Post-Op: Day 23 & 24 - It happened

So after my last Dr. appointment I got my clearance to go back to work Mon the 19th but my work office had been closed due to some issues with the HVac system. Since thats the case I've been doing some more babysitting for my aunt who normally babysits since she out of town visiting our new little cousin (aka her Grandson). Things have overall been going well since surgery... nothing really eventful to report... till yesterday that is.

Now I've been gradually adding different things back into my diet to see how I do with them. I tried eggs for a 2nd time and that was still kinda "eh" causing me some nausea but I blame that mostly on the piece of toast I attempted with it. The 2 times since that I've made a "dippy" egg for breakfast I've done very well with... no nausea or anything. In this time I've had other foods like Sloppy Joes (from Aiden's birthday party) and potato salad (which is the best in the world cuz my dad made it)... both in very small and slow increments and did well there too. Grapes and watermelon also were mixed in there in addition to other chicken and fish that I've already tried successfully.

So we get to yesterday. I've been doing really well with everything I've tried... been trying to drink as much fluids as I can to keep hydrated... and finally started my vitamins which really aren't bad and overall besides some soreness I'm doing pretty well... feeling "normal" again. I only had one girl to babysit yesterday so with mom's consent I brought her over to our house a whole 3 minutes away to play with Aiden. After we get to my house I realize I forgot her lunch back at my Aunt's place. Well I have to feed Aiden and my hubby too so naturally the decision is to make mac n cheese. "I can have a small bowl of this right...? It's just a small amount... it's just cheese... not "too" greasy or anything... and it looks soooo good..." So I make the decision to have 1 small scoop of Mac and cheese with everyone else. This, as it turns out, was a very stupid decision. I felt fine as I ate... slowly... chew chew chew... wait a few seconds before the next bite.... chew chew chew.... There... that wasn't so bad!.... Not! About 10-20 mins later my tummy starts to gurgle a little, turn a little more, more... ugh this sucks! Within I'd say a half hour at most I am thoroughly nauseated and ready to throw in the towel. I keep reminding myself how stupid that was as I'm doing some deliberately slow/deep breaths... in the nose... out the mouth... repeat. Ugh! This is the worst nausea Ive felt since surgery. After getting the kids down for a nap, I lay down myself for a good 20 minutes. Then... Uh oh.... is that.... or is it....? Uh Oh! I quickly decide that a trip to the little girlies room is needed... now! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is "dumping".
Note to self: don't do that again.

Later that evening we decide to have tacos for dinner. Not Taco Bell tacos... home made tacos. Easy and healthy. Ground Turkey browned (it comes in like 2.25lb packages from Wal-Mart and you'll be surprised how much less fat/grease drains off of Turkey than beef), drain, add 2 packets of dry taco seasoning w/ 1.5 cups of water to ground Turkey and let simmer and you're good to go. Just add your toppings as you choose. We have lite sour cream, shreaded cheese, kidney beans (which are high in protein!), lime juice (just try it... it's amazing on Mexican and lots of other things too!), and then hot sauce n jalapenos for my hubby. He prefers to put them all on Tostitos but I'm a soft taco shell kinda girl. So I make myself one soft taco (normally I would have started with 3) and sit down to eat. I started with 2, maybe 3 bites in the wrap before deciding to just eat the inside and leave the wrap (even though it is a whole wheat tortilla shell). I have a few more small bites and I'm full... leaving behind half a shell and a bit of meat. Yum... I had missed tacos! And guess what... no nausea!

