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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Two week check up by phone

14 days have gone by since my surgery, seems so strange that I have already had it.
Yesterday and this morning, have not been the best days. The thought of one more premier chocolate protein shake makes me just gag. Greek yogurt, just not digging it right now. Broth, or soup UGH!! Every single thing I think of I am making myself sick. However I have to eat, food fuels the body, and I can only take in so much that it needs to be protein. So this was Monday yesterday, and I broke the rules. And I am NOT a rule breaker, lolol But I couldn't take it anymore. So I scrambled up two eggs with cheese, I sat down and slowly took baby bites, chewing it up really well, waiting in between bites to make sure it wasn't going to come back up or make me deadly sick.
 HOLY BUCKETS do you know how freaking good those were? WOW, its crazy just two weeks without reg. food and you forget how yummy it is. I was able to get down about 1 egg, and all went well. Dontae finished them for me.
Later in the day the Nutritionist called me for my two week check up. It was so so great to talk to her. I had already been graduated to purred food, and was supposed to stay there until Thursday. See the rebel I am.....
Anyway I told her that I was actually hungry (I have not been hungry yet) She said that means I am ready to move to soft foods. SCREAM, YELL, DANCE IF I COULD. I calmly said "what".           She had no idea that I was going crazy on the inside. But she said I am ahead of the game, my body is doing really well. Whew!!!!!!!! I got away with the scrambled eggs. Actually that was a stupid thing for me to do, because I could of got really sick, and that kind of sick is off the charts terrible. So Thank you God for allowing me pure bliss with those eggs.
Need to be taking certain vitamins daily, I will need to do this the rest of my life. But I can now have hamburger, cheese, ritz crackers, saltine crackers, tuna, salmon, any fish potato's veggies. Need to be very careful with pasta. Sometimes one bite of pasta will swell up in tummy to like 3 bites, and then by the time I would feel that, I would already be into whats called "dumping" I already told you about that lovely thing. So lets just say today was a much better day as far as food goes. To give you an example of how much I can actually eat. At lunch I ate 1 heaping tablespoon of tuna on saltines. That took about a good 1/2 hour. lol If you are wondering why I didn't put it on bread since that is a soft food, is because when you chew bread up mixed with saliva and food, it sits in your tummy like a ball, until your enzymes work to break it up. The only thing is my tummy isn't much of a tummy, so the enzymes can't work fast enough to break it down before it wants to digest. And then the "dumping" would set it. So crackers it was.
So food selection is going so much better, She told me the first month is the hardest. Glad to hear that.
She told me to remember, I still just had surgery two weeks ago, my body is going to be tired, and I need to listen to it. I sure did appreciate everything she told me on the phone, I needed to hear all of it. Just perfect timing. Eviva, is an amazing place.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Thanksgiving

 So getting ready for Thanksgiving I go to get dressed. I was going to dress below casual cause I was afraid clothes would rub on my incisions. So I put on my one pair of whatever they are called on,
(not sweats, but not yoga pants) And holy buckets couldn't wear those, so I put on a size smaller pair that I bought for this time but forgot to wash them and they were way to long,  Whooo Yawww
 they fit, just to long. Now what? Well I had bought one more pair of cute black jeans one size smaller, I thought I would just try them on even though I wasn't going to wear them. Never thought in a million years that they would fit yet. Holy cow, I almost threw up. They fit!!! So did I wear them? Heck ya!  Could anyone tell, other then my Markie NO, but you know what? that didn't matter one bit, because I knew.  You see I could diet on my own and get down this much weight, but that was without exercising. You read all my blogs so I don't need to tell you why again, so consequently it would come right back, and also just a little more. Never ending. 
But this time in those pants, I know for a pure fact that I will grow out of those pants just like every stinking other time in my life, only because they were to big, not because I gained the weight back. 
I just Thank God 100 times a day that I was able to make this work, so Markie and I will be around for Dontae for a long long many more years, because I will be healthy.                             
And today it just so happened that on Turkey day my ALL liquid diet was now pureed. So my dinner consisted of 1 tablespoon mashed potatoes, and sugar free jello with a little whipped cream. Oh and a tiny bit of squash. I couldn't tell you how darn excited I was.  The kicker was when I put that first bite of mashed potatoes in my mouth, I just about freaking jumped to the roof. The taste LOL was so incredible. I could taste every single little taste in that potato. 
Actually it was kinda strange, but oh was it good. So for lunch today, I experienced the same thing, 
All in  All  I had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

