1 WEEK POST OP WEIGHT PIC

UGH! i dont know why in 1 week i didnt lose any weight... it was maddening! seriously! i wasnt eating very much, staying on my required diet, couldnt put away the food like my mind said i wanted too (no more room) and the scale just sat there..staring at me...

i was SO disspointed a week after surgery to hop on the scale and see..NOTHING!

NEXT DAY GASTRIC SLEEVE PICS OF DANIEL

i allowed daniel to take a few days off from school, for my surgery. in the event i didnt make it off the table. i felt it was more important he be near my body, than have to hear about my passing after the fact later that day.
i guess im selfish. i just didnt want to beurden him with too much guilt if he wasnt there when it happened.

so, while hes there, he had to come with his artillary of stuff to keep him occupied.
the ITouch, i had my net book, which craig ended up using more than i did., we had TV in the room. i dont remember, but he had his won bag of stuff...

he was sleeping on the couch at one point and it looked so uncomfortable i HAD to catch a shot of it...lol

he also  did some grafitti on the  dry erase board.

DAY OF GASTRIC SLEEVE OPERATION

note the expression in this pic, a later pic has a quite different picture of me.

well, the day was here. i had accomplished 3 years of trying, climbing up this tall hill, to FINALLY be standing, or laying in the bed. waiting to get this surgery that would change my life, forever.

we went in early. so much so we were asked why we were there so early..lol

we decided what was the point in waiting at home, wed get there in time to do everything that needed to be done.

we waited only about 30 minutes and i was asled to come to the back to start the pre-op stuff before the surgery.

i got my own waiting area, and was told id have my family back there shortly, was asked to change into my gown, and they would be bacl to get me all IVed up, and blood pressure shecked and ask me some questions.

it wasnt too terribly long before my family was allowed back. and we chatted a little bit, sometimes being interupted  while we chatted with some checks of things.

i had a blood pressure check as well, and i told the nurse to not be too surprised by the fact it was prolly off the roof, i was prolly extreemly nervous. she did the check, i asked what it was, she said my blood pressure was..NORMAL! its NEVER normal...amazing!

they drew blood to check it, and see if i was prenant, i told them i couldnt be, i hadnt been intimate with the hubby for about 6 weeks at that time, if i was it would have been a miracle.
during the time we were there talking about stuff, the nurse came back to tell me i was "right about my assumption" lol
craig was clueless, and i had to clue him in to the fact i wasnt pregnant at the time, and the comment i had told the nurse...

pretty soon a male nurse came back there, told me his name, talked to me a bit said hed be back in a little bit.

was about 15 minutes and he was back, told me he was injecting a liquid into my V that was to relax me...and proceeded to wheel me out.
took me out i said to craig "i promise ill be back"
craig replied with" better be"

i went back completely calm, and without any reservations, i was ok with if i would die on the table. i wasnt worried at all. seriously. not worried one itty bitty iota.

next thing i remember was dramng that the lead singer of my favorite band U2 was singing to me on a lonely island (beautiful scenery by the way, we were on some private balcony of some secluded place) he was wearing white guaze shirt and white guaze pants, flowing in the breeze...
i remember saying in my dream, "why is bono wearing white? he never wears white."
and he sings to me..
"is this real? is bono singing to me?"
woke me up.

i can remember opening my eyes and thinking whats that beeping noise?
the clock on the wall was all fuzzy and out of focus.
and i looked to my left and saw a young lady there.

and i remmeber saying something like...
they said id have someone here...monitoring me. is that you?

she said she was my post op nurse and that was her job, to monior me until i came out of the anesthesia.

it was so hard for me to keep my eyes open, as hard as i tried, they were so very heavy.
i know i could talk, i have no real memory of hat that room looked like...my eyes were shut the entire time.
i wasnt sleeping.
i just couldnt get my eyelids to function.

within 30 minutes i was wheeled up to my room, where my family awaited my return.

i have very little memory of getting off the bed onto the other bed, but i do remember the intense pain i felt in my side.
i felt like i had been stabbed.
and it HURT!
i mean a hurt like ive never felt before.

they wanted me to sit up for a while as well...
i was interested in walking, because i wasnt interested in having any clots forming in me...they wouldnt allow me to walk, but they didnt mind me siting up.

they also wanted me to pee, and to make sure i peed in the "hat" so they could see the volume as well as any discoloration in it.

i peed a small volume.
getting up from the toilette was so very hard...i seriously didnt think id recover from that surgery at that point.

that whole night was difficult, i was poked and prodded and checked up on every few minutes.