That brings us to today... Friday. My last babysitting day before my aunt gets home from Florida (lucky duck!) The kids are about ready for lunch (which usually starts around 11am). I get everyone's lunches out and give them their designated sandwiches and heat up their Easy Mac (ugh... no thanks) and it's my turn for lunch. I have a left over piece of burger from a few days ago that's about the size if a silver dollar. I have some sloppy Joes too but that gets set to the side. Mind you... I successfully ate part of a burger a few days ago... no problem... hence leftovers. Today I start eating it while standing up next to the kids at the table who are also eating. The size of my burger takes only a few small bites. I had a tiny piece of sloppy joe but then decide I not to bother. After a minute or two I start to have some discomfort in my back (which can be a sign that you're full) so I'm thinking... ok... I'm good. But then it gets worse until I am very uncomfortable. It's not a sharp pain but enough pressure that I have to go sit down. I try to drink some water (which normally you aren't supposed to do as that causes the food to move through your system quicker and lose your "I'm full" feeling faster) but in this case... I had to. I kept drinking but nothing, no relief.

The kids are finishing up their lunches and being surprisingly good so I excuse myself for a minute to the restroom and that's when it happened. I butterflied. (For those who don't know: "butterflied" is a term a friend of mine and I coined in college for throwing up/vomiting. We decided that when you don't feel good and you know you're going to get sick... that you don't want to hear those words cuz they'll make you do it... so we decided we needed a better... prettier word for it... hence "butterflied". I know... we're weird.) I was doing so good thus far so I was very disappointed that this happened. My best guess is that I didn't chew one if the bites I took thoroughly enough and it got lodged in my stoma (aka where the esophagus and stomach meet because it's smaller now.) After butterflying though I immediately felt better. That's the only good news about the whole thing. And the fact that I definitely learned my lesson.

The rest of the day is to be filled with babysitting and a possible trip to the Transfer Harvest Home Festival or just relaxing around the house. Who knows.
Here's hoping the rest of the days meals are more uneventful!

Post-Op Day 13: Post-Op Checkup (Crab Stuffed Talapia Recipe)

Today is my first follow up appointment with my surgeon Dr. Wilcox since surgery. I'm very excited about this as I'm hoping to confirm my actual total weight loss as well as get bumped to Phase 2 eating and get a few minor questions answered. I'm not excited to be dropping about $100 on my vitamins and supplements but considering how little I'm eating compared to before I'm still on the + side when it comes to finances so I'll suck it up.

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!)

Post-Op Day 10 & 11 & 12: New Foods & Weigh In (Breaded Chicken & Chicken Fajita Recipe)

So far things have been going very well. Still minimal with the nausea and soreness from the incision sites. I couldn't be happier. Well... maybe if I could eat something that actually resembled food I would be, but overall I seem to be sailing through this process (knock on wood.) 

Now if I'm being 100% honest here, I have 'cheated' a little bit. And by cheated I mean didn't stick to straight liquids. Look... I'm still a fat kid at heart here so 2 weeks with nothing of real substance is reallllly difficult to maintain. But I didn't cheat by going out and getting an Egg McMuffin or anything... I just picked things from the next Phase up in my eating plan. So there was a day here or there in the past week (week 2 after surgery) that I nibbled on some Greek yogurt. I'm not usually a fan of yogurt but when you've had nothing but flavored waters, broth and jello for over a week you learn to adapt. Then there was that steak & crab day... where I swiped 2-3 tiny pieces of crab that Chad made. Crab sounds like a huge leap but it actually isn't. Phase 2 consists of soft, flaky fish and crab mean is realllly soft so I wasn't too bad. I also did try a scrambled egg one day which is also permitted in Phase 2. I'm not sure why, but this did make me a little nauseated. I think I ate just a little too much of it... or maybe a bit too fast... but either way my tummy wasn't too happy with me for a few hours. Nothing drastic... just enough nausea to realize I may wana wait to try eggs again for a bit. 

