Learning Curve

Well it has been a full 3 weeks since my surgery and there has been some things I have learned and some things I am still learning.

Things I have learnt are:

-Don’t gulp.  The thirst gets the better of be and I gulp water.  Well that doesn’t sit at all in the tiny tummy and it refuses to take it in.  I learnt that on Saturday.

-I never realised that I would miss macaroni.  I am not on soft food yet but I really miss mac n’ cheese.  I think once I get onto soft foods I will over boil the macaroni and enjoy it then.

-I don’t dread going out to eat.  I thought that I would have an issue eating with my little spoon but I am getting to the point I might not ever go back to a regular spoon LOL 

Things I have yet to learn:

-When to stop eating.  I eat my 1/3 of a cup of food and then go back to the kitchen.  I didn’t get the side effect of vomiting if my tummy I full.  Perhaps it is that I am still on fluids and purees or the nerves in my stomach are still recovering.  This is scaring me to death since I have lost weight but now I am in a stall.  I don’t want to go through all of this just to lose a few pounds.

-Listen to my body more than my head.  I have been acting like I haven’t had the surgery.  I bent over this morning to boot my boots on and my leg was at my chest. Next thing I know I am grabbing the Tiny Tummy in pain.  The DH mentioned that I should be sitting down to put them on.

-Also I need to start listen to the Tiny Tummy more.  I know for the here and now, that the pain after 3 hours means I am hungry, but the feeling while I eat are being ignored unless there is something screaming at me. I have asked on the OH board about this, and I am told that I should be eating more so as long as I am feeling okay with the 1/3 of a cup of "food" then I should keep going.

 

-I need to be patient with my weight loss.  If we chart how we lost weight it would look like stairs.  We would have a drop in weight then level off until the body decides to drop more.  I have seen comparisons with real people complaining that they aren't losing weight like they have seen on a show called "My 600 pound life"  the issue with this is, this is a one hour show but documents 7 years of their lives.  I am not sure if they miss the little note at the beginning stating that it is over 7 years or not.  I will take what I can get and after a year I should have lost 85% or more of my total weight loss.  So I just might have to convince the DH to go to a fancy dress party for New Years next year LOL   

 

- I need to stop relying on mashed potatoes.  I am finding that I am eating roughly the same in protein as I am in spuds.  They should be a last resort and eaten sparingly.  I think that I will need to have a "self talk" with myself at each meal.

 

So I also had my first full turkey dinner on Saturday.  I was in charge of compiling the meal and cooking the potatoes, the turkey, the stuffing and the peas.  I was lucky enough to have the DH help out so that made it all go smoother.

 

I took out my 1/3 cup measuring cup and filled it with pureed turkey and gravy.  Then I looked at what was left on the table and decided to take the tiniest amount of stuffing on my little spoon, 3 peas and a 'my spoon' size of mashed potatoes.  I passed on the baked sweet potato & apple, the cranberries :( and the baked cauliflower, and the baked carrots with butter and Parmesan. I realised that I might have been pushing the envelope but I did have a thought about it all just before I ate it.  I should have not filled up my measuring cup with the turkey and gravy but left room for the little stuff that was on my plate.  It was all I could do to get the turkey puree in.  I need to remind myself that I only need bites of food to equal the 1/3 cup not a portion of the meal.

 

The DH also brought to my attention while we were cleaning the kitchen that I subconsciously put turkey into my mouth and was chewing away.  Once he mentioned it I ended up just spitting it into a paper towel and tossed it out.

 

I guess this surgery causes a lot more thinking and self awareness than I thought!

Shaking it up a little bit......

I thought that I would shake things up a little bit yesterday (as much I can do LOL) about changing the title of this blog and it was my first day of "eating out."

So I did change it since now me and my tiny tummy are together for life and I am sure that there will be times that I will be posting about it.  Some folks have decided to name their tummy but I am most likely not going to go that far.

As for my lunch out yesterday I was able to meet up with Vicks and NavyWife for some lunch at Swiss Chalet that was half way for all of us.  I chose the Swiss Chalet since I thought it was a pretty safe bet to eat at.  If I couldn't find anything to eat then at least I knew I could have a cup of the chicken noodle soup that was on the menu.

Well I asked what the soup "special" was and was told that it was "loaded baked potato."  Cream of potato soup with bacon and chives.  As tempting as that was, I knew I am not on bacon yet. So I ordered the 3 cheese with spinach and artichoke dip.  Once the words came out of my mouth I started to think of SunshineHerder and how she had a blockage with romaine lettuce.  Was I pushing it too early with the spinach and artichoke?  I guess I won't know until the food comes to the table.

Our lunches came to the table and I was more than happy to pull out m spoon the DH has bought me.  They are the little plastic baby spoons and it really keeps me from taking too much in at a time.  Who knows I just might keep them in my purse to use forever LOL.  When it come to more solid food the BWLSSG has shown me a trick with my knife and fork to cut thing small enough but liquids might always be my nemesis.

Anyway, I tried a little bite and waited........nothing.  Tried another little bite and still nothing.  I can eat it!!!!!! I made sure that I chewed it thoroughly and I am glad that I did since there were a few bits of artichoke fibre that didn't make it past the gums.

So 3 hours later of chatting I looked at my plate and had half of it left.  I felt full and still pushed the plate away.  I was more than happy to take that home for leftovers and most likely will eat it at the second job tonight.

Or so I thought.  I made supper for the DH and the 2ndChild before I left and I dashed out without grabbing it.  So I thought I would go to Subway again and attempt to get the egg salad in a bowl.  I get a text from the DH saying that my spinach dip was still in the fridge.  I told him what I had done and he offered to bring it over.  It is nice that he is still looking after me this long after surgery.  He even put my little spoon in the container so I would have one. I still went over to Subway so I could have egg salad for lunch and I needed a milk to got with my supper.  So here is what I had for supper.  Mind you I didn't have the milk all in one sitting.  That I nursed until well after 10 pm LOL

So I am glad that I was a little more adventurous today and was still able to "play it safe" LOL

Monday December 15

I got my days mixed up again……I was all excited for our HO luncheon and didn’t grab a lunch.  Then I get in and found out that it was next Monday.  Now what I am going to do for lunch?  What would a food court offer that is pureed? Well I took Nikki and I to Target since I found out that they had a grocery section and wandered up and down the aisles.  Believe it or not I never had anything jump out at me saying “eat me” like I would have in the past.  I really didn’t want to hit the baby food section and then I thought of something I saw Miss A have waaay back when we were working together.  She had bought a little lunch snack of tuna and crackers.  The tuna came mixed up already so I thought I would give it a go.  Well the box said “light tuna” but it was more like “light on the mayo” but I was able to get some into me and that filled me up really fast.  I didn’t even make it a half way in.  This is how much it made.

Tonight since DentisT is back again to get caught up on Once Upon a Time.  She is such a hoot since she yells at the TV.  She is liking the drinking game too.

