Happy Day!

It's a happy day today and I can't stop grinning. ~Pam

Yesterday ..... Today ..... ugh!

What worked yesterday won't necessarily work today. Yesterday a cooked up an extra lean hamburger patty and enjoyed it with some A-1 sauce. It was delicious. Today I tried the same thing with very different results. After about 1/4 of the patty I was feeling not so good. Threw the rest in the trash and have been suffering for an hour or so. Foamies and dry heaves and more foamies. Nothing's coming up at this point - I'd feel much better if it did - so it looks like it wants to go down eventually. Just gotta suffer through it until it's better. Just thought I'd share ... (gotta spread the love, right?) Pam

Protein Ball Recipe

INGREDIENTS 
1 cup Oats 
1 cup Protein Powder (I used cookies-n-cream) 
1 cup Peanut Butter 
1 package Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding Mix (dry powder) 
1/3 cup Splenda 
1/2 cup Egg Beaters Water (little bit to moisten as needed) A
dditional Splenda for coating 


DIRECTIONS 
Preheat oven to 400°. Add all dry ingredients and mix well. Add peanut butter and cut into mixture until you have a dry crumb-like mixture. Add EggBeaters and mix well - add small amounts of water as needed. Mixture will be stiff and just moist enough to form a ball. Roll golf ball sized balls from mixture and roll into bowl of Splenda. Place on baking sheet (they can be close since these balls do not spread or rise). 


Makes about 16 balls. Bake for 10 minutes. 


Nutrition Information per Ball Calories: 190 Fat: 7.3g Carbs: 19g Protein: 16g

Wendy's Chili - Homemade Version

I love chili! It's one of those winter comfort foods that I enjoy a lot this time of the year. For some reason I thought I'd already posted the recipe for my homemade version here... but when I went to look for it earlier today I discovered it wasn't here. So I'm posting it now. :-) This is taken from the CD Kitchen website -- lots of great recipes there. 


Copycat Wendy's Chili 


Ingredients: 

• 2 pounds Ground beef 
• 1 can (29 ounce size) tomato sauce 
• 1 can (29 ounce size) kidney beans w/liquid 
• 1 can (29 ounce size) pinto beans w/liquid 
• 1 medium Onion, diced 
• 2 Green chili, diced 
• 1 Rib celery, diced 
• 3 medium Tomatoes, chopped 
• 2 teaspoons Cumin powder 
• 3 tablespoons Chili powder 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper 
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 2 cups Water

Pam's Additional Ingredients:

• Replace ground beef with ground turkey
• Sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup black beans 

Brown the ground beef and onions together. Drain and add to crockpot. (Wendy's rinses their ground beef in water before adding it to the chili.) Add all the other ingredients to crockpot/slow cooker. Let it simmer all day. I personally use the canned green chili - half of a 4oz can. I also use canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh.


