Tuesday 23 December 2014

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!

Thursday 18 December 2014

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

Tuesday 16 December 2014

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.

Monday 15 December 2014

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.

Thursday 11 December 2014

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.
She's calmer than I am!
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.