ok, so it's a few days after but today is the first day I've really had the energy to sit down and catch up.

My last post was on the 21st so I'll fill in what has happened since then...

Sunday, 09.21.08

The 21st was Sunday and I was eagerly awaiting surgery. I was also emailing some of the ladies that were having surgery during the week of the 23rd so that we could all meet up on Tuesday.

Monday, 09.22.08

I was a zombie at work today just waiting out the time to go to Denver for surgery. Luckily I was able to get all of my important client requests done so I wouldn't have to worry about anything while I'm out this week. Doctor says I should be able to have surgery on Wednesday and be back to work on Monday. I hope he's right because I really don't want to have to take any more time off from work. I guess we'll see. I'm gathering instant cereal, mederma, gas x strips, pepto, liquid Tylenol (rapid blast), hygeine items, loose fitting clothing, my Burt's Bees chapstick, Atkins shakes, throat lozenges, and a heating pad because someone said it will come in handy.

Tuesday, 09.23.08

Steve(hubby) and I go to the airport at 4am to catch a flight to Denver from Las Vegas. I'm feeling really excited and relieved to finally be on my way. I saved $6,500 since April for this and my loving husband paid the rest from his savings. It's been a long road but I'm finally made it. The flight went quick and we were there in about an hour. My mom flew in from Idaho to take care of me because Steve is a full time student and will need to spend most of the week doing his work. So, we meet up with mom and go to pick up the rental car I reserved which was Avis...and please don't rent a car from Avis in Denver. They didn't have what I reserved and instead offered me a Dodge piece of crap minivan with a 25 gallon tank. It smelled like smoke so bad that I went back in to ask for a new car. They obliged and I was on my way. What do ya know... the second van was worse. IT smelled like the Marlboro man smoked non-stop in the car from Michigan to Denver with the heat on. It was definitely ingrained into the seats and carpet and it was totally gross. We promptly went to Walmart to pick up some odor eliminator so we could stand to drive around in it...

Anyway, we drove from the airport to Dr. K's office in Aurora for my pre-op appointment. It was pretty non-eventful. The nurse checked my height, weight, temperature, and asked me how much weight I lost on the pre-op diet. The answer was 16 pounds. Ten from practicing how to eat with the band (i.e. sips of water and not with food, as well as, chewing each bite 30 times and putting the fork down in between bites), then I lost another 8 with the low carb diet eating mostly beef and fish with 3-4 ounces of cheese a day, an occasional egg or two with cheese for breakfast, Starbucks latte's made with half and half and sugar free vanilla, and Atkins shakes and bars.

Dr. K came in with some of his residents that were on rotation and he did a few checks to make sure that all was well and asked me how much weight I lost and said great. He didn't check my liver , just assumed that if I lost weight then I was fine for surgery. Funny thing, I asked his residents if they knew he was famous on the chat boards and they had no idea. Dr. K was obviously uncomfortable with anyone saying that he was a great doc. He totally downplayed every good thing I said to him which I thought was interesting. He explained the procedure for the next morning, gave me the prescriptions (Keflex is the antibiotic and tastes NASTY, liquid Hydrocodone which is the Lortab painkiller, anti nausea medicine, a suppository for hte night before-use it!, and that was it.)

I went downstairs to the community pharmacy and got my prescription filled and was on my way in 15 minutes. I got everything in generic form via my insurance and paid $45.

At 6:30pm I met up with the girls who were having surgery the same week at Ruby Tuesday's and we swapped stories of where we work, what Dr. K, Natalie, and Mary had told us on the phone prior to our deciding to have surgery and we talked about who was nervous about surgery. Strangely I was calm for the whole thing.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and I went to bed around 10pm ready for the next day.

Wednesday, 09.24.08

Weight 256 lbs.

My mom, husband, and I headed to the Crown Point Surgery Center in parker for surgery. Arrived at 7:30am by the receptionist who assisted me in getting my paperwork in place. Within 5 minutes of completing paperwork, I was called back by the nurse to get ready for surgery. Everyone at the surgery center was really nice, my nurse especially. I think her name was Kris. She had me remove everything and gave me some nice warm slippers and a very roomy gown. I was on my period and was completely fine to wear the tampon which was a relief because I hate wearing pads and I was worried about that. Kris took my vitals, wrapped me in a warmed blanket, put on the mini compression stockings and began the anti-nausea medicine. She asked me to take a pepcid and another nausea medicine as well. She also put in my IV and then the OR nurse Carolyn and the Anesthesiologist came in to ask a few questions about history and allergies and to explain the process and then finally Dr. K came in and my husband and mom were able to come in and talk for a few minutes. He said he would call my mom or my husband when the surgery was over and would let them know they could come back in to see me. They wheeled me into the OR and said here we are and that is the last I remembered until some time later when I could tell I was in recovery but I couldn't move, speak, or open my eyes.

I could hear the nurses buzzing around having conversations but I couldn't quite wake up. I was basically coming in and out of consciousness. After a half hour or forty five minutes I heard the nurse ask me if I was in pain and I said yes, a 6...take it from me you should say an 8 ..she gave me something stronger than morphine but it barely covered the pain. She gave me some ice chips and then she moved me over to the recliner area to finish waking up. As soon as I was in the recliner my husband and mom came in to sit with me and I was really glad because I couldn't do anything for myself. I was so thirsty and the ice chips were amazing. The nurse also gave me a popsicle as well. After I was fully awake, Dr. K came in to check on me just to make sure everything was fine. Once he stopped by I was wheeled out by the nurse and we were on our way back to the hotel room. I checked the incisions and I had a one inch incision about an inch and half below my bra line with another one that is longer (about an inch and a half) just below that one. Also, one on the right and left side of my stomach parallel with my belly button with one extra one on the left side for the liver retractor. Dr. used clear surgical adhesive and placed see thru dressings on so that you can see the incisions as they heal. Pretty cool.

Once back to the hotel room, I went to bed and didn't get up until around 9pm. At that point I did a quick post to make sure everyone knew I was still alive and took some more painkiller and nausea medicine and went to bed. Had to sleep on my back to avoid pain from pushing on the incision sites. I kept the ice pack on all day and night also.