My First Checkup after Surgery

Today was my 9 day checkup after surgery. Eviva is such a wonderful place. They just moved into a new place, right under Scotty Browns. Right now they are only open on Wednesdays, because all of their staff drive from Edmonds. But that will be changing. But its been working for me, to be able to have most of my appointments here and only a few in Edmonds. Any hoo great great place, great people and extremely educational.
Ok I kinda went off what I was talking about. With today being my Dr. appointment 9 days after surgery. So you remember the two weeks before surgery I needed to be on a low carb diet right? And I lost 6 lbs. So today I step on the  scale and I lost 13 lbs in 9 days, added to my 6 that's 19 lbs.
What the What!!!!!!!!
Please don't think, (well anyone can do that if they had surgery) Because I will tell you right now, it is a complete life changer. Nothing will ever be like before again. Yes it is nice to never be hungry, No its terrible if you don't get enough protein in your body and now your feeling sick. It sucks actually when you are so thirsty that all you want to do is throw back a bottle of water. Well good luck with that pal, its going to come up faster then it went down, or you drink your drink too fast not letting it settle in properly, then you become extremely sick. Will have to add protein powder to my foods for the rest of my life probably. Prolly never will be able to have bread or rolls again. There is so much more, that I learn daily of how to change my  life.
But the reason why I did this was because of my son Dontae. God picked me to be his Mama, that means something to me. I need to be here for him. Here is who God gave me.



Saturday, November 19, 2016

It is also my 16th Anniversary today

So  yesterday being a hard day for a couple of reasons, It seems every time I get to a good place in my day when drinking water is going very good, the gas is going good, the coughing thingy is going well to. Today and everyday is a NEW day a new Beginning!

What I mean by that is, today HEART BURN, heart burn, did I say heart BURN? Holy buckets!
I don't get heart burn very often, so to me I thought I was going drop dead. LOL It hurt when I just breathed, it hurt when I smiled and it really hurt when I had to drink. Not to mention the wanting to sleep every minute  of every day. And that I am chalking up to pain killers. So after about three
 Gas X, a couple of Omeprazole and tums and as of right this second I am good. Thank you God, cause boy did that hurt.
I am now eating and have been for a couple of days, but only liquids like chicken broth,tomato soup, greek yogurt, sugar free chocolate pudding, sugar free jello. But I have to use a baby spoon. If I was to use a reg. teaspoon that would probably make it come right back up. It takes quite some time to get a half a cup of soup down.
With Gods help I will get there, and I couldn't be more excited.
Ok now comes another embarrassing picture, But I don't have a good enough mirror to see myself so  Markie has to take a picture. The first one is one you have seen already, the second is 5 days later.
I am bruising more now, but part of my stomach has already gone down a bit.

I know the second picture actually looks bigger when you glance at it, but thats because Markie was closer then the first one. But Look at the first picture at the belly button, do you see the wave of fat that goes across under my belly button? Now look at second picture, that wave is not so pronounced.
It might seem like nothing to you, but for someone who needed this for years is over joyed.


November 18th is the forth day after surgery

I am trying to play catch up because today is actually the 6th. day after surgery, but I need to go back and explain then it will all make sense.
Remember on the last blog I was saying how good I felt, well today all I do is sleep and drink these two beauties.
However, you have to remember that I can't be like everyone else and just pick this puppy up and gulp it down, even when Im so thirsty. This is what I have to use.
You know these things especially if you had or have children. The only difference is I have to squeeze it together and tighten my lips around it, while I take a sip as not to let any air in while I drink. The only way I can do this so it doesn't hurt me is to drink this amount in three sips, So you can see how long it takes to get 8 oz. down.
After every sip I have to wait a few while my stomach on up to throat area do there gurgling and everything went down good. If I take too big of a sip you can had terrible heart burn to the list.
After Dontae and I take a nap, I will finish up to today.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Day three ,

