had my surgery on friday august 19th.. its now the 26th. ive kinda been bad at posting lately.. ive been really busy with preop stuff and then surgery.. and cause of the pain medicine they sent me home on i've been kinda out of it.. but i'm off that now, and all is right with the world (: or.. with me, anyway. haha. Uhm yeah. soo. heres how it went down.
Friday morning. got up, left about 4:20am, got there about 5:30am.. right on time. they gave me a bracelet and checked me in and i went back to a little room thing.. they went over everything and checked medicines and vitals, i met with an anesthesiologist or two.. actually i think 3.. not sure. and the surgeon popped in, a research person, a couple nurses, etc.. then they tried to get me to pee in a cup. right. because ive had nothing to drink since 9pm the night before, and wasnt allowed to drink anything.. i went before we left for the hour and a 1/2 carride.. and they expected me to be able to? funny. yeah it was for a rpegnancy test. they ended up drawing blood instead, which i'm perfectly okay with.. i told them straight up they could go ahead and do it cause i couldnt pee. but nooo they made me try like 4 times. waste of time. anywayssss moving on. surgery was scheduled at 7:45. by like 6:30 they had me change into a gown and stuff. i was on the gurney thing. they put the TED stockings on.. well. they had my mom do it.. shes a nurse and the nurse that was there had to go get another nurse to start my IV. dont ask why they kept changing nurses. i have no clue. anyways, yeah. that took liek 10 minutes. those things are soooo tight and hard to get on. i was crying from laughing so hard at my moms faces she made.. haha. but once those were on, they started the iv. then they put the compression boots on me and had me lay back. the surgeon came in, answered a questoin my mom had, made sure i was still 100% positive i wanted to do this.. and i was.. then he left. and another half hour of emeting with people later, they rolled me back..
my mom walked back to the or. a different nurse was rolling me back this time. i was in the hallway by the OR for about 10 minutes and they kept trying to make sure everyone was on their way or already in there or whatever. let me tell you somthing. they didnt use laughing gas on me. which i didnt mind. im glad they didnt. if they did, i wouldnt remember as much as i do.. like what the OR looked like and stuff, cause they start it back in the room.. and cause ia lready had an iv, and i have no problem with needles, they didnt use it. so i was still 100% there, mentally. and physically.. obviously. it was FREEZING. like. had to be 50 degrees. it was insane. i was shaking. my mom was crying and what not and blaming herself for letting me get so overweight and said she never wanted this for me blahblbhalbhalhfdsakjfadk;sjf bottom line is, its my own fault. It really is. I knew what i had to do to maintain my weight when i was younger. i chose not to do it, hoping id be lucky and itd go away.. yeah.. obviously not the case. so i took the initiative and looked into this.. and i'm so glad i did.
They eventually rolled me into the OR.. which was just as cold as the hallway, if not colder.. they rolled me up next to the operating table and had me schooch over onto it. i did. it was hard cause they had the iv in my hand. it didnt hurt. it was just.. uncomfortable to move, i guess. but i did. they had me move up cause i'm short.. and to get my head onto this foam-liek thing that supported it. it was purple o.o the operating table was liek.. blueishgreen. its not ana ctual table.. its like a gurney but no wheels.. lol. but yeah. got on there. layed down. people were talking around me and hope, one of the research people with the anethesia department talked t ome.. she had a spongebob hat on xD haha. shes telling the people how insane i am cause i didnt mind the needles and they didnt have to use laughing gas on me and i laughed. i looked over and saw they already attached the medicine to my iv.. it hadnt gotten in me yet. they didnt tell me they did it. i just saw the white stuff going through the tube.. and they told me to count to ten right when i saw the white stuff go in my arm.. i got to ten. i guess they wanted me to count out loud? htey relike are you to ten yet and im like yeah.t hey told me to keep counting. i felt reallllyyyyy sleepy. and i hit 23. and thats all i remember, till i woke up in the recovery room, later on that day..
