Random Ramblings

I'm way behind.  It has been 3 months since I've posted.  I've intended on posting several times over the last 3 months.  I've thought about what I would say several times.  I've just never actually sit down and typed anything.  So, I am doing that, today, now!

By August, I had lost enough weight (about 55 pounds) that some of my clothes didn't work anymore, or at least looked baggy.  I was thinking about going shopping for some new clothes, but then discovered I had some in the upstairs closet that I had "outgrown" prior to surgery, but hadn't gotten rid of.  I was enjoying my newfound wardrobe.

The first of September, we went to Mackinaw City, Michigan (my husband's hometown) for vacation.  My daughter and son-in-law went with us.  It was my son-in-law's first trip to the area and my biggest trip post-TG.  About 2 days before we left, I decided that I really should buy new jeans before we went.  The newfound wardrobe had included dress pants, but not jeans.  At home, I was still wearing a lot of shorts, but in northern Michigan, it would be cooler and I would want jeans.  While I was still able to cinch my jeans tight enough with a belt to wear around home and to work where I'm sitting at a desk most of the day, they wouldn't be as comfortable when we were walking around most of the day.  It took 3 stores, but I finally found some jeans that fit.  I had went from a size 18W down to a 14, the same size I had worn for much of my early adult life, but not anytime recently.  Having jeans that fit felt wonderful.  At that point, I didn't want to go back to wearing ones that were loose.

If you've ever been to Mackinaw City or Mackinac Island, you know the area is known for fudge.  There are fudge shops every other store.  The same company will even have two shops within a block of each other.  I learned while we were there that I can still eat fudge, caramels and other candy that is just too hard to resist.  I just have to pace myself.  I ate a lot of sweets on the trip, but I would have one piece and then an hour or two later have another piece, etc.  I never got sick by eating too much.

View of the Mackinac Bridge Walk from our hotel room

Part of the point of going to Mackinac over Labor Day weekend is for the Mackinac Bridge Walk. It's the one day you can walk across the 5 mile long suspension bridge.  Keith and I did it in 2011, the first time he had done it since he was a kid.  Mary and Nicholas wanted to do the walk, so the 3 of them did.  I decided that I wasn't up for that long of a walk and especially not for leaving the hotel at 6am, so I stayed behind and took pictures.  Mary ended up live streaming the walk on Keith's facebook page.  If you're interested, you can watch it at https://www.facebook.com/210773555600457/videos/1752567588087705/?fref=mentions and/or view Keith's pictures from the walk at http://www.mightymac.org/2017mackinacbridgewalk/index.htm

Mary and I went horseback riding on Mackinac Island.  The first horseback riding I've done in years.  I was definitely sore after the hour long ride, but glad I did it.











About the end of September or early October, I suddenly realized I was working full days regularly.  Because I have great flexibility in my job in regards to what time I get in and what time I leave, it had sneaked up on me and I had been doing it for a week or two before I really realized it.  I was also going for a walk or doing other activities in the evening, after putting in a full day, without being totally exhausted.  So, it took 7 months, but I was pretty close to "fully recovered"...whatever that means.  That doesn't mean there aren't still moments when I don't feel good, but in general, things are really good.

Before my surgery, Keith and I played tennis for exercise.  We hadn't played since my surgery, but finally played 3 or 4 times in October.  Then life got busy and crazy (normal) and the weather got cooler and we hadn't been playing or walking or doing any exercise.  I made a conscience decision to try to do better and this weekend has been nicer and we went for a walk on Friday and then played tennis today.

As I'm now down about 70 pounds. I am finding more and more of my old clothes that don't work anymore.  I'm enjoying buying new, although I still haven't done a ton yet because even though my weight loss has slowed down, it hasn't stopped and I don't want to spend a lot of money of clothes that I may not be able to wear in another 6 months or a year.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving this week.  This will be another test for me as I try to not put too much on my plate and not over eat.  We'll see how it goes.......

Gaining Strength and Energy

For a week, I've been going to post about gaining more strength and energy, but I keep being too tired to post when I think about it.  What does that mean?  I think it probably says more about my motivation and the other things that I have going on, but it just seem funny.

The week before this was a crazy week at work.  It's another one of those weeks that reminds me that I'm doing a lot better, just because I survived it.  We had a major storm Saturday night, July 22.  Sunday morning while I was still in bed, about 7:30, my husband brings me my phone because I had just received two texts.  They were from our youth director who was at the church early to head with the young adults to Colorado.  She was letting us know that the power was out at church.

