The surgery was a snap. Slept right through it! But the three days in recovery had some minor challenges. I would suggest making it a point to ask for a cool, wet hand towel to be nearby. Feels so good to wash the face and clear out the nostrils. That oxygen nose tube made my nose so dry! Digging out the crusties was not fun, but that small towel made it tons easier.

The best nurse I had was an old school nurse. She took care of the creature comforts such as a little paper trash place hung from my tray; the cool, wet towel; removing my leg compressors and allowing them to breath and just washing my legs off for me; found me a couple of fresh pillows; got me a ice bag to put on my head; and being the first one to go scrounge up a SF Popsicle for me. Never thought orange would taste as good as a fine chocolate!

I hate medical tape. Deplore it. Caused my more pain than any of my incisions. They should have told me to shave certain areas, like the inside of my arms, the backs on my hands, and the inside of my thighs. The Foley coming out was, well, an odd feeling, but the tape removal was down right brutal. I have bruises not from the incision, but from the damn tape. Ouch. Yeow. Holy crap. Now I know what you ladies go through if you're waxed. You are all sick puppies!

A few little tidbits of observation from my pre-op diet:

• I never realized there were so many food commercials on TV! I mean, wow. Fast food, restaurants, creamy this, sweet that. I have begun reading more than I have in a long time to avoid commercials.
• Shopping at the grocery is not as much fun. So many candies, lovely breads, and those evil old lady sample people! "Here, sweetie, you look like you can use a sample of this!" It's like a mine field of potential disasters. Get what I need, keep the head down, and escape.
• My breath is so bad makes me wonder if my dogs occasionally eating poop has benefits. At least they cannot smell this damn ketosis breath. Was wondering why they were pawing at their noses.
• As I wrote to a pal, and to quote Jack Nicholson in the movie The Bucket List, "Never trust a fart." Expecting to see a polish sausage from 1997 real soon! I know, gross. But it's the truth. My body is flushing out all kinds of oddities. Probably for the best.
• If I sleep much more part of my surgery will be mattress removal from my posterior. Just awfully run-down. But being run-down beats the caffeine/sugar/carb withdrawal headaches.

AM so ready to have my sleeve done. This liquid diet gets real old. Luckily I am not as hyngry anymore. But, as I joke (somewhat), I think I passed a sausage from 1997 somewhere along the 14 days. My intestinal track must be as clean as can be! I call in this afternoon to get my report time, so I imagine it will be around 6:30 am. Might not sleep a lot anyway!

Did my pre-op testing and doctor visit on Wednesday. Overall, I am not too bummed. But, as I could guess I am pre-diabetic (6.5), so I know the sleeve will take care of that. Also have too much uric acid, which can lead to gout and/or arthritis. That I did not know. My EKG and breathing test came back in very good shape. The doctor who did the overall check told me I am an ideal candidate for this procedure, which made me smile.

Yesterday was the group meeting with the dietician. The 15 day liquid starvation diet seems daunting, but one day at a time can help with that. They told me that it is possible I will lose 25-40 pounds on this part of the adventure. That is fine. Considering I have 140 I want to lose, it's a good start. Spent some time today getting the rigth vitamins and calcium supplements. I have discovered that I have a great deal of learning to do to understand the newer terms and nutrition routes I will be using. But, that's ok. The tough part of me is feeling like a friend will be dying. That friend is food. Yet, as was put to me, the freind is not dying, but just getting a new wardrobe. Actually had one lady in this meeting ask, with all seriousness, if this meant she could no longer have fried chicken. I about coughed out a lung trying not to laugh. Poor thing.