The Brat Fights the Fat

Hi all!

Thanks for the well wishes and comments.

So the surgery... I gotta tell you sometimes it pays to be a pain. Because I have a condition that can cause me to faint with seizure-like activity I got lots of special treatment. First one in on the day of the surgery... nice dose of adavan as soon as I arrive. Tucked into bed with some lovely oxygen... best way to have surgery. I don't even remember them putting me to sleep. In fact, I don't remember most of that day. I have a few flashes, I remember waking up in the recovery room, but I don't remember leaving the hospital or coming home at all.

One piece of advice... don't try to go to the bathroom by yourself in the middle of the night following surgery. I felt great, thought I could do it. One minute I'm going pee, the next I'm laying on the floor in my husband's arms. Apparently I was out for a good 8 minutes after passing out into the shower. Luckily there was a garbage bag on the floor in the bathroom to break my fall. Oops.

Tylenol 3's are my friend. Antibiotics that make me nauseous are not.

I have to say to anyone planning on having a breast reduction done, lose as much excess weight ahead of time as you can. When I first went to my surgeon, I was told that I would have to have the larger anchor type incision. Between then and my actual surgery, I lost 25 lbs and was able to have the smaller incision. It's made a huge difference. The women I've talked to that have had the larger incision had way more pain and way less mobility. Talk about a great reward for loosing the weight. I have some discomfort, but I can lift my arms above my head. I can open a pop bottle. I'm also happy to report (and so is my husband) that I still have sensation in my nipples.

My surgery was Friday morning. I spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday at home. Don't remember most of those days and spent most of my time sleeping. On Sunday I went home with my Mom for the week, where I was guarded closely, fed healthy delicious meals and slept 20 out of every 24 hours. It was wonderful. I came home yesterday. It was great to see my kids and to sleep in my own bed. The kids have been great and haven't been trying to climb me much. DH has been taking good care of me and the kids (though I do miss Daddy's steak). My biggest complaint is the nausea. Which I'm hoping will stop once I'm finished the antibiotics.

My breasts look like they've been beaten up, but still look like breasts. The bandages are off, the drains are out. The stitches will eventually dissolve. They're still a bit swollen and I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll look like once they've healed. Everyone can't get over how much skinnier I look with smaller boobs. And while they look tiny to me, they're still a nice size. And they're PERKY!! All in all I'm happy with the results.

So this is the last weekend before my Breast Reduction Surgery and we're taking the "girls" for one last spin. I'm a happily married woman, but every now and then I enjoy going out with my girlfriends. And if some guys check us out and flirt with us a bit, even better. Because of my "girls," I've gotten a bit of extra attention of the years. So tonight, I'm going out and enjoy that attention one last time. We're going to go shopping (shoes!!), we're going to go to BINGO (never been, should be interesting, maybe I'll win some money to pay for the evening), I'm sure we'll grab some food to soak up the alcohol, maybe to the casino and hopefully dancing!!! None of us will be driving!!!! Wisa, wish you were going to be here!!! I'm going to hurt tomorrow though.

I'm sure I'll miss that benefit, but I'm so looking forward to being perky... to being able to see my feet again... for being able to see if I've got something on my shirt or pants below my breasts... to no more back aches, neck aches or headaches. So tonight is also a celebration of what's to come.

Wish me luck!

Well, definitely feeling the pain from my meeting with my personal trainer. It wasn't even a full workout. She'd show me what I was to do and then I'd do some so she could check my form. Can I ever feel my abs. Ow! She has me doing this one exercise that had me giggling throughout. It was fun and didn't feel like working out at all. Evil!! Evil!! Evil!! The innocent and fun little exercise is what is causing the pain today. I'll hurt the next person that makes me laugh. Anyway, this exercise involved lying on your back holding an exercise ball above your head. You then toss the ball AND catch it with your feet. Yup that's right, you are actually supposed to catch it with your feet. So once I've retrieved the runaway ball, you're then supposed to get your feet to toss the ball back and catch it with your hands. Once you've retrieved the runaway ball again, you repeat 20 times. Apparently with practice it's supposed to be a smooth and graceful exercise. Scott, STOP LAUGHING!! You too Joanne!! There's a small possibility that it may look graceful when I do it. I said stop laughing!! I think I'll do this particular exercise at home.

