Well this is new. I'm laying here on the decompression machine at my chiropractor's office as I type this on my phone. I'm hoping it this will make th time go faster because this usually feels like the longest 25 minutes of my life! It's just a really uncomfortable process!

Anyway.. Things are moving along. Looking forward to the consultation appointment with the surgeon which is now only a week away! I just feel like I'll have a lot more answers and a clearer picture of what is ahead of me at that point. This weekend Ian and I will be out of town enjoying the peace and quiet of the mountains... And while we are there we'll take some time to think about all of the questions and things we will want to go over during our consult... Make a nice list we can take with us.

I'm starting to do a lot of thinking ahead and planning for what things will be like after surgery. I've spent a lot of time on message boards and watching video blogs and I've just been a sponge, absorbing the information and experiences and trying to observe what makes someone most successful after these surgeries. Certainly everyone does lose weight but there are those who struggle more than others to keep it off. Good habits will make the difference. For example, not drinking with meals is one of the rules... A lot of people seem to cheat on this one once they are a few months out. I can see why... Not drinking with meals is going to be soooo hard. But I can see that people who don't seem to be a lot more successful at bot stretching out their new stomach... So I need to keep reminding myself of that!

Going Public & Filling in the Gaps

Hey everybody! I wanted to let you know that this blog is going public. Now that I've made the decision to go forward with weight loss surgery, I'm interested in starting to become a part of that blog community, as well as any health/fitness stuff in general. I'm planning to start posting here a lot more frequently as I go through this process.

As a side note for those of you who have been following me while this blog was private - I deleted a few posts and edited others for personal content. I kept copies of them and your comments for myself, just so you know :)

My videos will still have to remain password protected even though this blog will be public. That is because I use my Vimeo account for a lot of public videos too and someone could be looking at one of those and then come across my weight-related videos, and that just isn't something I feel comfortable with. I know this could be found by people but I just think this makes sense to avoid it when possible :)

I would also like to take this opportunity to fill in the gaps. I realize when looking through my posts here that the information has been a little sparse as to what has actually been going on in my life. I focused on talking about my therapy sessions but I really didn't talk that much about the pain I've been going through and the way things have changed. I talked about some of this in my video but for those who don't watch them here is a summary.

Some of you know through Facebook that I have been seeing a chiropractor for a while now. I had horrible "hip" pain bothering me for months... turns out it was being caused by my lower back. My upper back also started to get very tight. My ability to sit became almost nothing. I had to pretty much give up completely on doing school work... as well as my hobbies that are on the computer such as blogging and digital scrapbooking. My life was getting taken away from me!

I had do do something about it. "Dr Kate" knew of a really good chiropractor and I started seeing him. He first only treated my upper back because I didn't know that I also had lower back problems. A few nerve block treatments and my upper back pain was basically GONE. But my hip pain hadn't gotten any better at all.

I went back to my regular doc, and got new Xrays taken that revealed my lower back problems. (This is also when my doc brought up that I should consider weight loss surgery.) I promptly began treatments for my lower back also at the chiropractor. It is much more slow-going... but the decompression treatments are really helping!

So here is where I am at right now....

• Still going to the chiropractor. It's helping a lot but is slow going.
• I'm doing well enough now I could start school back up again, but at this point will wait until after surgery so that it is not interrupted again.
• Ian is going to have surgery too and our consult with the surgeon will be on May 12th.
• Because we will be self pay, it's possible I may get a surgery date about 3 weeks after this consult!
• We're trying to get all the appointments out of the way that we can - doctor appointments, blood work, psych evaluations, pulmonary testing, sleep study, etc... the sooner we get all that done, the sooner we can have surgery.
• We are starting to prepare for what life will be life after surgery. We've researched protein powders, vitamins, diet/menu plans, read a lot of information. I've been watching a ton of YouTube "Vlogs" (Video Blogs) from people who have had the Sleeve surgery that we are going to have, getting an idea of the aftermath of surgery, the adjustments to lifestyle, etc. Also joined some message boards for this surgery and learning a lot there, too.
• We have filled out an absolute mountain of forms, and have all of our paperwork organized.
• We are starting to say things like "when we are thinner we can..." and starting to plan a more active life for ourselves... think about fitting in clothes better... having more energy, etc. It's been a long time since I've allowed myself to think this way, for fear of it never happening. We are both seeing that this is really going to happen and starting to believe again.
• Our friends and family members are VERY supportive of the surgery and that has been really helpful.

I guess that's about it for now... oh! Except one thing I am not sure if I mentioned - I am still planning on maintaining my therapy sessions with Dr. Kate ... this is not taking the place of that. If anything I think it is a perfect combo - I will have the help of the surgery as a tool, but keep working on my emotional eating issues and proper nutrition/ intuitive eating with the help of Dr. Kate. I won't need her for the first several weeks after surgery quite as much because I won't be eating much (first liquids, then mushies, etc.)... but will probably have 30 min phone sessions each week during that time to check in about emotional issues that may crop up (such as mourning eating bad food/pigging out, or whatever it might be.)

