03/25/10: Part 3 of "The Plan"

I updated part 2 of "The Plan" with this info but want to make sure it gets read, so I'm starting with it right here and right now.  I added this as a comment and I added it to the blog in case anyone in the future reads the blog without reading the comments (as I do when I'm "catching up" on someone else's blog sometimes).

So here's the comment I added about swimming immediately after surgery:

I am allowed to swim/soak in the hot tub because my surgeon uses internal stitches with dermabond on the skin. Dermabond is an airtight barrier - no air will even cross that "bond". So the stitches and wounds will be completely dry even though completely submersed. Because of this, I can also take showers from the start.

If you have staples or exposed stitches, you cannot swim or even shower. Pools are really cesspools of bacteria and other little critters we can't see - no matter how clean and chlorinated they are. You CANNOT risk getting those critters and bacteria in the wound. Swimming/hot tub soaking are ONLY options when dermabond is used.

Sorry if there was any confusion.

And the last thing I'll say - it was the peeps at my bariatric center that told me I could swim/soak. If you are curious about your situation - ask your surgeon.
 
So with that, onto today...
 
Before I forget again, yesterday was good.  I could not drink all of my afternoon shake.  I just couldn't.  I was so not hungry, so not wanting it - and trying to drink it so that I "could get enough protein" was proving to make me sick.  So I didn't drink all of it.  I get 26g of protein in six ounces of water with my chosen protein (Isopure zero carb) and I think, after drinking about four ounces, that I was still in the ballpark of 20 ozs for the "meal".  So I was happy.  And my stomach was, too.  It was pretty funny, really, to be so full from friggin liquids.
 
For dinner, we forgot we had a meeting up here in town (Houston's a "town" ya know) and so we had to eat out as we weren't going to get home until 8:30 or 9.  So we went to a Cheddar's where I ordered grilled salmon with broccoli and green beans.  I was able to order the lunch portion which was probably exactly at 4oz.  I had to beg them to leave the rice off the plate.  I think they thought I was asking for a cheaper bill - and I wasn't.  I just didn't want them to serve me the rice.  I literally had to beg for that.  But such is life.
 
And so, for the tally...
 
Yesterday = 246**
Today = 245
 
Yesterday was really 246.8 and today was really 245.0.  So it's, in my pea brain, a 2 lb loss since I round where ever it helps me most.  Round 246.8 to 246.  Round 1.8 to 2.  Even though that rounding already gave me the benefit, I'll take it again.  Not scientific - but I'm using fuzzy math here for the sake of sanity.
 
So now...onto Part 3 of "The Plan"
 
This won't be long, I promise.  This is all the other.  Most notably to me, it's the hair, skin and bodily functions.
 
So with the hair.  Here's my plan.  Ok, this one won't be that short.  I have short hair.  I don't want short hair.  It got butchered almost a year ago when I cut it off for the summer.  I was teaching swim lessons 6 days a week for anywhere from 2-4 hours a day.  I wanted easy hair.  I went to my stylist/friend and said short.  She took short as pixie like.  Literally.  There was not enough of it to lay down - it stood up.  It was SHORT!  I hated it.
 

I immediately went to work "growing it out".  But my friend/stylist died last summer.  Sad sad story.  And I was left with finding someone new to help with this endeavor of keeping it decent without hacking it back to SHORT.  Yeah, it just kept getting hacked back.  To make it worse, the cuts were all hideous and so it was hacked AND not decent.

 

I finally found someone this year - about two months ago - that I like.  I was finally getting some hair back to work with, something that could be used to create a style that would be decent until I could get some length back.  I blogged about it back then.  Yeah.  She hacked.  But it was a fabulous cut!  I was refreshed.  It was such a decent cut that I still haven't been back in for a trim.  It needs it now.  But I will wait until next weekend when it's time for my sweet hubby to get his next cut.  I have all that she hacked off grown back and then some now...but it isn't in a style I like.  I want to get enough length so that I can get it to a style I like.  And once I have that style, I will leave my hair there until the hair problems from anesthesia have passed.  At that point, I'll finally let myself grow it back.  If I can get to this style I'm after for this temporary short hair fix, it will be easy to grow from there.  Here's a pic.

 

 

Now, that pic was taken when I was 19.  I'm not trying to recapture that era of my life.  That picture just shows what the back does a little and that's the part that makes me really like this cut.  It's not just a super short bob - although I like that aspect, too.  I like the neck line that gets created.

 

And honestly, I think I have enough hair to get that accomplished - although it would be shorter right now, and that's ok.  I just hope she will do that next weekend and not go for layers.  Everyone ALWAYS wants to layer my hair and I can't stand layers.  I just can't!  Especially since they aren't conducive to regrowing hair.  You have to keep them trimmed to keep them neat and if I have to trim every 4 weeks...well, guess what doesn't happen.  GROWTH!  Sheesh.

