Pix

After my hubby got back from Baghdad he would have some hellish nightmares, but it didn't come out during his waking hours. Then he went back to Iraq and when he came back from that tour the nightmares stopped. He is a bit more on edge then he used to be, but he is still my laid back country boy I married. We already talked about things and decided that if his stress levels get to much he will go to counseling. BUT right now as it stands he is taking everything in stride and just dealing with things as they come up. My heart goes out to your son Apples2, give him a big ol' hug from me will ya?

Yesh ... It is very hard to miss doctor appointments when your doc is a hottie ... :out::smile: In all seriousness though I am sticking to this like my life depends on it (and if you think about it, it does) I just got my info packet on the local sheriffs department down here (I am thinking about enrolling in the police academy) and I really want to lose enough weight to go through it and make it through with flying colors IF I decide this is what I want. OCD or not, I will be doing this right, and no flubs or faltering determination. And it helps my doc is a hottie :wink2:

Well ok, doesn't hurt that bad but it does tingle a bit. Was working in my flower beds yesterday and got a touch red on my arms, shoulders, and back. The up side I got one flower bed weeded, trimmed back (had one flower that propagated like crazy so had to pull over half of them or I would have had a white flower bed) some of the over zealous flowers, reseeded (yeah late in season but the weather wasn't cooperating until recently). Now to finish my other flower bed today, and then trim back my rose bush's and prune some of the new growth. I also was able to get some beauty bark around my tree's. I was thinking about planting some pansies (I mean dropping packets of seeds wily nilly so its nothing but pansies around the tree) but the hubby said no, cause they tend to spread out into the yard and get mowed down. He is right so beauty bark it was. And no, I didn't lift the bags of bark, a friend came over and laid them out by the tree and all I did was spread them around. But oooooof my cat just jumped on my shoulder, guess I am a bit more burnt then I thought. *goes off to look for lotion and aloe*

Hehe I swear I responded to you, I swear I did .. but its gone .... So what I said was: When I have it perfected I will share it. Today its ok, not great, just ok. Tomorrow I might add some rosemary or a mint leaf or two. But today its just ok....

CarolAnne, darlin this is the Rants and Raves section ... this is where you come to rant and rave over the silliest of things or the most serious of things. The rest of the forum is safe and VERY informative sweetheart.

Well, from everything I have read here the doctor submits the initial weight with the paperwork. Don't quote me though, I didn't have to jump through the insurance hoops, just military hoops.

I was watching that same marathon!! Watching them band the one fella with Diabetes was interesting. Now I actually (sort of) saw what they did to me. It was pretty cool!

Laurinda HAHAH nahh not gonna do the vinegar *shudders* but it was really mild, its nice and tan now. Except you can clearly see my chicken pox scars now. LOL reason #7843749782 why I try to stay out of the sun for to long. As for workin on your flower beds, well, how much ya gonna pay me and do you mind someone doing it with an acid thumb? LOL I just toss seeds in the flower beds cover them with a small layer of dirt and call it a day. Cept for my roses. For some reason those are the ones things that I can get to grow, and grow nice and pretty. Oh, and Jades, I haven't killed mine yet.... Or the Aloe ...

(that and I am easily amused) What was/is your first mushy meal? Mine will be a soft scrambled egg with a small bit of provolone dolce (sweet) cheese and blendered salsa. The reason I am going with provolone is because it will be my 'reward' for sticking to my liquid/puree diet and not faltering (I came close that one night though). I absolutely LOVE provolone cheese, it comes in 2 types dolce (sweet) and Piccante (sharp). I personally prefer the Dolce better as it is made with cows milk, the Piccante is normally made with goats milk. I am not fond of goats milk as the after taste (even in the cheese) is horrendous. So what will be or was your first mushy meal?

Also if you are serious about tattooing your scars, if ANY artist tells you they will do it less then 9 months out is not one you want to touch you with the tattoo machine.

I hate it when people call my dog 'tripod' he has a name .. its Jake. NOT tripod .. just because he has 3 legs doesn't give ANYONE the right to call him by that. His name is Jake damn it

LOL After a few days of getting sick of strained Soups and the stuff I decided to go and get some sugar/fat free puddings and Jello (I needed something other then soups). I was trying a new mochachino sugar/fat free Jello brand (not bad but not good either) and my oldest comes up and says "mommy you're so lucky you had that surgery". After a moment or two of silence waiting for him to finish I finally asked him why that was, he said "you get pudding, jello, and fruit pops". I wanted to bust a gut laughing at the lil guy. I didn't though, I was done with the pudding I was trying (only half was tolerable before I felt full) and gave the monsters the rest. I couldn't help but give him a hug after all of that. It was one of those things that I knew he was supporting what I was doing and trying his best to help me make the right choices. Cause of course he asked me if it was ok for me to eat at this stage post surgery, and he just HAD to make sure it wouldn't hurt the work the doctor did. I even caught him reading the post op diet stage book they gave me. He is such a good boy. I love my kids. :thumbdown:

heh It drives my husband nuts that I am such a planner I can't help it. I am borderline OCD and its one of my coping mechanisms to stress. But yeah I have 7 days left of this drinking my means stuff ... then on the 8th day .... the heavens will sing (or will that be my taste buds!??! ROFL)

One week and two days out I am doing lots better!! I still have some tenderness and some sore spots. I do tend to get tired a lil bit easier then pre-op but I think that is normal and all will go back to normal eventually. The thing that is getting me the most is the mega itching from the incisions. Its killin me, I am dying and no one will help me cause of the itching. ROFL I haven't scratched yet, but warm compresses do help with the itches. I know the itching is a sign of good healing and stuff but damn, its driving me NUTS!!!!!!

