Monday, March 31, 2008

Hospital & Needing a Fill

What an eventful week I had!

Last Tuesday I had a really horrid day. At 3am that morning, I woke up dizzy and in so much abdomen pain, that I fainted. Twice. I hit my head on the bathroom counter as I tried to get to the toilet. I was ghostly white and sweating. I thought.. I'm dying!!! I grabbed my cell phone on the way in there. I called my mom, who was awake at 3am.. weirdo! I got in the bath tub after some diarhea, and took a long bath, talking to her about what I was feeling. She was looking up webmd, while I soaked. I felt relieved enough to go back to bed. That morning I went to a clinic--I REALLY need a general practicioner, these clinics suck. At this point I had about a 5 in pain (on scale of 1-10), and then every 2 minutes, it waved up to an 8. My mom thought maybe it's false contractions, she told me about that. I thought maybe that is what was going on, it was so miserable. However, when I was passing out I will say it was a 10. It never got to 10 again, but 8 was bad enough.
The clinic sent me to a medical mall for ultrasounds. They did upper organ ultrasounds, then sent me off to drink 32oz of water, and come back for the lady parts.
Well, 50oz of water and 4 hours later.. I could not pee!!! I went back twice, and they said my bladder was not full enough. They were getting irritated with me, my mom (who came with me the 2nd time around) was irritated I wouldn't pee.. she blamed it on my stubborness. At some point I finally filled up, they did the ultrasound and said my right ovary was hidden, then needed to go in my hoohoo box. Waaaaah. So they stuck something resembling a dildo with a condom up there, then made me bend and stick my left leg up in the air and tilt that way, etc. Finally got a picture, and I left without my dignity.
Clinic tells me to go to the ER and meet some doctor there (it ends up he's a bariatric surgeon in town). He was trying to sell me on coming to him for fills, I finally realized it after the fact.. that's another story.
So I get to the ER, they rush me in. The person doing the IV was a moron, surely on his first day doing an IV on a real person. He put it on the side of my wrist, took him 10 minutes to get it to go in right, and it was excruciating-- on top of my current pain. I've never had IV problems before, and it's a week later and my arm is black & blue and yellow from it. It constantly jabbed into me everytime I moved my arm too. Idiot. Anyway, so the doctor comes in an hour or so later, feels around and said my white blood cells are through the roof, and he doesn't think it's appendicitis.. so it's no longer an emergency. Just what I want to hear in the ER. So he said while I'm there he wants to do a cat scan. They brought me 3 glasses of contrast (mixed with sprite and ice.. my hell). They said they're coming in 20 minutes to take me to get a CAT scan, so I needed to get it down. Sip, sip, sip. Finally get it down, the 50oz from early is finally catching up.. I gotta go! 2 hours pass. No CAT scan. I'm nearly in tears. Nothing is happening!! Doc comes by, asks how the CAT scan went.. I said.. I DON'T KNOW THEY NEVER CAME!!! The nurses station was a bunch of blithering idiots. 40 minutes later they finally take me, I'm all tears by this point. I'm hungry, I'm in pain, I want to go home. They do the scan, so I could finally pee. The guy wheeling me back said I'll be there 'all night' because the person reading the CAT scans isn't there. So when I get back, I ask a nurse to call the doc, and tell him I'll come back tomorrow when he gets the results. They don't call him. 30 minutes pass.. I am literally going insane. I got dressed, they had taken my cuff and pulse thing off. I was just sitting there for no reason. Overnight? No way. So I caused a huge scene, screaming and crying, and they brought me forms saying I would be signing out Against Medical Advice. I did. At the moment, it was immediate relief to walk out of there.. now I'm going to be facing insurance not paying for it. I'm going to fight it though.

So that was that (for now). The next day he said it looked like my colon lining was thick, indicative of food poisoning. I didn't know I had food poisoning, but ok. He told me to take magnesium citrate and drink lots of water. Now, last time I did MC was for lap-banding, and it hit me in like 30 minutes and lasted an hour. This time, it lasted TWO DAYS. I had anal leakage for 2 days.. yuck, I know! And I had to work.

