Another Update

I don't know where to start.....I guess with the blood thinners. I was given a large dose of Coumadin by my doctor. I do NOT blame her. She was prescribing under the advice of another physician that specializes in blood clots. Anyways, they checked my INR 4 days later and it was above 10. The therapeutic ranges are between 2-3 when you are on Coumadin. Obviously they took me off of it until my levels came down. I went to Plano to have my INR checked almost every day last week. It was a pain in the ass to say the least. Finally on Friday it was down to 4.8. I was told to stay off of my Coumadin until I could start seeing my regular doctor today. I went to his office around noon to have my INR checked again. He said that no matter what, he will call me with the results today. Even if it is 7 or 8pm. That made me feel good. He told me that he probably will not have me take more than 2mg. Normally people are on at least 5mg. The reason I would be on a lower dose is because of how fast my INR went up. I probably don't need that much. That also makes me happy LOL

The other day I was CRAVING Mexican food. K went and got me some Tortilla soup :) I cannot describe how amazing it was to taste that broth. I cannot eat the solids inside the the soup, but the broth was almost heavenly. LOL He has gone back to get two more for me since then. I cannot wait to get to the soft/pureed diet on Friday. LOL I am beyond ready for some lunch meat and chicken. :)

C had her last game. She did great!!! She is really starting to look like a little softball player. I am so proud of her!!! She hit the ball twice from the coach pitch and only had to use the tee once, but that is only because she fouled the ball 3 or 4 times. K is one proud Daddy too. There aren't many out there that would wear a hot pink shirt to support their daughter LOL

I am finally starting to feel good again. I was so regretting the surgery up until yesterday. I think there are several reasons for that. One being that I was having a hard time coping with the blood clots. I was talking to someone in a support group online and it just came to me that not only was I not prepared to deal with complications, but I was not prepared to face my own mortality. If one of these blood clots breaks off, they can go to my lungs....that is scary. A PE can be deadly. Dealing with that and all the changes going on, I just wasn't ready to deal with it. Plus, I was only getting small amounts of protein. I finally have been able to get about half of a protein shake in at a time. That has made me feel MUCH better almost instantly. It has given me much more energy. I guess those put together makes for a happy Momma.

I looked in the mirror today and I can tell how much weight I have lost. I will put a pic of me in the same shirt. The first pic is from this morning, the second pic will be from a year or so ago. :) I am so excited to see the difference :) I got bigger from when the other pic was taken, but it was the same shirt so you could see the difference LOL it was stretched over my stomach. Not, its a little baggy. My arms have breathing room now too. You may not be able to tell much difference, but I certainly can!!

Just some pics

Its no secret that I am a camera whore and a picture whore. I love taking pictures, I love being in pictures, I love being in pictures that I take. LOL I am not in a lot of these but I am in a few. Before I post the pics I promised yesterday, Here are a couple of C and the pumpkin she carved. Madre took C and J to a party and they both looked awesome:

Here is C's pumpkin she carved and where we put it last night. The red thing is a strobe light. She did a great job for carving it herself.

Now for the pictures that people were taking at the hospital. These were all taken from the time I went back to surgery and while they were waiting:

These were taken after I was out of surgery and through the week:

More news....

First, let me apologize for the format of my last post. It was from my cell phone so it wouldn't let me edit anything the way i usually do. Hopefully that wont happen often.

Well, on Tuesday while I was on the hospital, I had a blood clot in my right popliteal vein. Can I tell you how excited I wasn't? I had horrible pain after surgery. For 24 hours it literally felt like I was having a heart attack from all the gas in my abdomen and chest. There was no way to cure that except to walk, but I was in so much pain that I couldn't get out of bed to walk. I know that because of that, I caused the popliteal clot.

Once I was discharged on Thursday, I was told that I had another ultrasound on Friday. When I went I actually had the US the Dr. P called me with the results that night. I have a second clot. It is located in the Femoral Vein this time. It was a huge blow. I have been walking and taking baby aspirin when I was home, lovenox when I was in the hospital.....I absolutely no idea why this is happening to me. Here is what the veins of the leg look like so you can have an idea of where the clots are...

Starting today I have to do Lovenox at home twice a day along with Coumadin 10mg each morning. This was pretty scary. I never ever ever though this would be what I would have to do. I will be on the Lovenox until Tuesday when I have an appointment at the Coumadin Clinic. There, they will adjust my Coumadin and let me know if I am for sure off of the Lovenox or not. I hope I am. I also hope the shots go better than it did this morning. LOL I knew how to give a shot, straight in and straight out. BUT that is hard to do on yourself. Thank the Lord that the needle is the same size as an insulin needle. I can do it, and it will get better, but it is a little over whelming right now.

