Judy Blume must have been a fat kid.

Years & years & years & years & years & YEARS ago (hey, I'm oldish) I read just about every Judy Blume book ever written for kids. One that always stuck with me, though, was Blubber.

It was about a little girl that was overweight and always made fun of. (Sound familiar?) I think her mom piled on the food for comfort, and the rest of the family just didn't understand because they were all thin. Or something along those lines.

The line that really got me, and has always resonated with me, was "I can see my feet!"

The little girl had finally started losing weight, and the moment that it sunk in for her was when she looked down and was able to see her feet for the first time in a long time.

Today, I looked down, and I had a moment like that. Only for me it was, "My gunt isn't sticking out past my boobs anymore!" Now, I have big knockers to begin with. Even after a breast reduction I'm still a really full C cup, or a D depending on the bra. I've also always carried a big portion of my weight in my belly. So today I put on a dress that MIL bought for me while she was here. The first time I wore it was a few days after surgery and I was still pretty swollen and had difficulty pulling my gut in. I looked pregnant in it. NOT TODAY. I looked down and DIDN'T SEE MY GUT. I think today is the first time I've really seen that physical change in myself. Brian says that he sees it in my face and the fact that I'm becoming more hourglass shaped, but I don't see that. Yes, I see that my clothes fit better, but I don't see the actual body changes. Until today. I DIDN'T SEE MY GUT. *HAPPY DANCE!!!*

In other news, I suddenly can't tolerate the milky protein supps anymore. I gag when I try to get them down. So now I'm drinking Isopure clear drinks mixed with Crystal Light or Peach Herbal tea all day. Goes down much better, even though it leaves a funny feeling in my mouth.

I also had my first FOOD today. Technically I'm supposed to wait until after my follow up appointment with Dr. G, but I needed that extra fuel today. So I had a scrambled egg for breakfast that took me almost an hour to eat, and was full ALL DAY LONG on it. For dinner I had a little more than a quarter cup of runny refried beans (fat free) with some lowfat cheese melted in. That was soooooo good. If G gives me the OK I'm all over some steamed fish tomorrow night. NOM.

That's what I get for opening my big mouth.

So earlier in the week I was commenting to my MIL that "wow, I'm really surprised at how well this is all going, I'm not having any problems at all!" I was able to get 4 oz of protein down at a time, and was drinking about 16 oz a day in my first week. 60 oz of water a day, minimum, and it's actually easier for me to drink iced.

Of course, the next day, my words bit me in the butt. I was having increasing pain in my left side all day long, and I thought it was just the incision. We took the kids to the Science Center in the afternoon and had a great time, but I needed to take more Tylenol even though I had just taken some a few hours earlier. When we got home I went to sit down and it was like something twisted in my left side, and it was agony. Nearly sent me into tears. By that time I had been off the Lortab for three days, but it was enough to make me take the Lortab again, and it still didn't touch the pain.

The next day I woke up mostly better, but within 20 minutes the pain was back with a vengeance. I called Dr. G's office and spoke with his nurse. She said that I had likely pulled the stitch in my left side, but to come in just in case. Unfortunately they weren't seeing patients on Thursday, so I had to go in first thing yesterday morning. I spent all day Thursday just sitting on the back porch reading, the only time I wasn't in pain was if I was completely still.

Went in yesterday and Doc G felt around the incision site, and it didn't hurt a bit. When he moved down a few inches lower it hurt like hell. So it definitely wasn't the stitch. He said because of the location and the fact that it's where they pulled the colon out to work on it, it could be diverticulitis or just an inflamed colon. Either way, he sent me for a CT to take a better look.

The CT tech that got me started was a flaming idiot. He brought out a 32 oz container of contrast liquid for me to drink and handed me a straw. I handed the straw back and told him I couldn't use it and he stood there and argued with me. I'm not sure what part of "I just had gastric bypass surgery, I'm not allowed to use straws because they allow too much to be swallowed at once and put air into my brand new thumb sized stomach pouch" he didn't understand, but he seriously expected me to drink the full 32 oz. I told him I'd do my best, but I was only able to get down 16. Not bad, considering I had to forgo the straw and it tasted awful.

Finally got the CT done, then went home to wait for results. One of the nurses called in the afternoon and said that the CT still wasn't clear if it was diverticulitis or just inflammation, but Doc wanted to treat it as diverticulitis, so he was going to put me on antibiotics. She called in a scrip for me and I picked it up last night. Hardcore! He's got me on Cipro 2x's a day for 7 days.

