I have been pretty busy the past couple of days with getting my garden ready to plant. Last night was the last thing I needed to do before grounds maintenance comes up to till the soil!!! I had to go buy fertilizer and I also bought some tomato plants and some herbs. I am very excited to get this all going!! I also started to work in the other bed in my back yard, that I have to assume at some point was a type of garden. It is built into the side of a small hill and it had a fence around it. I have started to dig up everything and rake it down. I also am removing the fence in an attempt to return it to a regular grassy area.
Next up is a couple of chairs for my front porch and I am ready for summer!!
I am not sure if it is the extra activity I am doing or the surgery, but I am sleeping a lot more than usual. I am talking about almost 10 hours a night. I used to get 8 and was good with that, but these extra two must be needed??
Tonight I start Yoga!!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
One Month
Today I had my one month followup with Dr. Khaitan! I have lost a total of 26lbs so far. I need to beef up my work outs and get more consistent with that, but the food seems to be going well. I have myself on a routine and specific foods that I know I can eat. I am trying to introduce more of a variety and that seems to be going well too!
Cooking for one has always been a challenge, but now that I am eating so little it is getting harder. I have devised a system of cooking a small mean for dinner and taking half for lunch the next day. Tonight I am making stuffed mushrooms with chicken sausage. I will take one link and make enough for two meals. It's working and it's saving money!!!
Cooking for one has always been a challenge, but now that I am eating so little it is getting harder. I have devised a system of cooking a small mean for dinner and taking half for lunch the next day. Tonight I am making stuffed mushrooms with chicken sausage. I will take one link and make enough for two meals. It's working and it's saving money!!!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wheat Berry Salad
Wheat Berry Salad
½ Cup uncooked Winter Wheat Berry
1 Poached Turkey Cutlet (shredded)
¼ Cup Diced of Each
Bell Pepper (I used orange)
Red Onion
Cucumber
Grape Tomato
1 Ounce Feta Cheese (Crumbles)
2 Tbs Fresh Parsley
Bay Leaf
Salad Dressing
1 Lemmon
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbs Olive Oil
Combine the wheat berries with 4 cups water, bay leaf and 1 clove of garlic. Boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until tender (Watch water level and add more if it needed). Once the water has come to a boil add the turkey cutlet. The turkey will be done before the berries, just remove from the boiling water and cool.
To make dressing, use the zest and juice of 1 whole lemon, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 grated clove of garlic, salt and pepper to taste. This will be very tart, but it needs to flavor the berries as well as the vegetables. You can also substitute this dressing for any of your favorite fat free bottled ones. Place dressing in the bottom of a medium bowl.
Once the berries are cooked, drain and add hot to the bowl with the dressing. Add the turkey at this time as well. Let the berries and turkey cool for about ½ hour before adding the vegetables, cheese and parsley. Combine and place in storage container in the fridge. This recipe makes approximately 3 ½ cups.
1 Cup Serving : 281 Calories, 10.75 g Fat, 68 mg Cholesterol, 31g Carbs, 22g Protein, 2.5g Sugar.
½ Cup uncooked Winter Wheat Berry
1 Poached Turkey Cutlet (shredded)
¼ Cup Diced of Each
Bell Pepper (I used orange)
Red Onion
Cucumber
Grape Tomato
1 Ounce Feta Cheese (Crumbles)
2 Tbs Fresh Parsley
Bay Leaf
Salad Dressing
1 Lemmon
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbs Olive Oil
Combine the wheat berries with 4 cups water, bay leaf and 1 clove of garlic. Boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until tender (Watch water level and add more if it needed). Once the water has come to a boil add the turkey cutlet. The turkey will be done before the berries, just remove from the boiling water and cool.
To make dressing, use the zest and juice of 1 whole lemon, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 grated clove of garlic, salt and pepper to taste. This will be very tart, but it needs to flavor the berries as well as the vegetables. You can also substitute this dressing for any of your favorite fat free bottled ones. Place dressing in the bottom of a medium bowl.