WEIGHT PICTURE

MY WEIGHT AT NUTRITION CLASS

289.2

AMANDA TRIES LOW CARB PIZZA

i really TRY to get that first impression, in the expression of the person when they try something "outside of the normal box" for them. i missed it with this shot.

Amanda is a Bestie/ Beastie in training. thats what i call people i think i can get to know better, but im not too sure about, until it happens.

one day i was at my bestie/Beasties TAMMY SPENCER house in oklahoma (i have only  handful of close freinds in my life, tammy is one of them) and Amanda was there as well.

we all know each other from church.

planned for the day was the opportunity to make LOW CARB -HIGH PROTEIN CRUST-LESS PIZZA

Tammy, and i love it, it take a few steps to accompish. but it so worth it, for the health benefit of having a pizza thats not traditionally done with a bread crust.

anyway, amanda was at Tammys house, and tried some of the pizza.
i dont recall, all this time later than im writting this, that she thought it was  anything outstanding.
i dont recall she thought it was horrible either.
if i do remember right, she threw some of it away. but i could be wrong about that.
i ate it. i love it. i want more! lol

having a different diet than others has had its challenges, where i require a certain differential for meals, others are not required to eat the same things, and can endulge in the usual...
i have to break away from that tradition, and opt for similarities that are so much more beneficial for my body.

i also, have too keep in mind, where others arnt required to live my new lifestyle, they dont have to appreciate the fact that its healthier for them, and  do it like i do it.

MICHELLE

NEXT DAY WEIGHT PICTURE

had to go back the next day, after my PRE-OP stuff...had the opportunity to take another picture of my weight at the time.

295.5. Maintaining.

PRE-OP TEST SCORE

i vaugly remember being told id have a quiz when i went to my Pre-op orientation meeting.
but there it was. sitting there, in front of me like a college exam.
seemed simple enough to do. questions didnt seem that hard. but there were a few that were trick question, or questions id never even been instructed on, that were pretty much common sense.

having had the reasearch time i had invested so much time into, helped. hving the added instructions with nutrional classes also helped me.

this was my score:

91 BABY! YEAH! thats an "A"! i missed a few questions becasue i didnt remember ever having been instructed on them, and becasue they were trick questions...but i passsed!

if you didnt ass, you couldnt have the surgery. so i was set!

MICHELLE

FULL BODY SHOT PICTURES

i decided, that to show the change, id have a set of full body shots done. just took some at home.
to show my weight prior to surgery. and as i lost significant (or  hit a milestone) id take more pictures.

looking back at thee now, because its been roughly 5 months since i took these, i look really fat. im STILL fat, but not AS fat. i should take NEW pics and do a side by side comparison to the weight loss. which, todate as i write this post (8/7/2011-my 5 year wedding anniversary) im about 50 pounds down from my  heaviest recorded weight of: 310, and about 20 down since surgery.

i also made a FAN page on Facebook, for any updates through this blog, that would auto post there. allot of these posts are backdated because im so busy with so many other projects. sorry about that. ill try to do better...lol

anyway, heres some pics to remember what i was. ENJOY! MICHELLE

theres allot of work to do to get THIS into shape!

WEIGHT PICTURE

back at the bariatric facility for this picture.

293.0.thats a drop of (at the time) almost 3 pounds.

MICHELLE

CELEBRATED 'SETTING A DATE FOR SURGERY" WITH A MEAL OUT.

it was pretty typical for me, to celebrate and go out to eat, for any reason. but THIS was a special reason. we had set a date for my gastric surgery.

and it called for a celebration.

so, we went to eat at a place that wasnt so unhealthy.

SOUPER SALAD.

and these are pictures of my meal.

PROTEIN, PROTEIN, PROTEIN..and a side of mushrooms and pepperoni (high in fat, but so delish!) eggs, nuts, olives (black and green) and mixed greens -heavy on the spinach. balsamic vinaigrette dressing

and..yucky water. blah! got to be my way of life now, cant have sodas, because of the carbonation filling up the belly, making it full.

MICHELLE