8-week post-op appointment

I've had a busy day today. It's Jerry's first day off work in 12 days (he works 12-hour shifts, so that's 144 hours of work in the last 12 consecutive days). I was missing him like crazy! I had my post-op appointment at 1:30 pm, so we decided to go to lunch in Dearborn before going to my appointment.

Normally, when I'm in Dearborn, I love to go to La Pita (a Middle Eastern restaurant). But Jerry doesn't like it much, so we decided to go to a place called Pizza Papalis, which has amazing Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Not the best choice for me to eat the day before my weigh in, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice that :)  I always gain about 2 pounds the day after eating pizza--it never fails!

When we got there, we noticed that there were parking meters, and luckily I had some change on me. We fed the meter enough for 1 hour and 20 minutes, which I was sure would be enough time. Since we ordered deep dish pizza, we had to wait a while for it to cook, but it was totally worth it. (You can clearly see why I'm not a food blogger by the quality of my food photos).

I ate two pieces of this baby, and saved enough room for dessert. A "deep dish" cookie with ice cream. It sounded so delicious, but I was VERY disappointed when I tasted it.

It was kind of burned on the edges, and very "cake like" in the middle, which I don't like. So we picked all the edges off and ate just the center--Jerry ate most of it. At that time, Jerry said, "We just hit the time to feed the parking meter" and I said, "I'm sure a few minutes won't matter--but you know what, knowing our luck, we'll get a ticket. So I'll go feed the meter and you can get the check."

I walked outside just in time to see a meter maid police officer writing a parking ticket for our Jeep! I said, "Excuse me! That's my car!" as I ran over there, and I tried to tell him that I was just coming out to feed it more change. He COMPLETELY ignored me. Like, he pretended I wasn't even there. Asshole! Of course he probably thought I was lying, because I'm sure he hears it all the time, but REALLY?!

It was $10 if we paid it within 3 days, so we got in the car and drove right to the stupid courthouse where I paid the ticket. The first parking ticket I've ever gotten in my life, and I watched the cop write it. Grr!

After that, we had about 30 minutes to kill before my appointment, so we went to the mall. I had a JCPenny giftcard for $25, and I decided to find something to use it on. I saw some really cute hats on sale:

I also found this shirt that I was SUPER psyched about finding:

The 3-0 is because I'm turning 30 in 15 days. Cheesy, yes. Awesome, also yes.

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After the mall, I finally went to my appointment. I only had one concern, and it was a little fold of skin where my drain tube was--a small pucker. Hard to describe. Dr. Tepper told me that she could revise that right in the office (a short, simple procedure with just a numbing shot); so I set that appointment for January 26 (the day after my birthday).

Other than that, she said I'm healing perfectly. She took my "after" photos in the ugly blue panties that they use for those pictures ;)  She noticed that I'd lost weight, and she was very insistent that I stay at this weight now. She said that losing OR gaining will have an effect on how my skin adheres back to my muscle wall. She said that my weight right now is perfect where it is, so I should do my best to maintain. WOO HOO!!

I asked her about the cost of surgery when paid for out-of-pocket (one of my FAQ's about surgery); she said it is 100% dependent on the person and what their body shape is when they come in. The cost is all about surgery time, and if someone needs more work, it's going to cost more.

She said that my case was the "ideal" case, where I was in great shape before surgery and it was simple. Someone who had a lot more contouring would have to pay more, because it takes more time in the OR. So she said the only way to know is to get a consult. I gave Dr. Tepper my blog address and told her that I wrote a review about her and the hospital--so she may be checking it out ;) 

So other than my short revision in a couple of weeks, I don't have to go back for six months. Now I'm off to spend some more quality time with my husband! :)

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And now, the results of the giveaway. I am completely SHOCKED that out of 166 comments, not a SINGLE PERSON guessed the right number of calories in the peanut butter!!  You guessed all around the correct number, but nobody guessed the exact number.

Ignore how dirty this scale is! haha

There was a total of 36 grams of peanut butter (this doesn't count the spoon).  The nutrition label said 200 calories for 32 grams, so that means there are 6.25 calories per gram. So 36 x 6.25 =...

225 calories!

Not a single person guessed 225. There was a guess for 224 and 226, however, so I will have to make another tea wallet to give away.

TriciaM guessed 224, so you're a winner! And Monica guessed 226, so you're a winner as well! Just e-mail me your shipping address, and I'll send you your tea wallet :)  (Oh, and Jen who guessed 226 as well, I'm sorry--but Monica guessed 226 first!)

Thanks everyone for playing, and let this be a lesson to us--peanut butter costs a LOT of frickin' calories! lol

I love the comment from jbu:  "I feel like I always scoop out that much peanut butter and try to tell myself that it's 1 tbsp...because I fit it onto 1 spoon--i'm afraid that knowing the answer to this might force me to stop doing that lol. My guess is 212 calories. Cute pattern!"

A lot of you mentioned that I should sell the tea wallets. I didn't feel right doing that because it's not my pattern, so I e-mailed the person who wrote the pattern, and asked if she might give my readers a discount in her Etsy store. She was SO KIND to offer you all a 10% discount on her Etsy items!! Here is a link to her shop; and she also has some adorable kids items as well, which can be found here.  All you have to do for a 10% discount is use the discount code "runsforcookies10".

On top of that, she also told me that I was welcome to make them and sell them as well! I think I will make a few, but I am not going to sell them as cheaply as she does--she charges just $9, which is a super bargain, in my opinion (it takes a lot of time to make something by hand). So feel free to check out her shop, but if you'd rather I make one for you, then I can certainly do that as well. I'll write more about it soon.

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A group run (and a giveaway)

Last night, Jessica sent me a text saying that she was going running at 8:30 this morning if I wanted to join them (her and a couple of friends). Since I was going to be running anyway, I said sure. After I put the kids on the bus, I scarfed down some breakfast and headed out.

There were four of us: Jessica, Julia, Johna, and me. Johna is running her first half-marathon in March. The run was so much fun and the time FLEW by--I love running with a group! When we were done, Julia and I decided to run together on Friday too. We're going to do 7 miles (the farthest I've gone since surgery has been 4) but I think I'll be fine since Julia likes to run a slower pace than me. So if I go slow, hopefully I'll do fine with 7 :) We ran 4.18 miles at a 10:22 pace.