Once the berries are cooked, drain and add hot to the bowl with the dressing. Add the turkey at this time as well. Let the berries and turkey cool for about ½ hour before adding the vegetables, cheese and parsley. Combine and place in storage container in the fridge. This recipe makes approximately 3 ½ cups.
1 Cup Serving : 281 Calories, 10.75 g Fat, 68 mg Cholesterol, 31g Carbs, 22g Protein, 2.5g Sugar.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Clothes.....
Tonight after dinner a friend and I started going through the BACK of my closet. That is where the clothes that no longer fit lived....! Well, I have four new outfits for summer and cleaned out some stuff that is too BIG... I can't even believe that I just wrote that, but it's true....
I don't even know if I have the words in me to describe how I feel right now. I have had a great day! Up early and got my car fixed, went to whole foods and bought fresh fish to grill for dinner, wheat berries, goat cheese and feta for a yummy high protein salad and the fixings for fresh salsa for my afternoon snack!! Tonight I am wearing some clothes that I thought I would never see again, AND I feel great!!!
I believe that this is the first time that I have allowed myself to actually believe this is going to happen. Up to this point I have held my excitement for the future at bay. Not allowing myself to dream of the possibilities, not allowing myself to go there... But today.. today I took that step and boy does it feel great! I actually believe in my heart of hearts that I can do this, that I can lose this weight and that I can be the person on the outside that I feel like on the inside!!
I'm not sure how the stars have aligned, or what Divine powers have intervened to allow me to have this opportunity in my life, but I will NOT waste it......
I don't even know if I have the words in me to describe how I feel right now. I have had a great day! Up early and got my car fixed, went to whole foods and bought fresh fish to grill for dinner, wheat berries, goat cheese and feta for a yummy high protein salad and the fixings for fresh salsa for my afternoon snack!! Tonight I am wearing some clothes that I thought I would never see again, AND I feel great!!!
I believe that this is the first time that I have allowed myself to actually believe this is going to happen. Up to this point I have held my excitement for the future at bay. Not allowing myself to dream of the possibilities, not allowing myself to go there... But today.. today I took that step and boy does it feel great! I actually believe in my heart of hearts that I can do this, that I can lose this weight and that I can be the person on the outside that I feel like on the inside!!
I'm not sure how the stars have aligned, or what Divine powers have intervened to allow me to have this opportunity in my life, but I will NOT waste it......
Friday, April 24, 2009
Columbus
Headed to Columbus for the weekend. I need to get my windshield fixed and also hit Whole Foods, or Trader Joes. I need more organic food in my life...lol.. I decided a long time ago that when I had this surgery, each and everything I put in my mouth with be healthy and tasty.
I have also found a new source of exercise... Gardening.. who knew...! I have spent about an hour each night digging up ivy taproots to clear the area to plant my garden! I am sooo excited to have fresh veggies right out of my own back yard. Plus I am going to learn to can this summer as well!! I am very happy to be on the other side of this surgery and to begin to live my life again. Staples or no, I am going to live my life much more healthy now. I have felt what it feels like to lose weight, and how good I feel about being off a couple of meds. I want more and know that I have to work for it, but darn it feels good!!
In a couple weeks I am going to buy the Wii fit bundle, that way I can work out in my house when it is not so good outside!!!!
I have my one month follow up on Monday with Dr. Khaitan, I am hoping I lost a couple more lbs!
I have also found a new source of exercise... Gardening.. who knew...! I have spent about an hour each night digging up ivy taproots to clear the area to plant my garden! I am sooo excited to have fresh veggies right out of my own back yard. Plus I am going to learn to can this summer as well!! I am very happy to be on the other side of this surgery and to begin to live my life again. Staples or no, I am going to live my life much more healthy now. I have felt what it feels like to lose weight, and how good I feel about being off a couple of meds. I want more and know that I have to work for it, but darn it feels good!!