 

So that's my plan.  Leave it short until it's all good.  And then I can't wait to have a shoulder length bob.  Just enough to put up but not too much.

 

So the skin.  I know I have to drink drink drink drink drink water.  And honestly, I see this as my biggest struggle.  To not drink with meals and to wait the half hours sometimes only after, sometimes both before and after, well, it just gets the way.  That's a lame excuse and I know it.  I can say, I am eager for the day when what I currently drink is actually enough.  Right now, I easily get in about 80 ounces of water every day.  I need to be in the 120 ballpark right now.  I just can't get those 40.  But for the sake of my skin, I'm trying.  I think, between the exercise plan I have and working on water, that is my best bet for trying to battle skin.  I'm also banking (a little, just a little) a little on my age working in my favor.  I'm hoping that at 34 my skin still understands what rebound is supposed to mean.  I don't have any illusions that I'm 20 and it will just be all peachy.  I understand that I'm 34 and that time and gravity are starting to work against me.  But I also am hoping that not being 60 plays in just a little.  I am good with my skin - I keep it clean and clear, I wear sunscreen in the sun.  I don't even wear makeup, just about ever.  I'd say I put it on about 3-4 times a year.  It's not that I don't like it, I just can't be bothered, really.  I have a good, even skin tone and a healthy complexion.  I do try to pamper my skin with light lotions and potions to keep it healthy and happy.  And this combo, the pampering, the water, the exercise - I am just hoping it works.  Only time will tell, eh?

 

And if it doesn't, I'll consider other options later.  I'm probably going to consider other options anyway.

 

And finally.  Bodily functions.

 

So water...It makes you pee.  I like to pee.  Clear pee.  I like it.  It tells me I'm taking care of myself.  When I pee clear pee, I also poo quite easily, too.  So water is my response to this, too.  I am also adding fiber to my smoothie in the morning.  And if I do get backed up (TOM ends up causing back up issues - always has) then I have fiber wafers I munch on in the evenings to get just another dose of fiber in the day.  But my majorist plan of attack on the bodily functions is water water water.

 

At the heart of it all, it's really water!  To exercise like I want to - I need water.  Both inside my body to make the weightlifting possible - and in the pool.  :)  To eat well and minimally - water.  Not at meals, but around them.  To help my skin and hair - water.  And to make sure bodily functions stay functioning - water.

 

Ever heard that before?  That you need water?  :)

 

I might do a final plan part tomorrow - or at some point in the future, to discuss how I expect things to go forward in maintenance.  Still figuring out how to articulate some of that, though, so may not be tomorrow.

 

And one last thing to share today.  I have called my insurance company twice this week.  Dangit but I wish they would give me an answer!  On Monday the friendly helpful lady I talked to said it all looked good - if it was going to be kicked back for incomplete or inaccurate paperwork, it would have done so by then.  It was in review.  I called again yesterday and the not so friendly or helpful (but not mean) lady didn't have anything to say other than "it's in review".  I will probably call again on Friday.  It's so funny, reading other stories - some people's insurance co's tell them what to expect, they communicate and keep them in the loop.  Mine...I just feel like another number.  I'm in the cattle car at their beck and whims.  There is absolutely no personality involved.  It's corporate.  I would love it if they could say to me, this person is the one handling your case, would you like to talk to him/her?  But the team is hidden from me and I can't have access to them.  I would love if if they could say to me, we are expected to have an answer to you by Friday April 9th.  Fine, I'll stop calling.  Or slow down anyway.  But this impartial attitude with no go-to source...it really sucks.  And add to this that I have no idea what to expect...it's making me a little cuckoo.  I mean...will my ins co call my advocate and tell her the answer?  Or will someone email it?  Or will they call me?  Or will I be able to see something online in my claims info?  How will I be informed?  Will I have to wait for the mail?  If my advocate is at least contacted, will she call me?  Will she email me?  (We've been emailing back and forth pretty steady this week now that she's back from vacation and I like her.  As frustrated as I was two weeks ago, I am alllllll past that now!)  Should I be checking my email every five seconds for the answer?  I do that anyway.  Should I carry my phone with me at all times?  Should I forward my home phone to my cell phone in case they call that number.  I just have no idea what to expect.  I could ask...but what fun would that be?  :)

 

Ok, I'll ask.  When I call tomorrow...I'll ask the ins co about how I'll end up being notified.  And I'll send an email to my advocate asking what's happened in the past.  I think she has a contact at my ins co that keeps her in the loop.  That's what I think is the story, anyway.  But I hate assumptions.  Hate them.  So I shall stop assumptioning and just get an answer!  :)

 

I hope everyone is having a great week.  I went from three Monday's in a row to what now today feels like it should be a Saturday.  Dangit!