Enjoy!
~Pam

Behavior Modification

In my group therapy session (Comprehensive Holistic Wellness Plan) we are working on behavior modification. We were told to pick 5 different target behaviors we wanted to work on, then set goals each week for achieving those goal behaviors. The therapist actually asked us to buy a 2' x 4' dry erase board and hang it in a place we'd see everyday and write out goals and tracking on it. I personally didn't want a HUGE white board hanging in my living space and have it out for everyone to see when I have visitors. "Yes, this is my psychological behavior modification chart, see here where I failed last week on this and that...." yeah right. So I actually produced a chart on the computer and printed it on 8.5" x 14" paper (legal size paper). It is hanging on my fridge door - which is the most prominent place for me since it's where I start and end my day. No, not eating, but it's right next to where I store my vitamins and supplements, so I stand in that location at least twice a day and can update my chart easily. And it's not a huge white board that's permanently mounted on the wall. LOL Here's the behavior modification goals I picked for myself (I picked 6): Proper Eating --- hit protein & water goal and avoid grazing. Must do 6 days/week. Exercise -- do 30 minutes of exercise. Must do 5 days/week. Calcium Intake -- hit my 2000mg calcium intake goal every day of the week. Housework -- do 15 minutes of housework. Must do 5 days/week. Morning Alarm -- I will get up on workdays when my alarm goes off. No snooze. 5 days/week. Procrastination Elimination -- pick 3 tasks that I've been putting off and get them done. 3 tasks/week So at the end of each week we are to tally up the results and determine if we hit goal or not. Then if we DO hit goal, we get a reward. If we DO NOT hit goal, we get a punishment. The rewards and punishments are actually determined on our own. I get to pick my own reward and also my own punishment. So last week was a week from hell with the big event at work and the monstrous snow storm that just ruined my whole week. I failed on every single goal. But I gave myself a break and didn't issue any punishments. This week I'm doing much better. I will hit my goals for Eating, Calcium, Procrastination .... but I've already failed on Morning Alarm, Exercise and Housework. Morning Alarm - my punishment for failing on this was to get up with my alarm at my normal workday time on Saturday. Yuck! But I dragged my butt outta bed and started my day super early. Exercise -- I only did 4 days this week instead of my goal of 5. So my punishment will be 30 minutes of housework. Housework -- can you tell I hate housework? I only did 4 days of housework this week instead of my goal of 5. So my punishment will be 30 minutes of cleaning and decluttering my storage room (which is a total disaster!). As for rewards for the behaviors that I did achieve. I'm not sure yet. The therapist says we need to do immediate rewarding and punishing. So I need to figure out my rewards and award them by tomorrow. (My week runs from Monday through Sunday so my next week begins tomorrow.) I'll keep ya'll posted on how this goes. I find that it's definitely helping me be more conscious of my daily actions. ~Pam

3 Months Out & Follow Up Appointment

I’m down 55 pounds and have lost 32% of my excess weight. I had my 3-month follow up appointment at the bariatric center today and they said I’m trending above average with my rate of weight loss. Yippee! Speaking of the appointment …. We got more snow last night, so this morning’s drive was really slow. I arrived at my appointment about 45 minutes late. Which probably didn’t actually put them behind schedule because they’re always running late anyway.

I had to meet with 3 people today: Dietician, Nurse & Nurse Practitioner.

First up was the Dietician.
I met with a different one this time around and was not happy at all. You know how some people in the medical field tend to talk down to obese people … or maybe it’s not even just obese people, but people in general. They assume you’re not as well educated and don’t really know what’s going on with your body, so they talk to you like a 3rd grader. Well, that’s what I got with this dietician today.

I asked her simple questions and she seemed unable to give me a straight and decisive answer. It was almost like she listened to the first 3 words of my question, then stopped listening to the rest and as soon as she could interrupt me, she’s go off on a tangent about what she *thought* I was going to ask – which usually ended up being no where near what I was asking. I also tried to explain some of my concerns with my lab work and she just brushed me off as if I didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. She even said something along the lines of “If there was really a problem, then I’d order more tests. I’ll let you know when there’s a problem.”

I’m sorry, but *I* am the one responsible for my own health and if I have a concern about the result of one of my blood tests, I expect to be able to freely ask those questions and get honest feedback, not the brush off. I’ve been gone from the office for 6 hours now and I’m still angry about the way I was treated by that woman! So next time I go for an appointment, I’m going to call ahead and specifically ask to see the other dietician who is much more professional, compassionate and is willing to answer any question I ask her.

Next up was the Nurse.
She asked me all the medical questions about how I was feeling and if I had any complaints or complications. She checked my incision scars and I got a passing grade on all that. I mentioned to her about my hair loss and she ensured me that it was normal and to keep getting all my protein in to help slow the process a bit. This visit was an easy one and I got the all-clear from the Nurse.

Then I saw the Nurse Practitioner.
I discussed with her my concern about the prescription Vitamin D medication that my primary doctor put me on, she was able to look it up in her drug guide and give me a clear answer that the medicine was fine for a WLS person. (There was some concern since one of the warnings on the drug – Drisdol – said not to take it if the patient has ‘malabsorption syndrome’.) Why couldn’t the dietician do that, it was an easy look up, duh!