After my run, I went to Wal-Mart for some fusible interfacing to make a super cute project that I found on Pinterest. It's a tea wallet to carry tea in your purse. Since I gave up coffee, I've been drinking tea a lot more lately. I love the idea of having some with me all the time so that I can make it at a friend's house, or my mom's, etc.

Anyway, it turned out super cute and I decided to make a SECOND one so that I could give it away to one of my readers!

Isn't it adorable?!  The pattern source (a tutorial) can be found here. If you know how to use a sewing machine, it's very straight-forward and simple. If not, and you would like to win this one, I thought of a fun little game that we could do to pick a winner. Because picking a random person isn't much fun! So you have to work your brain a little :)

In the picture below is a spoonful of my faaaavorite food--peanut butter!! All you have to do is tell me how many calories are in that spoonful. I'll even show you the nutrition label.

(I weighed out the peanut butter to the gram and calculated the calories that way). The only rule is you have to have an ORIGINAL guess--if someone before you guessed your number, then just pick a different number.

So here is the picture of the spoonful of peanut butter... remember, you're guessing how many calories are in this spoonful (the almond is there for size reference):

I'll give the contest until 5:00 pm (EST) tomorrow (Tuesday). I'll announce the correct answer and the winner of the tea wallet then  :)  Good luck!

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An expensive trip to Sam's Club

Yesterday was a fun day spent with Noah. Eli spent the night at my parents' house (it was his birthday) and he had a friend stay there with him. So I had some time alone with Noah, and we ended up playing the Wii Fit Plus. I hadn't played in a LONG time (when I weighed in, it said I am no longer "overweight" but "normal" now--so it's been very long!)  I forgot how much fun it is. I love doing the obstacle course, despite the frustration sometimes.  I gave Noah the camera to take a few pics for the blog, but instead of taking pictures of ME, he took pics of my character on the TV :)

I was getting frustrated that I couldn't beat my previous scores--and I was actually sweating from doing this game. Chandler was exhausted just watching us:

There was an important football game on last night, so Jerry asked Noah if he wanted to watch it with him. Noah was excited about it, and I took him to Kroger to pick out a snack for them to eat during the game. He picked Pringles--pizza flavored ones (yuck).

I was doing so well at not eating nut butter or Cookie Butter out of the jar this week--until yesterday. Ugh, I probably had 5 spoonfuls of Cookie Butter. Good news is it's almost gone. Bad news is, it's probably sitting on my hips right now.  I also had too much wine last night. I was browsing Pinterest and Jerry must have refilled my glass a couple of times ;)   I'm attempting to do doing a no-added-sugar day today, to hopefully detox from all the sugar in the Cookie Butter yesterday.

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I made a trip to Sam's Club this morning while the kids were at church. I love Sam's Club, I really do, but I can never leave there without spending a couple hundred dollars. We don't go very often (for that reason). I like to buy certain things there that are much cheaper to buy them in bulk: meat, frozen fruit/veggies, oats, batteries, etc. Today, I spent $187... nearly our entire grocery budget for the next two weeks. Yikes!

I'm still on a salad kick, so I decided to get some Spring Mix instead of using the Romaine I've been using. I've also been eating chicken lately (in the salad) which is totally unlike me. I used to hate chicken! I just think it's so gross. But after surgery, I was trying to get protein wherever I could, and maybe I just learned to like it? Maybe it's just a phase. Whatever--I bought five pounds of 5 oz. chicken breasts. And Havarti cheese <3

My kids are going to be thrilled when they see the American cheese and Slim Jims (things they love but I never buy). And Jerry will be thrilled that I bought coffee. I was kind of hoping that he'd quit drinking it along with me, and save us a small fortune--but he loves his coffee, so it's fine ;)

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Maybe it's the super nice weather we've been having lately, but I am in a "Spring cleaning" kind of mood. I want to go through closets and drawers and just pitch all kinds of stuff. Hopefully even sell a few things on E-bay. We don't have a lot of any storage space. We don't have an attic, or a garage, or a basement. So everything we own is either out in the open or packed into closets and drawers. My mom is going to have a garage sale in the Spring, so I think I'll just pack stuff up and store it in her attic until we can sell it at the garage sale. There is something so satisfying about clearing out clutter!

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Your pace, or mine?

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I thought, "Ugh, I'm going to put the kids on the bus and go back to sleep for a while." But of course that never happens! I was on my feet ALL DAY yesterday--I was completely exhausted and my back was killing me.

I spent all evening making Eli's cookies for school. They could only go in the oven eight at a time, so it took me a looong time to finish six batches.  He was happy with them though.

Isn't he the cutest almost-6 year old?!

There were two boxes. I threw away the extra cookies (except for two for the kids' lunches) so that I wouldn't binge on them.

I drove the boys to school so that I could bring the cookies in for Eli. On the way, he asked me what I brought for the kids to drink. Nothing. So we had to stop at Kroger before school, and I picked up a case of water. Drove to the school, and while I was gathering my stuff in the car, a woman in a minivan pulled in the spot right next to me--WAAAY too close. I couldn't squeeze out of my door, and I'm not even fat anymore!

I started walking with the kids toward the school (I was carrying a 24-pack of water and two boxes of cookies); and it was super windy. Halfway to the door, I realized that Eli forgot his book bag in the car. I sent Noah to the car to get it, but of course he couldn't get in because of the woman who parked so close to me. The other side of the car was locked. I had to put everything down, dig through my purse for my keys, and then go get the book bag. Don't you just hate mornings like that?!  ;)

Anyway, I dropped the snack off in Eli's classroom then came home to relax. But I got the itch to go for a run, so I did. Jessica and Renee (as well as a bunch of other people) are running a half-marathon in March. They were talking about it yesterday on the way to Whole Foods, and I was kind of jealous. They just started training this week. So I decided to follow the half-marathon training schedule for a few weeks and see if I feel good enough (post-op) to run a HM in March. Today was the first long run, and it was only 4 miles. I did it and felt fine. Which made me think, "Sure, I can run a half-marathon in 11 weeks"  ;)

Four miles is the farthest I've run after my surgery. I think I'm going to cut the HM training to just 3 days per week--two 3-mile runs and a long run. I'm not looking to PR at the race--just go nice and easy and finish. So I think it should work out. If I'm feeling good in a few weeks, I'll register.

