Operant Conditioning ?

Well, surgery went well. Arrived at hospital in Slidell late... 10:15. Would you believe Katie was hungry? They took me to the back at 11, placed an IV drip in my left arm, gave me some medicine to help me relax, (which actually put me to sleep). Next thing I remember was entering the operating room and the anesthesiologist is telling me that he is giving me some medicine to put me into a deep sleep and low and behold, I don't remember a thing until they are bring me back to my room and Katie Sue smiling at me. I missed recovery completely. That was around 1:30. Next thing you know, the nurse has me sipping crystal light and sucking on ice chips. Then, she gets me out of bed and I zoom around the room at lightening speed, which she thought was funny....I guess I was supposed to be slow. Then she goes over the doctors orders (which by the way....I NEVER SAW or I don't remember seeing) and releases me to Katie...how funny. If only she knew .....I was terrified of riding home with my daughter driving through New Orleans. However, I'm alive to write this, so we made it! At 3 PM I walked.....yes.....walked to the patient loading area and got into the van. From 11 - 3......4 hours.....admit, prep, surgery, recovery, release. Done...just like that. On the day of surgery, I slept a lot, but the next day, I had things to do. Katie and I went to my end of the year swimming party for my class from 12 to 3, then to our faculty end of the year crayfish boil from 3 to whenever (but we left at 6). I was pooped. Now about eating. BF Skinner would have been very proud of these doctors. The Golden Rules are sip, sip, sip, and chew, chew, chew. When they say take a small sip or bite, they mean SMALL. On day two, I took what I thought was a small sip of water and almost died. It felt like I swallowed a golf ball and I felt it slowly going down my esophagus to my stomach. I was like OK, too big, small sip means teeny, weeny, tiny, sip. Then, on day 3 I could add yogurt, thin cream soups with no chunks, pudding, etc. Again, too big of a bite = ZAP! Pain between the shoulder blades as the golf ball slowly descends to my esophagus to my stomach. No lieing.....I'm like, this is operant conditioning......eat/drink small bite/sip......no pain. Eat big bite/sip......ZAP! Pain between the shoulder blades. Like BF Skinner's rats, it didn't take me too long to figure it how this Lap Band System was going to work in changing my bad eating habits. I was going to learn one way or the other. Well, that is all for now. I post again as my new life gets more exciting.

My Journey Begins!

Tomorrow is the day! Yep, the beginning of the rest of my life. After many, many years of taking care of my children, worrying about everyone and their mama, I have decided to do something just for me. I am having the gastric adjustable band placed around the top part of my stomach tomorrow as a tool to help me lose this dreaded weight I have been carrying around for years. I am excited and errily calm about this procedure. I have never really had any major surgery done, just a few minor procedures....so, I think that is why I am not too worried. Everything has just fallen into place in the last couple of months. I was on a mission to find the right doctor, and that I did. I'm ready to not feel hungry and feel full after a couple of bites of food. Everyone has been so supportive and encouraging this last year as I began my search for just the right doctor. My surgery is tomorrow, so I will update as soon as I'm able!

End of School Year Funk

Every year, when the school year is ending, I go into a "funk" ....I call it that because it is hard to explain. It is like all the years stresses are done, so I pay more attention to how I feel, and I realize I'm exhausted. It is like "phew".....I'm going to bed for 3 months and hibernate. Just joking, people who honestly think teachers get a 3 months vacation is sorely mistaken. We have summer school, which I am teaching this summer, inservices to attend, continuing hours in graduate school, classrooms and materials to get ready for the upcoming school year, and the things that need to be caught up around our homes that we did not have time to do during the school year. So yea, so much for vacation time. But it is a time of "mental break", which is badly needed by the summer. So this weekend, all I did was sleep. It was like I couldnt get up....I was so tired. All I know is I still have a lot to do before my last day. Since I seem to have caught up on my sleep, I may go in early to get things done before Tuesday - my last day. I am determined to take at least 1 week of the 2 weeks in between the end of the school year and summer school to do something fun. Then the other week, I guess I will get ready for summer school. Blah. I'm ready for retirement.

A Reflection on Mother's Day 2010

      Once a year, a day is set aside to honor our mothers. My mother has passed away, but I visited my aunt all afternoon. I laid on the sofa - reading the newspaper, she sat in her chair - reading the other half of the newspaper. Every once and a while, she or I would say something, but for the most part, we just sat quietly and read......perfect day if you ask me. Although my aunt is not my biological mother, she is more of a mother to me than my own mother ever was. I don't want to sound harsh.....my biological mother did do a lot for me and my children as she got older. It is just that I have always felt such love for my aunt that it is hard to believe she isn't my biological mother. As she ages, it is hard to not to think about what life will be like when she passes. I usually turn my attention to how healthy she is, not to mention how beautiful she wears her age...haha. This makes me think she will live well pass 100. By then, I will approaching 70, so I have decided, when she goes.....I'm going too! No way is she leaving me behind!
       Around 6:30, I left to go home. I had from my son in D.C., we played phone tag a couple of times, then we finally talked. He is so honest to a fault.....I told him he was the only one of my children I had heard from that day.....He said, "O wait Mom, don't be too proud....Alison (his wife) reminded me to call you!" I just busted out laughing and told him to thank Alison! And, he said to look for some cards in the mail....again, I told him to thank Alison. My youngest daughter wanted to take me to eat a salad, but a fishing trip with my grandsons and her dad took longer than expected, so she wanted me to wait around Thibodaux until she got back. My oldest son was with her and their dad, so she must have reminded him it was mother's day because he text me after I talked to her. She finally got home, so we ran to get a salad and of course she told me about her day with my 2 grandchildren. She had pictures to go along with the stories. As I looked through the pictures of my two little boys, I began to cry. Without getting into what happened, my oldest daughter is not talking to me; therefore, I cannot no longer see my babies. It has been 6 months since I have seen them, and my heart aches to see them. As I sat looking at the pictures of their day, I cried. This made my youngest daughter cry too. So my mother's day ended at LaCasa in a crying fest. I literally cried the rest of the night. I just recently found out that my youngest daughters boyfriend lost his phone. He tried calling her to get my number, but since they are broke up....she refused to give it to him. So, I got a happy mother's day late from him. So needless to say, my mother's day was little to be desired. It is not that I expected anything exotic, but I could have lived without Mother's Day 2010. Que Sera Sera is all I can say.