woozy

Ohhh yeah, percocet is starting to hit me...I don't know about you, but when I have some kind of liquid  medication, I am really good about using the cup until the cup gets lost and well...I lost the cup.  I knew about how much the dose felt in my mouth though, so I could just take a sip and get the general dose give or take.  Well, tonight I went to take my first dose of Percoet that I've had all day and just as I tipped up the bottle, Yaya walked in and started talking, I lost track of what i was doing and I swallowed WAY too much.   I'm feeling rather hot, my hands are tingling and I'm woosy.  I should be okay, my main concern is too much acetameniphen, but I should be okay there too.  Damnit.  I hate it when I do crap like that.  Well, at least my stomach doesnt hurt...lol. 

I guess the readership I have can probably know that I had gastric bypass surgury last tuesday.  The people that I don't care to know do not read my journal anyway. 

I have been preparing for this for a year now.  group sessions, dieticians, psychologists, sleep studies etc. all play a part in the preperation and learning of taking care of myself postop.  So, I was put on a full liquid diet of 500 calories a day for the 14 days prior to tuesday as a last didtch effort to take off as much weight as possible and shrink my liver down so the doc would have more room to work in there.   I lost 20 pounds by the time I showed up Tuesday morning. 
The surgury went okay I guess.  I felt really horrble for about 24 hours after, really heavy, it was hard to breathe, sore and sick and my back hurt so bad.  I thought I was dying, for real.  After that though, it started getting better with a dramatic change and then every time I woke up from a nap I was a little better feeling.  My only reall issue was this fullness in the pit of my stomach that never would go away.  Like when you eat so much that you are almost nausiated full.  You know how it will just sit there?  Like that. 
The first postop day, I was not allowed anything by mouth at all.  They gave me a little sponge on a stick to dip in water and wet my mouth.  I was so dry.  I will admit now that there were at least 2 occasions where I locked myself in the bathroom just so I caould rinse my mouth with huge  mouthfuls of water, occasionally swallowing the tiniest bit (I am scare to death of vomiting, so it was really a neglagable amount), to stop the dryness in my mouth and throat.  I was estatic when they finally allowed me to have 300 cc of water every hour my second day.  Barely a mouthful, it was absolute heaven.  The colder the better it seems, and is still the best way to drink now.   I went through that entire night taking 30 minute naps, imidiately asking for water as soon as I was able.  The fullness and heaviness in my stomach was relieved with pain medications and I had a morphine button to push whenever i wanted, though I rarely used it.
That morning the doctor came in, looked at my chart and asked, "what the heck?  were you up drinking all night last night?" 

Hell yeah. 

That day he bumped me up to 600 cc of water every hour and clear liquids.  The lack of water irritated me, especially since when I had to swallow barium so they could see if I had a leak the day of surgury, I had to swallow way more than a mouthful.  If I could handle that nastiness, I really don't see why I couldent have water.  I don't know.  I really think the surgeon himself should have to go through all the classes and training I had to.  it seems that he contridicts a lot of what i was told with exercise and nutrition.  it was quite annoying at times and I felt very much like a learning subject.

By the 3rd day I was able to have as much water as I wanted and full liquids every hour.  if it was pudding, I got a tablespoon, the same with yogurt etc.  The thing is, the nursing staff, while absolutely awesome the first 2 days, were lacking on the third day and if I asked for anything other than water, I waited for at least an hour before I got it.  I really didnt care much until the afternon when I actually was kind of hungry.  Not a lot hungry, but I could eat and I had finally cought up with my thirst tothe point that I had a little reflux and really wanted something semi solid to give my stomach acid something to work on.  I finally got my 3 and a half teaspoons of cream of chicken soup as the doctor was getting me ready to leave.  It was lovely. 

Do I get hungry?  Kind of.  Not hungry like real hungry, but more of an "I can eat" situation.
I crave things still.  I want to snack, I want to munch on garbage, but I know my stomach can't handle more than full liquids still.  Besides, I know better.  My hubby was eating corn chips with some dip that looked really good.  I had a chip with dip, chewed until it was slime in my mouth and, while it went down fine, it sat in the pit of my stomach like a brick for 3 days.  Fullness now is an aweful feeling.  That overstuffed sick thanksgiving dinner feeling now.  I am very careful to keep my meals tiny and eat them very slow to avoid that fullness again.  As for chocolate craving, I don't know what dumping feels like, but I'm not so desperate that I am willing to chance it.  IF I get my protien for the day, I can have a pudding- I think it's yoplait Mousse, that is very chocolately that gives me a taste of what I want without hurting me at all.  It is only 60 calories per serving and is so whipped up that I can eat the whole cup without any problems.  Otherwise, im eating Greek yogurt and drinking a lot of skim milk and, if I put it in the blender first, I can have cottage cheese. 
Today was the best day I've had as far as comfort.  My stomach was not full today and felt pretty normal with no pain until this afternoon. there was no gas or diarreah.  it was a good day.  I went for a walk down to my mom and dad's and back, ran a few errends with the van (I am not allowed to lift and carry things this week, so I couldent walk to the store and back), but when I was done with all that, I was pretty tired and sore anyway.

How much have I lost?  Counting the 20 pounds I lost preop, I am down 51 pounds.  It kind of sucks that I can't see it.  Really, it is such a massive amount of weight, you would think it would show, but at 418 pounds starting weight, I guess I have a long ways to go before you can see it.  I can feel it though.  Curt can put his arms around me now and clasp his wrists, my skin is clearing up, my feet arent hurting anymore...things like that. 

Well there, that's all off my chest.
Today Emma was playing with her little bear, putting it down for naps, and rocking it to sleep.  it wasnt long before she found a yogurt container the dog had licked clean.  she would set her bear on it-"Poopie in da potty"  it was damned adorable, though I really wish she would take advice from the bear and use the potty herself :).

When I was walking to my parents house today, there were deer tracks all the way down the sidewalk for 4 blocks.  This town is like those shows on Alaska where you see moose walking through the streets, only our moose are whitetail deer.  I really do like it here.  Its quiet.  The town is quite picturesque with main street lined with buildings from the 1800s complete with false fronts.  The grocery store itself has been ran by the same family for 100 years.  There is a park in the center of town  with an ice skating rink accessable to anyone.  The grocery store and post office, vet, bank, hardware store, beauty shop, everything is within walking distance.

Since my sister works for Lutehr hospital, she gets a 20 percent discount on a membership for the BACC.  We are going in as a couple membership, spliting the cost in half.  I really hope she splurges for the Gold because I want to play raquet ball, which is only accessable with the gold membership.  Otherwsie, you have pool, raquetball, tanning, weights, stationary equiptment, arobics, basketball, tennis, sauna, hot tub and an intoor track.  Pretty awesome.

Sorry abuot the bad grammar today.  I'm too stoned to proofread. I think I may just go to sleep.