“The Greatest Healing Therapy Is Friendship and Love” – Hubert H. Humphrey

Well my babies I am home, and on the road to recovery but let’s take things in order. I just want to say before I dive into this post that I appreciate and am touched by every single well wish,  prayer and kind word sent my way.  I read from a lot of fellow patients how un-supportive people can be of this procedure and I have been lucky not to experience any of that thus far.

I woke up at 5am on Monday to get in the shower and get ready to head out to the hospital. I didn’t sleep well at all because of the liquid diet, I was up having to pee every 45 minutes because I decided to chug water and broth at 11 PM since I wasn’t allowed anything after midnight. I went ahead and weighed myself and on the last day of the  liquid diet I had lost another 3.8 pounds so my weight day of surgery was 292.8.

My parents and I arrived at the hospital at 7:05am and my sister meet us there shortly there after. It took a while for the pre-pre-op nurse to come get me we got to jam out to 90’s hip hop/rb that was coming from the hallway. The RN instructed my family to give us about 15 minutes while I got changed and he got me prepped. He weighed me, gave me two different sized gowns to pick from (I opted for the larger one without even trying the smaller one because I wanted to be sure there wasn’t any sort of gap in the back lol) and some cozy grippy slipper socks.  After I changed he had me pee in a cup to make sure I wasn’t pregnant. When I got back from the bathroom my family was waiting for me and got to stay while he inserted my IV, they did my EKG, blood work, and Heparin injection. The Heparin injection wasn’t nearly as bad as I had been anticipating although it did bruise a little. They put circulation cuffs on my calves and then we waited for Dr. Brown to call to say he was ready for me to be brought up to Pre-Op.

Once we were in pre-op I could only have one person go back with me and since I figured my Mom would probably be a nervous wreck and I didn’t want to cry I opted to take my sister back with me since she’s a nurse and has a much better poker face. Dr Brown came by to see if we had any questions, as well as my OR nurse, the physicians assistant, and then finally my anesthesiologist. He asked me a series of questions and when I said yes to I get really bad motion sickness he gave me some sort of patch behind my ear to help. After that it was time to head back to the OR.

The OR nurse wheeled me back to the operating room and I noticed their were a ton of people in there prepping stuff and that I was freezing so they put a warm blanket on me and pulled me onto the operating table. As they were untying the knots on my gown I heard the anesthesiologist tell me I am going to give you something to make you sleepy. The last things I remember after that was asking them if they listen to music while the operate, and they said Dr. Brown and been listing to Van Morrison on Pandora (to witch I replied I can live with a little Van) I took one last look at the clock as the put the gas mask over my face to see that it was 10:29 and then I slipped into the Mystic.

I had anything but a gentle awakening in recovery. I anticipated this as I don’t handle anesthesia well. I was hot, in pain, had to vomit, and was very agitated. All I remember about the first few minutes being awake was being pissed that I had to vomit and no one was handing me something to get sick into and as I was throwing up either a nurse or the anesthesiologist saying we started your anti nausea meds before you woke up. They weren’t able to do the On-Que pain pump like the wanted to and it turned out they had to do an extra incision because they couldn’t see my intestines from where they went in. I protested the Dilaudid they wanted to give me since the last time I had it I vomited and the nurse was like I don’t know what else we can give you then to which I replied “do what you have to do”. By that point I had kicked off all my blankets and was still hot (not running a fever I just felt hot) so they put a cold wash cloth on my head. The Dilaudid did the trick because after that I was out and woke up an hour or so later to them telling me my room was ready.

Once I got to my room I felt great (this was close to 5pm I think). I sat up chatting with my family and got ice chips. They stuck around until 6:30 pm.  I didn’t have any pain or nausea once I got out of recovery. They had started me on one of those patient controlled pain drips of Fentanyl and I just made sure I hit that button every so often.  At 7pm my night nurse came by and at about 9:30 it was time to walk around the unit before bed.  It wasn’t until I was walking around that night that noticed I should have took my nurses advice on wearing the smaller gown. The gown I put on was so big that it was touching the ground and I could have hid two dwarfs under it without anyone seeing.  I guess I could have went smaller but at least my ass wasn’t hanging out.