So for now, mostly waiting for the surgery consult on May 12th. At that point we can ask a lot of questions and know a lot more about what's in store... and when :)

Decisions Made

A new video update for you! Password: healthupdate

Decisions Made from Christie Stearns on Vimeo.

Sorry it's kind of LONG!! I don't know what they added up to in the 3 videos last time... this one is 18 minutes. Oops.

Related Info...

About the Sleeve procedure

Denver Bariatrics (where I plan to have my surgery)

Vertical Sleeve Talk (forums where I've been learning a lot)

A couple of points...

•  Unlike gastric banding surgeries, no foreign objects are left in the body during the procedure. With gastric banding, the band may slip, erode or become infected.

• Unlike gastric bypass or duodenal switch, there is no bypass of the small intestines with the gastric sleeve, so all nutrients are absorbed and very little chance exists of malabsorption issues.

VIDEO Updates!

I started writing a huge post a couple of weeks ago, but with  my limited ability to sit lately, I haven't managed to finish it. Today I decided to do some 'vlogging' (video blogging) so I could catch everybody up on recent events. I divided it into 3 parts.

The videos are password protected, so you will have to enter the password to view them. The password is "healthupdate" without the quotes. Same password for all 3. Enjoy, and I look forward to your feedback. :) The video chooses a random middle point as the still frame for the video preview... love how I am making a stupid face in all of them. LOL.

PART 1:

Health Video Update #1 from Christie Stearns on Vimeo.

PART 2:

Health Video Update #2 from Christie Stearns on Vimeo.

PART 3:

Health Video Update #3 from Christie Stearns on Vimeo.

OOOps.... Hi

Sorry guys, I don't get email notifications for the comments left here (need to fix that) and so I just forgot all about the poor blog.

A) I have been so freaking busy. Between school, actually working on the things I do in therapy like workouts, food, cooking, etc... trying to build up my future business related to digital scrapbooking...and personal stuff I have going on (aunt and grandma living here now who want to spend time with me, helping ian's family with things, etc) I just don't have time for this blog right now. I am barely keeping up with my other blogs and honestly I want to do those more than I want to do this one.

B) I don't feel like I have that much to write about in this area these days. I am doing great with therapy and working toward my goals... but it's a slow process. A lot of weeks I'm just working on the same stuff again and not that much new to report. Yes I could log every workout, recipe I make, food decision, therapy related thought... but I guess I'm just not 'feeling it' right now.

C) Workouts are all over the place. Firstly, I was sick for 10 days. Then I had fantastic exercise 3 out of the next 4 days. Then my hip pain flared up again and had me nearly immobile for 5 days. It was just as sucky as when I was sick, because the pain kept me off the computer most of the time since sitting up hurt.  BORING. Anyway it is SOME better now, still bothering me but I had a great walk Friday and geocaching/walking yesterday, and i plan to try out the gym again tomorrow. I STILL LOVE MY GYM, by the way :) I just need this hip to leave me alone! Sometimes I can work through the hip pain and certain things at the gym make it feel better... but when it gets bad enough, I can't even hardly walk around.

So, I guess right now, I won't be blogging here much. That might change, depending on when I have something to say. But since I am not "dieting" or doing the "typical" stuff, this is a slow going and not always interesting endeavor... LOL! Sorry... that's just how it is for right now.

Out with the Old, in with the New (Balance)

My New Balance sneakers have treated me well.
I've been wearing these since just before the wedding. I guess somewhere between wearing them AT my wedding, on my entire honeymoon, through many home improvement projects and selling our house, moving, trapsing through the red dirt in Utah, daily wear and workouts.... well... they've had it!!

OLD New Balance meet... NEW New Balance.

I can't believe they used to look sooooo white and clean and new! Yes I got the exact same pair because with my orthotics and my wide feet, this is pretty much THE pair of sneakers for me right now. Wish I had more choices but sadly, I do not.

I will keep the old pair around as work shoes, so I hope they can get along :)

Just for fun and nostalgia, here I am wearing them at my wedding, when they WERE all shiny and new:

Loving the Gym

FINALLY got to go back to my new gym today. I had Stacey in town and then this week was crazy catching up and I've felt SO EXHAUSTED. Finally getting back to my old self now. Anyway today I went to the gym and had a great workout. I DIDN'T EVEN USE MY IPOD! The music and music videos there are pretty entertaining on their own. I am really enjoying doing stretching and hand weights after my cardio. It feels soooo good. My goal for this week is to go M-W-F and then we'll see if I can do more next week.

I just looked over my goals and I feel great because everything is ON TRACK! After a pretty blah week last week where I didn't feel very accomplished, it is good to be feeling much better now :)

Dr Kate really helped encourage me when I was feeling down last week and she got me totally back on the wagon. She is pretty amazing!