Down 32 Pounds... and eating FOOD!

Well, I'm about to begin week 4 post-op and I am down 32 pounds. The best thing is that I can eat REAL food beginning this week, but, I've already tried some foods over the past week or so... with good results and bad! This really is a learning process!

I just finished dinner of grilled chicken and salad. Of course, I only had a few bites, but, still.... REAL FOOD! Yahooooooo!  :)  And, it didn't make me sick. Unlike earlier in the week when I tried some ground beef that had been cooking in a stroganoff-like sauce. OMG!! Sick! Sick! Sick! I had two small bites and was awake all night and still sick all the next morning! That was NOT good! But, it wasn't the ground beef. It had to be the sauce, because I had a small nibble of Kerry's hamburger a few nights before that and that went down just fine... no problem at all. But that stroganoff hamburger... no no no no no no no!

I think I'm getting overly concerned... no... obsessed, really, with trying to get enough protein. If I follow the diet I was given from the surgical weightloss program people, I'd only be getting about 30-40 grams of protein each day -- about half of the recommended 60-70 grams each day. I need real food! Real meat! Real chicken! Real tuna! There's the protein! So, I'm very excited that I can now have those things. And I shall have those things each day! Yay!

It's otherwise been a downer of a week. We lost two friends within a day of each other this week. One had been sick for quite a long time with Alzheimer's disease. He was diagnosed when he was in his 50s and he died at 64. The other was suddenly stricken with a lung ailment he endured for about a month before dying this past week at 72. The uncanny part of it all is that both of these guys hunted together with my husband for several years. And, their wakes and funerals are at exactly the same time, at funeral homes about 20 miles from each other! Somehow, we'll make it to both. Just all the more reason to live it up, while there's still living to do! May they both rest in peace.

Thank goodness for grandchildren! They can cheer anyone up! And, it's the weekend and, as usual, they come to Granny's house... playground... amusement park.  My two oldest granddaughters, Cailey and Juliana, 8 and 9, respectively, are so different! Juliana is a daredevil, while Cailey is overly cautious about everything... both, just like their fathers! So, last summer, my oldest son (Juliana's dad) was given a 50cc four-wheeler ATV by a friend whose kids had outgrown it. For you ATV-challenged folks, that's a small ATV recommended for 6-12 year old kids. It needed some mechanical work, but my boys are geniuses at getting broken things working again, and, in no time, that little four-wheeler was buzzing around the yard and we took it to Maine on vacation, where there are miles and miles of deserted dirt roads to ride on. But Cailey didn't have one. But, Juliana shared hers, and their cousins, Zach and Lex (whose families also go on vacation with us), shared Zach's ATV. And life was good.

Then, this week, my oldest son found another 50cc ATV on Craig's List for $200. It, too, needed work. Scott bought it and Steve worked on it to get it running. And, in no time, that bike, too was buzzing around the yard. Now comes the weekend. And we have two sweet little girls buzzing around the yard with their motorcycle helmets on, splashing through every puddle in sight, on their ATVs. I love to hear them giggle... and they were giggling with delight, so proud of themselves for getting all muddy... until (oh, you KNEW this was coming, didn't you?)... until Juliana -- the daredevil -- caught the corner of a trailer and ripped part of her bike body right off the bike!  So, they were back to sharing one bike, riding double, with Juliana -- the daredevil -- driving! Meanwhile, my 3-year-old grandson was toodling around in his little powerwheel Jeep, out of my view, when I heard a loud smack, followed by my grandson's wails. Apparently, the girls ran into him, flipped his Jeep over and he fell out and scratched his leg. Oh and how he loves showing off his leg and "all the blood" (truly, it was a scratch... no blood). All parties were fine, but that was the end of the ATVs for the weekend. It was fun while it lasted! LOL  :)

And, for those of you who are wondering, my little Glory's doing fine now. She's my other dog, a Jack Russell. She's stopped looking for Gizmo and, I think she's thinking that all this extra attention isn't such a bad thing after all. She always wanted to be an only dog.  :)

That's it for this week!

2 Weeks Post-Op: 29 Lbs. Gone

I think I'm getting goofier looking every week! LOL  Neither Cailey nor I remembered to take Granny's picture Sunday, so Kerry took this one this morning. Hot lookin' chicky there, eh?  LOL  But, anyway, I weighed in this morning at 219.2.  If my brain's still working right, I think that's 29 pounds gone. I started at 248. Yes? Hot damn!  I found this cute little tracker, so maybe, if I can find it again for the next weight update, I'll keep posting it. We'll see what happens.   



