Last day of group nutrition class

Today was my last day of group nutrition out of 5 classes. My dam car door won't close so I can't drive there until it gets fixed. That means my mother, my good sister, and myself all have to ride the medical van to and from group nutrition.  That sucked, we were almost late, but none the less I am grateful that we could all get there without our car.

In group today We talked about different places to get bariatric friendly recipes both on and off line. Some blogs and website like pintrest. Many of which I already know about, but some are new. I can't believe how close surgery is getting, I passed the half way point the other day without realizing it. I have 104 days left now, this is getting crazy.

I feel fairly confident with my progress so far and I'm glad that do much of what we went over today was familiar, that means I'm on the right track. I have even lost a few pounds on my own, which is quite the fear since I'm quite bloated, and usually weigh in higher at this time of month.

My Mom

I would like to take this time to thank my mother for changing her own sleep habits to match my own, which have been sporadic since I got my CPAP machine.

I have only been sleeping for a few short hours at a time, each time I go to bed.  I tend to sleep from 2-4 hours at a time 2 or 3 times a day. That's not particularly healthy for anyone, buy my Mom knows I dislike being alone most of the time, so she has been sleeping at the same time as me for the most part.

Words can barely express how much I appreciate that. Thank you Mom. 💗👏

The new mask and other CPAP fun.

(Friday, Dec12/2014, 12:30 am)

So on Wednesday (Dec/10/2014) I received my new size small mask for my CPAP machine. Things, for the most part are going much better. My new mask fits my face properly, and does not bubble off of my face like the size medium did. Nor are the blisters in my mouth getting worse. But there was one problem I couldn't quite figure out.

Something strange happened the first time I slept with it though. The machine was finally registering a poor fit at some point during the night. Well WTH when the old mask was blowing off of my face everything was supposedly fine, but I could feel how well the new mask was fitting when I woke up, and now the machine was registering an improper fit.

Well what the heck happened? I decided to check the my air site that my machine reports data to. I checked the mask fit log and the seal was excellent for almost the whole night. There was one bar that showed a problem, the very last one from right before I woke up. Then it hit me all of the sudden. I was dreaming about ripping my mask off my face right before I woke up, I must have acted it out.

Woo-hoo! That meant there was no problem with my mask after all!!! What a relief, I was ecstatic.

Mask problems that "in my opinion"* have no good solution:
Being a side sleeper there was also always a possibility of pushing my mask sideways. Which doesn't feel great. When that happens the leak tends to go into my eye, which is very uncomfortable considering I have dry eye. There is also a tiny tiny leak at the top of my nose, this was the case with both masks and I'm guessing it either has to do with the shape of my nose, OR the fact that I am a woman wearing the men's/"unisex " mask. Instead of the women's mask, that was designed for the unique characteristics of women.

*disclaimer I am not a doctor, not an I an expert in sleep apnea or gastric bypass surgery. I am simply another patient going through life sharing my life experiences with others. I put my experiences can help others.

My new CPAP machine

On Friday I finitely received my very first CPAP machine. It's pretty compact, and is the feminine travel model. Which is an automatic pressure machine, with a humidifier and a full face mask. I need the face mask because I sleep with my mouth wide open. When I wake up I tend to have a dry mouth, which can be very uncomfortable.

The machine is actually very easy to use, and no where near as difficult to sleep with it on as I thought it would be. However I do feel a lot like Darth Vader wearing this mask.

Surprisingly enough my cat is not afraid of the machine, and Buddy is afraid of everything!!! I'm sure it helps that the machine is so quiet.

I am already able to tell that I'm getting better quality sleep, but it is difficult to sleep for long periods of time. It is possible that is a side effect of getting sick better sleep than I have in a long time.

There is one problem with the CPAP though, the mask doesn't fit me right. I'm getting blisters and cuts inside my mouth from the mask, and I'm also getting some bruising on my cheekbones right by my nose. On the bright side I called my provide and they will come out to give me a different mask tomorrow.

What !!?? I have sleep apnea!

I found out that I have sleep apnea. That means that I wake up from not breathing 15 times every hour. 15 was my personal number as the number of times that one wakes up can vary from person to person.

I found this out after I had a sleep study done because of my very high score on the sleep apnea questionnaire that I took at my surgeons office.

If your surgeon has concerns about sleep apnea please follow their instructions and go to a sleep doctor, and a sleep study (if that's what the sleep doctor wants you to do) asap

My decision for a healthier life

Hi my name is Liz I'm 25 and I haven struggled with my weight for much of my life. I was not fat growing up I was the same size as my friends, but when I looked at them I saw saw someone who was thin, and beautiful. But when I looked at myself I saw flab, and pudge.

The turning point for me and my weight was when I was in middle school, the sixth grade in fact. My father had just been arrested for sexual abuse against me. This led to major depression and PTSD. I found comfort in food, which led to a lot of weight gain. By the time i was in the eighth grade I had gone from a size 10 to a size 20.

My weight went back down quite a bit my sophomore year of high school. I lost a lot of weight by being in colorguard, the highschool play and walking back and forth from school for class as well as practice. But there is no way in the state I'm in now I could possibly do that much activity along with the lack of eating I was doing at the time.

After I graduated from highschool my weight skyrocketed because I had found myself in a bad relationship and food became a comfort again. Even though I left that relationship several years ago I still find myself comforting with food. I just want food to let loose its control of me, and my life. And surgery will make that possible.

In June of 2014 I attended an informational seminar about bariatric surgery hosted by Emmerson hospital. They were very informative and by the end of the seminar my mind was completely made up, I decided that I would be having surgery so that I could lead a better life, a longer and happier one as well.

On August 25th had my first appointment at the clinic and on the 27th I attended my very first nutrition group meeting. And I know I'm not looking back!