Last night my resolve on this liquid diet stage started to falter. I kept thinking something mushy wont hurt. Then would wander in the kitchen to see what I could whip up. Thank goodness the only thing in there is the kids stuff and stuff for a liquid diet right now. So I pulled out all my spices, grabbed some of the nasty chicken broth powder stuff (salt free/gluten free) and made me an impromptu egg drop Soup with one egg white. I gotta say, oh man what a treat!! I am such a good cook. AND AND AND it kept me on my liquid diet phase with out cheating or harming myself. Granted I knew at one point or another (and it might happen again, hope not but it is possible) my resolve would start to waver, but I didn't give in. Today I am back on track, no wavering resolve, just the desire to keep on truckin.

All I know is that on the 24th (the day I go to the next phase) I am going to have me one nice soft scrambled egg some blended salsa (to chunky at this stage so the blender gets it) and a small dab of provolone dolce (sweet provolone instead of the standard sharp) cheese (sadly can't get this like cheddar made with 2% milk that is why the small dab). hehe I am good at thinking ahead, it is giving me something to look forward too. LOL

My doc has us on Liquid diet for 2-3 weeks, then soft/pureed foods for 2-4 weeks then solid foods as we feel comfortable with it. They only have one post op diet book and that is for bypass patients. So they have inserts for the new band patients saying to skip the mushy stage and go to "solid foods as you feel comfortable". I will probably do a few days of mushy foods to work my stomach into digesting real food again then eat mainly soft foods (read as stews, fish etc) and just work my way from there.

heh AZ yeah, after 6 deployments (this is the 6th) that is the only way to go is one day at a time, one breath at a time. But yeah, my boys are good kids. Bit wild at times (what boy isn't though ya know?) but when it comes to momma they are such lil protectors. Its just to funny sometimes. It was hillarious listening to them discuss my diet book though (they didn't know I was there) Oldest: Well according to this mommy is on this stage "liquids and pure's" so I think the pudding was ok, I am sure the fruit pops are ok, cause they are frozen liquid, but the Jello I am not sure about cause its solid but soft. I just don't know, I think we have to ask her" Youngest: You mean it might hurt mommy?? We have to make sure it wont!! MOOOOOMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY Me: *hiding a snicker* Yes baby, Youngest: are you SURE jello is ok for you?? Its not liquid like this says you need it to be. you can figure out the rest of the conversation. I took them in the kitchen and showed them everything I can eat now, and what I will be eating on the next phase of 'healing'. It mollified them.

hehe Thanks guys, yeah I know I have some good kids. They may be brats half the time, but they are my brats. heheh Oh, the one I was talking about is 9, going on 40. His younger brother is 7 (almost 8). They are my lil monsters.

hehe No you're not insane. I think we all have our bed time quirks. Me, I can't stand silence in a room. ANY ROOM, but most especially the bedroom. I have a lil clock radio on and a fan. If it is quiet I can't sleep, and I will hear every creak, crick, snort, and sniffle in the house. Yeah, I can't sleep like that. As for pillows at one time I was the pillow queen, I had 2 body pillows, 2 king pillows, 2 queen and 4 standard pillows. They all stayed on the bed and were used in some fashion. Now I am down to my 200 dollar specialty pillow (gawd I love that thing, I hope it never ever needs replacing) and two king size pillows for back and tummy. Blankets, this is the weird part, I have to have one foot tucked under the blankets, the other half out half in the blanket. Then I have to be able to pull up a corner and hold on to it for some odd reason. Also, I have to start out my night on the left side, don't have to fall asleep on that side but I HAVE to start out on the left side. Yeah, I know ... weird LOL

Wow! Glad you are ok, and you had a doctor that would listen to you!!

And I feel great! My stomach is still obviously sore, but the rest of me is doing just fine. I still have a bit of residual shoulder pain, but that is dissipating the more I move around. I am even braving a cup of coffee, I am not expecting to finish the whole thing, I just want to shake this caffeine headache I have had since Tuesday. I have been drinking my Soups, and Water. Broths are still hit and miss with me, I just can’t stomach it. WAY to salty for me, makes me feel sick to my new and improved stomach. And that is even the “salt free” variety. I still kind of belch a bit, but I was told that is to be expected the first few days. I braved driving my kids to school today, I just needed to get out and do stuff. I am going nuts in the house puttering around. It is just up the road so I knew I would be ok, and I was too. It felt good to get out and do something even if it was just sitting there. I am still peeling off the glue from all the leads they had attached to me. I just can’t wait until I can hop in the shower again, damn I can’t wait. Well that is about it, two days out while no marathons are in my future I have been downgraded to punched in the gut instead of stabbed in the gut ROFL.

Huh???? :confused2:

Hot Tub hands down ...

Was looking at my incisions today and noticed one was a bit puffy and off colored. I would call today but well its sunday, you know those docs and weekends, they gotta play golf sometime :Banane53:. So a full pic of my incisions and a enlarged one of #5 which is the one that made my eyes bug out today. Good thing my doc is a hottie, gives me something to look forward too when I call him tomorrow. :welldoneclap::thumbup: