gmoxley

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Well, my scale says that I haven't lost any weight over the last few days and everyone says that this is normal. But, I have noticed that the muscles (what little I have right now) in my legs and arms are showing. It's nice. My blood pressure is now about 148/78 and my blood sugar is down to 150 in the morning without any diabetes medication. I'm still on all my blood pressure medications right now, but with my BP steadily going down, I hope to get off some of them soon.

  Finally able to drive starting today. Went to the library to return some books, went to Pet Smart to get hay and shavings for Critter our guinea pig, stopped at Costco to pick up some hummus for me and stuff for the kids and at CVS for prescriptions. Walked early this morning in a slight drizzle. Actually felt good instead of the normal heat. My one month follow-up is scheduled for August 2nd even though I had my surgery on Jult 10th? Still trying to figure out how to get 90 grams of protein in each day with the small amount of protien I can get in at each meal along with my protein drinks.

I was able to go to church this morning for the first time since surgery. It was really good. Also really tough. I attend a small Anglican-Catholic church and seeing everyone who had been praying for me was uplifting. After a while I had to quite standing and singing and just sit. Can't believe I got so tired doing something so simple.

Tonight the family made B-B-Q pork with homemake coleslaw. The aroma was overwhelming and I even tried to puree some of the pork. It looked disgusting, so I fell back on my cottage cheese and some canned yellow beans. I wasn't hungry, but the idea of not being able to bite into a fresh bun filled with tender pork and vinegary cole slaw just made me angry. I got over it. 

Cathy, my beautiful,loving wife, drove me to my surgeons office to have my external staples removed. Got them out without any pain and got to ask a lot of questions of the PA who is Dr. Anez's assistant. Now have streri-strips covering my 4" incision. All is going well. She said I had last 24 lbs. since my surgey. I was amazed.

Since I work at the hospital next door, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, I stopped in to correct a couple computer problems that had come up and no one else could figure out. Ride home took two hours due to heavy traffic on I-95 all the way from Washington, DC to Fredericksburg. Cathy was a real trooper since she normally rarely has to drive in this kind of traffic.

Received my "Please don't kill me if you find me unconcious" med ID, today that I had ordered.On the front It says, NO NG TUBE WITHOUT SCOPE - PATIENT HAS HAD ROUX-EN-Y GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY, and on the back is engraved my surgeons name and phone number as well as some other medical information. I got the idea from another OH member.

A little tired from all the travel and walking, so I think I'll make it an early night.

Well, it's already been a week since my surgey. Very little pain today. Learned yesterday from my surgeon that I can take my small pills without crushing them and my larger pills with only chopping them in half. This is a major satisfier for me. Choking down those disgusting, bitter pills in powder form would turn me inside out. My kids would start laughing uncontrolably at the faces I made. 

Up to today I was never hungry and nothing that the family cooked smelled good to me, even brownies. Then tonight they ordered pizza for supper and the smell drove me crazy. I didn't eat any of course, but the temptation was real. I'll be having my meal soon, 2 tblsp of refried beans and apple sauce.

Walking is getting to be a real joy, I'm up to a mile in the morning aand a mile at night. It's been in the 90's but it hasn't bothered me that much except for the binder I still have to wear.

  Well I wasn't really hungry at supper time, so I just took out two tablespoons of salmon that my wife cooked last night. I pureed it and didn't add any liquid. It was dry and stuck together. Even though I crewed it well, I guess it turned back into a lump when it all got to my pouch. Very uncomfortable to say the least. It calmed down after a while.

I also tried taking my evening pills by crushing them and adding them to a tablespoon of pureed fruit. Well, that didn't go well. Now I had to slowly eat a tablespoon of DISGUSTING tasting fruit. So far everything is going fine except for the meds.

I was supposed to come home on Thursday, July 12th but because I had kidney stones 30 years ago they decided to have me see a nefrologist and he had me do a catscan to check for any stones. Found none and I came home on Friday the 13th.

Things are going OK. I hate taking my crushed pills (all 15 of them), the taste is disgusting. Meals are fine since I am not really hungry. I do find myself mentally thinking of foods I see on TV, but I'm not really hungry.

Woke up around midnight with my incision screeming at me. Took my percocet and proped myself up in the courner of my futon. Kept waking up with my neck killing me. I'll try using the recliner tonight.

So I had my surgery on Tuesday, July 10, 2007. Everything went well. Took about 45 minutes. Had a fair amount of pain the first day, but the Pain Pump took care of most of that. Wednesday was a little better, had some high protien broth and jello. Dr. Anez said I could go home on Thursday. Later on Wednesday I had a lot of pain when I would finish my walks. Then last night I had "dry heaves". Better this morning, walked two laps of the floor first thin with very little pain.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early. We have to be there at 6:00AM so we have to leave to drive to the hospital at 4:00AM. Only clear liquids after 6:00 PM today and nothing after midnight. Excited and scared a little. Just chillin today, nothing special.   

Well, it's almost here. I am finding it hard to believe that I am going to have surgery on Tuesday. I am excited and I am scared. Emotionally I feel ready, I believe that I can deal with any pain, discomfort and lack of "banned" food in order to lose weight and feel good again.