Even though I really didn't want to, because I'm still not doing mornings well, I got up and started making arrangements for our worship to go on without power.  We have an early worship service at 8am at a local park so our pastors would already or soon be there.  Worship in the sanctuary is at 9am (contemporary) and 10:30am (traditional).  I started emailing the pastors, musicians and media techs.  At the 9am service, we only have words to the songs on the screen, so my daughter who creates the media emailed me the lyrics so I could print on our home computer a few copies to be shared.  I got to the church a little after 8:30, handed off the lyrics and then started my self-appointed task of getting light into the bathrooms as they have no windows.  There was enough light in the sanctuary and all classrooms that I wasn't concerned about them.  After I distributed the LED lanterns, flashlights and battery pillar candles to the bathrooms, I remembered that we had a box of old funeral fans that we had used for a Camp Meeting reenactment we did a few years ago.  By this time, the 9am service had started, but when I delivered them to the ushers, they said they would distribute them and they were very welcomed.

Before I went in Monday morning, I had already heard from our pastor that we were still without power.  I still went in for a couple of hours.  Since we actually had "half power" and some things were trying to be on, I spent most of the time going around and unplugging electronics and turning off power strips.  The office was by far the hottest place in the building, so I tried to avoid it.  I had a few things I wanted to do in the History Room in the basement, so this seemed like a good time to do them.  I took a few things home and spent a couple of hours working from home in the afternoon.

A little after 8pm, I heard that the power was back on so I headed back to the church to try to get the computers and everything up and running so that things would be functioning when other staff members got there Tuesday morning which would likely be before me....remember I still don't do mornings well.  I couldn't get the server up and in texting my volunteer IT person, he offered to come help, so I said "please."  I was willing to stay as long as he was because if it didn't get fixed Monday night, I would likely be on my own on Tuesday.  Well, we got the computers going before we left, leaving the church just before 11:30pm.  I put in a normal 7 1/4 hours on Monday, just at odd times.

Being so late Monday night, I obviously do not get up early Tuesday morning.  It was about 11:30 before I got in.  However, I had a meeting Tuesday night and worked straight through, so it was still an 8 hour day.  Tuesday was spent calling technicians for all the things that didn't restart on their own after the power outage such as copiers, elevator, A/C, alarm that had a ground fault, etc.  Wednesday was another 7 1/4 hour day dealing with all the technicians that had been called Tuesday.

Thursday started with a phone call from our pastor waking me up at 8am.  It had poured Wednesday night and she had been up since 3:30am helping her husband bail water out of their basement and wasn't going to be in.  Our office volunteer that gets in a 9am doesn't have a key, so I told the pastor I would get myself together and be there to let the volunteer in.  Shortly after I got to the church, I was informed that the Rescue Assistance system in the Education Building was making a very loud, annoying, static noise, so I called the Alarm company again.  I then discovered that if you hold down the intercom button, it stopped making noise, so we duct taped the button down.  A few minutes later, we discovered the basement had got water in so I helped move the wooden furniture and sent emails asking for people to come help with the water.

About 12:30, we were finally ready to heat up the leftovers we had brought for lunch when the power went out.  It wasn't storming at this point.  Don't know what happened.  We waited a few minutes to verify it wasn't a quick flash and was going to come back on, then decided to go out to lunch.  Fortunately, when we got back from lunch, we had power, but didn't have internet.  I was going to be out of the office on Friday, so had several things I still needed to get done before I left on Thursday, including Payroll.  I was making plans for doing what I needed to do at church, but then having to finish things at home with internet when my second call to the phone company actually accomplished getting the internet back, so I was able to finish everything at the church.  However, it was 7pm before I got done what I needed to get done, so it was a 9 hour day.

Friday was an all-day meeting in Topeka.  I drove myself so I could go see my dad afterward.  It was a full week!  As I said before, I know I'm better because as tired as I was, I was not drop dead tired and survived.  I even managed to walk some of the evenings.

This week has been a little more normal, even though not quite everything is back together, but we're getting close.  I'm still having trouble getting up in the morning, so I'm not getting in until close to 10 and therefore, only managing  6 1/2 - 7 hours.  I have walked almost every night this week and 3 of the last 4 times I've walked, I've walked 4 laps around the pond at the local park.  Each lap is 545 meters, so I've been walking 1 1/3 miles.

When I get caught up in life and don't realize how tired I am until afterwards, I know I'm getting closer to "normal."

5 Month Post-Op

My total gastrectomy was 5 months ago today.  It doesn't really seem like that long ago.  The other day, I caught myself telling someone it was almost 4 months and then realized it was almost 5 months.  Life has pretty much returned to "normal"...or at least a new normal.  I'm still hoping that my energy level continues to increase, and I think it will, but I could live with where I am now if I had to.

