Week 1 results

Down 12.5 lbs. I shit you not. Woohoo!

Makes it slightly more 'palatable' (ha) to not be gorging on turkey and fixins today. We still have plenty of thanks to celebrate all around so it's still a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We did light a fire at 8am and plan to spend the rest of the day stoking it.

In either case, it will be a lovely day off even sans gut busting tryptophan induced mid aftn coma!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

NH in the Hizzouse and how much could ONE PILL possibly cost?!

Had a visitor today - yay! Took the mind off my all liquid day. And it was good to have someone over - esp who got to see the new house. Plus Azmo was WAY excited -- another DOG person, pant, pant, jump jump... wag wag wag. Nicole brightened my day - thank you dear!! Plus she brought a wonderful goodie bag for pre and post surgery which was super thoughtful! SF water mix-ins, Carnation instant breakfast, an awesome celeb addition crossword puzzle book and a mug to make my liquid drinks at least a little more fashionable.

I had a really good (ie disciplined, followed diet to a tee) day -- so I'm hopeful - even if it took a week to get here - that I kinda rounded the hump! It's hard to become really hungry/crave an 8oz protein shake... so if anything I'm more generally bored w it all. BUT I'm keeping w/in the appropriate snacks, foods, etc. I can't find SHIT for flavors beyond the vanilla and chocolate -- it's gotta be the HIGH PROTEIN SLIMFAST.

So please keep your eye open for other flavors -- or pls pass on recommendations on where I can find other good uns...

I did mix in some leftover coffee this AM so that was a real life saver as I rounded the aftn on my 2nd 'meal' - w 1 apple, 2 2%milk Polly O's and 8oz of morning slimfast in my belly...

It costs HOW much?!

So our health insurance has gotten shittier like yr by yr the last hmm 4 years or so...

Now that we've at least moved away from the sham of a Health Savings Acct (not to be confused w the awesome concept of a Flex Spend Acct... let's just say 'savings' was an aspirational term) - we have some deductible to satisfy as well as then a co-insurance to pay until we finally reach some ungodly amount of 'Max out of pocket' - which is like thousands of dollars - on top of what we pay each paycheck twice a month...

So even though this surgery is 'approved' by Aetna, it's still gonna cost all told approx $2K. Still a far cry better than no coverage at all - which is like 10times that BUT still absurd given what I'm shelling out each paycheck - I mean it costs $200 to check my cholesterol?! geebus -- this after not seeing a SINGLE bill after my back surgery - which was more invasive, 4 times longer and also an overnight stay...

SO to my point -- the absurdity of insurance expense and how I can absolutely understand those 'I had insurance but still had to declare bankruptcy' commercials that ran incessantly during the campaigns...

I picked up the rx at Target this aftn. Refresher for those reading my earlier post -- it was for 1 pill - ONE PILL...

And how much did that ONE pill cost???

$25

ironically - it was for 1 pill that's an anti-nausea med... which is ironic bc I about PUKED when I heard the price... and then of course... paid it.

Dammit.

About those commercials...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6895896/

Apparently I'm only $10K shy of being the avg medical expenses incurred of those having to declare bankruptcy - and that's those WITH insurance...

absurd

Some petitions to sign here urging healthcare reform... on divided we fail

http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/

Day 6

I'm holding off on weighing in until Thursday - so I've got a week's worth of progress in the resulting #...

It's been hard - esp with a weekend that included a houseguest, boozing, snacks, pizza delivery and 2 (ACC and NFL) football games! But I stuck to my guns - and complained a lot... which unfortunately is what Rob gets since he's not also liver shrinking :(

It's also really hard when I'm not super busy - which week of Thanksgiving isn't exactly the busiest week at work...

Yesterday I got to spend 4 hours in St Mary's - ugg! It was for all of about 30 actual minutes of tests and an appt w the NP at the surgeon's office... I also apparently continue to have temperamental veins which is really fun when they need to fill 5 vials w it... luckily the dude got it on the 2nd try and I dried up w just enough in the 5th vial... surprisingly little bruising from it! This is yet another examples substatiating my reluctance to participate in blood drives... and IV drug use...

I got an rx for 1 - ONE - pill... i kid you not. It's an anti-nausea med for right before surgery as a precaution. And Target will be giving me a $10 giftcard for that ONE pill - woot! Good timing on the coupons!

Otherwise I've got more info from the drs - plenty of reading materials for the week/weekend pre surgery. This supplement goes into weeks 2 and 3 post surgery so it talks about the 'mushies' I can eat... And given that I could probably entirely subsist on potatoes, those I think will be good weeks for me ;) I'm already brainstorming how to make 'high protein mashed potatoes.'

Anyone tried powdered milk? How god awful is it??

I will let you know on Thursday how much I've lost on shrinking - I know I need to boost water consumption already - and that will make a diff in the bottomline too but you learn as you go! That will mark completion of week 1...

Day 1

Yah... not so fun...

Thank goodness I had a wootoff to keep me busy. www.woot.com and I fell asleep on the couch for basically the entire dinner time couple hours... well that's one way to do it eh?

Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving?!

Apparently it's going to be snowing in the morning...

for those of you not up to speed on local weather... that'll mean it will be snowing AGAIN. yes, AGAIN...

It snowed pretty much all day yesterday.

No complaints here!

Eyes bigger than my stomach?!

Umm last supper... good... too good...

Dear god - if this is anything like the fullness I'm supposedly going to feel after 1/2c food in future, sign me up... though I'm a little on the uncomfortably so side of the house...

And you know, I think in the future my eyes will be about the size of my stomach (pouch)!

Last Supper

So what would you do if you knew you were about to go from a stomach that holds 6 cups to one that holds about 1/2 cup at a time? And that you'd be 'eating' mostly liquid protein shakes w the occasional lean meat and veggie for the foreseeable future (month)

Umm well I think you're an idiot and in denial if you don't give some attention to it as a 'Last Supper'...

So what have I done knowing this the last few weeks?

• Had a meal at perhaps every fast food joint around (well the biggies - Hardees, McD's, Wendy's, Taco Hell) - it would normally be about a year to log a check on each spot on this list...
• Made Thanksgiving on Sunday - all the fixins - turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, creamed onions, creamed peas and new potatoes (for Rob), mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy

And in the last few days, working through our leftovers as well...

• Rob and I went to Silver Diner on Monday night (relative letdown)
• Carolina and I hit up Copper Grill for lunch today
• (there was also a cancelled trip to Panera for breakfast this AM - sorry to Allison :( -- apparently sleep will always win over food... at least in the morning!)
• I think tonight we'll opt for NY Slice w its heavenly ricotta cheese

And then come morning... dum dum dum dum...

BRING IT ON SLIMFAST!