Thursday, December 25th, 2008: Christmas Dinner

We had a great Christmas dinner. I cooked a prime rib roast and we had baked sweet potatoes and green beans to go with it. Erica ate a very small piece of roast (rare), cut up in small pieces, and enjoyed it very much. She also had a small sweet potato, and had no bad aftereffects. Our friend Juli came over and we had a great time just catching up. Since Juli is now at Countrywide somewhere way in the opposite direction from our house, we barely see her.

After dinner we played "Foodie Fight", a food trivia game, and Juli won.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Thursday, December 25th, 2008: Merry Christmas! 51 Pounds Down!

Merry, merry Christmas to all of you!

Erica has now lost 53 pounds in seven weeks! She's also graduated to solid food (yay!), from finely chopped sauteed turkey breast to microwave pancakes with a tiny bit of butter. She has also had chicken skewers, chicken dumplings, and a little bit of deli ham. Tonight she'll have some mashed sweet potato and a little piece of prime rib roast.

It's just amazing how far she's come in such a short time.

Have a wonderful, wonderful day!

Thursday, December 18th, 2008: Five More Pounds!

That would make 49 pounds lost altogether, just since November 6th! Erica is doing pretty well, but is suffering from slight nausea. We are thinking that it might be because she's hungry and not eating enough.

She's taken to eating orzo and oatmeal and has enjoyed both very much. She's going to try going up to a half-cup of food from the quarter-cup she has been eating, and we'll see if that improves things.

She did taste part of a tamale a few days ago (just the masa) and enjoyed the heck out of it. She also had a small taste of yucca and pronounced it delicious.

It just continues to get so much better. She now can get completely dressed without my help and can move around so much easier.

We are both so jazzed!

Monday, December 15th, 2008: Erica's Fine, But . . .

We think she might be experiencing "dumping syndrome", which happens when a person who has undergone gastric bypass surgery either eats too much (over 1/4 cup) too soon after the surgery, or eats too much sugar. The symptoms are flu-like (nausea, vomiting) and exhaustion. It happened yesterday with some mashed potato; after she threw up a little, she slept for about three hours and then was fine.

Then today she came home early from work because of the same problem; she'd gotten mashed potatoes for lunch but again ate too much. She's going to be okay, but it was iffy for a while.

It's all part of the adjustment period and probably had to happen, but we think things will be okay.

Thursday, December 11th, 2008: Unofficial Weight Loss Total: 44 Pounds!

The "unofficial" part is because Erica weighed herself on the scale here at home. We don't go back to the doctor till January, but hey - we couldn't wait THAT long to find out how she's doing!!

And it's really great how she's coming along. She's eating baked and mashed sweet potato and russet potato, her all-time favorite egg whites, and last night she had applesauce with a pinch of cinnamon. It just continues to get so much better and I continue to be amazed.

She no longer has gut-wrenching pain when she stands up after sitting for a while, and her blood sugar is between 90 and 112 with no medication, which is fantastic. She is still taking her cholesterol pills but hopefully that will go away eventually. She is almost ready to try some of her "outgrown" clothes; we have those tucked away just waiting. It shouldn't be too much longer.

Saturday, December 6th, 2008: One Month Since the Surgery

Amazing how time goes by so fast; it was a month ago today that Erica had her surgery. We also passed another milestone today: she was able to get into a pair of jeans that had been sitting in the closet for months because they didn't fit.

I am also noticing that she gets up from a chair with much less difficulty and can walk so much further without any pain. It's incredible how much better she is feeling and what continues to amaze me is that she's not hungry. We went to All Saints Church today to set up for the Alternative Christmas Market, and we bought lunch for the volunteers who were helping us. She said although the food smelled wonderful, she wasn't hungry for any of it and was perfectly content to munch on half a banana. Just amazing.

Thursday, December 4th, 2008: Picture Day!

Erica continues to get better and better; she is moving around much more easily and has ditched her "big" walker (the one with the seat). Her incisions are healing, albeit slowly, but she's eating a bigger variety of foods and enjoying them.

Here she is at 29 pounds down, and the best part is that it can only get better.

Monday, December 1st, 2008: Nine Pounds More!

Today was Erica's followup doctor appointment, and she's lost nine more pounds, which brings the grand "pounds lost" total to 29, which is amazing, considering the surgery was less than a month ago! The doctor was very pleased and said that she can now eat mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed bananas, and mashed . . . well, you get the idea.

When we got home I mashed up a cooked sweet potato, measured it into a quarter cup (that's two, count 'em, TWO ounces, which is all she gets to eat at one time), and microwaved it to warm it up, and gave it to her. She put a very small dot of butter on it and enjoyed the heck out of it. She had grits last night and enjoyed the heck out of them too, and I got a lesson in cooking grits - now THAT was interesting.

So basically she's doing great, and the only downside is that the wounds from the surgery are taking a while to heal. The doctor said it's because her skin is very taut and the wounds will take care of themselves as she continues to lose the weight.

I am so glad she's doing so well; a big indicator of that was when we had company on Saturday. When she got up to say goodbye, she stood up without any pain at all and without the walker. I almost cried. She wasn't in gut-wrenching agony any more.

Her next doctor appointment is January 5th; we were thinking it would be in a couple of weeks, but she's doing so well that it's after the New Year. That's cool.