I wrote about our long weekend travels the first of July.  Last weekend, we had another travel weekend.  One of Keith's best friends got married in Sioux City, Iowa.  Since we would be so close to South Dakota and Keith has never been, he wanted to go up there and take some pictures.  When I looked at a map, I realized part of South Dakota we would be close to was Vermillion, where my best friend from college lives.  So, we left KC a little after 4:00 on Thursday, drove to Vermillion, stopping for supper along the way.  We got there between 9:30 and 10:00.  Friday morning, we picked up my friend around 9:30 and went to Devil's Gulch, Palisades State Park and the falls at Sioux Falls.  We were then to Sioux City for a pre-wedding dinner Friday night.  After dinner, we played games and lost track of time, so didn't get back to the motel until midnight.  Saturday morning, I slept in until about 9:30.  We then headed back to Vermillion and then to Yankton to see the bridge and eat lunch.  We didn't have a lot of time since we got a late start and wanted to be back to Sioux City around 2:30 to get ready for the 4:30 wedding.  It was a small wedding, just close family and friends.  After the wedding, we had dinner at a restaurant and then back to the house for more games (requested by the bride's teen daughter).  We had another late night, slept in Sunday morning and hit the road for home.  At St. Joseph, Missouri, we jogged over to Kansas, hitting a couple of things in Atchison and Leavenworth for kansastravel.org.

It was a full weekend.  I was tired, but did OK for the most part.  I did have a minor episode at Palisades State Park.  We had walked down a short trail to see one of the rock formations.  I got hot and tired and not feeling well, so decided to head back to the car.  Before I could get very far, things quickly got worse.  Back in high school and college, I had some problems with black out spells.  Doctors were never able to determine what caused them.  They've continued occasionally in adult life, but not very often (like every few years).  Well, as I was trying to head to the car, I felt like I was going to black out, I needed a bathroom and I thought I was going to throw up.  I had to sit down on a rock, bench, whatever, 2 or 3 times on the way to the parking lot.  I tried to throw up, but nothing would come up.  When I wasn't going to black out so I could walk, I walked quickly so I could get to the primitive toilets which were fortunately in the parking lot. I got through it and made it to the toilets just in time, but there was a moment I was starting to panic and wondering how I was going to get off the trail and back to the car.  I was cautious the rest of the day and didn't do much walking.

After two short weeks at work, I had a full week this week.  Monday and Tuesday I had evening meetings at 6:00 and 6:15, so worked straight through.  I was at the church for 10 hours Monday and 9 1/2 hours Tuesday.  I was obviously tired at the end of the day both days, but I wasn't drop-dead tired.  That actually told me that I'm doing a lot better.  Just a few weeks ago, I would not have been functioning at the end of a 10 hour day.  I ended up putting in basically 39 hours this week, the most, by far, I have done since surgery.

3 months Post op

I had my total gastrectomy 3 months ago today.  Before surgery, I had basically set myself up to be sick for 3 months.  Well, those 3 months are over and while I'm not 100%, I have done so much better than I ever anticipated.  I really only had a couple of days after I got out of the hospital that were pretty bad.  I've been able to do lots of things that I didn't expect to be able to do so soon, whether eating out, attending a KU basketball game, attending a Royals baseball game, attending graduation parties...it's all been good.

I am starting to get up a little earlier, but that means I'm getting up at 9:00 instead of 10:00 or 10:30.  I'm very aware most people wouldn't call that early.  I get to work around 10:30 and then come home for lunch and then work till 4:30 or 5:00.  So I'm still only getting about 5 hours in a day.  At that point, I'm tired and ready to come home and still have little energy for any evening activities.

Eating is going pretty well.  There are still things that I don't eat and some things that have worked one day, but not worked another, but overall things are good.  For the first two months, breakfast was usually a scrambled egg and a toasted mini bagel or english muffin.  I really didn't like eggs every day and was looking for some different options, but wanted something with protein.  I finally found Special K Protein Cereal and it has done pretty good.  It's high in protein, but low in sugar.  Too many cereals are too high in sugar.  I sometimes add banana slices to it (about 1/3 of a banana) to add more nutrients.  Having a little variety is nice.  Since I'm still eating breakfast pretty late, I don't have a snack before lunch  For lunch, I usually come home and fix something quickly.  That may be warming up leftovers from a previous meal, grilling chicken breast or fish and microwaving a small potato or something else simple.  For an afternoon snack I may have cheese and crackers, string cheese and pretzels, a protein bar, greek yogurt or a smoothie (with protein).  Then supper is usually a more traditional meal whether at home or a restaurant.  It usually includes meat, potato and vegetable, but it varies  Sometimes it looks a lot like lunch.  Depending what time I eat supper, I may or may not have a snack in the evening.  I don't like to eat too late.  I do often do a smoothie in the evening.  Originally, it was almost every not, but it's not any more.  As I eat more at supper, I have reduced how often I have something in the evening.

