Ahhh the power of a good night's sleep. So we won't have another pissy post like yesterday! LOL Seems a half day of work, and the dentist, and not laying down at all, not all day (I know I know!), took its toll on me, and got me pissy and tuckered and sore. I'm still wearing my binder too. It really does help a lot, though I complain mercilessly about it to anyone who will listen (sorry about that folks, soon it will be a distant memory lol).

Five weeks today since the surgery. It seems longer. Bills are starting to roll in. Thank God for good insurance!

My jaw is still sore, but is better than yesterday. It would be hard for it NOT to be better than yesterday! It was so sore last night I couldn't (or wouldn't!) get it open far enough to use my battery toothbrush. Not looking forward to going back March 30th for more of the same. Yucko.

I officially cleaned out the last of my colostomy supplies yesterday, my rinse bottle at work! I went to toss it my last day at work before the reversal surgery, but didn't want to jinx anything (I'm not superstitious or anything). I had stored my supplies in a cardboard file box in the tiny, tiny, tiny bathroom, so it was nice to get that box out of there too.

Weight Watchers is going OK. I weighed in today and lost a couple pounds. All I seem to want lately is the things that were on the "You May Want to Avoid These Items If You Have a Colostomy Bag" list. Mind you, you can certainly eat these items when you have a bag, but I did not want to gamble! I really am superstitious I guess. God only knows what kind of doom might have befallen me if I ate the foods on the Gas List. My food tracker at Weight Watchers is full of all sorts of veggies, mostly multi-colored and green peppers, which Aldi had for a great price this week, mushrooms, refried beans, rice, salsa. Yum. Lots of broccoli and cauliflower and whole wheat tortillas and eggs. Good stuff.  And points friendly (in the right portions of course!). Hmm, I wonder if there is a list with chocolate and other junk food on it that would make me avoid it. Like the "You Probably Want to Avoid These Foods If You Are Morbidly Obese". Somehow that list doesn't instill as much fear in me as the bag list! LOL Too bad.

Take care folks,

Kay

Back to work today. Just for four hours. That was long enough, after starting my day with an unpleasant dental appointment. Four shots before I was numb enough to take the drilling to drill out a big old filling and part of my cracked tooth. Yuck. And I have another weird tooth too. ARGHHH I have to go back at the end of March for more dental fun.

Almost March, nearly a year since Fat Camp and starting this blog. My surgeries messed up our planned March 2012 return to fat camp plans with our fun fat camp friends Julie and Maureen. Darn it!

I lost weight since the last time I tried Weight Watchers online, and the bastards took some points away from me! Grrrrrr. I guess that is a good thing, except when you are hungry.

One thing I did learn through the surgeries and hospitalizations . . . when you get tired and sore and pissy and feel sorry for yourself, have a pain pill and go to bed! LOL 

Goodnight!

Kay :)

I joined Weight Watchers on-line this a.m. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. I mean I had already eaten a sort of junky breakfast and am meeting friends at Chilis for supper tonight. LOL  But waiting til Monday hasn't been that successful for me in the past, so what the heck. Carpe diem.

I've observed with many of my normal, healthy weight friends that they don't always treat themselves like I do. They don't ALWAYS get cheese on their sandwiches. They don't ALWAYS get fries with their sandwich. They seem to actually stop and think before they eat, like when confronted with a dessert, and some may even comment that they had a sweet earlier in the day, or earlier in the week, and they say they better not, and they actually DO NOT EAT DESSERT! Are these people really my friends?! Can I change my way of thinking to do these things? Well I thought about Chilis and looked at the menu (yikes!), and strategized that a points-friendly, veggie lunch would be a good idea.

I had some sweet potato smashed with brown sugar and cinnamon; steamed broccoli with a squeeze of lemon; cauliflower, sprayed with my olive oil spray, sprinkled with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes, and then sprinkled with shredded parmesan cheese and a tiny bit of cheddar and roasted it in the oven. The parmesan gets all brown and crunchy and delicious. Oh, and the cauliflower does too. It's not ALL about the cheese. And a piece of crystallized ginger for dessert. It was delicious. And I have leftovers for tomorrow too. These are my favorite veggies prepared in my favorite way. I can see me having these veggies, along with a nice protein, for supper on a regular basis.

