I haven't used this blog for nearly 5 years now. I
used to be all over it just putting, mostly random, thoughts on the 'paper'
especially when I participated in the A-Z challenge and also documenting all of
my kid's birthdays. I still encourage you to look if you need an
idea! However, life evolves. My kids are no longer interested in
the over-the-top parties, and I lost interest in the A-Z challenge. So,
here we are, 5 years later. Why? Because I have taken a huge step
in my journey. Thanks to support from family and friends and new
insurance that actually covers the procedure, I embarked on my path to better
physical health with a new tool. The Single Anastomosis Duodeno-ileal
Bypass or SADI-S. This is a nifty, fairly new procedure that was first
brought to medical world in 2007. You've probably heard of the gastric
bypass (started in 1966) or the gastric sleeve (1980), but not the
SADI-S. It's a combination of the two. Care to see
more? https://youtu.be/JpjFoVoOVZg
Anyhow, I've been working on just getting approval since
October. Insurance may cover, but they still make you work for it!
I had to get cardiac clearance, psychological clearance, and then attend
separate appointments with either the nurse or the dietician. Y'all know
how patient I am, right? lol. every time an appointment got moved
or they couldn't get me in for the next one for 2-3 weeks drove me
batty!! I mean, come on people, let's do this! Anyway, as I've been
told multiple times and, while I still don't like it, time passes quickly and
we finally completed the package of requirements and insurance approved it and
then....well, it took 2 months to get scheduled (aacckkk!!!). But April
21 came, surgery happened, and now I'm in the recovery phase of this
adventure. Some interesting take-aways this week....
- I only remember being in pre-op and then I was scooting
over to the operating table. I do not recall leaving pre-op at all and I
have no memories after the scoot. Just waking up. It’s really
weird. I'm sure they talked to me, right? Told me to scoot up or
down on the table, lay on my back, tell me when they were giving me the good
meds? but there's nothing in my memory bank. It's strange to know
I'm missing a segment.
- I can remember what I said while waking up and loopy, like
asking the nurses if they liked cookies. They thought I was just saying
random things. They were surprised when, through the efforts of 2
friends, a kid I birthed and the hubby, an entire case of GS cookies arrived
the next morning for them.
- NOTE - do NOT give the nurses the cookies BEFORE they
finish your discharge paperwork. These are words of wisdom, trust
me. Those nurses disappeared so fast with my papers just sitting there on
the desk waiting to be finished. Sigh.
- My mother is awesome! When I finally got to my room,
every nurse around already knew me quite well. Like mother, like daughter,
I guess. Once you get us started, over-sharing is a thing. It's
what makes us so lovable!
- And lastly, and this really important in case anyone else
does this. No one verbally explained that the Tylenol should be either
liquid or crushed. It's buried in the paperwork (i found later) but for
the last 2.5 days, I've been hurting. One of my incisions apparently got
more if the surgical action than the others and it is not a happy place.
no infection, just bruised and sore. I've been holding my stomach when
doing any kind of movement. Today, i called to ask if this was a sign of
something bad. The surgeon's nurse asked if I was keeping up with my meds
and if i was crushing everything into water. Umm....no. the
hospital even gave me pills to swallow. She pointed out that the pills at
the hospital were in the gel tabs. I have regular old Walmart brand white
pills here. Guess what, (dummy here), my stomach can no longer dissolve
the cheapo pills in time to make a difference. Hubby has since retrieved
both liquid and powdered Tylenol and my outlook had really improved! the
more you know!
So, this has gone on longer than intended and I haven't even
posted my goals or my before pic. Geez, Jenna, get with it!
My goals:
1. More time with my kids
2. Hiking with my scouts
3. normal chairs
4. Not paying extra for the larger sizes
5. rides that I don’t have to squeeze into
6. My uniforms fitting
7. getting off the medications (I'm diabetic)
And, alas, the before pics. These were taken about a week
ago. I did lose 40lbs prior to this picture throughout the prep process.
