Getting There From here

It's been awhile, but let's give this another crack

2010-09-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

I've been away for awhile, and I apologize for not updating. It is September 2010 and last weekend was Labor Day. I'll pick up from there. My weight loss has stabilized at the 240lb mark - I'd like to lose another 25 pounds. I go back to Dr. Richard on Oct20 for my 1-yr followup!

OK. back to "getting there from here"

Had a wonderful time at the Del Yeah bluegrass concert in Black Mountain, NC, though we did not actually hear Del McCoury! We arrived at the concert venue just behind the Pisgah Brewery which is located of Hwy 70 about 3 miles outside of Black Mountain moreso in Swannanoa. There is a field behind the brewery and they had a stage set up that would (theoretically) seat 2500, but once there were about 500 folks in the area, it was pretty much full. Laurie and I got there about 1pm and set our chairs out and enjoyed some local bluegrass bands as the crowd built. The stage was rustic looking, and the volume was just right. The crowd was just what I thought would be in this area – a lot of ‘natural’ folks, lots of toddlers and babies and pregnant ladies, mountain men (full beards and kinda rustic looking), and there was even a dance area in front of the stage. The crowd was remarkably friendly and encouraged the bands and enjoyed the $3 beer that the brewery was selling. The tickets and web page said the show would start at 3pm, so we planned on leaving by 6pm – well, when we got there the staff said the show would actually start at 1pm and go well past midnight! We stuck to our original plans and left at 6pm. The weather was wonderful – never got much past 80 with a nice breeze. We heard some rustic bluegrass with just 4 instruments (banjo, fiddle, bass, drum) and some more elaborate (full electric guitar and bass, several banjos and fiddles and drums set). We had a great time, but knew that we had a 2hr drive ahead of us to meet Courtney/Donley/grandkids at The Riverhouse, so we stuck to that plan.

There were several food vendors there and some clothing and the local PBS station – there was even a Tarot reader! One of the vendors offered ‘game sausage’ and beef, as well as seafood including a very tasty seafood sausage that the vendor waqid was purchased that morning from The Lobster House in Asheville. Asheville has a Lobster House? :o) Another vendor offered Vegan items, including a gumbo and ravioli. All were busy. As we left the venue I saw that the brewery was offering something called a ‘growler’, a chilled ½ gallon glass jug of their product for $9. If you bought one they cut off your wristband (I guess to ensure you didn’t take the jug and contents back into the concert ground).

The drive to The Riverhouse was magnificent, with the weather so clear and crisp. Great views, no haze at all – in fact, the sun was so bright as it set that it kept us busy moving the sunshades around and taking sunglasses off and on. We arrived a bit after 8pm and Peirce and Caden were out front to meet us. They arrived earlier in the day on Saturday and Donley had mowed – he said the pasture side was quite high and he had to go over it twice! On Sunday we used the grass sweeper to clean things up and the place looks great. Courtney and Laurie took the kids in to town to play at the park there while Donley and I finished the yardwork. Donley had brought his gas weed eater, he had all of that taken care of just right.

The river was not running as high or fast as it was previously, so I guess the lake is ‘low enough’ for the planned maintenance. There were many kayakers and canoes on the river – just beautiful. Donley took the kids fishing off of the dock and while they didn’t catch anything, they had a great time.

We awoke Monday, cleaned up, and headed back to civilization – I think Courtney and Donley were planning on stopping at one of the apple orchards / petting zoos on the way home, maybe a corn maze too.

Now it is time to get back to the real world!

05-12-2010 All is well, random thoughts

2010-05-12T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hi friends. Not much to post as of late, for that I apologize. My weight has held steady near 240, sometimes lower, sometimes higher. I’m off Reglan altogether, which after seeing all the ambulance-chasing Lawyer commercials for folks who have taken Reglan makes me glad to be off it. I’ve been hungry lately and have to be very conscious of what I eat and when I eat. I’ve worked too hard to go back. Dammit!
I listened to a great interview today on NPR on Satellite radio by Joel Satore. He does photography work with endangered species, but when I visited his web page, I found that his wife had survived breast cancer and he wrote a very stirring essay. Check it out here. Not sure why this hit me, it just did.
The pic here is of Thomas Richard Cottingham, my great-grandfather on Mom's side.

4/30/2010 this has been a bad week, but my health is great!

