I have to confess...

there are other reasons I haven't posted. I had surgery last Friday (8/8/08) and had to go through all sorts of pre-op tests to make sure that I qualified. I signed up months ago and had gone through extensive screening for a medical weight loss study and was told that the study was full at that time. When we got back from our "Big" trip - there were messages from the study and we played phone tag for about a week. When we finally did connect; they had some individuals drop out/disqualify for the study so they had two openings that they needed to fill and have the surgery by August 14th. So the day we drove to San Diego I had to go in for an EDG before hand to rule out any hernias. The day after we got back I had to go in for my pre-op appointment and to get fitted with a 24-hour EKG device. Two days later I was in doing my pre-op blood work and "surgery prep" (you can figure out what that means) and the day after that I was in surgery. You get the idea; it all happened very, very quickly!

The surgery went very well and I was released from the hospital about 4 hours later. However I had some complications; swelling, redness, tenderness and the area felt hot to the touch lateral to the largest incision. I was pretty miserable over the weekend when I wasn't taking my pain pills. I really tried to go without them because I wasn't supposed to drive until I was off of them for 24 hours... and Travis started school on Monday and someone has to drive him back and forth. So this is where I have to say "thank you Mom" - she really came through for me - not only was she taking Travis back and forth to school but also my niece and nephew... kind of like "Grandma's Taxi Service" to the extreme! :-)

Anyway, I did call the surgeon over the weekend and they didn't think it was anything but asked me to schedule an appointment and come in on Monday. The redness had *mostly* turned to a bruise by Monday but it was still warm to the touch to me and there was still some redness and swelling so I did go in. The PA thought that it wasn't anything to be concerned about but because of the redness had one of the surgeons come in and look at it - they put me on some antibiotics just in case and I've been fine (although tired and slow moving) ever since. The redness is all but gone and I haven't had to take anything for pain in the last two days.

The study I am taking part in is called V-BLOC, it is a device that is controlled externally that sends signals to the nerve that triggers the hunger feeling. They have done studies in Europe, Australia and other locations with very promising results. So not only do I get to participate in the study for 5 years, I get nutritional counseling as well as all of my follow up care for 5 years all for free! You can google "V-BLOC" and find some of the study information if you're interested.

I was very, very glad that I was able to get the surgery when I did; it will in no way impact my plans for school... which starts in about a week and a half! :-) Hopefully I'll be moving just a little faster by then - it's pretty bad when Mom can out walk me! ;-)

Paris

Our next stop was three nights in Paris. Our hotel had a wonderful view - but that was about it; it pretty much rivaled a motel 6, complete with non-working elevator!

The highlights of Paris were going to the top of the Eiffel Tower and touring Notre Dame. We went to the Lourve but it was closed on the day we allocated so we didn't get to go in.

Villafranche

Ok, so it's taking me a long time to get these pictures all posted. It probably has something to do with coming home from vacation and deciding that we needed another one - so we went to San Diego for 5 days. We went to Sea World two days, the beach and Seaport Village. It was a wonderful trip and we all had a great time!

Ok, back to our original trip - our stop in Villafranche was phenomenal. The views were almost as breathtaking as the Amalfi coast; but with more money (imagine that!) We drove through Nice, Villafrance and Monaco. We stopped for a little while at a Russian church which was absolutely gorgeous.