So I thought that since Nash was going to be in I would grab a roasted chicken, potato wedges and the yellow macaroni the DH likes.  While I was there I got my debit card looked at since it was acting up.

I got Nikki and I home in time for the DH to have a bite before heading off to the second job and that left Nash and I to finish eating DentisT didn’t eat since she had dental work done and half her face was still numb.

I started clearing the leftovers and I slipped into an old habit.  As I was putting stuff away I was licking spoons, tossing bites of potato in my mouth when I closed up the potato wedges box and I as I deboned the chicken I was even eating some of that.  Pretty normal for me pre-surgery.

This time I didn’t have the same results.  I have been able to eat fairly well so far throughout this process without much pain, vomiting or “dumping.”  I am concerned that without any of these “signs” I am afraid of stretching my tummy and all of this was for nothing. C and FloridaJack are 2 folks that I know that have gone through this and have gone back to their original weight. I want to be a success story for this and I want to make myself proud of doing it. I guess I need to talk to Susanne about it all and perhaps a few of those at BWLSSG.

As I digress, I had this horrible pain in my back and chest.  I found myself hitting my chest trying to get whatever it was to move and it didn’t.  I no sooner acknowledged the thought I found myself hunched over the kitchen sink. It came on so fast that I couldn’t even take the 8 extra steps to the bathroom.  It was everything I ate while cleaning up.  I am still trying to find out if it was because a) I didn’t chew it enough, b) I ate too much period, or c) ate all too fast or d) all of the above.  I will tell you that I definitely don’t want to have that feeling again.

I apologised to Nash since she was trying to get to downstairs and she couldn’t deal with the sound.  So during a brief break she dashed downstairs and I texted her an apology.

Once it was all over I had the “foamies” and I will need to look into that as well so I better get scouring my message boards.

Sunday December 14th

Well the DH was still working on his deployment when I got up and so I just puttered around getting myself going.

Originally the DH was going to work my Sunday at the second job since I wasn’t sure if I was going to feel better or not.  Well now that his deployment was moved up by a week he couldn’t work it.  So it was either me or DriverB.  So I mentioned that I would do it if I could lounge during the day.  And that I did LOL.  I was taking an afternoon siesta when QueenP called me and asked me to come in ½ early because Nash was swamped.

I was there for 430 and grabbed a delivery and off I went.  It wasn’t until I got back from that delivery my tummy was sore.  So I figured it was time for a bite to eat.  But what to have?  I guess egg salad was as good as anything!  Well the guy at Subway looked at me funny when I asked just for the egg salad and nothing else.  That is when he informed me that I “had to” take the bread or the bed of lettuce.  So I told him to dig out as much of the bread and I would take it.  This is how it turned out:

This took me all of my shift until 11 to finish along with another milk.

I was sore by 7-ish since I was climbing in and out of the car like I never had surgery. So I took the rest of the night slowly and KitchenB was nice enough to deal with the garbage so I wouldn’t have to slug them into the dumpster.

December 13

We ventured to the mall again for the last of the shopping and all the stocking stuffers for the house.  I am lucky that we didn’t venture out of town to get anything.  We started around lunchtime so the first stop we had was to get some lunch.  The DH suggested a little Italian place in the mall and I know they always have great food and I am sure they have a daily soup.

We walked in and I ordered the roasted red pepper soup with a side of milk and the DH had the chili. I should have asked to see a sample of the soup first since they had made it with olive oil and I could see the oil droplets on the top of the soup.  It also wasn’t a creamy soup, but a pureed soup.  Does that make any sense?  Anyway I got some into me and it wasn’t sitting very nice at all.  So I am not sure if it was the spices or the oils.  So I just sipped on my milk and that was lunch for me.  I have been drinking a lot of milk lately as part of my “meals” and I am not sure if it is a good thing or not.  I guess I will ask at the BWLSSG next time.

The DH had deployment this weekend so I wanted to make him a nice meal and since I started on purees on Sunday I thought was is a few hours earlier? So roast beef it was!  That has been the one thing in the back of my mind most of this journey, (and mac n cheese LOL) so we headed to the grocer’s to get all the stuff we needed and I go it in the oven.  Except I cut my finger on the potatoes and the DH has to finish them up.  So my first real food on the tongue was roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes and creamed corn.  Of course I didn’t finish it all but the protein fills me up pretty fast!

So I headed downstairs after supper to watch TV for the rest of the night while the DH tried to get some sleep.  No such luck for him and 1230 am came around too fast.  I headed to bed and I let him get on with work.

December 11

Here is a day that I was kind of looking forward to.  The office is having a Christmas party at Boston Pizza.  We had a preset menu that we need to choose from way back in November so of course I panicked thinking I couldn’t eat anything.  So I talked to the Boss and asked what I should do.  She suggested to get something that freezes well and I can thaw it out when the time comes that I can eat it.

So I looked at the menu and saw pumpkin soup that I would make as my appetizer and main, take the barbecued pork chops and mashed potatoes for the freezer and for dessert the apple caramel lava cake could either freeze or the DH could have it.

I can to the office a little later and bless the DH for thinking of me and woke me at 6:30 am to get into the shower LOL

The office called all the staff at 2 pm to see who was still attending since we had a dumping of snow and we thought that there might only be a few of us.  Well instead of the original 39 we ended up with about 28! 

I sat beside a guy I knew on paper from doing the payroll and also sat across from the Director of the company.  I was able to carry on conversations with them both and still enjoyed myself.  The guy to the left of me (BritishSgt) kept commenting on how I thought the soup was bad because I didn’t eat all that much.  I was lucky to get the rest in boxed or I am sure that he would have rumbled me for it LOL.  There was a lot of wine and talking so by the time 9 pm rolled around I was pretty tired.

December 9th

I made it into the office again since I needed to complete the payroll I started on Monday.  Well I think I over did it since I felt nauseous and sore.  So the boss sent me home at 10 to recover and I ended up taking a 3 hour nap and felt loads better.

At this point I went downstairs to just keep cozy and I had a little someone curl up with me to make me feel better.

I decided that Wednesday was just going to be a relaxing day home and do nothing until I had to be in the office again until 10 am.

December 8th

Well I made it to the office today.  I think that Nikki was glad to get back into the routine.

I came armed with my little cups, soup, yogurt, cottage cheese and all my protein shakes.  I was able to get through the day and didn’t even touch much of the stuff in my lunch bag since the shakes take soooooo long to get through.  But the time I finish one I had to start on the next one in the afternoon.

I was able to get DentisT hooked on Once Upon a Time tonight.  It was great watching the episodes that Nash and I had watched since we applied the “drinking” game to it.  I drank my protein shake, DentisT had a large water bottle and Nash had her Coke.  It was great but I should have kick DentisT out earlier since I was trying to live life like I was pre-surgery.

December 6th

We headed to the mall today to get some Christmas presents.  I am glad that we got most of them at one store since I don’t think the soreness let alone the disassociation could have handled anymore.  We settled on getting the stocking stuffers at a later date which I was fine with.