The next day went just as easily I told my parents to save themselves the trip since I was doing fine and probably would nap on and off all day. I was expecting visitors that evening so it’s not as if I was going to be lonely. My nurse took out my catheter and started me on Norco pills so we could ween off of the Fentanyl drip. After I got my catheter out I did about 7 laps around the unit and continued to do laps every time I had to pee. By the evening they had taken me off everything I was hooked to and I was able to shower and then sleep much more comfortably  Tuesday night.  My friends that came by couldn’t believe how good I looked and was moving around they were like it’s as if you haven’t had anything done.

I woke up Wednesday morning to Dr Browns smiling face asking me if I was ready to go home today which I was.  My parents arrived at about 10 am and they were shocked to see me up and brushing my teeth.  We came home I napped for a handful of hours and then had another visitor before it was time to get ready for bed.

Thursday was not such a walk in the park however. I woke up around 7 feeling very nauseated and dizzy and decided I was done with the pain killers. I woke up and had some broth and jell-o and then spent the rest of the day sleeping. Anytime I got up I felt dizzy and like I might vomit. My sister came by last night to check on me and took my blood pressure and said everything was ok. I drank a cup of broth over the course of about 40 – 60 minutes and then got in the shower. The fainting feeling was so bad by the time I got out of the shower that I couldn’t decided if I should go to the ER or not. I decided to just go to sleep and see how I felt the next time I got up.

Maybe I was detoxing off the narcotics yesterday but I feel much better today. I still feel a little week and off balance when I get up to walk around but I am actually able to stay awake today where yesterday I could barely stay up long enough to get some water down. I don’t really have much pain except for a little slight pain around my incisions if I sit straight up for too long. Speaking of incisions want to see them? If you don’t close your eyes and scroll down fat and bruising ahead.

Please excuse my lack of belly button in the pick I had to sit up slightly to take this as I was laying down when I did it. I know the bruising looks awful but it’s doesn’t hurt I just bruise kind of easily. I also feel like bruises turn crazy colors about 4 days out. The only one I can feel is that center one that’s a lovely shade of yellow and blue.

I have now officially been on liquids for a week and I can’t tell you how forward I am looking to full liquids where I will finally get something more than broth, sugar free juice, Jell-O and Popsicles. On full liquids we can have soups and anything that can go through a strainer. Last night I had a dream about being on yacht and we free-ed sea turtle and these massive sting rays and we had a party to celebrate. At the celebration in the dream I was chewing on nut mix, and key lime pie and spitting it out lol so needless to say I am ready for something with more flavor. I haven’t gotten on a scale since Monday since it takes at least week or so for all the fluids and gas they pump you full of at the hospital to get out of your system.

Well that’s it for now. It’s back to my full time job of consuming liquids one ounce at a time and to schedule my follow up appointment with Dr. Brown.

 

“Well my bags are packed I am ready to go…”

 

The bewitching hour is steadily approaching. I am as prepared as I am going to get and now it’s all up to Dr. Brown and his team to get me to the next phase.

Last night I had a dream that I forgot I was on the liquid diet and blew it by eating several cheese sticks, smart popcorn, and fruit snacks. I woke up in a panic only to come to my senses that I had not in fact eaten an entire pack of cheese.

I spent the day washing all my bedding and taking before pics. I waited entirely too long to go pick up more broth from the grocery store and hadn’t drank nearly enough juice which resulted in me nearly fainting in Kings Supers. I came home and chugged two cups of broth and some juice and felt much better after that.

Speaking of before pics avert you eyes if you don’t want to see a picture of me à la the biggest loser (in my bra and bike shorts). This morning I weighed in at 296.6.

