Post surgery - Day One

Yesterday was a surprise. I was expecting a whole different experience than what I got. Here's what I remember:

I got to the Outpatient hospital around 9am. By 10am I was marked up, in my gown and ready for surgery. I left the surgeon a little gift: I wrote a note on my stomach that said "Please make me look pretty". When he went to mark me up he laughed and said no one had ever done that before. (Always good to keep the surgeon laughing). The very nice nurses gave me the FIRST part of the IV...then NOTHING. I remember NOTHING!! Next thing I knew I heard the nurse say it's 1:00pm and surgery was over. Wow. I was expecting to at least remember the wheeling down the hall to the surgical room.

It was a rough day yesterday. The anesthesia wiped me out. I think I was awake for about an hour yesterday afternoon then back to bed.

Today is a WHOLE NEW DAY!!! I feel pretty good. I am NOT in a lot of pain, not having to take a lot of the pain pills. I'm shocked! I expected to be in a great deal of pain. They took 2lbs off of me for heaven's sake! The grossest (is that a word??) part is the drains. I have to empty them a couple of times a day. I get those out next week and can't wait for that. Until then, no showers. Yes, that means my friends won't come by to see me! Stinky!!! :)

I'm wrapped up with gauze and surgical sponges all over the place so I have NO IDEA what I look like under all of this. It's killing me. I'd like to see what was done. How I look. Do I look better? I do know, I'm DEFINITELY smaller!!!! I feel like I'm in high school. I can't remember the last time I looked down and saw my feet. LOL.

Looking forward to the rest of my life......thanks for reading.

Today is the day...

I'm as ready as I can be. Still nervous. I can't shake this feeling. I think its because my other surgeries were more "life threatening". Meaning if I didn't have them, I would have serious complications in my life. This one I will be extremely uncomfortable, but I'd survive. Sounds stupid I'm sure.

I've got to regroup. Today is the first day of the rest of my healthy life. I get to wear clothes that are in proportion to each other. I get to run (possibly!!). All of this because of one little surgery. I know in my head it's the best thing to happen to me. I just have to get past this morning!! :)

Going to go get ready. It's outpatient surgery and I'm thankful for being able to recover at home. No hospital food. I should be home late this afternoon and will blog tomorrow am.

Thanks for reading

Tomorrow am.

Tuesday. 8:45am. I'm ready but I'm not. I'm excited for the "after surgery" but not excited for tomorrow. Today has been a HOT one and miserably so.

They say when life hands you lemons, make lemonade....so I went out to my lemon tree, picked a few and made lemonade. Now let's see what I get handed next!

Went to the store today to get new jammies. Apparently lifting my arms in the air will be out of the question so I needed button front ones. Don't tell me to "stick 'em up" because I'm gonna look really silly doing that.

I also bought a sports bra. (Regular bras are out of the question for a few months) It was the strangest thing to buy one and HOPE it will fit. I don't know what size I will come out of surgery as. I know what I ASKED to be...but you never know what you'll end up with. Can you imagine? God sets you up with one set of girls...and you can actually CHOOSE what you want to be. Such a strange decision to make.

I'm blogging my adventure for my friends who wonder what it's like and are afraid to ask. I hope I'm not offending anyone by putting such details out there. I'm not embarrassed by this surgery, just want to help educate.

Thanks for reading.

Monday am.....one day to go.

I'm up! It's 5:30am and it's my last day of work before surgery. I have a lot to do today because I'll be out of work for two weeks. So much to wrap up. I feel a little guilty leaving my staff for that long....but I know they understand.

So many things to do today. Shower with special soap. Put specific things by the night stand "just in case". Specific clothes to wear "after surgery". Oh, and the pictures. Still didn't take the final picture yet. Will do that today. Can't eat or drink after midnight. Must take regular meds with a SIP of water. Yadda yadda yadda....

It's going to be a HOT one today. Almost 90 degrees. If I wasn't sweating it out about the surgery, today I'll just be sweating it out!!

Thanks for reading.

It's Sunday...

and the weather outside is beautiful. It's expected to be 85 degrees today. I just can't wait.

I woke up this morning with a terrible knot in my stomach. I'm not sure why. I think it's nerves.

I'm really looking forward to the "after surgery". I'm sitting reading the paper this morning and found a recent Lands End catalog. It has swimsuits in it. Swimsuits are something I've always struggled with. When I got to my current weight I started looking for a new swimsuit. I was THRILLED to fit in one in the single digits. Well, the bottom half fit anyway. I've never been able to put on a one piece and have it fit everywhere. Looking through the catalog this morning, I am starting to realize this is a possibility I will get to face very soon. I should be on cloud 9, but I'm sitting here nervous. Hmmmmm....

All of these clothes in the Sunday ads. They're beautiful. They look good on people of proportion. Reality check: This will be me soon. Wow. Until recently, I didn't think it was strange to buy skirts/short in a size MEDIUM and tops/jackets in a Large to X-Large. Thankfully I have a supportive husband who is behind me despite me downsizing the "girls". :)

Today I'm housecleaning and reflecting on the items in my closet. I'm hoping that my local Goodwill will be happy to get the tops and jackets that will be coming their way very soon. Well, except the ones I can save with my favorite tailor. Don't know where I'd be without Mai's alterations in Rohnert Park. They've taken such good care of me during this journey. Beautiful tailoring at an affordable price. A shameless plug.

Today is picture day. Hubby wants to take "before" pictures so we can see the difference. YES clothes will be on. Will post them here when I'm ready...

Thanks for reading.

Saturday morning - 3 days away

I'm up this morning and heading to the LAB. Doc ordered some general blood tests to make sure I'm ready for surgery. Wish I had known that while I was at the doc's last week, I would have done it then!! Next stop is to go buy a sports bra. Not just ANY sports bra, but one that closes in the front......AND......is SMALLER. This will be very weird!! So, need to do a little shopping today and maybe a little pampering. A pedicure sounds lovely right about now.

Got my instructions from the Pre-Op nurse: Loose clothes, shirt that buttons in the front, put meds near my nightstand with crackers & water (to make sure I have something in my stomach before I take the meds, no matter the time), special soap to shower with before the surgery, and my favorite: Make sure the DVR & book shelf are full. I'm gonna be bored!! Actually, I took on a project while I'm home recuperating. One of the girls I work with is getting married and I'm doing the calligraphy for her invitations. I LOVE doing tedious work like that, very theraputic for me. Weird I know...I won't be starting that project for several days after the operation.

I got to see first hand yesterday what I may look like 10 years from now. I was very honored to be trusted with that.....and thrilled how good I may look. THANK YOU so much to my friend for sharing her experience with me.

Thanks for reading...

Surgery & the weightloss

I started this blog to write the adventure I started on January 1st 2008. I wanted to blog while I worked on losing weight and hoped that it would help me in my quest for healthiness. As of this writing, I've lost 57lbs. I've lost it everywhere but ONE place. My breasts. I'm huge. Not Dolly Parton huge but darn close. After many visits to the Doctor, many funny exercises to try to lose the weight there, I've decided to have a breast reduction. My insurance provider (God bless them) deems it medically necessary and will be covering the cost for this life changing operation. There are so many things I am looking forward to after this. Things the average woman doesn't think about. Like....

• buying a ONE piece swim suit
• buying a dress
• RUNNING - think about it!
  
• neck pain relief
• back pain relief
• buying a bra in a NORMAL dept store
• and so on and so on.....

I have many things to do this weekend in preparation for the surgery and my recovery. Wish me luck and watch here for updates......

Thanks for reading.