I got in the habit (on recommendation of the experienced colostomy nurse) of eating more slowly and chewing more thoroughly, as well as drinking more water, during the Time of the Bag, and hopefully those things will help the New Bagless Kay as well.

Recuperation continues to go well. Glad to be going back to work next week (and yeah, I'm glad it is just half-time next week too lol), because I have been feeling a little bored, have ants in my pants, and have been making too many trips to the kitchen. I'm tired of my new post surgical routine and ready to shake it up back to the old normal. My body feels weak, of course my core strength is shot, but I've been walking, working on keeping the core strong, trying not to let my shoulders creep up to my ears. LOL  Wearing the dreaded binder helps.

I'm going to weigh in again on Tuesday. You know, that's the day The Biggest Loser is on!

Kay :)

Go figure, the doctor knows what he is talking about. I've been wearing that awful binder (girdle torture device) most of the time lately, and my belly feels a lot better. It still looks like some weird alien landscape though. Other areas of recuperation are functioning quite well. lol

Heading back to work in a week, one week of half-days, then back to full-time. It's time. When you annoy your cat by playing the name game with her, well, that pretty much tears it. Midgie Midgie Bo Bana . . . 

I had an appointment with the dentist during the Time of the Bag and I did not want to do that lol, so I decided I would reschedule for after the reversal while I was off, so I didn't have to use any more sick time (which is scarily low now). That appointment was last week, and it seems I have a cracked tooth. Lucky me, and whoop-de-doo. I guess I should not whine, at least it doesn't hurt! So to celebrate my first day back at work, I get to start out the day getting drilled (not in a good way). I fear that half-day will be a long day, what with the start at the dentist.

It will be 4 weeks tomorrow since the surgery. It seems longer.  In fact the first surgery and the second surgery seem to have run together in my mind and seem to have been going on forever. I no longer have to devote so much time thinking about poop and doctors and hospitals, so I'm going to spend some time this week planning my 50th birthday hiking trip. Lots of waterfalls, something physically challenging so I will get my reconnected ass up and exercising (at a physician approved time of course). I'm thinking down by the Chattanooga area, it is so pretty and there are waterfalls galore. I know I know, I have had a lot of time off, but believe me, recuperating from 2 surgeries is not vacation time! 


I took what colostomy supplies I had left over to my home-health care nurse. She'll get them to someone who can use them. So now, I have my drawer back. Well, sort of . . . 

 Take care folks,

Kay :)

Recuperation continues. John made my favorite meal today, pizza and salad. He used Mark Bittman's No Knead Dough (from an on-line food blog):

3 C Flour
.25 t yeast
1.25 t salt
1 5/8 C Water

Stir it up. Cover with plastic wrap. Rest at least 12 hours.

He stirred it up last night and left it on counter. It gets all bubbly. Easy and cheap too. You can use it for bread dough too. He doubled it, so besides crust for a good size pizza, there are two dough balls left for future goodness. They freeze very well. The sauce is my beloved Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic. We made a cheese blend with an Italian Blend, a little Triple Cheddar, Mozzarella, Meunster, and a tub of clearance Romano from Kroger. It's bagged up for the freezer as well.

It

John picked up a special treat, a bit of blue cheese from the international food store in Bloomington. It was spectacular. Very recuperative, I'm sure.

I've been a little sore today, I'm not just saying that to get out of doing dishes. Bruises keep popping out on my abdomen! LOL  It has been through a lot recently, believe me!  And it's weird, where IV was in my hand, that is sore now, and starting to bruise, after nearly 3 weeks! Weird. But I'm doing well, getting lots of rest, starting to get ants in my pants, a sure sign of improvement! It feels good to get out, but I'm very glad to get back home afterwards too. Progress, good progress to be sure.

Puzzling, my favorite blanket, a spectacular shower (still reveling in the wonder of a shower with no bodily attachments!), and a Friends marathon on TV are making for a perfect day today.