Now Dr. Wilcox (my surgeon) said to come see him in a week but due to his schedule it took just a day shy of 2 weeks to get into see him. My husband is an awesome cook. Those 2 things being said... I had my first "real" meal in almost 2 weeks on Saturday (I think it was Saturday...?) Chad made this delicious chicken dish that we love in our house. Boneless, skinless chicken, coat lightly in mayo (yes, mayo. We always use light mayo in our house too btw which is recommended rather than full flavor), and then cover in bread crumbs. Bake for 20-30 mins depending on how big your pieces are at around 400 and Yummmmy! It always comes out really moist so the chicken is very soft and tender. So while feeding this delicious meal to my soon-to-be 2 year old and watching my husband and mother eat it... I said "Screw it! Give me the food processor!" Pureed foods (anything from chicken, beef, fish, veggies, fruits are all aloud on Phase 2. They actually recommend baby food but there was no way I was eating baby food chicken... blah.) So as my hubby laughed at me, he grabbed me the food processor and in went the chicken and a little bit of chicken broth. I processed it down to just shy of baby food consistency and scooped it into a bowl. After a quick 20 second reheat, I made sure I was being careful of how much I was going to eat and scooped some of my chicken mush into a 1/4 measuring cup. Yes... a quarter cup. That's about how big my stomach is nowadays. So finally... I take a bite.... It... Is... Glorious! It tastes exactly the same as had I not processed it. There's actual FLAVOR in this! I was in heaven. So as I literally ate from a 1/4 measuring cup... one slow, deliberate bite at a time, I enjoyed my chicken mush. After almost 2 weeks of liquids... this was great. Best part about it, besides the actual flavor... no nausea! I was a happy camper to say the least!

The next day (Sunday?) came around and my chef hubby made another chicken dish we recently found. Chicken "fajitas"... aka boneless, skinless chicken cut up into small pieces, taco seasoning (mix the seasoning with the water as directed and mix in chicken in large bowl to coat the chicken.) Add in some cut sweet peppers all in a baking dish, oven at 400 for 15-20 mins and Voi-la! More yumminess! Normally we'd put this on a soft taco shell and Chad adds his countless toppings to make it hotter than Haiti, but needless to say I stuck with the basics and into the food processor it went. I added a small scoop of low-fat sour cream, a little bit of lime sauce and Holy Cow we should open a restaurant! (No really... we should. Accepting donations now - lol) Again with the deliciousness and No Nausea!

Also an added note... one of these days we had gone to WallyWorld (Wal-Mart) and I bought a scale. I was actually excited about buying a scale. Scary, huh? Naturally I was trying to be cheap and just got one of the old school ones. When I got it home and out of the box it wasn't "zeroed out". Nothing on it at all and it still says 4 lbs. Seriously...!?!? So i thought, "oh well, I'll just take off 4 lbs"... I stepped on it and if I leaned forward it'd move, backward - it'd move... Ughh. I get off to try to get it to go back to 0. Now its 7lbs with nothing/no one on it and no way to turn the dial to correct it. Grrrr. Back to Wal-Mart it goes. We finally get it exchanged for a digital one and on it I go. Now I couldn't remember exactly what my weight was at the doctors office a few days before my appointment, but I remember I was exactly (no laughing here...) 283.0 the morning of the surgery. Yes... that number is in pounds... not kilograms or space weight. (Hence me doing this surgery). So... new scale... digital... should be pretty accurate. Out of the box.... out of the plastic... set it on the floor... Oook... here goes nothing.......... 272.6.... Hey! That's 11.6lbs already! Hell yeah! *Happy Dance* 

So after my exciting weekend of foods with actual flavor and confirmed weight loss, I started babysitting for my Aunt who is out of town visiting her new grandson. She babysits for a living, and a little extra cash never hurt anyone so *poof* babysitting it is for this week and next. Monday made for some yummy left over chicken mush (the first kind) and it was still very good. 

Nothing else too exciting until tomorrow... my first Post-Op doctors appointment! We'll see how it goes!

Post-Op: Day 7

It's hard to believe that it's been a week since surgery already but it has. I'm feeling pretty good overall. Still tired and a little weak but my stomach is feeling pretty good and it's getting much easier to toss and turn at night in bed. There's still a lot of soreness but I really only use the pain meds before bed now so I'm happy about that. Today was pretty uneventful overall so there's not much to write about.
My plan is to start taking pictures of myself every once in awhile so I can see and share my progress. I'll try to do that soon!

