The day begins with a little morning jaunt over to my Aunts house to see what kids show up. My other aunt has graciously agreed to watch them in my absence so I didn't have to reschedule this appointment. Two munchkins show up and shortly there after so does my hubby with our son and my back up babysitter and off we go. Chad had an appointment first so we take care of that and one other stop before heading to Pittsburgh. For once we're running ahead of schedule so we decide to stop at Pilot where 79 & 422 meet to get some lunch. Options at a truck stop are limited for patients such as myself, but luckily they have a Subway and not just a McDonalds and Subway has tuna salad. Though McD's sounded pretty good... then again so does everything else when you're not aloud to have it, we headed over to Subway and I made my odd request of just a scoop of tuna... nothing else. No bread, no toppings... just tuna. The guy looked at me kinda funny but was very accommodating. So past the delicious looking cookies I go to the register and Chad follows behind with his sandwich. A few drink purchases later, we head out to the car to eat. I ate cautiously, not having my 1/4 measuring cup to know exactly how much to eat, but slow, deliberate bites (i ate about 1 scoop even though he gave me 2...) Again... no problems with the tuna and it was surprisingly good.
Now on 79 s/b towards Pittsburgh we make our way to the doctors appointment. We get there a bit early but head in anyway. I talk to the ridiculously sweet secretary to sign in and take a seat. I get called up to fill out some paperwork and upon returning it she asks me if I know they have a 'kit' of vitamins/supplements, which I did not. A 90 day supply of Everything that I need for $127. Considering I was planning on getting a 30 day supply of some at around $100 or so, I was pretty happy with this 'deal'. Sign me up - so we get everything purchased before I even get into see the doctor.
Now for those of you who don't know this... during full Gastric Bypass they not only make your actual stomach smaller but they kind of 're-route' things including part of your intestines that absorb a lot of the bad calories and good things like vitamins, minerals, etc. This means that after surgery you have to take vitamins, mineral supplements, calcium, B12, etc... for Life. Yes... Life. I know a lot of bypass patients stop taking them after awhile but I'm going to follow this to a T. I don't want any complications. After this surgery, you're limited as to what pills you can take. Basically nothing bigger than a tic-tac, so everything you take has to be either liquid or chew-able. (For example, my pain medication after surgery was liquid Percocet w/Tylenol - good stuff haha.) The supplements offered at the office are "Bariatric Advantage" and are specially formatted for better absorption and are either chew-able or they dissolve under the tongue. I wanted to get a good start so I bought everything from the office. Next time around I can go look at GNC or other places to see if I can find the equivalent for a lower price.
This office is normally pretty on time or even early, but today is running about 45 mins behind. No big deal. The Dr himself and the staff are some of the sweetest and most competent I've met (and that's saying something considering how many doctors I've seen in my lifetime already.) I get called back and onto the scale I go for my official weigh in. 170.7! Down some more. Starting weight was 285.5 so that brings my Total Weight Loss in 13 days to 14.8lbs! I am very, very happy with this!
Into the room we go to wait for the doctor. In he comes asking how I'm feeling and I can't reply anything but "Great!". I truly am surprised at how easy this process has been since surgery (physically at least - but we'll get to that). With the exception of the 2-3 days after surgery that I was in some pain from the surgery itself, I've had no other complications. I continue to answer his questions... "Keeping everything down? No trouble swallowing?" Yes and No! I did mention to him that the night before I had a bit of nausea, but that I believed I just drank my protein shake a little too fast. He agreed that's probably what it was and gave me an example: "Your stomach is like a funnel. You can pour liquids in it constantly at a slower pace and you'll be fine but if you pour too much in at one time... what happens?" "... it overflows" I respond. I like examples like that. It helps me to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing and makes it easy for me to explain to others as well. So after verifying that their office can fill out paperwork to confirm I had the surgery (for work) and if I have to watch my carb intake (too much can result in 'dumping' - so I just have to be cautions), I confirmed I can officially move onto Phase 2 (for 1 week) and then Phase 3 (for 2 weeks), and then go to regular foods, obviously being smart and sticking to healthy foods and small portions. Dr. said that the hardest part is not falling back into old habits but I am not going to let that happen. He tells me he'll see me again in a month and we're all set.
I head back out to the main office and ask Sherri (that wonderful secretary I mentioned before) if I send her paperwork if she can get it filled out to vouch that I had the surgery, it was paid for by insurance and all that other random info that work will need to pay me while I was out. I tell her there's no hurry and she responds with "I was going to do it while you're standing there." .... Wait... what? A doctors office is going to do something right away... like... now-ish? That's awesome! And sure enough... she asked me what needed to be in the letter and typed it all up for me as I waited. How awesome is that? I take my letter and tell her again how impressed I am with the staff at Hope Bariatrics. She thanks me, I do the same for her and we're on our way.
I feel a great sense of relief as I leave the doctors office. The scale at home wasn't wrong. I Am Losing Weight! For the first time in years, I am losing weight! I'm excited to get on a scale and the numbers are going Down instead of up! These first two weeks have been relatively easy... physically. Mentally it has been a battle with myself... a very difficult one at times, and I'm sure there's a lot more of that to come. I would have never been able to be this disciplined on my own, without this surgery. This is all still new to me and I'm being very cautious. I'm sure as it gets to be 'normal' that it'll be easier for me to slip but I am going to try like hell to stay on the right path. I'm not going to be perfect and I'm going to screw up here and there but I am more hopeful that I've been about my weight and health in years. As cliche' as it is: I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and I know it's not a train this time. This isn't a temporary fix.
It's a new life for me... and I'm feelin' good!
*Bonus points for those who know where ^ came from ;)
Crab Suffed Talapia: Now that it's "legal" for me to eat Phase 2 foods I thought I'd share my dinner: May not look like much but it was Amazing! Crab Stuffed Talapia! We had 7 pieces of talapia, recipe calls for 4 so we double everything: 2 Cups of Crab meat that we threw in the food processor so it'd be easier to use as a filling. 2/3 cup of light mayo, 2/3 cup of bread crumbs, Lemon pepper & paprika to taste and 2 eggs. Mix it all together. We seasoned our fish with the lemon pepper and paprika before we spooned the filling over it, then roll the fish up starting with the pointy part of the fish. (My Talapia filets were big so we cut them in half... probably should have halved them thickness wise instead cuz they were pretty thick but it cooked fine anyway). After rolling, stick closed with toothpick and place in baking dish. (Easier said than done with certain thicker pieces. I had to use 2 toothpicks in some.) Recipe calls for 6 tbsp of melted butter drizzled over top; we also sprayed lemon juice over the top as well as a bit more lemon pepper and paprika. Bake in oven for 20-25 mins at 350-375? (Chad set the oven so I don't remember - oops!) But either way - it was delicious. Only "bad" things are a small amount of mayo, bread crumbs and butter. Fish is high in protein and the 3 'bad' things were very minimal. We also made some mashed potatoes that we added some of the extra crab mixture to. Very yummy...! I had about a tablespoon or 2 of potatoes and half of the fish/crab wrap and was good to go. Healthy and delicious! (Mind you mine is all cut up in small pieces and I mixed the mashed potatoes in with the crab/fish... I should have taken a pic of them in the pan but either way... Move over Red Lobster!)
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