100 POUNDS!!!

YESSSSS! I have hit the 100 pound lost total mark. I feel great. My energy is up. I have increased my activity, now I need to start doing some serious exercise. I have been insanely busy lately thats why I haven't posted in awhile. Yes i will post some pictures- this week I promise this week. Now comes the realistic part- even though I have lost so much-I AM STILL FAT! People say I look great & I appreciate the comments but the reality is I have another 100 pounds to lose. So as good as I look - at 290- I am still fat, but I am working on it. If you are one of those people that have told me I look great- don't stop it helps more than you know, just know that in my mind I still look at myself as fat. Will that change- I am sure it will. Will I turn into one of those exercised obsessed people- I don't know but from where I am at now- could that really be a bad thing? I certainly would like to give a try. Have any of you been obsessed with exercise? Let me know how it turned out?

6 WEEKS IN

OK so it's been 6 weeks since my surgery and I know you are dying to know how I am doing. well I am not gonna tell you. If you really cared you would have asked me yourself instead of waiting for me to post an update. Just kidding actually many of you have asked me. I now realize that this blog is not only for you all to keep up on how I am doing and to hopefully inspire others but it is also for me to keep a record of my progress and my journey. So I can look back and inspire myself when the hard season hits.

So you wanna know how I am doing? Well up until my 5 week check up I only threw up once. That was on the 11th, since that time i have thrown up 3 more times. I am sure it was because of my pride. Why? Because for those of you who know me even a little know I like to boast a little. No really I know that may be a shock to some of you out there. - Chalena stop laughing at me! Anyway lets go to the video tape. I always wanted to be a sportscaster. Not really but it sounded good.
So here are the stats as of now:

Total weight loss since surgery 6 weeks ago= 42 pounds
Total weight loss since Sept 2009= 80 pounds

I am doing great physically. I am starting to do a little exercising. Not as much as I need to do, but my doctor says that ok as long as I get in to it by May. I got my bike fixed and started last weekend to hit the road. I am wanting to start some swimming but it's been hard making the time. What I really want to do is start riding the bike, do some swimming and also start jogging all in hopes of in 2011 entering a mini triathlon with my kids.You know something like a 5 K run, 15 mile bike and 1/2 mile swim. I want to have one of them train with me for each separate leg of the race- Eddie for the run, Cooper for the swim & Faith for the bike. I think that would be cool!

Thanks for all your encouragement and prayers. Heres to getting off my butt and on my bike, or in the water or running down the street or anything JUST DO SOME EXERCISE!

Learning To Eat Again

Ok so as I started to eat mush I had thought much about how to eat. When I ate the mashed potatoes, I ate them but didn't feel that full feeling that I was told i would feel. I worried me. I ate what i thought was a lot-more than I thought i could eat. I guess because i was told to chew so much i made sure it was like liquid before swallowing so it passed right through my "pouch" Not until today when I ate 3 low fat ritz with a tablespoon and half of low fat peanut butter did I experience that full feeling. I was getting worried that maybe something was wrong, because I hadn't felt that feeling and I have been on mush since Thursday.

There is not much i can eat still, but it is way better than the liquids only stage. I can have eggs-soft boiled or scrambled, shredded or melted cheese, low fat yogurt, Hummus, melba toast, graham crackers or low fat ritz, peanut butter- creamy only, cream of wheat or rice, dried beans and peas- cooked until tender, bananas, unsweetened apple sauce, mashed avocado, sugar free pudding, potato or sweet potato- mashed or boiled -skins removed.

Now here are a couple of things I can eat that I won't. I would rather starve than eat these two things and I will explain.
1. Cottage cheese- this slimy and yet lumpy stuff makes me gag- and it smells like my feet after not wearing socks with my sneakers on a hot summer day.
2. Tofu- now people keep saying- "but tofu doesn't have a taste" and maybe that is part of the problem. All I know I would rather eat the cheese from between my toes after not wearing socks with my sneakers on a hot summer day.
Yes I hate these things and there is only one other food I feel like this about and that is blue cheese- which strangely enough looks like the stuff between my toes after not wearing socks with my sneakers on a hot summer day.

One final thought, I have noticed that in the battle of mind hunger that watching the food network does not help- go figure!

15 POUNDS!

Yes that is what i have lost in 1 week- 15 pounds. That is so cool! I know that this is not the normal or what is going to continue at this pace but it really made me feel GREAT. Thanks you for all the well wishes and continued prayer. I definitely need them. I am looking forward to doing some walking this weekend. I also have to see how much it is going to be to get 2 new tires and a chain for my bike so I can start using that soon too.I think the bike will have to wait a few weeks, I don't think my abdomen can handle the pumping up and down of my legs yet. I certainly don't want to push it too hard or too fast. I was able to have a scrambled egg with some shredded cheese melted in it for breakfast today. I was able to keep it down and eat it all. I was shocked. It may have been because I chewed it until it was liquid. I never paid so much to chewing before in my life. Well I guess this is another step on my Adventure To Normal.

MUSH!