Speaking of registering, Jessica and I are making a relay team for the Detroit Marathon in October. Each team is made up of 5 people, and each person takes a leg of the marathon. I don't have a passport, so I can't do the Canada legs. I decided to take the "glory" leg, which is the last 4.4 miles and across the finish line. It should be fun!  Our team name is "Your pace, or mine?"  ;)

Jessica and I also decided to postpone our full marathon until Spring. Neither one of us feels up to the challenge for Fall (my knee has been bothering me, and she has a hip injury), and we both have a lot going on. It'll be hard to train for Fall. So we need to find a good Spring marathon to do in April or May of 2013. I feel totally relieved about the decision.

My house is feeling totally neglected right now, so I need to start doing laundry and cleaning up!

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Whole Foods

Today I had my first Whole Foods experience! (Well, actually it was my second--but the first time was at a tiny little Whole Foods in Minnesota and I spent about 5 minutes there).

Renee asked me if I wanted to go with her and Jessica to Whole Foods for a little shopping and wine tasting. Did she even have to ASK?! ;)  Renee drove, and we left at about 10:45. It took about an hour to get there (which is why I've never gone).

I was so impressed with the store! It was huge and had so much fun stuff in there. I was the most impressed with the bakery and all the desserts, of course. They had sooo many cakes and cupcakes and chocolates and all kinds of goodies. I bought a carrot cupcake to bring home with me for my treat tonight.

We walked around the store and I picked up a few things, but most of the stuff that I wanted was either too expensive, or too "bingey" for me to bring home. I can see why people call it "Whole Paycheck"--I could easily spend $1000 in there.

I bought a fresh loaf of cranberry-walnut bread, which I'll probably spread a piece with peanut butter and eat for dinner. I bought a couple of sample packets of Justin's almond butter and chocolate-hazelnut butter. I got Jerry a 6-pack of beer and a little German chocolate tartlet thing. And a couple of other things.

Cranberry Walnut bread

We had the salad bar for lunch, and sat down near the wine bar. I took about a tablespoon of probably 12 different foods--a whole bunch of random stuff. There were a couple of things I didn't care for, but for the most part, it was really good. I had a glass of wine too--can't remember what it was now! It was a red French wine. I wanted to buy a bottle of it, but since I'm determined that 2012 is all about paying down debt, the wine is the first thing to go.  That's okay, I can always have my Black Box ;)

So we headed out after our lunch and wine. As soon as I got home, I remembered that I was supposed to get something from Target for Eli. He gave me some of his Christmas money to buy an Army soldier set that was on clearance. I was worried it might not be there later, so I went to Target and rushed home in time for the kids to get home from school.

Eli's birthday is on Saturday, and he'll be six. They'll celebrate his birthday at school tomorrow, so we decided to make cheeseburger cookies for his birthday treat. When I was picking up the ingredients from the store, I realized that the Grasshopper cookies were mint--and Eli hates mint. He was excited about making the cookies, so I after debating in my head whether to buy the stuff, I decided that he probably wouldn't even notice the mint cookies in the excitement of it looking like a cheeseburger.

Turns out I was wrong. We assembled the cookies and he was very happy with them. Then I told him he could eat one, since we had some extras. And he looked so apologetic when he said, "I don't like it."  When I asked him why, he said, "I just don't like mint."  I felt awful. I told him that we'd make something else, and he kept saying no, that he'll just bring these and he won't eat one. I said that daddy could take the cheeseburger cookies to work for his friends and we'd make something else. He was satisfied with that, so we went to the store to find something else. 

With Noah's urging, he ended up picking this:

And of course each box makes 24, so I had to get two boxes for 26 kids. These things are a pain to make. Especially when you're trying to cook dinner at the same time. So you know what I'll be doing for the rest of the evening!

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I knew it would catch up with me!

I did not have a very good weigh in today. Not good at all. I can't really say I'm surprised, though--because I indulged in a lot of unusual stuff this week. I was 136, which is up two pounds from last week. I didn't take a picture (or even do my body fat) because I'm going to stay in denial and pretend I'm still at 134 ;)  I'm still binge-free though! 52 days now.

I AM going to buckle down this week, though. My #1 goal for the week is to not eat ANYTHING straight out of the jar--meaning Cookie Butter, peanut butter, peanut butter spread (see below), or anything like that. I think I had a few too many spoonfuls. But thankfully, I can't just run to the store and buy the Cookie Butter or the peanut butter spread. The peanut butter spread is this stuff that my mom bought when she went to Shipshewana, Indiana last weekend:

No wonder it tastes so good! Look at those ingredients :)

It has the texture of a creamy marshmallow fluff, but it tastes like sugary peanut butter. It's a good thing I don't live near Shipshewana! I'm on my last jar of Cookie Butter, too, which is probably a good thing.

This morning, I had a bowl of warm oatmeal, which I haven't had since before my surgery. I was trying to hard to get in a lot of protein post-op, so I was having protein shakes every day for breakfast. Today, I made a delicious bowl of oatmeal--oats cooked in milk with brown sugar, chopped dates, raisins, and walnuts.

I always see the instant oatmeal at the store, and while it sounds good, it always tastes disgusting. I saw one called something like "dates, walnuts, and raisins" so I decided to make a real bowl of oatmeal like it. It was SO good--maybe just because I haven't had oatmeal in so long, but I'm going to make the same thing tomorrow.

After I ate breakfast, I decided to go for a run outside. It looked freezing outside, so I was tempted to run on the dreadmill, but I always regret the dreadmill before I even run 1/4 mile. I felt really good--the second and third mile actually felt better than the first.

Three miles in 29:44.

Post-run glow ;)

We still don't have much snow, so the roads were clear and I think it was about 26 degrees. Not too bad for January in Michigan!

After I showered and got dressed, I decided to go visit my friend Sarah who is in the hospital right now (not to be confused with Sarah from Arizona). Sarah and I were very close friends in high school, and then after we graduated, we went our separate ways. I've only seen her a handful of times since.

Sarah and me in 10th grade

Anyway, I found out on Facebook that she has stage three melanoma, and that she is having some complications from her treatment, so she's in the hospital all week. I didn't tell her I was coming--I wanted to surprise her.