In a couple weeks I am going to buy the Wii fit bundle, that way I can work out in my house when it is not so good outside!!!!
I have my one month follow up on Monday with Dr. Khaitan, I am hoping I lost a couple more lbs!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Ouch!
I have done something to my foot that is now affecting my knee. I have no idea, but if I had to guess I would say plantar fasciitis would be the culprit. I can do a few stretching exercises to my foot and it relieves the pain. I just have to wonder why now.... grrrr
In other new, I plan on joining a yoga group next Wednesday and am joining the Wii fit club! I live out in the boonies and really need to get creative on my exercise. I can walk and get plenty that way, but I need some variety. The closest gym is about 30 to 45 mins away, and that just won't work for me....lol...
I am also heading to Columbus this weekend to hit whole foods, I want to start going organic as much as possible. I have allergies to preservatives and am finding that diet food is loaded! I will update with my purchases soon!!
In other new, I plan on joining a yoga group next Wednesday and am joining the Wii fit club! I live out in the boonies and really need to get creative on my exercise. I can walk and get plenty that way, but I need some variety. The closest gym is about 30 to 45 mins away, and that just won't work for me....lol...
I am also heading to Columbus this weekend to hit whole foods, I want to start going organic as much as possible. I have allergies to preservatives and am finding that diet food is loaded! I will update with my purchases soon!!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Dining out!
Today is Admin Appreciation day so I took my assistant out to lunch. Now they are all aware of my surgery, but still it was an odd experience. There were about 8 of us, and we headed out to a buffet. Now I used to go to buffets all the time, but this is the first time out after surgery and I was a bit scared. When we got there I noticed that all the meat products were fried, so they were out instantly! I did find that they had chili, so I had about 1/4 cup of that, a very tiny salad, a sliced beet and about 1/4 cup cottage cheese. All in all I ate my usual 1 cup of food. I did feel a slight embarrassment when everyone else had finished their salad and were going up for more, but did a quick internal dialog letting myself off the hook.
It turned out to be a good experience for me and let me know that I can do this!!
It turned out to be a good experience for me and let me know that I can do this!!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Smaller!
Today I am wearing a jacket that was sent to me. When I got it in the mail, I laughed because I loved it, but knew it wouldn't fit. Well, I put it on this morning, and IT FITS! I am wearing it today! This makes me very happy!!
Last night I was hungry, plain and simple. I started thinking back and figured out that at night I seem to be bored and therefore hungry. I need to do something at night to keep my attention off the food!!
Last night I was hungry, plain and simple. I started thinking back and figured out that at night I seem to be bored and therefore hungry. I need to do something at night to keep my attention off the food!!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Feelings
My clothes are fitting better today, which is nice. I just can't shake this need to know if I was stapled or not. I should just be happy that I am losing weight and eating much healthier, but I keep waiting for the shoe to drop I suppose. I have spent my entire life fighting the weight, and no matter how much I lost, it would always come back. Right now I am down 21.5 lbs and am back mostly on solid food. I need to beef up the workouts and get more water in, but other than that I have been doing really well.
I have created a spreadsheet to track my intake and feel that I am on track their as well. I am looking forward to meeting again with the nutritionist and check my progress there. I am consuming about 800 calories, 80g protein and 60 ounces of water on average. This alone leads me to believe that I do indeed have the staples. I don't think that I could maintain this if I didn't have some type of help!
I feel really good today, I have on a shirt that I bought 2 summers ago that no longer had fit, and it's lose!!
I have created a spreadsheet to track my intake and feel that I am on track their as well. I am looking forward to meeting again with the nutritionist and check my progress there. I am consuming about 800 calories, 80g protein and 60 ounces of water on average. This alone leads me to believe that I do indeed have the staples. I don't think that I could maintain this if I didn't have some type of help!
I feel really good today, I have on a shirt that I bought 2 summers ago that no longer had fit, and it's lose!!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
And away we go!
welcome to by blog! I am going to take this opportunity to go into my back story to get us caught up on who I am and how I got here!
