FIRST REAL MEAL

My TEDIOUS 4 day liquid diet is over! PRAISE THE LORD! I know I'm probably ticking a lot of other bandsters off since most other patients from different surgeons have to do at least a week of liquid and here I am rejoicing that 4 days is done with. Sorry!!

Today I was able to move to somewhat normal foods! The only things I can't have until 1 month out are 4 legged proteins (beef and pork basically), peas, corn, and potatoes. Those are still too hard to digest right now. But I can have any other fruit, any other vegetable, any other meat, any thing else at all :) Well...besides bad foods obviously. Right now I can eat 4-8 oz or 1/2 to 1 cup of food. Since the only actual restriction I feel right now is from swelling, this will probably increase once the swelling goes down before I get my first fill in 1 month.

For breakfast I had a Yoplait Light yogurt (Apple pie...THANK YOU Stacie for turning me on to that!) I was being a wuss and couldn't muster enough courage to try for a piece of whole grain toast yet.

I was a little braver at lunch. I had 3 naked nuggets, 1/2 of a cheddar cheese stick, and I made about 1/4 cup of re fried beans but could only eat half of it before my 20 minute eating limit was up.

That went really well! It tasted SO good. I cannot tell you how utterly sick of broth and jell-o I am right now! I just ate everything really slowly, chewed VERY well, and swallowed slowly and stopped after each couple of bites to make sure it wasn't coming back up, lol. Luckily none of it did :) And by the end of my 20 minutes, I felt satisfied. Not full, but satisfied.

For dinner I made teriyaki chicken breast with Yoshidos sauce. MMMM that was SO good. I steamed some fresh zucchini (being very careful to thoroughly chew the skins since they were harder).
I was really wanting that chicken (from the lack of protein lately) so I skipped out on anything else and just had a little more chicken than I normally would. That also went very well and nothing came back up! That was 4 hours ago and I'm hungry now. But I'll sip my water and wait for breakfast to come since I'm sure this is an emotional hunger...although it's hard to tell over this loud rumbling coming from my tummy!

Oh, and these are served in those baby plates I bought and posted about in an earlier blog :) See how it LOOKS like I have a lot of food? When I really don't!

Random

My aunts form Arkansas sent me these BEAUTIFUL flowers when I got home from the hospital! I love getting flowers.


Here's my favorite lily from the bouquet my husband and family got me when I was in the hospital. MMMMM these just smell SO wonderful!

This is my at home office :) Complete with flowers and a pillow to put in between my big tummy and the desk that it pushes into.

Here is a closer look at my 5 incisions. One on top right under my bra line, then the 4 bottom ones. The 2nd from the left is the BIG one where they put the port (this is taken in a mirror, so it's actually on my left side) and you can see it took a lot more tape to close up. That's the one you will always see me holding or pressing because it will hurt the longest :(

OK that's it :) Just a short one to share some pics!

Food Porn- the origin

One term that I’ve come to embrace in the weight loss community is “food porn.” This is any kind of picture or text that refers to food. Any kind of picture or text that makes us WANT that specific food.
I know some of my more mature followers may not love this phrase, however I think it makes the impression much more understandable.
Another term that is used is “food horny.” It goes hand in hand with food porn, obviously ;) If one says they are food horny, it means that they are craving something almost beyond self control. If one says “Warning, food porn ahead” it means that they will be talking about something that may trigger food horniness in the reader. It’s only fair to give a warning so that you don’t sabotage your fellow losers (people trying to lose weight). The foods in food porn aren’t necessarily BAD foods, but everyone has different eating guidelines and may not be able to eat it or it may trigger a craving for something else.

That being said…WARNING-FOOD PORN AHEAD…I was SO food horny last night! It was the first time since surgery (which I know isn’t really a long time, but still) that I wanted something so much. I wanted everything, cinnamon rolls, white cake w/raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting, pizza with extra cheese, sour patch kids, movie theater popcorn, you name it, it was craving it! It was bad, I was close to tears. But at the same time, this was a really good confirmation that my band was a good idea. Pre-band, I would have simply gone to the store, loaded up on all that junk, come home and stuffed myself for the temporary “fix” and then felt awful about myself afterword.
But with my handy dandy band I don’t even have that option. Sure I could probably suck the sugar off some sweet and sour patch kids and yeah the ice cream would melt right through the opening, but I’m more alert and focused now. I actually have to stop and think, is it worth it? Did I just spend ALL that money to cheat? Did I just spend the last 4 days on a nasty liquid diet so that I could sabotage myself? NO!
So even though I know there will come a day where I will CONSCIOUSLY give in to my naughty food porn temptations, I will do so without guilt knowing that I can and will control myself. And I know I will have the brains to get RIGHT back on track and be sure to walk an extra mile so that the extra calories are never even noticed :)

Ha...

This is what happens when you eat nothing but sugar free Jell-O and sugar free popcicles all day. I think it might stay that way forever.

Ticker

WOW! 26 lbs since my first pre-op appointment! I think that's the most I've ever lost! Granted only about a few of those have been lost since surgery, but still!

DAY OF SURGERY!!!

