Reckless Moxie

The last two days have been really rough. I had surgery on 10/12/15 and for the first 4 days I felt pretty darn wonderful. I had a little bit of allergies or a cold coming on at the time of surgery, but my Dr wasn't concerned and performed the procedure anyhow. I did a lot of walking and didn't have the gas pain so many people deal with post op. I actually walked about 5 miles on day 3 and felt energized. I had noticed a small rash on my abdomen on about day 3-4 but it was localized to where they had applied betadine for surgery so I thought little of it as I tend to have pretty sensitive skin. The rash stayed the same for the next day or so. On day 5 I noticed it had moved to my chest area and was now itchy. I applied some hydrocortisone cream and figured it was going to go away. On day 6, I had completed the course of pain medicine from my surgeon and I wasn't too worried about it because I was in little to no pain. My cold/allergies started acting up and I coughed a few times and had the most excruciating pain I have ever felt right between two of my incisions. It felt like a tearing or ripping sensation and was very sharp. After this happened a few times I decided I would take some Tylenol to take the edge off a little. It seemed to dull the pain a bit so I felt a little relief. I had been doing really well with fluids so I thought I would give Jello a try for a little change. I was only able to eat about half of the Jello cup before I starting feeling pretty sick so I gave the rest to my BF to finish. I decided maybe a shower would be nice and get my mind of feeling lousy from pain and Jello. I went to get into the shower and looked in the mirror to check out my incisions. I then noticed that the rash was now all over my arms, face, and neck. My BF said maybe I should take a Benadryl so I did thinking that would help. It did not help. I spent the next 8-10 hours having severe vomiting, diarrhea, and pain. I was able to keep down some Powerade finally and took an omeprazole, which thankfully also stayed put. I started thinking about what could possibly have caused this rash to appear because at this point it was pretty clear it wasn't the betadine, as it had been days since I washed the residue off, and things had just been getting worse. It was then that I realized the only consistent thing I had been taking since the rash appeared was the antibiotics (cephalexin) so I did a little research about common allergic reactions and my rash definitely fit the bill. I contacted my surgeon and asked him if I should discontinue the antibiotics (2 days left of treatment) he said yes and agreed it was very likely an allergic reaction. Of all the setbacks I had prepared myself for, this was not among them. I am grateful that I figured out what was happening so I could get some relief. Today is day 7 and I am back to basics. I am only taking in Water and Powerade and trying to rest. My poor belly needs more time to heal before I put Tylenol in it again. On a "bright" note I am down 4 lbs from my surgery weight. Have any of you discovered an allergy like this during recovery, or any other unexpected hurdles?

I didn't realize that was you! I am Shelley Barkley. I sent you a friend request on Facebook.

I am seriously game for this! I love our Goodwill stores.

I don't hate shopping. I hate shopping and not finding anything that suits my style that is in my own size. I will love shopping when the clothes I buy are an extension of my personality. Being thin won't suddenly change who I am, it will change the ways I am able to show that to the world. This post wasn't intended to state that I feel I (as a fat woman) am the only one who experiences shopping problems. It was to share a common experience with people in my peer group (this forum) who probably relate on one level or another. Sorry if you found my post exclusionary or offensive. That is not the spirit in which it was written.

My surgery is also 10/12. I will be having my surgery in Mx with Dr. Altamirano. Good luck to all of you!

My surgery date is 10/4 and I am on my pre-op diet now. It's mostly coffee that I'm missing at this point. Im excited to get this done and reclaim control over my body. I'd like to join the FB group, so I requested there. Good luck sleeve-sisters!

I live in Seattle. Land of the very tiny ladies. Lol! Thank you for understanding. I actually forgot about Melissa McCarthy's new line of clothing. I do believe that it's supposed to feature sizes 4-28 which is awesome! Kudos to her for taking that on, and from what I've seen, doing a fantastic job.

I don't know if I am alone in my feelings about this, but.... I am having such mixed feelings about how/where I will shop post-op. I absolutely hate the limited options we, as "plus sized" women have. I hate that I have basically two stores where I can walk in and buy anything I see. Then, I have a couple of other stores where, if I hunt and peck and sacrifice my ego, I might find something that I don't feel ashamed to wear in public. I'm betting that most of us have this experience where we go into, say for example... Target. We are forced to walk by all the cute and on trend clothes in the front of the store, to go all the way to the back (where we are out of sight of most other costumers, because we shouldn't be seen) to dig through at most, 2 racks of clothing. Most of this "clothing" is wedged between clearance and maternity. Most of the time, if I am lucky enough to find something I kind of like, it's maternity. Or, even better still it's an item that was accidentally stuck in that section and is a size 2 (because of Target's odd plus-sized sizing structure which also includes 0-3/4.) Part of me is super-excited to be able to buy clothes that I think are cute and not be stuck wearing clothes I don't like because it's all that fits me and all that is available. I mean really ladies, isn't the rule of plus size fashion that it doesn't make it to the hanger unless it happens to be Solid Black A sleeveless shirt/dress (what the hell??) Pants are three inches too long (because all plus-sized women are really tall) Some kind of animal print, and or lace/cutouts Featuring sequins or rhinestones. Because, "Look at me, I sparkle!" I must need this for my trapeze act later or something? A shirt with some god-awful saying on it in french/english accompanied by flowers and such Made for your grammy or your pregnant friend. A shirt or dress designed for a plus sized woman (other than yourself) who was blessed with ginormous ta-ta's. (oh why could some of my many pounds not make it up there?) A pair of pants with a football field's worth of fabric between the butt pockets, which just so happen to be the size of a postage stamp. So, this is my issue.... Once I am "thin enough" to shop in other stores at will, and buy whatever darn thing in any store I like, will I really want to support these businesses who wouldn't have me as a customer when I was fat? What do the rest of you feel about this?