As for the tales of my tiny tummy, I have found a new symptom.  If I don’t eat in 3 hours I get a really bad sore tummy.  Not even water would settle it.  I will be glad when I get to food with more substance so that I can keep something in my purse.

December 5

I have been strolling around the house and there was a comment made that it was a good thing that we didn’t live in the old house since I would be walking in a circle LOL  But I find that I am sipping more water than what the little cups can hold so I graduated myself to a water bottle.  I am so tempted to just take a good mouthful and swallow it in 3 gulps but I did that once and the tension that was in mu tiny tummy was painful. I am finding as well that as I eat more soups I am getting quicker at getting them in.  I really need to remind myself to slow down since I am getting my 1 oz in less than 8 minutes when it is to take 15 minutes.

Wednesday December 3rd

Well last night I slept much better than I have previously.  I asked for some meds and I made sure that I slept with an eye mask and ear plugs too.  I think not having to worry about wires and IV’s made a difference too.

Well I am ready to bust out of the hospital since I felt pretty dependent (with the DH help LOL)  I was really looking forward to my new breakfast of Cream of Wheat and other little surprises were on my tray.  Well be darned it if it was flippin’ jello and that drink again.  I called the nurse over and asked what the story was and she said that the kitchen didn’t get a new request for new foods.  The DH started calling me Sassy Mcgrumpypants and I should just take lump it.  Well then the nurse dropped the little bug that they can request a “late tray” and it would have the right things on it.  Well I was going to wait for the later tray just as the nutritionist and the discharge nurse stopped in.  I never did get my 2 tray :(

I was out of the hospital for 10 and the DH tried his hardest not to hit all the bumps on the road but the TTC street car tracks are kind of hard to miss. We also commented on how rough the roads were in our home town especially when you are trying to avoid them.

I was glad to get home to see the dogs in particular Nikki since I had not seen her since I left the wee hours on Monday.  I was expecting the usual grumpy “how dare you” speech but I didn’t even get that.  She actually walked right past me to Grandma and wanted snuggles from her.  I was snubbed!  The DH called Nikki up on the couch with me and all I got was butt.  At this point I could tell she was mad.

 

 

The DH tucked me away for a nap after some heavy meds since the car ride was a little tough.  It wasn’t the side to side, it was the pulling of gravity on my tummy. I guess I am glad that Wonderland is closed for the season LOL

I heard a bit of whining at the foot of the bed so I called Nikki up and again I got the butt but I figure at this point her separation anxiety was getting the better of her.  It wasn’t until I was back on the couch at supper time I finally got a good snuggle.

Tuesday December 2

Will the night of sleeping wasn't too great.  Buddy on the left had to be flipped every 2 hours and buddy at the foot of my bed insisted on watching TV at all hours, and along with my back pain I think I was get 1 1/2 sleeping intervals.

So I was somewhat excited when I found out that I was getting some breakfast to break up the monotony of the ice chips.  I wasn't expecting eggs and bacon but I was looking forward to something that had flavour and wasn't opti LOL

This is what I got:



High protein Jell-O (orange flavour) and  "bariatric fruit juice"  I still shudder at it all.  The Jell-O made my tummy hurt after a teaspoon so I thought I would move onto the drink.  Bleck.  Fiona thought is was great and couldn't get enough of the drink!  She said it tasted like banana and the DH sniffed it and said it reminded him of pineapple. Either way I drank it reluctantly and the DH kept making me deals to get it into me.  2 little cups of ice to one little cup of juice, or you get a 15 minute break and you have a little cup of juice etc.

I was able to get all my IV's and leg compressors off for good.  This gave me more mobility and independence to roam around. It felt good go pee on my own without the whole ward knowing about it.

I decided to go for another walk and we stopped in to see Fiona and she was having a visit from the dietician.  That is where I found out that I needed to take 15 minutes to get an ounce in me and I need to do this every 15 minutes.  I never had a cup out of my hand!  This was going to take some ingenuity to figure out how to get the drinking in and the walking.  So I ended up waddling through the halls with a cup of ice chips.  Not much to spill if I did and it kept my temperature down. So Fiona and I started walking together and her family and the DH were behind us we went ad it was odd having a whole entourage come with us.

I was walking with the DH and we noticed that there were little blue feet on the walls with a little 10 underneath them.  Then we found out that a lap around the ward was a 100 metres! That is 328.084 ft for those of you that aren't up to date on the metric system lol.  So on Tuesday I did 8 laps of the ward so you can do the math. 

Lunch came and it was a repeat of breakfast.  I was told there was to be broth and it didn't make it to the tray.  I didn't get the Jell-O into me since it still hurt my tummy and the nurse mentioned that it might be too high in sugar and I am not the first to have an issue.  So the DH was able to catch the lunch server and asked about the broth and he said that he would be back up with it.  And he did and I have never been happier to have some broth!  We added some protein to the soup and it tasted like the crackers I have tasted like these crackers that I have tasted in the US.  Hey at this point I will take any kind of resemblance of a flavour!




The afternoon was more walking and supper was a repeat of lunch but with veggie broth.  Still tasted the same to me LOL

They kept asking me if I had tooted and I kept coming back with a no.  One day I was going to do it and needed to have one before I left.  The little Brother and the girlfriend stopped in after supper and we headed off to the visitors lounge since buddy on the left soiled himself and the odor was really strong.  Well I guess that half a lap was all I needed since I tooted!  I was happy to go back and tell the nurse what I did so she could stop asking!

I was also told before I went to bed that my breakfast tray would have cream of wheat and some other goodies on it since I was stepping up my intake.  Ahhhhhh morning breakfast cereal........

The DH finally ventured off after tucking me in for the night and I asked for something to knock me out for the night.

Monday Dec 1

Well the day is here and I was up at 3 am to head out.  I packed up what I could on Saturday and just had a few last minute things to get into the bag.  I am sure I over packed but I wasn’t taking any chances.  We got to the hospital for 5 and was told that registration didn’t open until 6.  So we waited and used a secret WiFi for the hospital for a bit.

Once 545 rolled around we headed off to the registration.  We were the first few to get there and then closer to 6 the line formed in the hallway.  Believe it or not things are upgrading in hospitals.  Now meds are all done by a QR code.  So the computer file is opened and wouldn’t dispense meds until the QR was scanned.

Once I was registered I was placed in a gown that ran hot air around my body and I was informed that there has been a study that shows that warmer bodies prior to surgery have a less chance of getting infections.

So by the time I was all cozy and warm they escorted the DH to pre-op when I met my anesthesiologist and talked over what was going to happen.  Then I walked to surgery. Yes walked to surgery.  I climbed up on the table and remember getting stuff hooked up and a poor OR nurse who was “well endowed” and every time I moved I brush up against her.  I joked that I was going to have to buy her flowers at this rate.