This is the blog that I will show one embarrassing picture of myself. But not until I write my post.
Today is the hardest for me as of right now. Pain wise... Some questions you might want to be asking is, "how can you survive on a clear liquid diet?" Well you can for a couple of days, I probably could go for  days because I haven't felt hungry yet. The last time I ate was 5:30pm on the 13th.
The other thing I want to tell you is the anesthesia is completely worn off , so I am relying on pain meds  Oxy every 6 hours and Valium a hour before or after, Tylenol. Part of the reason that I am in the pain I am into today, Is hubby forgot to set his alarm to give me my night time meds, so when I woke up this morning. HOLY COW was I in pain. Even the shoulder pain they said I would have but haven't. So slowly but surely we are getting me caught up. The nurse just called and told me to keep the pain more under control is to take the oxy every two hours. The only thing with that is, I would be sleeping even more then I do now. and I wouldn't be getting any exercise. So I am going to play that one by ear for now.
Have to tell you what a wonderful husband I have, there is no way I could be doing this without him. After I ate my Popsicle, a few minutes later he brought me my tooth brush with tooth paste on it and water and a towel. He knew that I just couldn't get to the bathroom as of yet. And the fact that he probably couldn't stand looking at my red teeth for the Popsicle. lol
Now all of you reading this, I am going so far out of my comfort zone, that I am amazed I can even post this picture. I am because I have already had a couple of people reach out to me about there life, and want to talk to someone that is going through the same thing or just thinking about.
Here goes. No worries, the bottom let is not infected, just a good size bruise. That is the one that bothers me the worse, because that is the one they pulled my stomach through.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Surgery

 DISCLAIMER,,,, I am on pain meds, just remember that when you are reading this.LOL

So what I said in my last post of eating only 40grams of Carbs per day, to shrink my liver.
Come to find out I lost 6lbs. So I can say I was stoked . Then they put me in a little gown and did a workup on me.

Eviva Cener,  it is like no other.  The first time walking through the door, I  knew this was the place,
I walked into Eviva, they treat me so nice. My name was called and back I went to get ready for my surgery. I had been told many times with putting a tube down my throat and two more going to my stomach, I would endure pain, but because of my hernia it might just hurt the same or more. That I would have a terrible sore throat and hardly be able to swallow, even an ounce of water. I had been preparing for this for a long time.  After surgery, my throat was so horse I was so parched, so they gave me a sip of water and could hear my voice getting back to normal.Well, just as I was done drinking the little ounce of water I noticed my throat did not hurt one bit. Oh boy, talk about being so so happy, Cause that's the worst.
  In to bed I went, which is my recliner, I won't be able to be lying down for some time. We are keeping my pain under control, I am walking laps up and down the hallway. not to mention sleeping a lot.I am sure when the anestthetic  wears off ,and I am only on pain meds, that I will feel different and possibly in more pain..
Now look what my special nurse gave me,