I also discussed my hair loss with the Nurse Practitioner and she mentioned the possibility that low iron could contribute to hair loss along with low protein levels. But my iron levels are fine and she doubted that would be the cause. It’s just a normal phase of WLS, so there’s not much to do besides wait it out. She also told me to start back on the Biotin (which the dietician took me off of) and that should help with the hair regrowth.

I also showed her the chart I keep of my lab work results --- so that every result is seen side by side and you can easily see trends in each category (the dietician didn’t want to talk about this). After seeing the great fluctuation in my B12 level after only being off the pills for 2.5 weeks, she told me to start taking them again, but only 3 days a week instead of daily. Low B12 levels can cause permanent neurological damage, so that’s not something I want to mess with. Turns out I also share my birthday with the CNP’s mother – she was thrilled. hehehe. Overall, I enjoyed meeting with her and learned a lot from our short conversation.


Also ..... Do you know your surgeon?

There’s something that seems very strange to me about my bariatric center. I don’t actually meet with my surgeon post-op. Is this unusual?

I hear of so many WLS’ers who have established some type of relationship / friendship with their surgeons and have glowing rave reviews of them after every appointment. And me... I'm lucky if I even know what the guy looks like. I had a “meet-n-greet” with my surgeon a couple weeks before surgery. Not a true appointment where he did a medical history or exam because that was all done by my first-choice surgeon who was not able to do my surgeon (he had a stroke) and I was assigned this new doctor instead. When I was in the hospital after surgery, he never stopped by my room to check on me (at least not while I was awake anyway), his assistant did that instead. I didn’t see him at my 2-week or 6-week follow up appointments either. I saw his face today because he accidently stuck his head in the room I was in looking for someone else, but that doesn’t count, I’m sure.

So I’m wondering what others experience with their surgeons. Do you actually meet with him at your follow up appointments? Or are you just seeing the staff at the facility instead? Ok, I’ve rambled on for long enough, I guess.

Thanks for sticking it out this long…
~Pam

I hate my car .... update on my weekend.

Wow! I survived last week. The event went off smoothly and perfectly. But boy was I exhausted afterward. I took Friday off work to recuperate. I was so sore and achy all day and even took a long nap mid-afternoon. I had a really hard time eating on Friday. I only hit around 400 calories and about 43g of protein. Everything I ate just filled me up immediately with just 1 or 2 bites. My pouch just didn't want to work on Friday either. Saturday was much better. In fact, my body must have known I was way short on protein on Friday because I craved protein all day Saturday. I ended the day with 94g of protein and around 900 calories. I did more grazing that I would have liked, but at least I was grazing on protein stuff. But I wasn't as sore and exhausted and had a great day of relaxation. Saturday night my parents came over to play DDR. They brought one of their dance mats and tried to teach me how to use the game better. I figured out how to take it off "expert" mode and put it down to beginner. Whew! I was finally able to keep up with the music. LOL! Today, Sunday, was also a relaxing day. I lazed around and did a bit of housework and cooking - it was nice. Then around 4:00 I decided to run out for some errands and catch a movie. Only to be faced with a car that didn't want to start. UGH! I so hate my care right now! My best guess is that it's a frozen fuel line again. It's about 8-degrees outside right now and I left my gas tank and just below a half tank. Bad Pam! I should have known! So I've dumped in a couple bottles of dry-gas and I'm going out and trying to start it every hour. So far, no luck. I'm getting the feeling that I am not going to get it started in time for work tomorrow. I hate that! wish me luck... ~Pam

I'm alright now...

