Life

Life's been throwing us some curve balls lately, but we are determined to throw them back!
The good news is I've been doing mostly great at my diet, except I tried to eat a sandwich (ok really it was an Egg Mcmuffin minus the meat) the other day and it came back up before it had been down ten minutes. Not ready for bread yet!!! It's o hard to break those old habits. I want a Diet Coke so bad I'm dreaming about them, but I haven't had one. Rumor is it hurts REAL bad going down.
I'm down close to 25 pounds. I find myself comparing weights to life events.
" that's what I weighed the day I got pregnant"
" that's what I weighed the day I got married"......I'm waiting to say "now I weigh what my drivers license says I do!"
In other news Erik's been through evaluation after evaluation to give him a diagnosis beyond " low muscle tone". He's has assessments from the Regional Center, as well as the school district that are very clear that he has gross motor delays but nothing cognitive or social. Kaiser on the other hand is convinced that he's very high functioning, yet on the spectrum. I disagree- am I allowed to disagree with Dr's who are assessing him on a couple hours in a clinic, and he's excited and showing off? Or do I go on the assessments of the PT and OT who've been working with him or months?
I refuse to give him a label. So I'm not going to. I'm going to wipe up the tears I shed after that appointment today, put on my big girl panties and give him the support he needs to not only function but to thrive and excel in his life. He's the same little boy today that he was yesterday before any "expert" got his hands on him, so I will continue to treat him the same.
He's my sweet little boy who likes to help Daddy wash the car......we'll take it all, every hard, joyful, tearful day, because we are better for having Erik in our lives.

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Location:Doris Ave,San Jose,United States

2 Weeks

Well, I'm 2 weeks post op and down 17 pounds.  I'm thrilled and terrified that as soon as I feel better I'll just eat too much and gain my weight back!
It dawned on me that we didn't take a "Before" picture before the surgery so I made Mike snap one yesterday.

Yikes........frumpy and looking pregnant in that last one!  I have five laproscopic slits in my belly now....hopefully my belly will deflate.

2 weeks of liquid left me wanting nothing but something to chew.  Now I can chew....but am full after 4 bites....which is a good thing!
Progress reports every couple of weeks!

And so it begins

This last week has sure been a roller coaster ride through crazy for me!  I spent my last activity before my surgery at a Grease Sing Along with some great friends.  Getting all dressed up 50's style.  I even got to go on stage and start the drag race!  It was a super fun time.

Right before the show we grabbed dinner at Red Robin - a place we can't go with Erik because they sing too loud and it send hims over the edge.  But man those french fries!!  I LOVE them, dipping them in that highly caloric ranch dressing, it was my last solid meal.  And I enjoyed every last bite.

Monday morning I looked like this

 and now I am trying to deal with the 5 incisions in my belly, and a toddler who wants to crawl on me.  Hopefully each day will get better and better.  Right now I am SUPER sore, and just want to crawl into a bed until I heal.  But I know I will heal faster up and moving around....but man, that's not easy!!

Torani and Chobani

I was told by the Dr. to stock up on Torani syrup and Chobani Yogurt since they are great for meals after my surgery. I bought one of every sugar free flavor. Mom and I had a taste test tonight.
Coconut awful by itself, but combined with strawberry it makes a lovely daiquiri yogurt!! I feel like a bar tender, a yogurt bar.




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Redneck Swimming Hole

    I love a pool....I do not love getting in a bathing suit in public, but I sure love to swim so I usually bring the pool to me.  Those easy set pools that you blow up and fill are AWESOME. Most of the time.  We've had one for the past three years.  I now know that two years is the limit for one of these pools.
     As we pulled out our pool this year we had to deal with NINE small holes in the inflatable ring on top.  SIGH - NINE! I swear there were none when we put it away!  After talking we changed the location in the backyard and put it where we thought it would be more private (i.e. away from the little girl next door who pops up over the fence like Jack in the box yelling "whatcha doin?" over and over and over), and get more sun.  We didn't realize it was also more uneven.
     After filling the pool and setting it up we quickly realized it was sloping like crazy and had to drain it, lay down sand, and start over.  It looks pretty good now!

If you don't look too close.  We got it MOSTLY even except for this side that we are holding up with chairs.....

I know......how very redneck of us. Don't you love the wood in the chairs weighting them down?  I have to credit my mother for this idea....because after if fell over for the third time I was ready to scrap it....but she figured this out.

oh......and if you don't count all the patches.  All NINE of them.  My mother also tried to put those little stickers that you put on the bottom of your shower to stop you from slipping on top of the patches to distract.....but that just made things worse.

We haven't gotten in yet, it's warming up.....if we can keep it from caving in on one side.  I have some friends coming over this weekend.....I hope we all don't wash away over the side!

Next year.....buying the hard sided pool......because seriously if it springs one more leak in the air ring I'm going to fill it full of "fix a flat" and call it summer!

Goal!!

I lost 30 pounds!! It took 8 LOOOOONG months. I had to lose 30 pounds to prove I could lose weight.  Seriously, who asks fat gastric bypass patients to lose weight?  IF I could lose it I wouldn't need bariatric surgery, no wonder so many people fail in the pre-op phase because I almost gave up several times.

Finally I decided to just knuckle down and lose it the good old fashion way with a super crash fasting cleanse. I only drank lemon water mixed with cayenne pepper and agave for three days, no solid food at all.  Good Times. I don't care, it qualified me for surgery and that's all that matters.
I am scheduled for surgery on June 11th!  Yay!  Here's a refresher of what I'm having done, the gastric sleeve.

Now, all I have to do is make it to June 11th without gaining weight...............maybe I'll do the cleanse thing each week.  I may not have fingers left if I try that too much more because I will gnaw them off. 
Oh, and it would be awesome to get Erik potty trained before then.

But since he thinks the potty is just a reading chair, I don't see that happening anytime soon.  Especially when I find the potty on his head.

CP.......NAH!!!

Erik's had a SLEW of doctor's appointments over the last month.  In his last IEP they requested LOTS of work ups to "validate" his receiving services.  I guess the fact that he DIDN'T WALK until was 2 and a half was no big deal. Sheez!

He's been to the dentist....which was awesome when he saw the TV on the ceiling.  He was not so thrilled with Raj the hygienist.

He had to see a neurologist today to check for CP and Autism....really?  OK whatever, we'll jump through the hoops to get the services.  After his dentist appointment yesterday he wasn't thrilled.  But when the Doctor walked in the door he said to her "You are smashing and have a nice ponytail, don't touch me."  She laughed for a good long while and finally convinced him to let her test all his reflexes.  He did OK.
 She completely ruled out CP and Autism (duh) but thought the original diagnosis of Benign Hypotonia was correct.  She ordered some blood tests to rule out Fragile X syndrome just to be sure....I haven't Googled it yet...I don't know what it is.  She did say it could have been the cause of my many previous miscarriages........that's interesting.
I got a big lecture about not coming in sooner, I told her I asked his pediatrician at 9 months, 12 months, 18 months and 2 years for a consult as well as a PT referral but she said he was fine....I also told her that the PT also stated he was "fine".  She was pretty shocked that his Dr didn't do anything way sooner.  I felt validated, but it's too late now.
Erik was happy to get back to his swing and now be done with Dr's appointments for a while.