So when I left off, we had reached hot and muggy Colonial Williamsburg. I packed a Quest Protein bar to eat at lunch, assuming that finding bariatric friendly vegetarian food would be just about impossible. We ended up stopping at The Cheese Shoppe, where I did try a sample of a delicious Basil Cheddar (OMG!) and got a cup of fresh fruit salad to go with my protein bar. I could only eat about 1/2 a cup of the fresh fruit salad, but that was about what I expected and shared the rest with my family.
Later, after exploring a cool toy store with my boys, the whole group headed over to a Baskin Robbins for a cold treat. I'm happy to say that this doesn't bother or tempt me in any way - I used to ADORE ice cream, but fear of dumping and even bigger fear of NOT dumping (non-Weight Loss Surgery readers, see note below) means I have no cravings for the stuff so far. So I was waiting in line to place orders for everyone while the rest of the group found chairs to collapse in (did I mention it was REALLY hot?) when I got an urge to visit the restroom. Hmm. I asked my mother to take my place in line and went over to the women's restroom. 1 single stall, currently in use with another woman ahead of me in line. OK, no prob. Stronger urge. Hmm. Maybe there is another one nearby? I took four steps away to look out the window to see what other storefronts looked promising and when I turned around, another woman had gotten in line where I used to be. Problem. Super strong urge. I walked to the other side of the store, crossed my fingers, and YES! The men's room was empty. And then I comandeered it, because I was NOT going to be able to make it to another store.
Painful. Explosive. Draining. 15 minutes later I made it back out, and needed to go home. Luckily, everybody else looked almost as tired as I felt, so they were of the same mind (and worried about me). Catching a bus back to the visitors center took long enough that I had to find another restroom, but it was almost over. When I got back to the condo I slept for two hours, and woke up feeling normal.
What the heck was that? Dumping? Off my protein bar and 1/2 cup of fruit plus maybe 0.2 ounces of cheese? I've had all of those things numerous times without problem. I have no idea. But if it was, then I literally SHUDDER to think what would happen if I ever ate ice cream.
***Note to my non-Weight Loss Surgery readers. Dumping is a post-surgical reaction that bariatric patients can have to eating too many carbs or fat (or both). It can involve nausea, diarrhea, rapid heart beat, feeling flushed/ feverish, and just generally feeling like something stomped on you. Dumping is described as an adverse affect of surgery, and is not suffered by everyone. However, many patients (including me) feel that the threat of dumping is a good negative reinforcer to help you choose healthy choices. One of my goals is to NOT find out if I dump on high fat/ high sugar/ high carb things because if I find out I don't then that "threat" of possibly dumping goes away and things become more tempting. What happened to me might have had nothing to do with my pouch and just more to do with the stress of the heat and the trip or a virus.
Back at the condo the family played in the pool (well, not me that day) and then played games and watched TV. Meeting "Thomas Jefferson" was fun, and I would have loved to talk to more of the colonialists, but the real fun was watching everybody horse around in the pool, or moan because somebody else kicked there butts at a game, and knowing that nobody had to go to work the next day.
The next day was hotter, so we again enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg briefly before heading back to swim some more. I enjoyed my protein bar and a little cheese without incident (whew). The next day was the hottest yet - a heat index of 110 degrees! Even the fort of Jamestown held little interest for my sons in the face of the heat, but they toughed it out for about an hour - mostly enjoying the air conditioned archeological museum! I was able to eat a slice of spinach quiche for lunch (without crust or any later problems), and then we settled in for an afternoon of watching rentals from Redbox at the condo. When it cooled off there were water balloons and more time at the pool - more memories :)
That night a huge storm swept across Ohio, West Virginia, Virgina, and Maryland. Our area was not in the path of destruction. I'm a light sleeper, so I was up listening to the storm while the rest of the family slept. However, it wasn't until the next morning when we starting heading out towards home that the severity of the storm became clear. As we drove north we started seeing the power outages and hearing about the deaths.
How blessed we were to not be caught in that! We might have had trouble finding an open gas station for about 50 miles, been inconvienced a little, but thinking of the millions of people without power during the heat wave? The hundreds of thousands who had damaged homes and cars? The dozen families who were mourning the loss of loved ones - and how many people didn't know yet if their families were OK?
We might not have gotten as many pictures as I wanted, or gotten to see the boys dress up in period clothing, or explored the ships in Jamestown. But I got to spend a whole week with my extended family, and then we all came home safe. And thanks to my hyper planning for my pouch and family's needs - we even had enough water and food to eat (and offer to others off the highway) while we searched for gas stations. I came home feeling lucky and loved by my family. What more could I ask for from a family vacation.?
P.S. - I did, however, find myself hoping I DIDN'T win the VA Lottery I bought a ticket for while I was there, because I didn't want to have to drive back there to claim a prize. I guess that is a good sign of road trip exhaustion: when you find yourself saying "I hope I didn't win thousands or millions of dollars because that would meam more driving!" LOL.