I woke up too out of it to care what was going on. i remmeber my mom there and some of the nurses talking. iw as covered with like 8 blankets and had ivs going into me, and my pca was hooked up. the morphine button. and i think something else.. im not sure. aparently i was dehydrated when i went into surgery and didnt know it? so the surgery took twice as long as they said it would o.o i was kinda surprized with that.. they said itd take one and a half hours to two hours.. it took 3.. lol. but yeah.. i was in and out of being asleep that day.. i remember them rolling me up to my room. . . . and rehooking everything and i fell asleep.. and woke up at liek 2pm and felt some pain in my chest.. i pressed the pca button. (i had just gotten to the room around noon.. two hours after i got up in recovery.) and i told them i wanted to get up.. just sit in the chair.. one of the nurses helped me up and i got in the chair.. it was a weird feeling.. but it definatley eased the pain.. i hit the pca again. i was allowed to hit it once every 7 minutes i believe was how it was set.. it was kinda cold when it went into me. the morphine that is. and i was knocked out.. woke up on and off but at like 8:30 at night ig ot up and took my first walk.. they let me hold onto the iv thing. i dont think i would have beens table enough just with someone holding my arm.. and i did aight i think.. lol. then i went back and sat in the chair for a bit and texted a couple of my friends, even though i was completely out of it..t hey told me since then it didnt seem like me, lol. but i could only text with one hand cause the stupid machine would beep,e very time i moved my arm.. itd woudl say 'obstruction downstreem' or somthing like that and woudlnt stop till someone would hit the stupid run button twice. after about the 10th time i just started donig it myself.. i probably wasnt supposed to, but i was tired of listenign to it for 10 minutes waiting for a nurse to come in.. lol
uhm yeah. then i went to sleep not long after.. fun. right? okay. i'll make another post for the rest of my hospital stay, and since ive been home.. since ive been slacking in posting lately.. lol. yup. kaybye<3(:
First blog dedicated to Weight Loss Surgery for teenagers. To my knowledge it's still the only one! We're also dedicated to teaching/spreading awareness about childhood obesity, metabolic conditions/diseases, healthy lifestyles, and anything in-between. (Started in May 2011)
Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sleep Study.
Some people dont understand what this is, or what its for.. So I thought I would do a post about this.
I had a sleep study towards the end of July.. Don't stress too much over it. theres not much to it!
First of all, a sleep study is done for a lot of pepole, not just wls patients.. Its to check for obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrom, parasomnia, insomnia, a few other things like that.
For your sleep study..
If you take any night time medicine, be sure to bring it. and if your nocturnal like i am, try to make sure you stay on a normal pattern.. or.. as normal as you can get, a few days before.. they need at least 6 hours of solid sleep to get their results. I ended up asking for a melatonin (3mg) to help me drift to sleep.. i cant without it, on most cases.
Basically you go in, they check your blood pressure and other vitals and stuff.. you talkwith and meet with a few people.. they check your records, etc.. they'll take your medicine bottles and lock them up, so they can give them to you later. im pretty sure thats just for liability reasons. Then one or two pepole will come in and start to hook you up to wires.
They do not hurt! Trust me. they're just like stickers. If you've ever had an ekg, its sorta like that.. I had two on each of my arms, two on each of my legs. a few on my stomach and chest.. a microphone taped to my neck.. its tiny. then they put two bands around me. one over my chest and noe over my stomach, with little wires attached to them to monitor how you move whenyou breathe.
Some of these are stickers, others are glued on..
Then they started putting them on my head. there were about 10 on there. they have you take your hair down if its long and in a ponytail and they put it on.
Before they put the glue on they scrub with like a qtip and this lemon-y smelling scrub. it just helps so the glue sticks better. then they use like a mini blowdryer to help dry the glue and wire to the glue.
when they're done with all the wires tehres about 30 total i believe.. then they put a cannula under your nose.. it looks like a little elephant nose. its sort of like an oxygen thing like youd see someone getting, in the hospital.. but it doesnt pump oxygen into you. it doesnt go down your throat. just rests at the bottom of your nose and upper lip. to catch how much air you breathe in and how much you breathe out. its kinda annoying.. but you get used to it. oh, and they put one of those little clamps on your finger. it doesnt hurt. it has a little red light. its to check your oxygen level.