I'm SO glad that I went!! I've really missed her. She's still as goofy and funny as she was in high school, despite being sick. She has two kids (I think they are about 10 and 8 years old). She said when she's feeling better, she'd like to start running, so I told her that I'd run with her any time she's ready. It was really good to visit with her today. She said that she has no family history of melanoma, and that the cancer was most likely from tanning; and it's interesting, because Sarah and I used to go tanning together in high school. I wish that we knew then how bad it was for you! I'm happy to be pasty white now.

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So yesterday was the new season premier of The Biggest Loser. I think I'm going to be happy with this season. I'm so glad that the trainers are Bob and Dolvett. I hated that they sent home one pair before they even stepped foot on the ranch--it always breaks my heart to see that! I hope they make it back on.

I was super excited for Dolvett when his team won the weigh-in. I think it helped establish some credibility for him, since Bob always seems to be the favorite trainer. Dolvett is really good--I loved when he was very drill sergeant-like during the first workout! The only person who was really on my nerves last night was Santa's wife (I don't know any names yet). She just didn't push herself very hard at all.  It looks like it should be a good season!

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All About My Skin Removal Surgery, Part 2: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Click here to read Part 1 first.

Having a lower body lift after losing well over a hundred pounds was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's been over seven weeks since surgery, and I'm SO HAPPY that I did it! It wasn't all sunshine and roses, however. Here, I will share the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of the skin removal surgery...

The Good

I'll start with the obvious: My mid-section looks a million times better than it did before surgery! Even from the first day post-op, I was thrilled with the results.

The surgery wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it was going to be. The first few days were rough, which I'll talk about in "The Bad" section, but the rest of recovery was pretty easy. My stomach and incision were completely numb, so it didn't hurt. I switched from Vicodin to Motrin after about a week, and I'm sure I could have done that even sooner.

Before surgery, I was very worried about the incision across my back (which is at the top of each butt cheek, very low). It really scared me to have an incision that went all the way around. But after the surgery, I actually paid very little attention to that part of the incision, because I kind of forgot about it. The back lift part of the lower body lift was the easiest part of the surgery.

The compression garment wasn't nearly as annoying as I'd read about online. Actually, I kind of liked wearing it. It's a secure feeling. It's very tight, but I wasn't uncomfortable wearing it at all.

I was able to move easily on my own after about five days.

I was cleared to start running again (or any exercise except ab work) after just eight days post-op (but I chose to wait until 4 weeks).

I feel SO MUCH MORE CONFIDENT in my body now. I don't feel like I have to "hide" my figure, and I feel confident to wear cute clothes and tight jeans. It has done wonders for my self-esteem!

I recovered very quickly. I thought I would be layed up in bed for six weeks, but I was moving around easily by two weeks post-op.

I didn't have a single complication. This might have been luck, or maybe the fact that I followed my surgeon's instructions right to the tee, but I was very happy not to have any complications.

The Bad

I was extremely nauseous after surgery for about 15 hours. I even dry-heaved a few times in the hospital, and it hurt very badly because my abs were sore. I've never experienced nausea like that! It was so bad that I cried (which made it hurt more).

My mouth was extremely dry after surgery for about 24 hours. I was told that part of the anesthesia causes you to stop producing saliva for about 24 hours. It was extremely difficult to chew and swallow food because I had no saliva in my mouth. I drank a ton of water just to be able to eat.

It's hard to get comfortable while lying down, and it hurt my abs very badly to turn over. I slept on each side and my back, turning every couple of hours so I didn't get too stiff, but turning over was very painful in my abs.

I was extremely weak. I cannot believe how tired I got from everything I did. For about the first week post-op, I became exhausted from something as simple as taking a shower or walking to the bathroom. I would have to do my shower quickly enough so that I could lie back down. I was out of breath from just walking to the bathroom. It was a weird feeling, because I was in great shape prior to surgery, running 3-5 times a week. I can't imagine doing this surgery if I was OUT of shape to start with. The weakness was probably THE hardest part about the surgery.

The drains are a pain in the ass to carry around. I had four of them, and it was impossible to tuck them into my pants, so I had to come up with other creative ways of wearing them. While at home, I just hooked them to my shirt or waist band, not caring that they were visible.

I had a weird burning pain on my thighs for a few weeks. It was a surface pain that felt like I had been burned (like a sunburn). I don't know what it was from--the skin looked totally normal there--but it resolved after a few weeks.

After taking four weeks off from running, I wasn't able to just pick up where I left off. It was painful in my abs, but mostly, my lungs felt like they were on fire from being out of shape. I was very winded, even going at a slow, easy pace.

My hip bones felt very strange for a few weeks post-op. They weren't really painful, but I couldn't stand to press on them or have any pressure on them. I couldn't wear tight jeans for a few weeks because they pressed against my hip bones and it was a very weird, extremely uncomfortable feeling.

My abdominal muscle repair was the most painful part of the surgery. Like I said, my incision didn't hurt, but my ab muscles were sooo sore for about ten days. I walked hunched over for about a week. Sneezing, coughing, and laughing were pretty painful for a couple of weeks.

I had to eat a ton of protein. This is under "The Bad" because I've never been a "protein person". I don't like meat very much, and it's hard to get a lot of protein without eating meat. I ate a LOT of pan-fried salmon, tuna fish, and nuts to get protein. I had a protein shake every morning, and my snacks were string cheese and nuts. My doctor wanted me to get 100+ grams per day, and I complied by getting probably about 130 grams. That is VERY hard to do!

Salmon and parsley potatoes--my lunch every single day!

I definitely needed help around the house for the first five days or so. Luckily, I have a super supportive mom and husband. They took great care of me! When Jerry was at work, my mom came over and did housework for me and helped me move around. Jerry waited on me hand and foot. My parents kept my kids for a few days. This surgery would be extremely difficult to get through if you don't have someone to help you.

The Ugly 

Initially, the incision looks kind of gross. There is a lot of dried, crusty blood, but I didn't want to peel it or pick at it for fear of opening up a wound.

My belly button still looks red and irritated, but it's just the color of the incision right now. It doesn't hurt (and never has) but it looks kind of gross for a while. When I first came home, I had gauze packed in there with tape over it.