I actually did go back to the gym this morning and did a cardio workout too, so I'm on the right track again. I was happy to note that while I wasn't at the level I was before I stopped exercising, I also wasn't at the level I was when I first started exercising. I should be back to where I was pretty quickly and hopefully will get further along.

I'm getting back on track food wise again. Nice healthy dinner last night. Another planned for tonight. Went out for lunch today, but went to Subway instead of other FF (thank you Scott). Drinking water again and cutting back/out pop. I haven't been feeling great lately and I think once I get a couple of days of being on track under my belt, I'll feel a lot better. Some sleep would help too.

Now that I'm back on track, I should be better at posting again. (I hope).

Wow! Where did the week go? Wasn't it Tuesday just yesterday?? Things have been crazy busy and I've sucked at getting back on track this week. Had bacon for dinner last night. That's it, just bacon. A lot of Bacon. It was good bacon. Bad me. But it was good bacon. Okay, enough about bacon.

On a positive note, I've set up the meeting with a personal trainer for Monday. We're going to lay out a routine for the next two weeks to get me in the best shape possible for my surgery.

I can't believe my surgery is two weeks away. I'm only freaking out a little bit. I'm also not sure where I should recuperate. I'd given my DH a deadline to finish the stuff around the house prior to my surgery and I'm starting to doubt he'll get it done. (Okay, fine for those of you that know my DH, I've doubted all along). As much as I'd rather be home in my own bed, staying with my Mom for the first week might be a better plan for a couple of reasons...

• better food (my Mom, my Dad and my baby brother are better cooks that DH)
• no kids (as much as I love my kids and would miss them like crazy, trying to explain to a 2 & 4 year old that they can't hug me or get up on the bed, etc. while I'm recovering is going to be tough)
• Related to the last point, I won't be confined to my room (to avoid getting hugged & jumped on by the kids)
• my DH would get a chance to see what I do everyday and would get a chance to really bond with the children. Though, I'd worry about my kids survival.
• i'd have three people looking after me

Though, I probably don't need to worry about the decision. The chances of DH finishing the list prior to my surgery are next to nil, so I'll most likely be staying at my Mom's. I think I'll have to get her a wireless router though so that I can still work and surf the internet while I'm there.

Have a good one!

Well, we survived camping! The kids were wonderful. The dogs were wonderful. The weather was freaking amazing. Eating... not so much.

I went up to Golden Ears Provincial Park for 10 days with my two kids, my dog and Grandma Jo, her dog and her camper. Had to share a bed with both kids (and for someone who's never slept with her kids, that was a challenge - and a beating for me, man those kids flip-flop a lot), but at least we were on a bed and not the ground. The kids were covered in dirt the whole time (except for a brief period after their baths) and loved it. We went for great hikes everyday and played in this big field. We went wading in the creek and the lake (glacier fed, so a wee bit cold). Bugs were a bit annoying, but not too bad. Did a lot of walking.

As for food... KD, Ichiban, Garlic Alfredo pasta, hot dogs, bags and bags of potato chips, a ton of pepsi, a fair bit of Rye, sugary cereal. Bad, bad stuff. I'll let you know how bad when I step on the scale tomorrow morning. I'm hoping all the walking and hiking will have ofset some of the eating.

On a good note, I did finally start running again. Three mornings last week, I put on those sneakers and went for a run around the campground. It felt great and I plan to keep it up in the coming weeks. I think I'll also bring in my personal trainer for a session to get me on track to do the most good before my surgery in just under 3 weeks.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!