Day Three Post Surgery

I woke at 9:00am and I felt much better. I hadn't puked since yesterday at 1:00pm. I decided to take all my meds(blood pressure, lexapro, ADD, anti-spam, and reflux) at once with a glass of tea. Well lets just say that did'nt work well. I puked and pooped within 30 minutes. I think it was just the meds. Since then I've drank 10oz glass of tea and have been ok. I'm thinking I might eat a popsicle this afternoon. It's really weird I have no desire to eat anything. I think because I'm so scared I'll puke. Whatever works. Today is better than yesterday and hopefully tomorrow will be better than today. Of course Jane feels wonderful, but my sweet friend Karen is still throwing-up, so Jane is taking her to receive IV fluids. Please continue to pray for all of us, but especially for Karen to stop throwing-up. Oh yeah I'm down 2lbs today. I promise I'm going to post pictures soon. I took my camera to the hospital to get our picture together but the battery was bad.

Steph

Day Two After Surgery

I woke up this morning to the usually throw-up but was also having diaherra. I know that's more than you may want to know but I'm just being honest. I'm having severe stomach cramps because I can't keep the anti-spasm medicine down and the nausea medicine is the same. Of course my dear friend Jane is still doing great. I could really hate her if I did'nt love her so much. Karen is doing about the same as me. We have to go the doctor at 2:00pm and Jane is picking me up , I do manage to take a shower and get ready, but I throw-up when I brushed my teeth. At this point I have a good cry, and pity party for myself. Jane gets here to pick me up looking like a million bucks, and I can hardly walk without throwing-up. I head to the car with my puke bucket, and Jane thinks it just hilarious. I make it to the doctor, and see Dr. Woodman. He proceeds to tell me I might feel better if I would go walk a mile or two. He's lucky I didn't puke on him right there. He wouldn't give me a phenagren suppository to help with nausea, he just said none of this was a surprise and just deal with it, it will get better in the next couple of days. I couldn't get out of there soon enough. I took matters in my own hands and got hold of some phenagren pills. I got home and drank some sweet tea and took my anti-spasm med and a phenagren and sleep to about 8:30pm. I then got up and ate a popsicle and drank some more tea and took another phenagren and sleep all night without throwing up. Oh yeah, we weighed and I had lost 7lbs since last week. I guess so since I've either puked or pooped everything I've ever put in my mouth.

Steph

SURGERY DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all arrived bright and early 5:30am at the hospital. We were all very excited and anxious. I keep asking who's bright ideas was this anyway. It was way to late to turn back now. Ryan came and prayed for all of us. That was sooo sweet. Jane was called back first, then me, then Karen. Karen and I had rooms beside each other with a shared bathroom. Jane was across the hall. Once we were in our gowns, Karen and I was going to go across the hall a see Jane but as we started out the door, we saw Dr. Woodman in the hall and we ran back to our beds. Next they came in and gave us our IV's. The nurse was very good and got it on the first stick. Next thing I know they came in to get me, off I went. Once in the surgery room they sprayed my throat with this gross numbing medicine. Oh yeah, Dr. Woodman asked me what I had to eat last and I said a hot dog. He almost had a heart attack. Dory came to my rescue and said it was fat free on a wheat bun. Yeah right I don't even know what wheat taste like. Next I had to bite on this green thing that kept my mouth open, and the next thing I remember is waking up and telling Dr. Woodman to take good care of my friend Karen that was coming in next. As I was being rolled into recovery the first thing I saw was Jane and she was awake and looked good. I thought yeah we are actually going to live thru this. My mouth was very dry, so I got to eat some ice chips. I was feeling pretty good and my stomach didn't feel any different. I thought this is not bad, was I sooooooo wrong. About a hour later the nausea set in, and the stomach cramps started. I was released around 11:30 and was home at 12:00.

