Looking over my paperwork and pictures of my innards from Friday’s procedure, I noticed something that I find hilarious.
Remember in my last post that my anesthesiologist looked like a German Christian Slater? (he had a thick german accent).
Apparently his name -is- Christian.
I just find it funny.
So this morning I had an Upper Endoscopy done, which is another step towards getting approval for gastric bypass surgery.
I arrived at the hospital around 7am and they took me right in for prep, tho prep took about an hour on its own.
My prep nurse was a nice older lady, very thorough which is good. My IV kinda hurt, but it was tolerable (I don’t have a problem with needles, I just don’t think I could give any). I felt very vulnerable in my hospital gown on a stretcher, and I had time to sit and ask for strength for what I as about to endure.
My prep nurse told me “Don’t worry, the stuff they are going to give you is what Michael Jackson took…and he died from it but you should be fine.”
OH THE FUNNY. Actually I was pretty amused and calm. But still nervous. I’m not sure how all that works out, but there you go.
So I had my little slippers, gown, and IV in, answered all the questions I needed to several nurses and my anesthesiologist, and off they went wheeling me down the corridor to my fate.
My nurse was a short spanish woman, which I thought was adorable. However she seemed against me getting gastric bypass surgery cause of the absorption of vitamins problem, and said I should thoroughly research what I’m going to do (ah……if only they knew me).
They hooked me up to some sensors, put oxygen up my nose, gave me this liquid gel crap to gargle and numb my throat which tasted bad, and then the anesthesiologist (who was a German-accented Christian Slater, fyi), gave me what he calls “Morning cocktail”. I remember rolling over to my side like they asked, and don’t remember a damn thing after that. For some reason I thought they put a mask on you to put you to sleep, but I guess not anymore.
I woke up as they were wheeling me into recovery, and was pretty much alert and calm immediately (albeit a little tired). The procedure took about 20 minutes, and I was out of the hospital 2 hours earlier than I thought I’d be.
They gave me some ginger ale, let me get dressed after they unhooked me from everything, and off I went. Dad drove me home because I’m not supposed to drive or sign paperwork for 24 hours afterwards. My doctor said everything looked normal. There was some redness on one part which they are going to do a biopsy on just to see what all is going on there, but everything else looked great.
I felt absolutely fine after a few minutes of waking up, but then started to get really nauseated just after lunch. So I laid down for a few hours and just watched some tv.
Still, this helped alleviate some of my fears, though I suspect during the actual procedure, because I will be under anesthesia a lot longer, it will take longer for me to wake-up and I won’t have as nice of an experience.
So many back and forth opinions about this. It really messes with my head :/
Since I am fairly certain I will be getting this surgery, I’ve been making some advanced preparations. I’ve also been getting different readings done to sorta mentally prepare for this surgery as well.
When at Trillium I had two readings done, one by my friend Tanya with runes, and another by a complete stranger with a pendulum. Prior to that I had a card reading by my spiritual brother Seamus. This past Sunday we had a coven come down from PA to do some final training of one of their members by having them give us free Geomancy readings, so I snagged one there as well from another complete stranger.
Every single one of them has been positive, without any sort of harsh complications after the surgery. I still plan to get a few more, and do my own meditations on this, but so far the outlook is very positive.
In addition to the spiritual side of things, I’ve been making some preparations in the mundane world as well. I’ve made a list of things that I want to get:
In fact, my local grocery store has supplements on sale now, buy one get one free, so this Saturday I will be picking some up to store. That way I’m not trying to buy all this stuff “as needed” since it can get really expensive. Especially the vitamins and protein powder.
I also need to educate myself more on your typical “gym rat” and “food nerd” stuff. Learn what foods have the most protein, the best powders to get, the best ways to gain muscle and burn fat, etc. Stuff that I never really had to worry about before, basically.
I had a follow-up appointment today to go over my Echocardiogram I had done the other week (the one with the little Russian girl). My heart doctor said my heart is “stone cold normal”, despite Dr. McKenna’s concerns last week about an irregular heart-beat. Dr. Cowen says everyone is allowed a few extra beats now and then, but that mine was completely normal.
So I am happy about that, I was worried cause my dad and my Aunt both have irregular heart-beats. Dr. Cowen said there’s no way Dr. McKenna would be able to get that kind of reading with a stethoscope. Honestly, I’ve been taking apple cider vinegar regularly for a long time now, and use it regularly in my diet. Which research has been done in the southeastern states that use it a lot in their BBQ, and they have the lowest rate of heart disease in the U.S. Mainly because the vinegar helps clean the plaque from your arteries.
So Dr. Cowen said he supports me having the surgery 100% and already gave me an approval slip for it. This week I do another nutrition appointment, and next week is the upper endoscopy to check my G.I. that I am also dreading. After that it’s onto the lungs.
By far my least favorite appointment so far, even compared to those where I had to take clothes off.
I stayed at work late since the hospital is only a few blocks away from where I work, instead of going home for an hour and coming back down this way. I arrived around 8:30pm to fill out paperwork.
I was told to go into the emergency room entrance cause it was after hours, and after standing there next to a bunch of sick people, I was told to go into the main entrance because it was unlocked. Ah……communication. I really don’t like standing next to sick people.
