Not a whole lot new

here in Never-Never Land.

I think, when we came home from vacation, that I saw in the mail an envelope from my gastric doctor, probably about my TWO YEAR checkup. But I musta thrown it out or something, cause I haven't seen it since getting home! And if I remember correctly, it was a sorta thick envelope. Oh well, if it's important they'll contact me again, right?! Although I really should schedule my checkup...

Wow, has it really been two years already?!! Yes, it has. August 6 will be my 2-year-surgiversary.

It has been quite a ride, one I'm so glad I jumped on!

So, maybe I should list the good and bad so far. Ok....

Bad parts of surgery/life after:

I don't do hamburgers anymore. They're just too dense for me and make me not feel good. When I make hamburgers at home for everyeone else I just eat something else. It's all good.

I don't do milk anymore. Or ice cream. Or yogurt. ONCE in a while I miss them, but not often. It's weird, I can have some granola cereal with half-and-half, but not milk. And I can eat some ice cream, but not just any old ice cream, and certainly not Haagen-Dazs. DQ small vanilla cone works for me, but my ice cream addiction has been cured, I rarely even think about it anymore. I get my calcium from supplements now, although I should be better at taking them (I'm better at that during the school year).

Ok, this could be good or bad: I usually have to stop eating WAY before I want to! Duh, that's how I ended up needing gastric to begin with, so that should probably go in the "good" file!

I don't like showing my arms in short sleeves, but I still wear them anyway. What the heck, it's not the end of the world if I have ugly arms in public...I've seen worse!! Much worse. Today I saw...oh geez, never mind what I saw. It wasn't good. Made me cringe and feel really bad for that person.

Right now that's all the bad stuff I can think of!

Good partsof surgery/life after:

A buzz is easy to get, I'm a cheap date!! LOL. A little bit of wine is all I need! And a Lemon Drop...oh my!

I have, according to Sanchez, "the world's biggest closet!" And I love it! It's been a lot of fun trying new styles and seeing what I like and don't like, instead of just wearing what will cover my fat body (and usually not very stylishly).

I can shop pretty much anywhere, and can find clothes very cheaply on clearance. LoVe it!

I've realized recently that I've become VERY comfortable wearing shorts. I don't even think twice before putting them on and walking out the door, yep, in public! It's so weird. Ok, so they're still down to my knees, but hey, they're shorts! And shorter than capris.

I am rarely hot, even in the summer. My "natural" insulation is gone. And since I prefer to be cold rather than hot, it's fantastic. I could almost live without the air conditioner. 70 degrees is fairly cool to me.

My feet don't hurt at all anymore. I can wear cheap sandals and be comfortable walking all day. That's a relief (literally!). That was such a battle before, my feet used to hurt constantly.

Since having vein surgery my legs don't look so bad anymore either. Hence, that's probably why I wear shorts. duh.

Oh, oh, oh....(jumping up and down cause I just remembered this one!)...on the Damtrak trip I fit SO very comfortably into the seat! At least width-wise...my butt did hurt quite a bit after sitting in the seat for just a bit (that should go on the "bad" list), and sleeping was still a pain, but I could crunch up in a seat made for two. But I can fit anywhere comfortably now...sitting in a restaurant booth with legs crossed, crouching down to pick up something from the ground, etc. Fab-U-lous!

I swear that often times men treat me differently now than they did when I was fat. They're nicer. They talk to me longer. They look me in the eye. They actually flirt a little!! It's kinda fun. I like it.

Right now that's all I can think of...I'm gettin' tired and such, so I'm gonna end this. I may come back and edit in a day ot two if I think of anything else.

I am not a candidate....

for president!

LOL, I mean... "for lasik eye surgery."

Dang!

I went to Joffe MediCenter today for their free consultation on lasik surgery, hoping to get it done around mid-August, after the wedding in case they screwed up and blinded me at least I'd get to see one kid get married, (Bri had to schedule her surgery like 4 weeks out). While I was talking to the first guy doing the testing, he asked me how soon I wanted to have it done. I said "mid-August, why?" He said "well, the soonest we could do it is....today or tomorrow!" Ha. Must be a slow time right now.

Anyway, after he did all the testing, he told me to go talk w/the doctor before viewing their video, because he was seeing some results that were "quite large." LOL, ok, at least I know he's not lookin' at my ass to get that measurement any more!

So the doc comes in (NOT Dr. Whiting, the doc on the commercials - it was an associate) and explains to me that on one eye the cornea is larger on the bottom, and although they could do lasik, he does not recommend it because it would put me at a higher risk for a more serious problem down the road, like my cornea becoming too thin and having no vision! He said, "if it were my family member, I'd tell them NOT to do it!"