Then on top of that, since I hit 232lb, it's like my restriction miraculously is disappearing. And the band gave me an inch, and I took a mile. I've been eating horribly with this new found open-ness.
I am scheduled for a fill next Wednesday. Whew. Gotta get this bad boy working again.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Printing..And Sandals

Some of you may or may not know.. I am an account manager at a printing & media packaging company.

This came by my e-mail this morning and I just about died.
Especially the end, where everyone is waving to the truck of printing.. It takes a part of our soul!
Hehehehehehe!
Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpAuDrs5ocg

------
I stood in line 2 hours to get my passport this morning for the Jamaica trip. I also signed on the deposit this morning. Luckily, I checked my bank account to make sure my paycheck went in.. and what do I see? NO MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sandals dinged me for the entire trip, even though the receipt and what I signed off on says the deposit amount.
I called our travel agent, and she was panicked too. She called me back and said they are closed early for good Friday so no one can reverse the charges until Monday. We have a lot of things going to hit our account this weekend that will bounce. So I'm fuming. I'm not really happy with Sandals at this point. I told the agent to let them know. Not that they care, of course.

I'm really lucky though, my dad was able to cut me a check and get it deposited immediately to cover the UNAUTHORIZED charge. I explained to the bank, they can't reverse the charge, but they would deposit the check and make the funds available immediately. Disaster averted. But was more running around today than I wanted to do. Damn Sandals.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Entertainment & Jamaica!!

This has been such a busy week for me, and instead of doing my homework which I am very behind in.. I'm going to blog. Yup, that's me.

Seems like this week everyone loaded a bunch of crap on us to do.
Tuesday night I saw Horton Hear's a Who with my friend.. I have to say, it was not bad. I was a little nervous, last kid movie I saw was Bee Movie (SUCK). Who knew Jerry Seinfeld could not be funny? But the cast in Horton was fun.. Carol Burnett, Steven Carrol, Jim Carey.. And good graphics. So if you have to see it because you have a kid, don't fret!

The best part, I hadn't eaten much that day and decided I would splurge on candy, popcorn, or martini at the movie theatre. I got there.. and had nothing.
My reward, yesterday I was 232lb. I am 100% officially down 100lbs. 101lbs actually. Broke that plateau, I've been bouncing 234-238 for almost 2 weeks! I need 233 to be down 100. And bad eating, but eh.. darn.

I made yesterday another good day. Didn't eat much (I have not been feeling hungry lately).. so I splurged on Junior Mints and was still under 1,000 calories.
I wonder if the steroids and/or antibiotics I am on are causing this non-urge to eat. Cool!
Last night I went to the Blue Man Group - How to be a Megastar v. 2.0. I was really disappointed!! We went to the show last year, I could have sworn it was a different version.. but it wasn't, even the opening act was 100% identical to what I saw last year. So, it was still neat looking but the element of surprise is important in this show I think. I yawned a lot, especially during the end. If you've never seen it though, I highly recommend it. If you've seen it before, it's not worth a 2nd unless you were blithering drunk during the 1st run and don't remember anything.

I booked me and husband's anniversary trip for this year! As it ends up, our anniversary is 7/7, and I was looking for 7/3-7/8 trips. So many things were booked, extremely expensive, etc. A co-worker recommended a travel agent and the first thing she said "Do you want to travel on 4th of July? I can get better rates if we do other dates". DOH! I completely forgot about that. Guess it's going to be like that for the rest of our lives! So, we were lenient on dates, so in August we're going to Sandals in Jamaica. FUN IN THE SUN YA'LL!!! What's really cool, is that what I could find even on those dates, with airfare, for a 'decent' room, but one far from the beach with a garden view.. was X amount. This travel agent got us a room ON THE BEACH with a patio that opens right to the beach.. mmm.. with a concierge service... for almost 40% less than what I was able to find on my own. I now recommend travel agents, who knew?

I am very excited, since Sandals is all inclusive, we eat for free, party for free, get drunk for free.. I don't like itenerary trips, my dad use to do those when we went on family vacation (and to this day). It's stressful and I like being spontaneous. I know I want to do massages, tubing, lazy river, snorkling, maybe parasailing.. but I don't know when. I'll figure it out that day!

