Happy Thanksgiving to you all

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! It is my first Thanksgiving with my new eating habits. We had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at church this past Sunday and I believe I did very well since there was a whole lot of food that I could have splurged on. I did my turkey, some mashed potatoes, green beans, and a little dressing and for dessert GRAPES. It was all very good.

We are going to my sisters for dinner today. I made myself a pumpkin spiced cheesecake bar for my dessert. Got the recipe at my support group meeting. We will have the turkey and all the trimmings, will just take a little of what I can eat.

Now for the good news, since last October I have lost 184 lbs. and since the surgery 146 lbs. I feel really great and went for a 3 mile bike ride this morning. I have hit another plateau and haven't lost in a week, so I thought I should get in some extra exercise. I bought a speedometer for my bike and it also is an odometer. I wanted to know how far I've rode. I had to take the bike in to the shop this week so they could fix the pedal crank, it was rubbing on the chain guard and making it hard to pedal. Now it is really a lot easier to ride.

I did something to my left arm the night before we left from Illinois. I thought I just slept wrong but it is still sore. The doctor thinks its nothing and probably just a pulled muscle, but I would of thought that by now it would have gotten better. Oh well, I'll deal with it.

I go to see my pulmonologist this coming Monday (Dec. 1st) and hoping that he will take me off of the oxygen machine. I have bought me some of the Breathe Right nasal strips and they help alot, so hopefully it will show up on the sensor that I'm sure he will make me take home and sleep with and bring back to get the results. I will post again after that.

That's all for now, everyone have a great Thanksgiving.

A Beautiful Wedding

We left for Chicago on October 24th driving. Everything went fine I thought. We first drove to Wisc. and spent Sunday and Monday with Jen and Dan. They have a really nice apartment. My left ankle hurt and was a little swollen. We left to go to my brothers on Tuesday morning. It was 25 degrees out when we left and we had had snow flurries, nothing stuck. When we got to my brothers on Tuesday my ankle had gotten more swollen. My sister and brother put me on house arrest and had me ice my ankle and elevate it. My sister had an extra compression stocking with her and had me put it on. That helped alot. In driving up the only time we stopped was for gas and potty breaks. I didn't realize that I should be stopping every couple hours and just walk around. I learned my lesson. On the return trip I made sure that I stopped and walked. My ankle did fine.
Now to the good stuff. I weighed myself at my brothers and the scale said I lost a total of 6 lbs while there. After the wedding I was sure that I should loose with the dancing that I did. It was a lot of fun. When I got up this morning before going to Curves I weighed myself and it said that I had lost another 3 lbs. That makes a total of 9 lbs while on vacation.
Now the wedding was beautiful. I had to exchange the top I had bought in September while I was at my brothers. I was about to go down one size. Jennifer was a gorgeous bride and Dan was a handsome groom. Here are a few pics that I took.
This is Jen and Dan, Porsche and Aislinn, the maid and matron of honor, and the two best men, Dan's brother Mark and Dan's best friend Kevin.
This is Ava the flower girl. She is the daughter of one of the other bridesmaids.
This is me with my best friend (from grade school/high school)Patti Hajek, it was so good to see her.
It was such a fun wedding. The kids did a great job on planning it. Everyone said that they had a great time. We even saw them the next morning before they left for the airport. They went to Disneyland and then to Las Vegas. I am glad we are home now and everything went well. Now it is time to recuperate.

Just a short post

I went to Curves this morning, its been a month since I joined. Janie weighed me and measured me. According to their scale I lost 11 lbs in the month and lost 10 1/2 inches overall. I was simply floored. After I got home I rode my bike for about 15minutes. My legs are doing better pedalling.
I went yesterday and picked up the pants that I ordered from Penney's. Tried them on today and they fit. Just a little long but I will try and roll up the waistband. The material is chiffon and has a rolled hem. Two weeks from today we leave to go to Chicago. Friday night we are stopping in Fort Worth to spend the night at my good friend Laynie's house. I haven't seen her in almost a year. We should have a good visit. Then it will on to Wisc. and we should get there on Sunday. Will stay the night with Jen and Dan and then drive down to Chicago to my brothers.
I have also added a rinse to my hair and have ordered new glasses. The new and improved ME. I will wait and post after the wedding and have some pics to put in.

Counting down to the wedding

Hi everyone, just wanted to give you a quick update. This morning when I weighed I hit the loss of 160 lbs. since last October and 122 lbs since the surgery. Woo Hoo!
Last weekend I got to fly up to Chicago to surprise Jen at her bridal shower. Boy was she surprised. I had a great time while I was there. I stayed at my brother's house and got to see his kids and his grandkids, Jen and Dan and Dan's family and other friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

This pic is of course from the shower. The cake was a lemon fluff. I had a little tiny taste of it, boy was it delicious. I must say that I was able to stay on "diet" while I was there. I took my protein shakes with me and had them every day. I only had a couple of things that I shouldn't have, but it didn't make me sick so I was thankful for that. When I got home and got on the scale, I had lost 5 lbs I was surprised.
I even when shopping and found my outfit for the wedding. I left it at my brother's house and when I go back in a month if it is too big I will take it back, I left all the tags on it just in case. Its a pretty teal blue chiffon over blouse with a print shell under it and a long black skirt, I might try to find black pants instead, but if I don't it will be okay.