Ok then. I thanked him for being honest, and was actually surprised by the honesty! It wasn't a crushing blow, actually when the first guy was doing the testing he said "you know, you'll need reading glasses after lasik anyway" and I though to myself "hmm, so I'd really be trading one problem for another...is this worth it?"

So by then my eyeballs were widely dialated, thank you very much, but I drove anyway, just took the side streets through the cities until I felt comfortable getting back on the freeway. I had taken my old Nikon cameras along cause I've been wanting to stop at National Camera Exchange and sell/trade 'em in on a new digital SLR version, so that was my plan. I decided to stop at Trader Joe's first, picked up a few things but nothing refrigerated cause it was dang hot out (darn). Then stopped at NCE and sold one camera (other had problems according to them, whatever) and got myself a new super cool camera. Yay!

Stopped at Panera Bread for lunch, and was thinking "hmm, the Queen and I should go to Panera and SHARE the You-Pick-Two, and we could each get like 1/2 a sandwich or salad or s0up and that would be enough." I got the strawberry/chicken/poppyseed salad and some sandwich, ate the chicken and fruit out of the salad and part of the sandwich. Such a waste, but that's the way it goes.

Stopped at Walmart for a very short list of things and came home. Doug and Dave are almost finished with screening in the back deck, it's gorgeous. They do good work. : )

So now it's 8:00, having a little blog juice and relaxing. I wish we woulda turned on the AC today though, cause it's dang HOT.

Summer....love/hate it.

She's got legggggggggs.....

.

and she knows how to use them! (c'mon....sing along!)

Yeah, right. Anywhoo....I went back to the vein doc last week for my 1-month checkup, since I had the rest of my veins ripped out/closed March 10th. That day wasn't too awful bad, it hurt some, but only took about 45 minutes of pain. It was more "painful" to wear those darn compression stockings for 2 weeks (I cheated by a day or two....rulebreaker me!).

So I'm done!! Doc said I still have a few "issues" with some veins, but that he wouldn't necessarily recommend doing anything else right now, and everything they closed, stayed closed.

So, that means this summer I might wear shorts, or at least Bermuda shorts (to my knees).

But wait....just what do beautiful legs look like now, you may ask?? I did take some "before photos", I'll try to find them, but here's a good "after" shot...

Aww, Geez.....guess it's time for a pedicure!

Feeding the Addictions

Had the day off work (short spring break), so what did I do???

Went shopping of course! : )

Had a wandering day planned with Carol. First we went to tour Regency Beauty Academy with Taylor, cause she's interested in that. It was fun, and I think it'll be a good fit for her if that's what she decides to do.

Then we had lunch at Mongo's...yum. I've learned to put a LOT of spice sauces on my stuff, otherwise it's sorta boring. I loved my lunch, it was great.

Then, we started our shopping at Clothes Mentor, a resale shop for "better" women's clothing. Carol tried on (with my urging) and actually bought several things that she said she normally would have just bypassed on the racks as not her style. Yay, I got her to think outside her "box" and such!! Carol, I'm proud of you, isn't it fun trying something new, and liking it?? : )

I found nothing there, which is unusual. I did try on a few things, and liked a few, but for one reason or anothe they just didn't work (cut too low, too small, etc.).

So, then we went to the mall. As usual, the mall has amazing deals. I got a few sweaters, some brown pants, black jeans, oh....and more hair product, cause since I've found what works on my hair, I want to make sure I don't run out. And Carol found more things she normally wouldn't have tried on. We had a great day.

Then...we ran out of steam. We both pooped out and were ready to come home.

So I have my bags in the bedroom, sorta hiding, waiting for Doug to not be around so I can unload them. : )

I can't wait to wear my new clothes next week.

Dang...I forgot to get false eyelashes!! hee hee

Ouchity Ouch Ouch!!

Had the rest of my veins ripped out today. Ah, fun. Not.

I don't remember it hurting afterward this much last time. Maybe it did, but I don't think so. We stopped for lunch afterward, and I could hardly stay awake to eat. I'm sure I fell asleep the instant I buckled into the car. Came home and took a 3-hr nap (with the help of some vicoden).

Been up for 2 1/2 hours now, about ready to go back to bed again. Ahhhh.....sleep. Hopefully when I get up in the morning the pain will be gone. Yeah, right!