Now, I'm really buckling down this time. I always say it, but now I have a goal. I don't want to be the fat girl on the beach in Jamaica. So time to lose at least 30 more lbs by August. I can totally do this.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Granny Moments

Does the term "Granny Moments" mean anything to other people? It's something my family says at least once a day.. "Another granny moment". It stems from our granny who is self-proclaimed as "frisky", but setting into dementia. She does things regularly that are baffling, and we chalk it up to a granny moment.

So, there's that. I went to bed around 3am last night, but was up until about 6am catching up on my TiVo. At 7:30am, my mom calls. A call this early, even on a weekday, is suspect. So as I answer the phone, I'm having a mini-panic attack in my head.. We're having horrible storms at this time, hail, wind, flooding, blah blah. Perfect time to be in bed! So mom says, she needs a key to her house. It ends up, her oldest pug (my Maddie!) is old and senile herself, and she can't see or hear... so she gets stuck in the yard sometimes when she leaves the porch. Mom heard her crying, and she was cowered in the middle of the yard in the storm. So, mom gets up and goes and saves her.

Meanwhile, the new doors she had installed (wrong ones, and she threw a fit about them), self-lock when you close them. She kept saying "One day I'll lock myself out". It had to happen when my dad was out of town. She said she was out there since about 6am, but was waiting till later to call people. My husband returned their key a few months ago, so I told her to call my sister and let me know if she has one. Sister didn't, so mom wanted me to come pick her up. She is a smoker and has been out in the rain without smokes for a while, and asked me to stop and get her some on the way.

Too early, too stormy.. not enough sleep. I go in my PJ's.. no hair fix, no bra. The lady at the gas station cards me. Nothing new. Then, something in ordinary circumstances would have made me laugh, made me want to scream. She says, "This does not look like you". For crying out loud!!! I just sighed and stared at her. Driving 30 down 55 roads due to flooding, I get to mom's house.
I'm getting rained on, she's having her cigarette. I listen to how she hates the new doors. I brought my keys just in case I had one.. I don't know what my keys are anymore. So she tries it, eureka! My key unlocks the garage door.. oh wait, there's a deadbolt too. Oh, and with all new doors around the house, my key doesn't unlock anything else. Argh.

So then she was explaining how she can't get the screens off, but has an unlocked window. We go around back, I figure out how to get them off, but it might break it... they have 3 doors in the backyard, 2 regular ones, and 1 no one ever uses. I mentioned something about the 3rd unused door, and she goes "I forgot I have that door".. mind you it's only 10ft from the other door. Not hidden, it's on the porch too. Yahtzee. It's unlocked. She spent hours outside for nothin'. I woke up so early for nothin'.

Then she's afraid I'm going to tell the family how she had a "granny moment". She really hates that, even though when anyone else has one, it's funny. So I had to blog, about my mom's granny moment.

I got home, went back to sleep.. 2 hours later, she calls to tell me a joke. I go back to sleep, 3 hours later she calls to tell me it's hailing. I finally wake up then, and decide she must be lonely and bored with dad gone. So me and Russell offer to buy lunch and bring it over. She said no.. sheesssssh!

I just finished hanging the last of our new venetian blinds. Very pretty. The Market "Fresh"(mmhm) chicken club salad from Arby's is nasty.

I'm making dinner soon.. still sick, I feel like I can't breathe, every breath is a wheeze. I wonder if it's seasonal asthma.. I had that when I was a kid.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Funny Stuff

I read Fark.com, for my news. My favorite part, is that readers submit their own headlines to the article. Today is a really funny day some reason, so I thought I'd post those headlines and make my own comments.
And now here's the lap-band part.. today I made an effort to eat at least 200c for breakfast, since my friend told me I should to jump start my metabolism. That's hard for me, but I had a kudos bar and 1 packet of fruit & cream oatmeal. For lunch I had 3 bites of guacamole salad (man it was good, wish I could have had more). I put lemon juice on it and got it to-go, but we'll see how it holds up.. if it doesn't turn disgusting by dinner, that's what I'll have.
Without further ado, laugh some!

Amsterdam gays can now legally enjoy public sex in the city's biggest park, but they'd better not let their dog off its leash. Nothing I can say will compare to the funniness already there.