My visit with my PCP on Friday was fairly uneventful. She was impressed with my weightloss to date. It was 21 pounds there... with my sneakers and clothes on. I had my clothes and mostly weightless sandals on when I weighed myself this morning. She checked my incisions and listened to my belly. What ARE they listening for in there??  She seems fairly confident that I'll be able to get off all my meds relatively soon! Yahooooooooooooooooo! THAT is my real goal. The weightloss is just a bonus.

Our 39th anniversary was Saturday. It was a quiet day, spent at home with our son, Steve, and his kids. We get such a kick out watching them run around the yard playing and that's basically what we did... watched them playing. They played wiffle ball, they dug worms -- Caiden's very favorite thing to do. He's such a boy.  :)  They fed the fish. We have a small fish pond with about 9 fish in it. Caiden got stung by a bee, which was a bit traumatic, but he got over it fairly quickly. Nothing a little ice cream couldn't fix. Then we headed over to Kerry's Dad's place, on Stiles Pond (about 5 miles away), for a nice visit with his Dad for an early Father's Day. It was very nice sitting out on the deck all afternoon. Steve and his kids eventually showed up to go fishing, using the worms Caiden had dug earlier. A bit later, our other son, Scott, dropped by with his kids, to go fishing, too. They were catching fish left and right... sunfish, bass. They were having a ball! There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing those kids enjoying themselves.

Around 6PM, we were beginning to feel a few drops of rain and decided we'd intruded on Dad and Cil long enough and headed home. As we left the dirt road and got onto the pavement, the rain came down in sheets! We could hardly make out the edges of the road, it was pouring so hard! There were branches of trees in the road! Good Lord, I've never seen the rain come down that hard! Thank goodness, we weren't far from home! It was thundering and there was lightning and I was worried about Glory. She hates thunder and lightning. So, when we got home, I ran (okay... walked fast) into the house to look for her. She was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in her bed under my desk -- her favorite place to be. She wasn't upstairs in her room (yes, she has her own room) -- her second favorite place to be. She wasn't downstairs, where Steve lives. We called and she didn't come. She ALWAYS comes when called. Where on earth was she??!!  She couldn't possibly be outside. She HATES thunder and lightning. But she had to be outside, so out I went. The rain had dwindled to a sprinkle and I went around the yard calling her and whistling for her and I heard her bark! She WAS outside! Poor thing. I could hear her barking, but she wasn't coming. As I got to the garage part of the barn, there she was, just inside the garage doorway, barking, as if to say, "I'm so scared that I don't want to go outside without you. Please save me."  She was dry, so she didn't get caught in that downpour. She must've stayed in the barn during the storm.

The storm brought down some branches, which brought down some electrical wires, so around 8:30PM, our power went out. Kerry and I spent the evening of our 39th anniversary, in our wicker rocking chairs, out on the front porch, rocking to candlelight. It had been a good day.... and, for the most part, a wonderful 39 years.  :)

Follow-Up With The Surgeon

Today was my follow-up appointment with the surgeon. The first thing they always do is weigh me... with my shoes on. So, with my shoes on, I'm down 25 pounds since my last visit, before surgery. I know I've lost weight because, already, there are articles of clothing I can no longer wear. I have two bras that just hang on me... might as well not wear one at all, if I'm planning on wearing one of those. And, I have a pair of slip-on sneakers that are now too big for me. Isn't that GREAT??  Isn't that where we all want to lose, ladies?  Our boobs and feet??!!  Yipppeeeeee!  :D

But, I digress... back to the surgeon. He took that damned drain out! Yahooooooooooooo! I hated that thing! Now, it's gone and I'm soooo happy! I can drive, as long as I'm not taking the vicodin. Since I only have one left, and I plan on switching over to plain old Tylenol now, I can drive.  I can go back to water walking after I get my stitches out. The only stitches I have are the ones that were around the drain. They will come out next Friday. And that was about the extent of my visit. I have a follow-up appointment in six weeks and I shall see my own PCP tomorrow.

