MY BETA FISH - ALPHA

just a few days after my surgery, craig and i went up to ALLEGATOR ALLEY, to purchase that huge tank we went there for before.

i saw the cutest baby turtles in there before, but they wernt there this time we went. and part of the reason was to see if they had any left.

we got the tank, and walking out i wanted to have a fish...a beta fish.

took my time in picking him out. got one kinda purpleish, more blue with a billowy tail...actually shimmers a little when he fans it out.

i didnt know what to name him, so craig came up with the name : ALPHA. so hes my ALPHA BETA fish.
i decided if i got another one id call him OMEGA BETA fish.

WE GET A NEW (USED) STOVE/OVEN UNIT

weve been needinga new (or used stove) and ive been wanting one for a very long time, it seems.

in 2008 (im guessing, i cant remember) we had an ice storm that took out a tree in our back yard, knocked the power line down. we were without electric in the middle of an icey winter for 12 days.

when power was finally restored, it blew several things in our home. one of them being our oven, and the last item on our list to get replaced.

so, here it is march 2011 and im getting another stove/oven unit.
such a blessing.

a friend of ours from church was moving and didnt want to take some of her appliances with her.
we also bonused a week later, her side by side fridge so  craig and daniel can have their own unit, housing their own food.
having JUST had this gastric surgery, im still prone to wanting breads and stuff i SHOULDNT be having.

at anyrate, just after my surgery, the unit was delivered to the house..by another church friend, Jason Choate.

now, we did fine without an oven all this time. if we needed to cook, we could as in bake, or cook like we had an oven that actually worked, wed us the toater oven, took longer, but it worked.

the stove worked, so we had access to heating stove top dinners all the time. no problem there,

i needed a stove for 3 reasons,
1)-id want to make single sized  baked dinners for myself. i guess i could have used the toaster over still for that.
2)-i need to be able to "cook" or "bake" the paint on the reborn dolls, when im layering the colors on them. and having a stove that doesnt work, well...doesnt work.
3)-i was talking allot on my  youtube weight loss journey channel about making a cooking channel. and id need to be able to cook IN an oven for some of those recipes.

so, it was a super real big treat to get this stove at our house, for nearly nothing in cost.

these are the pictures.
ENJOY!
MICHELLE

craig and Jason Choate

Craig and Jason Choate

there she is, in all her glory!

AND...she works too! stove top AND oven both work!
which meant the house would be filled with pizzas again...and Daniel would be back to his cooking them for every meal routine. lol

GASTRIC SLEEVE POST OP PICTURE

yes, THIS face doesnt seem to happy, does it..lol i was in so much pain.

yes, in THIS pic im not feeling so well...my side was hurting so bad.
i swear i know what a stabbing in the gut feels like.

if i moved it hurt, if i breathed it hurt, if i did anything..it hurt.

dr wanted me to breath in a  device that would blow a little ball up that you had to try to hit between 2 lines.
doing that, hurt SO bad...

i was so thankful, every minute through all the pain, that i was alive. thats what fueld me to get motivated and move to make sure id get out of there and be healthy.

I WAS ALIVE!

there was no way, i believed in 13 more days id feel completely better.

that was an impossible thought.

MICHELLE

NEXT DAY GASTRIC SLEEVE PICS OF DANIEL

i allowed daniel to take a few days off from school, for my surgery. in the event i didnt make it off the table. i felt it was more important he be near my body, than have to hear about my passing after the fact later that day.
i guess im selfish. i just didnt want to beurden him with too much guilt if he wasnt there when it happened.

so, while hes there, he had to come with his artillary of stuff to keep him occupied.
the ITouch, i had my net book, which craig ended up using more than i did., we had TV in the room. i dont remember, but he had his won bag of stuff...

he was sleeping on the couch at one point and it looked so uncomfortable i HAD to catch a shot of it...lol

he also  did some grafitti on the  dry erase board.

DAY OF GASTRIC SLEEVE OPERATION

note the expression in this pic, a later pic has a quite different picture of me.

well, the day was here. i had accomplished 3 years of trying, climbing up this tall hill, to FINALLY be standing, or laying in the bed. waiting to get this surgery that would change my life, forever.

we went in early. so much so we were asked why we were there so early..lol

we decided what was the point in waiting at home, wed get there in time to do everything that needed to be done.

we waited only about 30 minutes and i was asled to come to the back to start the pre-op stuff before the surgery.

i got my own waiting area, and was told id have my family back there shortly, was asked to change into my gown, and they would be bacl to get me all IVed up, and blood pressure shecked and ask me some questions.

it wasnt too terribly long before my family was allowed back. and we chatted a little bit, sometimes being interupted  while we chatted with some checks of things.

i had a blood pressure check as well, and i told the nurse to not be too surprised by the fact it was prolly off the roof, i was prolly extreemly nervous. she did the check, i asked what it was, she said my blood pressure was..NORMAL! its NEVER normal...amazing!

they drew blood to check it, and see if i was prenant, i told them i couldnt be, i hadnt been intimate with the hubby for about 6 weeks at that time, if i was it would have been a miracle.
during the time we were there talking about stuff, the nurse came back to tell me i was "right about my assumption" lol
craig was clueless, and i had to clue him in to the fact i wasnt pregnant at the time, and the comment i had told the nurse...

pretty soon a male nurse came back there, told me his name, talked to me a bit said hed be back in a little bit.

was about 15 minutes and he was back, told me he was injecting a liquid into my V that was to relax me...and proceeded to wheel me out.
took me out i said to craig "i promise ill be back"
craig replied with" better be"

i went back completely calm, and without any reservations, i was ok with if i would die on the table. i wasnt worried at all. seriously. not worried one itty bitty iota.

next thing i remember was dramng that the lead singer of my favorite band U2 was singing to me on a lonely island (beautiful scenery by the way, we were on some private balcony of some secluded place) he was wearing white guaze shirt and white guaze pants, flowing in the breeze...
i remember saying in my dream, "why is bono wearing white? he never wears white."
and he sings to me..
"is this real? is bono singing to me?"
woke me up.

i can remember opening my eyes and thinking whats that beeping noise?
the clock on the wall was all fuzzy and out of focus.
and i looked to my left and saw a young lady there.

and i remmeber saying something like...
they said id have someone here...monitoring me. is that you?

she said she was my post op nurse and that was her job, to monior me until i came out of the anesthesia.

it was so hard for me to keep my eyes open, as hard as i tried, they were so very heavy.
i know i could talk, i have no real memory of hat that room looked like...my eyes were shut the entire time.
i wasnt sleeping.
i just couldnt get my eyelids to function.

within 30 minutes i was wheeled up to my room, where my family awaited my return.

i have very little memory of getting off the bed onto the other bed, but i do remember the intense pain i felt in my side.
i felt like i had been stabbed.
and it HURT!
i mean a hurt like ive never felt before.

they wanted me to sit up for a while as well...
i was interested in walking, because i wasnt interested in having any clots forming in me...they wouldnt allow me to walk, but they didnt mind me siting up.

they also wanted me to pee, and to make sure i peed in the "hat" so they could see the volume as well as any discoloration in it.

i peed a small volume.
getting up from the toilette was so very hard...i seriously didnt think id recover from that surgery at that point.

that whole night was difficult, i was poked and prodded and checked up on every few minutes.