T.Rob W.

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Stuff has happened to me today that has never happened before in my life.  And I'm not talking about the merely unusual - I'm talking about the truly weird.  Case in point, on arrival at the Orlando airport, we taxied to our gate, the signal sounded and everyone jumped to their feet and collected their luggage from the overhead bins.  But the jetway hatch stayed closed.  After 10 minutes the plane started to get very warm and babies were crying (LOTS of babies...this is the land of Mickey Mouse).  Finally after 30 minutes or so, when the heat, humidity and squalling had become almost unbearable, the pilot announced that the jetway had failed and they needed to tow us to another gate.  Everyone had to sit back down.  Some luggage was restowed but thankfully the flight crew were not insistent on that point.  The golden lining in all of this (I'm an optimist at heart - really, I am) was that the ground crew had unloaded most or all of our luggage while we were stuck at the first gate and it was spinning around the carousel, waiting for us when we arrived to pick it up.

Off to the hotel.  In this case the Marriott World Center.  I was here for the same conference in 2005 and had dubbed it the "Third World Center" at the time, based on the astoundingly bad service.  It was the worst hotel stay of my life.  This year, they had already managed to screw up my stay before I had even arrived.  After I booked the room, they charged my card $173 without any notice and without sending me a receipt. A week later they reversed the charge.  I found out when I went to file an expense report and could not complete it because of the hotel charge.  After several hours of calling various Marriott employees, both at the hotel and at the corporate offices, nobody was able to either explain the charge or provide a receipt.  So I submitted the expense report knowing it would need management review and approval because of the exception.  Thanks Marriott.  I should have suspected this would not be the last of my problems with Marriott this year but ignorance is bliss.  I jumped into a cab at the Orlando airport and, with utter disregard for my own mental health, told the driver "Marriott World Center, please." 

I'm pretty sure the River Styx is not on any Florida maps but we must have crossed it because the driver let me off in Motel Hell.  When I tried to check in, I was told that there were no rooms available.  Sorry about that.  They had overbooked and I was turned away.  I've had flights overbooked before and the airlines have a solution for this - they call for volunteers and if you take another flight, they give you a free ticket.  No such practice at the Marriott.  When they overbook you they just call you a car.  Admittedly, they paid for the car and found me a room at the "overflow hotel" - but then the conference administrators were rebooking guests at the same hotel (that's why it's the "overflow hotel") and provided a shuttle bus so, other than getting to tell my tale to the front office manager,  there was not much value added. 

Once at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, I stopped at the front desk and noted that the bathroom door came within an inch of the toilet seat.  I suggested to the clerk that a sliding pocket door or a door that opened outward would be more appropriate so that guests did not have to literally climb on top of the commode to close the door.  They asked if I wanted to change rooms and I declined, explaining that I wasn't travelling with anyone and would just leave the door open.  When I got back to my room after dinner, there was a big basket of fruit and a hand written note from the manager apologizing for the inconvenience.  Ok, so they set the bar a little high and admittedly not every hotel is the Palmer House.  But then again, not every Marriott is the Motel Six, either.

Walking into my room at the new hotel I am immediatly assaulted by the overwhelming smell of...honeysuckle?  When I ask the front desk if they spray fragrance in the rooms, they send someone up who confirms that this is unusually strong.  "Sometimes," she explains, "the restoration crew does this when someone smokes in the room."  I drag my bags for the third time today to a hotel front desk, hoping on the way that I was not about to check out of the last hotel room in Mickey-land.  It's a small world, after all.  The desk clerk infoms me that "you are in luck, we have another room at the same rate available."  Given the day I've had, I figure this actually does constitute luck, more than the desk clerk will ever know, and I check into my room for the last time today.

I have never been overbooked at a hotel before.  Never checked into a room that uninhabitable because of cigarette smoke restoration, and never, EVER had to have my plane towed around the tarmac looking for a working gate.  What're the odds of all that happening to the same guy on the same day? 

I'd go out and buy a lottery ticket but I'm afraid something else would happen on the way.  No, I'm just going to bed.  Tomorrow has to be a better day.  Wait...didn't I say that on the last post?

Sorry, but this is not a happy post.  Ive been swamped this last week and my head is about to explode from stress.  I'm sure my blood pressure is up and I've stopped taking aspirin and ibuprofen in preparation for the surgery.  My body is having trouble adjusting to the mostly-protein, largely liquid pre-op diet.  My breath stinks and I have to brush my teeth and gargle a few extra times a day.  I've dropped close to 20 lbs these last two weeks and I can't imagine what kinds of chenicals I'm releasing as I burn off fat.  Feeling like I have low blood sugar half the time hasn't helped either.  If it weren't for the surgery coming up I'd have said "screw it" and went back to my old habits a week ago.

I was working for two clients last week at the same time - one during business hours and one via email at night. In addition I'm getting ready to present next week at a conference and have had last minute updates to my slides. On top of all that, my daughter and her fiancee were out dirt-biking and wrecked their 4-wheeler last week. He broke both hands and she's pretty banged up but otherwise OK. We've had the baby since last Saturday and my wife has helped some with the kids' doctor appointments. So it's been hectic, to say the least, and next week doesn't look to be much slower.

We had planned for my wife to come down to Orlando and meet me after the conference ended.  We were supposed to take a mini-vacation and come home two days before my surgery.  Because of the dirt bike wreck and needing to help out with the baby, we've cancelled that trip.  Between losing my wife's unrefundable airfare and having to change my return flight, we are out close to $1,000.  I would have loved to have spent that on vacation or, if my daughter needed it to have given it to her.  But we might as well have burned the cash for all the good it will do us at this point.