I spent the afternoon/ evening hanging out with my BFF and then packing for my stay at the hospital. Here’s what I am bringing:

The guide for what to bring said to bring basic toiletries and that we could bring clothes as patients prefer their own. I am bringing: A black tube top tunic and a blue and grey baseball tee I opted for dark just in case my incisions leak. Black bicycle shorts, A Hanes Cozy bra for a little support, lotion, chapstick, travel tooth brush,  tooth paste, glasses cleaner and cloth, Gas-X strips, dry shampoo,  brush, face lotion, facial cleansing wipes, pads (because you never know with PCOS), headphones, my charger, and my phone.

I have to sleep with a pod cast or tv on so the headphones are for just in case they won’t let me leave the TV on.  Speaking of sleep I should try to get some. Goodnight everyone and stay tuned for updates!

 

 

It’s the final countdown…

Well kids the time is quickly approaching. I hope everything post op goes as easily, and quickly as the process leading up to this.

I am almost finished with the second day of the liquid diet. It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be, although I might be singing a different song tomorrow.  My stomach finally stopped growling at me around 6pm last night when it got the hint that it wasn’t getting real food anytime soon. The only thing I am interested in off the allowed items list is low sodium chicken broth, sugar free Jell-o, diet Ocean Spray juices, and the sugar free popsicles.

Perhaps I’m so hungry at the moment because I haven’t had as much today as I did yesterday. I am just sick of having to pee every three seconds so it’s kept me from drinking as much today. Yesterday I drank a whole bottle of juice, almost a whole carton of broth, at least 40 ounces of water, and 12 sugar free Jell-o cups. Today all I had was 3/4 of a carton of broth, a 1/4 of a bottle of juice, 4 Jell-O  cups and then like half a bowl of sugar free orange Jell-O, and about 52 ounces of water.

My stomach just growls at me in protest after I “eat” the jiggly water like bitch this is not food! I am just so grateful that I only have to do this for 3 days and not 2 weeks pre-op like a lot of surgeons require.

Last night after work I drove to Ft. Collins to visit the Screamin Peach for a wax since I figured hair removal for a week or two post-op might be tricky or painful.

They had a giant version of this in the waxing room, it makes me far too happy.

I wasn’t craving anything bad all day until I got there. The wax smelled like brownie batter, and then all I could think about was how tasty a brownie would be.

Afterword I drove to Denver to hang out with some friends and we went out to the bars. I was surprised at how well I did without anything to drink considering how packed it was where we were. It’s not as if I drink much but I do enjoy a cocktail or two however I didn’t mind sipping on water all night.

Today all day long all I have wanted was cheese and fruit. My dad had a bag of smart popcorn and all I wanted to do was to suck the cheese off a piece but I resisted.

I had not been eating super well up to the liquid diet so I gained about 8 pounds and ended up at 301 when I stepped on the scale Friday morning. I actually wasn’t eating horribly minus the ice cream I had every night for the last month.

This morning when I stepped on the scale it said 298.6. I’ll take a 2.4 loss in a day. Here’s to hoping that I will never see 300+ pounds on a scale again.

Well I think sleep is going to win over hunger at the moment because I can’t stop yawning. Tomorrow I plan on drinking as much juice and broth as I can get in all day long in the hopes of controlling the hunger between midnight and 9 am when I go under.

 

 

Holy Shit! I have been approved!!!!

Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God!!!!! I just got a voice mail from my surgeons office saying I have been approved!!!!! I was really expecting for them to come back and say that Cigna was going to want something else.

When I got back from Sint Maarten I had a 3 day old voicemail from my surgeons office saying they needed to talk to me. When I called them back they said that all the Cigna patients they had submitted recently that had been told they only needed three months of classes had been denied. Cigna came back on all of their patients and said they needed a 4th month of classes and that they wanted me to get one more class in before we sent it off the request just in case. I only had a couple of days before we needed to submit my paperwork but we made it work.

