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Beef tonight!  Had a 2.7 oz piece of fillet.  Eaten slowly in very small bites and no adverse effects.  In fact, seemed a little easier to eat than chicken breast meat minced up.

Still tiring easily by mid-afternoon, and strangely two of my incisions are starting to hurt a bit.  No sign of a problem, they just hurt.

Still and all, this has been physically less difficult than I feared it would be with fewer adverse issues - very little back-up or vomiting, no real constipation or diarhea.  Most common problem has been pain or "stuck" feeling from eating or drinking too fast.

Two week follow-up with surgeon and dietician.  Everything is going well.  EKG came back clean, so the heart complication was temporary.

Eating three 2-3 oz solids a day.  Eggs, cottage cheese, ground up chicken, tuna etc.  No trouble getting hydration, just need to avoid drinking too quickly.

Exercise - walking the dog 1 1/2 to 2 miles in the morning.

Key to making this less difficult - stay busy!  You won't feel hunger, so food urges are in your head.  Staying busy keeps you from dwelling on not eating.

Started eating soft solids on Thursday.  Good thing because I was getting sick of the sweet protein drinks.  Love my morning poached egg.

Very few problems with eating, though it isn't much (about 3 oz at a time, 3 times a day).  More issues with drinking too fast occasionally.

Biggest issue is with tiredness - probably due to heart meds.  Hoping to drop those this week.

One more day of liquids. Tomorrow I plan a poached egg for breakfast and maybe some chopped tuna or salmon (2 oz) for dinner.

Generally feel well.  No real pain left, just an occasional twinge.  Biggest problem is enegy.  I feel fine when I wake up but I am out of energy by noon time.  Fortunately, I took two weeks off from work so that's not a big problem.

Officially down 50 lbs since I started - 8 since the surgery (one week).

Heart rate way down - 55-60 bpm - and steady.  I think the a-fib is gone or going away.

Able to drink 3 protein supplements yesterday, no real vomitting, just a little back-up from a protein shake I drank too fast.

Drank a small cup of coffee this morning with no ill effects.

Big discovery - I love green jello!

Retruned home last evening - two nights in the hospital. They did not do the cardioaversion after all.  The "electro" cardiologist, suggested blood thinners and beta blockers for a month first.  He believes the condition will likely resolve itself within that time without intervention - let's hope he's right.

For those contemplating the surgery, I can say that it was less traumatic and uncomfortable than I feared.  The pain killers are more than enough to handle the situation.  I plan on stopping them except at night starting in two days. I was able to finish a protein shake with little discomfort this morning.  It is amazing to feel absolutely no hunger after not eating anything solid for this long. The only significant discomfort came last night when I took a drink of water in the middle of the night without thinking about it.  Remember sip slowly.  I got a good sharp pain in the gut for my carelessness.

You go into this looking at the complication rates thinking - I'm not going to be THAT guy.

Unfortunately, I got a complication I hadn't heard about.  The shock of the surgery and something about the fluids has caused my heart  to a-fib - an irregular beat,  They have given me meds that helped slow down my heart but didn't succeed in restoring rhythm.  I go in later  today for a cardiac coversion where they will shock the heart into rhythm.

7/6/11

Leaving in 1 1/2 hours.  I have hesitated about doing this - I am a very private guy - but a lot of the stories here and elsewhere have been very helpful to me in getting ready for today, and if I can share some useful information and help others I figured I should.

Slept like a baby last night for some reason, when I had fits with anxiety the night before.  Had a short bout with anxiety for about 15 minutes last night after speaking with my daughter on the phone and realizing how frightened she is, and thought "what the hell am I doing?"   But I look in the mirror, step on the scale, and know I'm doing the right thing. 

I will be out of the hospital Friday if all goes well, and I will tell you how it goes when I get a chance.