Next thing I know I am in a room coming out of a nap being asked if I was in pain or felt like vomiting.  Then I drifted back out. I remember overhearing one nurse saying “I wish my recovery patient was like Ms. Thompson since she has done nothing but sleep.” So I figured that it was okay and I went back to sleep again LOL

It wasn’t until around 3 when I finally looked at clock and felt rested enough to see what the world was up to. I had some pain in my back and I am not sure from sleeping or from the CO2 they put in me to keep me deflated.  Either way I couldn’t comfortable.

Finally at 430 I got wheeled up to my room and I took another bit of a nap.  Once the DH came up after some supper I had enough of the neighbour that was the south of me and need to leave the room.  He was a grumpy so-n-so and I couldn’t take how he was treating his wife.

At this point I met a new friend from the message board and I will call her Fiona.  Since for some reason I thought that was her name LOL. We were able to compare notes since we had the same doctor and her surgery was the one after mine. 

I finally decided to call it night around 830 after enjoying some ice chips to try to drown the icky taste in my mouth.

What a journey!!!!!!!

I originally had posted "what a trip" in the title but a trip means a holiday in my mind.  This past week wasn't a vacation. :D

Let me start off by saying that the DH has been nothing more than AWESOME through all of this. he has been my butt kicker, my medicine man and greatest supporter.

I will be breaking this up into different posts so that you will won't be swamped with so much stuff.

Friday Before Surgery

I was treating it like any other day and Nikki and I had reading group all day.  

Our first stop was at RLPS where the whole class made me get well cards and wanted to eat something special as a farewell.  They decided that since they know I like hot chocolate and over heard a story about Puppy Pancakes that was what we were to have.  I didn't have the heart to tell the kids I couldn't eat any of it since I was on Opti, but I did pull the teacher aside and she snuck me an herbal tea and the pancakes were for Nikki. The kids all gave Nikki a hug good-bye since we weren't going to be back until the new year.

Our visit at ICPS was a different story all together.  We went, we read, we told the student that we are now done until after Christmas and got a non-chaluant "okay" and off she went.  Kind of a let down really.  I wasn't really expecting a grand farewell like we got in the morning, but something that made me feel like we would be missed.

I headed over to see V to get my nail polish taken off and realised that I forgot to call the surgeon's off to see when my surgery was on Monday.  Well I got through and found out I am the first one at 7:45 am and I needed to be at the Hospital for 6 am. I also found out that I had to remove all my nail polish and just not the first fingers. :(

I worked my shift at the other job and it was just me and my opti.  There was an oopsie pizza sitting at the back that looked delicious.  I did have the thought of "eat a piece, you have had opti all this time and there isn't much more you an do. So I had a bite.  The taste was sooooo good on my tongue and then the brain kicked in.  I didn’t even get to the swallowing part and I was spitting it out.  I guess I am tougher than I thought.


 

Wow.....

Well today is day 4 of opti and I graduated to one packet per one litre of water. They have mentioned on OH board that there is some weight loss while on opti so I thought I would get on the scale at home. Well according to my math, I am down 5 pounds already. I doubt that they will kick me out of the program now :)

Well I have to admit that it is hard to miss something that you have thoroughly enjoyed in the past.I had a relaxing day with Nash on Tuesday that resulted in movie watching downstairs. I did miss the popcorn and chocolate milk but I just worked on an opti for the movie. Not quite the same at all! But I did endure the movie and decided that a nap was a great thing to do after the movie so that I could sleep off the craving.

Last night Nash order some pizza and she got a standard pepperoni and she has been adding barbeque sauce to it. Something one of the youngin’s got her hooked on. Now granted I am not a fan of the pepperoni at the second job but it was all I could do from grabbing a slice last night. Now I will admit that I was curious on what it tasted like. I have discussed this with Susanne in regards to my eating and she said just to take a bite and walk away. Well I did one better last night. I picked off a single pepperoni and swiped it through the barbeque sauce lid. It tasted like barbequed hot dogs.

Also working my shift last night was also trying. I went into the system to check something and accidentally produced the last order I had in the system under my name. Cheese sticks with taco seasoning. The kitchen automatically made it and when the order was 71 minutes old I inquired about it to find out it was my mistake. Normally I would have bought those up in a heartbeat but I wild the rest of the staff to fight amongst themselves to see who was going to buy them. They ended up going to Smick and she enjoyed them. I was able to get my deliveries done and the usual quiet time at 9 loomed over my head. But I stuck it out and played more than normal games on my phone. Once I got home I grabbed a drink and headed to bed.

Lucky enough the DH wants to stay in tonight and relax.

My DH is smart......

Or as DoxyLover says "trams"

I got home and I mixed the Opti to the consistancy of mashed potatoes and tried to shovel all in with 5 tablespoons of ickky-ness. My gag reflex was not having any of it. But I pushed on and got it all in.

So he suggested that rather than making it worse why shouldn't I dilute it? So I told him that I would try it for breakfast and see how it goes. Well it as worked! I have use 1L of water to half a package of Opti and I have been sipping on it all morning. I haven't even touched the other stuff I brought for lunch.

I was told to drink it all when it is made and not to let it sit. So far no one has given a real reason why not, so I am just going to keep sipping away. This way I am keeping up on my water and the hopes of keeping off the Opti-Stops that might occcur.

Well I better get back to sipping and take Miss Mel to the pet store that is downstairs.

Thank You

To all of you that joined me over the past few weeks before I embarked on my Opti Fast journey. I don't think it was possible but by the end of it all I thought I could got out for another meal!   For those of you that are curious my last supper was a festival special. YUM!

So I started my Opti this morning and I am trying to make the best of a bad situation. The stuff tastes awful. I tried it this morning using some suggestions I was given at BWLSSG by adding vanilla extract to some of it, nope; added cinnamon to some, nope; and one last attempt with ice at lunchtime. Definitely not.  So I have decided that I am going to just put the loose powder in my mouth and wash it down with water. I mentioned this to Nash and she hopes it doesn't react like dry cinnamon in the mouth. I guess I will see when I take my last opti of the day just before bed.

I made a mistake thinking that it was a complete meal replacer and waited 4 hours before eating again. This put me out of sorts for a few hours until I got some chicken broth in me. So I think by chugging the drink and then eating the foods allowed I should be okay.

That brings me to my shift tonight....we were super busy earlier which kept me going but now it is quiet and this when I get a bite to eat.  I just want to munch on some chunks of cheese or cheese sticks.  So to occupy myself you get to read about my whining lol.

I will let you guys know how the dry opti goes down later (becuase I know you can't wait to find out! )

T Minus 10 days....

Until I start Opti.

The more my friends hear about the more they want to get together.  Regrettably I had a "farwell to food" tour. It wasn't intentional but I do feel the love lol.

There are some Christmas parties coming up that I will need to prepare for so I am hoping people enjoy my company more that what I  eating.  I see a lot of French onion soup in my future.

