It's Been Awhile

Unfortunately I've left my blog towards the bottom of the to-do list. But I figured I'd take a few minutes to catch up before heading off for church.

I've continued to get sick from this sinus drainage. I'm taking Benedryl, and Flonase. They seem to get me through the majority of the day, but I still can't seem to keep down all 3 meals everyday. I've also gotten rid of all of the pets in our home. Yesterday I did a good deep cleaning, hopefully getting rid of any leftover pet dander. Tomorrow I will call the doctor again to see if they can put me on an allergy medicine that would be more effective.

Now for the gross part....WARNING...not for the easily grossed out reader!

I am happy to report that I'm not really throwing up much in the way of food. Fortunately (I think) it's almost all just phlegm. And I'm not just talking about the phlegm you cough up when you have a cold, I mean honestly throwing up phlegm from the stomach. And I'm shocked at how much phlegm actually comes up! It's always tinged the color of whatever I ate or drank last and it always tastes like whatever I ate or drank last. The only advantage here is that it seems that my body is keeping the food, vitamins and medication that I take.

I'll try not to stay away for another whole week, but I need to get out of here for church.

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers & I Hate Phlegm!

Oh the problems a list mucus can make....

Well, I've continued to get sick almost everyday since my last post. In talking to both the family doctor and the bariatric doctors it's everyone's opinion that my sinus drainage is the culprit.

Not only has it made me get sick after eating, it is also the reason I'm getting a full and kind of uneasy feeling after I eat just a few bites. The good news: it's relatively easy to fix. I'm now on a nasal spray as well as Sudafed. If that doesn't work I'll move on to nasal spray and Benedryl. We'll take it a step at a time and hope that I get back to normal eating soon!

Lots of other things have been going on in my personal life, so my blogging may go in spurts. I hope you'll be patient and continue to read!!

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers & Go Away Sinus Drainage!!!!

Well....I broke my lucky streak

Today is the day I've kind of been dreading. I can no longer brag that I've never thrown up since surgery. :(

I just so happened to also have a follow up visit/blood draw scheduled today with the family doctor. She said it was most likely all of the post nasal drip sitting on an empty stomach that prompted me to throw up my breakfast. She said I need to be on something for allergies since I have chronic drainage. Lucky for me she said a nasal spray would be fine...so I won't have to worry about another pill to take, or how it's digested!

Also...one nice thing about a small stomach - there's not too much to throw up in order to empty your stomach. lol

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers & I'm Scared to Eat Lunch!

YUMMY!!

I have to admit, I get tired of having a "limited" diet and I am missing cooking and sharing yummy meals with my family. But I find the more that I can add to my diet the closer I get to sharing dishes with the rest of my family. After talking to the dietician yesterday I found a great way to share a spaghetti dinner with the rest of the family.

First - substitute ground turkey for the ground beef in the sauce.
Second - look at the sugar/serving in the sauce. I was personally shocked at how much this varies by brand! I was told to look for sauce with less than 6 grams or less of sugar/serving. I found the Hunts brand only had 5!
Third - Don't eat the noodles. Instead, I put my sauce over about 1 1/2 ounces of ricotta cheese. Much to my surprise, ricotta cheese has 5 grams of protein per serving (which was about 2 ounces).

Post-surgery or not, this was yummy! It was like getting the best of spaghetti or lasagna without the noodles. And I didn't even miss them!

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers & Mmmmmm

Sleep Is A Beautiful Thing!!!

So my co-morbid condition that qualified me for surgery is sleep apnea. When I went in for consultations prior to surgery they kept telling me that just losing about 10% of my body weight would help with the sleep apnea.

I just realized over the last week or so that it has made a HUGE difference in my sleeping! I am able to sleep through the night most nights. I'm not wearing my mask at night anymore. I am not waking myself up snoring anymore. I'm not keeping my husband awake with snoring anymore. I wake up feeling somewhat rested. (Still not as awake as I'd like to be, but I think we are getting there!)

After getting a decent nights sleep I find that I have more energy in the morning. Granted, it's gone shortly after lunch....but I think some of that has to do with still healing from surgery. I'm very excited about this realization! It definitely encourages me to stay on track!!

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers & Sleeping Really Is A Beautiful Thing!

Stress Without the Food

I know it's been a while...but boy has it been a week.

