Thursday, April 30, 2009

Bird Poo

This can only happen in a two cow town! A friend of mine who lives in a neighboring town mentioned the other day that the power went out in town. Nothing terribly exciting about that. Inconvenient yes, but exciting...not so much.

Well, today, as I was cruising through the newspaper I discovered the reason for the outage. It was listed in the police reports. The outage was caused from a "concentration of bird droppings that caused a line failure." You wouldn't hear about anything like this in New York City! Hilarious!

Tongue Heaven

Today, after 6 long weeks of nothing but liquid protein, I'm finally allowed to start eating REAL food! I think my tongue will be in heaven! I'll let you know how it goes. Oh! More good news. I've lost 30 lbs! I'm going shopping this weekend to buy a few new pairs of pants. The ones I have now are waaaay too baggy! What a wonderful problem to have, don'tcha think?

I started walking this week. Finally felt recovered enough to do it. I'm walking 2 laps around the track. I know it's not much, but it's a great start! I felt euphoric after my first day of walking. It feels good to move!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Licking the hamburger

Last night Megan cooked hamburgers for dinner. They smelled so good. My tummy grumbled just from smelling them. I asked her for a LICK of her hamburger. Not even a bite or a nibble. Nothing to chew on. I just wanted to TASTE it. She wouldn't let me. Darn kid. What good are kids anyway if they're not going to let you lick their hamburger. I even kissed Bernie, just for the taste of hamburger on his lips. Pitiful, isn't it? I'm so SICK of this liquid diet. I want food. I have one more week to go, and on Thursday next week, I'm having scrambled eggs, dammit. I'm looking forward to my scrambled eggs. With cheese. And a tiny bit of salsa. Oh yeah. Yum!

oh...the good news? I've lost 28 pounds! YAY! ok. I guess I can keep on with this liquid diet for awhile. *sigh*

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I saved a life today

...or at least I'd like to think I did.

I came out to my truck this morning to go to work and was surprised to see this visitor sitting on my windshield wiper.

He was just a little thing. Must've been pushed out of the nest and fluttered to a stop right there on my windshield. There was no splat mark. He didn't move, except for breathing, even when I snapped a few shots.

Megan brought out a step stool & towel so I could reach the little guy. Even when I plucked him off the truck, he was very calm. Like he expected me to help him. I carried him over to a bush and opened the towel. He looked at me very casually, then fluttered out of my hand into the bush. Hopefully to live a good long birdie life!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

24 pounds!

Well, almost. 23.5 lbs is close enough. Can you believe it? I can't! I'm beginning to notice the weight loss in some of my clothes, but not enough so that I have to go out and buy more. I'm looking forward to that day!

Megan's in San Antonio, TX, with the Spanish Club for several days. She left yesterday and won't be home until Monday. I already miss that kid. My goodness. With Cory gone and Megan gone for several days...I think this is my first real taste of "empty nest" and lemme tell you, I don't like it. I miss my kids. What in the world am I going to do when they're both gone?

Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Love Affair with Food

I didn't realize how much I love food, until I couldn't eat it.

I've been on this liquid, high protein diet for 3 weeks now (3 more weeks to go) and I miss food. I miss the texture. I miss chewing. I miss flavors. I miss savory flavors especially, which surprises me because I've always been drawn to sweet rather than savory. The smell of cooking food overwhelms, and I usually have to go into another room while Bernie & Megan are eating.

Another interesting side effect of this surgery is that I've discovered drinking cold liquids make my tummy sore. I've been complaining about feeling like I have a "stitch in my side" for a week now. Someone suggested that I try sipping warm liquids. Guess what? That feeling has diminished! Warm hi-pro soup & hi-pro hot chocolate are my mainstays. Yogurt (I think because it's creamy) works too. I'm going to put the cold hi-pro drinks on hold for a week or so and see if that feeling goes away with time.

I didn't realize how much our lives revolve around food. It's on TV. It's in every newspaper or magazine I pick up. It's in the movies. It's around the corner. It seems to follow me wherever I go. I've never been interested in the Food Channel before, but I find myself drawn to it now. Watching them prepare food. I've never enjoyed cooking before, but now, watching the food channel I think, "I can do that, I just need the right ingredients and a sharp knife." Me. With a sharp knife. Scarey.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

One week post-surgery

It's been one week already. Feeling pretty good, usually. The incisions are still a bit sore, but I'm able to get up and around much better than I was a week ago. I get this weird "stitch in my side" feeling whenever I drink something. It's rather uncomfortable. Very sloshy. Hard to describe other than that. I've got a call into the Dr so he can explain it to me. I've also got something like a heat rash on my arms & legs. Very itchy. Have had that for several days. Going to ask the Dr about that as well. Other than that...life is good.

I've lost 19.5 lbs (15 of that was pre-surgery). I haven't really noticed it in my clothing yet, well, except for my tops. I was hoping I wouldn't lose it up there, but I guess that's where it came from because my tops practically look like huge potato sacks on me now! *lol* I need to start doing a bit of walking soon. I think I'll start that next week when I go back to work. This week of rest/recuperation has been just what I needed.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Can we say gas?

*gurgle*
*rumble*
*burp*
*hiccup*

oh my....the gas. It's never ending. I think the gas bothers me more than the incisions, all 5 of them. I sure hope this feeling goes away soon.

One thing I'm surprised about is that I "gained" 7 pounds after the surgery. I'm not sure how that works...if it's all fluids they pumped into me, or the air they inflated my tummy with or what...but the scale weighs me 7 lbs heavier than when I went in.

Friday, April 3, 2009

The day after...

Surgery went fine. The surgeon did find a hyetal hernia, which he repaired. He said that is the reason I was experiencing acid reflux/heart burn. With it repaired I shouldn't have that anymore! YAY!

So I stayed in the hospital one night, and was released to go home this morning. I'm sore all over. My tummy feels like a mac truck ran over it, then backed up and ran over it again. Hopefully that feeling will go away soon, cuz it hurts to laugh, cough, hiccup...and the air bubbles...oh my. I guess part of the procedure is that they have to fill your tummy with air. They try to remove most of it during the surgery, there is always something residual...and your body has to find a way to release it. Burps, coughs, sneezes, etc. Not fun.

I'm so glad I did this. I'm so excited to lose weight because this time I know it's going to work. I just have to stay on the plan. And start exercising as soon as I can. So, it's all good. Yay!