I feel that I am getting all my ducks in a row for surgery. As odd as it sounds I am getting excited to start opti since it the second to last step before surgery. the DH has been helping me plan for the surgery since he good a logistics. We decided to have Grandma S come over to take care of Nikki on the Monday since she will be a basket case while I am in surgery and she will be trying to find me in the waiting room.

I did start a PT job and I was stressing out since the offered me the job and they didn't know about my surgery. So I placed all the cards on the table and thought for.sure.they would retract my letter of offer but they were quite content the cover me while I am off.

The DH and I hit Wonderland one last time for Halloween Haunt (go on the rides late at night and spooky mazes etc) and was really concerned at one point. With the weather being cold I wore my down filled winser coat and mittens so my overall size was a little fuller than normal. Well we went on the Fly and we have to wear a seatbelt plus a lap bar. The seats are snug at the best of times so I sit in  the front and the DH sits in the back.  I wrestled with the belt and panic set in since I couldn't do it up. The guy came over and looked at me wrestling with it and said "you might not be able to do it up since this is a kids ride."  That made more determined to get it on.so I lifted up my jacket and buckled it up. I am sure that I am reading more into it but I was really feeling that I was becoming too fat.

I did get a text from Mrs.Henry asking about "plus sized" rides so I gave her a list of ones that I could/couldn't do and she took the list to heart. I understand that she had issues and I am sure we will have a lot to discuss when we get together next.

Other than that I am getting nervous about Miss Mel passing the Royal on Sunday so please keep your fingers crossed that she does well.

Just about there!

I know it has been a bit of time since my last post but not much really has gone on to update you on until now..........

I have been going on interviews to the point the Edge has enough reference calls that she figures I should have had something by now. She also believes that I will find a payroll career in the healthcare industry. She was able to peg DoxyLovers new payroll position before she got it. So who knows what the universe has in store.

Nash is still at the house and the DH and I were able to get her a second job where we are and she is loving it so far and enjoys the extra cash.

The house warming was a blast and there weren't any pictures taken which I am fine with.  I think that I am at my highest weight and really didn't want to see myself. It was great to see friends and watch the 6 degrees of seperation around the yard lol.

I haven't been to BBWLSG in a while since they meet at a busy coffee place for the meetings. Now they are back at Sunshineherders I will most likely start going again.

Now for the exciting bit........I have a surgery date of December the first! I will need to be on a skake for 2 weeks before my surgery date so if you have any dinner dates you want me to come partake of, it will need to be before November the 14th.

The process of introducing food back into my stomach will be a 8 week process so Christmas and my birthday will be most likely at home and made with a magic bullet lol So I am embracing my 2 Thanksgivings this weekend and next.  I decided not to the "food farwell tour" that others have done in the past. I don't want to look at the 2 weeks of shakes as a chore or resent them, but as a stepping stone of this process.

So I am sure that there are posts to follow soon with food cravings and my trials with the shakes.

Everything is settled

I do believe that the house is finally in a state of order that it is a home.  We are having a garage sale tomorrow that will let me clear out the last of the clutter that is hanging around.  Don't worry I won't have a price tag on the dogs or the DH LOL

Nash has made herself at home here and I think that I have taken on a maternal instinct with her.  I felt like I should have washed her bed linens yesterday when I washed ours and then I figured that there are boundaries set and the reason she moved out was to become independent.  So I said no to myself and thought she can was her own linens.  I talked to Susanne about this and she mentioned that Nash has become more of an extended family than tenant.  I just need to remind myself that she is 26 not 12.

NavyWife and Mr.NavyWife have moved away to Pickering.  For those of you that are wondering where that is, that is an hour on the eastern side of Toronto.  I really miss having her close since she was a jaunt and call away. It was nothing to make a quick call and we were at a restaurant an hour later.  I guess I will have to make more of an effort to make it a half day away to see her and the pup.  Mr. NavyWife is off on his boat for the next year so I am sure she would appreciate the visits.

We took some holidays to Rockford IL (an hour outside of Chicago) for the 2014 International Conference.  We needed to go since we were hosting the Hospitality Suite for the 2015 Conference.  We had various foods and drinks through out the weekend that kept people coming back to the room.  At one point on Saturday we had almost everyone in the room that there was only one couple on the dance floor and a table of about 5 people at the dance!  That makes for a great party LOL  I did meet up with DenverU that has had the sleeve done in the US.  I was sitting back and observed him and how folks were mentioning his weight loss. He really didn't mention what he had done, and was simply taking the compliments in stride.  DJ even mentioned that he was tossed in the wash and shrunk.  I like that and will think that I will use it!

Speaking of the surgery, I have completed the initial leg work for the round table of discussions.  This is to see if I am mentally and physically able to handle the surgery itself as well as the after care that will arise.  Well I got the call and I am able to meet my surgeon Dr. Rotstein on September the 26th at 9 a.m.! I have talked with Susanne about a fear that I have going into surgery.  I haven't had surgery before so dental work is the closest thing I have to compare it to and whenever I have any dental work done and something happens the first thing I do is make expressions with my eyes.  So I do understand that they will tape my eyes closed for the surgery and I am afraid that if I am not completely out and I feel something that I am not going to be able to do anything with my eyes.  So Susanne suggested that I mention this to my surgeon and see what he has to say about it.  I mentioned this to the DH this morning and he said the there is no way that I am going to feel anything and I will be fast asleep.  He also mentioned that I will count down from a hundred and not even hit 95 and then I will be waking up.  I hope he is right.

So I am still looking for work and I have been on various interviews but nothing has cropped up.  Until then, I will keep plugging away at life.

Fortune Cookie

"look under your bed and what you have lost will be found"  Hmmmmmm

That could be a few things. My Dean Koontz collection? My organizational skills for the middle room? My ability to hang something straight on the wall?  Pictures that haven't seen the light of day in 10 years? Who knows.

The move has been great and it has been 4 weeks and I have to admit that the house is getting more organised as the days go by.  There have been quite a few things bought for the house that I will most likely enjoy ranging from a huge sectional in the "rec room" downstairs to the little Swiffer vacuum that I bought to keep all the puppy tumbleweed at bay.  Dark floor plus a Miss Mel Mel requires constant work.

I was glad for all the help we got for the day of the move.  My mom, NavyWife, Mr NavyWife, Maine, her kids, PizzaGuy, Grandma, Nash, and FerFord all stopped in to help. Big thanks from the DH and I really appreciate it!

We were able to get a bunch more done than expected and even Maine and PizzaGuy came back on Sunday with the kids to help out.  We had them all over earlier in the day since their AC is on the blink and it was way too hot to have them melting while we were just watching t.v.

The girls are loving the yard and there are times it is trying to get then back in when we are out there in the afternoon.  We have a fire bowl now with a permit so our Canada Day was spent with Maine, her kids, PizzaGuy, Aircoolin', Corrie Fan and their little one.  We had a fire with marshmallows and have talked about getting together again cook a whole meal over the fire.

