Sometimes I Forget. . .

. . .That I don't have a gall bladder.

Then I eat something fried and greasy.
Then my body reminds me that I don't have the ability to digest something fried and greasy.

And I remember that I don't have a gall bladder.
And I am miserable for a few hours. . .Or more.

The hash browns, even though they tasted good, were not worth it!

Namaste.

The Divorce Is Final

The recovery is complete.
The restrictions are gone.
The nutrition plan is back in the pantry.
The calorie burning is back on the schedule.

The bills are all in. . .
Amount Rejected. . . . . . . . . . . . $1,371.79
Amount Took From My Wallet. . . $649.79
Amount Claimed By Insurance. . .$15,292.63
Total Cost Of Divorce. . . . . . . . . $17,314.21

I don't think I'll be complaining about the $130 I will pay this year to have health insurance.

Namaste.

Clean Bill of Health

Saw Dr.G today. . .He has given me my clean bill of health!

The tape is all gone.
The remaining pain does not require medication.
The adhesive will be wearing away soon (I hope).
I have worked my way up to 15 minutes cardio.
I have started crunched at 100 (ouch).

Life is good!

Namaste.

Hmmm. . .

WARNING: If you get grossed out easily, you may not want to read this.
I think it's funny, but not everyone shares my sense of humor.


I've had my braces ten days and I've already popped a wire out of a back bracket.

I have approximately 345 days to go before the braces will be removed (I'm not counting or anything). . .
Does that mean I will pop the wire 34 more times?

The one thing I learned about Gall Bladder surgery is: It will stop you up! It was becoming so bad that:
> It became a topic of sisteroo conversation.
> I suspected it was a cause of some weird weight gain.
> I was starting to feel ill (ever see the cartoon about the body parts arguing over who was most important??).

I finally got unstuck after 11.5 days.
> I was relieved.
> I felt better.
> I lost about half of that weird weight gain.

Today, I was searching frantically for the plunger.
You know - the one that has only been used once in ten years. . .
Update: It has now been used twice.

Remember that I mentioned earlier that it hurt my incisions to laugh real hard?
Not anymore! :)

Namaste.

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - Albert Einstein

Slowly, But Surely!

I'm slowly working my way back up to full work-outs. Spent 12 minutes on the elyptical today - that's 125 calories (or .8 of a mile)! Taking it slow, but am working back up to my 20 to 30 minute sessions.

Wish me luck!

Namaste.

Back At It. . .

OK. . .Today is the day that I have taken back my life. I went back to work (let's not talk about the fact that I carpooled so I could still take my meds). I went back to the gym. I drove a car again.

Man am I tired!

Thanks to the divorce and the metal that now calls my mouth home, I am still having issues eating. I am primarily living on soups and yogurt at this point. Yum Yum!

Here are the pictures of my surgery - notice, there are SIX (the count went from five to six when the tape came off) cuts. DocG said FOUR - WHY ARE THERE SIX? I will find out next week when I see him again. My stomach is still swollen in the pics from the gas they used to inflate my stomach cavity. I'm happy to say that it is slowly starting to go down now (you can see a slight difference between the pics which were taken two days apart).




Also - check out the new fashion statement - the blood clot preventing socks. Yes, I have to wear these for six to seven days. I was wearing footies on top of them so that they wouldn't get too dirty.

What fun!

Namaste.

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes." - Eleanor Roosevelt

I Didn't Go To The Gym Today, But. . .

I thought I should post to let everyone know that the surgery went well and the divorce is complete.

I now have four dime-size cuts in my stomach area. I haven't looked at them yet, but will probably take some various pics over the next few days. This has played a pretty major role in my life lately so I think I'm going to scrapbook and journal about it. Sad, I know.

