3 month post-op and other updates on our life

I haven't been great at posting on this blog, but things have been hectic and there haven't really been any major updates.

Well, today I had my 3 month post-op appointment. According to their calculations I have lost 78 lbs, but they are going from day one of me coming into the office, which was August 2009. Since the day of surgery I have lost 46 lbs. That's an average of just over 15 lbs a month, which isn't TOO bad. It would be a LOT more weight loss if I could get out and walk more (having issues with numbness in my feet) or if I could find an exercise video that isn't so hard on my knees. I am searching though because within another month or 2, walking will NOT be an option! I refuse to walk in 30 degree or lower temps, plus all the snow is just EWWW! At that first appointment back in August 2009, they measured my waist and hips. My waist was 67" and my hips were 71". Today she remeasured me and my waist is 56" and my hips are 61". That's still big, but the nurse was impressed and excited for me. I am wearing shorts I haven't worn since the summer BEFORE Jayda was born and jeans that I haven't worn since the winter Jayda was conceived (before I started showing).

On a different note, I am having sinus surgery September 21. They have to fix my deviated septum (It's backwards S shaped), drill a few holes in 3 of the 4 sinus cavity groups, remove some lining to make the airways wider, and there is some area that has a HUGE air bubble in it that they have to remove part of the tissue because apparently it's blocking the inside of one of my sinus cavities. The Dr said it should take me 4-6 weeks to fully recover from the surgery and after that it's Matt's turn. He has to have a lot of the same things done, but his is a little less evasive. I also had an MRI on my brain and neck last Friday and I am waiting to get the results back from that. The neurologist did an MS protocol MRI. He says he doesn't think I have MS, but he wanted the scans to be super detailed and apparently an MS protocol scan is very detailed. It took them almost 2.5 hours to do all of the scans which SUCKED because I am SUPER claustrophobic and was stuck inside that little tube for that long!!! Hopefully the MRI can bring to light why I have numbness, tingling, and burning in both hands and both feet. The neurologist thinks I have something wrong in my neck, but went ahead and did the brain scan while I was in there since I told him how claustrophobic I am.

Jayda starts school Tuesday and I can not wait! She's excited to go back to school and I am ready for a break! She will be in the special educations preschool again this year. She will be getting speech therapy 3 of the 4 days she is at school, which is awesome. Her speech has improved SO much since starting the speech therapy. They will also be working on her social behaviors. She's been seeing a behavioral counselor all summer. The counselor will be going to the school a few times a month to try and get a better grasp on what is setting Jayda off and why she becomes violent. The psychologist thinks Jayda may have a social anxiety disorder. When she's around just a few kids, she's OK for the most part, but when she gets around a lot of kids she gets pushy and easily agitated. They are also working on social ques with her. If she sees ANY kid, no matter the age, she wants them to play with her. We are trying to teach her how to be receptive to how another kid reacts to her and if they do not want her messing with them, then she needs to back off. We're also working on personal space with her. I know this is a normal 4 year old problem, but she gets into the faces of other kids and adults and has caused a few shoving matches when the other child wanted her to back off and she wouldn't.

It's been a little while...

It's been a little bit since I updated. I had my 2 month post op dietitian appointment Tuesday. I am down to 326 from my start weight of 366. 40 lbs in 2 months isn't too bad. This 2nd month slowed way down compared to the first month, but the dietitian thinks I am doing good still. There isn't much else to update as far as the weight loss goes.

Update. It's been a little while.

I had my 1 month post op appointment this morning. I am now officially OFF puree foods and on to the mashed foods. I am down to 336! I have officially lost 52 lbs from my starting weight of 388 and 30 lbs since surgery date weight of 366. I haven't been updating a lot because there isn't much to update. I've been trying to walk at least 4 days a week. I am working on increasing the length of the walks first and then I will work on increasing the days.

Jayda is done with her every week allergy shots. She finally built to the highest dosage so now she goes every other week. Jayda is staying with our cousin Magon and her two daughters, Savanna and Kayla, for a week. I know she is going to have a BLAST, but I KNOW I am going to missing the hell out of her! I am not exactly sure what to do with her gone for 8 nights. It's so quiet right now, it's almost eerie. The entire drive home I didn't here "Mama" every 10 seconds, which means I could actually HEAR the music for a change.

Happy dance!

Today I decided to pull out some of my old clothes that I had packed away in hopes of fitting into them again one day. I pulled out some shirts, capris, jeans, and shorts. I started trying on clothes and most of it was still a little too small. Most of the clothes were pre-pregnancy clothes because the clothes I have wore since having Jayda have been worn until they are worn out. I found a pair of shorts that are size 26W, which I haven't fit into since the summer BEFORE I got pregnant with Jayda and THEY FIT!!!!!!!!!!! I have been in a 30W-32W for a few years now. I was SO HAPPY to see that I had went down 2-3 sizes with this 25 lb weight loss.