So, Kerry and I went to BJ's Wholesale to celebrate! LOL We bought hotdogs and hamburgers for Sunday and I'll tell the kids that I'm having a cookout. They'll come... free food.  Plus, it's father's day and they both adore their father. I'm happiest when I can cook for them. And, I'm feeling strong enough to get back to cooking, somewhat. We'll see how it goes over the next few days, as I finish my menu and get a food list together and shopping done. If nothing else, we WILL have hotdogs and hamburgers.  :)

My youngest granddaughter is graduating from preschool tomorrow and she couldn't be more pleased with herself! She marched in here this afternoon on a mission... "Granny, my graduation is at 4:45 tomorrow. Got that, Granny?" I confirmed that it was 4:45 and she was happy that the message was conveyed adequately and she ran off outside, back to her dad. Sometime later, I went outside and confirmed with her mom the time. It's 6PM. Not sure where the 4:45 came from, but she was very convincing!

That's about it for today. I'll let you know how I make out with the PCP tomorrow.  :)

It's Always Somethin'!

We made a decision yesterday to put our 12-year-old min-pin down. He was such a sweet boy, but couldn't do much of anything but sleep in days of late. He'd developed several benign tumors all over his body, but the most threatening was the one on his throat and it had gotten so big that it was beginning to effect his breathing. He had chronic lyme disease and chronic ear infections. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, and his legs could hardly hold his weight. It was time and today was the day. Good-bye little buddy. We are really going to miss you.

But... now to change the subject and brighten things up a bit, I'm feeling really good physically! I ate scrambled eggs for lunch today and for the second day in a row, I went to the store where I work to do some bookkeeping for an hour or so. Things are looking up, despite putting Gizzy down.

I've had phone calls from all kinds of people in the medical field. Good grief! A nurse case manager called yesterday to see how I was doing. She was calling on behalf of my PCP. No sooner was I done with her then my PCP called to make an appointment for me to come in. She wants to see for herself how I'm doing. I think I'm her first patient who's ever had bariatric surgery.  She's kind of a new doctor.  :)  So, I shall see her Friday. Today, a case worker from Blue Cross called to see how I was doing and a dietician from North Shore Medical Center's Heart & Wellness team called as well!

I've been getting out every day. Saturday, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we went to Crosby's supermarket. Sunday, we went to Market Basket, a larger supermarket that had deli meat on sale. I put a list together before we left and set out on the shopping adventure. (hey... it's pretty boring sitting around the house -- grocery shopping qualifies as a true adventure at this point.)  ;)  This would take a bit longer, as the store is further away and it is bigger, hence, more walking to get around to all the places I needed to get to. So, I thought I'd better wear this binder thingie they gave me at the hospital. It's about 12" wide and about 50" long. It's made of really thick stretchy material, much like the old girdles used to be like. Its purpose is to hold up the belly, so gravity doesn't pull on the stitches on all of the little incisions. Did I mention I have five small incisions in my belly, in addition to the drain? Well, I do. So, I put this binder on and velcroed it as tightly around my belly as I could. It actually does make things feel a bit better when it's on really tight. I pinned up my lovely little drain as unconspicuously as possible, and off we go.

Things were going really well until I hit about the fifth aisle in the supermarket and realized my binder was slipping down... down... down. Well, I had no choice but to reach in there and yank it back up with both hands... as unconspicuously as possible... and move on. A few steps later and I'm right back to where I was, with the damned binder slipping down toward my knees again! Now it's starting to take my slacks with it! Good grief! With Kerry standing in back of me, and no one in sight in front of me, I reached down my pants and gave the thing a good yank, yanking it back into position... actually a bit higher than it was. And that solved the problem.

Then I headed over to the deli, where there were at least 40 million people waiting for their deli orders. I took a number and continued shopping. When I thought my number was coming up, we headed back. I do believe we got the slowest deli counter person in history. I handed her my list and off she went to get the meats cut and packaged. 20 minutes later, as I'm still standing at the deli counter, I'm starting to feel dizzy. The deli counter girl has not been sighted since she took my list. Until... wait! There she is! She came out from the back room to let me know she had to open a new package of ham. Oh, of course she did. It's taken her 20 minutes to figure that out. I went back to the shopping cart (something I could hold on to) while Kerry waited at the counter. I am not exaggerating when I tell you we were at that counter for 45 minutes, waiting for 6 deli items. And that was my shopping adventure for Sunday.