Well it’s official July 14th at 7:30 am my life will change forever. Pending of course that my work doesn’t decide that we are going to be too busy for me to be out. I scheduled it for when they said would work but now they are concerned about how coverage since it’s around our busy season.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear” – Nelson Mandela

Every time I look at my countdown I get excited and then my stomach turns in anticipation of certain things. It’s similar to the feeling you get before you ride a new roller coaster for the first time, your excited and terrified all at the same time. I got a letter from Cigna yesterday saying they received my surgeons request, and they now need my file to determine the necessity of an inpatient procedure. Now we wait (some more).

The closer I get the harder the fear kicks in, and the harder it is to put it to the back of my mind. To everyone I have not seen lately I am sorry but my anxiety surrounding this procedure has caused my social anxiety to kick into overdrive. Not to mention that I am having some body image issues which have made it all but impossible to get into the studio and dance. It’s strange to not have body issues your whole life, then all of a sudden be afraid of mirrors but it seems like since I have made the decision to go under the knife mirrors have not been my friend. I have become painfully aware of how much larger I am than the rest of my fellow dancers and instead of coming out of class feeling alive, I would just leave wanting to cry after an hour of being able to see them and myself in the same reflection. I am hoping this is something that will fade soon because I miss my Vertical Fusion family more than words can express.

Last night I joined a Facebook support group for Gastric Bypass patients. It will be nice to have a community of people whom have been through this process to seek advice from since I don’t know anyone who has had a bariatric procedure.  My surgeon offers them but they are during the week days when I can’t make it.

One of the things I have been most afraid of is what will happen to all my beautiful ink if I ended up reaching my goal of a 150 pound loss? None of the bloggers I follow are heavily tattooed and large portions of my body are covered. Luckily a number of people in this group are heavily tattooed as well and they all said they didn’t notice any change in their tattoo’s. Luckily for me I don’t have them any place where they might have to cut into them if I end up needing any skin removed.

Just the tip of the tattoo ice berg.

In the thought that things are more frightening in the dark, I am going to shine some light on my fears in the hopes that seeing them written will help me deal with them. Here goes nothing.

1. The procedure and hospital stay- This is probably the thing that gives me the greatest anxiety. I hate needles (ironic I know considering the photo above but tattoo’s aren’t the same as an injection or IV). Anesthesia makes me very nauseated so I am afraid of how much it’s going to hurt if I have to vomit. Vicodin, Percocet, Dilaudid all make me vomit so there is a great chance that Morphine will too. Not to mention how little I am looking forward to having a catheter.

2. The financial piece of it – $500 is due to the surgeon the morning of the procedure (which I have now met my deductible so I don’t know if I will have to pay this or not). I was always under the impression that as long as you had insurance that you paid your co-pay  then the hospital, and doctors etc. submit the bill to your insurance company and then you are sent a bill for whatever Cigna won’t cover. The last time I was at my pulmonologist his receptionist was talking about how her daughter had to go to the hospital for something that she had to pay everything in full out of pocket and then was reimbursed for what the insurance company would cover. I hope this isn’t the case for inpatient surgery. I have never been admitted to a hospital so I have no clue how any of this works. Also I was under the impression that our insurance company had a max out of pocket expense of $2000 for the year for in network treatment. Today while I was on Cigna’s website I didn’t see the information about max out of pocket expense like I did when I was previously on there. I have been planing this whole time not to have more than a $1,200 expense since I have already paid $898 out of pocket so far this year (I have sent an email to my HR lady to see what she has to say about these two things). Not to mention all the vitamins, protein product etc that you have to buy.

3. What if I hate what I look like after – I know this is a strange thought for most considering the body image issues I mentioned above but I don’t hate the way I look now (as long as I don’t try and do stripper pushup in a mirror). In fact the only thing I really don’t like about my body are my arms and my trunk (the section starting above your ass and ending below your boobs) and my arms. I think I have a beautiful face, a killer rack, and a nice ass and legs. I just want to be smaller. It’s hard for me to imagine what I might look like at a size 8/10 because the last time I can remember even being around that size was in 6th grade when I was 12/14. This is a horribly bitch thing to say but I have seen people who look really scary after WLS (cough cough Star Jones granted she must have had some work done to her face because she doesn’t looks so bug eyed anymore for a while I thought she looked more beautiful pre-op) and the last thing I want is to feel worse clothed at 150 pounds, than I did doing burlesque at 300 pounds. It has been a relief to see a bunch of before and after pics in the support group because I haven’t really seen many (aside from the blogs I follow).