Well that is about all for now. I am still going to Curves. I even went while visiting up north. I have been there three times this week. Would go four but have a Fall Gathering tomorrow in McAllen for church, it should be a lot of fun.

I went and did it

Hi everyone,
Well Thursday I went and checked out the Curves Fitness Center. Its not far from Judi's house. I went in an talked to them about their program and was upfront that I had had gastric bypass surgery. That made no difference to them. I signed up on a month to month basis in case I don't like it after a while. I went on Friday to exercise for the first time. Janie is the trainer I believe and she went and showed me what to do on each machine. There were only about 5 other women there. They all seemed nice. There is one lady named Dee that before she left just had to give me a hug and tell me how proud that I came and she wished her friend would come, she is about as heavy as I am but won't come with her. I told Dee I wouldn't have been able to come last Oct. when I was at my heaviest. It was a good workout, only lasts 30 minutes and I was wiped out by then. But I went back this morning and whoever was to open up today never showed, so I will go on Monday morning.
I came back and decided to try riding my bike. I was able to tilt the seat up some so I didn't feel like I was falling forward and raised the seat a little and BOOM I took off. I rode just around the one block, but it measures 1/2 mile. I thought that was good for the first time. It is really hot and muggy out this morning. Didn't get any weather from IKE, that's good. Have a birthday party to go to this afternoon for my niece and nephew (Amber and Hunter) it's at a bowling alley so maybe I will bowl a game.
Only about a month and a half till the wedding. Hope this exercising helps firm me up just a little before then.
Went to the Heart doctor last week, all is well and I don't have to go back to him for 6 months. Next month I'm gonna call the pulmonologist and see if I can pick up the oxygen sensor machine and sleep with it and see if my oxygen level stays up. With exercising and sleeping with the machine, I would think that these should all help my oxygen levels. Keep you posted.

7 months out

Well not much more to report. I am 7 months post op and I hit 112 pounds since surgery and 150 pounds since October. I am able to wear some 1X tops (depending on the brand) and wear 2X knit pants. I want to go and try on a pair of jeans. I haven't worn jeans in about 20 years.

Its only 2 months until the wedding and I haven't even looked for anything to wear yet. I'm thinking of something in maybe a sage green. I think that would contrast the girls apple red dresses. I'm not sure, will have to wait until I go looking.

All is well here. Took George in for a complete physical last week. He is having some trouble walking. Haven't gotten the results back yet. But the doctor did tell us that one of his medications that he is on has the side effect of weakness in the legs. When he went to the clinic on Wed. we asked his counselor about that and she got us in to see the nurse and they have changed the one med. to a lower dose and added another one to counter act the symptoms. They said that we would be able to see a difference almost immediately. We picked up the meds last night and he will start taking them today. Well see what happens.

Well that is all for now, just wanted to update. Its really been a year since I had started to think about doing the gastric bypass. I didn't think that I would have all the support that I have had. I want to again thank everyone for their support, without it I don't know if I would have done this great. Thanks again.

6 1/2 months since surgery

I can't believe its been over 6 months since the surgery. I'm posting three pictures today, the one on the left was taken back in October and the other two are from July, 6 months post op.
I went this past Tuesday to see the surgeon(Dr. Reyes) for my 6 months check-up. He was quite pleased with my progress. Since the surgery I have lost 107 pounds and since October 145 pounds. Dr. Reyes said that all my lab work was great but my protein level was still a little low, push more protein. He said that he didn't need to see me for another 6 months and do lab work again at that time.
The other doctor that I went to see was the pulmonologist. He was also pleased with my progress, I had not seen him since the end of February and had lost probably about 70-80 pounds during that time. He said instead of doing another sleep study, he would send me home with a little oxygen sensor that you put on your index finger that would record my oxygen while I slept and I just had to take it back the next day and they would print out the results and let me know. Well, I did that on Wed. night and took it back on Thursday, that didn't turn out so well. It still shows that my oxygen level falls to about 77 percent while I'm sleeping, so I have to continue using the oxygen while sleeping. I was not happy with that, but I came home and cleaned the machine and put it in the kitchen near the bedroom and ran the tubing into the bedroom. I slept with it last night and slept pretty good. Having the machine out of the bedroom makes it quieter and I could sleep better. I am going to check back with that doctor next month when I go to see the heart doctor and see if I can use the little sensor again to check it. I don't go back to the pulmonologist until February and don't want to have that big machine for another 6 months. Medicare will pay for it for one year and then its yours. What would I do with it after that.
I had a WOW moment last weekend. I went to see the movie "Mama Mia", hadn't been to the movies since before the surgery and then I would sit in the front row where you could put up the armrest. Well, I sat in the second row above that and was able to sit in the sit without any problems. It felt great. I also only had a bottle of water with my crystal light added to it. NO POPCORN. Hope my rambling hasn't been too boring.