On each side, just behind my hips, there was a spot in the incision a couple of inches long that looked puckered. I asked my surgeon about it, and she said that it was normal and after the sutures dissolved, it would smooth out. (She was right, it has smoothed out now). But the first couple of weeks, it looked gross--wrinkled and kind of gathered on the bottom half of the incision. My surgeon said it was from the bottom half being larger than the top half--which makes sense. Of course the skin isn't going to line up perfectly. So it was wrinkled while it healed. (You can see that in the below photo)

My back was very bruised (from about the middle of my back all the way to the incision line). This was from the small amount of liposuction that my surgeon did on my lower back. The bruising didn't hurt, but it sure was ugly!

The drain tubes coming out of my body didn't bother me, but I guess many people would consider it ugly ;)  There was one on my left hip, close to my butt, two just under my pubic hair line (one of the left, one on the right) and one on the front part of my right hip. The one on my left hip was pretty sore and I was relieved to have it removed.

My belly button looked off center at first, and I was worried about having to get a revision down the road to fix it. But it must have been because of swelling or something, because gradually, it centered. It's still a little off, but that's how it was before surgery. The surgeon doesn't actually MOVE your belly button--they just move the skin around it.

The swelling is pretty bad for a few weeks. Immediately after surgery, I was excited to see that I wasn't swollen at all. I thought I was just lucky. Then it hit me after about a week, and I swelled up a lot. Even now, I'm seven weeks out from surgery and my very low abdomen is still swollen--it looks like a baby bump.

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I think that pretty much sums up everything I can come up with about the surgery! Of course, I'm happy to answer questions, so feel free to e-mail me.

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All About My Skin Removal Surgery, Part 1

After losing well over a hundred pounds, I knew I was going to need some skin removal surgery--particularly from my abdomen. My skin was so deflated and saggy, and it got in the way all the time. I got rashes and infections under the "apron" of skin and in my belly button. Running for exercise was hard, because my stomach would bounce up and down, causing a lot of pain.  My clothes didn't fit right, because I had to tuck my extra skin into my pants. And no matter how big my pants, I always had a hangover of skin on my sides (love handles).

I called my insurance company, just to see if it was even possible to get the expensive surgery covered by insurance. Surprisingly, they told me that it's possible. They told me to go see a plastic surgeon, who would determine if it was medically necessary, and then submit the claim. I had no clue what the surgeon would be looking for, and more importantly, I had no clue how to pick a surgeon.

When I went for a consult (I'll explain how I picked my surgeon later), she told me I was a perfect candidate for not just a tummy tuck, like I was planning on, but a lower body lift (also called a belt lipectomy, or circumferential tummy tuck, among other names). Basically, the surgeon makes an incision ALL THE WAY AROUND your lower abdomen, and all the way around your upper abdomen, and then pulls the top down to meet the bottom, and sews it back together. It includes a muscle repair of your abdominal muscles, which pulls your muscles together and gives your stomach the very flat look--rather than a rounded, beer-belly look.

I was very anti-body lift, because I'd heard it was much riskier, and I really didn't care what my butt looked like. However, I eventually decided to get it (I'll explain that more later, too). I had the surgery and am THRILLED with the results! Here, I will write ALL the details for anyone who is considering the surgery. This is all from my own experience--remember, I'm not a doctor! ;)

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Candidates for surgery

This is NOT a weight loss surgery. I can't stress that enough. If you are overweight, you will not get skinny from this surgery. The surgery is meant for people that have lost a large amount of weight and have saggy skin around their middle.

To get an idea of the results you can expect, put your hands on your hips and holding tight, pull up all that skin--you'll notice your hips, butt, and abdomen all lift up tight. If you don't have a lot of flabby skin on your butt or hips, then maybe a tummy tuck would be the way to go. I would talk to a plastic surgeon and see what they recommend.

Insurance

There is a (very small) chance that your insurance company might pay for a part of your surgery. I almost didn't even ask, because I was SO SURE that my insurance company wouldn't cover it--but I'm glad I did, because I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they covered about 3/4 of the cost.

I would call your insurance company ask what the requirements are to get a panniculectomy covered. A panniculectomy is the removal of the "apron" of skin on your lower abdomen. This does NOT include  muscle repair or replacing your belly button to where it should be. I learned that a panniculectomy would be covered, but everything else would be considered cosmetic, and I would have to pay out of pocket for that.

The requirements for MY insurance to cover the panniculectomy were: 1) Must have lost at least 100 pounds; 2) Must have kept the weight off for at least 6 months, and 3) Must have rashes caused from the excess skin. Since I met those three requirements, my insurance covered that part.

The rest of my surgery--muscle repair, replacing my belly button (both of which are included in a full tummy tuck, or abdominoplasty), and the hip and butt lift part were considered cosmetic, and not covered by insurance.

Choosing a plastic surgeon

My selection process was actually quite simple. I only went to one consult and decided she was the surgeon for me. But first, to select a surgeon, I decided that I wanted to pick someone in the Henry Ford Health System. I've seen great doctors in that system, and I used to work for a fantastic OB/GYN in the HFHS. My jaw surgeries were at Henry Ford Main Hospital in Detroit, and I was happy with how everything went. So I started looking online at the plastic surgeons of HFHS, and reading their bio's. All of them sounded impressive. There were a few that specified they worked with post-bariatric surgery patients--while I did not have bariatric surgery, I did lose a lot of weight, so I knew that these surgeons were probably the right choice. One really stood out to me, for some reason--Dr. Donna Tepper. I never thought I'd pick a female surgeon, but I liked her bio.

I decided to e-mail the surgeon who performed my jaw repair surgery and ask him if there was a plastic surgeon he would recommend for me. I really liked him, and trusted his input. When he wrote back, he said Dr. Tepper--without my even mentioning that I liked her bio. So it was almost like a sign that I should choose her.

I set an appointment, which took about 5 weeks to get in for a consult. When I met her, she was VERY confident, and happy that I lost the weight through diet and exercise--she made me feel very comfortable. She had a great personality, sense of humor, and wasn't too pushy. She answered my questions and didn't seem like she was in a rush to get out of there.  I felt like I was talking to a friend. I really liked her, and didn't see any reason NOT to choose her. I listen to my gut feeling when I'm making an important decision, and deep down, I knew she was the right choice.

