A Health Update- Liquids & Surgery

I'm currently on Day 2 of my liquid diet, in preparation for surgery. Remember how I got Botox on October 11, and it was supposed to last me 6 weeks to a few months? Well, it started lettin me down after about 2 weeks. Laaaame. I started feeling food build up again, so I called the surgeon and moved my surgery up a week. I wanted to have it even sooner than that, but they either had an opening on Nov. 7th (TOO soon) or Nov. 21st. So I chose the 21st, which is NEXT Monday. Yay- I'm counting down the days.

The downside: I won't get to eat Thanksgiving dinner. :( But I'm willing to pay that price! It'll actually be good, because my sweet mother-in-law is taking off work for 2 days to take care of the girls, and then everyone has off work on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and my dad will be in town for the weekend. We're planning on blessing Alexia on Sunday so that he can be there, and hopefully I'll be good to go to church and functioning well.

Since I last wrote, 'member those swollen ankles and feet I had? Well they went away, thankfully, but so did another 10 pounds or so. I got down to 119....a number that I don't remember seeing on the scale since I was what, 12? No idea. But I'm feeling bones that I didn't know existed. My body is just so weird right now....my butt is non existent because it was all fat before, and now it's just flat. I still have a belly that makes me look 4 months pregnant, and I'm not sure why. When does that usually go away again?? And everywhere else is just bony, and my dumb protuding tailbone makes it uncomfortable to sit. I had to stop wearing my wedding ring because it would just slide off. I've thought about buying a cheap fake at Walmart, but I think I'll just go without and hope no one thinks less of me.

I found out what's wrong with my eyes...it's called Iritis, an inflammatory eye disease. I went to an Opthamologist to get my eyes checked and maybe get a new prescription, but it was too soon after pregnancy to do that. He said he'd take a look at my eyes anyways and make sure they're healthy, and as soon as he looked in with his little light, he said "Oh! Oh my. There IS something." (Me thinking: Thanks. I thought so.) So for the past month, I've been taking eye drops 4 times a day, and it's slowly improving, but my eyesight is still blurry and it's still hard to read. My poor scriptures haven't been read in quite awhile. When I taught my lesson on Sunday to my young women, I had to stop during several parts and have them finish reading for me. It makes me feel dumb and embarassed. But I'm sure it'll get better soon.

Over the past momth, I had a CTscan (nothing too exciting showed up...just an esophagus full of food and some pelvic congestion) and an MRI of my cervical spinal cord (came back normal). P.S. That was my least favorite test (besides the tube swallowing one) I've had to do. I am indeed clausterphobic, but luckily I took some Valium and closed my eyes before I went in the tube for a half hour, and was fine. I went to see a Neurologist, and she found that I have loss of feeling in my feet, and she ordered that MRI to make sure there wasn't anything pressing on my spine and causing all these symptoms down my body. Today I'm going back to have a nerve induction test on my feet, which I hear involves needles. Yuck. My hands and feet are still numb and tingly, and my feet have started hurting, especially at night. It's just weird.

My protein, iron, and vitamin B (along with many others I'm sure) levels are all low, so things could still be due to malnutrition. Oh and I'm losing my hair now. It's been thinning for awhile, but I just really started to notice over the weekend, which was thoroughly depressing. Headbands, anyone? And don't get me started on my bowels....even with Miralax every day, I am still constipated. How is that possible? I do not know.

Despite all this, I feel that I'm in good hands, and there are lots of people and doctors looking out for me. I'm actually excited (although nervous) to get surgery on Monday. And I just hope that it will work, and allow me to live a fairly normal life and be able to eat food without worrying about it getting stuck. If I could be able to sleep without a wedge pillow, that would be an extra bonus. :) Although, thanks Cassity, for lending me yours!

So since my esophagus has food in it again, the surgeon's nurse told me to start a full liquid diet a week before surgery, and a clear liquid diet 2 days before. (And no, they won't be able to suction the food out during surgery, because he onlly goes in through the outside of the esophagus. I just have to hope it'll slide down easily once the surgery is done.) Just for fun, here's a list of my menu this week, and next week after surgery too. Don't be jealous!

My full liquid diet menu:

Protein smoothies
Pureed soups
Ensure shakes
Pudding
Ice cream
Creamies
Milk shakes
Applesauce
Yogurt
Baby food
Drinks
Werthers hard candy

My clear liquid diet menu:

Jello
Broth
Clear juice
Herbal tea
Fruit popsicles
Lifesavers

Woo hoooo, dig in! Go to town, Heather! Variety is key, so I have a lot of different things on hand to choose from. Today I had:

 -a tasty smoothie with orange juice, frozen bananas, blueberries and strawberries, fresh spinach, vanilla ice cream, and vanilla protein powder

-hot chocolate

-strawberry Ensure

-pureed cheesey veggie soup

-Werthers

-OJ and grape juice

-pureed pumpkin maple soup

-baby food (fruity)

-pudding

-ice cream

Seems like a lot. It takes a lot of liquid to satisfy someone! But oh how I long to take a big bite of pizza, Subway, or lasagna. All in due time! Wish me luck next week, I'll be needing it!