Once I found where I was supposed to be in the bowels of the hospital, things actually weren’t too bad for a while. The room was very nice, much like a hotel room, I even got to watch some t.v. while I waited for them to do whatever it was they did.
Eventually my nurse came in after I waited about an hour watching tv, and started the process of hooking me up to all the wires. She had to put this nasty cream gunk stuff all over my head wherever she put the gold sensors. Sensors by my temple, the back of my head, under my ears, on my chin, on my shoulders, various points on my scalp, on my legs, belts wrapped around my chest and stomach, a sensor on my finger to monitor my heart, and two up my nose. Probably almost two dozen sensors in all attached to me in various forms.
At first I was told I had to sleep on my back, which I never do and cannot sleep that way. I’m a side or stomach sleeper. But the nurse said I could sleep on my side, whew.
I did get to sleep around 9pm or so, but with all the blankets on me I got too hot, and after about 2 hours she came in and woke me up to let me know and to check my sensors. I never went back to sleep after that. All I could do is lay there for the next 6 hours -trying- to fall asleep, but not able to adjust how I was laying (which I normally do frequently thoughout the night) because of the wires. Not to mention they have a camera on you the entire time, which does not make you feel comfortable. I felt fairly miserable around 5am when she came in to wake me up.
She removed all my sensors after about 30 minutes of me sitting there waiting, the nasty cream gunk still in my hair which I just put in a bun till I could get in to shower. And off I went.
Hopefully they got some readings, cause I really don’t want to repeat that.
So I went to get my initial consultation/visit with my surgeon. He’s a very charming new orlean’s man, which is why I originally decided to go to his office for this, based off a video on his website. He seemed knowledgeable, genuine, and sympathetic, which is what I want.
He said I could get either the gastric bypass or the sleeve, whichever I preferred. Thinking about it, I figure if I’m going to get shit cut up, I’m going to get shit cut up that’s going to provide the most potent results, hence the gastric bypass.
The only part I didn’t like about the appointment is he had to examine different parts of me that was, as you can imagine, just plain awkward. But I reckon it has to be done, and this is all going towards a healthier future anyway.
He did say my heartbeat seemed irregular to him. My heart doctor didn’t mention it, so I will wait and see what he says too.
The doctor gave me a hug afterwards and complimented my hair.
Only 4 months away, still have a lot of work/appointments to go through/make.
Had my echocardiogram appointment today. I love how most of these doctors are either in the same building, or less than a block away.
This appointment was where they had to do a sonogram of my heart for uh…whatever reason. My nurse/doctor/technician was a cute little Russian girl with a heavy accent. I love those accents.
Of course, because I am overweight, it was harder for her and she had to press down harder on her…..joystick…..thingy. It was kinda cool watching my heart on the monitor, but naturally it’s very uncomfortable having yourself exposed to strangers that way.
She was a tough little technician though, cause I think she probably bruised me. And I got gel in my hair.
I have an appointment next month with the heart doctor to go over the results. I dunno why they didn’t give me one for the same day, that would have made more sense since they are the room next door.
More appointments…
The one I am scared of the most is the upper endoscopy :(. That’s next month too.
Most people know that I live in a sugar-free household due to my dads diabetes. Have for years, which is probably why my blood sugar is so good considering my weight (doesn’t mean I’m not still at risk, just at less of one).
Dad and I are always finding different ways to enjoy food without the sugar. Sometimes I supplement honey as a sweetener, and he mainly uses splenda. I do keep stevia around for myself and he uses it now and then, but he’s more used to splenda.
One of our favorite drinks is by 4C Totally Light, more specifically the “Green Tea” mix. 0 calories, 0 sugar, technically 0 everything except calcium. And it tastes like Arizona Green Tea, which I love.
Looking through some of the other 4C Totally Light Drinks (and there are many), it looks like most of them are 0 calorie (or very little), almost all of them are 0 sugar, and some even give protein (which will be much needed after surgery).
So while I still drink mainly water at work, this provides some flavor now and then, which will aid in me not getting bored or trying to find something inappropriately sweet.
So after a picture of me was put on the ADF facebook of my consecration (which has subsequently been removed by me), a guy posted that it was a sacrilege to real ancient druids. I didn’t read all of his comments (I wish I did) before deleting the photo cause I looked awful in it anyway 
And he wasn’t exactly clear at that time, apparently, on what he actually meant by it being a sacrilege.
I posted that snarky comments on the ADF facebook were not going to be allowed (still not knowing what this dude said, only being told about it from my Grovemates who came to my defense), and he responded again explaining that real ancient druids always worked towards physical perfection so it was a sacrilege for there to be any fat druids.
Oh the humor.
I have since banned him from the facebook fan page. I don’t know whether I’ll get in trouble for that or not, but I’d do it again.
My new tagline is gonna be: Crystal, bringing the sacrilege to the world since the 1980’s.
People are starting to upload their pictures from the camping trip this weekend.
I look god awful and disgusting. I hate all the pictures.
Being as I was leaning towards not having the surgery, those pictures have full-on motivated me to get the surgery now.
I figure I’m going to be back and forth on this quite a bit. All I want to do is cry right now. I think I’m going to go to bed instead.
This is very hard.