Ok so today it has been 10 days since my surgery and I get to the mush stage of eating. Yeah- i guess. I started the day with 3 teaspoons of apple sauce, along with my protein drink of course. Protein drink for lunch. The day ended with about 3 tablespoons of mashed potatoes and gravy followed a little later by some sugar free chocolate pudding. I am thinking I will try scrambling an egg for breakfast in the morning. I am a little nervous. I don't want to over do it, but i guess at some point I need to learn what I can and can't do and more importantly how much I can take. I am going to weigh myself in the morning. Look for an update tomorrow.

Back to work

Well today was actually day 2 back at work. Day 1 was uneventful and no problems except being really tired afterwards- I think I may have pushed it to hard. Today was a little better. I did have one thing happen however. I noticed some leaking out of my belly button. Yes I said leaking out of my belly button. I called Dr. Billy, he said it was normal and nothing to be concerned about as long as there is no puss, gushing fluid or fever. My brother just called me a freak.

I had some questions so I asked a friend that had the surgery back in 2006.
#1- Will I ever be hungry again or will I just eat on a schedule. She said she wasn't hungry for the first year! Now she gets hungry but nothing like the feed me now hunger.

I told her i start the "mush" phase on Thursday and told her I was looking forward to it. Here is what she said about it. I put it all in for those that are really looking for some answers to the same questions.

Mush is a good stage to be in... I tried scrambled eggs and promptly burped them back up (I don't really throw up anymore, it's so weird to get used to) but I think that I ate too much too fast and really didn't chew them up enough. If you think that you've chewed something enough, give it a little more and make it even more mushy. Even the soft foods you have to chew. One thing that worked really well for me in that stage was re-fried beans from the can. I would take a spoonful and put it in the microwave with a small sprinkle of shredded cheese and nuke it for about 30 seconds to get them hot and melt the cheese. I think that I lived off this for the first month or so, it sat really well in my pouch, was a great protein source and it tasted good. Oh, and your tastes will totally change... what you loved and craved before, you may taste it and it doesn't really do much for you now. Same thing with protein shakes... if you don't like it now, don't toss the whole container... save it and try it again in a few weeks/months. You'll be surprised at what you end up liking that you initially hated.

I will keep you informed about the leak that i will refer to from now on as "the weeping button." Hey you got to have a sense of humor about these things. Thank you to my friend Lisa for her advice and answers.

After Surgery

Ok sorry for anyone that has gotten the updates from facebook, so here is a recap. Surgery went very well on Monday. I was supposed to be second in line for the schedule but the first person had some issues waiting for lab work so I got bumped to #1. which actually was great because it got me through the whole process a little sooner. Surgery was done by noon. Spend 2 hours in recovery then up to my room. I was walking the halls at 3pm. and walked again at 5, 7 and 11. Trying to sleep was not easy or comfortable. There was the compression stockings on my legs to prevent blood clots that kept inflating and deflating every few minutes, the drain tube with a collection bulb on my right side and an "On-Q" tube going into the middle of abdomen, the IV that was stuck in arm, which kept making noise every 15 seconds and also the oxygen plug in my nose or the O2 sensor on my finger, then there was the nursing staff- who don't get me wrong were great, friendly caring people- but they were in checking vitals, blood sugar, giving pain med and giving blood clot medicine all on different hourly schedules. To top it all off i don't normally sleep on my back which was the only position that I could really be in.

Tuesday-Day 2 was better. They checked me for leaks and cleared me for clear liquids by noon. What a big relief I could finally get a drink and soothe my dry throat. More walking. Got off the oxygen plug and sensor. I was able to turn to my left side slightly so I was able to get several hours sleep in a row. Dr. Billy came by at midnight and checked me out. He said everything went perfect during the operation and said I would be going home on Wed.

Wed- Being very anxious to go home i was up walking the halls at 8, hoping to find out when i could get out of there. Dr Binder and Dr Billy came by around 10 and checked me out and said they would be writing the go home orders and I would be released. So after some waiting and gentle nudging I was released at 1pm. Went home and was able to start was is called full liquids which includes cream soups, milk, juice, jello, broth- Basically anything you would be able to drink through a straw, although that does not mean throw a burger in a blender and there you go.

Thursday - Sat were all basically the same,drink water, have some soup, rest, walk a little and watch some TV. I did walk from my house to my brother's house and back about 2.5 miles i think. I would pay for this saturday night with abdominal muscle pain.

Sunday- spent resting my stomach from Saturday's walk

Now at this point I get 2 questions : 1. How am I doing and 2. Are you hungry.

1. I am doing great- I will be back at work on Monday just one week after the surgery. I will have to take it easy- no lifting more than 30 pounds and I won't be running around .
2. This is a yes and no question. No i am not bodily hungry at all, I am however mind hungry. What I mean by that is I saw a commercial for burger king and thought "Man a burger would be great." Now don't forget I am not hungry at all, but all those bad eating habits combined with eating as I pleased before has got me into this to begin with. This will be the biggest area of challenge and change in the next few weeks

Enough for now, more tomorrow.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.