Exactly one month til surgery!

Aloha everyone......I have one month exactly until I make that flight to Honolulu from Maui for surgery. It's becoming very real at this point, as I'm finally counting down weeks and days rather than months. I'm following Tin K very closely...she's having surgery this Friday. My surgery will be at Kaiser Maunaloa however...a totally different experience I'm guessing. My family lives in Calif. and Oregon, so I'm going to be doing this alone, and that is just a little scary. I have many friends on Maui who are supporting me and helping me with kitty sitting etc. while I'm in the hospital, but I'm a little worried about getting to the airport from the hospital to come back to Maui...little things like that. But, it will work out, I know it will. I appreciate so deeply the words of encouragement, support and sisterly love that I feel on these pages. We are our own best medicine!! Thank you so much. Aloha, Karen S.

Karen!!!! I'm jumping out of my skin with excitement for you! I'm so excited! You can do it, the logistics will come together, I'm sure of it. The only thing I can think of as far as transportation, is the airport shuttles that operate in Honolulu - are you going to be staying in a hotel after you're released? Do a search on google for 'airport shuttle honolulu' and there are several lists of shuttles that go to different hotels... OR - call the front desk of the hotel you'll stay at and ask them. I'm so excited!!! I'm sorry you're going to be over there alone, I wish I could come nd be there with you! I'm sure our experiences will be different, but yet, just enough similar to glean information from each other. I'm so excited that you're right behind me. I just had my pre-op interview with the OR and I'm getting really excited. What other things have you got to get figured out?? I'll help however I can! And of course, I'm right here to listen and cheer!! TinK

Aloha TinK....Ah, what a sweetie you are. I never had a clue how wonderful everyone was going to be that is going along on this ride with us. It sure makes it a whole lot easier to have people to talk to about everything involved with this major step in our lives. I have my pre-op appointment with the surgeon on the 18th and that is good because I will be flying over from Maui and I can learn about how the shuttles work, etc. I always feel better when I've checked something out instead of doing it for the first time. Do you have your house stocked with after surgery stuff? Protein drinks, jello, crystal lite? I've been working on that as well as reading more books on the subject and, of course, keeping up with this website. Thanks again for your support and caring. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Let's not lose touch!! Aloha, KarenS

Ahhh... thank you Karen! I agree, lets not loose touch! OH, has been an absolute Godsend to me, with the information for sure, but moreso for the relationships that are available here and the support I get from them. I love it! I've kind of started stocking - my only issue is I'm going to be in Oahu for the week post op, and then we're going to the mainland for 2.5 weeks, so I've only bought what I need immediately post op. I'm not sure what I'll like afterwards! That's what worries me! I may hate applesauce, or strawberry jello! I made an order to Unjury last night - I can't wait to try their stuff and I'm SO happy with their company. I hope I love it, cause I could order from them all the time. Their shipping to HI is SO reasonable!! they have samples, as many as you order shipping is only $2.95, and up to 6 canisters is $5.00 more then 6 is free. I thought their prices were very reasonable too, and they have an auto ship program that comes with a discount. Otherwise - I have a few jello's a few SF puddings, some soymilk (fewer sugars, and right now - I'm lactose intolerant without lactaid pills) I have several kinds of protein drinks including Isopure, which I doubt I can take with me very many on the plane! Today I bought a 4 or 5 boxes of Walmart brand crystal light single serving pouches in Peach Ice tea, lemonade and raspberry flavors. Also the no sugar added Carnation Instant Breakfast. That's about it for now, though I'm sure that list will get more extensive very soon! Do you have all your vitamins?? That was a surprise I got today - I am supposed to stop my vitamins 5 days pre-op, but no one told me until today! Close enough I hope. Anyways, I have the sublingual B12, calcium chews (might have to find the pills) flinstones chewable vitamins with iron and biotin. I need to get Zinc for my hair, but I keep forgetting! I also got some Papaya enzyme, though I don't think I'll need it any time soon!! I found my post op eating directions when I was looking through my med. papers today.. I'm supposed to be pureed for the first 6 weeks and then soft for another 6. When I'm on the mainland I'm also going to buy this hair thickener my old hairdresser reccomends that is supposedly fantastic - it's called 'Life' by Alterna. I can't find it on Kauai. Might be on Oahu though - but I know just where to find it back home. Ok - enough of me rambling already!! I'm so excited for you Karen, I can't wait to share in the success together! TinK

Aloha TinK......You are definitely getting short time now!! It's almost like I'm going along with you, I feel so in tune with what you are going through. Please tell me what site you are talking about..."Unjury?" I have ordered a lot of things thorugh www.vitacost.com. They have an excellent protein drink called "Walker Diet." It has tons of vitamins/minerals in it and is very low calorie and tastes great. I've been using the vanilla and blending a half banana in it. Delish! I did not know that about quitting vitamins 5 days before surgery. Thanks for informing me...I will put that on my calendar right now. So few people use the "hawaii" section of OH. I never could figure out why. I'm so glad I found you here. GOOD LUCK MY FRIEND! I will so waiting to hear about your experience. Aloha, Karen

Hello Karen! Your doctor could be different on the vitamins - just ask to be sure, but yeah, the nurse said, "now aren't you glad I called today?" LOL.. And indeed I was! I'll have to check out your protein drink - I'm totally open to whatever I can find and try. Unjury seems to be very popular amongst OH members, so I checked out the website this week www.unjury.com and they had samples of their 4 varieties - they have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry sorbet and an unflavored that gets rave reviews on the main message board. I wanted to try to the unflavored, but I decided what the heck, I'll just get a canister and whether I like it or not, I'm just going to do it! supposedly, it's very good. I was thinking I'd use it in things like puddings and Jellos where you can dissolve it into the water/milk and then mix together the pudding/jello. Also alot of people add it to their yogurt, applesauce, sf hot cocoa, soups even! But I was really impressed with their shipping... it didn't matter that I was in Hawaii, it was the same, and they are fast!! It went out same day! Also - I was thrilled at how sweet the lady was on the phone with me when I called to ask questions about shipping. Anyways - I will go check out vitacost. Sounds like another good one! I know what you mean about the 'speed' of our board, it can be slow sometimes, but by the posts, I get the idea that some of our regulars check in and read most every day The big problem is there just aren't that many of us! I'll be turning a bunch of kauaians onto this board though come August, because we're going to be starting up an OH affiliated support group over here and I'll be singing the praises for sure!! I'll try to let everone know how I'm doing if I can - perhaps if I'm coherant on day two and have internet service. If not... it will be as soon as I get out of the hospital! Thanks for being there Karen - I really appreciate you! TinK

yay for you!! I was hoping to have surgery the same time as you but mine isn't until August 9th!! From what they told me Kaiser has a shuttle that goes to and from the airport every hour so I am sure they will help you. They BETTER LMAO!! Talk to ya soon!! Shannon