"It loks like a cave!"

Today I finally got my bandages off!  My appointment was at 11:30, but i waited in the waiting room from 11:25-12:20.  Finally the nurse called me in, took my bandages off, said "hmm, looks good!" and sent me out the door.  Seriously, I waited 5 minutes shy of an hour, for a 2 minute doctors appointment. Pssh.  

Anyways, I'm amazed at how well everything has healed up in just two and a half weeks.  My incisions all look great, well except for my unfortunate looking belly button!

I now have 1and a half bellybuttons.  I showed my sister Brittney, and she responded with "It looks like a cave!" It kind of does though. :(

All in all i guess my bellybutton is worth the sacrifice for being healthy and feeling good, right?  

Yup, He Loves Me!

My sweet husband makes me happier than I have ever been.  He truly is the half that makes me whole and my best friend.  I love him so much..and apparently, he loves me too! ;)

All that air in my stomach, finally being able to eat fats, and laying in bed for 3 weeks has left me feeling rather large, and quite self conscious.
  

I have mentioned several times to Cody how gross I feel, and how the second the doctor gives me permission to exercise I want to go at it!  Unfortunately the only exercise I am allowed to do for 4 more weeks is cardio, but I don't have a gym membership and because of my bad ankle I can't run outside- because of the uneven pavement. 

My darling husband Went dumpster-diving at school and work, collected all the scrap metal and wires he could (didn't really dive in the dumpsters, just to clarify, just collected the scraps from work and school), and spent 3 days stripping wire.  He then took all the scrap metal and copper and turned it in for money.  He then took that money and bought me a brand new elliptical! He carried all 200 lbs of it from his truck, into our house, up the stairs, and put it together, all by himself!

It's the NordicTRack E5.7

It connects to the WiFi, and you can download any trail from google maps and follow it on the screen.  It also has speakers that you can plug any audio device into, and the audio plays out of the elliptical itself!

My picture isn't as good, with the sun coming in and being a camera phone. But here it is!

And now we wait and see...

March 4th I finally got rid of my pesky gallbladder!  The surgery went well and Cody took the day off of school to be with me.  I forgot how painful abdominal surgeries were, until the nurse made me get up and walk around.  I can't wait to be able to get out of bed by myself again. 

Luckily the doctor was able to do a laparoscopic operation, which makes the healing process much quicker.   

They have to pump air into your abdomen to make room for the tools, but apparently they have yet to figure out how to get the air back out.  Look how swollen and puffy I am!  It's supposed to take 7-10 days to begin to deflate, can't wait!

Besides making me feel fat, the air bubbles like to move around and cause a shockingly large amount of pain, especially in my shoulders, who'd of guessed? Three days after the surgery i had to go back to the E.R because i couldn't breathe- turned out to be just air bubbles caught in my lungs, but of course they had to stick dozens of needles in me to do tests before deciding what the problem was.  I hate needles more than just about anything else in the world.   

So as it turns out I was born with an under developed gallbladder, making it too tiny to fully digest fat and cholesterol.  After years of unsuccessfully digesting, my gallbladder began to store layers and layers of cholesterol- until finally it hit it's limit and just quit.  This explains why I used to get sick when I eat, why I didn't notice a problem until about age 11, and why it has been getting worse over the years. 

Finally I can drink milk, eat cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, ice cream, butter, fried foods, etc.  Besides not being able to get up by myself, i feel better than i have felt in years!