I came home and the first thing I did was throw-up, I tried to drink some tea but that also came right back up. I changed into my pj's and tried to go asleep. It was hard to get comfortable because you could feel the balloon moving around, it was really weird. I continued to throw-up all day and night. My stomach was having spasms probably every few minutes. I really wanted to yank the balloon out with my bare hands. Of course it didn't help to know that my friend Jane was feeling fine and had only had the dry heaves once, and was having no stomach cramps. I wanted to go over and make her throw-up. I did seem to sleep most of the night, only getting up to throw-up 3 or 4 times. Karen also was throwing up. Jane was just fine.

Steph

The night before surgery

Where do I begin, we started today off on a clear liquid diet. This was a new one for me, I actually heard my stomach growl for the first time in a long time. After church I went to get me a Route 44 sweet tea, I was in a hurry to take Kaylee to practice so I waited to take my first drink after I dropped her off and quess what, it was unsweet tea. I thought I would gag. So I drove back to Sonic and I wanted to tell them don't you know this is all I can have today so get it right, but I did'nt. Next, we had a halloween party at my mom's and there was food everywhere. There was chips,dip,chili,hotdogs,brownies,cotton candy,cokes, etc , needless to say it was very hard. I stayed inside away from the food for about an hour. I then started thinking maybe I could just chew the food and spit it out and it would be ok. Thanks to Keri my friend she talked me out of it. As the day progressed it got a little easier. I've gone this long without eating before, I think but I always know I can just go to Wendy's the next day. After today, the is no sight to the next time I can eat normal, or what I thought was normal. Hopefully I'll never see that normal again. I then went to the store to get me some food for the next three days ( juice, popsicles, and jello). I'm a little nervous about the surgery, but more nervous about not getting to eat. I'll post tomorrow after I get back from the hospital. Please pray for Karen, Jane and me as we begin this journey. Please pray for the doctors doing the surgery.

Steph

Another Test

Well I went for my last test ( I think) on Wednesday. It was called a gastric emptying, isn't as bad as it sounds. My appointment was at 11:00am and of course I was NPO since midnight, so I was starving and really wanted a diet coke bad. When I arrived I was told I would be laying on a table for two hours and they would take a picture of my stomach every 15 minutes. They said I could watch tv or listen to my ipod. I thought I'm going to take a nap. YEAH The nurse then brought me a microwaved scramble egg, but it was the best egg ever since I was soooo hungry. Inside the egg was radioactive dye, they were going to watch it digest. Who knows, I don't understand, but all I could think about was a 2 hour nap. It only got better, after lying on the table the nurse put a pillow under my knees, a warm blanket and a pillow for my head. I put on my ipod and off to sleep I went. The 2 hours went way to fast. After the test was done, I had to meet with the doctor at 4:00pm to get all the details about the surgery. That went well, we actually got to see the balloon with saline in it. It is much bigger than I thought. We got our list of foods, or may I say liquids and the time we need to be at the hospital. The schedule is as follows:

Jane 5:30am
Steph 6:30am
Karen 7:30am

They are doing us back to back. We asked for one recovery room, but they said no. Oh well our husbands can run back and forth with messages. I can just picture our husbands in the waiting room together. It is so hilarious. We all three are very excited, but a little nervous. I'll keep posting everyday if I can.

Steph

Video of Surgery

Here is a link to go to if your interested in watching how the surgery is done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ-7HLiQJeY


Steph

What a Day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where do I begin... first thing this morning at 6:30 I got up and headed to the hospital for my Upper GI and EKG. If you know me I don't function well that early, but believe it or not I was on time. When I got into the x-ray room they had me drink this stuff that fizzes in your throat and you can't burp, then you have to drink this really thick milky, chalky stuff and then they rolled you around so it would coat your stomach. I thought I would throw up, just when I thought I couldn't take anymore I had to drink lying down. Somehow I managed to finish the test and everything was normal. They then walked me to the nursing room, obviously the nurse that took me there forgot I was getting tested for a weight loss procedure because she walked in a very fast pace, needless to say I barely kept up. Once there they hooked to the machine and everything was normal. I headed home and started the waiting game. I called Dory and told her I had finished my test. She said she would enter my info and let me know something today.

About an hour later the phone rang and it was Dory. I was scared to answer, but I did and ...........