Anyway, I finally earned a sticker last night and was able to have a bowel movement (it always comes back to the poop, doesn't it?) and holy cow, the relief was almost instantaneous. My side still ached, but it was nothing like before. This morning, I'm pretty much all better. I'll still take the Cipro because it looks like it was diverticulitis after all, with a good side of constipation, but I haven't had to take ANYTHING for pain today. Not even a Tylenol, yay!

After all this, though, it's come to the point that I can't stand my protein drinks. I can get them down OK, but I gag and choke the whole time. I think it's just the fact that I'm so sick of them, I'm sick of all the sweet. THREE MORE DAYS UNTIL EGGS, COTTAGE CHEESE, AND REFRIED BEANS. Thankfully I'm still good on my water. I drink either Crystal Light or water all day, and there's no ick factor.

All in all, I'm down 22 lbs from my start weight.

I'm baaaaaa-aaaaaaack!!!

I wasn't feeling up to being back online for the first few days, and when I finally was ready to get online I managed to fry my keyboard within the first five minutes. I could surf via mouse, but that was it. Now that I have a new wireless & spill-proof keyboard and mouse (ergo friendly, too!) all is right with my world.

Surgery went great, and for the first time out of all of my surgeries I woke up with NO problems. WOW. I was really worried about waking up, probably more than anything else, because I get violently ill (think Exorcist) and have the worst cold shivers for a few hours. It sucks big hairy donkey balls. I told all of this to my anesthesiologist, and he promised me he wouldn't let that happen to me this time. When I woke up my only problem was that I was desperately thirsty and dead tired. I don't remember the recovery room or being brought into my room.

The first day I pretty much spent hitting the morphine button and dozing. Brian stayed overnight with me, which was wonderful. It was really comforting to wake up in the middle of the night and know that he was there, he's never been able to stay with me before. I did have a baaaaaaad air bubble in the middle of the night, I thought I was dying. It was right under the left incision, the only incision with a stitch, so I thought something was going wrong with it. Excruciating pain, probably the worst I've had in all of this. The nurse came in and gave me something extra for the pain, then got me up and walking. WALKING IS GOOD.

The foley cath was pulled at 6 AM the next day, and such a relief. It felt like it kept backing up on me, so even though I had a cath I constantly had to pee. Brian spent a lot of time trying to get the cath to drain down to the bag. (What a great guy!) I was able to eat half a popcicle, a few sips of soup, and jello throughout all my meals, and was up & walking a LOT, so when Dr. G came to visit me around lunch time he said I might be able to get out that day. YES PLEASE!!! I ended up getting released at 7 PM, the day after surgery. It pays to be a good girl, right?

I was still groggy from the anesthesia for the first few days at home, but now all is good. My energy level is almost to where it used to be, though I do get worn out easily when I push myself too hard. Today is day 3 off the Lortab, thank goodness, that crap was nasty. Now I'm just taking 1000 mg Tylenol twice a day.

Nutrition wise, I brainfarted and wasn't drinking enough protein supplement, even though the supplement itself was enough protein. The release sheet says to drink 16-24 oz of supplement a day, I was getting 8-10. So I've switched supplements for a while. I HATE PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS!!! They didn't bother me before surgery, but I'm so sick of the sweet cack!! Thankfully it's just a "I'm sick of this crap" issue, rather than not being able to get it down. I do have a REALLY hard time with the vitamins & calcium citrate, so I'm going to have to look for something else. There goes $100 down the drain! Maybe I'll be able to handle them later.

I haven't had any significant problems, which honestly, kind of worries me. I can drink an 11 oz supplement in half an hour, I have no problem getting my minimum of 60 oz water a day, and can usually get in closer to 80. I can eat an entire 1/2 cup of sugar free jello with no problems, and probably more quickly than I should. I'm sooooooooo ready to start on mushies, I want REAL food.

Well, that's a start for now....don't want to overwhelm you!! I'm going to have to write down a list of what all to blog about, so much has been happening, and I keep thinking, "OOh, I need to put that on my blog!"

OH, btw, I'm down 19 pounds from my start weight!!! Official start weight was 258, this morning I was a beautiful 239 and gettin' slimmer by the minute!!!