yeah... so...

i was scoped today. no new ulcers. current ulcer is healing nicely. still have excess acid production so i’ve been told to double my dose of prevacid (once in the morning, once in the evening.) and my gastric pouch looked good except i had a stricture. they dilated it for me and all should be good now. (THAT’S why i hurt so much after eating. THAT’S why it feels like a rock whenever i just drink some water. THAT’S why i puke and burp so much after eating.) these pics are not actual size but this is my anastomotic stricture before the dilation and then afterwards so you can compare. oh, and the black little "hook" that’s in the top of the after pic is a stitch from one of the previous surgeries.

before



after

50 Things to do instead of snacking:

1. Imagine the new healthier you
2. Walk around the block
3. Call a friend
4. Make a list of your Top Ten Reasons to Lose Weight
5. Make a To Do list
6. Turn on music and dance
7. Jot a thank you note to someone
8. Go to bed early or take a nap
9. Read a book
10. Blog or journal
11. Give yourself a manicure or pedicure
12. Plan a healthy meal for your family
13. Surf the Internet
14. Finish an unfinished project
15. Walk your dog, pet your cat, feed your fish
16. Brush your teeth
17. Balance your checkbook
18. Say a prayer
19. Chop veggies to keep on hand
20. Give a massage
21. Clean out a junk drawer
22. Play a game with your kids
23. Try a new route on your walk
24. Drink a glass of water
25. Kiss someone
26. Try on some of your clothes
27. Look at old pictures
28. Rent a video
29. Wash your car
30. Take a hot, soothing bath
31. Update your calendar
32. Work in your yard
33. Start your holiday shopping list
34. Count your blessings
35. Write a letter
36. Fold some laundry
37. Check your e-mail
38. Give your dog a bath
39. Send a birthday card
40. Meditate
41. Hug someone
42. Rearrange some furniture
43. Light a fire or some candles
44. Put your pictures in an album
45. Plan a trip (real or imaginary)
46. Straighten a closet
47. Clean out a file
48. Visit a friend
49. Clean out your trunk
50. Do something nice for someone

guess what?

i'm BACK!!!!!!!!


for those of you who don't know, i woke up at 5:45am on saturday, december 23rd with extremely intense abdominal pain. i got up and sat in my recliner and after about 5 minutes it subsided. i then walked to the fridge to get out some water because i was severely parched. by the time i got to the fridge i was in intense abdominal pain again. i made my way back to the recliner and after about 5 minutes it subsided again. i took a tiny sip of my water, felt it going down my throat and by the time it got to my stomach i was in intense abdominal pain again.

i was waiting until med-plus opened because i thought i might be having a gall bladder attack or something. by the third time i had the pains (by 6:00am) i called 911 and told them that i needed an ambulance. i then called my grandmother and told her that i needed her to meet me at ecm because i was having horrible abdominal pain and i needed help. when i got off the phone with her i called for kensie to wake up and get her shoes and glasses on and help me get ready because the ambulance would be here any minute.

when she finished getting everything together i heard the siren outside so we both went out to meet them at the bottom of my stairs. when i got to the bottom of the stairs i saw a firetruck coming my way. (fat lot of good a fire truck's gonna do me!) when the firemen got out i screeched that i needed an ambulance and i needed to get to the hospital RIGHT NOW! i had to explain to them about the pain i was having and about my gastric bypass on november 27th. finally about 15 minutes later the ambulance shows up. (they got lost and couldn't find my apartment for 15 minutes!)

so they took me and kensie to the hospital where they did an abdominal x-ray and had me pee in a cup. they called a surgeon in who explained to me that i had "free air" in my abdominal cavity which meant there was some kind of leak in my stomach or intestines. he then explained to me that he didn't know anything about gastric bypass surgeries or about performing laparoscopic surgeries. he said that he could try to fix the problem but he'd have to open me up completely and he'd be guessing about what was the right thing to do to fix me.

i asked him to call my surgeon in huntsville and ask his opinion. he did and told me that my surgeon thinks i had an ulcer that perforated and that he would do emergency surgery on me as soon as i got to huntsville as long as they could get me there pretty fast. my grandparent's took kensie to decatur to my mom's house and were planning on meeting me at crestwood.

i had to wait for an ambulance to come from decatur to florence and then take me to huntsville. idk why, it was pretty stupid if you ask me.

so anyway, i got to the hospital and about an hour or so after i finally got there they took me back for surgery. my original surgeon was out of town but his partner, who was the assistant surgeon in my original surgery, is the one who performed the emergency surgery on december 23rd.

after the surgery i felt great! like i hadn't had any problems or another surgery or anything! and even the next day i felt pretty great. it wasn't until the next day when they put me on the iv nutrition that i started feeling so bad. for about 3 days i felt like i was dying. seriously, i've never felt that bad in my entire life!

after a few days i started feeling better and better and was more able to care for myself. they finally released me from the hospital today and i'm at home for the moment. i'm heading to decatur to stay with my grandparents for the weekend so i won't be online until about monday i guess.

so yeah, that's about it. i just wanted to give you guys a head's up.

oh! my god! i'm surrounded by IDIOTS!!!!!! (long rant)

ok so i've been dealing with the preperations for gbs since i finally made the big decision back in january of this year. i've had monthly doctor's appointments for weigh-ins (6 month doctor supervised diet) and have had several meetings with the surgeon, nutritionist, etc. i was finally approved on tuesday, november 7th. on thursday, november 16th i got a phone call from my surgeon's office telling me that i had to get pre-registered at the hospital either the next day (friday) or the following monday, then i also had to come in on tuesday, november 21st for my pre-op appt. with the surgeon and my surgery is scheduled for monday, november 27th. are ya with me so far? good.

