50lbs!

So, I’ve officially lost 50lbs. I am at 214, down from 264. This my friends, is fucking sweet.

The only thing I need to do better is exercise – my weight loss has slowed a bit since I started school. While I walk everywhere, take the stairs, and am trying that quitting smoking thing again, along with all the physical activity I do in class I haven’t been doing ‘extra’ exercise.

In fact, I think the class work has taking the place of my former regular walks in helping maintain and encourage the weight loss. Every week I’m giving at least one hour of massage in class, along with practice, and doing Makka Ho stretches in Shiatsu, along with all the moving, kneeling and such we do there. Plus, the teacher can be a total bastard about getting us to do sit ups and push ups – a good thing, IMO.

The first day of that class, he had us do sit ups, and I realzed how hard it was for me, which was weird. Sit ups were kind of my thing. When I had a trainer, I used to do approximately 150 sit ups a session. (We did a variety of styles, and broke ‘em up). However, that day in class I realized I hadn’t done a sit up, or properly used my abdominal muscles, since my surgery. It *hurt*, and was kind of embarrassing.

So, I’ve got to get in gear and get my butt into regular exercise again. I’m just so tired all the time, lol, what with school and such. But I’m doing well, so thats a good thing.

Non-Scale Victories

I love non-scale victories. They’re the little things that let you know you’re losing weight in real life, real time, in a concrete abstract way.

For example, I can now walk through the subway turnstiles without turning sideways, and my hips don’t brush the sides anymore.

I fit in a single bus or subway seat better.

Clothing that used to be too tight is loose.

Clothing that I had taken in so that it would fit better had to be taken in *again*.

I don’t get out of breath going up subway stairs anymore.

My knees don’t hurt, my hips don’t hurt, I’m sleeping better. Its great.

I move better, I move more. I love walking.

When I come to my parents house, I use their treadmill, and do a few miles that way. Yesterday I had my best NSV. I was walking hard, and decided to start running. And I jogged. A quarter mile. And instead of passing out or hurting or wanting to die, I just slowed down back to walking. And then after a while, I did it again.

I haven’t done that, like…ever.  But now I’m in better shape, and did it!

Plus, I think I’m finally done with smoking…that helped. Had a smoke yesterday with friends, and didn’t like it.

Oh, and after all that jogging and walking on the treadmill? (2.25 miles, btw) I went and walked on the boardwalk at the beach with my friends, and did about another mile or so. Go me!

The Sweet Spot!

Oh my, I’ve been gone from here for a while, haven’t I? Sometimes its hard to find things to write about when all is well.

And it has, been, for the most part.

In February, after my first fill, I had some issues with my band – at Winter Fire, I got a dumpling stuck in it. Holy. Fucking. Shit. It HURT. And it was embarrassing – I was eating in the lobby of the event, and I was a) eating too fast and b) eating a food I hadn’t tried since the fill.

See, I had brought with me food I knew I could eat. Soft cheese wedges, crackers, Optifast shakes, things like that. But I fell into the temptation of Washington D.C.’s Chinatown, and I had a dumplings. I think I managed 2 and 1/2 before it happened, and it sent me running to the nearest trash can. I couldn’t even make it to the bathroom to try and hack the damn thing up in private.

Oh my god did it hurt. But, I got through it with the help of wonderful friends, and a very cute massage therapist who did some pressure points that made some of the nauseous feeling go away…and there’s much to be said about the healing powers in the hands of a pretty boy!

Anyway, since then, I’ve done much much better. Nothing has gotten stuck, and I’m much better about how I eat what I eat. Slowly and with much chewing! Even things that give me a problem once, I find I can eat again if I try harder.

Case in point – I was picking up food with a friend quick before a play.  We stopped at a deli, and I figured I’d get 1/4lbs of roast beef, because it is yummy, and I need the protein. However, I ate it just a bit too fast, and it all came back. So I put what I didn’t eat in my bag.  Later that night, several hours after the play, we had a real dinner, and I got an appetizer, which since I ate it slowly and chewed well, stayed down.

