TammyInIndy’s Weblog

Well, it has been a while since I have made a post to my blog. The days just seem to be passing by so quickly. A run-down…..

Christmas was good. My ex-husband lives in Illinois so my daughters don’t get to see him too often. I had made the decision that while he was here in town that the girls’ could spend the whole time with him. My gift to him, I guess you could say. Was it hard for me to not have them at home on Christmas day? No. I was just fine with it… because I had made that decision to let him have them all of the time he was here over Christmas. That was my decision and so I was fine with them not being here with me. They needed that time with him. My husband, son and I spent part of Christmas day over at my in-laws. It was a very enjoyable day and I had no problems as far as the post-surgical diet went or eating stuff that I shouldn’t have been eating.

New Year’s was a whole different story. It started out well, but ended rotten. I started out feeling great on New Year’s Day, but then by noon I started feeling really, really sick. I thought that possibly it was dumping syndrome, but I knew that it couldn’t have been that as at the moment that it started the only thing I had had was a protein shake, that I still wasn’t done drinking. The protein shake had the only new thing in it that I hadn’t tried up to that point: egg protein powder. The egg protein powder was actually great in making the shake itself seem light and it wasn’t bad at all, tasting wise, however I have since no desire to attempt that particular product again.

The symptoms reminded me of being in labor with my children, and that isn’t an exaggeration (unfortunately). Vomiting wasn’t there. Probably would be but with the little tummy food does not sit there long enough for it come back up (sorry so graphic). Dry heaves was more the issues than anything (again, sorry so graphic but I know that there are people out there who are will want to know specifically). After about 7 ½ hours of dealing with this and not being able to must up the desire to eat (which is a must) I was on the phone calling Carmel Surgical Specialists. Dr. Jones was on-call for their office over the holiday. Because of the extreme of the level of pain I was having, the nausea, the dry heaves and the probability that I was quickly becoming dehydrated she made the suggestion that I go up to Carmel St. Vincent’s ER. I am not that far from there, 20 minutes, so that was not going to be a problem.

I will honestly say I have not been in an Emergency Room yet that is like that of St. Vincent Carmel Hospital. Imagine walking into an ER going right up and immediately having your vitals checked out and then being taken back to one of 18 “private” ER rooms, that look just exactly like most of the private rooms when you are admitted to other hospitals, having the admittance person come right into your room to check you in, etc., etc. I asked what they do when they have a crowd of people in the ER at once. Where do they sit outside in the reception area? They told me they don’t sit in the reception area that they have always had enough beds (18 rooms plus) that they have never had to have anyone wait at all to go back. I looked at my husband and in between a pain episode I told him, “If I ever need to go to the ER again bring me here!” I love my PCP, he has been my Dr. for 18 years now, but I am sure he wouldn’t mind if I went to the other hospital branch that he is affiliated with. It is the same hospital, just in different areas.

The ER nurse had a little bit of difficulty getting an IV started in my arm. I was dehydrated pretty badly. It took her 5 sticks (which most nurses won’t even consider trying again after 2 or 3 sticks) to get the IV into a vein that wouldn’t roll on her. They sent me over to have a CT scan after they gave me some Morphine for the pain. Finished the scan, went back to the ER, and the ER nurse was rather agitated with the CT scan tech who turned off my IV fluid line. I didn’t know she did. I pretty much slept the whole time of the CT scan because Morphine, like most all pain meds, knocked me out. I was lucky that I even got off the bed and on the table to do the scan, and then back into the bed after the scan… I was THAT out of it. The scan showed that everything as far as my tummy went was just fine, in other words I didn’t have any obstruction or leaks. They also told me that the scan showed the staple line was healing just as it should and in the right time frame that they expect them to heal. That was good news. :O) BUT… It still didn’t take care of my issue. The diagnosis was in agreement with what I figured it probably was… the stomach flu… and a NASTY flu it was too. JUST as an FYI… the Incentive Spirometer (which I am probably misspelling) does NOT prevent you from getting the stomach flu!!!

I was admitted and stayed in the hospital until the 3rd of January… probably could have stayed a little longer, but I seriously got tired of staying in the hospital. Next time I will remember to have brought up to me either my laptop or at least a book to read! The silly IV came out of the vein at one point and I had to again go through getting stuck in order to get the line restarted. Four nurses and 7 more sticks later it was finally in place again. That was 12 sticks… ouch! My arms looked like a purple pin cushion. While I came home on the 3rd it actually took a whole week for that stomach flu to work its course. The pain was under control by the 3rd and that to me meant that I was at least functional again.

Went back for my six week check up with Dr. Gupta on the 15th (which was last Thursday), as well as for a Nutritionist visit. Everything there went well. Nothing out of the ordinary to tell there, except that my next check up is in another 6 weeks.

So… that pretty much does it for my update on how I am doing with this Roux-En-Y thing. Oh… weight lost? I guess I did forget to put that down here, didn’t I? Sorry. Since my last blog post I have lost 8 ½ lbs. and 16 ¼ inches over total body. That is a good loss in my opinion. I am satisfied with that. I think that 10 lbs. / month is a good steady goal to shoot for with my height and weight average. REMEMBER, those of you just starting this process or are thinking about going through with having this procedure, EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT!!! What is a healthy weight loss per month for one person is not necessarily going to be lost with another person. Some may lose way more, some may lose the average, and some even less than the average. As long as your Doctor is not concerned, as long as your Doctor tells you that you are on track… then that is all that matters. ALSO… stay away from the scales except for once a week… and start measuring yourself, too. Measuring yourself is a great way to see where you are losing weight at first, the most often, as well as to know that even if you aren’t losing a lot in pounds in a week you may be losing a great deal in inches. FINAL THOUGHT…. STAY AWAY from anyone that you know has had this terrible stomach flu especially if you are fairly fresh out from having the surgery done!!!

Till next time………. Go see two new movies out: Marley & Me and also Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Awesome movies!

~Tammy~