When choosing a surgeon, it's VERY important to choose a surgeon who is board certified. Don't just take their word for it, either--you can look here to check for yourself. I would also recommend that you choose a surgeon who has hospital rights, or who only works out of a hospital. Some surgeons do the procedures in their own offices, so if something goes wrong, you can't just go to the hospital to fix it. Dr. Tepper works out of several different HFHS hospitals, which eased my fears--and also made it more convenient, because I was able to see her in different locations, depending on what was easiest for me.

Also, and this is just coming from my opinion, of course... the very very popular plastic surgeons are not necessarily the best ones. A lot of times, they are only popular because they have commercials advertised on TV, or billboards with their names on them. They are probably very busy and won't have much time for you--a lot of people don't put much thought into selecting a surgeon, so they just pick the guy who has a television commercial, because he "must" be good to have his own commercial.

I think it's very important to choose a surgeon that you can tell LOVES HIS OR HER JOB. Dr. Tepper was very excited about my weight loss and I could tell she was excited that I was going to have a good result due to my hard work. Seeing that she was excited about it, I knew she was in it because she loved her job--and because of that, I knew that she would want to do her best job during my surgery.

When I read the tummy tuck message boards, I notice that everyone asks, "Who is 'the BEST' surgeon in such-and-such state/area?" and they let that be the deciding factor. But a lot of those people don't have very good results after their surgery, and then they later find out that their surgeon doesn't have time for them to work with them and make them happy, so they are stuck with a bad surgery. 

My advice would be to do your own homework--choose a hospital that you trust, and check their website for plastic surgeons. Read the bio's and see if any stand out to you. See if they specialize in post-weight loss surgery. Then meet them and see if they seem confident, excited about their job, and tell you what to realistically expect from the surgery.

Questions for your surgeon

Once you choose a surgeon, you'll want to come up with a list of questions that you want answered before surgery. Make sure you carry a list everywhere with you so that you can add to it if a question pops into your head. Some questions I asked:

*Is it possible for this to be covered by my insurance? Do you submit a claim for me?
*How long before I can run again?
*How long can I realistically expect to need help at home?
*How long is the surgery time?
*Do you take precautions during surgery to prevent blood clots, since the surgery time is so long?
*Will I stay the night at the hospital? Can my spouse stay with me?
*What can I do after surgery to recover as quickly as possible?
*Do I need to buy a compression garment?
*Can you show me exactly where my incision scar will be? Will it be visible above my panty line?
*What positions can I sleep in after surgery?
*Will I have drain tubes? How many? Where will they be placed?
*If I have a question or problem after surgery, and I need to get a hold of you after office hours, what number should I call?

If you work, you'll want to ask about when you can go back to work, what the restrictions will be, etc. At your pre-op appointment, you'll want to ask everything. If your surgeon seems annoyed at the number of questions, I would definitely reconsider that surgeon! Dr. Tepper was very patient and answered everything I asked.

Pre-Op

I asked all my questions at my pre-op appointment (this was the appointment after my initial consult, and was more detailed), and was given the prescriptions for the medications I would need after surgery: an antibiotic to prevent infection, Vicodin for pain, and a muscle relaxer for muscle spasms.  I was also given two sterile antibacterial soap-filled sponges--one to wash with in the shower the night before surgery, and the other to use the morning of surgery.

I had about two months to wait until surgery, so I spent that time getting prepared. My husband requested some time off work to care for me, we started saving some money for those days he took off work, and I bought a few things that I figured I would need--gauze, medical tape, my compression garments that my surgeon told me to get, a Go-Girl thing so I could pee standing up after surgery (laugh now, but it was my best friend for two weeks after surgery!), and protein powder (the doctor wanted me to have a lot of protein).

About a week before surgery, I quit drinking wine :(  The instructions were not to have alcohol for 48 hours before surgery, but I figured a week would be even better. I filled my prescriptions so they were ready when I got home. I paid for the part of the surgery that my insurance wouldn't cover (see below for costs). I had to get some blood drawn for lab tests. And then I arranged with my parents for my kids to spend a few days there.

The day before surgery, I washed my bed sheets so they would be nice and clean. I cleaned my house and made sure there wasn't any clutter. That night, I washed with the special sponge they gave me, and I was told not to eat after midnight (I quit eating at 7 pm). I went to bed and set the alarm for 3:00 AM--crazy, I know. I was told to be at the hospital at 5:00 in the morning, and it was over an hour away. When I woke up, I took a shower and used the second sponge, then dressed in comfy, baggy clothes. Jerry drove us to the hospital.

Cost of surgery
The cost of the surgery I had varies ENORMOUSLY, but I'll share the costs that I incurred. The costs are broken down by anesthesia, operating room use, hospital stay, surgeon fees, etc. Keep in mind that my insurance covered a huge chunk of it...

Out-of-pocket expenses:  $134 one-time consultation fee; $200 for 4 compression garments; $4,380 for the cosmetic portion of surgery; $808.73 for co-pays to insurance after surgery. TOTAL: $5,522.73.

I'm not sure how much the surgery would cost if you paid straight cash (no insurance whatsoever) but I'll ask my surgeon next time I go in. The average cost of this particular surgery (from what I read online) is $18,800. Yes, that sounds like an insane amount of money--you could buy a car for that! But this is something that I wanted more than anything else, and if I have to make payments for a few years to pay for it, it's worth it to me.

But like I said, the cost varies enormously, so don't write off the surgery if you don't think you can afford it. I would at least go see a surgeon to find out the cost and what your options are. I was SHOCKED when I discovered that a huge chunk of the surgery was covered by insurance.

The surgery
You can read about my experience the day of surgery here.

The hospital
I have to admit, when my doctor said she wanted to do the surgery at a tiny little hospital called Cottage Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, I was nervous. I was hoping she'd want to do it in the huge Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit--it just seemed "safer" because it was bigger. But the doctor's secretary told me that Dr. Tepper really likes the staff that she works with at Cottage, and that it's in MY best interest to go where the doctor is comfortable. I could have insisted that I have the surgery in Detroit, but of course I wanted my surgeon to be happy while she's working on me! So I agreed to go to Cottage. It was the best decision I could have made, and I'm SO GLAD that I had the surgery at Cottage Hospital. (So keep in mind that it's important for your surgeon to feel comfortable).

We were the only people there at 5:00 in the morning, which was a strange feeling. The whole staff that interacted with me was SO FRIENDLY and nice and made me feel very comfortable. There wasn't a single person who I was displeased with. All the nurses, the anesthesiologist, even the security guard who had to unlock the doors for us--super nice, and helpful.

