VSG Maintenance Group
06/25/18, Monday
Cecily, I am so happy for you that you can get those kinds of meals delivered and so jealous of you! I'm kale-green, actually.
And I'm glad you're feeling more mobile and bendy and healing well, too.
ANN 5'5", AGE 74, HW 235.6 (BMI 39.2), SW 216, GW 150, CW 132, BMI 22
POUNDS LOST: Pre-op -20, M1 -10, M2 -11, M3 -10, M4 -10, M5 -7, M6 -5, M7 -6, M8 -4, M9 -4,
NEXT 10 MOS. -12, TOTAL -100 LBS.
It sounds like the positives are starting to outweigh the negatives. I am jealous of your healthy delivered meals. You know I felt like I could eat more than usual for a while after PS then had to dial back too. Our bodies must burn more calories when healing?
So just a little over two weeks until you can go to Michigan. Yeah!
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
on 6/25/18 3:19 pm
They must! I had to eat upwards of 3000 calories a day and still dropped 6 pounds over what he took off. Sadly, that is no longer the case. But it was kind of fun while it lasted. At least the ice cream, bread, pasta, and occasional cheesecake parts.
I am starting to feel like the good is creeping up. I still have a lot of open incisions and one giant hole, but other openings are closing or never developed into things nearly as bad as my worst hole. I've gotten good at getting out of the suit to use the bathroom. And getting in and out of the car is not nearly as awkward! But I did tell my friend there was no way I could get in or out of her Miata anytime soon...
I feel like I can make plans to go to dinners and the theater (going on the 10th). So at 7 weeks, life has improved leaps and bounds over week one or four for that matter. I still desperately want a whole body shower though!!!!!!!!
There was a recent study on breast cancer survivors that had breast reconstruction. It turns out that they have a much higher complication rate than what has been reported.
Somehow, peeps in PS and oncology were surprised by this. I'm surprised they were surprised.
Anyway, the reason I am bringing this up is that the vast majority of those people still were very happy with the surgery, despite increased complications.
One lady lost one of her "flaps" (where they bring up stomach skin/tissue/muscle to form a breast) because it it lost blood supply which is close to the worst complication possible. She was still thrilled with the surgery because the other side was aok. "I love the feel of a natural breast." (I don't know what they had to do with the side that lost the flap.)
I think it funny that kale and excessive garlic are now part of the complications
HW:361 SW:304 (VSG 12/04/2014)Mo 1:-32 Mo 2:-13.5 Mo 3: -13.5 Mo 4 -9.5 Mo 5: -15 Mo 6: -15 Mo 7: -13.5 Mo 8: -17 Mo 9: -13 Mo 10: -12.5 11/3/2015 Healthy BMI Reached! Mo 11: -9 Mo 12: -8 12/27/2015 Goal Weight Reached!
on 6/25/18 4:04 pm
I'm sure I'll be happy when I can enjoy my new shape without all the garbage that currently is keeping me from doing so. Maybe it is like childbirth - once you're past the awful bits, you enjoy the end result enough to think it's all worth it.
And kale and garlic ARE unwelcome complications! I usually like veggies, but that is a combo I can't get behind.
Let's try again
Good morning!
Hike yesterday was 12.67 miles and 4500 elevation gain. A good part of that gain was in 0.9 mile. Lots of pulling up on rocks, roots and branches. How fun is that? There was little worry about heights/falling; if you failed to make it up the next 18 inches, you would simply be standing in the same place. I took bear spray because it wasn't clear how many people would be willing to do that and there had been reports of hearing "bear dens" on a different part of the trail.
(Is "hearing bear dens" even a thing? I don't know.)
After the main part of the hike came the boring part of the loop. It was here that I come close to being lost as I ever have, at least for about 15-20 minutes. Lots of little mistakes that I sort of knew I was making in the moment but I was busy being seduced by thinking I saw correct trail a "just over there" a few times.
About 10 minutes of zig-zagging down a steep slope, I viscerally knew that not only was I off the trail that I wanted, but I was also off the trail that brought me there.
I was not on any trail at all. Instead I was surrounded by a zillion look alike trees, twigs and pine needles. I could no longer hear I-90. My boots didn't leave a trail for me to follow back.
I should have taken a picture of the absence of civilization but I was busy keeping anxiety at sub-simmer. I LITERALLY asked the tree fairies for assistance but I could not feel their sparkling presence. I thought about the bear spray that was in my pack and looked around for (hungry) cougar dens.
Anyhoo, I spotted brightness in elevation, prayed (to anything listening) that it was not a mirage, and clambered up. There I found the ridge trail that brought me. A few minutes of backtracking brought me to the correct trail and the hum of I90. I said a cheerful hello to the people coming up and agreed it was a wonderful day to be out.
(I got off the trail originally because I missed a hard turn to the left. Instead, I followed a smaller spur trail that headed straight ahead.)
Even as it was happening, I was not surprised that it took a few minutes to be engulfed by woods. I am very cautious, only hiking well established popular trails (full buses literally drop people off at this TH multiple times a day) and I never listen to audio if I am on a new-to-me trail and I can't see anyone else.
Yet, there I was. Lots of lessons in this. My new emergency device should arrive in the next couple of weeks. It has some things that could be helpful long before a SOS is needed. But, hopefully I keep myself out of ever needing it at all!
Pics below from the top. You can see I am not alone. I wish the pics showed the multiple glacier-frosted volcanos of the Cascades. It is amazing how far the eye can see on just the right day, from just the right vantage point. Rainier needed no zoom.
Don't get lost today,
Shel
HW:361 SW:304 (VSG 12/04/2014)Mo 1:-32 Mo 2:-13.5 Mo 3: -13.5 Mo 4 -9.5 Mo 5: -15 Mo 6: -15 Mo 7: -13.5 Mo 8: -17 Mo 9: -13 Mo 10: -12.5 11/3/2015 Healthy BMI Reached! Mo 11: -9 Mo 12: -8 12/27/2015 Goal Weight Reached!
Lost off a trail in the wilderness-your heart must have been racing! I hardly know my right from my left and trust the blue color to show what's up as opposed to down. Scary! Until your homing devise arrives, be sure to scatter bread crumbs as you go- or, wait- maybe not if lions, tigers or bears might just think you are inviting them to follow you for lunch. Oh My!