2010-05-01T14:19:00.001-07:00

I had a great 6-month Post-Op checkup today. My Dr's first question was 'what did you eat yesterday?" His concern at my last checkup was that I was not getting enough solid food into me - I seemed to be enjoying soups and things and not moving forward to solid foods. I told him what I ate on Tue: protein mix and milk, coffee - caffeinated!, a chicken quesadilla from Taco Mac for lunch (yum), a pork chop and baked potatoe for dinner. He asked how I felt - I told him I felt full, but not too full. He reminded me to be careful with any form of carbs - breads, pasta, etc; for once you start back on carbs, things can escalate quickly to "too many carbs". Good advice. He said to come back in six months, and since his practice is no longer considered "In Network" with my new health plan (as of 1/1/2010), seeing him just twice a year will save me some cabbage (mmmmm cabbage mmmmmmm)

But prior to the appointment I had a major screwup at work and caused a pretty significant outage to our production databases - I really expected to get canned for that screw up...... but the end of the day came and I was still employed! The CIO came by, asked a few questions, shrugged and said "we all screw up at times, let's just make sure it doesn't happen again". I'd love to believe that is the end of it, but my antenna are still just a-wiggling.

I told the nurse who took my metrics that my blood pressure might be "higher than normal" based on my screwup at work and she laughed a bit but still insisted on taking the B/P. It was 160/90, which wasn't as high as I thought it would be.

I kidded that it was a really bad time to agree to lay off alcohol and "drugs" for a year! I sure could have used a toddy or two after the day that I had...

04/27/2010 Softshell Crab and a weekend in Charleston, SC

2010-04-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

I have my six-month post-op checkup tomorrow with Dr. Richard. So far all is going quite well; I have noticed that hunger has returned to my diet – I am quite conscious of that. My weight continues to drop off, but much slower. I am down to 237lbs – a los of 111lbs so far!
Now for the fun stuff. Last weekend Laurie and I were able to spend a long weekend in Charleston SC compliments of my work – there was a one-day user conference by Software AG Southeastern User Group (Friday, April 23), and at the last minute a teammate had to back out and I quickly said “yes!” when asked to fill in. The conference was great, and by 4:30 that afternoon on Friday the conference was over and we had the rest of the weekend to ourselves.
We spent the evening in Charleston having dinner and drinks at the harbor area, at a seafood house (RB’s in Mt. Pleasant SC) and The Noisy Oyster (in Charleston on Bay St) – the weather was outstanding, never got out of the 70’s and a nice breeze. There were a goodly number of Navy recruits that were amongst the crowd – they were dressed in their white uniforms with green coverings over their shoulder epaulets (for security purposes, I hear) , we found ourselves surrounded by lots of very interesting folks.
At the Holiday Inn where we stayed there was the Women’s International Fly-Fishing Association annual conference, and there were lots of (mostly retired) ladies having quite a great time and talking about fly-fishing!
On Saturday Laurie and I drove to Port Royal, SC for their annual Soft-shell Crab Festival and we ate soft-shell crab – a first for either of us. We had to ask one of the vendors “how do we eat this?” for I didn’t see anyone else tearing theirs apart to eat – it turns out you eat the entire crab – shell and all! Ours was deep fried and placed in a soft tortilla and served with an avocado and salsa relish – it was wonderful! We also shared a goodly sized bowl of gumbo served by “We Island – Gumbo and Tings”, one of the many food vendors at the festival. The crowd was friendly, the music plentiful and broad ranging, and the town of Port Royal did a fine job with their festival.
Saturday evening also brought some tremendous storms to the SE United States, especially in Mississippi, but while The Weather Channel called for thunderstorms all the way through South Carolina, our trip home Sunday was uneventful and we encountered very little rain. A few hours sleep, and now I am back at work and on-call!

Rain today (4/20/2010), pollen down for a day or two

2010-04-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

It rained today, and the pollen that has overtaken this part of the US is slowly washing away. But fear not, for more is surely on the way! I went to the dentist today. No surprises there. Laurie and I had fried rice for dinner last night, Laurie's stomach has been upset for the past few days, the rice seemed to be just right for her. My diet is doing well - I see Dr. Richard (surgeon) next week for my six month checkup. It seems that life is back into its summertime routine - no surprises!