C has been so excited since my surgery. I feel awful that I haven't been able to go to any of her softball games. I have been able to get her ready. She won the game ball while I was in the hospital. She was able to hit the ball off of the coach's pitching instead of off of the tee!!! Plus she played pitcher, so she got the ball a couple of time and made a couple great plays :) THAT'S MY GIRL!!! She also made A Honor Roll and Perfect attendance. I am so so so proud of my little Apple!!!

Today, my family came over to see me and help me deal with the whole giving myself shots thing. LOL We were outside most of the time. It felt AMAZING. Madre came by and took C and J home with her for a Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party. They are going to have a blast. I couldn't play with as hard as P did with the kids. They played Noodle Wars. It was so funny. C kept saying that that they were playing Star Wars HA.

We walked up and down the street several times, then went to WalMart and walked around the store like 2 million times. I was WORN OUT. You know the best way to unwind and relax after a long day of walking? Warming up under a snuggie that one of your best friends bought you, and cuddling up with a pillow pet that C and K got me while I was in the hospital. :)

I have a ton of pics of people from the hospital that I will post later. :) Now, I am going to go rest up before I have to shank my self in the stomach again tonight. HAHA

Today, I passed gas

I had to stay an extra night in the hospital due to some minor complications. First was that my IV infiltrated twice. Normally the IV isn't discontinued until the third day. Mine blew on the start of day 2 of my hospital stay. They tried several times in several places for another IV but no success. I have pretty big bruises all over now.

Because I haven't had an IV they wanted to monitor my intake more.

Another reason I'm staying is that I have a tiny clot behind my right knee. It's not completely blocking my vein but its enough that they continued my lovenox, put me on baby aspirin and are making me wear TED hose. They make for sexy legs Lmao.

The third reason I had to stay is my heart rate. When I walk around it jumps to the 140s. When I'm resting it has been in the low 100s. I haven't had any symptoms but Dr. P does want to make sure its nothing. She said that all of these things together just made her more comfortable if I stayed one more night. I'm okay with that. I chose Dr. P because she is so conservative. :)

Today was also the first time I passed gas since just before surgery. This is pretty exciting. I was bloated and pretty uncomfortable before I started "blowing ass" as my sister, P, calls it. Haha! I'm SO SO SO glad P has been at the hospital with me. It has been a crazy long week. I started out with so much gas pain that I felt like I was having a heart attack. The nurses said they have never seen anyone react that way, but between that and the nausea from the morphine, I was in bad shape. Now I'm the farting queen, and yes, I'm singing that song right now. It's that exciting lol

Post Op day 1

It hasnt been easy. I woke up at 2am to a Code Red in the OR. Then I got up in my char because I was too awake to sleep. When I got back to bed I was in so much pain that I thought I was having a heart attack. It was just gas, but still....it hurt that much. I have been dealing with that off and on all day.

Went for a swallow eval to see if I had leaks or anything. I dont :) So I gto drink. I have to drink out of medicine cups. The instructions are strict. No gulping. No Straws, Sip slow and sit up for 30 minutes after each drink.

My goals for today were to walk 4 times, sit 3 times and control. I have officially met them all. Go me!!! My right arm is still killing me but its okay. Just gas. My tummy feels better. I keep rotating my arm to get rid of the gas. I dont know if it is helping or not LOL

I am exhausted now. I want to lay down but I am scared to after how this morning went. I am terrified it will hurt again. Oh well, gotta try, right?

Tomorrow is Surgery Day!!!

In 12 hours I will be getting prepped for surgery. The last 2 weeks have been an emotional roller coaster getting ready for that moment. I have lost 23.2 pounds. That is def exciting, but I have had to come to terms with what got me to the point I am right now.

When I first met K, I was less than half the person I am now weight wise. Then I got pregnant with C and started to gain A LOT. Eating for two became eating for four. By the time C was born I had gained between 80-90 pounds. After she was born I just kept going. I tried different things, Curves, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Weight Watchers, a few other diets. I never stuck to them.

There are so many questions, so many worries going through my head right now. I am just glad that my sister P is staying at the hospital with me.

For now, i am going to take my crazy mind and try to sleep. This is going to be hard.......I am pretty sure I am up for the challenge.....

Finishing Day 7

I am finishing day 7 and it hasn't been as bad as I thought. Everyone made it sound awful but it really has made me more aware of what my body truly does and does not need to survive. I think its amazing how I went from "needing" 4 big chicken strips and a large order of fries to have energy to my stomach growling and then being calmed down by an 11oz protein shake. I really truly have been surviving on 33 ounces of protein shakes, 64 ounces of water, 2-3 sugar free jellos, and a couple cups of broth a day. Its amazing to begin to understand that less really is more. With less food, I have more energy. Less crap, more health. Seems so simple.

