pain gone!

well, as of thursday i do not have any of the pain in my lower left abdomen.  (looks like the dr knows what he is talking about - a week ago thursday was my 1st post-op dr appt and he said that the pain should be gone in a week!)  i have experimented with a couple of different food items - made an awesome pot of potato soup early in the week that i have been having for lunch and dinner all week.  for breakfast having yogurt during the week.  this morning i did an egg over easy and ate around half of it.  still staying between 1/4 & 1/2 cup per meal.  getting in all the protein and water is still a challenge  i am probably averaging 60g protein a day but probably only half of the water that i need.  something that i ate yesterday didn't like me though, because i had diarrhea during the night - was up around 3 times.  last night for dinner i had 1/4 cup blended vegetable soup and not quite 1/4 c cottage cheese.  weird.

working full time went very well this week.  glad that my energy level is up because i was drowning in all the work that was pilling up - pleased to basically leave friday with my desk cleared - only bringing home a couple of hrs of work.

been a very good week

it was a good week

i'm glad that i went back to work on monday - it wasn't too bad when i left around noon and at the beginning of the week i would come home and nap or just rest in the afternoon.  although i didn't get tons of work accomplished, i think if i would have taken the week off i would have felt worse heading back to the office full time this coming monday.  

i am still struggling to get in all my protein and liquids in - some proteins just taste gross and as far as getting in 64 oz water - i just am not a bit drinker. i am now on 2nd level "foods" which basically is creamy or very soft mushy stuff - 1/4 to 1/2 cup serving. this week wed, thurs & fri at work i would have around 1/2 fage yogurt with some vanilla flavoring and a package of splenda - YUMMY.  then for lunch and dinner tues wed i would do a casserole (HA) of around 2 tbsp of ricotta cheese spread into a tiny ramekin spread a tsp of tomato sauce on that then top with mozzarella - nuke for around 25 seconds - very good.  i have also had some cream of wheat. today for lunch i tried adding some potato flakes to 1/4 cup of beef broth and it tasted good, but felt a little heavy in my stomach.  

i would say that it was a good week.  on thursday i was able to have my staples and drain removed, so that was wonderful.  

back to work - PART TIME!

because of the nature of the work i do it just sits there whenever i am gone - no one to take over, so i decided from the beginning to only take of the week of surgery and go back to work as soon as possible.  so, this morning, 6 days post-op i was back in the office for a few hours.  it was good to be back, everyone was so great stopping by to see how i was doing. i parked on the street, because i couldn't do the parking garage and the president of the agency even went down and plugged my meter for me!  thankfully there  was a manageable amount of work waiting for me, so it wasn't overwhelming.  i must say though by 11:30 i was pretty tired and left at noon.  

this afternoon i was pretty bummed out because the doctors office called and rescheduled my appointment from tuesday to thursday.  i was REALLY looking forward to getting the drain and staples removed - the drain is extremely uncomfortable/painful.  all my other incisions are healing very well and not sore at all.  

i haven't gotten on the scale since the day of surgery, so i have no idea how much i have lost this week.

friday was a good day

i can tell an improvement in the pain today - mainly in the process of getting up out of a chair. it still hurts quite a bit but it isn't unbearable.  i didn't take any pain medicine until bedtime.  i am having difficulty getting in all the liquids and protein - should have 64 oz liquid and 60g protein.  the WLS did the math and if i drink 1 ounce every 20 minutes i should get in enough during my waking hours.  i was trying to keep track but really came short.  all i drank was isopure and i probably got in a total of 17 ounces.  i did have 2 ounces of coffee - YUM! didn't have any problems w my pouch and the coffee. i think if i could do more of the continual sipsipsipping i would do better than having to wait and drink every 20 minutes.

having a lot of gurgling in my intestines and passing some gas but haven't had a bowel movement yet.

i slept around 4 hours in bed then moved to the recliner - will be glad when it is comfortable to sleep on my side.  

home on thursday ~

yesterday i was able to come home and it certainly is nice to be here!  i cannot complain at all though about the care at DePaul - the people there are awesome.  after my surgery my cardiologist put me in the intensive care step down area and i had the best nurses - they were great.  since getting home i have pretty much just rested.  twice i got on the treadmill for around 10-15 minutes at an extremely slow pace.  i have continued to take my pain meds, because i am still having a lot of discomfort in my abdominal area.  this morning i had 60 cc's of coffee!  what a treat! i am drinking out of the little medicine cups from the hospital, three of these an hour. my drink of choice is isopure blue raspberry - i Love it!

surgery day!

Hello! This is Sarah, JoAnne's daughter.  I am posting for my mom since she is unable to, due to her surgery today.

All went well--they left home round 5:30ish, and her surgery began at 8am.  I arrived at the hospital around 9, and several crossword puzzles later (and 45 minutes), the surgeon came out and told us her surgery went smoothly. She was moved to a step-down room, and a couple hours later we were allowed to see her.  Because of her previous heart palpitations during anesthesia, the anesthesiologist doubled her dosage.  Since he did that, she was extremely groggy from noon until around 2:30 when we left.  We came back around 5pm, and she was still extremely wiped out.  She really couldn't stay awake for more than 30 seconds.  We were required to leave at 6:00 so that the nurses could rotate shifts.  When we returned, my mom's sister, Donna, was in the waiting room waiting to be allowed in the area.  We were allowed to go in and see Mom, and she was sitting up and was a lot more awake.  She was able to hold a conversation without falling in and out of sleep.  There were five of us in the room with her, so I think that wore her out because she started seeming tired again when we were there a few minutes.  (I think it was my 10-year-old brother talking so much :] ) My Aunt Donna left, and soon after my dad and brother left.  Once they left, she seemed a lot less affected and more aware.  I left soon after, and the nurse was going to take her for a walk soon.  When I got home, I received a text saying that they walked two laps around the floor.  She said it felt good getting up, which is definitely a good thing.  I will post more tomorrow after I see her and such.  Keep her in your prayers!!

Sarah 

tomorrow is the day...

... AND i am ready.  my surgery time has been bumped up from 9am till 7:30 - which i guess is okay, will have to be at the hospital by 5:30.  this was such a crazy busy day today at the office that i didn't even have time to think about tomorrow.  until today i was having moments of nervousness regarding my surgery and this morning i had a wonderful quiet time with God and all day long i have just felt encouraged.  i know that God has led me to this time and i know that tomorrow will be a great day!

has been a busy week

between fighting this cold or whatever it was along with a huge pile of work that kept building each day along with getting all my hospital admissions and everything completed i am just now having a few minutes to update.

feel MUCH better. sore throat completely gone. but still have an occasional deep cough ~ i certainly pray that this is completely gone by tuesday, i have no desire to cough after surgery.

liquid pre-op diet has been fine.  i discovered that i can have clear broth, so have enjoyed that for lunch and dinner.  imagine you never thought just how delicious green bean juice is have you?? the other night i was making dinner for terry and needed to add a little salt to the green beans and took a taste of the bean juice to see it if was enough - oh how delicious that little sip tasted - HONESTLY!

my weight loss seems to have stablized for the remainder of the week.  i'm sure all the initial rapid weight loss was as a result of losing water weight.

seems like i have lists and lists for my lists of things to do before surgery, things needed to buy and lists for who needs to do what for alex.  but everything is coming together very well.

it is strange where i am mentally.  i think there is a part of me that has not realized that this is really going to happen.  it is not my nature to be pessimistic.  maybe this is a situation where i have thought about by-pass surgery for so many years that it is difficult to believe that i am really doing this.  reality will certainly come to be in a few days though.