Michelle L.

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OK, so my time was really, really slow. I mean mall walkers were passing me, and I was running when they did it. But I still finished!  My only goal was to finish ahead of the sag wagon, and it was a least a mile or two behind me when I crossed the finish line.

The advantage of having such a slow finish time (OK, here it is: 6:54:13. Aaaaagh.) is that it should be REALLY easy to set a new PR next time. :)  

So now I know I can run a marathon. Next time my goal is to beat the mall walkers!  No disrespect to the mall walkers -- those folks are hardcore! They were 70+ years old and just trucking along without hesitation, even at the end. I hope I can do that when I'm that age.

 So, Mongo is benign. Whew!  The doc is going to biopsy again in May because the sample was very small, but it's good news for now, and I'll take it.

My left knee is now acting up, though, and it's getting difficult to bump up the miles for marathon training. I've just started taking glucosamine/chondroitin, and I hope that helps. I've been wearing a brace when I run for the past few weeks, and that seems to help a little, but not enough to get the mileage back up over 10 miles. And I need to be able to run 26.2 in just over a month. Oy.

 I finished a half-marathon yesterday!  It was my second half-marathon, but my first one since having RNY. I finished in 3:53 in 2005 (weighing about 195 -- I lost 20 pounds training), and I finished in 3:11 yesterday (having lost  about 90 pounds since surgery -- sure makes running easier on the back!).  My legs were killing me by the end, though, so I have quite a bit of training to do before my full marathon in January.

But I also found out last week that I have multiple nodules in my thyroid. I felt one and saw the doctor, and the ultrasound turned up quite a few more. They aren't messing with my thyroid levels, but I really want to know what those little suckers are doing in there. The medical term is multinodular goiter, but I'm just going to call it Mongo. I'm supposed to see an ENT this week, so I hope I'll know more after that.

I bought new running clothes last weekend. It's so great being able to shop for clothes in a regular store. I was beginning to think that would never happen again. The new clothes are still a little tight, but if I keep up my current rate of weight loss, that'll change. I also went through my closet and found a shirt I bought several years ago that I had quit wearing because it was too tight to button up. Now it's almost too big.

I'm starting to feel less like a tired old fat lady and more like an ordinary-sized and energetic person. And I feel younger. I even feel taller. :)

I went for my walk today, first time on my own since I've been home. I used the cardio tracker on my Droid to measure my speed and distance, and I was able to walk over a mile at 4mph. A lot better than the shuffle to the corner when I first came home!

I still have some pain, and I still get tired easily, but I'm doing much better than I was a few days ago. And I'm down 7 pounds since last week.

It seems like the digestive system is now moving along (goodbye, gas!), and I finally got more than 2 hours of sleep at a time last night. I'm feeling much better today than I was a couple of days ago. I walked to the end of the block and back last night. I took Ellie with me in case I got into a bind.

I'm still extremely tired and sleepy, and the left-side incision pain and back spasms are still pretty annoying. I want to be off Lortab completely, but I think that'll have to wait another day or two.

I'm on full liquids, and that seems to be working OK. I overdid it with a protein shake yesterday, so I'll have to watch portions more carefully. I think I had my first case of dumping syndrome, and it was pretty nasty -- cramps, sweating, nausea -- but it passed after about 30 minutes. I've also started using The Daily Plate to keep track of protein, calories, etc.

To do today:
Verify followup appt. time
Verify 301 class time and date
Walk around the pond

I'm having my first breakfast at home: 1/4 cup Cream of Wheat with a splash of skim milk and a dash of Splenda. It's pretty tasty, and it seems to be going down OK.

Yesterday was very rough. My back went into a spasm, and I still had horrible bloating with no relief despite prune juice and Milk of Mag. I finally got so nauseated from it that I started gagging, and that knocked everything loose at the other end. :)  Whew! I had breakfast in the hospital yesterday, but other than that, all I had was 1/2 cup of skim milk with a little protein powder mixed in. I'm going to need to get more protein in today.

I'm going to lighten up on the Lortab doses today and see if I can be completely off of it by the weekend. I didn't expect to hurt this much once I got home. But I've got great helpers! My mother-in-law picked up my meds and groceries yesterday, and she got up several times during the night to check on me. My oldest son is home sick from school with stomach flu, but he's been checking on me as well. That flu is making the rounds, but as sick as I've been feeling, I could probably have it and not even know it. But here's to not having it anyway!

To do:
Schedule 2 week followup visit
Find out date and time of followup class
Take Prilosec (I know I'm going to have trouble remembering this one)
Start food diary

I had surgery on Monday morning, and I just got home. I'm in more pain than I thought I would be, but it's bearable as long as the Lortab holds out! I'm on full liquids already, and I've re-discovered Cream of Wheat. I also had  bit of skim milk mixed with protein powder after I got home. Drinking water is no problem. Just constant sipping, which I want to do anyway since I have killer cotton-mouth. My biggest problem right now is post-op gas, but I hear some gurgling, so I hope that resolves itself soon. I walked a lot of laps around the hospital floor, and I'm going to have to walk around the neighborhood this evening if I can stand it.

I finished my pre-op testing this morning. Poking in the arm, peeing in a cup, EKG, respiratory testing, ultrasound, x-ray, and upper GI. That chalky drink is so awful. But everyone was very nice, especially my ultrasound student/teacher team and my barium bartender, Craig, and his leopard-print lead-lined "party dress".

It's pre-op testing day. Nothing to eat or drink since last night. I've had to do that plenty of times before for fasting glucose testing, but it seems harder on a liquid diet. I'm also a gum-chewer, and I'm skipping this morning that just in case it makes a difference. I just brushed, and my mouth already has a horrible taste in it. Blergh.