Well, life is treating Keith and I well. We are having a housewarming on Saturday with a few friends, my plastic surgery is coming up in exactly 7 days, and work is cool.

I'm really excited and scared about plastics. Scared silly about surgery, happy and hopeful about the final results. My belly may not be perfect after its done, but it will be damn nice not to have this fricking tire around my waist anymore. My breasts will be ok. I am opting for a small implant 'cause I'm not so much concerned about size as I am about um, lift and volume/re-inflation of what I have left. I just want what I could have had if I'd never become morbidly obese. I really don't want to have huge cans. That would be oh so much fun at work. "Gee Carrie, you were really vague about your reason for vacation... but now I SEE what you were up to!" heh. So Keith has time off to help me recover, and my mom is coming too. At 1st I wasn't sure about mom, cause she's a bit of a nervous nelly, BUT, I remember when I had my gastric bypass, she was cool as a cucumber. My mom rocks.

I have two weeks off from work. I normally carry around a Blackberry device so that I'm on work email at all times (on call 24x7) but I'm actually going to ask our server admin to take me off the service on the day I leave so that I'm not able to give into temptation to look at it. I'm a control freak, so I like to know what's going on at all times. If I want to look at my email, I'm just going to have to log in to the network. I think getting completely away from work is actually going to be really nice. I'm always paranoid about my job, especially now that we have a new CIO at work, but I just have to let go for once. Our new CIO is going to release his new Org Chart this coming Monday. This means the IT teams are going to change. We hope it doesn't mean any layoffs, but there's always a chance. In any case, I have to say I really hope I'm still on the chart.

One thing I'm not looking forward to is the recovery at home. We don't have AC in our new place and its already getting hot down there. 91 deg. is the forecast for today. Whee. It was hotter than hell last night. Our bedrooms are upstairs which is a total nightmare.

So yesterday I went to Sears and picked up a room air conditioner. Of course, the fog rolled in off the coast and totally cooled down the entire area, so I didn't even need to set it up. I also made an appt with Sears to have them come and do an estimate of what it would cost to have an air conditioner installed. I wonder if I should call our Home Owners Association about it, argh. I know there's at least one other unit around here that has it tho. It was the model we originally looked at when we checked out this complex. Anyway, I should be ok for a few days at home cause the forecast is calling for cool weather and maybe a little rain on the weekend. Can you imagine being all bandaged up and having to deal with heat at home? I think I'd lose my mind.

There is a major shakeup rumbling underneath the surface at work. The Org Chart isn't out yet, but our new CIO has been having tons of meetings with the upper IT management. People coming in from out of town and everything. One of the guys I support had his laptop crap out, so I had to rebuild it today. Of course he's one of those people that only trusts me to touch his stuff, so he's worried about what will happen while I am gone. Its nice that he trusts me, but... I used to worry about being out of the office. Now, though I feel a huge amount of responsibility for the things I do at the office, I feel like... when I'm off, I'm OFF.

Oy, I just made an appt with my Dr. to get this head cold thing checked out. I have to stop taking cold medicines today, so I'm feeling the full effects of my illness. I want to make sure I'm all good to go under the knife before I go in. Ugh.

Allright people, I really appreciate everyone who has supported me and kept up with this journal from hell over the last few years. Thank you too to everyone who has sent me warm fuzzies and well wishes this last few days... I means a lot to me, more than I can put into sappy words... THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!! See you on the other side!!!

I had Keith take some pictures in the hotel room on Wednesday night, I'm going to work on getting them up on Shutterfly today. I'm feeling pretty busty, but I think a lot of that is the bandages I have wrapped around my chest! I have one ParQ pain pump dealie that is pumping anesthesia into my belly wound, and two drains, one on each hip. I didn't sleep well last night, but I expected that. I'm not a good back sleeper, and I'm even less of a "slightly upright" sleeper.