The next night, I was home and decided to try the roast beef. I think it also might have been a tad on the dry side as well, so I put a tiny bit of mayo on it, and ate it for dinner, and aha! It worked! Slow and thorough is the key.

I do occasionally ‘froth’, which is when something doesn’t sit well and comes back up. My biggest problem has become with that last bite – one bite too much that just don’t fit. Even that, however, is starting to fade away. I’ve gotten to know my body much better, and I’m learning what my limits are. It all takes time.

However, a great thing happened during my second fill. I’ve reached my ’sweet spot’ in regards to the level of fluid in my band.

After surgery, I had 4cc’s in the band, preloaded. During my first fill, the PA put 1cc in, bringing me up to a total of 5cc’s, in a band that’s maximum capacity is 10cc’s.

During my second fill, he once again gave me a single cc, totaling six. However, when I went to drink water after he finished, to see how it went, it would not go through the hole in the band, and was sitting in my pouch and my esophagus. Ick.  He quickly took out all the fluid, so the water would go down, and then put 5.5cc’s back in, so see how that would go.

Not so good, it seems. .5 of a cc makes a difference, and this time, I coughed the water back out when I tried to drink again. Not fun, but I guess he’s used to it – he danced away from the sink right quick.  So we left my band at 5cc’s, and thankfully, he didn’t charge me for the visit (It would have been $100, out of pocket. Yuk.)

It seems I’ve reached the tightest place my band can go right now. I’m consistently loosing weight, feeling full and feeling good. I’m due back in a few weeks for a check up, but I think it might stay this way for a while, perhaps a few more months. Who knows – I might have just reached the point where my band can’t take anymore. It doesn’t matter, as long as I’m feeling good, and losing the weight.

At the moment, I’m down to 220.4lbs – I started at 264lbs. I’m down almost 44lbs!! I haven’t been 220lbs in YEARS. This is fucking awesome. Stockings fit. Fishnets fit. (Granted, I’m still in the ‘Queen’ size, but its much better to be in Q than Q2 or more! Much easier stocking shopping!) I’m taking my pants and skirts in at the waist, as even some of the new pants I bought (Avenue size 18 boot cut jeans) are getting too big! I’ve been getting lots of my little sister’s hand me down’s, as she’s losing a ton of weight too. I’m starting to catch up to her!

I’m hoping to be down another 10lbs by the end of April if I work hard, and maybe another 10 at the end of May. I figure, if I can get to 200lbs by June, I’ll buy myself a bathing suit. A goddamn bikini! Maybe this one – I like it. Hey, anyone want to buy a poor soon to be not fat girl her first bikini? I’ve never had one before.

I also really really want to be able to buy and wear this costume for Halloween! But that’s a far off goal – I’m not looking past June right now. Just a little bit at a time.

But yeah, I’m thinking 10lbs a month is reasonable. Though I need to start doing more than just walking soon. I’d really like to learn either belly dancing, or savate. I’m leaning more towards savate if I can find somewhere that teaches it in NYC, and if I, you know, get a job so that I can pay for it. I like the idea of doing something that will both help me get fit, and give me some self-defense skills, considering I wander around late at night by myself.

Anywho, I’ve got just a bit over 90lbs left to go to get to my goal of 130lbs. At this rate, I’ll get there sometime around January, February 2010. Not bad, not bad at all.

Its so much fun, my new body. I love dressing up again. I always found it harder to dress when I was limited to fat chick clothing stores. Plus, when I was big, I’d always feel very blah and not interested in being creative. I’ve decided that now I’m gonna dress however I goddamn well want to, the way I used to dress back in the day. Sometimes I was classy, and sometimes I was trashy, but I was always having fun. I had lots of options.

I made a skirt for myself out of a pair of old fat jeans – its a super tight, super hot pencil skirt. Fucking awesome. I’m turning another pair of fat jeans into a purse. I’ve already got this cute cow printed material all ready to be used as a liner. I have a shirt from my old mortuary science school program that I want to work in there somehow. We’ll see how that works, lol.

Anywho, that’s all for now – hopefully I’ll be better about updating in the future – this was far too long!