4. Failing – What if I go through all this and I never see Onderland (A weight under 200 pounds)?

5. Losing way too much hair – I have had my hair thin out before so much to the point that my hair dress was like “dude why is your hair falling out” at the time I had no clue that my thyroid was out of whack and perhaps during that period it was really out of whack (it’s always off on my blood work but not enough to medicate me for it). I know that there is nothing you can really do about your hair falling out after surgery I just hope I don’t end up with a bald spot.

Well that’s it for now, apparently I am long winded because I hit a thousand words easily. I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to stop by and read my posts, and everyone who has expressed their support thus far. It really means a lot to me.

“Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.” – Khaled Hosseini

Oh my how the time flies. April has just blown by because I have been so busy with my photography business and other general spring activities. I feel like April and May are always jam packed with birthdays, graduations, and other social requirements.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 months since I started this whole process, and in just 1 day and 19 hours I will be headed to NYC (see this post for more on my trip), In 34 days and 9 hours I will be soaking up the sun in Sint Maarten, and in 80 days and 15 hours I will be going under the knife for gastric bypass (if all goes as plans).

I finished the last of my three months of supervised nutritional classes on April 14th, the class was on fitness and since I am already pretty active all of this was review. The surgeons team has all the other paper work needed by Cigna to have the surgery approved. The only part left is to wait on is their answer. I was worried about the gap in my classes and when the surgery is going to take place (July 14th so I imagine they will submit my paperwork the last week in June) so I asked if they thought I should continue taking classes until it’s time to submit my paper work. The lady that handles all the insurance stuff for Dr. Browns office says that she doesn’t think so that she doesn’t see a reason why they shouldn’t approve it.

I really wish I could attend the last 3 classes of the series but since it doesn’t work out with my work schedule and I have pretty much all but used all of my time off for they year I wont be able to. They however were very helpful in providing me with the power point sessions and handouts for the classes I wont be able to attend so at least I will be able to go over this information on my own.

I keep thinking surely it can’t be this easy but perhaps it will be. It’s crazy to think that in 3 months I will be 10 days post op. I wish they would just submit the paper work now so we would know for certain. In the mean time I am trying to keep this in mind.

It’s hard because every time I look at the countdown on my phone I can’t help but feel scared, worried, and expecting the pain post op. So I try to focus on things like how awesome it will be to do a forward bend and not have my belly keeping me from reaching my fullest potential because it will only squish down so far. I keep going back and forth between being very excited and then wanting to vomit when I think about how momentous of a feat I am about to take on.

On the bright side I am down to 295 pounds which is a 18 pound loss since I started this whole processes. Hopefully I will have some more time to workout when I get back from NYC and before Sint Maarten. I just need to make sure I walk a ton in NYC so I don’t gain a million pounds from all delicious food we have planned to try while we are out there.

Well that’s all I have for now but I wanted to post something since I finished up my third class. I will be sure to keep you posted on our adventure to the Today show and our NYC shenanigans.

“I generally avoid temtation unless I can’t resist it” – Mae West

I have been trying to avoid sugar since January, and I have done pretty well considering I was a little out of control with sugar over the holidays.  I am very good at avoiding and buying sugary treats unless they are right there in front of and then I don’t have a whole lot of power to resist them.

However temptation island has made it’s way to outside my freaking cube at work. It started the week of Valentines when the guy who sits next to me put out 3 candy dishes full of Valentines candy. Up until last week the only thing I had allowed my self was two Hershey’s Kisses. However last week my arch nemesis moved onto the island and now all three dishes (which were almost finally empty) have been refilled with Easter candy (my favorite I think probably because of the colors, since that’s the only thing that changes from one holiday to the next). The Butterfingers I could leave but I love gummy candy and there’s a dish of Sweet-Tart gummy bunnies that I keep sneaking one here and there as I go by.