Work is still eluding me but I have been on some interviews and there have been a couple that have emailed me or called me back before the date of the interview stating that there are allergies in the office.  Now don't get all defensive on my behalf, because if they were there first there isn't much I can do.  There is no discrimination that can be claimed or any HR policies that have been broken. So I am going to complete my EI reports and keep searching while working on the house.

The stuff for surgery is going along great as well.  I have been able to get cancelled appointments since I have been off.  I have had the Nutritionist appointments, I have met with the Psychologist and she has given me information to take back to Dr. Sarah to changed my meds up.  I was little concerned about decreasing my happy pills to almost nothing but after talking with Susanne and Dr. Sarah we have it all fixed up again.  I am able to stay on the Happy pills after surgery since I am going to sprinkle them in my food morning and night.

Ran into MommaHenry at Wal-Mart and we were able to chat for a bit.  We are talking about having a girly day at Wonderland with Jensen so we will see if this comes around.  But I do know that I am going this weekend with the DH and Nash and I think this is the first "outing" we have had that didn't involve the house LOL

Mel is working on her "issues" with bangs and the compressors from the bowling alley.  According to my trainer, Mel is to sit and wait out the stress until she lies down.  In the meantime we act like nothing is going on.  She had that test all morning at the Milton Market when we were at the St. John Ambulance booth. The tent beside us were using helium for balloons and they also had a few pop.  When it came to the 4 hour mark she had enough and was trying to get under the table to hide.  I guess we all have our limits.  Below is her and Cookie strutting their Therapy Dog stuff at the Market and I will post again soon.

I know, I know.......

It has been quite a while since my last post but I had every intentions to write a post and then something would happen.  At that point I would think "I guess I will add that to my next post" and it all just snowballed.  So be prepared for a long post today!

Well work has sucked.  I was walked out under "restructuring" and I can officially say my card was marked. The DoO was replacing the office with temps after someone left and it the were starting with the more senior ones first.  Kind of first in, first out.  So I have been applying to various jobs within my field for the last month with about 5 interviews at Temp Agencies since that seems to be the way employers are going to these days. So once I get something permanent again I am sure you all will hear about it.

Being off has caused Nikki to go a bit stir crazy.  She is used to being out and expelling her energy through out the day, even though I still post pics of her sleeping every once in a while LOL  So her and I have made a deal that if we aren't going out for an appointment we are taking a walk around the block so she can be goofy and Melodie can still see the light of day.  I am also getting a bit of a leg stretch from sitting at the computer in the morning looking for a job.

Now before you get worried about the house, we were able to get it sold and our great mortgage broker was able to use the existing paperwork to get the money we needed for a new house.  So our current place sold for over asking and the new place is still within our budget.  The DH is getting excited for the new house since he has been able to buy a lawn mower for grass we now have to mow ourselves.  He has also drawn up plans for a new shed to hold all the stuff that is in our existing garage.  The girls have taken to the new place too since they have already made friends with Charlie next door.

So with me being off I have been able to start packing the rest of the house, albeit it is slowly, but I figure next week I will realise the sense of urgency when it rolls over to June the 1st.  We get the keys to the new place on June the 20th and the new owners of the current place move in on June the 27th. Can you believe that we are already getting their post?  I can understand that if the house was empty to get mail sent here, but we still live here for another 3 weeks!

Melodie is doing great on her training, and I contacted the trainer to ask when she wanted to give Mel her last evaluation.  Last year we went to an event that was is the south central part of Toronto.  This year the event was earlier and on the far east side of Toronto.  With one of the major highways under construction I wasn't up to trucking across the city on side streets.  So we agreed that we are off to an Agricultural Fair for their Rodeo Day in November.  Keep your finger crossed!

Things with my surgery had me concerned for a bit in May.  I was to be scheduled for May the 28th for the Nurse's appointment but while I was meeting the Social Worker I was able to get it bumped to May the 7th.  Sweet!  Not so much.  Because of the construction on the highway that I was unaware of, I was 16 minutes late getting there.  Well they have a cut off of 15 minutes grace and then you get rescheduled to August.  I cried right in the middle of the waiting room because with the delay in this appointment my timeline if "Thanksgiving" now had been bumped to "Christmas" and was told that I can keep my rescheduled appointment and I can be put on a "cancellation list."  I agreed to that and figured I would be person #221 on the list and the chances of getting a call before August were none existent.  Boy was I wrong!  I got a called from the office on Thursday June 15th and there was a cancellation for a 1:15 appointment on May the 21st.  I was floored and you could have knocked me over with a feather!  So I left the house at 11:30 am to get down there and I was there early enough to have a sandwich in the food court before my appointment.  I was seen by the nurse as well as a nurse in training and passed with flying colours.  On the way out they asked me if I had to time to get some blood work done too so that I wouldn't have to come back another day.  Sure I can kill 2 birds with one stone.  In the meantime I got the next set of appointments and I have the 2 1/2 hour nutrition class next week on June the 3rd!  They also gave me my last 2 appointments before I meet the surgeon but the told me to check in for cancellations when I go for my nutrition course next week.

I am still going to the BWLSSG and I am still the only one there that is pre-surgery.  The meeting (more like get togethers) some folks gave me various protein shakes to try.  Picante gave me the chocolate premier protein shake to try and I have to admit it didn't go down that well.  Now SandyD gave me 2 flavours of her brand to try and I haven't had a chance since I have packed away the magic bullet LOL  So I guess I will be venturing to the local nutrition house in the mall to see if they have samples.  I would prefer the kind that are premixed so that I am not spending my mornings mixing and measuring powders.  There are guidelines that I will need to follow so I am looking at various ones when I come across them.

The last BWLSSG was in a public place since HeardingInTheSunshine (I think I might have to rethink the name on that one.....perhaps SunshineHerder) is having her place renovated.  My disassociation got pretty bad since it was in a public place near a street corner and everyone was trying to talk over traffic.  I suggested that we should take a camper chair and just hang out in SunshineHerder's back yard next month.  I think some of the group enjoyed the coffee that we were having too.  So I will see what the group decides for the next get together and I will make precautions to curb my disassociation.

Speaking of my disassociation, I have found a store that has really done me in more than Walmart.  BestBuy.  The DH and went in there to get something for the television and I figure that with all the large screen televisions playing something, the music and just trying to navigate through it all I was really overwhelmed.  I actually left the store with Nikki and headed to the truck to recover.

Mom is doing really well, she has moved to 4 hours away with round-about-step-sister and her hubby.  So she gave up her factory job with my cousin-in-law to do so and she has had interviews in her town to get her self set up again.  She is coming down tomorrow for her birthday and she is catching up with my brother and his girlfriend before heading back.

So I think that has you all caught up on what is going on around here so since I have been told that the pictures are the highlights to my posts I leave you with one:

Not Sure

What to call this post since there is a lot of little stuff to make up the post.

