April 10, 2014

April 11, 2014

I love, love, LOVE paper scrap booking.

However, I am behind quite a few years, because, you know, LIFE AND ALL THAT. So I've decided that I'm going to go digital, just for the sake of catching up, and then once I'm all caught up, I'll go back to my beloved paper scrapping. Actually, I plan on doing a little bit of both, because I love including mementos in the kids books. I really need to finish up Taylor and Daniel's birth stories. Can you believe that they haven't even been BORN in our memory books? I'm a terrible mother.

Meanwhile, I have lost a considerable amount of weight over the last few months. There's quite a back story involved, but the short answer is: I had gastric bypass. Of course, that isn't the only procedure that was done during my surgery, but it was done, and I have lost some weight. On that day, I also had part of my liver removed, and my small intestine. (You know how the doctors are like, "how many alcoholic beverages do you drink daily?" and I'm all "I have never drunk alcohol in my life." and they're all, "..... that's not what your liver says." and I'm all, "You know I've had liver failure twice before, and I've gone into renal failure a few times too?" and they're all "... girl, your insides are a mess." and I'm all, "I KNOW, RIGHT?") The surgeons spent hours cutting away all the scar tissue that had encased my organs, causing intestinal blockage and all kinds of sharp, stabbing pain. They also removed some pre-cancerous growths in my large intestine and stretched out my esophagus. Basically, they fixed all of the problems that I have had going on in one fell swoop, and I feel much better overall.

The hardest thing about having this done, is that eating is a chore... especially when combined with all the medicines I have to take. For the first few months, I set alarms on my phone reminding me to eat, or to take a pill, or to give myself an injection.... I had been doing pretty good, but I have recently begun to slip. I don't eat the right combinations of food, and I haven't been getting enough protein in. Protein is the hardest for me, because I don't enjoy eating meat and cheese and eggs. I'm a delicious veggies sort of girl, and I like beans, but the sheer volume of food I would have to consume to get all the protein in that way is not possible for my new stomach. And I have protein powder and shakes, but they're very sweet, and I have a hard time drinking them. At any rate, I have to make eating and protein a priority every day, and it's hard.

It's also annoying because I'm probably going to have the same exact surgeries done again in another 10-15 years. Oh the joys of being a high maintenance sicko!