Some thoughts . . .

In the last 32 days, I have not 

• eaten in my car
• had fast food
• eaten candy
• gone out to lunch at work (it was a 2-3x a week habit there for awhile)
• suffered from reflux
• had any nosebleeds  (my sinuses have freakishly cleared since surgery day!)
• felt exhausted
• had any regrets

Having this surgery is a huge deal.  I know I will not be perfect every day, but I will do a good job every day and try my hardest.

This week has been a huge challenge.  It started out with a surge strip mishap which ended up zapping my work computer's hard drive. Toast. Paperweight.  Then on Tuesday I had to meet with my boss, who was not in a good mood.  I caught a bad case of the crabbies and thought I was just going to have to give up, go home and pull the blankets over my head.

Normally, that would send me to my junk food drawer or across the street to CVS for some kind of fix. I just did a little breathing and had some yogurt.  Then had my calcium pills.  For some reason, I love my calcium lozenges.  They're cinnamon flavored, kinda grainy, but oddly soothing.  I actually look forward to my two calcium breaks per day at work.  

I managed to survive my week (so far) without killing anyone or eating a big bag of M&Ms.  With one day left until the weekend, and stress relieving time hanging out in the yard and garden with the dogs, I think I'll make it.

Today I realized...

there appears to be more in life than food!

Perhaps I overdid it, but I spent most of the day in the yard, working. I ate, but not all that much; my meals and a snack of turkey breast and cheese. I wasn't obsessed with what I was going to eat next.  I was more obsessed with getting the lawn cut and planting my hanging baskets for the front porch.

Yeah, if I end up with a transference addiction, I'm sure I could come up with worse things than gardening.  : )

FINALLY!!

I have the most sensitive skin, and as  you've heard me whine, I had a huge rash after my surgery.  Some kind of allergic reaction to the pre-op scrub/surgical incise drape.  I have issues with bandages too.  They stick like gorilla glue and take at least 3 layers of skin off when I yank 'em.

Today, I FINALLY got the surgical steri-strips off my incisions!

It's only 3 days shy of 3 weeks and those buggers were getting quite grimy.  But I had this irrational fear that if I tried to pull them off, my incisions would open.  Yikes!  Dr. Williams did say let them fall off naturally.  But I don't think he is aware of the issues with my skin and sticky stuff.  

For the past several days I have been slathering them with baby oil in the shower to help loosen the adhesive.  I was able to gently pull them off.  I even took the set of strips off my big incision. Fortunately, my pork did not pop out.  Whew!

Now I just have to deal with the adhesive goo aftermath.  Mary suggested Goo-Gone!  I think that would sting, but at least I'd smell orange-citrus fresh!

You had to know I'd go there eventually (warning: gross post!)

Intestinally, life has been quite different since I started my liquid diet a week prior to surgery.

I suffered from some major carb withdrawal a few days into the diet. After a short break from solid foods, my intestines got to go on vacation. I could imagine them coiled on a chaise on the beach, sunglasses on, fruity drink close at hand.  Sighing happily in the sun about getting some time off.

I have had IBS or some kind of crazy colon for YEARS.  For me, constipation was what other people considered normal, if you get my drift.  And I went with great frequency.  GREAT frequency.  As in a week's worth of output for the average Joe was my morning before I left for work.

Now, things have slowed down considerably and uh, firmed up.  And I'm quite gassy.  That seems to be the norm with any kind of bariatric surgery.  That and from eating healhty food, ha ha.  The gas is beginning to get to me, though. Because the contents of my intestines are now solid, convincing said gas to exit around the masses up in there is challenging.

First off, now my gas is wickedly noisy.  Not just a toot here and there.  It's like trumpets.  I frequently finding myself laughing in the bathroom at work.  5th grade boys would love me! But I also have to strain some to pass gas, which is irritating.  Literally.  As in my ass is getting chapped or something from all the high pressure air flow! OUCH.  Hopefully all the gaseous friction will induce an anal callous or something, so it won't be so irritating once I adjust to my new normal.  Gassy with ass callous, that is.

Plus, between that and going to the bathroom, I'm worried I'm gonna pop a stitch!  If I feel a spoiinnng! while going (sound and sensation of my band popping off!), I will literally freak.  I hope it doesn't come to that though.

Hmm. I need to find my bottle of Benefiber.  NOW.

Super Cool Website

I told my pal Katy about my walks to and from the parking lots and how I estimated it, based on my number of steps and stride length, to be about a mile.  She told me about this fantastic site called Geodistance where you could actually map out routes and their distances.  

Whaaaaa?

Immediately, I went there, and sure enough, the route from my car to my desk is 0.92 miles!  How cool is that?  The nerd in me was quite giddy!  And impressed that my Body Bugg steps were that accurate.  I guessed a mile, and was off by a mere 0.08.  WOW!

I wanted to come up with a short walk I could do during the day.  10 minutes or less. I sit here at the computer for hours on end and it's wreaking havoc on my joints. I need to get up and move periodically. Perhaps more than just my 47 Crystal Light induced potty runs a day.

So I realized I could toggle this Geodistance map to satellite and voila!  I can see all the sidewalks on campus!  SUPER COOL!  So I came up with a route that's right at half a mile and I did it this afternoon in just about 10 minutes.  Perfect! 

As my stamina improves, I can make it longer and throw in a few hills over by the law school.  This is fun stuff for me.  Yeah.  Obviously, it doesn't take much.