Thursday, October 21, 2010

Road trips, Lap bands, and Mental Health




This past weekend, I met one of my dearest friends in a large city that was supposed to be 8 hours away.  With kids however, it took 10 hours.  So for twenty hours out of 72, the three of us were in the car.  When we got to the hotel, they had sold our room out under us and we had to have 4 people in a one bedroom hotel room.  For driving all the way, then having to have both my kids in roll away beds, my stress level went a little high.  But after taking my nighttime meds and hanging with my friend, all was well with the world, and things were fine.

The next morning I started the day with a protein shake, and then we went to IKEA.  I LOVED it!  Two hours (one with the kids hanging out in Smalland,), 66 dollars, and a delicious soup lunch (with two meatballs – can’t go there and NOT have meatballs!) with a shared dessert and the kids getting what they wanted – they ate with no arguments- for 12 dollars.

After that we went to the hotel and moved to our original type room – two bedroom suites, then later took a train into downtown, where we visited a specialty toy store and ate at a legendary restaurant – but please take “eating” from me with a grain of salt.  I ate, then puked, then tried eating again.  It didn’t work.

And that sent me on a tailspin.  Since Saturday night, I have only kept down about 50% of what I’ve attempted to eat, and that includes soup.  Which leads to another condition – I’m not sure that I’ve kept down all my meds, and I’ve started having depression issues.  I’m going to give myself another day, and if I am not feeling better, I’ll check with my doc(s), both my surgeon and my psychiatrist.

So basically, I have learned a few very important lessons.  First I must always pack protein when I go and not plan on only eating out for vacations.  Then, for my mental health, I need to stretch out my roadtrips longer, including at least another day to make the traveling easier.  And I have to go easier on myself after.  I threw myself back into my schedule, and I should have eased myself back in.  But under NO circumstances do I regret the trip.  It was a blast.  And I adored seeing one of my bestest friends in the world!


P.S. – Check out the new picture – I got a new haircut that frames my face and takes a few pounds off!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

New Milestones!

I am about a week away from being 7 months out of surgery, but I have had a few health issues lately along with a ton of stress.  My bi-polar meds got changed (subtract 300 mg of Seroqual, add 4 mgs of Stelazine, subtract 75 mgs of Effexxor XR, add prn xanax), and I have been getting migraines that make me puke like no ones business.

However, I have started waking up EARLY to exercise. And by early I mean the 5:45 am power water aerobics class at the Y.  Yes, I am turning into “that” girl – the one who favors exercise to sleep!  While I have not seen the scale change in a few weeks, I have noticed the following:

  1. My biceps and triceps look and feel buff (now only if the weight loss didn’t leave me with batwings… but that’s what plastic surgery is for!)
  2. I have awesome legs!
  3. My wedding ring (which used to be “stuck”, now spins on my finger!
  4. My bra size went from 50A to 46 B or C!  I may not need the boob job after all!
  5. My jeans are too big again.
  6. I’m actually looking forward to and enjoying exercise.
  7. I have become addicted to soy chocolate protein shakes blended with natural peanut butter and a frozen banana!
  8. I don’t need as much coffee to make it through the day.


But I do have some challenges coming up.  This weekend I am heading several hours away to meet one of my bestest buddies for a girls weekend with my kids in a huge Midwestern urban area, where there are tempting treats on every corner, and with my kids tagging along I have a feeling we are going to be taking cabs, not walking like I usually would have done.  But my friend is super fit, and knows me better then just about anyone, so she’ll probably not let me cheat too bad.  As long as I can make it without another migraine, it should be an awesome time.

I’ll write some bariatric friendly travel tips when I get back.  One thing I have done is planned ahead and bought some rice cakes in cedar cheese flavor and vitamin water to get me through the long drive. J

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Weightloss Nutjob and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Lap-band Day




(with apologies to Judith Voirst)

I went to bed with an empty tummy because I had a headache and earache and when I woke up and went to take my medicine this morning, I kept down my medicine but threw up my yogurt smoothie and I can tell it was going to be a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Lap-band Day.

I could tell because when I woke up the girls and fed them breakfast, the only thing I could keep down was coffee.  And it was starting to be a Terrible, Horrible, No Good,Very Bad Lap-band Day.

Later, after I took my daughter’s to school, I went to my friend’s house and drank more coffee.  It stayed down, and for a while, I thought it had stopped being a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Lap-band Day, but then I went home and I made lunch.  I had a few bites of cheese, which usually does a good job of staying down, but I could not keep it down, not even sugar-free pudding for dessert.  Then I tried drinking water, and I went to throw it up I started seeing stars and I hit my head on the toilet and started crying and it was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Lap-band Day.

So I called my husband and cried to him and he came home to take care of the girls and I went to sleep.  It was much better.  But then I got up and tried to eat and threw up again.  I cleaned myself up and went down to my car to find it locked even though I gave my husband the keys so he could get out the youngest girl’s dance bag.  And I started crying again because I had an appointment with an ears, nose, and throat specialist and needed to get my ears suctioned out, so I wanted to go upstairs but I was locked out and it was continuing to be a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Lap-band Day.

But then I got to the apartment office and they gave me a key to get in the building and I called my car insurance company and realized I didn’t have roadside assistance, then I had to call and reschedule my appointment, and then I called my best friend to whine and I started to ball my eyes out.  But then I felt better.  And a few minutes later, my husband came home and had my keys as I was writing him a note telling him that I went back to bed.  And he had my keys and then he cuddled me and while I was still not able to eat, it made me feel a lot better.  And then he said the best thing of all.  He’ll stay home tomorrow morning and take me to my appointment so he can help me because he loves me and wants me to feel better.  And that made me feel so much better that I could even drink a cup of (decaf) tea.  And that’s a good start.