Now that we've gotten through the first week post-op... I'm not going to bore everyone with my daily chores and activities. My game plan is to post the milestones from here on out... I.e. my next doctors appointments, any diet changes or epiphanies I may have along the process (don't hold your breath on the last one). Or maybe if I just feel like sharing something cool... we shall see. :)

Post-Op: Days 5 & 6

Post-Op Day 5 was pretty uneventful. I had to run to Boardman to pick up this adorable turtle sandbox I bought for Aiden for his birthday... Chad got to drive. After that, we headed to Wal-Mart for a bit of shopping. I hadn't taken any pain meds and I was feeling more sore today than the day before it seemed for some weird reason. I think it was because I turned funny last night in bed and pulled my tummy a little more than I should have... at least that's what I'm blaming it on. So as we're getting closer to Wal-Mart I tell Chad... "I'm getting one of those 'go-go-gadget' carts when we get in there... I'm too sore to walk that much and were never quick getting in and out of there." "....you're kidding, right?" He asks. Oh I'm definitely doing this now just to mess with him! So I did. I cruised like a pro around Wally World in my motorized cart along side my hubby... even though he tried to act like he wasn't with me at points... haha!

Chad and I came home afterwords and just were lazy all day. I was feeling pretty blah... kinda weak but more fluids... more sips... same stuff the rest of the day. Nothing exciting.

Post-Op: Day 6

Also mostly uneventful. Chad went with me again to Boardman for a morning meeting I had and then we met a lady who I was buying an extra car seat off of and back home it was.

Today was my first challenging day. I've been feeling hungry again... not as hungry as I had before, but still enough that I'd have to address it with jello or broth or a protein shake which I was aloud to start a day or 2 ago. But today... sucked in the afternoon. My husband started making a steak and crab for dinner. No, no, that's not mean... he has to eat and we have it so why not? The problem this time was that I was hungry... for real hungry... and the smell was soooo gooood. That was the first real time where I was frustrated that I couldn't eat like I wanted to. I was feeling pretty good so I felt the most like me that I had in days so I felt that I could have eaten that and been fine. Now I know that steak would have killed me later... but the crab was so soft and yummy..... I caved... but just a little. 2-3 tiny pieces of crab meat chewed extremely thoroughly... but that's it. Then about 3/4ths of my protein shake (which runs about 10 ounces our so) and I was full.... Full? That's all it took? Cool!

I finally had that realization that I have to pay attention to my body more than I ever have before. That even though I technically did something I wasn't supposed to yet... I didn't eat half the plate like I wanted to. It was a huge mental challenge that I didn't pass but I learned a lot from... and that's still something.

Post-Op: Day 4

Sunday's are always good days to relax and overall, that's what I intend to do. Chad little brothers graduation party was scheduled for noon but some nausea caused me to be even more show moving than usual. Once it passed we got ready and cruised into New Castle for a while. It was a lot like the day before with people asking how I was, me sitting a lot,  watching Aiden run around and lots of yummy food that, out of habit, I wanted to eat. My mother-in-law makes some delicious pasta salad and deviled eggs... both of which I thought... "I could get away with a bite of that"... but sadly for my taste buds... I passed. Into my lunch bag I went for an Italian Ice (see I can eat some yummy things still). I ate about 3/4 off it before calling it quits and going back to my water.