I think I'm going to try some pureed cottage cheese for dinner.  :)

21 lbs. since May 23

As part of the gastric bypass process, I had to be on a liquid diet for two weeks prior to my surgery. That was May 23. I've been on a liquid diet ever since. The stage II diet starts Monday, which adds some yogurt, pureed cottage cheese, vegetable juice and a few other things. So, essentially, I've been on a liquid diet for 3 weeks now. I weighed 248 before starting the liquid diet. I just weighed myself and I now weigh 227... 21 pounds! So, I thought I'd post a photo on this momentous occasion!  ;)  My granddaughter has a new job... every Sunday, she will take a photo of me to post here. Here's her first one.  Lovely, ain't it?  LOL  Anyway, here I am at 227 pounds. Let's hope it goes down as we move forward!  :)

Lactaid Saved My Life!

Okay... maybe the title is a bit dramatic, but I'm so happy that the Lactaid worked! I am now able to get the Carnation Instant Breakfast down! I had an entire envelope with 1 cup of Lactaid today! Yay! I am, apparently, lactose-intolerant. I'd heard that can happen after the surgery and, apparently, it has. But, at least there's a workaround.

I went to Crosby's today to pick up a few things. For those of you who don't know, Crosby's is a smallish supermarket in Georgetown. I love it because it IS small and if I suddently remember that I forgot to get cheese, when I'm way on the other side of the store, it's only about 6 aisles to get back to the cheese. Kerry drove me and came in with me. I wanted to get some easy-to-fix meals for him. Otherwise, he'd subsist on take-out pizza until I feel like cooking again.

The other night, he was going to order a pizza and I remembered that we had some hot dogs and canned baked beans, so he decided to cook those up. The poor man brought the can and the can opener in to me. He didn't know how to use it. It's one of those manual ones that leaves a smooth edge on the can. I showed him how to use it and he was off to the kitchen again. Soon after, he came back with the can and the can opener and asked if we had another can opener, because that one wasn't working. I took the can opener's little clamp and popped the top of the can off. He didn't know you had to do that. He said he even turned the can over and shook it, trying to get the top off. When it didn't come off, he figured the can opener didn't work. He's so cute.  LOL  :)

If you haven't looked over the frozen meals section in your local market lately, you might want to take a gander. I'm amazed at the selection of meals available. I'm the old-fashioned kind of housewife. I actually love to cook things from scratch... or mostly from scratch, most of the time. We rarely eat prepared foods from the freezer. I will buy fish sticks, 'cause the grandkids love them. And I always have canned foods on hand for those rare occasions when I really don't feel like cooking. Other than that, I cook. And I was feeling really bad that he wasn't getting his good home-cooked meals. Yeah, I know... get over it.  :)  Now he has some really nice frozen meals he can prepare for himself. He's got chicken parm with spaghetti, meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs, a couple of frozen pizzas, and some canned ravioli. He loves all that stuff and I'm happy.  :)

It was GREAT to get out to Crosby's today! And I think I might go back again tomorrow to pick up more Lactaid. I just bought a quart to see if that would do the trick. I can't tell you how excited I am that it did! Can't wait till I can drive myself, but I don't mind Kerry driving me. When we go anywhere, he usually drives anyway.  :)

I'm in a MUCH better state of mind and I want to thank you all for your care, concern and pep talks. I really appreciate all of you!  :)

Home Sweet Home

I had my gastric bypass surgery on Monday, June 6. I came home on Wednesday, June 8. In retrospect, I should have stayed at least one more night,as I have not felt good since I got home. I understand, as I have been told, there may be some depression post-surgery. What I have is more frustration than depression. The surgery went very well, according to my surgeon. My numbers were all good, which is why he said I could go home Wednesday, if I wanted to. Since I hadn't slept -- really -- since I got there, I thought I'd be much more comfortable at home, in my own bed. Wrong! With a LOT of help from Kerry, I was able to get in to my bed, but, once there, I couldn't move without being in excruciating pain. That is my own fault, because I didn't want to take the vicodin I was prescribed for pain. I took plain old tylenol, which did absolutely nothing to alleviate pain. But I was afraid of the vicodin. My mother couldn't take it without being sick. My kids can't take it without getting sick. Why, oh why did he prescribe vicodin when percoset was working just fine while I was in the hospital???? That was frustration number 1. I hate pain meds, but if I have to take something, I would rather have had the percoset... the one I knew would work and not make me sick. But, since day 2 at home, I have been taking the vicodin... every 5-6 hours... and not getting sick... yet. Maybe because it's not actually going through my stomach... not sure. But, it's working and, finally, by day 5 post-op, I'm starting to feel somewhat like myself and not getting so frustrated with not being able to do things I think I should be able to do for myself. I really hate relying on Kerry for stupid stuff. I really really hate that. And he's been so sweet, helpful and compassionate. He really is my hero, my pal, my lifesaver and human tranquilizer. 