Only a few more days until my surgery. 10 days and a few hours. :) That just seems a lot shorter than 14 days. In 10 days I will be going to bed for the last time with my full stomach. In 10 days I will be going to bed for the last time as Fat Mom. Am I ready for that?

Cowboys and Total laziness

I have been completely lazy today. I only got out of bed to shower then I got right back in. I want to justify it by saying I need to save my energy for work this week, but lets be honest here: Tuesday I have an EGD so I will be knocked out for a little bit and then home the rest of the day. That leaves 4 days of work. I will admit that Mondays are usually hectic, but I could just go to bed early tonight to get ready for that. I am just a lazy person. I don't know where I became this lazy....or maybe I do. I am sure it was when I became a SAHM. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all SAHMs are lazy, but I got that way. When C was little, she and I layed around the house all day long. Once a week we would go visit my family, but that's it. Then as she got a little older we went on play dates and all that, but the rest of the time was spent in PJs and just tooling around the house. I have become less-lazy as I started school and working again, but after 3 years of total laziness, it has taken another 3 to even begin to get back to being active. I swear some days this is my theme song:

To be less lazy I have made some goals: To take the dogs for a walk today. K and I took them on a walk yesterday too. It felt good to be out in the fresh air. Of course both dogs love it. Sasha and Paco both have entirely way too much energy to burn off in the backyard. I need to be a better owner and Mommy and get them both walking daily. BUT, I am going to take small steps getting there LOL So today I am going to walk the dogs around the block. Here is a pic from yesterdays walk:

I need to make sure my babies, all of them: C, Sasha, and Paco don't turn into a lazy blob that I let myself turn into. Paco would LOVE to lay around in the sun all day and sleep. He is such an old man like that LOL As a matter of fact, this morning he has been laying in my window while I lay in my bed:

Oh, I almost forgot, I tried another kind of protein shake. It isn't lactose free, but it does have 20g of Protein, 4g of Sugar, and only 170 calories.

Its another one you can get at Wal*Mart. It is pretty good, and $1 cheaper per 4pk than the Muscle Milk. The French Vanilla is quite tasty. I never thought I would be saying that about one of these shakes LOL. But right now it is time for me to drink my lunch, I am going to try strawberry creme today, and stretch then take these puppies for a walk!! Maybe K would go with me again today :) He has been an AMAZING source of support through all of this. I probably wouldn't have stuck to my liquid diet until day 3 if it weren't for him and C being there with me.

Another goal I have for myself today will be to get through the entire Cowboys game drinking just liquids. LOL This is going to be a challenge, but I refuse to stop watching my Cowboys!!! We are going to pull out a Win today.....mark my words, THIS IS THE GAME THE COWBOYS ARE GOING TO SHOW HOW MUCH WE CAN TRULY DOMINATE!!!! My favorite Cowboy this season: DeMarco Murray!!! BOOMER!!!!

Have an amazing, beautiful day everybody!!! And thank you all for your support as well. I truly appreciate it.

So empty feeling

I have never in my life woken up feeling empty. I don't believe I have ever felt my stomach empty before. It was weird. My first reaction was that I needed to fill it, right now. Instead, I woke up a little more, drank some water and brushed my teeth. My stomach started cramping. I still felt empty. I had a little more water and grabbed a sugar free jello. That is going to be one of my staples. I can already tell. LOL I had one for breakfast and one for lunch. But I am jumping ahead.....

Yesterday I tried two different protein powders that tasted like metal. I was VERY nervous about trying Muscle Milk. I am not a big fan of these kinds of drink normally. Of course the only one K put in the fridge was Vanilla, which happens to be the flavor I was trying so hard not to hurl up yesterday LOL. Muscle Milk def has a different taste, but you know what? It isn't a bad taste. Muscle Milk surprised me. I can tolerate it, I actually like the way it tastes. Needless to say, I will be sticking with this one. A friend of mine told me about a Cookies 'n Creme one that I want to try now.

Here is what my Lunch was....breakfast was the same, just vanilla.

I think this liquid diet will go better than I was thinking. BUT it is only day two :)

Today is also my 6 year anniversary. In 2004, K and I were blessed with a beautiful little girl and a few weeks later we were married. :) this is us today....excuse the no makeup thing. I usually don't wear makeup to C's softball games ha. Softball is the reason we are both wearing hot pink also. Yes, K is wearing hot pink. Mr. I wont even say pink because I am too manly.....Mr. Watch Football and write about it for almost 30 hours every weekend.....he wore hot pink for his little girl. :) REAL DADS WEAR PINK <3

Happy Anniversary my love. I am so glad we made it this far. :) Here is to making 6 turn into 60 long, healthy years!!!!