they serve food. Oh saved! They do! Options are….chicken wings, chicken quesadillas, nachos, chips and salsa, burger, etc. Pretty much just typical late night bar food. So you decide to go with chips and salsa I guess. (What would honestly be the healthiest choice of the above mentioned?) So you munch on your chips and salsa for another 30 mins, all the while not drinking anything (don't forget, not allowed to drink while eating…tisk tisk). So the date continues, and after a bit at the bar, you each decide to call it a very lovely evening. Kiss, go to your separate homes and live happily ever after. Lol.

So here's the issue. If you're going to start dating someone new post surgery, do you explain before, during, after the date about the surgery? If the first date, turns into a second, and then a third, and fourth and so on, he will eventually become suspect of your odd eating habits. Perhaps those in America who had the lap band surgery don't have a meal plan similar to the one I'm on. When I reach the solid food stage I have a meal plan that my doc wishes to keep me on, for the rest of my life!!!!!! In this plan, I have to eat 6-7 times over the course of the day eating every 3 hrs. Many nutritionists in America recommend eating 5-6 times a day anyway. So hopefully the difference will go unnoticed. But I do wonder if someone was on a meal plan like mine, and was in the dating pool, how they would handle the situation. At what point do you explain to your suitor that you've had weight loss surgery?

I hope these are questions I never have to personally answer. Lol. Thankfully my boyfriend knows all, and doesn't seem to mind. But not everyone out there having these surgeries is in committed relationships. So if you're single and banded, how do you handle the subject with prospective partners?

3 weeks down!

Written Wednesday July 7, 2010**(See note below)

So I've reached the halfway point on my journey to real food since surgery!

It's been a long and windy road so far. I've had a few emotional breakdowns over the last week or two where I have come to really hate the liquid diet stage!!! Thankfully I only have one more week of liquid and then I get to move on to puree!!! Score! Then on that stage for 2 weeks and once that's done….REAL FOOD!!!!

So here's the deets! Current weight as of 5 mins ago 117.5 kg (259 lbs). Here's the kicker though. On Monday when I weighed myself it was at 116.4. So I have gained a kg (approx. 2 lbs) in the last 2 days. Not quite sure how I did that. But oh well. And I've even been getting in like 7 or 8 of the suggested 9 meals. What I have noticed is over the last week I've kind of stopped recording my food intake on Excel. So maybe I need to get back to doing that to see if I truly am getting enough calories and proteins as I should be. Here's to hoping my last week on liquids goes a bit better.

Total weight loss as of today…slightly over 8 kgs (approx. 18 lbs).

**This blog was written on MSWord and published online at a later date due to lack of internet thanks to moving. J