About Gastric Girl

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Tomball, TX, United States
My name is Laurie. I'm 34 and I live in a suburb of Houston, TX. My life isn't super exciting or ultra dramatic, but I love it! My blogs are just a peek into my life as I know it. I'm quite random and have an opinion on everything, but I love everyone's aspect on things, even if I disagree. The world would be quite boring if not! :-)

1/21/2010

SLAP!


Yep, I got my hand slapped.. My doctor walked into the room and said that my lab results had some pretty good things, and some really bad things. AHH!

The Good:
My Vitamin B
My Protein Levels
My Vitamin A
My Thyroid
Calcium
Etc.

The Ugly:
Vitamin K - which you get from green leafy vegetables, which give me a stomach ache from hell - so he instructed me to get a vitamin K supplement, and get some Bean-o! LOL
Vitamin D - My last reading was 53, which was residual summer time.. This reading was 20. I reminded him that I reflect the sun, and told him about some vitamins that I fell in love with.. but they were sugary and they were addicting so I stopped buying them. He told me he doesn't care if it's a lollipop rolled in sugar, I need to take more Vitamin D. He would let me know if it gets too high, but at this point he's not worried about that. It's not the lowest I've been at, but I think he's being harder on me b/c it was really good at one point.
Iron - My iron stores over the last 3 readings (including the one I'm getting in trouble for are 25, then 20... then 5. He said that this is a dangerous level... That if it gets worse, I could have to get iron transfusions or something like that, and they're not fun and can be painful.

So... I'm ordering more iron today.. drank some Vitamin D, and am becoming even more diligent with my vitamins. The lack of energy that I've been having could be from my lack of iron as well.

Maybe this was the kick in the ass I needed, right?

My weight stayed the same as my last visit, and my blood pressure was good. Wahoo!!

Ok, back to work for me, but wanted to keep you all posted! :)
xoxo



1/20/2010

I think I'm in trouble!

Yesterday, I got a call from my doctor saying that I need to go in as soon as possible to discuss my labs. Today, I have an appointment at 4:15. Why does this freak me out? Normally, it takes a good week or two to get an appointment with my doctor. He's booked solid most of the time. As you saw, I haven't been wonderful with my vitamins.. My guess is that my Vitamin D is terrible and maybe my Iron. I just have 2 hours to go until I find out the actual issues vs. speculating, but I just wanted to vent a bit! Maybe this will be the swift kick in the ass I need to get my supplements back on track, right? :) One can only hope! I've been good in 2010, but I have to keep it up... 20 days won't make any permanent difference!

I'm ready for the weekend. It's been a rough week for me, and I'm wanting to decompress!

Sorry for the short note, but I have to leave work early today and get a few more things done. I will update tonight or tomorrow after my doctor's appt!


1/14/2010

Its back.. damn!

My ulcers have reared their ugliness again. I've started taking carafate again, so hopefully they will leave me soon! For those of you who have had an ulcer, you know how icky they make you feel! It's miserable.. I'm ready to feel normal again! Yes, it's a complication from my gastric bypass surgery, as was my intestinal hernia and gallbladder removal... but, I don't regret my gastric bypass for an instant. Yes, all this crap is a pain in the butt, but my quality of life has improved so much, I really shouldn't even complain. I am alive, healthy, and half the size I used to be. WAHOO!!!
I will update you all on my resolutions.... Skip down if you don't care to read, but I want to hold myself accountable! :)
Diet cokes - I have not touched them.. the cravings have left my system, and I am learning to love tea again. I even bought a teaball so I can buy some neat leafy teas at Teavana. If you are a tea-lover and haven't been there before, it's neat. And if you aren't a tea-lover, you very well may be after you leave there. John bought me a gorgeous Fossil watch for Christmas, and I had to take it in to the mall to get some links taken out, and next door was Teavana. I am not exaggerating when I say that I walked by and got a sample 6 times during that mall visit. I took my jacket off 2 of the times so I wouldn't be so obvious! HA! At least it was something healthy, and they weren't cookie samples, right? LOL
Vitamins - I've definitely improved, but am still establishing my routine. I'm getting in my required vitamins every day, but I want a set schedule. There's a website called Memjog.net where you can set up daily/weekly/monthly/annual reminders and they text your phone. I had this set up at one point, but when I was being a bad kid and rebellious, I cancelled my reminders. Time to set those up again! :)
Water - If decaf tea counts as water, I'm all over it!
Activity - I'm a little less sloth-like, but this is what is lacking the most. I'm still in recovery mode from my 6 day, 60 hour work week last week, so I'm cutting myself some slack! Time to tighten up though and get firmer!