DocG told MommyMarie that sometimes, he goes in to remove a GallBladder and realizes that it really didn't need to be remove. This was not the case for me. My lovely GallBladder was majorly inflamed, though probably not diseased - DocG definitely understood why I was in so much pain and believes that it had to be removed. The stones did exactly as I was praying for - they stayed nice and cozy inside the GallBladder. DocG checked the liver and all of the tubes and I am free and clear with no blockages.

This makes me feel good - I was having some doubts last night: Did I rushed into this surgery without exploring other options? The answer: Nope!

I was home by 1:30pm and have had one pain pill today. I foresee having to have more medication tomorrow as I won't have anymore left-over morphine in my body. :(

I am sore throughout my stomach and my shoulders (side-affect of the gas that is still making itself at home in my stomach cavity). I am not a big fan of the 'liquid' diet requirement - but MommyMarie deemed that yogurt and pudding, in addition to the chicken broth, was liquid enough to qualify! I had just enough energy to loose at Rummy and win at Scrabble (twice)! :)

There seems to be some confusion about what I am allowed to eat this weekend: a) Doc told me low-fat/no-fat for one week after the surgery when I saw him in the office before Christmas; b) Doc told MommyMarie back to normal diet tomorrow after the surgery was over; c) Nurse-aroony said liquid diet today and low-fat tomorrow during the discharge review.

To be safe, I think I am aiming for a hybrid of options a) and c).

Namaste.

It's Been One Of Those. . .

I love my life. I really do. I couldn't be more happier with the changes that I am making, the job that I have, the home that I am constantly remodeling, the loved ones that I adore. Life is good.

I am truly blessed with the amount of people who want to be at the hospital on Friday and with everyone who is brave enough to keep me company while I am recovering.

Having said all of that. . .I will admit that I have not been myself lately. I think the medication is messing with my head. I have found myself not being as positive as I usually am and I have become very moody. . .To be honest, I have been a bitch.

For this. . .I apologize to everyone.

I have stopped taking the medicine and I am now starting to feel more like myself.

I should probably apologize in advance for next week. I will be back on medication and I will be hearing tons of metal mouth jokes. I don't think the two will be a good combination. You think? :)

On another note: My football season is over.
The best article that I could find about the season was on bengals.com.

Namaste.

"Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters." - Margaret Peters

Trying to Get Divorced From My Gall Bladder

I didn't get to eat any of the great food that was sitting around for the holidays.
In the last seven days, I have lost seven pounds (see note above).

Can I just say that fighting with your gall bladder over the holidays royally sucks? I had another attack because of PRETZELS! I thought pretzels were fat free!!! I guess I found the only ones that actually have fat in them. Hmmm. . .Wonder how much weight I would have lost if I hadn't ate the pretzels?

I have a new-found respect for people that have experienced large amounts of surgery. I never knew how many people I would have to talk to in order to make this divorce go successfully. I'm not sure how many more phone calls I will get in order to give all of that pertinent information that I have already given to a zillion other people. I can almost rattle off all of the numbers on my insurance card in my sleep - did I mention that it's a new card with new numbers that I got last week?

By the way - the divorce is scheduled for Friday, January 5th. I am counting down the days! MommyMarie is coming down to stay the weekend with me. Gotta love my mommy!

Namaste.

"There are no accidents, only nature throwing her weight around. . .Nature will pick up the cards we have spilled, shuffle them, and begin her game again." - Camille Paglia

Gall Bladder Information Anyone?

Note: I changed the font of the headlines as I realized that no one could see the script that I had. Please let me know if it doesn't look like a script.

What and Where is the Gall Bladder?
The Gall Bladder is a small pear-shaped organ on the underside of the liver that is used to store bile. Bile is made in the liver and is stored in the gall bladder until it is needed to help the digestion of fat. It is about 7-10cm long and is dark green in appearance due to its contents (bile).

Interesting - It's pretty tiny. I found a picture of one taken during surgery - pretty weird looking if you ask me (but it looked white, not dark green).