BWLSSG has been going really well.  I am learning a lot of stuff from Tim, Marvin and HerderintheSunshine.  HerderintheSunshine had to go back into the hospital since she couldn't keep food down again.  At least this time she is able get water down so they figured that her stomach didn't close over from before.  This time it was a blockage.  The cause of the blockage?  Romaine lettuce from a caesar salad.  That made me inquire how big the opening of the stomach was and I found out that it is the diameter of a dime.  That made the most sense on what Tim advised of "chew 40 times then chew 20 more."  I now realise that the body doesn't lose weight from the head down, you are just burning muscles from all that chewing! LOL

The house hasn't sold yet.  As I type this we are on Day 12.  We have had 2 open houses that were busy but not takers yet.  The agent wants to have a 3rd open house the weekend coming.  The house on the main street that was selling less than ours sold for asking price.  #25 with the different layout hasn't been sold but they are on the market the same amount of days as we have been.  We have had a new contender crop up on the street at #3.  They have the layout on 2 floors but their kitchen and living room are switched compared to ours.  They have updated it and are asking a substantial amount more too.  So I guess it is a waiting game.

We have been out of the house more times than in and I was actually happy to cook supper and so laundry last week!   I would like to take a personal thank you to Mister NavyWife and NavyWife since I sent them a sob text asking if they were busy.  They happily to invited me and the girls over so that their dog could have a good run.  I am hoping that there aren't any viewings before the open house next week because we had an offer and also so that we don't have to impose on them again at the Dew Drop Inn.

Hoping....

We have the agent coming over tonight to give us the last bit of details before the home photographer comes in tomorrow.  I see me working on some stuff tomorrow morning after the DH heads off to work.  I hope that the agent comes back on Saturday and plunks the sign in the front flower bed.

I was hoping that we would be the only house on the block when it came time to put the sign up in but it turns out that we will be the 3rd one.

The house on the main road is the same floor plan as ours but they are asking $5,000 less than what we are planning.  Also if you looking on the realtor website they only have a picture of the front of the house.  I am thinking that if it was a newer listing that they won't have time to load them up.  But I have noticed the sign out front for almost 2 weeks so that makes me think that the place might need work and they don't want to post pictures.

The second house is further down our street and they are a different floor plan that is over 3 stories.  I sometimes an envious of these floor plans since their garage makes a wall to put the television up against where our stairs going up are on the garage wall.  They are asking the same price that we are offering.  They have been on the market for less than a week and they have an open house on Saturday. 

Then there is us. I am hoping that the Realtor can work quickly and perhaps have an open house on Saturday for us too.  I would like to let folks know that there is an option out there in case they don't like the 3 floors for a townhouse.

I guess I won't really know until he comes over tonight.

Meeting of the minds

And it was very interesting!

Last week I had 3 appointments that were all about me.  I felt a little selfish but hey, I took a fill day off from work for it.

 

When I saw Susanne last week she asked me to keep track of my eating again.  I am to see if I am eating because the clock tells me to or am I honestly hungry.  The reasoning for this is to see if I can keep to the schedule that the surgery will have me on.  Apparently RNY patients will lose the ability to feel hunger because of the loss of the peristaltic wave action in the tummy.  So since we are to "graze" and I am already eating like that throughout the week I am curious to see what the clock has it at.

Then I was off to see Dr. Sarah about changing up my meds.  With the surgery my tummy won't be able to absorb anything that needs to sit in the body for a while including meds.  So that means my happy pills that are XR (extended release) will be pretty much useless in my tummy.  So we talked about reducing the dose to the minimum levels and then eventually getting off of them entirely.  In all honesty this kind of scares me.  As the DH can tell you, for me to miss a dose causes a dramatic change that is noticeable. I know I have Nikki for this but I guess it something I have to think about.

Next up was getting to Toronto (just north of the CN Tower) for my meeting with the Social Worker for the surgery. She is to see if I have things in place to have the surgery and the preliminary history write up for the following doctors and specialists.  I was there for an hour and in the beginning she was very cookie cutter with questions that required a yes or a no.  By the time I needed to leave she was giving me hints and tips on how to proceed.  She gave me a suggestion for my happy pills that she is going to send to Dr. Sarah.  The SW suggested that I go to the half dosage I am on but taking it twice a day opened up over food.  I would have never thought of that!  She also noticed that the next step that I have to take is to see their nurse.  The reason for seeing this nurse in particular is to see if my body can handle the surgery.  I guess I will get blood work done and poked with a bit of prodding in there.  Anyway, the SW noticed that my appointment was in late May and she resonated what Tim and HerderInTheSunshine said about seeing if there was a cancellation coming up so I could get in sooner to see the nurse.  Well lo an behold, there was!  So now I am back to Toronto for 4 pm on the 7th of May!  Whee!  Now I just need to see if I can get a few hours off early or will I have to work a full day.

A piece of the past.....

I was out on the other job and ended up driving past my old skating arena, or what should have been the old skating arena.  It is now a flat, grated lot with a view right to the back of the row of houses that looked down on it.

I was shocked to see that it had been gone, that I don't remember reading anywhere in the paper that it was going to be gone and how fast it was taken down.

The reason that it hits so close to home is that this is where I learned how to skate all through public school right into high school.  When you couldn't find me at home I was at the arena either working on patch pattern, learning a waltz or was in a skating carnival with my little brother.  Mind you, my brother only survived one year but I was bitten by the bug.

Things that I will always remember about that place is:
-picked up sharpened skates with masking tape on the blades so we wouldn't cut ourselves
-the popcorn vending machine that had the stale, orange popcorn in it.  It was a treat after skating if we were there over the dinner hour.
-watching my brother being a terrorist in our version of Back to the Future skating carnival
-being able to sit after our skating lesson and watch the next level up power skate to warm up.  Once I made it to this level I used to wave at the on lookers just like someone did to me.
-and who could forget warming up to Donald Duck and the gang!

As the DH said "nothing is static and things change"  I guess the rink was supposed to be there forever.

This is my golden playing in the snow that was left by the Zamboni that had emptied its hold during the summer at a charity walk behind the arena.

Wow what whirl wind!

Orientation went well in my mind.  I took the DH as my +1 and we had to pay for parking downtown that worked out to the tune of $24.  I would have taken the subway but the levelled parking at the mall was under construction so I told the DH to drive straight down.

We got there early and I got into line to register and I could hear setting up the chairs for the seminar.  The DH and I grabbed the near to last row and on an end since I had Nikki and settled into the “plus sized” chairs and waited.

We had a nurse give us the orientation and pretty much verified everything that was in the booklet that I got from Tim at the support group.  What I took away from the session (besides a file folder of papers that I have to fill out) was the reasoning behind the yeasty bread products not being allowed and also that Guelph isn’t an option for my surgery.  If I was to take the orientation at Guelph, I would be having my surgery at Guelph. So since my orientation was at TWH, I will be at one of the three that is included in their group of hospitals.  As I left they had my next 2 appointments set up so I have the social worker on March the 20^th and the nurse in May.  I thought that I could skip the social worker since I am seeing Susanne, but since all the people that I see through this all get together and decide if I can handle the surgery.  So there is no fast tracking and I guess I just have to be patient and wait it all out.