Ugh

I had my first big FUCK with the band today.

See, it started at breakfast. I tried to eat an apple. I warmed it up in the microwave (I like warm apples, it is nummy!) and I tried to eat it. It was harder than the apples I’ve had around, and even though I chewed, either the skin (which if I try apples again, I will cut off) or the apple itself didn’t sit well with me, and it was uncomfortable. But after some vigorous walking and Wii bowling, it passed.

A few hours later, I was still hungry, since I had only eaten and gotten down a few bites of apple. So, I figured I’d have something easy, that I’d been eating all week – Grandma’s leftover meatloaf. Its nice and moist and soft. It went down ok, but it sort of hurt sitting there. But I took a nice long walk, and felt better pretty quickly.

Then came my cousin’s birthday party. I had eaten a few chips with salsa, which I knew were ok, as long as I eat in moderation. Then, my aunt brought over a new thing she cooked – bits of chicken wrapped in bacon. I *knew* it was bad, but tried one anyway. I though I had safely nibbled, but somehow, everything got stuck something awful. I was in so much pain, and felt like I wanted to throw up, but couldn’t. I had seen someone on a lap-band forum mention her doctor suggesting a little soda or other carbonated beverage to help open things up, but that didn’t work either. Just came back up.

I felt so so bad, and I was on the damn floor curled up over the trash, heaving and such. Eventually it started to subside, and I walked around the house, bouncing a little. I know it sounds silly, but somtimes the bouncing helps.

Any way, eventually things subsided, and I was finally able to eat some of the spinach artichoke dip in thing flaky dough my mother made, and then I had a bit of  ice cream cake (What!? It goes down easy! And its nice to have a little treat now an then.)

Anyway, I’m feeling much better, but not totally happy. I did not like that.

Other wise, exercising has been going well, the weight is coming off nicely (227.8, woot!) and I’m feeling wonderful. In fact, I felt my ribs today!

First Fill

Sweet. I had my first band fill today! I already feel a bit of a difference, even though I”m on liquids for today and tomorrow.

They put 1cc into my band today, so with the 4cc that was already loaded into the band before they put it on, I’ve got a total of 5cc’s restriction. Its a 10cc band, so I’m (obviously) already halfway full. I think this will really help kick start my weight loss to get me under 230. I’ve been hovering around there, unable to get to 229, for the past few weeks, and I WANT TO GO DOWN!

So, two days of liquids, 2 days of smushies, combined with the exercise and walking I’ve been doing, should do the trick. Plus, I think I’m going to be mostly on liquids at WF. To reduce my ‘OMG, what will I eat!’ stress, I’m gonna bring the optifast shakes I still have at home with me, along with some liquid protein, and some quick and dirty stuff to cook like oatmeal. (Though if anyone wants to take me out to dinner, or brunch, or drinks at WF, I wouldn’t say no, if yer paying.

My sister joined a gym, and I might hop on her seven day pass for the rest of the time I’m out here and go with her and her BFF the next few days. They’re going for the elliptical machines tomorrow, which would be good for me.  I can go Sat-Tues while I’m here, and kick start things.

I’m 230 now. I’d *like* to be at least 225 for WF. If I bust my ass, I can make it a round 10, and try to hit 220. We’ll see.  It doesn’t hurt to set a slightly high goal. Then I’m aiming higher and farther.

The fill itself was easy. All the other people there were worried about the needle. The damn thing wasn’t even a 20ga, if you can gauge an injection needle. I know I’m weird about needles (I love ‘em. I’ve been pierced, inked, hooked, and decorated. A tiny injection near my belly is nothing) but for real people, its not that bad.
Anywho. I’m off to concentrate on not emotionally eating/boredom eating. That’s the hardest part.

Women Less Able to Suppress Hunger than Men?

My pal Viviane sent me this interesting article

Women Less Able to Suppress Hunger than Men

 

- January 20, 2009

WASHINGTON – Faced with their favorite foods, women are less able than men to suppress their hunger, a discovery that may help explain the higher obesity rate for females, a new study suggests. Researchers trying to understand the brain’s mechanisms for controlling food intake were surprised at the difference between the sexes in brain response.

