My Not-So-Typical, Typical New Year's Resolution: First Weigh-In!!!

Wow, one week down. Only about a gazillion more to go! Okay, maybe not quite that many. It has been a very tiring week. I have done more chopping and cooking than I would care to do in a month, or even a year! Have I mentioned before that I really don't like to cook? Every once in a while I get the urge to try something fancy, and about halfway through making it I think to myself, "What was I thinking? I know better!!!" I vow never to try anything so fancy again, and a few months later I find myself doing the same thing! Cooking must be like childbirth, I forget about how painful it is until I'm going through it again.

Yesterday was Saturday, my self-appointed weigh-in day. I really was not feeling optimistic about this weigh-in, for several reasons. First, I did not exercise at all the first week. Second, the dreaded visitor, Aunt Flo, dropped in Thursday night. So of course for my very first weigh-in I was feeling completely bloated! Sorry if that's TMI, but I did try to be tactful about it. I did say "Aunt Flo," instead of something like, "I was bleeding like a stuck pig!" Oops, sorry.

Well, to get back to the point. I wasn't feeling very optimistic about the weigh-in, but I got up Saturday morning and got on the scale anyway. I was pleasantly surprised with the result.

Hurrah!!! I actually lost a few pounds! Ignore the ugly feet. Every time I stepped off the scale the numbers disappeared just as the camera took the picture. Technically, my last weight was 313.2, so I lost a total of 2.6 pounds. Pretty good for not exercising, plus having the previously mentioned female problems!

So tomorrow is the dreaded surgery. I know it won't be too bad, but this is my first surgery so I tend to imagine the worst-case scenario. Have you ever read or seen on TV stories about when doctors think the patient is completely under anesthesia and can't feel a thing, but in reality the patient is just paralyzed but can feel EVERY SINGLE THING? They are screaming inside their heads, but can't move or alert the doctor in any way? Yeah, that is my biggest nightmare. My second biggest fear is that I'll go to sleep expecting to have laparoscopic surgery, but when I wake up I find that the doctor had cut me open from breastbone to pelvis. This might not be as outrageous a fear as you think, cause this actually happened to my mother about 20 years ago. Yeah, she found out later that her doctor had the reputation of being a butcher. I remember watching her get dressed when I was little, and marveling at the long scar running down her stomach. I always thought that was from when she had me and my siblings, but it was actually from her gallbladder surgery. Hey, I was a kid. I didn't realize a C-section scar is down low and runs horizontal, not vertical. (She also happens to have a c-section scar by the way. Not surprising since I weighed 10 lbs 6 oz at birth.) So those are my two biggest fears. Of course I know better, but I still can't get those thoughts out of my head.

Since my surgery is on Monday, I had to go to the hospital Thursday to pre-register and to get some blood work done. They also require a pregnancy test, so I had to give a urine sample. The nurse in registration couldn't find my vein (this is a common problem, apparently I have "deep" veins), so she had to send me to the lab. She walked me over and told me to go ahead and pee in the cup and then someone from the lab would take my blood. So when I got out of the restroom I was told to put my urine sample (which was sealed in a plastic bag) on the table next to the chair where they would take my blood. I dutifully followed directions and sat in the chair waiting for someone from the lab. After a few minutes in walks this young, hot phlebotomist (technical term for a person who is paid to stab you with a needle and take your blood). He decides to try to make small talk while pulling out the needle and preparing to stab me (can you tell I don't like needles?), and I try to be sociable and polite, but I find it rather distracting/embarrassing to talk to a cute guy when a bottle of my pee is sitting on the counter right next to him!

I doubt I will be getting any exercise this week, as I will be recovering from the surgery. But I did manage to get a nice long walk yesterday evening. My son was invited to a friend's birthday party. Since my husband was at work when the party started, we were lucky enough that his friend only lives about a mile from us. So I had the privilege of walking my son to the party. My daughter was staying over at her friend's house, so my son and I had a nice quiet walk together. And then I had an even quieter walk home alone. It really was very peaceful, although a bit cold.