Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This tasted WAY better than it photographed!

Trying to eat better. This is quinoa, marinated artichokes, roasted red peppers, broccoli, peppers, onions, olives, walnuts. I'm not really sure what all is in there. On this hot summer day it was delicious. Thank you John. Oh wait, it's not summer, it's flippin' March! I threw some zinnia seeds in Midge's flower bed yesterday, just for fun.

Feeling a lot better. Not as sore and tired. It's getting better. Will be 8 weeks since the surgery this coming Tuesday. I need to check with doc and see if I can lift some weights and do some more exercises. My rotator cuff, that I finished therapy on just before camping, which was just before all this medical stuff happened . . . well I re-injured it getting out of bed after that first surgery. Ouch. I need to get that checked out too. I'm sure my insurance company would  like to take me out back and shoot me.

Been doing pretty good with the walking. I was so sore and tired after I started back to work that I let it go for a couple of days, but the weather is so gorgeous, and what with waking up at like 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. I have a lot of time to kill before work! How come walking in the dark at 10:00 or 11:00 at night is kind of creepy, but walking in the dark at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. isn't? When I start my walks in the dark, I don't go on the towpath, I walk smack dab down the main street in town. I like it. I can't take any money with me though, because the bakery is open. I've been peering in the window of the Schwinn shop too. A bike ride sounds good some evenings. I'll have to go check out the old lady fat tired cruisers.

I'm sure I'll do better with the points this coming week. Honestly, it would be hard for me to do worse! LOL I have a St. Pat's party tomorrow, corned beef, colcanon, creamed cabbage, beer. My favorite party food of the year. And there are no points on St. Pat's, right!

Kay

My first full week back at work kicked my ass. Just like last time. I saved a lot of time this week not having to make my bed, because three nights I fell asleep right on top of the quilt, one night with my shoes on! I'm feeling OK, just dragging ass, very easily fatigued, and sore around the middle, especially around that stoma incision. I'm sure things will improve rapidly now that I have whined out loud. I took a break from my  morning walks last three days because I was so fatigued later on in the day. I think it helped. Plus I didn't find any money this week! Grrrrr! I was kind of awake last night, til 9:00, very late for me lately! I'm going to start the walks up again tomorrow, just shorten them up a bit on workdays til I pep up a bit. I tried work with binder on, binder off, neither felt very good this week.

My Points sucked this week. When I'm tired I eat. A lot. And junk too, darn it.

My folks had their 53rd anniversary yesterday, and today we took a ride to John's for dinner. He went through his basket of recipes he had clipped and saved, and found some from the food section of the Tribune. The appetizer was Spinach Pie. Wow! We demolished that. Next was Swai (I had to look that up lol), with a broiled buttery, lemony, panko, parmeson topping. He made a lemony, capery tartar sauce to go with it. It was spectacular. He served it with a lovely green salad with homemade dressing and some homemade Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls. Wow! They were gorgeous and delicious. Just a dough you stir together, no kneading or anything. I can do that . . . I think! We are definitely having those again, probably for Easter. Dessert was cheesecake bars, and he whipped up some sweet potato pie, no recipe,with the leftover phyllo dough from the spinach pie and the sweet potatoes from the rolls. Everything was spectacular.

I counted this Sweet Tater Dinner Roll as a vegetable when I did my points. Haha. Just kidding. Like I am doing my points today! lolol

John snores in this recliner all the time too! Dad is alive, I swear! But his name, after all, is Bernie! Does anyone get my jokes? Or should I just stop.

Mom and John and Dad, post-feast. The folks also got their first look at the wonderful paint job by Mark Riley of Riley Painting, aka Donna's hubby, aka Mar's twin. It looks great. I do not miss that builder white paint!

Mom and Dad, 53 years married. On their anniversary in 2000 I had my hysterectomy and was in the hospital. What a weird thing to remember, and even a weirder thing to type here.

Going hiking in May, down by Chattanooga. One of the hikes has 1200 steps if you want to see all the waterfall action. Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia. Check it out. Since I'll be celebrating my 50th birthday, John figured that would be 24 steps for each year! LOL  That is a lot of years, and a lot of steps! LOL

Kay :) the Weirdo

I think I got back in my walking routine this week. When I see something lovely in nature on my walks I consider it a reward for my labors, but this is even better . . .

That's right. Cold (and brrrr on a couple of those walks!), hard cash! I'm not sure I like it better than a cardinal, but a nice diversion nonetheless. I didn't find it all at once either, three separate walks. If anyone really wants to encourage my recuperation and weight loss and fitness efforts, I'd be glad to share my a.m. walking route, if you want to drop a $20 bill or something. Just let me know.

Half-days at work went well. It's surprising how sore you can get getting used to sitting upright again, when you have been reclining a lot for months! LOL  I continue to wear my binder. There is a big old lump of healing going on where the stoma was. I'll get used to it. It feels kind of heavy and pulling sometimes, which is not helped by my own anatomic proportions. :) Back to full-time next week. Tuesday will be 6 weeks since the reconnect.

Lost 5 pounds on weight watchers this week. More important still, I stopped the creeping upward that was happening. Tsk tsk. Being back at work will help too. I mean yeah, I get bored there too, but the only food there is what I bring in, so if I behave myself, all is well. And it doesn't hurt when I walk to work and have no cash either! LOL Makes my healthy food much more appealing when it is the only choice.

Enjoying relaxing and puzzling at John's this blustery Saturday. It's weird being here and NOT playing ping pong. LOL  I haven't played for so long I'll be rusty as all get out! I've only played once minus my tumor (and bigger belly), and it was hilarious! Still had the bag, was being very careful, and my stroke was totally off because the new smaller me was still standing way back from the table to accommodate the former belly, which wasn't even there! It was pretty funny. I thought I'd wait a bit more before beating John at ping pong (haha). Maybe next visit. When you get sore from sitting, maybe you should hold up on the ping pong.

Have a pork roast all mexicanized and in the crock pot, and that smells good too. Will use it for some healthy meals next week. Still can't get enough beans and rice and I am craving jalapeno peppers. I have not indulged that craving yet! LOL

Have a nice weekend all.

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 :)