Frustration number two is this damned drain that I still have attached to me. Sorry, if this grosses you out, but let me explain what this drain is. Apparently, during the surgery, there was a lot of liquid (saline??? not sure what) sprayed into my abdomen to flush out blood or whatever they need to flush out. The surgery was done laparascopically, so all that extra fluid had nowhere to go. The drain was attached to remove the extra fluid in there. It is attached to me by a narrow clear rubber tube on the left side of my belly. Attached to the 12" or so long tube is an egg shaped rubber container that holds 100 millileters of fluid... not too big, but big enough to see under my clothes. About every 6-8 hours, I need to empty it, measure the amount, and record it. This drain is the ONLY thing that hurts... and it REALLY hurts. I have to pin the container up to my undies, so it's not dangling down there by my knees and when I sleep I have to make sure I'm not on it. It's very uncomfortable and I'd like to just rip it out, but I won't. I go to the surgeon's office next Thursday and he can take it out.

Frustration number three: I'm having trouble getting my Carnation Instant Breakfast down. I'm supposed to have three envelopes each day. I can't even get one down. Almost instantly, after taking a sip, I get horrible gas pains, but I try to endure it, as this is my only source of nutrition at this time. By the time I'm halfway through the cupful, which takes approximately one hour, I'm so sick with gas pains that I can't drink any more. I'll go for a little walk around the house, but that doesn't help. As soon as I sit down, they're worse than ever. As a result, I'm not getting the nutrition I need. And that's very frustrating. If it keeps up, I'm going to call the doctor Monday.

Frustration number four: I'm freakin' exhausted!! The littlest effort I exert for anything forces me to lay down and have a nap. I'd been waiting for a package of clothing I'd ordered for the kids. It came while I was in the hospital, so I thought I'd open it yesterday and take a look at the clothes, which I did. I took each piece out, looked it over, then put them all back in the box. I took a 2-hour nap afterwards. I was soooooooooo tired!

I DID finally have a shower yesterday! Yay! I was beginning to ferment, I think! That made me feel sooooooo much better, until I tried to get a Carnation Instant Breakfast down. ::sigh::

So, here I am, day 6 post-op, and it's the first day I've felt like sitting at the computer and posting an update. And, as Kenny Chesney sings, "Breathing in and out's a blessing, can't you see; today's the first day of the rest of my life and I'm alive and well; I'm alive and well."

Liquid Diet and Gastroscopy

So, I've been on this liquid diet now since May 23. People I see regularly kept asking me how much I've lost on the liquid diet, but I didn't know, because me and scales... we just aren't really good friends. But, for my friends, I got on the scale last Thursday morning. I'd lost 16 pounds since I last saw my doctor on May 17 -- from 248 to 232. Amazing. And, the liquid diet isn't all that difficult to do. I thought I'd be in misery, with food all around me. And worst of all, I thought I wouldn't want to cook anymore -- which I love to do. Well, guess what? Doesn't bother me. I went out with Kerry Friday night to a dinner dance. We bought two tickets, so I had to get up and get a plate of food. Dinner consisted of a half a roasted chicken, broccoli and cheese casserole, half a baked potato, stuffing and gravy. It looked absolutely scrumptious, but, while the others were eating their meals and enjoying their wine, I had my fat-free yogurt with Crystal Light to drink. Did you know that raspberry lemon Crystal Light looks just like white zin?  ;)  We put my plate of food away to take home. Kerry ate it Saturday night for dinner. I enjoyed the company and the music and dancing!  :) 