Now this may be "TMI" for some so consider yourself warned: my tummy was a bit rumbly today. Not nauseated per say... but you know that feeling when you're like... "uh oh... is it gas or something else?" With the story of Al Roker in the White House lingering every so prominently in my mind, (Google it if you don't know what I mean), I decided to head to the little girls room. Now let me also mention that during the surgery, that was done laparoscopicly, they use gases/air to inflate in and around your stomach so they have easier access to what they need to get to. This later causes... well... gas. That air has to get out somehow... burping or "expelling excess gas" as my mother would say is common and encouraged after these kinds of procedures. Any air that gets stuck inside can actually be painful as it usually lodges behind your shoulder blade causing a lot of discomfort until you "walk it out". Chad experienced this more so than me after his gallbladder removal. I had some slight discomfort behind my right shoulder for awhile at the reunion Saturday, but the rest of that gas was certainly making its way out Sunday. This was also the first time since the afternoon/evening before surgery that I've used the restroom for anything more than piddling and putting on makeup. We'll put it lightly... there were several trips to the restroom for about an hour or so and it wasn't very lady like... lol.  Then everything was back to normal.

See, that wasn't too bad now was it? ;-)

My husband let me take the car down the street to get gas and that was the first time I drove since Wednesday so that was nice... but I was getting pretty sore. I had decided that I wanted to slow down on the pain meds since they make me so sleepy and blah. I had gone from about 7am since my last dose of pain meds and it was now about 5:30p when we were back on the road home. I caved around 7pm and took some more pain meds and lounged around with the family the rest of the night.

Post-Op: Day 3

Post-Op day 3 brings us to Saturday. My side of the family had a reunion not too far away from our house and I desperately wanted some outdoors time so I wanted to give it a try. I was able to get a shower which was just glorious but also caused me to get pretty warm despite my attempts to keep the air flow going through the bathroom. Once I got out I was over-heated and very nauseous so I had to lay down pretty quick. An ice pack on the neck, some a.c. and about 15 minutes or so took care of the nausea. I was still pretty slow moving and kind of weak feeling at this point. I had been taking my prescription pain killers pretty regularly through the first few days so the pain was still relatively minimal which was a plus.

Also something to note is even though we're 3 days post-op, I still am not feeling hungry at this point... or at least what I knew as my hungry. I'd have these inklings here and there that it was coming, but I focused on drinking my fluids and that seemed to help it pass. It's weird having to get reacquainted with your own body again. I'm not sure what my new hungry or new full is so I've been very hesitant in drinking anything... not wanting to drink too fast or get nauseated.

So I finally get my slow butt ready and we're on our way out. My hubby helped me back my "lunch" so I'd have lots of options and wouldn't be so tempted by all the yummy food at the reunion. We brought a cooler stocked with flavored waters, diet tea, regular water, jello, some Crystal lite packets and juice. I wanted to start with some juice since after "Phase 1" aka liquids only, I won't be able to have juice due to the calorie content. I watered down my juice and started sipping on the way over. I had also taken a dose of pain meds before leaving the house as well. By the time we got to or reunion, I was feeling pretty good ;). I walked in and was greeted by family... some of which knew I had the surgery and some who didn't. It was warm outside and my meds were kicking in so I took a seat pretty quickly. Several family members came over to check on me and asked how I was feeling and it was nice to see that positive response. Other people who didn't know and had learned that day that theI had surgery asked questions, gave hugs and wished me well. It was great.

Now all this time there's a giant table of food lined up against the wall with tons of yummy stuff. Burgers, hot dogs, subs, salads, pop, and more and everyone was eating it all around me! How dare them? (I'm just kidding of course. Everyone isn't going to change their ways because I chose to.) I kinda wanted something... but then I realized I really didn't. I wasn't hungry... actually... I was nauseated. Did I drink the juice too fast? Was it all the "action" or the heat and meds? I'm not sure so I switched to ice water just in case and sat there and relaxed. After a bit of zoning cuz of the meds kicking in... Chad and I decided to take a walk. Slow but sure we walked around and watched Aiden and the other kids run around and have fun. Shortly after we decided to head home. I was tired. That was a lot of work sitting and walking! So we cruised back home.

Nothing really note worthy for the rest of the day. Just relaxing and sipping and sleeping. All good stuff on the road to recovery.