Also, I need to re-evaluate my blog. Weight loss? Come on! Pizza pizza pizza! LOL I told my good friend, I guess I better get back in weight loss mode when I am healed up, I don't guess they are going to cut any more weight off of me! 

Kay :)

I cooked this afternoon. I did not lay on the couch the WHOLE day. LOL

I turned this stuff into Smoky Charred Cauliflower and Potato Soup with Kale and Mexican Crostini. Vegan: Smoky Charred Cauliflower and Potato Soup with Kale | Serious Eats : Recipes.

The soup was good, nice and creamy. John voted cut back on the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (wuss lol). The pork on the crostini is from a shoulder roast I cooked up and froze in meal size bags. It was all spiced up with chipotle and veggies and garlic and stuff. Damn tasty. It was quite tasty on top of the little whole grain toasts and topped with chipotle mayo.  I took that vegan soup recipe and stirred in the tasty broth from my pork. Even though the picture isn't too pretty, it was darn tasty stuff. I pronounce it a success.

My recuperation does not allow me to do dishes though! LOL

Kay :)

Recuperation in Action

All That Jazz (one of my absolute favorite movies!), Twizzlers, butt wipes (hilarious but oh so practical for my situation! lol), and a candle (also ohhhh so practical lol) magazines, word games, chocolate, Hair, Dream Girls, soup! What can I say!? No it is not some weird free association game! What fun! Thanks Maureen! And flowers from Sue (from the hospital yet, and they still look great, though Midge has been molesting them!)! Thanks girls. You are cool.

I can't believe two weeks has passed already! Wow.

I got a date with Bob Fosse. I gotta light the candle and pop the Twizzlers and the candy bar. Later folks! I'm sure my singing All That Jazz and doing that weird hip flick thing ala Gwen Verdon move that I always do after I watch All That Jazz will be very therapeutic!

Thanks girls!


Kay

Just had my first shower with NO bag, staples or drain. Ahhhh. Felt great. I was in there a loooong time. LOL you can shower with your bag on (or off) of course, but I admit, I didn't like messing with a wet bag. The literature says you can dry it with your hair dryer. Hell I don't even own one. One look at my hair and I bet anybody can guess that, so I had devised a covering with Glad Press & Seal Wrap and duct tape, so showering was a bit of a production. Just hopping in (in a weird sort of old lady post surgical sort of hopping way lol) today was so lovely!  LOL Once my middle isn't sore it will be perfect. And when I don't have to put any dressings to put back on, that will be good too.

Had my first solo outing to Wal-mart this a.m. too. I gotta go on my outings in the mornings, when I'm fresh. LOL  I did OK, but I admit I was glad to get home. Mind you I have plenty of people offering to wait on me, but sometimes a girl just needs to do her own shopping.

Enjoy your Sunday folks. Thanks for the good wishes. Recuperation continues, I think it is going well.

Kay :)

I am unencumbered! No more drain, no staples. Just a couple of dressings for some drainage, but big whoop! Like I said before, I thought this one would be easier. I was not expecting the same huge incision again. Just a smidge at top and bottom that wasn't reopened. And then more staples across the stoma area. Surprise! LOL

I am supposed to encumber myself with my binder though. I guess my core muscles have been through a lot lately. I'll put the binder back on  . . . later. I'm going to enjoy this unencumbered feeling for a while now.

I think the timing on this cold is pretty good really. I certainly do not feel like overdoing anything right now! I'm just going to take it easy, get caught up on my sleep (I did not sleep particularly well during the time of the bag), nourish my body well, take some walks in good time, get over this cold. Just going to heal and be.

Life is good.

Kay :)

I'm a little sore, tired, whiny and ornery today. So just getting back to normal! I was content just to lay around like a slug today, hugging my pillow (and occasionally cursing) each time I sneezed.

My potassium was OK. I'm looking forward to getting this drain out. Except for the actual act of having it removed . . . If he takes the staples out too, I'll give Dr. Wu a big woo hooo. Oh that was sad.

And things are progressing in other areas as well. Whew! LOL

Kay :)