I GOT THE SURGERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could you say I'm excited, I screamed and cried and then screamed some more and then when I came to my senses I thought what am I doing? I'm scared and excited. The first thing I did after getting off the phone I called Jane and Karen. Neither of them had heard if they were getting the surgery or not. They were very excited for me.

A few hours later Karen called and yes, believe it she is getting the surgery too. We both screamed and said what have we gotten ourselves into. At this point Jane had not heard from Dory. Just a few minutes later, Jane called Karen. I hung up with Karen and waited what seemed like forever and then Jane called me and Karen was also on the line, Jane told us that she didn't get the surgery, but she was ok. I really felt horrible, and I couldn't believe it, we always knew the odds of us all getting it were slim to none, but the finality of it was awful. Karen and I were telling her how sorry we were when Karen said " I just feel bad because Stephanie and I are going to lose all this weight and your not" I wanted to crawl under the table when both of them screamed were kidding, she is getting the surgery too. We all started screaming and laughing. What are the odds of us all getting the surgery. I like to think God was looking out for me because he knows I can't do this without them. There are no two other people in this world I would want to do this with.

After digesting what had happened, all I could do was sit around and think about the surgery. I got nothing done in the house and now I have a list a mile long of things I want to get done before surgery. Oh yeah, we are all having surgery Monday morning. At least our husbands can sit and chat in the waiting room. Maybe we can all be in the same hospital room. Ha Ha, how fun.

Anyway, we are having a meeting Wednesday afternoon to get all the details, I'll post them and a before picture of me and my friends sometime this week.

Steph

Dory Came to my House

Today, Dory called me this morning to see if I could come in early to get my blood drawn, of course I couldn't since I had 3 babies I was keeping. She asked me if she could come to my house and draw my blood because she needed to send it off asap. So when she arrived I informed her that the night before my friends had found a vein. She thought it was hilarious and of course they were right, good blood came flowing. My kids I babysit kept saying Steph is getting a shot. Later that afternoon I went for my psych and everything was fine, except she confirmed I'm crazy. Like we didn't already know that. Well, tomorrow morning I have a EKG and a upper GI, I'll let you know how everything goes. We may even find if I'm getting the surgery or not.

Steph

Dory Called Today

Well, my friendly nurse called me today and guess what they need to draw my blood again. So tomorrow before my pysch I have to go in early and get my blood drawn again. Oh yeah I can't eat or drink before they draw my blood, and my appointment is at 2:30pm. Yes, I'll be getting up at 6:30 to have my muffin and diet coke and then I guess I'll sleep until my appointment because that's the only way I can not eat or drink all day. Please pray, I'm sure going to need it.

Steph

ps. Tonight Jane,Karen and me tried to find my vein so I could show the nurse and we really looked funny. Karen took a computer cord and tied it around my forearm while Jane held it tight. It was really a sight. But we did succeed and found a vein.

Funny things my Kids Say

I thought I might share some things my kids have asked and said about my surgery. I have two children Kaylee(10) and Joseph(13) they are both really sweet kids when they want to be. Even the 13yr old is sweet just not very often.

Kaylee asked if my big butt would be gone when I loss all my weight.
Kaylee said guess what, when you lose weight you'll be able to look down and see your feet.
Kaylee said "mom when you lose weight you'll be able to wear high heels" (like I really want too)

Joseph said mom I don't mean this mean but " you'll probably get the surgery because you are the biggest person in the study" (remember he hasn't seen anybody, I guess he just thinks I'm the biggest)

They both really mean well, they are very excited and I really hope I don't disappoint them.

Also, I heard from Dory my nurse yesterday and she asked if I could start watching what I ate because I really needed to lose 5lbs before the study began. I said sure and after hanging up I continued to finish the carmel pie I bought the day before. I really got to work on that.

Steph

ps. Yesterday I only drank 3 diet cokes. Yeah!!!!!!!