You really cant move much after you're hooked up.. i mean.. i guess you could but thenw ires would come undone. I was afraid to aly on my side, so it wask inda uncofortable.. cause i usually lay on my stomach to sleep.. and i was on my back. oh well.
by 10:30 they said lights out and when they say it.. they mean it. i was texting a lot earlier and i had my phone in the bed with me, just cause i'm paranoid about my mom taking it and looking thorugh it.. i always sleep with my phone. but they made me put it up and on a table that i couldnt reach, to make sure. tv off, nothing. so i layed there.. i woke up every couple hours. it really was uncomfortable, im not gonna lie. but it was bearable. i drifted back to sleep shortly after.
They woke me up by turning on the bright lights in the morning and started removing wires. gave me my medicine back, etc.. i felt nasty. the glue and stickers left residue on me and it was just, ew. they offered t olet me shower there but.. i dont liek showering in hospitals soi said no thanks and they discharged me and told me i talked in mys leep.... interesting. haha.
uhm. yeah. thats really about it. then me and my mom went and got breakfast and went home.
They gave me this special lotion stuff to help remove the leftover glue from my hair.. it works really well. but smells REALLY strong. its insane. make sure when you rub it on your head before you get int he shower, the doors open. cause you wont be able to breathe very well.. if you have the same stuff i did. ifk not.. then just use nail polish remover. that probably works just as well.
So yeah. thats about it. its really not much to it. no needles nothing painful, unless they accidnetally pull a hair when they remove a sticker or anything.. but its not bad at all.
Dont stress about it. (: It'll be fine.
Heres some pictures i took when i had mine. Ive been meaning to post them here for awhile, but never got around to it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justashley1637/sets/72157627032581387/
Well there you go. (:
Hope you're all having a great day, or, night.. depending on where you are. lol. (:
Peace<3.
I had a sleep study towards the end of July.. Don't stress too much over it. theres not much to it!
First of all, a sleep study is done for a lot of pepole, not just wls patients.. Its to check for obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrom, parasomnia, insomnia, a few other things like that.
For your sleep study..
If you take any night time medicine, be sure to bring it. and if your nocturnal like i am, try to make sure you stay on a normal pattern.. or.. as normal as you can get, a few days before.. they need at least 6 hours of solid sleep to get their results. I ended up asking for a melatonin (3mg) to help me drift to sleep.. i cant without it, on most cases.
Basically you go in, they check your blood pressure and other vitals and stuff.. you talkwith and meet with a few people.. they check your records, etc.. they'll take your medicine bottles and lock them up, so they can give them to you later. im pretty sure thats just for liability reasons. Then one or two pepole will come in and start to hook you up to wires.
They do not hurt! Trust me. they're just like stickers. If you've ever had an ekg, its sorta like that.. I had two on each of my arms, two on each of my legs. a few on my stomach and chest.. a microphone taped to my neck.. its tiny. then they put two bands around me. one over my chest and noe over my stomach, with little wires attached to them to monitor how you move whenyou breathe.
Some of these are stickers, others are glued on..
Then they started putting them on my head. there were about 10 on there. they have you take your hair down if its long and in a ponytail and they put it on.
Before they put the glue on they scrub with like a qtip and this lemon-y smelling scrub. it just helps so the glue sticks better. then they use like a mini blowdryer to help dry the glue and wire to the glue.
when they're done with all the wires tehres about 30 total i believe.. then they put a cannula under your nose.. it looks like a little elephant nose. its sort of like an oxygen thing like youd see someone getting, in the hospital.. but it doesnt pump oxygen into you. it doesnt go down your throat. just rests at the bottom of your nose and upper lip. to catch how much air you breathe in and how much you breathe out. its kinda annoying.. but you get used to it. oh, and they put one of those little clamps on your finger. it doesnt hurt. it has a little red light. its to check your oxygen level.