Wow! Last night was rough. This morning wasn't all that much better. But at least now I know my emotional train wreck was brought on by the adrenaline rush of the worst driving experiences of my life added to the already high-stress week at work. I'm back at the office now and things are going smoothly again. ~Pam

Emotional Wreck Right Now

Just when I thought I was handling the stress of this week so well..... This week at work is the busiest, most stressful week of the entire year. I work for the CEO's office - specifically for his media guy and speech writer (I'm the administrative assistant for the media department). Tomorrow night (Thursday) is the big annual year end speech by the CEO. So we've been working on the speech and the whole event that goes with it since November-ish. I coordinate most of the logistics for the event surrounding the speech (exhibitors, media packets, reception for450 invited guests, etc.). (This speech is the reason I needed to have my surgery (and be back to work) before Christmas or else I would have had to wait until mid-February for surgery.) So anyway...... I normally leave the office at 5:30, but tonight I stayed late as the final changes were made to the speech and I left around 8:00 pm. Ok, no big deal. It's done and the file is at the printers, the website guys and the CD burning guys.... things are in good shape. But here in mid-Michigan we are in the midst of the worst winter snow storm we've had in 30 years (which I just learned on the news tonight). So far we've got 12 inches and we're suppose to get another 2 to 3 inches by morning. And I -- in my infinite wisdom -- decided to drive home after work and drive back tomorrow morning. Duh! It took me nearly 3 hours to get home and I even had to call a wrecker (which I later canceled) to pull me out of a snowbank 2 miles from my house. Long story short.... I'm home. But I'm now stuck in another snowbank that used to be my driveway. I started to shovel myself out tonight when I got home, but it was 11:00 p.m. and I was exhausted, so didn't finish. I'll have to do it tomorrow morning, I guess. Still not sure what I'm going to do to get back to work tomorrow. But here it is, 12:15 a.m. and I'm still wired and the adrenaline is still pumping and can't bring myself to going to bed. And I am an emotional wreck. Feel like I'm the verge of tears. Haven't felt this "single" in a long time. Makes it pretty depressing to drive through all that mess and come home to an empty house. Pity Party for Pam. Maybe I'll go to bed after all. ~Pam

2.4 Pounds Gained ..... and Bloodwork Results

Yesterday was my official weekly weigh-in. I gained 2.4 pounds.

Why? Probably because I'm coming off the blood pressure medication and I've got some extra water retention. No big deal, I'll pee it out eventually. I'm not freaking out about the 2.4 pounds at this point. But if they stick around or ask friends to join them, then I'll freak out.

I also got the results back from my bloodwork this week. (No that's not my blood in the picture, but they did take 10 vials of blood!) Here are the highlights:

• Cholesterol level before surgery was 170. This week it's at 140.


• Vitamin D levels are low, so PCP is putting my on a Rx Vit D supplement.
  
  B12 levels went from >2000 (off the charts at the lab) at 6-weeks out down to 1098 this week. I have only been off the B12 supplements for about 2.5 weeks. So it's dropped that dramatically in less than a month. My PCP said that the >2000 reading showed that my body had a store of B12 that would last me as much as 6 months. Guess he was wrong, huh?

I have my 3-month follow up at the surgeon's office next week. I'm anxious to get some feedback on these test results as well as get a reading on how my blood pressure is doing. I'm still getting very low readings (last night was 84/55) and it's starting to worry me.

Talk to you later,
~Pam

I'm losing my hair ...

I think it's starting. I've noticed over the past week that I'm losing more hair than normal. I'm always shedding - that's just typical for me and my thick head of hair. But it seems like it's a bit more dramatic than normal these days. I need to be more careful with my protein intake especially on the weekends. I tend to fall very short of protein on weekends when there's no clear routine and I'm a bit more lax. Can't allow that to happen anymore. Yesterday was a 38g day. Bad! One of protein's main tasks is to repair the body, build new red blood cells, grow finger and toenails and grow hair. B Vitamins help the process of hair growth too (Biotin specifically). But my B Vitamin levels are very high - off the charts - so I've been taken off those extra supplements. My body has enough B Vitamins stored to last me up to 6 months, so I'm not too worried about that right now. But protein is a more immediate need and the body doesn't store a lot of extra protein for use later - it wants fresh supplies everyday. Normally hair loss doesn't happen until about 120 days after a traumatic event (like major surgery). I'm running about 30 days early on that schedule if what I'm seeing really is the start of the hair loss stage. I'm not overly worried about the shedding right now. I know it's a natural part of the process and I know I won't lose so much hair that it'll be noticable to anyone other than me. But I just wanted to let ya'll know out there in blog-land, that this is what's going on with me right now. Pam