My doctor had me stay for '23-hour observation' after my surgery, and I'm very happy I did that. I was literally the ONLY overnight patient in the hospital--crazy, right?! But it was fantastic--anytime I needed something, the nurses were right there. I had a catheter in, so I didn't haven't to get up to go to the bathroom at all. The nurses took very good care of me, emptying my surgical drains, getting me water (constantly, I was so thirsty!), even setting up a bed for my husband to stay with me overnight. Dr. Tepper came to check on me after the surgery, and then again the following morning, when she said I could go home whenever I was ready.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about Cottage Hospital.

Post-Op

I have a lot of blog posts about the aftermath of the surgery, but I'll explain the gist of it here.

I had four surgical drains placed during the surgery. The drains are tubes that come out of your abdomen with a bulb on the end that collects fluid (blood, saline from irrigation during surgery, etc) so that the fluid doesn't collect inside of your abdomen.

The drains were not painful to me at all--just a nuisance. You have to empty the drains and record the amount of fluid that you empty--and my doctor said she would remove them when they were draining less than 30 cc's per 24-hour period. Three drains were removed on Day 8. The last wasn't removed until Day 17. The removal did not hurt at all, it just felt very strange. It's important to leave them in long enough so that you don't have fluid accumulate and form a seroma, which can get infected.

I also had to wear a surgical compression garment. My doctor gave me a pamphlet at my first appointment and showed me the one she wanted me to order. She said to get two--one in beige and one in black. She told me to bring the black one to my surgery, and I would wake up from surgery with it on. (She said black because it would certainly get stained in the first couple of days, and the stains aren't as noticeable on the black). My garment fit like a pair of granny panties that went up to my rib cage--only very very tight. The garment is actually pretty comfortable, and I liked the secure feeling while it was on. I was told I would have to wear it 24/7 for six weeks (except while showering).

The incisions were very easy to care for. All surgeons have their own instructions, but my surgeon told me that there would be no dressings on the incisions, and I didn't have to do anything special. I didn't have external stitches--she used some sort of Dermabond to close the top layer. In the layers of skin underneath, there were absorbable stitches. There was also a strip of tape on the incision, but I didn't even know this until Day 8, when she told me I could take it off. It was stuck on there really good!

Because my incision went all the way around my body, I was told that for ten days, I would have to lie down or stand--no sitting! I could lie on my sides or my back, or even my stomach if it was comfortable (but I chose not to because of my drains). The reason for not sitting is because it would put strain on the incision across my butt.

I was given Vicodin for pain, but I learned that Vicodin doesn't help at ALL for me. I switched to plain old Motrin after about a week. The pain was the worst the first 2-3 days--it wasn't the incision that hurt, but my abdominal muscles. They were extremely sore, like I did a million sit-ups. After Day 3 or so, the pain wasn't bad at all for me. I still felt sore, but nothing unbearable.

I was allowed to shower from the day I got home from the hospital. She told me to wash gently with the regular soap I always use, and pat dry. The hardest part about showering was the drains--I had to put a chain around my neck and clip the drains to the chain. The first few days, I had my mom or Jerry reach into the shower and hold the drains while I washed quickly.

As far as exercise goes, my surgeon told me that I could exercise whenever I felt comfortable--just no ab work. I had no interest in exercising until about Day 14, but I hurt my knee, so I waited until almost 4 weeks post-op before I ran again.

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A few random questions that I've gotten...

*What happens if you become pregnant now?*
Jerry and I are done having kids--we made that decision 'permanent' after Eli was born ;)  I don't know much about this, because it wasn't relevant to me, but I would certainly recommend waiting until you're done having kids to get a surgery like this to get the best results possible. Pregnancy caused a LOT of stretch marks on me, and I'm sure that wouldn't be any different if I'd gotten pregnant after my surgery. But this is something that I would ask a plastic surgeon.

*Why didn't you wait until you were at your goal weight to have surgery?*
I never really reached my goal weight, and when I went to surgery, I was about 15 pounds higher than my goal. However, I had maintained that weight for about a year, and I was comfortable with my size--wearing a size 4/6 prior to surgery. My surgeon said I was at a healthy weight and she had no concerns about my losing weight before surgery, so I went for it.

*Did you pick November for surgery for a particular reason?*
I wanted to get the surgery as soon as possible after my consult, but I had to wait for the insurance clearance, and then I was in my friend's wedding in October, so I had to wait until after that. November was a good time because I would be all healed up by summer :)

*Did you have to wait six weeks to have sex after surgery?*
No, my surgeon told me that whenever I felt ready it was fine to have sex. But I wasn't interested for a while! I waited about 5 weeks.

*Was it embarrassing having Jerry or your mom help you in the bathroom/shower?*
They've both seen me give birth, so helping me in the shower was no big deal :)  I'm not self-conscious in front of Jerry at ALL, and while I was a little embarrassed to undress in front of my mom, it was certainly no time to be modest. I didn't need help going to the bathroom, but I needed help showering (they held the drains). And I felt extremely exhausted, so it was nice to have them there if I felt faint.

*Did you get to see the video of your surgery?*
Not yet--I'm going to ask my surgeon for a copy of it when I see her next week. My surgery was videotaped (with my permission) for educational uses. I didn't think I'd want to watch it, but I kind of do now!

*How was the drive home from the hospital? When were you allowed to drive after surgery?*
I don't remember the drive home very much, but it wasn't TOO bad. My husband was careful going over the bumps :)  I had to recline my seat back as far as it could go. I was able to drive once I was off the pain meds AND it was at least 10 days post-op--because my doctor wanted me to lie down flat for 10 days, only sitting to go to the bathroom. I was driving by day 11.

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I think this pretty much sums up all the facts about the surgery. In the next post, I list all "the good, the bad, and the ugly" parts about it!  Click here for Part 2.

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A new year

It's so nice to start the year without a resolution to lose weight! For nearly my entire life, Jan 1st was the start of a new diet--with a promise that "this time is different". And of course, it never was!

Yesterday was just another day for me. I picked the kids up from church and then we went to my mom's house for dinner. She made my favorite dinner--'beef and sliders'. It's a pot roast with large, flat, homemade noodles cooked in beef broth. It's total comfort food for me. I ate a little more than I would have liked, but I didn't go overboard by any means. She made Reese Cup Pie for dessert, which was delicious too!