I have been thinking about WLS for many years now, but each time I would get serious about it something would come up to deter me for the moment. I would either get sick, or change jobs, or move or something like that. There just never seemed to be a good time to do it. It came up again last year when my brother and I decided that we would do it together. My brother has a huge fear of Dr's and surgery so we thought it would be good to go together and support each other. Of course, just like every other time I tried I lost my job and my great insurance right before our consultation appointment. At that point I convinced him to go anyway, he needed it as bad as I did.
Around the time of his surgery in November 2008 I was complaining to a friend that my new insurance would not cover the surgery and I was pretty bummed about that. She emailed me a few days later with a web address and the possibility of getting into a clinical trial in Cleveland! I immediately linked to the site and entered my information! I knew it was a long shot, but it was better than where I was at the moment. It also was going to require me to wait and see, which is not necessarily a strong suit of mine....lol
Right before Christmas I received a call asking if I was still interested... umm YES! She said that I would get a call from the coordinator in Cleveland to set up my first appointment after the first of the year. I was so excited and nervous at the same time! When Ada called me, I wanted to cry. She had me set up with my first appointment on Feb 23, 2009. I just knew that was going to be the day that changes my life! I met with Dr. Khaitan and instantly felt comfortable and knew I was making the right decision for me.
So what am I talking about you ask? The TOGA procedure, this is a clinical trial to study the safety and effectiveness of a non invasive procedure to staple the stomach. Basically, they go down your throat with a device and create a pouch. The theory is that it will reduce the amount of food the stomach can hold and therefore allow you to lose weight. If you would like the nitty gritty click here http://www.togaclinicalstudy.com/pages/fq.htm
The one kicker to this whole thing is that because it is a clinical trial, there will be a control group. But of course you won't know if you are in that or not. 1 in 3 will not get the procedure done on surgery day. Everyone will go into the operating room and be knocked out. They will put the dilator down your throat and then open and envelope. Right then and there your fait is sealed, you are either given the surgery or not. No one but the surgeons will know for sure for the entire year. At your one year appointment they open the other envelope with you and it states if you are in the study or not. If you not selected, you are given the opportunity to have it done then for free. SOOOOOOO my thoughts were that I could get it now, or at the very least get it in a year and not have to worry about insurance and all that!
Where was I... oh yes.. So I had my first appointment and was given all the information and signed up to be in the study. I had a list of tests that I would have to go through prior to the surgery, but if I passed them all I was in!! I was so excited and scared all at the same time! After completing two of the appointments I was given my surgery date of April 28, 2009. That was perfect for me, I had a cruise scheduled and would get off the ship on the day I needed to start the liquid diet! I was all set, I had my appointments scheduled, there were 7 in all and I had had two completed, but still had the more intense ones left. Including the manomentary test which I was sooo not looking forward to at all.
On or about March 18th I got a call from Ada asking if I wanted to push my date up. They had had a cancellation and wanted to fill that spot. I told her that if she could get my appointments lined up that I would do it. Why not, it was just going to get this show started quicker. She was able and at that point I was on the fast tract to get it all done in two weeks. My new surgery date was March 31st 2009! Of course this meant that I would still be healing on my cruise!!!
Fast forward through two weeks of driving 2 hours each way to Cleveland for all my appointments and getting prepped for surgery. I arrived at the hospital bright and early Tuesday morning. They get me back to the pre-op area and start asking me 100 questions to get all the paperwork filled out. This young nurse came to put my IV in and had some trouble, I of course got a little freaked out and passed out while they were trying to get it in and Dr. Khaitan was talking to me....LOL.. When I woke up, I had no pain at all. I was really comfortable and just wanted to get to my room. That took several hours because they didn't have any rooms ready for me. I spent the night walking and chatting with some friends who visited me and went home the next day. The worst part for me honestly was the sore muscles from the positioning during the surgery. I went back to work the next day and then off on my cruise!