Gene-Jack Wang of Brookhaven National Laboratory and colleagues were trying to figure out why some people overeat and gain weight while others don’t.

They performed brain scans on 13 women and 10 men, who had fasted overnight, to determine how their brains responded to the sight of their favorite foods. They report their findings in Tuesday’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“There is something going on in the female,” Wang said in a telephone interview, “the signal is so much different.”

There isn’t much to write when things are going well, lol.

So far, I’ve been maintaining 230lbs, and trying to get down below it. I should be past there by the end of the month.

I’ve started gently doing a bit more exercise, some yoga, since its been six weeks since the operation and I feel good.  The only downside is that since I haven’t done much aside from walking, even a light workout makes me sore as hell, but such is life.
Next week I get my first fill, which should help kick-start a bit more weightloss, since I’m not staying full as long as I’d like, and I can eat more than I would like as well. Having more restriction would be a huge help.
But things aren’t all bad. I just went through my closet and found a bunch of stuff that was too big for me, and got some clothing from sister, who has also been losing weight. I’ve got clothing to work my way into. That helps.

I’m also noticing little things about my body.  No more back fat. My neck is getting slimmer, I can see my collar bones (I love my collar bones..)

I’ve been feeling a bit out of sorts in my new body, and I’m sure I’ll continue to feel that way for a while.  Its odd, taking up less space, and looking different. I don’t always realize how much I’m changing, until I see friends who haven’t seen me in ages who go nuts with exclamations. My family sees me all the time, so they don’t notice the change.

But its odd for me to suddenly find myself self concious, when normally I’m super confident.  My friends joked that once I lost more weight, no one would stop me and I’d be running around naked all the time, but I find the opposite seems to ahve happened.

However, I don’t think it all has to do with my weight loss. Nothing exists in a void, and I’ve got plenty of other things going on in my life to drive me nuts.

Ah well, we’ll see how it continues to go.

The Clean Plate Club

Things are still going well. I find I sometimes have problems with the band, but for the most part, they seem to be problems that are normal – something gets stuck if I don’t chew it well, or I drink sooner after eating than I ought to.

My two biggest problems to work on are drinking, and the clean plate club.

See, I *want* to drink after I finish eating, to clear my palate and to, you know, imbibe liquids. I’m used to eating and drinking at the same time, and its a hard habit to break.

I know I’m not supposed to do it because a) it can make food go through my pouch quicker, thus making me hungrier, and thus defeating the purpose of the band and b)make things swell and feel uncomfortable, if I eat anything that could swell like that.

So, its a matter of just DOING it right.

The bigger problem is the clean plate club – the idea that one should eat all the food placed in front of you.  Now, when I’m at a party or a dinner where I can choose what I put on my plate, this isn’t a problem.  I can pick small amounts of what I want, eat them, and if I’m not satisfied with what I chose (and I usually am, since I know my tummy better and better) I can get more.

This isn’t even a big problem when I’m out to dinner with friends or family – they all know I can only eat so much, and don’t want to see me hurt myself or fuck things up. But sometimes, the CPC kicks in and I don’t know why.

I went to Friendlies with some friends, and ordered a wrap. And I made my self eat the whole damn thing, even though it was uncomfortable and a bad idea  to do so. I was almost sick in the bathroom, and I felt like shit. I know, intellectually, what I should have done was eaten half of it, and brought the other half home for lunch the next day.

I’ve been trying to examine why this happened, and I think I may have figured it out. It was not the people that I was with – they were all my friends, new about the surgery, and probably would have smacked me if they realized what I was doing. I think it was the place, being in Friendlies, and the fact that when there, I am SO used to gorging myself that I felt the compulsion to do it.  That’s what I used to do there. Eat lots and lots of food. Dinner, ice cream, and what my friends didn’t finish of their own.

