Yes! I can eat sushi..... Oh wait, no I can't!

So I have been stressing about my plateau, but I went to the Dietician on Monday and I had dropped 3 kgs, so exited! I felt great. So now I weigh 174kgs, which amounts to 15kgs post surgery and 28kgs from my heaviest weight. Then we were discussing this past week. I told her about my first episode of dumping syndrome... It not fun, trust me. I was out with friends and ate off the platter in front of me. OBVIOUSLY a beeeg mistake. I had such bad tummy cramps.. basically I was out of commission for several hours... Not fun.. So the dietician says to me, well if you are out you can have sushi, limit it to 4 pieces of a roll and some sashimi. So the first thing I did was at lunch I rushed out and bought myself a californian roll and 2 pieces of sashimi.. I had two pieces of the roll which walking to my car. As soon as I opened my car door, I bent over and the sushi came straight back up. Yuck. Then drove a little further, at the robots, car door open, wommitting again... then as soon as I got back to the office, I ran to the bathroom and a little more came up. So clearly I cannot eat sushi. Pity. But that experience has killed any craving I had for it. sushi is dead to me... (okay maybe not - but definately for a long time)...
I had my first session with the personal trainer yesterday too. That was fun. I worked up quite a sweat and really enjoyed it... (SHOCK GASP HORROR) I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. Yes I enjoyed exercise. wow. sorry having an epiphany here. exercise used to be evil, and since I have lost a small child in weight, its not that bad, and hopefully the lighter I get, the easier it gets.
I also went to the support group meeting. It was my first one post op, It was quite a bleak one, because they had a counselling session for everyone because my surgeon has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and its a poor diagnosis. It's quite a shocker, so if you can please keep him in your prayers. But what shocked me more were post op patients who were a year post op and had only lost 30kgs so far. I nearly fell over.. I am planning on having lost 30 kgs by the end of may... 50 kgs by the end of july and all my weight by feb next year. I have made a chart tracker and exercise features heavily in that equation because that is something I have learnt, diet helps but exercise loses the weight. I did a little exercise last week and 3 kgs went bubbye... so theoretically if I move my ass for a min of 30 mins a day, 5-7 days a week, a poo-load more weight will fall off me never to return again... whoop whoop

Disaster strikes

Friday I was feeling great and went for a looooong walk from my house to the nearest shopping centre and back. Saturday I was still feeling good and went to a friends hen party, that night I started feeling a little niggly (you know the feeling when something doesn't feel right) I just put it down to overdoing it at the hens party. Sunday I started feeling bad, I was super tired, I had pains in my chest, which radiated up into my arms and pins and needles in my hands. I hardly slept that whole night and was up at 6am because of the pain. Now those that know me, will understand that this is so wierd! I was clammy and sweaty and I couldnt breathe properly and walking even short distances caused me to get out of breath. at 830am I phoned the Chrysalis Clinic Coordinator, the sweetest person ever, Gill Gibson. She said to me, hang on, I will phone you back in 5 minutes. She called me back straight away and said that I must go see my hospital physican Dr John Turner at 10:30am and if it got any worse between now and then to go straight to the emergency room. (so don't panic then?) The problem was, I live with my dad who had conveniently gone away for 2 days for business. Crapeola!!! So I phoned my aunty carol to come and take me to the doctor. My dad had phoned our neighbour Dorothy who has a key to our house. She came over to check on me... I obviously didn't realise how bad I looked. I went to the doctor and he first did an examination, then he sent me for a chest xray which was inconclusive. Then I went for something called a D-Diner blood test to test for a pulmonary embolism. Dr Turner informed me though that more than likely it would come back positive because Ive just had surgery, and if it came back positive we would have to treat it like an embolism. The only certain way would be a ct scan with contrast but I cant have that because I wont fit on the scanner. His secretary obviously heard this and phoned the Xray department and they said no of course I can I am way under their weight limit of 300kgs. So I toddled off to go have a ct scan. It took forever but eventually it came back, and guess what. DING DING DING we have a winner, not one, not two, not three, but four clots in my lungs... Yippee.... NOT!
Straight to the ward, do not pass go, do not go home and pack a hospital bag. Whoopdioo... Luckily I was put back in my old room with the nurses that I knew. I had to have clexin injections, not one, not two, not three, but four a day. 120miligrams twice a day... my thighs looked like pin cushions. It was insane. Then I started on warfarin tablet on the tuesday. I was finally discharged on saturday morning. Hospital is boring when you feel well. I am now on warfarin tablets every day for the next 6 months. :( but its a small price to pay.

before surgery

Wow... before the surgery I was feeling so nervous... but at the same time... I felt 'thank goodness its finally here.' It was such a short space of time.. it was hard to wrap my head around it. I had previously tried 3 times to have gastric bypass surgery but due to the medical aid refusing to pay and other issues it never happened. Then end of November last year my sister suggested I re-look at having gastric bypass. I phoned Gill Gibson to ask her about it, knowing that their offices closed for December I made an appointment for when they opened on the 10th of January. I also found out which plan of Discovery Medical Aid paid for the surgery and changed my plan over to that one. On the 10th of Jan I had an appointment with Gill Gibson, but because I had been on the programme before, I knew who I had to see, so I had an appointment with Claire McMahon the dietician, straight after seeing Gill Gibson.
She put me on the programme and it was a whirlwind of seeing the dietician, the endocrinologist, the psychologist, the psychiatrist, the biokinetist, the physician and the surgeon.
I had a gastroscopy and a chest xray and blood work done. I went on an exercise programme, and diet. I lost some weight... and this is all before I left for a holiday in disney on the 27th of January. Initially the date for the surgery was booked on the 7th of March but then the surgeon was going to be away, so it was moved up to the 28th of February. I went to Disney and gained 4 kilos in 2 weeks. Came back, lost those 4 kilos plus 3 more... and then all of a sudden it was the day before surgery... It was my friend Lesley's birthday and went for Drinks at Peddlars and then dinner at Tangos... it was a lovely way to have my 'last meal' :D
I had to have my meal and drink at 10pm... I went home took a sleeping pill and went lala's. In the morning the anethetist phoned me to check that I was ok. He said I could have a glass of half apple juice and half water before 8am... I ran myself a nice bath with lavender bubble bath and sat and relaxed. My hospital bag was packed and waiting. I got ready and my dad drove me to the hospital at 10am. I was checked in.. the nurses were so lovely... I put my sexy hospital gown on.. you know the one that you can't turn around in... I believe its the peekaboo model :) hehehehehe.
They were running late for the surgery so we waited and waited and waited... eventually I took my contact lenses out and the porter wheeled me down to the operating theatre. Gill Gibson was with me keeping me company. I waited in the recovery area outside the operating theatre for quite a while.. eventually I said I had to go to the loo.. so blind I hopped up and went to the loo... came back, made idle chitchat... then eventually it was time to wheel me into the operating room. I transfered over to the operating table. I took my arms out of the gown, so it was just draped over me, trying desperately to not think that in a little while everyone is going to see me starkers... Gill assured me that they keep everything except the operating site covered with sterile drapes. I joked with the anethetist and the nurse that I was there for my cheeseburger and milkshake... then the drip went in and the oxygen mask went on and that was all she wrote... lala land.