More to come soon!
I have been thinking about WLS for many years now, but each time I would get serious about it something would come up to deter me for the moment. I would either get sick, or change jobs, or move or something like that. There just never seemed to be a good time to do it. It came up again last year when my brother and I decided that we would do it together. My brother has a huge fear of Dr's and surgery so we thought it would be good to go together and support each other. Of course, just like every other time I tried I lost my job and my great insurance right before our consultation appointment. At that point I convinced him to go anyway, he needed it as bad as I did.
Around the time of his surgery in November 2008 I was complaining to a friend that my new insurance would not cover the surgery and I was pretty bummed about that. She emailed me a few days later with a web address and the possibility of getting into a clinical trial in Cleveland! I immediately linked to the site and entered my information! I knew it was a long shot, but it was better than where I was at the moment. It also was going to require me to wait and see, which is not necessarily a strong suit of mine....lol
Right before Christmas I received a call asking if I was still interested... umm YES! She said that I would get a call from the coordinator in Cleveland to set up my first appointment after the first of the year. I was so excited and nervous at the same time! When Ada called me, I wanted to cry. She had me set up with my first appointment on Feb 23, 2009. I just knew that was going to be the day that changes my life! I met with Dr. Khaitan and instantly felt comfortable and knew I was making the right decision for me.
So what am I talking about you ask? The TOGA procedure, this is a clinical trial to study the safety and effectiveness of a non invasive procedure to staple the stomach. Basically, they go down your throat with a device and create a pouch. The theory is that it will reduce the amount of food the stomach can hold and therefore allow you to lose weight. If you would like the nitty gritty click here http://www.togaclinicalstudy.com/pages/fq.htm
The one kicker to this whole thing is that because it is a clinical trial, there will be a control group. But of course you won't know if you are in that or not. 1 in 3 will not get the procedure done on surgery day. Everyone will go into the operating room and be knocked out. They will put the dilator down your throat and then open and envelope. Right then and there your fait is sealed, you are either given the surgery or not. No one but the surgeons will know for sure for the entire year. At your one year appointment they open the other envelope with you and it states if you are in the study or not. If you not selected, you are given the opportunity to have it done then for free. SOOOOOOO my thoughts were that I could get it now, or at the very least get it in a year and not have to worry about insurance and all that!
Where was I... oh yes.. So I had my first appointment and was given all the information and signed up to be in the study. I had a list of tests that I would have to go through prior to the surgery, but if I passed them all I was in!! I was so excited and scared all at the same time! After completing two of the appointments I was given my surgery date of April 28, 2009. That was perfect for me, I had a cruise scheduled and would get off the ship on the day I needed to start the liquid diet! I was all set, I had my appointments scheduled, there were 7 in all and I had had two completed, but still had the more intense ones left. Including the manomentary test which I was sooo not looking forward to at all.
On or about March 18th I got a call from Ada asking if I wanted to push my date up. They had had a cancellation and wanted to fill that spot. I told her that if she could get my appointments lined up that I would do it. Why not, it was just going to get this show started quicker. She was able and at that point I was on the fast tract to get it all done in two weeks. My new surgery date was March 31st 2009! Of course this meant that I would still be healing on my cruise!!!
Fast forward through two weeks of driving 2 hours each way to Cleveland for all my appointments and getting prepped for surgery. I arrived at the hospital bright and early Tuesday morning. They get me back to the pre-op area and start asking me 100 questions to get all the paperwork filled out. This young nurse came to put my IV in and had some trouble, I of course got a little freaked out and passed out while they were trying to get it in and Dr. Khaitan was talking to me....LOL.. When I woke up, I had no pain at all. I was really comfortable and just wanted to get to my room. That took several hours because they didn't have any rooms ready for me. I spent the night walking and chatting with some friends who visited me and went home the next day. The worst part for me honestly was the sore muscles from the positioning during the surgery. I went back to work the next day and then off on my cruise!
More to come soon!
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