What is Gall Bladder disease?
Gall Bladder disease is a common condition that affects mainly women, although men can suffer too. The symptoms vary widely from discomfort to severe pain which mainly begins after food. In severe cases the patient can suffer from jaundice, nausea and fever. The most common reason for Gall Bladder disease is gallstones.

Discomfort? What do you think Nickey?

What are gallstones?
Gallstones are solid stones formed in the Gall Bladder from cholesterol, bile salts and calcium. They can vary in size from a few millimeters to a few centimeters.
What causes gallstones?
Gallstones are formed when bile contains too much cholesterol. The excess cholesterol forms crystals from which gallstones are made.

Hmmm...My cholesterol is low. I am lactose intolerant, so I don't get as much calcium as I probably should. Bile salts? I avoid table salt...Don't know about bile salt. Doesn't seem like I'll ever get gallstones!

Who is at risk of developing gallstones?
Gallstones are seen in all age groups but they are rare in the young. The possibility of developing gallstones increases with age. The following groups are considered to be at increased risk:
- People who have relatives with gallstones.
- Obese people.
- People with a high blood cholesterol level.
- Women who take drugs containing estrogen, eg contraceptive pills.
- People with diseases such as chronic intestinal inflammation

I am not oId. I don't have any relatives (that I know of) with gallstones. I am not obese. I do not have high cholesterol. I do not take estrogen. I do not have any chronic intestinal inflammation. Looks like I'm good to go!

Surgery for gallstones
When an operation is required for gallstones in the Gall Bladder it is usual to remove the Gall Bladder and gallstones together - this is called cholecystectomy. If the Gall Bladder is left behind it is quite likely that further gall stones will form in it. There are two ways of removing the Gall Bladder and nowadays more than 90 per cent are removed by laparoscopic or keyhole surgery.This involves making four small cuts less than 1cm long in the abdomen and the use of a tiny camera inserted though one of these cuts to see the Gall Bladder. Other instruments are placed in the abdomen through the other cuts. If the operation is successful most patients are able to go home the day after surgery and return to normal everyday activities within two weeks.In some cases laparoscopic surgery is considered too dangerous or too difficult and it is then necessary to do a traditional or 'open' cholecystectomy. This involves making a cut in the abdomen between 9 and 18cm long. The patient will usually need to stay in hospital for at least five days and will not be able to return to work for six to eight weeks.
Source of Gall Bladder Info

Do I really think you care about Gall Bladders? Nope.
Did I ever care about Gall Bladders? Nope.
So, why am I bringing this up now? Because I am scheduled to have laparoscopic surgery to remove mine in early January.

The web information for those at risk is missing one:
- People who were at one time larger than they should be (needing large amounts of bile to digest the large amounts of Big Macs) and have since adopted a healthy life-style (no more Big Macs) have an increased risk. This is because the liver creates the amount of bile that the body has always needed - but since the fat isn't there, the bile just sits in the Gall Bladder and turns into stones as its shelf life expires (ok, so I added the shelf life part, but the rest is what the surgeon told me).

I guess this is where I qualify - loosing 60lbs in 12 months...Yep, that will do it.

The surgeon has cleared me to restart my gym work-outs (within reason, probably with my pain meds), so I should be back posting regularly after Christmas.

The only other thing that is floating around in my mind right now? Being forced into eating FAT FREE (or as close to it as you can get) SUCKS! But that is my life until about a week after surgery. It's going to make for a wonderful Holiday season.

Namaste.

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." - Jane Howard

Hmmm. . .

I was at the gym today.
I checked in at the desk.

I delivered a Christmas present.
I got on the bike.
I did a very slow 1.7 miles.

Anything more and I would be checking myself into the psych ward.
Who goes to the gym when they are on pain meds? Ok, maybe I am crazy!

Namaste.

Post for 12/12

I wasn't able to get a post up yesterday as I spent the late evening fighting some serious pain. Never fear - I am working on it and am hopeful that the doctors will find and fix everything that is wrong.

In other news, here is the finally finished decorative painting in the half bath.


Namaste.