The first month

Once home Jeff helped me settle on the couch in my stretchy pants with my blanket, pillow, and huge mug of water. I was unable to lay down in bed so I slept on the couch and recliner for the first week. I had lots of visitors and received flowers from Mom and my Aunt Carol. My Aunt Vicky spent over a week with me helping me get up and down and pushing the liquids down my throat since Jeff had to return to work. Caleb also came home at the end of the first week so she took care of him for me. I was so glad to see him but it sure was hard not being able to pick him up!

 

At the end of the first week I had my first post-op apt to remove the staples and was really hoping for the release to return to work. Having the staples removed were a breeze and I was so glad to have them out because they were starting to itch terribly. I had taken the tape off on day 3 because it started giving me blisters around the sutures. Ouch, that was worse than the incision itself. So I ended up with 6 incisions and a total of 20 staples. Have some pretty good scars but they are already fading. They don’t look any worse than the road map of stretch marks.

 

I was not given the release to return to work because I had lost 13lbs not including the 15+lbs they pumped into me while in the hospital. So they thought I was a bit dehydrated and wanted me to stay home to rehydrate and get in a good routine.

 

By day 10, I was completely off of my blood pressure meds and have not had to take them since. I monitor it at home to make sure it’s where it was supposed to be and it has been consistent ever since. So thankful!

 

Other milestones during the first month:

 

·        I can wear my wedding rings again! Haven’t worn them in nearly a year due to sausage fingers.

 

·        My horrific snoring as practically disappeared! Jeff used to hear my snoring while I was in the bedroom and he was on the porch. Yes, it was that bad. And now he is resting so much better also!

 

·        I bought 2 new pairs of dress shoes because I was literally tripping out of my size 9 wide’s. My new pairs are size 8 and 8.5 J

 

·        I have ankles!! NO MORE CANKLES! I want to stare at my feet.

 

·        Mom has taken in 5 pairs of my dress pants! What a great feeling J

 

·        I can wear my fave jeans from my first date with Jeff, nearly 8 years ago!

 

Total loss: 28lbs and 21.5 inches gone!