You really cant move much after you're hooked up.. i mean.. i guess you could but thenw ires would come undone. I was afraid to aly on my side, so it wask inda uncofortable.. cause i usually lay on my stomach to sleep.. and i was on my back. oh well.
by 10:30 they said lights out and when they say it.. they mean it. i was texting a lot earlier and i had my phone in the bed with me, just cause i'm paranoid about my mom taking it and looking thorugh it.. i always sleep with my phone. but they made me put it up and on a table that i couldnt reach, to make sure. tv off, nothing. so i layed there.. i woke up every couple hours. it really was uncomfortable, im not gonna lie. but it was bearable. i drifted back to sleep shortly after.
They woke me up by turning on the bright lights in the morning and started removing wires. gave me my medicine back, etc.. i felt nasty. the glue and stickers left residue on me and it was just, ew. they offered t olet me shower there but.. i dont liek showering in hospitals soi said no thanks and they discharged me and told me i talked in mys leep.... interesting. haha.
uhm. yeah. thats really about it. then me and my mom went and got breakfast and went home.
They gave me this special lotion stuff to help remove the leftover glue from my hair.. it works really well. but smells REALLY strong. its insane. make sure when you rub it on your head before you get int he shower, the doors open. cause you wont be able to breathe very well.. if you have the same stuff i did. ifk not.. then just use nail polish remover. that probably works just as well.
So yeah. thats about it. its really not much to it. no needles nothing painful, unless they accidnetally pull a hair when they remove a sticker or anything.. but its not bad at all.
Dont stress about it. (: It'll be fine.
Heres some pictures i took when i had mine. Ive been meaning to post them here for awhile, but never got around to it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justashley1637/sets/72157627032581387/
Well there you go. (:
Hope you're all having a great day, or, night.. depending on where you are. lol. (:
Peace<3.
Friday, August 5, 2011
truth.
<3 by passinglane on Polyvore.com
I saw this on polyvore the other day and made a set with it.. I thought i'd post it here. this applys for everyone. wls or not. I showed this to my friend and we're both trying our best to do this. <3 i may have to skip out on the fruit part.. My pre-op diet starts sunday. But the rest of it.. most definatley. <3(:
I saw this on polyvore the other day and made a set with it.. I thought i'd post it here. this applys for everyone. wls or not. I showed this to my friend and we're both trying our best to do this. <3 i may have to skip out on the fruit part.. My pre-op diet starts sunday. But the rest of it.. most definatley. <3(:
Approved! Got my surgery scheduled! :D:D:D
I'm extremely happy right now. I turn 16 on August 22nd. (2 days after my idols, birthday. :D random sidenote.. anyways..) And guess what? My surgery got approved today. literally 2 days after they recieved it. wooh! :D So yeah. My surgery is going to be on August 19th, 2011. :D:D<3333 Haha. I was asleep on the couch (i'm slightly nocturnal.. it was like noon.) and my mom shook me awake and was like crying and is like 'ashley they approved you! your surgery is in about two weeks!' i was like 'whaaa?' cause i was still half asleep.. she told me like 12 times before i finally understood what she was saying. i was speachless. like '... are you serious?' xD SHE WAS! fjdkals;fjasd;l This is going to be amazing. <3 Is it bad i'm not nervous at all? I guess i'm so used to hospitals and stuff.. the fact that i'm going to have a major surgery.. doesnt really scare me. I'm too excited about it. I trust the doctors. I really do. I feel really great about all of this. i have to go in on the 17th, and 18th for pre-op stuff.. and some research stuff.. I forgot that i agreed to collect urine or whatever, to send in for research... its like a 48 hour urine collection. that i gotta mail in.. before then. So i gotta get that done sometime in the next week. to check for kindey stones before/after wls? i dont know, i didnt really understand it.. just agreed to it. it seemed simple enough. Haha.
However.. I'm kinda nervous at the moment. A family reuinion for my moms side of the family is tomorrow.. I start my liquid diet on sunday, so i dnot have to worry about that.. But.. My mom has a huge mouth. when she found out shes like 'GO POST IT ON FACEBOOK!' and im like, uhm... no. I'm excited.. but not that exited. I'm not ready to deal with peoples shit about it. But yaknow, she tells everyone she knows.. And it takes forever to explain. and people just dont understand. and its just stressfull. I havent met half of these family members before. and my moms gonna go 'OH YEAH SHES HAVING WEIGHT LOSS SURGYER IN 2 WEEKS!' and let alone its not lapband or rny.. god forbid it be somthing slightly less common. The sleeve. Bleh.