But I'm done!! And that's a relief. Now I just need to work on doing some toning, and my legs will be beautiful.

Just beautiful!! : )

Tattooed woman!

Hee hee...yep, that's me...a tattooed woman! Bri suggested last fall that we get seashells tattooed on our feet in memory of our vacation together at the ocean. Ok, cool. So a few weeks ago we went to Voodoo Tattoo in Big Lake for suggestions. I'm pretty sure he thought he'd never see us again. Wrongo man (aren't they usually?!)! We kicked around ideas and Bri made us appointments for yesterday at 5:00. We took these sketches in for ideas cause we weren't 100% sure what to get:

We decided on the sand dollar because of it's meaning:

Legend of the Sand Dollar

THERE'S A PRETTY LITTLE LEGEND
THAT I WOULD LIKE TO TELL
OF THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF JESUS
FOUND IN THIS LOWLY SHELL

IF YOU EXAMINE CLOSELY
YOU'LL SEE THAT YOU FIND HERE
FOUR NAIL HOLES AND A FIFTH ONE
MADE BY A ROMAN'S SPEAR

ON ONE SIDE THE EASTER LILY
ITS CENTER IS THE STAR
THAT APPEARED UNTO THE SHEPHERDS
AND LED THEM FROM AFAR

THE CHRISTMAS POINSETTIA
ETCHED ON THE OTHER SIDE
REMINDS US OF HIS BIRTHDAY
OUR HAPPY CHRISTMASTIDE

NOW BREAK THE CENTER OPEN
AND HERE YOU WILL RELEASE
THE FIVE WHITE DOVES AWAITING
TO SPREAD GOOD WILL AND PEACE

THIS SIMPLE LITTLE SYMBOL
CHRIST LEFT FOR YOU AND ME
TO HELP US SPREAD HIS GOSPEL
THROUGH ALL ETERNITY

They drew up a design for us that we both liked, and went to work! Actually, they were running late, and there was a girl there getting a huge tattoo on her side, bawling her eyes out and sobbing. Alrighty then...just what a tattoo virgin (me!) wants to hear before her first tattoo!

Ok, my turn, I decided to go first! One last look at "untouched" feet!

She put the stencil on so I could see what it would look like

(I always thought they just did it freehand!)

Tools of torture!

Let's get this party started!

The first "bite!" Ouch. Actually it felt more like a burn with a bunch of pinpricks. There were a few times I hurt more than a little bit, I'll be honest!

All done! I like it!

Bri's turn...

Aww...matching momzie and daughter tattoos! : )

Now we need to go to the ocean again. : )

It's all good

So, how have I been spending the first week of 2010? Sitting on my rear in front of the tv mostly. Ugh. I'm sick of it.

I had the gallbladder surgery on Monday. What should have taken an hour and a half took them four and a half hours! I think Doug was getting pretty worried, he said even moreso when it was over and the dr. called him back into his consult room and Doug said there were couches and boxes of tissues all over! Wow, that woulda scared me!

Turns out I had some kind of extra blood supply vein to my gallbladder, and they had to follow it to see where it was coming from and how to deal with it. Then I guess my gallbladder was 1/4-inch thick when it's usually very thin, and they had to cut it out in pieces and be very careful.

I'm so thankful I went with Dr. Johnson and not the first guy I saw. The people at Unity Hospital in Coon Rapids are awesome. They treat you mighty fine! : ) They did send me out the door though around 6pm, and I was still very unsteady on my feet and slept the whole way home and then some. I figure between the actual surgery time and the next time I got out of bed in the morning I was sleeping for about 19 hours. Wow.

So today's Thursday, and I will actually leave the house for a little bit this afternoon with Doug. It's dang cold out and that's not fun, but it'll be good to get out of here for a bit. I'm getting sorta bored (although I do have end-of-the-year paperwork to do) and tired of sitting and laying. I'm actually feeling pretty good, moreso each day, as I move around. My stomach itches where the plastic band-aids are, I wanna rip them off but shouldn't. And I can hear some gas still trapped inside, when I roll over to my side I can feel it move and it sounds like a loud stomach grumble. Sorta funny, but it can leave any time now...

So now I get to re-test out what I can and can't eat. Greasy foods might give me problems like diarrhea, we'll see. I ate a couple squares of pizza last night, a little grease but not bad and had no problems. Ah joy, more to learn.

I hope I'm done with surgeries for a while, although I do still need some leg/vein work done. Ugh. I have a new empathy for people with chronic illnesses. I need to be more appreciative for my health, cause it's usually pretty darn good.