I am also super sore today from walking so much at the zoo yesterday. I got out of bed this morning and almost fell flat on my face because my legs and feet hurt so much. Walking became easier as the day went on, but I can really feel the burn in my calves. I remember when I was younger and played soccer and my coach would tell us that we weren't playing hard enough if we couldn't feel the burn in our muscles the day after. I am also very proud of myself right now. Matt is such a huge supporter too. He knows how much losing this weight means to me and he's been here with me every step of the way and tells me that he loves me no matter what weight I am. I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow, so I am going to do a "mid week" weigh in just to see if it shows any loss. I will be able to weigh myself again next Wednesday as well.

Weekly weigh in and the zoo!!

Well, I did my weekly weigh in on Tuesday this week. I was down another 6 lbs in 6 days. That brings my total weigh loss to 25 lbs in 25 days! I am still losing about a lb a day, but this week I've had a chance to get out walk. The weight will come off even better being able to get out and exercise. I just wish this dang rain would stay away, so I could walk every day. I want to try and walk 4 days a week at least and then work my way up to 7 days as weather permits.

Yesterday we went to the Minnesota Zoo. We had a blast other than Jayda being a bit bummed because they don't have elephants or giraffes. What kind of zoo doesn't have elephants, giraffes, penguins, lions, rhinos, or hippos? It blew my mind and Jayda was definitely upset because elephants and giraffes are her favorite animals. She has a stuffed elephant that goes every where with her and of course she sleeps with it as well. We walked no less than 4-5 miles yesterday. My calves are sore as heck. My feet felt like they were on fire yesterday, but just ache today. I was surprised that my back didn't hurt at all yesterday. Although, my hip was doing this funny clicking thing, so I am wondering if it is a little out of place again.

That's about all for this update. Thanks again for all the support and encouraging words!

Took a little walk today.

Well, since my surgery I haven't had a a chance to go for a "real" walk because of the rain. It's been raining for almost 3 weeks straight and when it wasn't raining last week, I was sick with a sinus infection. We went for a walk around 6pm since it had cooled off. We went to the park, the lake, and then back home. We walked about a total of 1.5-2 miles. I want to start trying to walk a minimum of 4 days a week and work my way up to 7 days a week. When I lose some more weight, I will try and start doing some exercise at home. I have a few exercise DVDs, but right now, it's too hard on my body right now. I really have to figure out what I am going to do in the winter. There is no way in heck I am going for a 2 mile walk in freezing temps!

Lots of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flash flooding over the past 2 days. We've heard the sirens twice tonight and once last night. I hate severe weather. It was so humid outside tonight on our walk. We knew we would get storms again tonight because of the high humidity.

Just a quick update.

Fair warning. I am exhausted tonight and have already taken my sleeping meds, so this will probably be all jumbled up.

There really isn't much going on right now. Just trying to get Jayda finished with summer school for this session. Jayda had her allergy shots today, so I had a chance to weigh myself. Last Friday I weighed 350.5 and today I weighed 347.2. Today makes 19 days post-op and I have lost a total of 19 lbs. Not too bad if I do say so myself. I know I am losing weight because the scale shows it, but I just don't feel like it or see it yet. Tomorrow is Jayda's last day of summer school for this session, so we will be getting out and doing a lot more walking. We will have to do some walking and playing outside to get her worn out so she will sleep at night!

She's going to go stay with our cousins again in another week or so, probably after the 4th of July. I really want her with us for the 4th because I love watching fireworks with her. She gets SO excited! We're also going to try and go to the zoo before the end of the month because we have free passes and only have to pay $5 for parking. That will be A LOT of exercise just walking around the zoo. It will be Jayda's first time, so we are excited. We haven't told her about it yet because then all we would hear from her is, "Are we going to the zoo today?" She's been asking to go play with her cousins a lot since coming home. We told her about a week ago that she would be going to stay with our cousins again in a few weeks and that's all we've heard day in and day out.

Jayda's last weekly allergy shot is next Wednesday. She goes to see her asthma and allergy specialist on July 13th and then she will start having her shots every other week. She's getting so good about her shots too! At first, she had to sit in my lap and I had to hold her arms down so she didn't move and she would cry a lot. Then she got to the point that we didn't have to hold her arms, but she would still whimper. Then we got to the point to where she still sat in our lap, but wouldn't cry or move. The last 2 weeks she has sat in the chair all by herself, and not moved or cried when she got her shots. I am so proud of her! I hated seeing her cry at first, but we're really hoping the allergy shots will help her. Matt and myself have REALLY BAD allergies, so it was inevitable that she would have them as well.

That's about it for now. Sorry my thoughts were all over the place tonight. It's time for me to get in bed and just sleep! I can't believe I am going to bed before 10pm! I'm normally awake until at least midnight.