Since the wedding I've really had to test out this whole don't eat when your upset thing. Monday I got the news that my mother-in-law was getting set up with Hospice, I've got 3 children on antibiotics (2 for strep throat, 1 for a sinus infection), I quit my part time job to spend more time working on the business my husband and I started last June, and I backed into a UPS truck (don't ask!). My attention hasn't turned to food. It's kind of surprising. It's kind of like my brain just adjusted after the surgery. I really hope it stays this way! I really can't tell you what I'm doing instead of eating, but I don't know that I've replaced it with another habit. I just know that eating isn't a choice. I do know there have been a lot of tears shed this week, I guess that's not a bad thing though.

I am noticing a big difference in the way my clothes are fitting. For once I'm kind of glad I held onto all of those clothes that didn't fit anymore! Unfortunately, since everything is getting so big now I'm going to have to break down and clean out my closet! This really isn't a job that I want to do, but I really need to evaluate how much I have of what sizes....so, by the weekend I should be reporting in on how that went.

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers for my Family & This Week's Got to Get Better!

The Power Of Words

Well, last night I got to go out with my husband for the first time since surgery. We went to a wedding for a friend of his from the fire station. It was, if nothing else, and interesting night.

I was glad that the people we were with there already knew about my surgery, even though it was kind of weird....nothing like knowing that people are looking at your size. I even had people I didn't know very well asking me how much weight I had lost so far. It was ok, just weird. Until later in the evening when people had plenty to drink.

I was horrified when one of the men at the wedding told me that I was "going to turn into a hot bi***". Yep...that's what he said! I was horrified and couldn't even say anything.... Nothing makes a girl feel more like the ugly duckling than when your all dressed up and someone tells you your going to be pretty, soon. His words cut like a knife. I couldn't believe someone would say that to me, oh...and he is the one who came right out and asked how much weight I'd lost so far.

Now I know....he was drunk, he's a jerk, so on and so forth. But the point is the words hurt. I wasn't prepared for it. Today I don't care what he thinks. I don't care what anybody thought. But I will admit it really hurt me at the moment. I suppose the point of this blog post is just to remind you that people don't think, and words carry a lot of power with them. But, we don't have to let them ruin us. Just remember that some people have no tact, and say hurtful things...but that does not make the words true! See...if you don't work on emotional health as well as physical after this surgery your cheating yourself.

So this morning I remembered that I don't do my hair and make up for anyone else. It's for me. It's so I can feel good about myself. I'm not one of those that can't ever leave the house without make up, but I do enjoy looking nice. I got up, I showered, I got dressed in decent clothes, I did my hair, and I put on my make and jewelry. Why? What do I have going on? I did it for me. I am not going to church this morning because of sick kids, so all I have to do today is house work and maybe a trip to the grocery store. But guess what...I feel good about myself today. I feel beautiful! I looked in the mirror and can see the difference in the way my clothes look. But I did it all today for me, not for compliments, and it feels good!

Until next time....Hugs, Prayers & Choose Your Words Carefully!

Wednesday's Routine

So I've taken a couple of days off from writing because there just wasn't much to write about. Today though I had to check in and report on my recovery.

For the most part I've still been feeling rather good. I'm finally able to wear regular jeans again without a problem! Yeah! It's especially nice when the jeans are noticeably looser!

However, the one big downside to the recovery process still remains with having a bowel movement. I went 7 days again. :( It's just so uncomfortable, but the Milk of Magnesia did the trick again. I will be checking in with the dietician again next week, and hopefully I'll be able to add something to the diet to get things back in working order. Unfortunately Milk of Magnesia after 7 days makes for a pretty uncomfortable day and lots of time in the bathroom. But, I survived...we'll see how the next week goes!

I am pretty excited that I have a wedding to go to this weekend. It'll be my first BIG outing since surgery! My black dress from a couple of Christmas' ago has ties in the back, so I can still wear it. I'm kind of glad I don't have to go out looking for something to wear, but I know this will be the last time I can wear this dress....YEAH!

I was feeling awkward about sitting through the reception dinner and not eating. But I found out that we are at a table with a bunch of people that work with my husband and all already know about my surgery...so....no explanation during the meal! Whew....that definitely eliminates the awkwardness that could have been!

Well, after 7pm my brain seems to shut down lately, so that's it for tonight.

Until next time...Hugs, Prayers & Sweet Dreams!