Lets see.. Wednesday night, we got to the hotel (small, old, but clean) and ordered in food. I was asleep by 10pm and the alarm went off at 4:30am. We were all ready by 5:45 and got to the medical center by 6:00. Then the nurse had me change into my lovely hospital ensemble and we sat around and waited till 7:30 or so. I asked someone at the nurses station if Dr. Bermudez was around because he'd asked me to be there by 6am. Turns out he had one patient ahead of me that had a quick procedure. Not long after my query a nurse was in to ask a ton of questions and start my IV, then Dr. Bermudez came in and marked me with a Sharpie. My mom and Keith stayed and watched. I talked to him about the implant size and asked him to make a judgement call when he was sizing me in the OR. I'm still not sure what I ended up with. I might have talked to Dr. Bermudez in recovery, but I don't remember anything up until I was parked in my overnight room. I met with the anesthesiologist, and a staff nurse... when I walked into the OR the anesthesiologist was playing his iPod. He asked me if there was anything I wanted to listen to and I told him anything but country was good. I should have asked for some NiN or Tool, but I think it was Miles Davis, which was nice. I got the sleepy drugs, and 5 seconds later, I was a goner.

Keith said the doc told him the surgery took a little less time than expected. I think I went under around 8am, and I was in the room by 3pm or so. Its all really fuzzy of course. The nurses did a lot of fussing around.. I wasn't able to eat or drink anything until the next day (Friday) except ice chips. I was about ready to bite someone when they brought me broth late Thursday night. The nurse showed us how to strip the drains and empty them and clean up. Keith got a little queasy during that part, but I had to do this before when I had the gastric bypass so its no big deal to me.

I snoozed on the drive home.. camped out on the sofa until the recliner arrived and I've been camped out there ever since. I can see why they want you to use these breathing tool things. I'm pretty short of breath with my chest wrapped up tight. They want me to cough too, but cripe, that hurts.

I don't go back to see the doc till Tuesday. Its going to be tough waiting...

I'm taking less pain meds than I was on Saturday, and feeling a lot better overall. My lower back is starting to bug from the hunch-walking I'm having to do. Quasimodo-Carrie. One person has said "remember to keep straightening up as much as you can!" where my surgeons instructions say don't try until at least two weeks after. Everyone has a different way of doing recovery I suppose. I'm going to follow Dr. B's instructions of course.

Kasha is really digging the recliner. Spends a lot of the day camped out on the top of the back, chilling. He gets a little annoyed when I adjust the tilt, has to scramble a little to hold on.

Later, same day....

So today I've had a protein shake, a pita with turkey and cheddar, an Isopure protein drink 1/2 am, 1/2 pm, and some pretzels with peanut butter. The pretzels totally made me dump, so I'm off refined carbs again. I'm snacking on some red bell pepper strips now.

I just lotion-shaved my legs and pits and stuck a barette in my hair. I can't tell you how gross it is to have not had a shower since Thursday am, but I got these "sponge bath" cloths from the hospital so that helps. I poked around at my breasts a little.. they seem to be kind of, off to the side. I can feel the fullness there, and I have cleavage too.

As my friend Karkajou would say: Hooties!

I had really planned on doing a little mall-crawling (we went to the cineplex at the mall) after the movie, but I got about 100ft from the theatre exit into the mall and decided against it. I can't believe how tired I am.. I mean, we went to a movie, which involves SITTING. Oh well.. We hit the grocery store for a couple of things (why does a woman's body react to tramua by starting her period?!) and after that I was DONE. I actually slept in our bed on my side for two hours. It was amazing. I might try to sleep in bed tonight instead of the recliner. Sitting up in bed sucks tho, so the recliner is best for chilling in. I'm getting really good at using my arms and legs for every move I make. Instead of bending over for anything, I'm doing lunges and plie' squats heh.

Keith and I made a quick trip to Old Navy yesterday to look for pants I could wear. Not a flipping thing fit. I have one pair of really big yoga style cotton sheeting pants I'm wearing now and unless I find more that style, I'm stuck in skirts and dresses for a while, the horror! Or, I'll have to sew myself some.. hmmm. What else do I have to do the next 6 days?