Just 20 minutes ago, the garage door external remote broke.  This is something I could easily fix if I were here but nooooo.... I'll be in Orlando next week.  I went ahead and ordered a replacement unit so it should be here before I get back.  In the meantime, the wife will just have to carry the visor remote from her car.

So I hope I am just cleansing all my bad karma before the surgery.  If that's the case, I would not even mind so much if my presentation was a total flop so long as I get to spend all my good karma on a successful surgery.  Maybe bad karma is fat-soluable and I'm burning off a 35-year accumulation of it.  Oooohhh...I can't wait to see what's next.

I will be too busy to post much all next week.  For all my May friends that have surgeries this week, my thoughts and prayers will be with you, even though I may not be around much to type them in.  Things slow down a bit after the 25th and I'll be back online then.

Well, today was the big day before the big day.  18 days to go!  Today I saw the surgeon, the nurses at the surgeon's office and hospital, the anesthesiologist and the hospital's financial advisor.  Loaded up the credit card with the hospital co-pay.  That's good for a few frequent flyer miles!  I've lost about 15 lbs and my blood pressure is down a few points so the surgeon was happy about that.

No liquid diet perscribed so I'm doing my own version.  Stocked up on protein shakes and bars today.  Down to eating one main meal a day and the rest is protein shakes and bars.  Exercise is tapering up.  I dragged the sit-up bench out of the closet and started working on that.  Also doing inclined push-ups and working the Bowflex.  Now it's time to start with the walking.  I have a yard with a 60ft rise from front to back so I'm thinking of walking up and down that a few times for starters.  If that doesn't kill me, I'll tackle the hill on the road out front.

Sorry to have been absent lately but I've been super swamped.  Yesterday I started work at 9am and didn't finish until almost 2am.  Tonight I need toknock off early (by 11pm) because tomorrow I have all my 2-week pre-op appointments.  Surgeon, hospital business office, anesthesiologist, etc.

Sigh...no rest for the weary.
-- T.Rob

There's a video on YouTube that explains why I'm addicted to food!
 
  (If the video does not show up in this post, click here.) -- T.Rob

Here is it May already and some of this month's surgeries have already occurred.  With my date being at the end of the month, it's like cresting the top of the roller coaster and looking at the drop to come.  It's one of those moments in life when you just surrender control, stick your hands up in the air, let out a primal scream and enjoy the ride.

So congratulations all you May dates out there, all you surgery brothers and sisters.  This is it, our time to laugh, to cry, to sing, to sob, to take life by the horns and and shake it up for all we are worth.  We rock!

Well, maybe I should have tried to eat the live Maine lobster.  I didn't lose any weight in Vegas but neither did I gain any.  I confess to going to one buffet while I was there.  It was a seafood buffet and I figured I couldn't get into too much trouble with peel-and-eat shrimp.  They are pretty low in calories and it takes a few moments to peel them so you pause between bites.  After about the 50th one, I could peel them in one twist of the wrist.  By then the binge was on.  I've been eating protein bullets, reducing portions and gave up carbonated beverages but none of that mattered that night.

Well, next week it's Brooklyn.  It should be a little easier to stay on plan with deli's, lots of ethinc restaurants and bodegas to choose from.  That's the plan anyway.

Ok, I knew that meals wouldl be a challenge in Las Vegas and I accepted that.  I even stated a personal goal to actually lose weight while I am here.  Up the ante, so to speak.  What I didn't realize is just how much they TRY to make it hard on you at mealtime until I saw this sign.  Sink my teeth into a LIVE main lobster?!?!?  I don't think so!

 

We had our family cookout today and I was the grillmaster.  We had lean hamburger patties, skewered beef and veggies and brauts for the kids.  Also cut up a big tub of fresh strawberries, a cantaulope and made some fresh sugar-free, fat-free cole slaw.  For chips we had some baked Lays, and Funyuns for my daughter who can't eat stuff with wheat.  Drinks were water, Crystal Lite and sugar-free iced tea. 

Mmmmm...who says eating healthy can't taste good?  Ok, so I'm not counting the brauts and Funyuns as healthy, but I didn't eat them.  My whole day consisted of a protein bullet, some baby carrots, slaw, veggie/beef skewer, fat-free, sugar-free pudding for dessert and a snack bar later.

As I've been scaling back and preparing for surgery, I've not been craving lots of food and been satisfied with small portions.  Part of me says "look, you can do this without surgery".  But I've been here before.  Losing weight was never all that difficult.  Keeping it off was the issue.  I know if I back out now I may be successful for a while but the old patterns and habits will prevail.  So onward with the journey.

Off to Vegas for a week as of tomorrow.  The wife wondered how I'll make out in "the land of the endless buffet".  I pointed out that at the buffet you control the portions whereas any restaurant would give you enough food for two or three people.  If I pick and choose carefully, I could actually lose weight on the trip.  So that's my goal - six days in Vegas and weigh in less than 342 on my return.   Wish me luck!

Well, today was much better for the food plan.  The sample pack from Bariatric Eating came in yesterday so I tried a protein bullet this morning.  That stuff really does taste like sickly-sweet jello.  But for a guy in the habit of skipping breakfast altogether, it was a good replacement and held me over to lunch - Salmon!  Michele made Tortilla soup for dinner and that is always good.  I had one snack bar between meals and a couple slices of low-fat cheese after dinner.  All around, not a bad day considering what I would usually have had.  And the hard work is showing.  This morning I was down to 342 which is 8 lbs shy of the 350 I was stuck at last month.  Woo hoo!