The CPC is such an ingrained habit from youth, and from former ways of eating.  This one is also getting easier to deal with, but it still sucks.
However, in that vein, I have had moments where I was proud and amazed at my new stomachs.  I went to dim sum with friends, and had a small tasty meal and didn’t gorge or hurt my band, which was good. I was able not to eat the deliciously doughy fake pork buns because I realized and accepted that the dough would be too sticky for my band to deal with.

Much later that evening, we ordered Chinese food, and I had a realization about how I used to eat.  I ordered a bad choice of food, chicken wings with fries. However, all I ate was part of two chicken wings and about half my fries, along with one bite of General Tso and a pork dumpling.

Months ago, before all this, I would have eaten all four of my chicken wings, jealously guarded all my fries and eaten all them too, and probably also eaten an egg roll and whatever else I could scavenge.

And at least one can of soda. Can’t forget the soda.

It was pretty awesome to realize how little I ate by comparison, and I was happy about that. Granted, I should have ordered something like steamed chicken and broccoli instead of wings and fries, but sometimes you have to give in to the not so good.

For the most part, I stick to the healthy. I keep a google spread sheet of what I eat every day and what exercise I do – well, how much I walk. I’m still not cleared to exercise, but I since its been almost six weeks, I think I’m gonna call up today and see if I can’t do some yoga.

I started DVRing the Namaste yoga show from FitTV – its a nice work out, of moderate difficulty, and I like the yoga. I also started recording the show ‘Shimmy’, which teaches some belly dancing moves and such.

I figured that both exercises were fairly low impact and easy on my body, which still isn’t fully recovered. They also both will help me get more attuned to my body.

I should be able to start jogging as well, which should also be good. I would like to take some sort of grappling type martial art class, but I have a feeling I should hold off on that for a few months. The last thing I want is to take a shot in the chest when things aren’t better yet.

Already, I’m starting to find more and more of my clothing doesn’t fit, which is great. My sister and some of my friends have pants and such for me which should fit soon, and I’m slowly going through my closet, and finding things that I’ve gotten too small for and putting them aside…and finding stuff that hasn’t fit in a while!

At the last Pleasure Salon, I wore a pair of pants which haven’t fit in MONTHS, along with a shirt that I’d juuuuust outgrown when I started this whole process. They fit great!  I did, however, have to get rid of the pants – previous chub rub had worn away at the thighs and caused some chaffing. (Sorry Ms. Lily, I think that’s why my ass and thighs were sore, not the paddle, lol.)

Pleasure Salon was also great because I had been away so long – many of my friends there hadn’t seen me since November’s party, and apparently I look MUCH different. Everyone was complimenting me. I’m shallow, I loved it. ^_^
But I feel good, I’m moving and hopping and bouncing and happy! I feel like I’m making great headway, and that 2009 is going to fucking ROCK.

Recovery

Recovery was a fucking bitch.

When I got home, my sister had been nice enough to set up the recliner in the living room up for me, with the remote near by, a blanket, a bottle of water, etc.  My bedroom was all nice and toasty warm too, and the first thing I did was attempt to crawl into bed and sleep.

Sleep was hard. I’m a stomach sleeper, but obviously, after abdominal surgery, sleeping on my stomach (and even my side!) was out. So I tried to sleep on my back. I woke up after three hours, and I *hurt* so bad.  The fact that I couldn’t use my abdominal muscles put all the work on my back muscles, and they were so sore. My medicine wore off, so I was in intense pain.

I was on codeine by now, instead of the lovely lovely morphine, and codeine sucks. Once I knocked it back and the pain subsided, I walked around a bit, and drank more water. I tried to watch TV, but I couldn’t.  The codeine had fucked with my concentration. I couldn’t watch TV, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t play video games, I couldn’t use the computer, I couldn’t listen to music…I couldn’t do anything.  I couldn’t really sit up, because that required bending at the waist. I was pretty much either vertical, prone in a chair or horizontal. I walked, and I slept.

They had given me sleeping pills, but the damn things didn’t work. For the first three nights, I woke up every three or four hours. I would walk around, take more codeine, and try to sleep again.

Oh, and did I mention the gas? Yeah. There was gas. The gas they used to inflate my abdomen had to come out some how, and I was burping, but mostly farting. Well, trying to do those things. That’s what all the walking was for, to break up the gas so I could pass it all somehow. It wasn’t fun.