well, it was the end of the day anyway so i pulled my boss aside (privately in his office) and told him that i'd just gotten the phone call and what they'd said. he stood there for a minute and said, "oh, well... ok... so... just let me know tomorrow when you need to leave or whatever... when do you think you'll know?" i told him that i was going to go first thing in the morning because it's all the way in huntsville (roughly a 2 hour drive from where i live) and that way i'd hopefully be done in time to get back and do some work and help to finish out the day. so he stood there a minute and was like "oh... ok..."

i left and figured that was that. i'd told my boss everything, i'd already gone and told our hr person and gotten the phone number for broadspire (the company who handles our disability claims) so that i could set my leave up and everything and had also already told several of my coworkers. friday afternoon i had a major panic attack which is covered in another thread (not gonna bother repeating that info since there's too much to it) but i ended up needing to lay out for the entire day. when i called my boss (twice!!) to let him know that i got his voice mail both times and he never called me back. i ended up not being able to work that weekend either (and had a dr.'s note excusing me since she really wanted me to stay at home and relax) so i didn't see him again until monday.

well, monday goes pretty much according to plan, no surprises really except that my boss is a big retard and left my weekend work there for me to do monday instead of having anybody else come in and do it and instead of coming in and doing it himself. (knowing that it HAD to go out!) so i figured that if he wasn't going to be worried about it then neither was i. i just took my time and did the work like i normally would have, didn't stress out, didn't rush or anything. and i kept him aware of my progress all throughout the day so we could keep the lines of communication open and he wouldn't be freaked out when at the end of the day i wasn't finished.

the end of the day comes and i still have 5 of the weekend ads left to build (i'm a graphic artist at a newspaper, in case anyone wondered) and i told him on my way out the door that i still had those left to do. he looked at me with an expression of total shock and disbelief on his stupid, wormy little face and tried to figure out how i would still have 5 ads left at the end of the day. (well no shit moron! y'all gave me all the crappy builds and no straight pick-ups and i had 20 friggin' ads when we normally only have about 15-18 each!!!!) so anyway, he says ok and that i can just do them the next day. i said ok and left, no problemo!

the next day i get a call on my cell phone at about 8:30 from my boss. he has this nervous little chuckle and he goes "hey! umm.. heh heh... umm... it's 8:30 and uh... i was just kinda wondering... umm... where ya at?" i sat there for a minute because i was just stunned at the level of ignorance it takes to be considered "management material". finally i said (real slow, so he could keep up...) "i'm in my car... on my way to huntsville... to meet with my surgeon..." he goes "oh! umm... i didn't know you had to do that. i thought you did that on friday." me: "noooo.... i told you i had to get preregistered at the hospital on friday and then i had to meet with the surgeon on tuesday and that i'm having my surgery on the 27th..." him: "oh... well... i didn't realize that... umm... i don't know what to do... umm... i'm going to have to think about this for a minute... i'm going to have to come up with a new game plan... uh.... i don't know what to do... umm... is it here in florence?" me: "noooo..... it's in huntsville with my surgeon before i have my surgery. him: "oh... well... how long do you think you'll be there?" me: "well, i really don't know. that kind of all depends on how long it takes for them to get me back and what all they want to do or to talk to me about when i get there." him: "oh. ok. well... do you have your cell phone with you?" me in my head: DUH!! YOU IDIOT!!!! YOU JUST CALLED ME ON IT!!!! me out loud: "yes, i have my cell phone with me..." him: "ok, well, just call me when you're done and let me know when you're on your way back so i'll know when to expect you." me: "ok" end of conversation...

today, i was trying to get in touch with the guy who's our tech support at work because he was supposed to be giving me one of the laptops that they were getting rid of and i needed it by today so that i'd be able to keep in touch with people while i'm at my grandparent's house (after surgery) since i won't be there monday since i'm having surgery monday. so i mentioned to my boss that i was looking for jamie, the tech guy, and i explained why and he was just kinda like "oh, well, umm... idk... i haven't seen him..." and nothing more was said. then about four hours later my desk phone rings and it's my boss. (his office is literally only 10 steps away from my desk but for some reason he chose to call me. idk why... he's just an idiot...) so he calls me up and he starts asking me about what i'd said earlier and why i needed that laptop before monday. was it because I wasn't going to be there monday or because jamie, the tech guy, wasn't going to be there monday. i sat there in silence for a second, again marveling at the level of stupidity that it requires to be considered management material, and finally i said that yes, i'm going to be out on monday. he asks me why and i tell him that it's because i'm having my surgery monday. he goes: "you're having surgery monday? what for?"

OH. MY. GOD!!!!!

so i said: "i'm having gastric bypass surgery on monday." and he said: "well i knew you'd been approved but i didn't know that you were really going to do it." again...

OH. MY. GOD!!!!!

so i said: "yes, i'm really going to do it." he asked if i could come into his office and talk to him about it and i said sure. so i walked in there and he goes: "so... are they going to be making your stomach smaller? or are they just going to be rerouting your intestines?" i explained to him that they were in fact doing both. then he asks how long i'll be out and i tell him that idk, it really depends on if there are any problems with the surgery and what my surgeon feels is an appropriate time for me to recover since i won't have any more sick time left. then he goes: "well, just based on what i've seen, and the progress that you've made here in the last few weeks and months, i think you'll be fine. i think you'll be able to come back in about 2 weeks probably." WTF???? what progress???? what the crap is this retard talking about??? oh, so he's a medical doctor now? he can sit here and predict how i'll do after undergoing a major surgery and when i'll be able to come back to work??

somebody please help me!!!! i've gone through the looking glass and everything's all backwards and crazy now!!!!!