My Progress!

Friday, February 12, 2010

One step forward, Two steps back...


Once again, I apologize for being derelict in posting, but as usual, this has been a crazy week for us. I’ve been working quite a bit more than usual and training for a third job (can you tell I’m WAY over being poor?) so any time I’ve had away from work, training, or sleeping I’ve been spending with Tanner.

I’ve had a few slip ups on my diet and I only made it to the pool once, but I’ve tried to get on the treadmill at least once a day all week. I saw my cardiologist today for my follow up appointment and he approved me for surgery so Yay! for that! I don’t think I got around to posting about how my initial consult with him went, but he actually mentioned that the last echo he did when I was first considering bariatric surgery showed that my heart had some areas of thickening and didn’t appear to be pumping as efficiently as it should be. He said that he saw the same thickening on this most recent echo cardiogram, but didn’t see the pumping problem. He did note that it was hard to really get a good image of my heart (due to the plethora of fatty tissue in the way…he was nice enough to phrase this tactfully bless him), but what he saw didn’t concern him enough to put a roadblock in the way of surgery.

I believe my bariatric doctor is still waiting on the results of my psych eval, but considering I didn’t show up in my birthday suit or try to introduce the psychologist to my posse of invisible friends, I’m pretty sure I’ll pass that.

The last time I weighed, I had lost about 7 lbs, but I had a MAJOR cheat the other night (boo me!) so I’ve been afraid to see what the scale said. I was SO exhausted and we literally had nothing to eat at the house. I have been trying to do that stupid fasting diet and by the time I got around to dinner, I hadn’t had more to eat that day than two 70 calorie “puddings.” I was RAVENOUS and ordered pizza for Tanner and I. Let’s just say I didn’t stop at 2 pieces of pizza and I even ordered cheesecake…I know!

The whole fasting thing just isn’t working out for me people. I have my pudding or shake in the morning, then later in the afternoon. Initially, even that was difficult as I would get quite hungry around lunch time and the supplement would only curb that hunger for about an hour. I’m now at a point where I seem to do alright, but when dinner rolls around and I get to eat real food, I just start hoovering any food in sight. Most times, I’m eating healthy foods and I still manage to stay under 1000 calories for the day, but binge behavior is binge behavior.

What I think I’ve decided to do is eat sensibly. Keep it to three meals (no snacks) per day and try to keep my calories under 1500. When I get to within two weeks of my surgery, I’ll go on the fasting diet the doctor has prescribed. Otherwise, I feel like I’m just setting myself up for failure. Due to some other news I’ll get into in a minute, I could be 6 – 8 weeks from surgery at this point and I don’t think I can do this pre surgery diet for that long.

So, what happened that changed my desire to have surgery ASAP? Our crappy luck! I got a call from the management company that handles our rental home. Apparently the owner of our duplex is in bankruptcy and the bank is going to assume our duplex the first of March which means we have to be out very soon. I was initially very concerned because financially we are still pretty strapped and our credit is just…beyond repair really so qualifying for a new place was going to be problematic if not impossible. Luckily, there is another rental right next door to us that was back on the market and it happens that the management company is the same one we originally signed our first lease with (it changed companies about a year ago). I called the woman we worked with previously and learned that it hadn’t been rented yet so we’ve been trying to scrape the money together to pay all the security deposits, moving expenses, etc. I’m trying to be positive about this…we are fortunate that Erik has this second job and that I just got hired on for my third job or we would be in so much trouble trying to make all this happen. It is just frustrating because, once again, we will have to use money we were saving for another car to move. One step forward, two steps back should be our theme song!

I also have some other bad news…the wound from hell is back. You remember the one on my stomach that started back in November? I thought it had healed, the skin healed over, but I always felt kind of a little thickening there, but thought that it was scar tissue since it took so long to heal. It had broken through once before since the initial rupturing, but I thought it was finally behind me; apparently not. Today it is back to being tender to the touch and feverish so I’m guessing it is probably going to rupture again. I’ve put in a call to a wound care specialist at Erik’s urging and am hoping to get an appointment for some time next week. Again, I can only think that there must be some pocket of infection that isn’t able to heal before the outer skin starts to grow back (I know, this is disgusting…sorry another hazard to being a fatty and not something I am going to miss once I start to lose weight!). I think when I start increasing my activity (walking on the treadmill) the friction just irritates it enough that it causes the wound to re-open. I’ll let you guys know how the appt goes when I get it sorted out.

Right now I’m off to spend some time with Tanner and Erik before getting back to work this evening! Blog more soon !

11 Comments:

KrysTros said...

It is hard but it will be worth it in the end. I am so excited for you! The psych eval I had to do consisted of 700 questions which were really 20 questions rephrased over and over. You will do well!

My Big Fat Super Super Obese Blog said...

Thanks! I'm sure I can hunker down and do it when I'm closer to the date. For now, I just want to make sure that I am following a healthy eating plan overall and continuing with my exercise.

I had the same psych eval lol. Some of the questions made absolutely NO sense! was it the same with yours lol?

Christine said...

I am glad you are a go for surgery...I hope everything goes well for you.
pulling for you here in colorado.

mandatorybloghere said...

ok i dont want to sound like a smart ass but if the wound is from friction why are you not just erm lifting your shirt up while you are working out, are you at the gym? or at home?

My Big Fat Super Super Obese Blog said...

LOL, you think I should get into some nude treadmill action? Now THAT's a frightening mental picture! It is actually on the underside of my stomach...as big as I am, I have a stomach that actually hangs and unfortunately, this actually affects the oxygenation of that tissue which has really affected how well this area heals. I develped a cyst (which is kind of a hereditary condition I've had problems wth whether I'm skinny OR fat, but my whenever I seem to start walking again, it crops back up in the exact same place. I'm guessing it is just from friction of my clothing or something irritating an area that never quite heals all the way. I know it's pretty disgusting, but one of the hazards of my weight at the moment. I hope to see a wound care specialist soon and as long as I have a waterproof bandage over it, I don't see why I can't continue with my swimming. I'll have to see what the doc says about walking until it's healed though.

The Redhead Riter said...

You crack me up. No invisible friends? LOL

Happy Valentine's Day!
Come and view my note to you...
http://theredheadriter.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-spy-valentines-day.html

Anonymous said...

Hey there! Sounds like you're making good progress. Being in the medical field, I have to ask...have they checked this wound for MRSA? I know you have a lot of other factors here that make perfect sense, but it can't hurt to ask your doc. Keep up the treadmilling, you'll feel stronger and stronger each day!

My Big Fat Super Super Obese Blog said...

I don't know if they have checked for that or not honestly. If I can get into this wound care specialist, I'll ask about it. My family has a hereditary condition (that I can't remember the name of) that predisposes us to cysts. Doesn't really have anything to do with how skinny or fat we are although I suspect diet can affect how frequent we get them. Ironically, I have never had a huge problem with them. My mother lived most of her life with one or two somewhere on her body at all times and very frequently had to have them lanced or cut out. Usually, they burst and heal over and that's the end of it until another one pops up somewhere else. Thanks for the suggestion!

Jules AF said...

Yeah, fasting isn't good! But congrats on the weight loss! And getting on the treadmill every day. Working out is the hardest thing to do sometimes!

Girlstar said...

Best of luck to prepping for surgery! I am 6 years post rny here. Lots of hoops to jump thru to get there. I think the pre- op process is meant to scare off anyone who isn't serious. Looking forward to reading more about your journey. J

Anonymous said...

Hope you're doing okay! Wondering if maybe you had your surgery?