Jerry and I decided to make mimosas last night, because we've had a bottle of sparkling wine in the fridge for a couple of months now. He ran up to the liquor store to buy some orange juice, and we each had a couple of mimosas while we played cards. It was a fun evening.

When I woke up this morning, I saw some snow outside. This has been a VERY unusual Michigan winter so far, with temps in the 40's. I haven't even needed to wear a winter coat more than a couple of times. The boys were super excited about the snow and ran out to play--although there wasn't much to play with!

Noah was a little dramatic with the ski mask in the 1/4 inch of snow ;)

I decided to make homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner, so I threw the chicken into the pot and got that started on the stove, then finally quit procrastinating my run. I did three miles on the dreadmill. I started at 6.0 mph, then threw in a handful of 7.0 bursts for a minute each. If I ever want to get my speed back to what it was before surgery, I need to start doing some speed work!

I finished three miles in 28:45, so that's about a 9:35 average pace.

I spent some time working on a budget for the new year. Like I said, I'm DETERMINED to pay off $5,000 of our debt this year. It's going to be extremely difficult unless I monetize my blog soon. I applied to a few different ad networks, and I was just accepted by one of them, so I have to figure that stuff out. Jerry's been working a lot, so his first two checks this year should be nice--and hopefully I'll catch up on the bills! ;)

One of the changes I'm going to make is to grocery shop ONLY once per week. No matter what! Even if I forget something "important", it'll have to wait until the next week. I'm budgeting $100/week for groceries, which I've been doing pretty well at for a few months now.

Speaking of groceries, the last time I went to Wal-Mart, I saw some Biscoff cookies. I've heard of these only recently, because a lot of people were asking me if the Cookie ButterI eat is the same thing as Biscoff Spread. I have no idea if it's the same, but when I saw the Biscoff cookies, I had to buy some--to spread with Cookie Butter, of course!

The only thing tastier than Cookie Butter is Cookie Butter spread onto a Biscoff cookie ;)  Oh yum--my new favorite treat.

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Robin was so nice to make me a new, simplified banner--I love it!  It's a little more fun than what I came up with, but still clean and simple like I wanted.

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Well, I have a TON of laundry to do before the boys start back to school tomorrow!

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Top 11 of 2011

Since I have no plans tonight, and I'm sitting home on New Year's Eve, I decided to go back through my blog and write a list of eleven of my favorite things that happened to me in 2011. This year has been a really big year for me--some exciting things have happened!

11. I started the year off in January by getting my arch bars removed. After breaking my jaw in November, I had to wear the ugly things for about 7 weeks. Getting them off was one of the most horrifying experiences of my life, but I was SO HAPPY to have them gone! ;)

Not one of my most flattering pictures... ;)

10. In February, my kids went to Florida with my parents, and Jerry and I had a "staycation" at home. It was so much fun! We felt like we were married without kids for five days, so we went shopping, made "adult" food for our meals, went to a comedy club, and slept in every day.

9. I started my Runs for Cookies blog in April. After blogging on Open Diary from 2000-2011, it was a drastic change! I'm still amazed at how much the blog has grown in just eight months. As of today, I have 299 "followers" and 653 "subscribers". That seriously blows my mind! I cannot imagine my life without Runs for Cookies now :)   Here is my very first entry I wrote on this blog.

8. Also in April, I went on an AMAZING vacation with my family--my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my brother Brian, Jerry, me, and the kids all went to Tennessee and stayed in a cabin in the mountains. I went zip-lining, which was completely out of my comfort zone, but so glad that I did it! I also went on a run through Cade's Cove with my brother, despite tornado-like winds, hills, and a downpour of rain.

Zip-lining in the hills of Tennessee

7. In May, I ran the Indy 500 Festival One America Mini-Marathon! This was a HUGE accomplishment for me. I walked this in 2008, 2009, and 2010. I never, ever, imagined that I would one day run it. I finished in 2:10:40, a respectable time, and I loved every second of the race.

6. In June, I bought a hybrid bike as a present to myself for maintaining 100+ pounds lost for a year. I've never owned a "nice" bike before, and I was so excited to get this. It took a couple of tries, but I had to conquer a fear of going into a bike shop first.

5. In July, Jerry, me, and the kids went to Illinois to visit my sister. She kept the boys overnight and Jerry and I went to Madison for a night. It was one of my favorite trips I've ever been on, even though it was short. We loved Madison!

4. Also in July, I went on a super fun overnight girls trip with Renee, Jessica, and Rachael. We spent 24 hours drinking wine, laughing hysterically, and hanging out on the beach. So much fun!!

Rachael, me, Renee, and Jessica

3. In October, I flew to Arizona to be matron-of-honor in my friend Sarah's wedding. I was terrified to fly, but the trip made the flight totally worth it. I loved seeing Sarah's house and seeing Arizona. Her wedding was fun and beautiful.

 

2. In November, I was a guest on The Dr. Oz Show! One of the most exciting moments of my life. I flew to NYC all by myself, and had my hair and make-up done by celebrity stylists/make-up artists, and stepped waaaay out of my comfort zone onto national television. I still can't believe I actually did it!

1. In November, I also had a lower-body lift, something I've dreamed of for at least a decade. I've never had a flat tummy, and now I absolutely love it! My doctor removed 2-3 pounds of excess skin, and it has made a world of difference in not only my appearance, but my self-confidence as well.

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Some fun facts of 2011:
*I ran 679 miles.
*My longest run was 13.1 miles.
*In September, I ran the most miles I've ever done in a month--106.2.
*The food I consumed the most of was probably peanut butter.
*My most memorable meal was a pasty from Teddywedgers in Madison, WI.
*I conquered my fear of flying twice--once to Arizona and once to NYC.
*I'm finishing 2011 at the exact same weight that I started it.
*My most memorable run was a scheduled 12-miler the week before my half-marathon.
*I quit drinking coffee.
*My longest binge-free streak is 48 days (and counting).
*I ran a minimum of three times per week every single week (except for the four weeks after my surgery).

And finally, a few goals for 2012:
*Maintain a weight of less than 135 pounds.
*Run a minimum of three times per week.
*Stay binge-free.
*Pay off $5,000+ of credit card debit.

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