Plan my meals most days

 

For the most part I’m doing well.  I’ve been walking on the treadmill every day.  I did 50 minutes yesterday, but was rather tired in the afternoon, so I cut back today since I want to go out and take care of some errands and business.  My belly is far less swollen from gas, but it is still rather tender.  The hematoma is getting smaller, but as the blood moves out and is absorbed, it causes the entire lower portion of my belly to be purple/red.  I’m trying to go without Tylenol today, but I’m not sure if that is a good idea or not.   

Blood sugars are creeping up a bit, but not dangerous, as I’m having a few more carbs than when on the pure Atkins.  I’m no longer taking glimepride (Amaryl) so that is making some difference.   I’m on full liquids and I discovered that my banded belly does not like cold things.  Some cold yogurt yesterday was hard to get down.  Warm broth and warm creamed soups feel very good and taste great.  This morning I thought I’d make some thinned out cream of rice cereal for breakfast.  It tasted great and went down well, but then just sat there like a mildly painful lump for the longest time.  Rather uncomfortable.  I don’t need the carbs either, so I may go back to yogurt for breakfast. 

My weight has come down 5 lbs since surgery. That feels good.  Because of swelling that is still there, my pants are not yet loose.  But I did go out yesterday and buy a new pair of sweat pants and got a size smaller than usual.  They fit fine.   

I remember well before surgery looking at how little food people posted that they were eating.  I could never imagine being able to do that.   This morning, a full half cup of cereal was too much for me.  Damn this thing may work!! 

I start back to work Saturday the 29^th. 

I go back to Dr. Boorse on Monday December 1 and then have a full week of work.

Sandy and I left for Lehigh Valley at 4 AM Wednesday morning.  They have a wonderful system there.  Everyone checks in at the same room where the family waits.  They give you a small electronic device which gets clipped on to your bracelet so that they can determine where you are.  I was taken back to be “prepped” while she waited.    I learned that they were not going to shave my hairy belly, but rather “clip” it.  Less chance of infection and it won’t itch as much when it grows back.  I was in the operating room by 7 AM and don’t remember anything else until waking up and having a male nurse ask me if I wanted more pain medications.  A resounding, “yes,” brought immediate relief.  Sandy came in shortly with my glasses.  She told me that she had seen Dr. Boorse and he said surgery went very well.  They repaired my hiatal hernia and installed the lap band.   We were up in my room by 11 AM.  We had two nurses while I was in the hospital and they both were wonderful and good spirited, as were all of the techs and supportive staff.  My room mate was a young man from the Dominican Republic who had a bowel obstruction. Apparently he had been a liver donor for his uncle (who doted upon him) and the scarring from that operation caused the problem. He had a large family and they spoke loudly in Spanish.  This really bothered me the first day (when I was tired and irritable) and pleased me the second day.

 

Sandy had me out walking laps of the floor.  The first evening I noticed that a baseball had appeared under my skin at one of the incisions.  Apparently a hematoma had formed at the site of the port.  One after the other, residents appeared to poke at it.  Eventually they drew a line around it to mark its size.  They gave me a sandbag to put on it to press the fluid out.  No fluids to drink the first day, only a sponge on a stick to clean out my mouth.  Sandy wanted to stay overnight, but the nurse made here leave, which was fine with me, I was worried about her sleeping in a chair and getting totally exhausted.  I didn’t sleep very well, but morning came soon enough.

 

The next morning I walked on my own, dragging my IV pole as I did several circles around the ward..  Around 8 AM I was taken down for X-Ray to see if everything was working.  They made me drink contrast fluid which went down with a bit of pain, and then I had to chase that with some water.  I came back to the room and when they discovered that I had passed the test, I was given some juice and jello.  I drank about 2 ounces of juice and started on the orange jello when the “fun” began.  Pain beyond belief, retching, foaming, sliming, you name it.  I thought I was going to die. Unbelievable pain behind my breast bone.   Residents came in and didn’t know what to do.  Finally the PA from Dr. Boorse’s office came in and she said she was pretty sure that some saline had to be taken out of the band, but she couldn’t do it because of the big hematoma where the port was located.  I spent the rest of the day in agony.  7 hours of grief that I shall never ever forget.  I truly believed that I was going to die.  I wanted them to go in right then and there and take the band out.  I was desperate.  Sandy was wonderful!! She was calm, kept emptying my spit tray, offering me tissues etc.   Around 6:30 Dr Boorse showed up with two residents.  He turned the room into a mini operating room and proceeded to poke into the hematoma, while I braced my muscles to give him a better view.  He finally took out 2.5 cc of saline that were used to prime the band and I felt instant relief.  It was like magic.  He handed me a cup of ice water and told me to drink it.  I was terrified to do so after my earlier experiences.  I drank it and it went down.  He made me drink a second one.  It went down.  He told me to go home!  Damned Magic is what it felt like.  He did suggest that we hang around for an hour or so just to make sure.  It took that long to get discharge papers ready etc.  I slept part of the way home.  It was beautiful with a dusting of snow everywhere.  We stopped at CVS to get the pain meds and antibiotic.  I can’t tell you how good it was to get home and sleep in my own bed.

 

Now it is Friday and I’ve been up and poking around doing things.  I walked on the treadmill for ten minutes, started some laundry.  Sandy is zonked out on the couch exhausted after her role in the ordeal.  In the morning I drank some chicken broth and it was damn wonderful.  I’ve been sipping some G2 and Iso mixture.  Tomorrow I go on full liquids, but I plan to take it very very very slowly.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

I got the call from Lehigh Valley Hospital.  i have to be there at 5 AM.  That means that I need to leave home at 4 AM.  That means I'll be getting up around 3 AM.  Yikes!!

Sandy (my wife) says she is going to try to sleep in my room and stay with me.  I hope she'll go home and get a better rest.  We'll see.

The dogs are going to go with Miss Poop the dog boarder for two nights.

I'll be back on line on Thursday afternoon, God willing and the surgeon's laproscope don't slip!

I just got back from pre op testing.  It was weird.  They told me it would take two hours.  i was out in one hour.  The nurse who started with me rushed me through blood testing, EKG and vital signs.  The anesthesiology nurse was slow and tedious.  The weird part was being interviewed by the resident.  He was a first year resident (6months out of medical school) and looked disoriented.  He started to relax when I asked him some questions about himself.  He was well enough informed, but . ...    I guess these are the benefits and down sides of a teaching hospital.

It was only slightly disconcerting that the resident was younger than both of our boys.  I asked him if he would be in the surgery, and he said no, he only got to be part of minor surgeries at this point, mostly hernia repairs.  Oh well.

Both the nurse and the resident seemed surprised that I was having WLS.  i had to explain to them why I was doing it.  Just seemed wrong to me.  They were very polite and supportive, but  ...

I was surprised that i was told to take some of my meds the morning of the surgery.  Now I'm really starting with the anxiety.

Weight is going down again on the Atkins diet.  I'm not very hungry and best of all, my sugars are under control without insulin.  This morning my sugar was 93!  I almost fell out of my chair.  Of course I'm still taking four meds, but ....  One of those goes away on Wednesday, so I'll be down to three for diabetes.

Lots of wonderful support from people I've met here on OH and from friends and family.  I have a very busy work day on Tuesday, so that is good to keep me from obsessing too much.