I have started eating sweets.  I limit myself to just 2 or 3 bites of cake or cookie or whatever it is.  Likewise, I'll have just a small piece of candy.  A had a fun-size Babe Ruth candy bar a week ago and it was wonderful!

As far as beverages, I drink quite a bit of water and iced tea.  I was a big tea drinker before surgery and still am.  You can only have a small amount while eating, so need to drink more between meals.  I've heard some people say they have trouble with water or tea.  I have not had any troubles.  Some people say they have to drink them at room temperature.  I have always liked my drinks ice cold and continue to drink them that way with no problem.  I don't know what the difference is.  I have never been a diet soda drinker, but enjoy regular Coke.  I have had two Cokes since surgery.  Each time I had about half of a can and drank it over 2-3 hours.  It was fine and nice for a change, but in general terms, I'll stick to my tea which doesn't have sugar.

As far as alcohol, the only drink I've tried so far is a fuzzy navel (peach Schnapps and orange juice).  I've done fine with it and sometimes enjoy it for a change in the evening.

I'm making progress.  Still a long way to go, but getting there!

10 Weeks Post Op - Update on return to work

It's been 10 weeks since my surgery and over 2 weeks since I posted an update.  I keep thinking I need to post, but then not doing it.  This is my 5th week back at work.  I'm still part-time, but gradually moving up to more hours.  I started working about 3 hours per day.  Because I find mornings more difficult and have been sleeping late ever since surgery, I opted for working afternoons.  I started going into the office around 1:00 or 1:30 and working till 4:00-4:30.  I try to listen to my body and not overdo it.  One day I might only work 2 1/2 hours and then another day work 4. After the first 3 weeks, I was frustrated because it felt like I wasn't working any more hours at the end of the 3 weeks then I had at the beginning of the 3 weeks.  I checked my time sheet and found that I had actually increased my hours during those 3 weeks.  Averaging the number of hours worked each day, I found the first week I had averaged 3 hours 10 minutes, the second week 3 hours 25 minutes and the third week 3 hours 40 minutes.  Not a giant increase, but I was working about 15 minutes more each week.  I felt better, but still wondered how long it was going to take me to build to full-time.  At this pace, it would be August before I was doing 8 hour days.

I also found that I had no energy in the evening after work (part of the reason I haven't done a good job of updating this blog).  Before I went back to work, I had more energy to go for a walk or do other activities in the evening.  Since I returned to work, I was done for the day when I got home.  If there was something I wanted to do in the evening, I had to make a point of getting home earlier, so I would have a couple of hours of down time before trying to go out.

Last week, I continued my 15 minute increase and started the week at 4 hours a day.  Because of some special circumstances, I forced myself to work a little over 5 hours on Thursday and did OK with it, so I tried 5 hours again on Friday.  Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment so only got in 4 hours and got home about 4:00.  But the good news is I had more energy in the evening and was actually able to go for a walk with my husband.  Today I put in closer to 5 hours and had some family over for dinner tonight to see a friend that was in town.  I didn't get home early enough to have enough of a break before going to the grocery store and cooking dinner, so I'm tired.

But I am starting to think that full-time may get here within the next month or so.  We'll see.....

6 Weeks Post-Op - Back to Work

Surgery was 6 weeks ago today.  Yesterday, I started back to work part-time.  I have a desk job with very flexible hours.  Since I've been sleeping in and I do better in the afternoons, I went in at 1:30 yesterday.  By 4:30 I was tired and came home.  When my husband got home and wanted to go for a walk, I found I had no energy for walking.  It was amazing how working for just 3 hours had made me so tired.  It doesn't seem like sitting at a desk, mostly working on a computer should be that different than sitting on a couch at home, often on my laptop, but it is different.

Today I didn't go in until 2:00.  I worked till a little after 5:00.  I didn't feel as tired as I did yesterday.  Wasn't tempted to go for a walk today because it was raining, so I don't know how that would have been, but I did do household chores this evening (load the dishwasher, do some laundry, etc.) and seemed fine.  However, I started working on taxes (really need to get those done) and hit a brick wall.  I'll have to finish up tomorrow as I meet with my tax accountant on Thursday.

I'm tired.  I'm going to bed.  Tomorrow is a new day.