Then today a box of cookies showed up, and then a box of danish after lunch that disappeared right before I went to take this picture (and as I write this someone is adding more candy to the dishes).

I have to pass this every time I go to my desk.

I then went on to start talking to my coworker about how sneaking labeling laws are in regards to lots of stuff but mostly GMO and Sugar. Did you know that if something has 2 grams of sugar or less they can say it’s sugar free even though it has sugar in it (I found this out at my 2nd class on Monday)? So depending on the amount of that product you eat you could end up with way more sugar than you expected. Plus it’s a beast that’s known by many names so unless you know what your looking for you could miss sugar being in something.

Here is a list of the different how hidden sugar and sweeteners can be listed on your labels:

• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Corn syrup
• Corn syrup solids
• High fructose corn syrup
• Malt syrup
• Maple syrup
• Pancake syrup
• Fructose sweetner
• Liquid fructose
• Honey
• Molasses
• Brown Rice Syrup
• Cane Juice
• Evaporated Cane Juice
• Granulated sugar
• Jaggary (unrefined cane sugar)
• Palm sugar (made from sap of the Palmyra palm)
• Anhydrous dextrose
• Crystal dextrose
• Sucrose (table sugar)
• Refined Cane Sugar
• Beet Sugar
• Dextrose (crystalline glucose from starch)
• Fructose (fruit sugar)
• Maltose (malt)
• Lactose  (milk sugar)
• Fruit juice concentrait
• Powdered Sugar
• Gluclose
• Invert sugar (simple syrup)
• Galactose (dairy)
• Tubinado sugar (sugar cane-brown)
• Confectioner’s sugar (powdered)
• Caramelized sugar
• Caramel
• Agave
• Acesulfame Potassium
• Aspartame
• Cyclamate
• Neotame
• Saccharin (Splenda)

The list goes on and on, these are just the common ones. I also shared with her this video from Robin O’Brien’s TED Talk on GMO’s and food allergies.

The bill that allowed for GMO foods to be used was passed in 1992 which would have been when I was 6. Now pretty much all of my friends that have had babies have been born with some sort of food allergy, and I wholeheartedly believe it’s because all of the additives, artificial dyes and GMO ingredients that have been in our food for the majority of our lives. I could go on about GMO’s but I will save that for another day this post has fulfilled it’s mission which was to distract me from temptation island until it was time to go.

“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ lists.” – Michella Obama

Embarking on this journey is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. When I think about things like the actual procedure, going under, and the pain I will endure while healing, I get overwhelmingly scared and have to force myself to think of something else. Then I think about all the things that will change for the positive and it makes me wish we could just get this done and the ball rolling now.

In preparation for this wild ride I have been reading countless blogs and accounts of peoples bariatric surgeries. One of my favorite blogs that I have come across is Flirty by Thirty. It’s very inspirational to me because we are similar ages and I just love the concept of her blog. One of the things I like in particular is her 30 by 30 list which is a list of non scale victories that she wants to accomplish by the time she’s 30. Many of the things on the list have been made possibly by her VGS (vertical gastric sleeve).

In an effort to keep my eye on the prize I have decided to make my own 30 by 30 list.

1. Hike one of the 14’ers here in Colorado

2. Shop in the non-plus size section

3. Scuba Dive (I was supposed to do this on my vacation in May. Unfortunately because I have Asthma and I am so over weight I couldn’t get the medical clearance to do it. He said if it was just one or the other I could but both factors put you at a higher risk for decompression sickness so I won’t be able to do until I hit onderland)