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Pre-Op

Not to happy with my technical skills. I made a video to catch you all up because I am preparing for my surgery, and I thought it would be much faster. Well it won't post. Of course it won't lolol. Soooo
I will catch you up. Two weeks prior to my surgery I need to be on a low carb diet no more then 40 grams a day for a full two weeks. Some of you I am sure do this type of diet already, but I found 40 grams to not to be very much. I also did not realize what all has carbs in it. So that was an eye opener for me. So I stuck with protein.  Tonight was the last night of my two weeks and I did great. The reason for the low carb diet is because when they go in, they need to move my liver out of the way, they said kinda flip it up, so they can continue to cut out my stomach. So the low carbs shrink the liver. IKR!!!!!! LOL maybe all of you knew that already, but I am learning new things right and left. 
With the liver shrunk, it guarantees that they can do the entire surgery laposcopically. Spelled wrong again, I think I will have to learn to spell this darn word. 
Tonight ALL food stopped at 6:00PM, all liquids stop at midnight. Tomorrow morning at 6:30AM I need to take a pill that cost me $102.00.  It just happens to be a pill that chemo patients take for nausea. I asked them if there was a cheaper pill, and they said this certain pill is the one they want me to have, because it takes away the severe nausea that I guess people get right after surgery. I may not get it, but I also don't want to find out. Could you imagine being sick and throwing up after that surgery. Oh hell no. 
We will head down to Edmonds tomorrow about 6:45AM I believe my surgery is at 8:45AM.
Oh one of the instructions was to CLEAN out your belly button. LMAO... What?????? They told me that the one incision is right close to the belly button, and they don't want whatever is in there to cause an infection. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Yes I am still laughing about it.  Who doesn't clean out their belly button? Well I guess if you have an outie you wouldn't have too. Cause there was the day that I did have an outie. LOL But not anymore, so yes I clean it. And yes it will be sparkly for the nurses tomorrow.  I just don't know why that cracks me up.
I will spend one night. If I didn't have a C Pap machine then I would of came right home, and it would of saved me $1200.00 from my bank account. Oh well, better safe then sorry. And heck they told me that I would probably be off the C Pap with in two months.  Whoo Yaw!!!!!!
Markie will stay in a near by hotel and be back to pick me up at 5:00AM. They tell me my first ounce of water to drink after surgery could take two hours. You see its stuff like that, that they have you see a physiologist for so many visits, and  will encourage me to see one after. Which I believe is very important. You really need to learn skills to get you through some of the things I will be experiencing.
Yes, I have been through many steps to get to this day, I have learned so much and so much about myself. That I couldn't be more thrilled that my day has come. I have been praying about this for so long that I am not worried one bit, I am not scared, I am only excited to begin my new future. One that can do more with Dontae and go more places with Dontae and will be able to go on walks again. My dreams are endless. I want to be around for my Boo for all long as God grants me.
Ok, my friends, please pray for my Dr. to have God lead him every step of the way during my surgery, and pray that I will have little pain, no nausea and that everything will go perfect. 
Just so ya know, it is ok to leave comments.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Now What?

All the work I have done, all the preparation just to be told "its not happening". Then I remember a conversation I had with a friend who told me that she was not going through the insurance because of too many hoops to jump through. So she decided to self pay.
 On the internet I go to educate myself even more.
This is when I found Eviva  (formally Puget Sound Bariatric), They even have an office in Bellingham. Wooo Hoooo!!! This is where a beautiful relationship begins. So I take my information that I  have learned to my husband.  I told him a lot of things and then told him the price of the bariatric sleeve, $17,000.00.  And the most beautiful husband in the world said to me
"Honey you can't put a price tag on your health, well being and quality of life."  All I could do at that moment is look at him. Because as bad as I want this surgery taking money from my family just seemed so selfish. He held out his arms for a hug. Well needless to say I melted. Because if I, for one second would of felt from him that this would be a hardship, I would of shut down this conversation faster then how I started it.  We don't have a car payment, so this is my car payment. LOL
Ok, lets jump ahead. Since I had done ALL the requirements with the UW, my situation was a little different as well, but Eviva was so compassionate, understanding and professional, they were able to all my pre rec's from the UW. I had to have a couple more blood tests, and a bod pod. (look up bod pod, very cool)
After everything checked out, I finally get my surgery date. Its been almost a year since starting this, and now its here. 
I am posting a picture of exactly what is being done. It is all done laprascopically (I know that is spelled wrong) so recovery time is only resting for one week. However, in doing my upper endoscopy, they found I have a hiatal hernia.  They need to fix this during surgery, so my pain level is going to be mostly from this, and might add on a little more recovery time. But the Dr. said my age has some to do with it. I just think it sounds crazy, how all this works.
So once that is taken care of, they will be cutting out most of my stomach, they staple the remaining stomach closed. Then they pull out my stomach through one of the small incisions on my tummy. IKR!!!!! My tummy will now be the size of a banana. 
This now will be my new reality for the rest of my life.


Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Lets talk to my Doctor

My Doctor told me that I would be a great candidate for the Bariatric Sleeve. She also told me that they have a ton of pre rec's but my insurance would also cover it. "What you talking about Willis"?
This is something I had never thought of. She went on to tell me that ALL my appointments would be down in Seattle at the University of Washington and also the surgery. That I needed to see a physical therapist for 12 visits, a psychologist for 12 visits a dietician for 12 visits, be weighed every week and to loose 20 lbs. Had to have a huge panel of blood work done, an EKG, an upper endoscopy, a online class and a sleep study.
There probably was more, but I can't remember. She said I had to dot every I and cross every T perfectly or my insurance would not cover any of it.  Ok, that makes total sense to me. They want to make sure that I am a person is completely on board with this entire new lifestyle.
Now off onto my new journey. I did everything that was required of me and I was just at the point of going to Seattle to meet my surgeon for surgery, when I get a letter from my insurance company telling me that my insurance is running out and I need to pick a different one.
Easier said then done. Every State is different, but in Washington State, unless you are with  insurance from your work, bariatric surgery is NOT covered. "NOT COVERED"!!!!!!!!!! "WTH"

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Over weight, Fat, Obese, Morbidly Obese

I woke up in the middle of the night with ALL this on mind, so I decided to write about it. But if you are expecting perfect grammar, perfect spelling, and a natural born writer, then you are at the wrong place. LOL I write exactly like I talk and it is in no way shape or form anywhere near perfect.
About 16 years ago, I herniated three disc's in my neck and two in my lower back. I lived morning and night in our recliner. Because it was the only place in the house that I could be to get any kind of relief from pain. So this is where me, beginning to become over weight started. I was in that chair, sedentary for two years.  I have had four surgeries on my neck, and one thing I can say at least, I am no longer living in a chair. But doing the things I did before I was hurt, is a thing of the past. Chronic Pain rules your life and if you don't want to live on pain pills you just try to deal with it all, and gaining weight is only part of it. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, I am borderline diabetic, the list goes on.
 The next word is Fat and then obese. Two words I have come to hate, even though I will be the first one to tell you I'm fat. 
I don't care if you have been over weight all your life or part of your life. If its genetics or from over eating. Being sedentary or being depressed. It doesn't matter. Seeing OBESE on your Doctor's chart notes, is about to much for anyone to handle. And the first time I read MORBIDLY OBESE, I could hardly swallow. 
If you didn't know, I have a little boy who is now almost 7, whom we adopted from Jamaica. God chose Mark and I to be Dontae's parents. We are blessed over and over with Boo being in our life. But he is 7 and a 7 year old is active, and he isn't going to stop being active anytime soon. I can't remember exactly what it was that Dontae wanted to play a little over a year ago, but I couldn't do it. Not just because of being in chronic pain but for being so heavy.  Over the years I have tried everything to get my weight off, but couldn't get more then 25 lbs. off at a time. Then big time depression sets in and you gain it back, plus a little more. Well over 16 years, you have me now.
Kim Lau 240lbs. I got married four months prior to being hurt 16 years ago weighing 140lbs. 
So this day Dontae wanted to play and I couldn't, I decided to talk to my Dr. I want to be healthy and fit and living to put it bluntly for this little boy God entrusted me with.
I had no idea what my Dr. would say to me. Even though my chart says morbidly obese, I didn't believe I was fat enough for surgery. How uneducated I was....

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Please don't Judge me

Friends, family and others I many not know. I have been praying about this for quite some time. Trying to decide if I could be helpful to people, or would I just be totally embarrassed, vulnerable, and Judged.  I believe it will be ALL three, maybe more, but God has put it on my heart to tell my story in hopes of encouraging and helping others. So I welcome you to my blog. To come along on my journey of Bariatric Surgery. I only ask that you please don't leave any negative comments on here. Like I said, I will be opening up and posting pictures and videos of me Kim Matty Lau in the most vulnerable state of my life. 
I will be going back to the beginning, to tell you how and why this operation  came to life. My surgery date is November14,2016.  Its right around the corner, which feels crazy because I have been working on this since Christmas of last year.
 So follow me down below, and get an email notification every time I post to here. Go ahead and share this blog with whomever you feel would benefit, or even just want to be educated on a topic that is not really talked about.