Hello everyone!!!

Man I have been so busy, We finished my kitchen with the exception of the counter top on december 20th. My father in law flew in on Dec 21st and the rest is all hoilday History lol I'm kinda surprised that I even have this time now to post.  I want to share just a few thoughts I have had with the holidays and what not going on.  # 1 I discovered that you MUST be a little selfish if this is going to work. By that i mean its impossible to cook and clean and make everyone in my life happy without neglecting myself because soemthing has to give and usualy its me. but in this new year i'm going to make sure that I take care of me because after all I had this surgery to be around longer for my family and if i dont change the way i do things its not going to be any different. ( work included)  #2 i discovered I dont dump. :(  now dont get me wrong being sick when i eat is not somehitng I was looking forward to . however it would have forced me to be good more than i have been.  also i would like to say i havent had like a dish of ice cream or a candy bar by any means but i did eat a cookie and not dump. I have never even goten sick once since the surgery knock on wood..... #3 but really #1 I miss the you guys! I found that I so badley wanted to come and post and just take a minute to read posts and make sure everyone was doing ok. I did read posts a little over the last 2 weeks just didnt really post any. So in th new year I am going to give to myself and take care of me and come here to OH to get the most needed support from a great group of people that I have learned so much from....THANKS !!!!!  E  PS i got this pain in my abdomen around my incision and g-tube area now i called the called doc and they said it sounds like my body was trying to reject the stitch that is inside me. she put me on antibiotics and we'll see how that does I have an apointment on the 16th of this month. anyone know what it feels like to have a hernia? 

I totally agree with #1 and #3. I can't speak yet to #2, as I'm still pre-op.

So very many of my friends tell me that I need to take better care of myself, that I'm starting to see the light. I think they have convinced me, but I'm not yet sure how to do it. I need to over come a LIFETIME of putting other people's needs first. I think MY journey is about that as much as the excess weight that I drag around.

Congratulations on making it through the holidays and having the time to have insights!

Thanks Patty:)   Together we can be selfish!  and do it for the ones we love the most!

On January 1, 2008 at 6:45 PM Pacific Time, estelleSmit wrote:

"Thanks Patty:)   Together we can be selfish!"

That's the way I feel too - like I'm being selfish. That's what I learned from my folks, who were also massively co-dependent. But I think there is a difference between being selfish and self-caring. To others, our self care may look selfish, bit it's not.

I really don't know how to do this very well yet. 

Today I was ready to try to work my pool time around driving my daughter to work (no buses on holidays). And the health club was only open from 8-noon. Luckily, DH saw what I was doing, and insisted in driving kiddo to work so I could go swim in a less rushed time-frame. Sometimes he surprises me!

So I think I'm going to start posting my successes in self-care. Good luck to you in doing the same!

We remodeled our kitchen three years ago, and when the final work was done, it was such a good feeling!  We enjoy the kitchen so much, we have forgotten how ugly it used to be. I do dump, which is good.  I wish I dumped on bread -- all it does to me is swell up and then soak up all my water like a sponge, so I eat a roll and find I am five pounds fatter the next day. A hernia will most likely bulge.  If your pain doesn't get better, or if it gets worse, don't wait until the 16th.  You don't want to screw around with it just in case it's something. Kix