4. Run a 5K (in particular the Color Run or the Rave Run)

5. Spend all day biking the tulip fields in Holland

6. Sky Dive

7. Wear dresses without shorts underneath and the fear of chub rub (chafing)

8. Wear non wide calf boots

9. Pose for a shoot with Viva Van Story

10. Do a zip line through some rainforest like setting

11. Put over 800 miles on my bike

12. Perform in a pole showcase

13. Ride a horse through the surf of a white sand beach

14. Make it into the Colordao Burlesque festival

15. Donate/Sell/ or trash 99% of the clothes I currently own because they no longer fit

16. Go to pole camp in St Maarten

17. Do an inversion on the aerial silks

18. Inverted Crucifix (pole move)

Jenny doing an inverted crucifix at Vertical Fusion Ft Collins. Photograph by Desiree Galvez photography.

19. Finish my aerial yoga certification

20. Keem (pole move not sure if that’s what we call it at Vertical Fusion but that’s what the pole dictionary says this is called.)

Melanie pulling a Keem at high altitude. Photograph by Desiree Galvez Photography

21. Be able to do a seated twist in yoga with out the ass cheek of the leg that’s on top coming off the ground and throwing off my alignment

22. Ayesha (pole move)

Norell doing an elbow grip Ayesha at the Galmbition pole showcase. Photograph by Desiree Galvez Photography

23. Windshield wipers (pole move)

24.  Be able to do forward folds in yoga without my belly getting in the way

25. Black widow into pretzel (pole combo)

26. Be able to do at least 3 pull ups in a row

27.  Russian Split (pole move)

Fabulous Jamilla Deville rocking her Russian Split at Pole Expo 2013. Photograph by Desiree Galvez Photography

28. Run a mile without stopping

29. Wear heels all night with out my knees feeling like they are going to break in two

30. All the plastic surgery I need to tighten up any loose skin and sagging that exercise can’t fix.

“One should eat to live, not live to eat” – Benjamin Franklin

Yesterday was class two of three before we can submit my paperwork to Cigna for approval (see this post for what the current requirements are for my insurance plan). The class was on grocery shopping and how to read labels in order to make smarter decisions post op. This is super important post op (especially for gastric bypass patients because of the malabsorption part of that procedure) since you physically wont be able to consume a normal volume of food.

The recommended program for nutrition post op for RNY/Gastric sleeve are as follows:

• Eat 5-6 small meals per day
• 60-80g of protein per day
• 64 oz sugar-free and caffeine-free fluid per day
• No drinking during meals and for 30 minutes before or after meals
• Take a Multivitamin daily
• Take 1500 mg Calcium Citrate (no more than 500-600 mg at a time)
• Take Iron daily (separate from calcium)
• Take B-12 daily
• Limit calorie dense foods (sugar, fat)

Avoid

• Carbonated beverages (soda, beer, fizzy water etc.)
• Nicotine use/exposure
• Alcohol consumption during the rapid weight loss period (12-18 months)
• High fat and high sugar foods
• Straws
• Chewing Gum
• Getting pregnant for at least 18 – 24 months.

The class starts by everyone introducing themselves, what procedure they are having, what class they are on, and any struggles they are having. Then our nutritionist had us “go shopping” by selecting from a wall of food (empty food packages). She then would create a days worth of meals composed of the things people selected to see where we would land for our daily goals. She did this different times once for sugar, fat, sodium, and protein. After she would create the plan that put us over the daily limits she went back and selected things that were smarter alternatives.

Most of this information was review for me however I thought the class was beneficial, and I did learn a handful of new things. I didn’t know that fruit doesn’t count toward your daily allowed grams of sugar which makes me feel a lot better about the days that I was over for sugar on My Fitness Pal because I ate fruit for multiple meals.

I was a little shocked to see how many people in this group didn’t know how to read nutritional labels. Obviously we are all there because we could use a little help with our food choices, I just don’t understand how you can have made attempts at weight loss without knowing how decipher this information. I was also blown away by how many people didn’t know much about any of the surgeries or which one they were considering. Granted we had some people who haven’t meet with surgeon yet, however by the time I decided to go in for the consultation I had already done days of research and pretty much had my mind made up about what I wanted. Now I know I am an over preparer for sure but one would think you would gather some basic details before considering going under the knife.
After my class I had a physical with my PCP, I recently switched to her and she is fabulous. She was also blown away by how stellar my labs were. The only things that she’s worried about is that my HDL level is still low, but she thinks that the surgery should help with that since weight loss will bring that number up.

