An Eventful Week

Since the last time I have blogged, I have met the 50 pound milestone (!!, 52.4 as of this morning), I am at the lowest weight I've been since the end of high school, I have tracked out, I had to make a visit to the doctor for some pain I was having, and I have advanced to the last phase of my diet--all solid foods. If I thought last week's blog was long, I better settle down for a longer one this week. :)

I'll start with the pain I had been feeling. Wednesday night we had some friends over for dinner. Around 8:30, when we were sitting down and they were having dessert, I started having a feeling of pain in my lower left side. It felt like maybe it was gas, or possibly from something I had eaten. It wasn't very intense pain, but it was still uncomfortable. Overnight, I would wake up lying on my left side, and have to lay flat again. On Thursday morning, the pain was still there and it felt like a constant throbbing. I really couldn't take off from school, because I had an economy fair with another teacher's class, and it would have been really hard for a sub to do. That morning I googled 'left side pain lower abdomen, gastric bypass' and started reading some articles about what this could be. I started to worry more when I saw on some weight loss forums that this could be an obstructed bowel, urinary tract infection, kidney problem, diverticulosis, etc. Some posts said that you should contact your doctor immediately, because people had really serious complications from pain like this, and others said it was just gas or constipation, and you'd be fine. So, I decided to call the head nurse of the bariatric program at Duke and get her advice. She told me to come in and see Dr. Sudan, my surgeon. He had a surgery on Thursday, but said he could see me Friday morning. She said he would really need to see me in person and take some tests to see what was causing this.

Throughout the day Thursday, I felt a lot of pain, probably because I was moving around so much at school. My anxiety started kicking in, because on Friday, my track out day, we were having North Carolina Day for our grade level which I had put in a lot of work for, and we had been planning for a couple of months. I really wanted to be there to see it all come together. Also, that night, I was supposed to be having the first part of a round robin staff social at my house as well. Well, after the nurse told me to come in the next day, I talked with my principal, and he took care of everything. He got Kelly to sub for my class, and got a sub for hers (since Kelly would know more what to do and could help out with NC Day...I felt much better that she would be there--Thanks Kel!! :) and told me we should postpone the social until I was feeling better. I really appreciate him so much for taking the anxiety away, and helping make those decisions for me. I never actually had any panic, but I just really wanted everything to work out well for everyone. (after I sent out the email that we were postponing the social, a lot of teachers were happy about it, since they said they weren't able to attend last night :)

Okay, that was a lot of background, so let me get to the actual doctor's visit. After I explained to him what I had been feeling, and he checked out my lower abdomen, he said he didn't think I had any of those more serious complications, because my pain level was only at a 3 or 4 on the pain scale. If I was having a bowel obstruction or kidney problems (like a stone) I'd be hunched over and in a lot more pain. He said it could be constipation, and told me to take a laxative when I got home, or it could be my ovaries since my cycle is waking up. He also said I could be taking stool softeners daily, if constipation ended up being the problem. If the pain gets worse, he told me to come in and he would order a CT scan. He took a urine sample and checked for an infection (and pregnancy, but that was negative). Also, since I was going to see him in a week for my 3 month visit he took the bloodwork too to check my vitamin levels, my blood sugar, and cholesterol. (I really love that about Duke, how they make everything easier for you!) He also set up to have Patrick, the nutritionist, come talk to me as well, so I wouldn't have to come back to see him. The nurse called yesterday afternoon and said that I didn't have a urine infection. I took the laxative last night, and it did work, but I am still having the same pain in that area this morning. I'm not as worried about it now, as before, and I guess I will need to just keep an eye on things and if it gets worse, call the office. Luckily I'm tracked out now, so I don't have to worry about missing school.

My session with Patrick was really good! He said I am now "cleared" for all of the foods that had previously been on the "foods to avoid" list: nuts, peanut butter, tougher meats like steak, pasta, rice, raw veggies and fruits, and so many more!! I feel like this will really open my options for meals, but I also have a little trepidation moving forward. I am glad to be eating nuts now, since they are such a good source of protein and non-perishable. It is so hard to take refrigerator items with me when I'm going to be out, without packing a cooler. I still need to add these new foods one at a time, as before, so I can make sure I don't have a problem with anything. Patrick said that I am cleared to eat basically anything, but of course I have to still watch any intake of high fat/high sugar foods. He asked if I'd had dumping syndrome, and I was proud to tell him no. I told him about some of the times I'd felt a little sick after I ate, and he said that was completely normal. He reassured me that there is such a long learning curve with eating post surgery. It takes a long time to figure out which foods you can eat, how you can eat them and what other foods you can tolerate them with. Sometimes it feels so long ago that I had the surgery, but when he talks about this still being a long learning process, it makes me feel better. I feel like I should be an expert by now, but it's going to take a long while to feel completely confident about what I'm eating. Chris asked him if I was on track with my weight loss, and he said I was measuring at a 36% loss of my excess weight so far. Duke's average is losing 71% of your excess weight loss after gastric bypass. Patrick said I was right where I was supposed to be--and I can't believe I've already lost 36% of my excess weight to lose!!!! That felt really good. Even when the scale isn't showing the loss, so many other factors can indicate that I'm doing well. When I showed him our weight loss calendar (we write our weights down daily) he recommended that I weigh less often--at least every other day. With the fluctuations I can have, due to water retention, and my cycle, he said weighing every day is not getting a true indication of my loss. So, as hard as that will be, I will start trying to do that.....tomorrow. ;)

I have passed my lowest weight with Weight Watchers, which is a great accomplishment!! I took some pictures last week, but Chris hasn't had a chance yet to compile them, so I'll try to get those up tomorrow. I am tracked out now, even though I have two workdays next week, and I'm so excited for some Christmas shopping and getting ready for our trip to NYC over Thanksgiving!! I LOVE this time of year, and I've had fun doing a little shopping already for Christmas gifts.

...Well, I had just taken a little break in writing because my mom called, and now I want to go get moving for the day, so I will write more later. Now that I'm tracked out, I may even blog twice a week! ;) Stay tuned...