JUNE 18th was my SURGERY DATE!!! It came so fast. As I expected, I didn't get a wink of sleep the night before and also as I expected, I woke up starving! I got everything packed and ready to go the night before so that morning was easy. As soon as Hubby got home he packed the car and we were off to the hospital!

We arrived at 9:15 ish, had to park SUPER far away from the entrance and so I'm sure I burned another few pounds off from the walk alone! I was a little frustrated because when I got there, I went straight up to the 5th floor (where the bariatric unit is) and they told me I had to go back to the 1st floor to check in. So I did so, and was then escorted to the 2nd floor to sit in the surgery waiting room.

OK...embarrassing moment: I had to pee and so I went to the bathroom door in the surgery waiting room and there was a big sign that said "Please see nurse's desk before using bathroom" so I walked over and asked if I needed a key or something and she said that she had to call my doctor and ask if I was able to go to the bathroom. And she's not saying this quietly, mind you. So she calls someone and says "This is (so-and-so) in Surgery Waiting. I have Stephanie Orellellana here and she needs to go to the bathroom. Is that alright?" OMG...first of all, she butchered my last name, second of all, this was a small waiting room and she was talking to EVERYONE in there. I was SO embarrassed! Then she hung up and said I could go. Good grief!

Frustrating moment: A week ago my surgery was scheduled for 11:00am. The day before surgery it was scheduled for 11:30am. Then the day of it was scheduled for 12:30pm. I know things get moved back, but it was annoying, I could have slept for one more hour. Oh well. Small bump.

So FINALLY after at least an hour waiting w/my mom and hubby I was called back to pre-op. My nurse was WONDERFUL, I just loved her. I got changed into my paper gown and was weighed (wow, I really did lose another 3 lbs since the night before!) and was taken behind my little curtain and got into my roller bed. I got all my vitals taken and then she put my IV in. Ok, I am EXTREMELY sensitive about my hands. I do NOT tolerate things in my hand. Whenever I give blood they have to take it from my inner arm or else I'll faint. I can't stand the sight or feeling of needles in my hand! So she TRIED to put it in my hand and I was almost in tears and felt like I could throw up, but thankfully she couldn't find my vein so the IV went in my inner arm :) yay! I win :)

After I was ready to go, my hubby and mom came in and visited w/me for a bit. Then the anesthesiologist came in and put a "relaxer" in my IV. It was just to calm my nerves, although they didn't really need calming, but that was fun stuff :) I was awake and alert but I don't really remember too much. My mom said I was giggling a lot and she said Kris and my mom kissed me goodbye when they were ready to wheel my bed away, but I do NOT remember any of that. I remember being IN the operating room and was asked to scoot over onto the operating table. I remember I was asked to press my feet against a white pillow thing at the foot of the table, and I recall that I was talking, however I have no idea what I was saying.

The next thing I remember was slowing coming around in the recovery room. I was SOOOO out of it, I was maybe awake for a whole 2 seconds before I was out again. I could hear people talking around me, but I was completely unaware of anything I was doing. I hardly recall them wheeling me into my room. Here are the lovely pics Kris took when they rolled me in. I was trying to smile, lol.

Apparently I was in surgery for 2 hours, which normally it only takes 45 minutes so my mom and hubby were worried. I guess the reason was because the way I carry my tummy fat they had to be extra slow and careful to get into my lower tummy since that's where more of the fat was. But everything was fine and they said my tissues and organs all looked really healthy. :) sweet. I was in recovery for 2 hours also. 4 hours of waiting, sorry mom and hubby!

The rest of the day I was pretty much asleep. They woke me up to try to have me eat some broth, which I did try. Shortly after, it all came back up :( It didn't hurt but it scared me that I would move my band! Luckily, right after that they had scheduled my x-ray to test the position of the band, and it was perfect. So no worries :) I got really close to being sick a few more times, but was able to keep it in with deep breaths. The nurses were great and kept coming in what seemed like every few minutes to check my vitals and give me some kind of pain med or anti-inflammatory or liquids or something.

When they made me get up to walk I did a GREAT job!! I didn't have to sit down to rest or anything and I made it twice around the floor and walked perfectly upright and fast :) The nurse was so impressed! The next few times I went out I was lapping other patients :) NOT that it's a contest...I know....but I was still proud of myself. Just goes to show you that attitude is everything. I had the attitude that I WAS going to walk really well and I did :)

After a TERRIBLE night sleep/rest and a very long morning, I was FINALLY released from the hospital and walked myself down to the car. Most people are wheeled out but I felt great at that time. I even refused the pain meds they offered me before I left. I felt I would be fine w/my prescription. Later that evening I seriously regretted it. I was in more pain and discomfort that night than I ever was in the hospital.

Oh, these are the BEAUTIFUL flowers that my hubby and mom/dad/sister picked out for me to have waiting in my room :)

Here is a crappy pic of my wounds. There are 5, the one up by my bra, and the 4 in a row across the middle. The brown you see is the stitching tape to keep the stitches in. It itches :( The white patch is the BIG wound where they put the port in. That hurts the most :(

SO I'll post another blog tomorrow for everything that's happened since the day after surgery, but this one is long enough! I'm doing great though :)