Woman threatens to kill herself. Friend says he's calling her bluff and gives her his gun. Oops. Jury convicts him of killing her. Actually, glad I read this. I've had pity-party friends who say things like that, and at some point I did the same thing.. "Well, do it already". I'm a good friend, really..

Town denies "adult entertainment" license because bar is too close to cemetery. After all, who wants to work around a bunch of stiffs? Just, hehe.

Church treasurer steals $1M in mission money to buy classic cars. Church members said they always thought it was strange how it always took $2 for them to feed a hungry child when everyone else did it for $1. Ugh.

Good: Single goes out to make a living. Bad: By selling cocaine. Good: She left the kids with a friend. Bad: She left the plate she cut the cocaine out and the kids went all Tyrone the crackhead on her. People like this need to have their tubes tied.


Southwest would like you to know they've repaired four of their airplanes on which maintenance had been an afterthought. And they only had big cracks in them, so there's really nothing to worry about with all the others. Fly Southwest. Eeek, I currently have a flight booked with them for May.

Police officer acquitted on child pornography charges, because he accidentally paid the $35 access fee to the site he accidentally went to, where he accidentally downloaded 8,742 images from the site, by accident. How sad.. I think people like this should have their nonos run through a meat grinder.


Oh, and is it odd that my husband doesn't know about my blog? I have kept diaries/journals since I was a kid, I have a drawer in our spare bedroom full of them. I have pointed them out to him and said.. if I die for whatever reason, there they are to read. But, otherwise they're off limits! Just because he forgets about it, I know he never looks at them. But if I do die, he gets to read about my first kiss, my 'first time', silly things I bought when I was 8 years old (yeah, I wrote about that), movies I saw, etc. I actually turn red when I read them myself, so I don't touch them either. In fact, I don't re-read this either because my brain always switches gears by time I finish writing. Maybe that's why I like to write. Mwhahaha. Anyway.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Jeremiah Meyer Band-Check it out!

So, tonight was a lot of fun. Since I moved back to Alabama, I've been lacking friends. Ironic, since it's my hometown! But, all my friends moved off like I did.. but only I came back. Waaaah.
Well, an old friend of mine, Jeremy moved back to town recently. After high school we fell out of touch. I was also friends with his brother, who I reconnected with briefly a year or so ago. In that time, it ends up Jeremy is now a musician putting out his CD (this is a flashback montage moment). Well funny thing, I work in the music industry! So long story short, we did the printing for his CD, and this is not bias-- it rocks.
If you like John Mayer, you'll love this guy. Hell, his name even sounds the same. His voice is amazing, the arrangements beautiful, and how can you not like that? Here's a plug for him-- Jeremy's Myspace
And you can buy his CD for a steal for $4.99 at CD Baby (online). Check out Maybe Tomorrow on the myspace, and tell me that's not sexy? And the drummer? Yeah I know, he's a hottie too.

So back to my excitement, since he's back in town we went to dinner tonight. It was a lot of fun! I splurged and had a Mudslide, but in my defense I have eaten really well today!! I had a kudos bar for b'fast (100c), 3 pieces of steak tips & 2 bites of salad for lunch (???c), and then the ONE mudslide and 4 cheese wedges from O'Charleys for dinner. It's so nice to reconnect with old friends! And he likes going to the movies.. my husband hates going to the movies.. I have a new movies buddy! HOORAY!!!

Now, go check him out.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

But it's the Parallel Universe, Mom!

Get excited, I'm posting regularly. I'm going to try to keep it up!! Keep commenting, it's encouraging!



Last night I went to see Rain: A Beatle Experience.. tribute band. I have to say, after seeing Love Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, nothing compares. I even saw another travelling Beatles band that came to Huntsville last year that knocked the socks off these guys. Good thing the seats were free! Then I came home to American Idol Beatles night. How ironic is that? Even more people butchering the classics. No, really.. there were a couple I liked. But the country girl.. really? Really you think Beatles done Deliverance style was good? REALLY?