Thankfully, I wasn’t hungry during this time. I was only allowed water, broth, and jello for the first three days after surgery, and then I was eventually allowed to have up to three Optifast shakes a day.

Once I was allowed to have Optifast, (which was around the time I weaned myself off the codeine and switched to children’s Tylenol) I also started going to the bathroom again. See, I didn’t have all that much in me to pass, so I was mostly peeing. But the jello and Optifast gave me something to digest, and to poop.

Lets just say that the first two weeks were unpleasant, and that I was looking forward to finally getting to have a regular bowel movement.

I was bored and stir crazy. Once I got off the codeine, I was able to concentrate on stuff again, but I was so sick of being in the house. I made a few forays out with my mother, to visit relatives, which was nice, but I had so little stamina that it didn’t last long.

However, things picked up towards the end of the week. By the Sunday after surgery, I felt much much better. I was more mobile, more able to concentrate on school work and my other writing, and best of all, I was losing nearly two pounds a day. In the first two weeks after surgery, I dropped ten or eleven pounds.

My weight loss has obviously slowed now, since I’m back on solid foods and taking in more than 400 calories a day, but damn that felt good.

Two weeks after surgery, I returned to the doctor for them to check my incisions, and talk to the nutritionist about my post-surgical diet. I was giving the OK to start on semi-solids and solids, which was awesome, and told what sort of other things were OK to eat and drink, and what sort of vitamins I was now allowed.

Since then, I’ve been doing pretty damn well. I’ve maintained my weight loss, which I’m happy about, since from what I hear some people actually gain some weight right after surgery, and I’m almost completely back to myself.

I’m still not moving at top speed, but I’m amazed at how good I feel. Stairs don’t bother me anymore, I’m sleeping better, I’m more full of energy – I can’t wait until I’m allowed to work out! I’m still restricted to not lifting anything over 20lbs, and the only exercise I can do is walking (which I’ve been doing quite a bit of, despite the snow – yay for Doc Martin’s!).

I’m eating pretty much what I want, within reason. I mean, I *want* to eat a taco, and I *could* eat a taco, but I’ve been eating more healthy than that for the most part. (Its the holidays. There are cookies everywhere. I have one now and then. Sue me.)

I feel full quicker and longer, and am learning to eat slower and make  better choices. I can only have so much, so I want the best bang for my buck.

Its done!

Yup! About two or three weeks ago I had the surgery! I’ve got my LAP Band!

It was an all day process.

I got to the hospital at my assigned time, and all I brought was my book. I left a bag with my family of my other stuff, since I was spending the night.  They had me strip and get into a pair of those icky hospital gowns.

Now they have you wear two of them, one backwards, and one forwards, so they finally managed to eliminate the butt flapping in the wind problem.

They hooked me up to an IV, and started pumping me full of fluids; they said I needed two bags before my surgery, along with a small bag of antibiotics. Let me tell you, that stuff goes through your system really quick – I had to pee like four times before surgery! And I hadn’t had anything to drink since 11 the night before.

I wound up going into surgery well past my appointment time, but you know, I’d rather the surgeon take his time with all of us (someone was in before me) rather than rush.  I finally got wheeled into the OR, and I was nearly shitting myself, I was so nervous. I was actually thinking “Maybe this isn’t such a great idea. Why don’t they knock me out before I get in the OR? OR’s are way to creepy.

Plus, they had the radio tuned to Christmas music. I couldn’t believe I was going to be operated on to Christmas music! I hate Christmas music! I think I tried to say as much, but I was unconscious well before I could articulate anything.

Want to see what sort of surgery they did?

Yeah, I couldn’t myself to watch that for a few days after surgery. I didn’t really want to know why I was hurting, lol.
When I woke up in the recovery room, I was in so much pain. My mouth and jaw hurt from the stuff that went down my throat, my abdomen was killing me, and my mouth was also super dry.

Nurses were hovering over me, asking how I felt, and I could only croak out one word at a time. “Paaaaaiiinnn!”