Cholesterol 123 (140-200)

Triglycerides 113 (35-135)

HDL 29 (40-75)

LDL 72 (60-100)

Estimated Average Glucose 103 (68-126)

Hemoglobin 5.2% (4.o – 6.0)

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone .657 (0.465-4.680)

“The food we eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” – Ann Wigmore

One of the things that has always made me upset about food in this country is the accesses to affordable organic food (or food as our grandparents used to call it). It saddens me to see countless children being raised on Franken-foods because it’s cheaper than grass fed organic beef and vegetables.  What if we could make it so affordable that it would make it accessible for the cost of a soda or a coffee?

I don’t often find products that I am so passionate about that I want to give it away like I am Oprah on one of those favorite things episodes everyone would field goal kick a baby to get into (I am totally going to give it away see below). I don’t even watch her show but I used to fantasize about getting to go to one as a kid.

I had decided this week that my next blog was going to be about Skoop, and last night I got the opportunity to be able to share it so I figured well now it can’t wait. The more people I see try Skoop, and they immediately notice a benefit I can’t help but think that this could really help a lot of people.  Skoop is a supplement containing “the mad science of mother nature,” and 10 servings of fruits and vegetables in one serving for only 50 calories and 3 grams of sugar. Skoop’s proprietary blend contains 41 obsessively researched ingredients that have been formulated to maximize nutrient synergies. The result is a surprisingly tasty, nutrient dense Superfood powder – rich with antioxidants, probiotics and adaptogenic herbs that reduce inflammation and acidic build-up, increase energy and resilience, and supercharge your immune system’s ability to fight disease.

Having worked for a company that specialized in organic products for nearly 7 years I am pretty careful about ingredients (and how they’re labeled) and try to shop as organically as possible.  When my sister was first trying to get me to try it back in January my only hesitation was that I couldn’t find their complete ingredient list on their website. However after further research it looks like all if not most of the ingredients are organic. So I figured what do I have to lose?

The recommend way to try Skoop is to do a 5 day challenge. It comes in a folder with 5 samples (it’s a dehydrated powder) and it’s recommended that you have it first thing in the morning. I drink mine with 8 oz of water, but it can be added to your choice of milk or milk like product, yogurt, protein shakes, pancakes, smoothies etc. It’s not meant to replace a meal but it’s often the only thing I have for breakfast and I am not hungry until lunch.

I was a little skeptic at first about the fantastic claims from the few people I knew that had started their challenges before me. I had given up soda about two or three week prior to starting Skoop and had still been thinking about the bubbly devil at the beginning of the challenge. I was shocked when  day 3 of the challenge came around I stopped craving sugar. I noticed that the mental fog I had cleared and I had more energy. In addition to not being groggy all the time it has seemed to really help with my insomnia. My Skin is looking fantastic, and I keep finding more things that are improving the longer I take it.

I really credit Skoop for helping me be soda free for 74 days so far, and for helping me stay within my calorie goals because I am not starving and snacking all day. One of my best friends was hooked after her 5 day challenge and says she’s went from drinking 12 cups of coffee to just one.

I love it so much that I want to give away 5 free five day challenges to my readers. Please see this page for more information on Skoop including a complete ingredient list and price. My readers will receive $10 off a 30 day supply if you purchase it through this link.

If you would like to be entered into the drawing for a 5 day challenge comment pick me on this post by 5:30pm MST Friday March 28th when I will select 5 lucky winners.

I am going to check this week when I go to my nutritionist meeting to see if it’s safe for post surgery bariatric patients, which I am really hoping it is. How awesome would it be to be able to get 10 servings of fruits and veggies post op mixed in with your protein shakes?