Well, then comes Memorial Day weekend. I always have a cookout on Memorial Day weekend. I always do the cooking on Memorial Day weekend. I always make too much food on Memorial Day weekend. I wasn't sure I would be doing Memorial Day weekend this year... and that was okay. But, when Kerry and I were on our way home from somewhere, we stopped at the supermarket so I could get some Simply Smart milk... it's recommended by my nutritional team because it has more protein than other fat-free milk. So, while I'm in there, I decided I would be doing Memorial Day weekend. I cut back a bit and bought just a few steak tips, just one cut-up chicken, ingredients for just one pasta salad and that's it. This year, I would ask my sister-in-law to bring a tossed salad and, along with the stuff I got, that would be it... steak tips, chicken, pasta salad and tossed salad. Well, I had a fruit salad, too.  I can eat a half-cup of that.  :)  My brother and sister-in-law came over, Scott and Kirsten along with their two kids came over, and Steve was here. He had his kids that weekend, but brought them home before we started the barbecue. Mama wanted them early. I made sangria for the adults (none for me) and we all had a great time.  :) 

So.... I CAN still cook and be around food and it doesn't bother me. But, while making the pasta salad and separating pepperoni slices to put in it, didn't I pop a slice of pepperoni in my mouth?!!!  Yup! It was in there before I even knew I did it! The greasiest, spiciest thing I could've eaten! It's a wonder my stomach didn't revolt! So, yeah... I cheated. I cheated the day before, too, when I made chili and had a taste of it to see if it needed any more cumin or chili powder.  Yup... same thing... popped it right in the mouth before I remembered it's not on my liquid diet list!  LOL

So... after those two cheats, do you KNOW what happened??  I gained a pound! It HAD to be that greasy piece of pepperoni! Or my scale's screwed up. So, I'm now down 15 pounds. Still pretty good, but I don't think I'll be losing much more before surgery, if anything. I think it was mostly water weight.

Today I had a gastroscopy. I was somewhat nervous about it. I'd never had one and couldn't imagine HOW they were going to get this scope down my throat without me gagging and coughing and more-or-less acting like a freak. It was an interesting procedure. I had to disrobe from the waist up, bra and all. Got into my johnny and waited in my rolling bed, in my cubicle, for the next step. Next, in comes a nurse who asked me every question I had spent 2 hours answering online, on their online registration form. I asked why she didn't have a copy of it. She said it was only for the anesthesiologist (sp?) and they didn't have access to it. Isn't that dumb?! She put that little clamp thing on my finger that measures my oxygen and pulse and took my blood pressure. All was good. Then she gets out all kinds of tubing, gloves, a tournequet and hangs a plastic bag of something (saline?) on a rack. I know this next step will not be fun. I have no veins. I truly do not have any visible veins. She looked for some, but couldn't find any (told ya). She called over the resident vein expert to have a look. After some time, she found something on the top of my hand to poke a needle into and did so, then taped it up very secure so it wouldn't move. Good!! That was over. Then comes this cute little blonde nurse named Judy! Nice name.  :)  She told me she would be my nurse during the procedure and she would take very good care of me and make sure the procedure went smoothly. She said my doctor was delayed in surgery, so I'd have to sit tight for about a half hour. She stayed right there with me, trying to make small talk to pass the time. I asked her if this procedure was at all uncomfortable. She said it really wasn't. The only thing she's heard people say is that it feels weird to feel something going down the back of your throat. Okay... that works for me. Before long, we're on our way to the room where this will be done. She told me she'd put a sedative in my intravenous and it would make me very sleep and very comfortable. But, before she did that, I had to gargle with lidocaine or some kind of caine... basically, a numbing liquid that doesn't taste very good, but I did that and that wasn't bad. And, honestly, I can't remember too much after that. I know she put a mouthpiece in my mouth to keep my mouth open and that's about all I remember. I think I went to sleep. I was there... I remember being there. But I don't remember seeing or feeling that scope. All in all, it took about 5 minutes. I was taken to the recovery room to "recover".  LOL  I felt fine, other than I was a little sleepy. I just lay there for awhile, then wondered where my glasses were, so I sat myself up to look for them. I found them and put them on, but when I did, I moved one of the oxygen tubes that was around my ear. Then the whole thing just sort of fell off and, as it did, and as I was fidgeting with it, wondering whether I should try to put it back in place or not, I caught the eye of one of the nurses behind the nurse's station and she was sort of snickering, watching me. So I just sort of took it off and she just sort of nodded that that would be okay.  :)  One of the nurses came over and got the tubing off, deciding that if I was with it enough to sit up and get my glasses, I must not need the oxygen any longer. She brought me some apple juice and a few minutes later, I was getting dressed and on my way back to where Kerry was waiting. All in all, not a bad procedure. If you ever need to have one, don't sweat it.  :)  Four more days to surgery! Yikes!!