They gave me a shot of those lovely lovely narcotics. I love morphine.

“Drrryyyy!”

They took a sponge on a stick, and dipped it in.

That went on and on for a while. I was still floating in and out of the anesthesia, so I didn’t have a good grasp of time. Eventually I woke mostly up, and they wheeled me into my room.

I had my own private room, which was really nice. I had a nice reclining chair, my bed, two TV’s, and a bathroom. I was still kind of out of it, but I was doing pretty good. My family came to see me with my stuff. They had my stuffed cat (yes, I’m 24 and I sometimes sleep with a stuffed animal. Fuck you), my iPod (which was really helpful, and I hadn’t actually packed it) and some other things.

I had pyjama pants, but I wasn’t able to wear them, because of the elastic at the waist and ankles. See, two of my five incisions are close to my waistline, and my legs had these special things on them that massaged my legs to make sure I didn’t get a clot or something.

My family and I didn’t do much, since I was still out of it, but my mom helped the nurse and I get me up for the first time (about three hours after I actually finished the surgery) and go to the bathroom, and walk around the hospital. I had to do three laps up and down the hall.

Then I got to get back in bed and get tucked in to relax for another two hours. I called some relatives, and texted some friends to let them know how I did, and after another half hour or so, my family left. I was still very groggy and on pain meds.  I put my headphones on, and tried to sleep a bit, but I was supposed to wake up every two hours to walk.

See, the walking sucked. The first time, I nearly cried, because it hurt so much. Everything hurt. But its a very important part of the aftercare, because along with being sore, I was filled with gas. Yeah. Gas. They pumped my abdomen up with gas so that they could move around in there, and I was swollen and gassy. The walking helped break the gas up, but it was still about three hours before I could fart.

Gross I know, but I’ve never been so happy to fart in my life.

The rest of the night, I wound up getting up every hour and walking. I was being pumped full of so much fluid I had to pee every hour, and the nurse and I figured I might as well walk while I was up.  It wasn’t long before I was walking on my own while the nurse watched!

That was the highlight of the night. See, the meds fucked me up a lot. I tried to play my Nintendo, but I couldn’t concentrate to do it…or to read, watch tv, even listen to some comedy. So I fussed, and tried to sleep, and walked.

The next day was pretty much the same. I called my parents to check in, and let the m know how I was doing, and around 9am, the nurses came in to bring me down for an x-ray to see how my band was placed.

By this time, I was off the fun narcotic meds, so I was pretty sore. On the upside, the codeine they gave me made me nice and sleepy, so I could get some sleep in every now and then. But I really didn’t want to do the test.  Thankfully while I was down there, it took ‘em forever to set things up, so I got to sneak in a 15 minute nap.

They had me stand up, and first they took a regular chest x-ray.  Then they had another doctor come in, and he set me up in front of the machine so that I could drink some nasty stuff while he watched it go down my throat and into the pouch.

He was nice enough to pull it around so that I could watch. It was quick, and they had be back in my room for lunch. Yay! Lunch!

I given a very small selection, because you see, after surgery I was only allowed to imbibe water, jello, and broth. My lunch tray had about six half pint bottles of water, a bowl of green jello, and some broth. I was told I could be discharged after I drank 2 of the small bottles of water.

It took a lot longer than the nurses though. I was a little scared to drink to much – I was sure if it sat in my new pouch, or if it trickled through eventually. I had managed one bottle, and some jello, and then it was time for physical therapy.

My doctor doesn’t want anyone to leave the hospital unless they can do four things: climb stairs (I did it on the first try!), walk 300 feet (I’d been doing that), get out of a chair (done!) and learn how to properly get up and down from a flat surface (like a bed) with out straining their abdomen (did it in one!).

I was pretty set. Hell, after we were done, my nurse was held up somewhere else, so I wound up walking around the room for the hell of it.

When I got back to my room, I had them call my mom and let them know I was ready to go, and finished the other bottle of water by the time she got there. We packed up my stuff, got me into real clothing, and took me home.

More about recovery at home soon!