A Lesser Hey

Went and saw the surgeon the other day. My total loss is after 10 weeks is about 75 pounds give or take since the surgery.

I'm doing OK. I'm walking a little more and I am hoping to do more when (or if) the weather gets better. The only issue I am having is adjusting to how much I can eat.

The number of things I can eat without getting sick right away is increasing, but I still have a hard time with anything that has bread with it. Also, sometimes I have something good (and healthy) that I have not had in a long time and over do it, causing me to feel real nauseous for an hour or so. I also have totally lost my appetite for things from McDonald's, Burger King, etc. Which is a VERY GOOD thing!!

I have some tests coming up in mid-May to see how my system is holding up. Hopefully my gall bladder is holding up so that does not have to come out anytime soon - one surgery a year is enough for me, thank you.

Yep - still here. Still alive.

Things are getting better in the eating department. I'm able to tolerate things that I was not able to before like meat and I when I get full I actually get a full feeling and not like feeling like I had a spiked mace ball in my digestive tract. Hell, I have even gotten physically hungry a few times.

The last part kinda scares me a little. If I feel hungry and I am no where near home or a place I can have something healthy, I do not want to take the easy way out get something easy and fast to eat and has 10,000 calories.

At this point I have not gone to any fast food restaurants mostly because I still think I would not be able to tolerate it, but sometimes I get the urge to tempt fate.

I am still having salad with fat free dressing for lunch and sometimes have low fat soup in the morning. For snacks I have my sugar free Popsicles, some grapes and once in a great while a few Ritz crackers with some low fat cottage cheese on top.

I am not due for my next weigh in for a few days yet but I know I am losing. Hell, I actually LOST a shoe size. (It's from a size 16 to a 15. I still have big feel, but the options I have for shoes and sneakers are less narrower now).

Yeah I know.....I was supposed to tell everyone how things went, but got incredibly lazy.

Obviously I'm still alive. Things are OK. I spent 8 days in the hospital. (being kept an extra 3 days because I started feeling sick to my stomach after they took all the tubes and IVs out. I rather not ever talk about those 3 days other that I can say is that I will never listen to Doo-Wop music ever again without feeling chills.)

I spent the next 3 weeks at home recuperating watching alot of TV (75% of being Law & Order and it's various incarnations) and eating very little. Since the surgery I have not felt physically hungry, although I do get emotionally hungry for things I miss and cannot have because it would make me sick.

For the next 2 weeks after that I started getting out and did some small errands, but even just going to one or two stores would make me exhausted.

I went back to work last week and still was getting tired, but prevailing. I have lost between 60-70lbs already but, of course, it's almost from everywhere EXCEPT my mid-section.

Once in a while I get ill (eating too much actually puts me in severe pain), but I'm starting to feel back to normal. I can start exercising this week so I'm gonna try to go walking during my lunch break and bowling on the weekends. Most of what I have been eating lately is salad with fat free dressing. I have also been taking my supplements to make up for what the salad does not give me.

The last 8 weeks have been the hardest I have ever gone through, but hopefully in the long run it will be great because I'll finally get to see just how huge my feet are.

3 days to go and I received a call from the Hospital that I need to be there at 6am.

6AM!!

At least I won't have to wait around too much and I am not going to get any sleep that night anyway.

I'm attending a party on Saturday and plan to eat all the bad things as well as drink heavily. Over the last 2 weeks I have been having little "last suppers" featuring things I will not be able to eat after the surgery for at least a while including Chinese food, buffalo wings and Chorico.

Sunday is gonna be alot of fun. I have to do what is called a Bowel prep meaning I have to make sure there is nothing in my intestines. This means that not only can I not eat anything all day and can only have clear liquids, I have to take meds to "flush myself out" Ewww.......

Since this means I cannot be more than a running start from a toilet, this is the day after I plan to relax and watch alot of TV including both NFL games (Go Pats!!) as well as watch The Dresden Files and Battlestar Galactica. I'll also get in as much internet as I can given that since the hospital does not have WiFi I'll be going through Web Withdrawal as well.

I will try to put up a voice post while in the hospital but of course don't condemn me if I don't.

Wish me luck!!!

Well I had my last session with the surgeon and the staff before the big day yesterday and we are all set to go for the 22nd of January.

We went over all the things I need to know before, during and after including procedures, visits, timetables and diet when I get home.

When I met with the nutritionist what works for the hospital (different from the one I went to beforehand), she gave me a totally different meal routine to follow than the one I saw before. Makes no difference to me but I have no idea why I was even sent to the first one. At least the hospital nutritionist gave me more ideas of what supplements I will need and even had a list of puree recipes to follow so I do not have to stick to the baby food so much and will have a class on transitioning to more solid food a few weeks later.

What to me is going to be the challenge is the fact that because I am having open surgery I am not to pick up more than 10 lbs for at least 4 weeks, which means alot of reading, websurfing and DVD watching when I get home. At least my laptop doesn't weigh that much and I got the Ultimate Superman DVD Box Set for Xmas.

The next time I post will probably be either in the hospital (if they have WiFi) or after I get home. Please wish me the best of luck.