P.P.S - I was also surprised to find that I actually lost weight on the trip while I ate the same calories and had less exercise for a whole week! Bonus. I am taking this as an indicator that maybe my intake of calories needs to go up a little now that I'm back on the high activity horse. And happy to be done with my first stall!
Later, after exploring a cool toy store with my boys, the whole group headed over to a Baskin Robbins for a cold treat. I'm happy to say that this doesn't bother or tempt me in any way - I used to ADORE ice cream, but fear of dumping and even bigger fear of NOT dumping (non-Weight Loss Surgery readers, see note below) means I have no cravings for the stuff so far. So I was waiting in line to place orders for everyone while the rest of the group found chairs to collapse in (did I mention it was REALLY hot?) when I got an urge to visit the restroom. Hmm. I asked my mother to take my place in line and went over to the women's restroom. 1 single stall, currently in use with another woman ahead of me in line. OK, no prob. Stronger urge. Hmm. Maybe there is another one nearby? I took four steps away to look out the window to see what other storefronts looked promising and when I turned around, another woman had gotten in line where I used to be. Problem. Super strong urge. I walked to the other side of the store, crossed my fingers, and YES! The men's room was empty. And then I comandeered it, because I was NOT going to be able to make it to another store.
Painful. Explosive. Draining. 15 minutes later I made it back out, and needed to go home. Luckily, everybody else looked almost as tired as I felt, so they were of the same mind (and worried about me). Catching a bus back to the visitors center took long enough that I had to find another restroom, but it was almost over. When I got back to the condo I slept for two hours, and woke up feeling normal.
What the heck was that? Dumping? Off my protein bar and 1/2 cup of fruit plus maybe 0.2 ounces of cheese? I've had all of those things numerous times without problem. I have no idea. But if it was, then I literally SHUDDER to think what would happen if I ever ate ice cream.
***Note to my non-Weight Loss Surgery readers. Dumping is a post-surgical reaction that bariatric patients can have to eating too many carbs or fat (or both). It can involve nausea, diarrhea, rapid heart beat, feeling flushed/ feverish, and just generally feeling like something stomped on you. Dumping is described as an adverse affect of surgery, and is not suffered by everyone. However, many patients (including me) feel that the threat of dumping is a good negative reinforcer to help you choose healthy choices. One of my goals is to NOT find out if I dump on high fat/ high sugar/ high carb things because if I find out I don't then that "threat" of possibly dumping goes away and things become more tempting. What happened to me might have had nothing to do with my pouch and just more to do with the stress of the heat and the trip or a virus.
Back at the condo the family played in the pool (well, not me that day) and then played games and watched TV. Meeting "Thomas Jefferson" was fun, and I would have loved to talk to more of the colonialists, but the real fun was watching everybody horse around in the pool, or moan because somebody else kicked there butts at a game, and knowing that nobody had to go to work the next day.
The next day was hotter, so we again enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg briefly before heading back to swim some more. I enjoyed my protein bar and a little cheese without incident (whew). The next day was the hottest yet - a heat index of 110 degrees! Even the fort of Jamestown held little interest for my sons in the face of the heat, but they toughed it out for about an hour - mostly enjoying the air conditioned archeological museum! I was able to eat a slice of spinach quiche for lunch (without crust or any later problems), and then we settled in for an afternoon of watching rentals from Redbox at the condo. When it cooled off there were water balloons and more time at the pool - more memories :)
That night a huge storm swept across Ohio, West Virginia, Virgina, and Maryland. Our area was not in the path of destruction. I'm a light sleeper, so I was up listening to the storm while the rest of the family slept. However, it wasn't until the next morning when we starting heading out towards home that the severity of the storm became clear. As we drove north we started seeing the power outages and hearing about the deaths.
How blessed we were to not be caught in that! We might have had trouble finding an open gas station for about 50 miles, been inconvienced a little, but thinking of the millions of people without power during the heat wave? The hundreds of thousands who had damaged homes and cars? The dozen families who were mourning the loss of loved ones - and how many people didn't know yet if their families were OK?
We might not have gotten as many pictures as I wanted, or gotten to see the boys dress up in period clothing, or explored the ships in Jamestown. But I got to spend a whole week with my extended family, and then we all came home safe. And thanks to my hyper planning for my pouch and family's needs - we even had enough water and food to eat (and offer to others off the highway) while we searched for gas stations. I came home feeling lucky and loved by my family. What more could I ask for from a family vacation.?
P.S. - I did, however, find myself hoping I DIDN'T win the VA Lottery I bought a ticket for while I was there, because I didn't want to have to drive back there to claim a prize. I guess that is a good sign of road trip exhaustion: when you find yourself saying "I hope I didn't win thousands or millions of dollars because that would meam more driving!" LOL.
P.P.S - I was also surprised to find that I actually lost weight on the trip while I ate the same calories and had less exercise for a whole week! Bonus. I am taking this as an indicator that maybe my intake of calories needs to go up a little now that I'm back on the high activity horse. And happy to be done with my first stall!
