Adventures

A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: King
C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom.
D. Dogs: I would LOVE a dog. Dustin's not ready for the commitment, though.
E. Essential start to your day: Not talking to anyone for awhile.
F. Favorite color: Blue
G. Gold or silver: Silver
H. Height: 5'2"
I. Instruments you play: I played trumpet in middle and high school. I was in the marching band (I <3 marching band!). I can still play basic songs, but nothing too exciting.
J. Job title: Senior quality assurance analyst
K. Kids: Someday.
L. Live: Metro-Atlanta, Georgia
M. Mom’s name: Carol
N. Nicknames: Liz and Lizzie are the most common.
O. Overnight hospital stays: Quite a few - spent about a week in the hospital when my hand got an infection from a raccoon bite in 2003, then I've done another  two - three hospital stints when the infection spread to my arm. Then there was another hospital stay when they removed part of my armpit lymph node... then another hospital stay back in December when I had gastric bypass surgery.  lol
P. Pet peeve: Bad grammar.
Q. Quote from a movie: "You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - the most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line"!
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: Two older brothers, Ben and Bradley.
T. Time you wake up: During the week, 6:30. On the weekends, usually around 8:30 or so.
U. Underwear: I like cotton.
V. Vegetables you dislike: Mushrooms.
W. What makes you run late: Dustin. He's always running late. Drives me crazy.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Dental and my hand. I think that's it. Surprisingly, I've never broken a bone.
Y. Yummy food you make: Does it count if it's take-out?
Z. Zoo: I love the zoo!

It's been a month since I had gastric bypass surgery and things are going pretty well! I'm eating more "normal" foods, including steak, salads, and other non-soft-foods (Dustin is jealous, because at one-month out he couldn't eat any of the things I can!). I can't have extremely fatty or sugary foods, of course, but it's nice to be eating something other than mashed potatoes. :-) As long as I remember to eat slowly and chew thoroughly, then I don't have any problems. I still don't have any feeling of hunger or satiated, so it's hard to remember to eat 5 - 6 small meals a day. I'm up to about 4 meals a day, but even that's hard to accomplish sometimes.

Through this whole ordeal, I've been trying to be very conscious of my body and follow my body's cues. The bariatric program gives you guidelines on what you should be eating at each post-op stage, how much you should be eating, etc. While I'm not eating more than the full cup of food per meal, sometimes I eat only half a cup of food. I certainly haven't stuck to the soft-foods diet they recommend, either. It's been difficult, more psychologically than physically, to not be able to understand what my body is telling me. Is that pang in my side because I need to eat, or is it because I ate raw carrots three hours ago? Am I nauseous because I'm full or because I ate the wrong thing? All of those cues that I once knew are foreign to me. It's a bit stressful.

I've lost 34 pounds, which is right on track for what they want you to lose in the first month. It's funny - I thought I would be weighing myself every day, but I really don't think about it that often, only about twice a week. I'm not as concerned with the number on the scale as much as I am about being healthy. It's the right attitude, but it's a lot different than my weigh-himself-twice-a-day husband. :-) My clothes are looser, though I haven't dropped down a size yet (I probably can, but it's habit to just pull out the same clothes every day at 6:30 a.m.). I'm feeling better, too - although I still don't have my normal energy (or more!), I'm not as exhausted as I was a couple of weeks ago. Between having major surgery and my body adjusting to starving itself (I'm only taking in about 500 calories a day), I was getting pretty fatigued.

It was nice to ease back into work. Since we had so much snow last week, I had to work from home, which made it easier to transition back to work (I could take micronaps if needed, I didn't have to worry about the two-hour commute, etc). I'm SO glad to be back at work, though - after three weeks of a vacation and another week of being home-bound due to the snow, I was going stir crazy. I missed my coworkers! I missed being a productive member of society! I missed being BUSY!

I also missed my raccoons - even though I hardly interact with them now, it was hard for me not to check on them in the weeks after surgery. I didn't want to risk it, though - with five little (bullet-hole sized) incision sites on my stomach, the last thing I needed was to be mobbed by raccoons with sharp claws who want to play with me.

I've got my one-month post-op appointment with the surgeon scheduled for next week, at which point I'll (hopefully) be cleared to lift more than 10 pounds (I've been cheating occasionally) and resume normal activity and start exercising. I'm looking forward to it!

Jackson Pearce, author of As You Wish and Sisters Red, is a good friend of mine. This year, she's taken part in Project for Awesome and featured Tails From The Hart, my wildlife rehab organization!



Not only does this bring awareness to wildlife rehabilitators and what we do, but hopefully some people will donate to TFTH, too. It's awesome to read all the comments from people on her YouTube video. Even cooler? John Green, another author, who started the Project For Awesome event four years ago with his brother, featured Jackson's video in HIS YouTube video! (It's the right top rectangle - click on it and it directs you to our video.) How cool is that?!

It's that time of year again! If you would like a holiday card from me, please leave your address below. I know that some of y'all have moved this year, so please give me your address, even if you think I already have it!

Thanks!

[Poll #1652101]

On October 24th, 2010, I released nine raccoons back into the wild. They had come to me for a variety of reasons - some were orphaned or abandoned by their mothers and one had been hit by a car. With the help of my husband, Dustin, and my aunt Michelle and uncle Glen, we successfully released these 9 raccoons!



*Song is "Do What You Do" by Noah and the Whale.

My brother Bradley and his wife Heather are expecting their first baby in June!

She's currently nine weeks along and they had their first ultrasound this week. Things look good so they've officially announced it. Hooray! I'm so excited for them - they're going to be fantastic parents!

Rubber Ducky, you're the one.
You make bath time lots of fun.
Rubber Ducky, I'm awfully fond of you.

As part of the raccoons release criteria, they need to learn how to hunt for, catch, and eat fish. Each week, I purchase feeder fish so they can practice their skillz.

In the video, you'll see a couple of raccoons snip at each other. Chance, the newest raccoon to the group, was a little bit snippy with some of the other guys when they started to encroach on his territory. That's okay, though! One of the other things they need to learn how to do before they get released is stand up for themselves against competition for food. They never compete to the point of hurting one another (I would never allow that!), but the snipping is totally natural and prepares them for when they interact with other animals in the wild.