Things I forgot from yesterday

Here are a couple of things I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog. First not all 24 people will get the surgery, only 12. So please pray I get chosen for surgery, I don't think I can lose much weight without it. The other 12 will still get the private nutritionist and diet and exercise plan and will still check in like everybody else. They are trying to show that the people with the balloon will lose more than the people just on the diet. We'll see. We should know which group we are in by the end of next week. Keep your fingers crossed. Second, they say after the balloon is placed you can't have carbonated beverages, Yes I said no carbonated drinks, that does include diet coke. So I've decided to start drinking less diet coke everyday. Please pray for all my friends and family I'm sure I won't be the most pleasant person to be around. I do feel sure Jane and Karen will keep me grounded. I'm counting on that. I'm just waiting on my pysh visit tomorrow, I'll let you know how that goes. It could throw me out of the study, I'm somewhat crazy. Just
kidding. I'm already in, so I can be crazy. Ha Ha!!

Steph

Meet with Dr. Woodman

Today I went to my first pre-surgery office visit. First let me give a little background to what is going on. This past summer I signed up for a gastric balloon surgery study. If you haven't figured out I'm overweight. I thought why not I probably won't get chosen. My two best friends also signed up, I mean they can't do something without me I might miss something. . I'm not sure how many people signed up but they were only going to take 24 people for the study, I thought this is a safe bet, I'll never get picked. I guess God had a different plan for me, yes you guessed it I was chosen along with both my friends. Yeah, I think.

My appointment was at 11:00 am and I couldn't eat, drink or take my medicine after midnight. This was somewhat a problem since I'm addicted to Diet Coke and barely can make it without one. When I arrived they gave me a specimen cup to leave, yeah right, like I can pee. Did they forget we hadn't drank since the night before. I went to the bathroom and sat to my surprise it didn't take very long. I returned to the front desk with my specimen cup and in exchange for the cup I got about 200 pages of paperwork to fill out. I sat down and thought how in the world am I going to fill all this out, I haven't had my ADHD medicine. I'm sure all my answers would be different if I filled it out again after my meds. Oh well, it's done. Sometime in the midst of all the paperwork Dr. Woodman came in and spoke to us. First he locked the office door. I thought oh my gosh what have I signed up for. I guess he didn't want to be interrupted. He proceeded to explain this surgery had never been done in the United States, but had been done over 100,000 times overseas. We would be the first to get this in the United States, he assured us we weren't human dummies, but it sure sounded like it. He then told us how the surgery alone wouldn't make us lose weight, that proper diet and exercise is the only thing that will make you lose weight , this was only a tool to make it easier. I sure hope that's true since I've tried every diet known to mankind. We were then called back one by one to be weighed and measured. This is when it got interesting. I weighed in at 232.5 and measured 5'2, the lady figured my BMI on the calculator and it was 42. Big problem, you see to be in the study your BMI has to be between 30-40, so she looked and me and said your not going to like this but take your shoes and pants off and let's weigh again. I said whatever I need to take off is fine with me, you see I had to get within the range. I said a little prayer and away I went to the scales again, this time weighing in at 230.8 which put me right at a 40 BMI. I was then taken to another office where my labs were going to be drawn, and of course this was a ordeal as well. She couldn't find a good vein in the left arm so we moved to the right arm, she thought she found one so in with the needle after a little digging around no blood. Next we moved to the wrist on the left arm, she got a vein but the blood flowed very slow. We filled what seemed like 50 tubes and was done. I thought I did very well since I HATE NEEDLES. Next I was off to meet with the nutritionist. Boy does she have her work cut out with me. She told us we would be on clear liquid diet for the first 3 days and then we move to a full liquid diet for days 4-7. I didn't know there was a difference between clear liquid and full liquid, they both sound horrible. She said we would meet back with her after day seven and she would give us a new diet for the next week. Wow I can't wait. Oh by the way after my blood was drawn I did open a diet coke that was in my purse and down it. I was starting to feel a little better. We were almost done, all I had left was giving my history and I could go eat. When I left the nutritionist office I stepped into the hall to smell some really good food, I said someone is about to get tackled. The nurse just laughed, and then told me by the way your blood clumped up so we have to redraw your blood. We then went into the vein on my right hand and it worked really well. I was then given my next two appointments, one to a psychologist and the other for a upper GI. After about 2 1/2 hrs I was finally walking to my car. The only thing I could think about was what I was going to eat , that might be a sign.