Life is good, though! Tomorrow I get my nice paycheck from my overtime week, and I'm going to get some bills paid down, cushion my savings account a bit more, and treat myself to a mani/pedi. My toes are horrendous right now, and having cute toes always makes me feel better! LOL I might even go get my eyebrows done... it's been way too long!! LOL

Saturday night, eight of us are going to meet for dinner and go to the Houston Aeros hockey game. John and I are season ticket holders with two of our dear friends, so we got some more tickets for others, and we're making it a party! Wahoo!!

Friday, I'm leaving work a little bit early to take Roxcee to the vet. It's time for her annual vaccinations, and from the experiences we've had in the past few months, I am making sure I'm keeping her up to date on absolutely EVERYTHING! I don't know what I'd do if I lost that little punk dog!!! She was my gift to myself when I got divorced because my ex husband wouldn't let me have a dog b/c of his stupid allergies.. lol We've been through a lot together... as punky as she is! I have no idea where she gets it from.. :oP

'til next time!
Laurie

1/06/2010

2010!

Hello, New Year! So nice to see you!
I need to update you all on my January Resolutions... you all are my conscience... my place to vent... my place to confess.. and my place to celebrate!
Here we go..
For January, I resolve to:
  • Get back on track with vitamins. I've been a slackerface lately, and I know that needs to be corrected. I had glorious labs all of 2009, and I don't want to ruin 2010 lacking in vitamins! Ok, so I have taken a vitamin or so almost every day... but that's not on track. I DID however, order more of my Bariatric Advantage Vitamins, and will take them to work, where they will stare me down and make me chew them!
  • Get back on track with water... or should I say, get ON track with water.. I've always been terrible with it. I resolve to drink at least 40 oz of water a day in January... and then hopefully in Feb, I can up it to the proper 64. I'm not trying to be an underachiever, just realistic! I'm actually probably getting my 40 oz a day.. or 20.. maybe even 50 some days.. depends on the day, and the level of thirst!!! LOL
  • No More Diet Cokes! As Chris H's blog is titled Diet Coke Rocks, oh, it truly does. But, it's my downfall, and I'm not even supposed to be drinking it. So, bye bye Diet Cokes. It's on to tea, Crystal Lite, and oh yeah, WATER! Wahoo! I have completely kept on track with this one. I had half a 2 liter at the house left on New Years Day. I poured the rest into the sink, wept a little and moved on. Do you all know one of my favorite sounds in the world is the fizz of a freshly opened soda? Sigh.. I need a life! LOL
  • Get back on track with protein, go off track with the carbs! Are you sensing a pattern here? Why yes, Laurie has been a terrible post-op patient as of late! I resolve to focus on protein as my main source of nutrition again. The carb monster needs to be tamed.. bigtime! I think I'm doing a little better with this, but I am still eating carbs. I am being better though, and making smarter choices.
  • Be more active! I don't want to put a number of workouts per week or number of minutes, because if I don't make it the first week, I know I'd quit!! Well, I got sick on January 2. And now I'm living at work until after Saturday, so we'll revisit this one soon... until then, negatory.. I've been a slackerface.. or a sick, overworked face... whichever you prefer. I did dust off the Wii Fit, and will be doing the Wii Active too! Wahoo!
  • Blog more. It keeps me accountable, and I miss it! Well, I'm blogging, and it's been less than a week, so it's an improvement. :) Baby steps!!
As I stated above, I am sick AGAIN! I was just sick over Thanksgiving! What's up with that? I fell asleep on the couch watching GI Joe with John (it's a good movie, but i was tired and had already seen it!).. and when I woke up I couldn't breathe.. it just got steadily worse, and here I am finally able to breathe a little bit again, but have a sore throat. The Nyquil is kickin my arse, and I can't wake up in the mornings... AHH!!!

Well, it's 6:30 and I still have plenty of work so I better get back to it!!

Toodles! :-) Wow, I did say that!
Laurie :0)