Anyway, we had to park at the library, way far away. This was due to a misunderstanding that is irrelevant. If you live in Huntsville, you know this is quite a walk. Especially late at night after a show. I was with mom, dad, and Russell. We get to a dark area and this guy-who was standing at a corner-starts following us on the other side of the street. I mentioned it, and everyone said they noticed he was stalking us too. So we all had a game plan.. ultimately, my dad would beat his ass.. We get to the car, the guy stops, turns back around. We saw an 18-wheeler up the street with his yellow lights on, so it's a looney tune 18-wheeler that was debating jumping us!


When we get in the car, Leslie called(my little sister) and told our mom she had a bad feeling about us. Mom said we were fine, and told us not to tell Leslie about it. She's a little unstable and flips out easy. Then Russell says "In a parallel universe, that guy did attack us". Ahhh yes, my dear geeky husband. He explained how "Everything than can happen, does happen in parallel universes". Blah blah geeky talk blah blah.


We got to Waffle House, and it came up what a hellion child I was. She said I was the best teenager of the 3, but the absolute worst child. She used the term "Demon Child". I was too independent and stubborn. I could go on for hours with the stories she tells me.. I can deny them all, because I don't know if it's true or not! Then she brought up, how me & Russell's kids will be. If our childhoods are any indication, we're in for a trip. She played it out, and I just about died. It's going to happen too, I can feel it!!


Me-"WHY DID YOU WRITE ON THE WALL JUNIOR!!!!"


Spawn-"Mom, I didn't!! Someone in a parallel universe did it!!"


Me-"ARGHAGHRHGHGHGH"


Spawn- "Go ask dad, he knows what I'm talking about!"


And this is at 5, I wonder how exciting they will be by 10?



And then today, I was going to cut the crap.. but argh. Any idea what this nummy looking thing is on my work desk? That's right.. LUNCH! I had 1/2 of it. Russell wanted Italian for lunch.. Italian isn't my thang. Unless it's dessert of course, you can't be racist against desserts.. Just normal food.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Sick.. Doh!

Yesterday among my monthly group.. The Shrinkin' Violets.. We decided to CUT THE CRAP.. on Monday. Tuesday & Thursdays are typically CTCT.. but I felt Monday needed to be done. Several of us have been falling off the proverbial band wagon. I did good. Yay me. As soon as I got home from work, I smelled laundry in the air. This is important, because my dear husband thought this was my 'cause'. About 15 minutes later, once inside, my nose started itching and I went into a sneezing fit! Anytime I have sneezing fits, I think about my heart stopping. That's what they say.. that's why we say "Bless you!". Yea? I blew my nose. It still itched. I took a benadryl. Russell said, it must have been the laundry. Yeah honey, the smell of laundry messed up my nose. Benadryl knocked me out around 7pm, so I laid in bed and took a Zicam (which has taken grief about being a placebo.. but if it is, it still works for me!). Throat started aching. Oh dear. WAAAAAH. By this morning, I'm full blown sick. I just got over being sick not too long ago. The weather goes from high 70 degrees.. to ice & snow.. literally overnight. I guess it's messing with my head. But once in a zombie-state, I did have a strawberry ice, a dollup of whip cream, and a 90 calorie snack bag. I didn't want to eat any of that yesterday, just to prove I could do it. Yeah I showed me! But I was still low in calorie overall yesterday, so am still happy.

I have a friend who had the RnY a long time ago.. and she gained all her weight back. She decided to get back on the horse when I had my surgery. She said she was back down -63lb since I was banded. I'm not sure how that works, honestly. If the stomach is stretched back out, I guess she's just dieting. But I talked to her about my complacency, and today we are going to weigh ourselves and get back to racing! She told me to QUIT SKIPPING BREAKFAST. She said at the minimum I need 250c for b'fast to get my metabolism going. So I thought I'd do a yogurt and some cheerios. I forgot the cheerios, but I'm eating a 170 calorie yogurt. That'll have to do. Maybe some of this cold medicine stuff has calories in it.. tastes like cinnamon, so it should!

Cut the Crap Tuesday.. that's now! If you're reading this today, join us and make an effort to cut out the crap! :o)



And here is -99lbs down. My posture changed! Perhaps, this is the mighty key to why my back stopped hurting just a few months out. Now I'm just saggy. I'll take it! 60lbs(ish) to go. Hopefully, I'll tighten up.. pleeaseee?