I'm happy i've come so far in this process and i'm about there, but its still hard... dealing with peoples crap. yaknow? But i gotta get over it.
I'm hesitant to tell this guy I kinda like.. we've been talking a lot lately and hes been really open with me about stuff.. I've told him im having surgery.. But i havent said what. he hasnt asked.. so... its not that big of a deal... right? no. i know its bad. i should tell him. buttttttt im scared. aha. let me be. i'll figure it out. i'll have to tell him eventually. 'oh. you've lost 30 pounds... in 2 months? how the hell...?' ... 'uhm.... yeah i forgot to tell you.. i had wls..?' '... oh. damn.' yeah... dreading that. but oh well. I'll figure it out.
I have an album on facebook entitled 'my journey' that has pictures ive taken all over the place, that i'll eventually post on here.. from doctors appointments and different testing ive had done and just really explaining what i'm going through.. a pictures worth a thousand words, right? -- so... anyone whos ees that album can kinda figure it out.. i never say im specificialy having weight loss surgery.. it says 'wls' though. anyone who cares can figure that out or ask me. lol.
So i need to go to the grocery soon and get protein shakes.. i dont have any at the moment. and some more lean cuisines to have. its a modified liquid diet. i'm allowed one meal under 400 calories every day, up until the day or two before surgery. then i believe its just clear liquids.. and nothing after midnight before surgery. I gotta be at the hospital at 5am... and its an hour away.. i wont be sleeping that night. haha.
so.. yeah. <3 Thats that for now. I'm really excited. :) I know i can do this. <3
:D
<3
However.. I'm kinda nervous at the moment. A family reuinion for my moms side of the family is tomorrow.. I start my liquid diet on sunday, so i dnot have to worry about that.. But.. My mom has a huge mouth. when she found out shes like 'GO POST IT ON FACEBOOK!' and im like, uhm... no. I'm excited.. but not that exited. I'm not ready to deal with peoples shit about it. But yaknow, she tells everyone she knows.. And it takes forever to explain. and people just dont understand. and its just stressfull. I havent met half of these family members before. and my moms gonna go 'OH YEAH SHES HAVING WEIGHT LOSS SURGYER IN 2 WEEKS!' and let alone its not lapband or rny.. god forbid it be somthing slightly less common. The sleeve. Bleh.
I'm happy i've come so far in this process and i'm about there, but its still hard... dealing with peoples crap. yaknow? But i gotta get over it.
I'm hesitant to tell this guy I kinda like.. we've been talking a lot lately and hes been really open with me about stuff.. I've told him im having surgery.. But i havent said what. he hasnt asked.. so... its not that big of a deal... right? no. i know its bad. i should tell him. buttttttt im scared. aha. let me be. i'll figure it out. i'll have to tell him eventually. 'oh. you've lost 30 pounds... in 2 months? how the hell...?' ... 'uhm.... yeah i forgot to tell you.. i had wls..?' '... oh. damn.' yeah... dreading that. but oh well. I'll figure it out.
I have an album on facebook entitled 'my journey' that has pictures ive taken all over the place, that i'll eventually post on here.. from doctors appointments and different testing ive had done and just really explaining what i'm going through.. a pictures worth a thousand words, right? -- so... anyone whos ees that album can kinda figure it out.. i never say im specificialy having weight loss surgery.. it says 'wls' though. anyone who cares can figure that out or ask me. lol.
So i need to go to the grocery soon and get protein shakes.. i dont have any at the moment. and some more lean cuisines to have. its a modified liquid diet. i'm allowed one meal under 400 calories every day, up until the day or two before surgery. then i believe its just clear liquids.. and nothing after midnight before surgery. I gotta be at the hospital at 5am... and its an hour away.. i wont be sleeping that night. haha.
so.. yeah. <3 Thats that for now. I'm really excited. :) I know i can do this. <3
:D
<3
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