Group was fun this month.  It was at the usual hang out but we had new face that just had surgery 6 weeks ago.  She was actually the same date as Marvin and she was there because he told her about the group.  It is amazing how something as simple as side effects from surgery could bring out such candid chatter.  The room was still full of ladies and there were topics that I never thought might be linked to the surgery.  Well that all ceased to exist as soon as Marvin arrived but that is okay since he took the conversation in a whole new direction.   I think I am going to have to set an alarm for next time since no one has a sense of time when start chatting and there isn’t a clock in the area we sit.  I am sure that if the DH didn’t text me ask if I was taking Mel out we still would be sitting there.

The house is painted from top to bottom, the repairs are all fixed up and we have had enough trips to the storage locker the house sounds empty.  Now the only thing left is to steam clean the carpets and have the pictures taken so that we can have the agent put it on the market.  I have had a nanosecond of a thought about staying and then I think about this summer and I don’t think it is fair to the girls not to have any grass to roll in or the fact I would love to sit outside to read and not deal with onlookers trying to park or the trains. 

We have an appraiser coming in to see if the house is really worth the new mortgage that we have to temporarily need to hold us over to the new house.  According to the DH she is a bit of flake so I am hoping that she doesn’t undercut the value.  At least in my mind this will let me know that all the painting and stuff will be worth it and it translated into a dollar amount.  So I am hoping that we can have the house up on the market in a few weeks so that I can plan my first bbq J

 

Keeping Busy

Well the parties are over and now it is time to get back to getting the house in order.  We are moving in the next little while so we have been packing and purging.  There has been a few things packed up that need to go to the charity shop and I think I will do that on Friday.

We have a home stager coming in tomorrow night to tell us to put the couch here, this picture there and paint that wall this colour.  Then hopefully we will be able to get it all done and the little sign on the front of the house.  There was a house further down the block that was on the market for roughly two weeks so there is hope for ours.

I have begun packing up my closet and I am sorting them as to that fits now, and what will fit after surgery is in the tub for storage.  There are a few items in the tub that are older, but they are things like jean shorts and dressy tops.  Don't worry the tops aren't old enough to have shoulder pads in them LOL.

My orientation is a week away and I am getting the tummy flutters when I think about it.  Not the kind when you dread going to the dentist, but the kind of excitement I get when I know the DH is going to call me.  I know I will be nervous but the DH is going as my +1 so he will know what we are in for in regards to recovery.

I have been going to BWLSSG (bariatric support group) and there is a wealth of knowledge there to be had.  Some folks are 2+ years post surgery right up to 2 weeks ago.  I love to hear the stories of how vast their recovery is and where they are now.  Some that are years out are still enjoying the journey of weight loss and love to mentor the new pre & post-ops.

Nikki starts her reading group sessions on Friday.  I think that she will be great at curling up to enjoy the little kids reading to her.  She is at that age now, the less she has to do the better.  She has been getting one day off a week and staying home with the DH.  I tried mid week but for some reason she will have a whole day off and the next day all her manners are out the window!  So we decided that her day off will be my last day of my work week. 

Mel has been shaping up nicely here at the office.  She hasn't been going on her own little walkabouts to find the big picture windows at the office. She has discovered that any table (include the conference table) she needs to go under.  I guess if we get a good sized dining table at the new house she will be under that one too LOL

I haven't been doing much with the ladies at the office, but I am happy to say the DoxyLover was able to get a job with the town!  So that is the reason for the next get together next week ;)

So I guess the next time I post I will have had dinner with the girls, had orientation and perhaps made it through Valentine's Day.

Turning four-tay over four days

Well what a birthday it was! It was supposed to be a big dinner on Friday but instead it ended up with various get togethers to work around schedules.

It started off on Thursday with supper at Swiss Chalet with my gang from work (past and present) that had DoxyLover, the Edge, ChiChi K, ChiChi L and GiGi. We had a good chin wag about what is going on at the office and was able to catch up on life.  I had their new honey grilled chicken and wasn’t that impressed with what was on my plate.  I ended up leaving the skin behind (the shock & horror I know) had a single bite of the bread, and only ate about half of the fries.  I accidentally worked it out that I got 2 desserts, so I ate a good portion of one and took the cheesecake home.  Had buckets to drink so I ended up sloshing out of the restaurant.

Friday was a double doozy day.  Since I have Fridays off for 4 weeks straight at the office job and since no one could make the Chinese buffet I made plans to have lunch with Maine and then head to Guelph to have supper with Curl at TurtleJack’s.  Well Maine and I originally had the plans for a light lunch then a movie until I was corrected by Maine and we just had a later lunch at another restaurant.  Well my main wasn’t that good so I sent it back and just ate the salad and the corn bread.  Then I ordered the fried cheesecake.  I told them right away when I ordered it to bring a container so I can put half of it away to take home.

For those of you keeping track, that is now 2 desserts in the fridge J

On my way back from the 2 hours lunch with Maine, I got a text from NavyWife saying that she and Mr. NavyWife can go for Chinese.  So I frantically texted Curl and we all headed out there.  Well we got there and I was still full from lunch that I took my time at the buffet.  We all sat and chatted until almost 9 and then Curl headed home and I headed to NavyWife’s place.  We then chatted some more and met their furkid that gives Mel run for the money on energy.

Saturday I was happy to be home to sleep and not eat a darn thing! I shared my fried cheesecake with the DH since I was looking forward to the quiet dinner that we were going to have.  I drive past a nice little restaurant that is on the corner of our street for years and never have gone in.  I thought that this was a great chance to try it out and see.  Boy I was not disappointed!  The food was great; the atmosphere was nice and quiet since there are only 10 tables in the whole place so the DH and I were able to have a good chat.  The food was worth the money that we spent but it won’t be a regular Saturday night thing.

Sunday was yet another fun day too with Nash and we headed for a lunch and a matinee movie.  I informed her of the news of the gastric and she was really interested.  We chatted so much that I didn’t notice the time and I had to take my complimentary dessert home.  I did splurge and grabbed some popcorn for a horror movie that was more horrible than a horror but I still think the first one was the best.  Nash has seen all the other for so she was happy to see that one with me.

I got back home to drop off Nik and thought that since others had cake on their birthday at the other job that there might have been one there for me.  Well it was a letdown when there wasn’t but I guess that just fuels the suspicion of people being secluded by others at the other job.  So I took it upon myself and got some DQ for me and no one else J

So after all that I wasn’t surprised to find that there wasn’t a card on my desk from the office since the DoO has cut back on office supplies to liquid correction fluid instead of the wheel of tape for budget reasons.  So why should I think that there will be a $3 on my desk?

Had a blast turning 40 and I am looking forward to a 40-ish/house warming party this summer too!