Friday, March 7, 2008

Complacency & Why the Band Is Better Than I Imagined

Ok so on the lap-band forums, I read so.. so so so so.. many posts about people saying you HAVE to eat XX calories and you HAVE to exercise, otherwise the band does not work! You have to work the band.

Now, I'm not saying they're wrong. I think they're right (for some people). Maybe I don't give myself enough credit. I evaluate, and I frown on myself a lot. I don't think I'm a role model bandster. I have NOT gotten my snacking under control. I have not vowed to make good choices..wait, I have vowed, I just don't mean it. I try to mean it, but I still like food for the sake of liking food.

I wanted to see a shrink about it, but it was a several month waiting list and by time my appointment came around they had to cancel. I was so discouraged, and losing weight, that I decided not to do it. I still should, maybe. Ok, I should.. but I don't know if I will.

I go in these waves of gung-ho'ness. I am psyched up, I love fitting in a new size, and I'm ready to keep going. I will drink water, I will eat healthy solid foods, I won't snack, no bad foods! I am proud of myself, because I gave up sodas. Once in a blue moon I have one, I never finish it, and I don't obsess about it. I drink water all the time. We have cases of bottles of water in my house, and I run through them like.. water (ba-dum bum).
I keep healthy solid foods, I do cook now (most days of the week) where we use to have fastfood at least 2x a day. I got rid of most snacks for a long time, I am slowly bringing them back into my house. I need to stop--but here is the complacency.
I am down 99lbs as I write this.
My back problems are completely gone, something that had me suicidal and ready to literally cut my legs off with a kitchen knife.. If anything this band was ALL worth it for this. I feel like if I have kids now, it would be a healthy pregnancy. I like how I look, I am fitting in sizes I have not worn since 4th grade. Yes, 4th grade. In my mind, I am beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I still need to lose about 50lbs. Since I've never been an average weight in my life, I am complacent with being 'only' 50lbs overweight. Never in my life could I say this.
The complacency is dangerous. It causes me to justify a snack I don't need. It causes me not to go to the gym. We have a fully equipped nice gym at my job, and yet, I don't go. Why? I am lazy, I admit that. But I'm also complacent. Despite my lack of exercise from day 1, despite my snacking, which is progressively getting worse.. I am still losing.

I don't deserve it quite honestly.

I am not doing what I am 'suppose' to be doing on a daily basis. I get the gung-ho, then it fades. Then I get complacent and reflect (like now). I wish I had more motivation. I might be at goal by now if I'd put some effort into it.
I am so lucky, and so happy for that. I feel like my band is doing all the work. When will I get in sync with it?
The band is like some sort of miracle, everything everyone says it is not. If you don't work it, it won't work. But I'm not working it. Not as much as I should. I guess the biggest accomplishments are that now, Mrs. Fast Food Queen.. does not like it. I dread when my husband asks if we can go to some fast food place. It's rare now, and I either don't eat or I get a chili if they sell chili.

But really, I need to get motivated. I need to get my ass in the gym. Why am I so lazy??????
I have vowed (and I will keep this one), to throw out the ice cream in my freezer when I get home from work tonight. I have to do these things occasionally when I recognize how bad I'm getting with things. But despite the ice cream I ate, I've lost 2lbs this week. 1lb from -100lb gone. Wow.
Thank you INamed.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

New York City...Center of the Universe


Beginning of February '08 I bundled up and flew to NYC with Brad & David for a sales trip. Boy it was fun.
We met with several customers every day, lots of lavish food, the spirits a'flowing, and good company. We saw the broadway Wicked one night, and it was fantastic. I wasn't too thrilled with the music, but the story is ingenius! A creative mind came up with that one, my friends. I recommend it to anyone. Even if you don't like musicals, if you can appreciate the Wizard of Oz, it's a must see.

My favorite restaurant was Ken's Steakhouse. Mutton. MUTTON. Yes, aged baby lamb. I can't decide if it was aged before or after death, I would think if it were before death it was just be sheep? But it was the best meat I've ever had. If you're with PETA, go away please.

This is 2 blogs within 1 month, I am getting good.




Some people will understand this picture.. I'm not going to explain it, but it was in economy class flying to NYC.