House is quiet, Bridgette and Jon are back in Houston, TX

2010-04-16T15:32:00.001-07:00

The house has returned to its 'quiet self' after a 2-plus week visit by Laurie's daughter Bridgette and grandbaby Jon, from Houston, TX. That grandbaby sure keeps everyone on their toes! Now things are quiet again. I'm not sure which way I like better - busy or not, quiet or not.

Weekend at the cabin 4-10-2010

2010-04-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

spent the weekend at my parents cabin in Mineral Bluff, GA on the Toccoa River. What a wonderful place, and a great weekend it was. Mom, Dad, and I wpent Saturday doing yard work - they got a new riding mower that really cuts the grass well. I helped Mom with some planting and got things fixed up a bit - my brother Ken and his wife Lisa and family spent the week before there and did a really thorough spring cleaning - many thanks for that! Mom fixed several great meals for Dad and I, including a great tuna salad with apples - lots of fresh fruit and her turkey meatloaf.
On the way to the cabin I stopped at Ingles in Blue Ridge to get some dog food (Koko was with me) and I parked Stella out in the outer fringe of the parking lot with no one any where near me. When I came out of Ingles I found this cement mixer parked right next to me! I could barely get my drivers door open - the dang tire on this mixer was taller than Stella! Oh well, next time I am going to take advantage of my handicapped tag.
Weight still holding steady at 240lbs. Feeling great!

I sold my airline seatbelt extenders on ebay 4-4-2010, Easter Sunday!

2010-04-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

I sold my seatbelt extenders recently on ebay, then I saw this article about Air France refunding money they charge "large" passengers for a second seat, if the flight does not sell out. The web page is here. But what made me sad was the picture someone took on an American airline flight. I was that guy, for a long time. How sad.

Back from Cancun, back to work 03/29/2010

2010-03-29T06:21:00.001-07:00

The Mexico trip ended last week and we arrived safe and sound back in Auburn, GA. I worked 2 days last week, and am on call this week – time to get back in the swing of things!
I gained 4 pounds during the 2-weeks we were in Cancun, which honestly is not all that awful. I’ve since lost almost 2 pounds, so I hope that my weight-loss slope is back on the downward momentum (currently at 242lbs)
While in Cancun I found that the fresh fruit and seafood were plentiful – and the restaurant food was…. OK. Laurie and I could have split most dinners, but honestly we didn’t eat out all that much. I found a new WalMart Superama, which is like our local Publix, and they had a fresh seafood section that was – amazing. As was their deli offerings. At another supermarket called Sorianna I found amazing fresh salads including a Pico De Gallo that is unbelievable – I found that I could buy “a mess” of fresh seafood (steamed) that included a mix-up of squid, crab, mussels, scallops, shrimp, and surimi (fake crab), mix that with several spoonfuls of the Pico and a liberal application of catsup (!) and I had a Seafood Ceviche that was very close to that available at El Cejas (in Market 28).
We rented a car this trip – a great move – and to avoid the Hotel Zone madness, we would take the alternative route to get back to our condo at Solymar and we had to pass right by this WalMart Superama, it was never crowded so I could run in and out with no troubles.
I got a real kick out of the ladies at the deli there – they of course spoke no English but we were able to get business done with a lot of pointing, smiling, nodding, and “si!” The offerings at the deli were tasty – the macaroni salad was what I am accustomed to in the US but there they add small chunks of sliced ham. The chicken wings are more like HUGE wings – like a leg or thigh at KFC – and their wing sauce is very aggressive! Not too hot/spicy, but very strong. The deli also had beef and chicken offerings, but they were more of a stew or goulash – I haven’t really gotten “back into” beef just yet, so I passed on these meals.
El Cejas is my favorite restaurant while in Cancun. It is located in Market 28 and has a fantastic menu at what I consider “Mexican prices”. Nearby is La Parilla, which offers great buffets three days a week – Since my volume is way down, a buffet may seem like an unnecessary thing, but I like the wide selection offered in places with a buffet. We also like Mocambo’s – in the Hotel Zone but out of the way and has a great view of Isla Mujeres and Cancun “bay”.
I did get to eat at Taco Factory once and got the Tacos ElPastor, which is a carved pork roast that is interlaced with pineapple and cooked on a spit similar to what your see in a Greek restaurant. The authentic tortilla are very small, about what you could fit into your palm, so I got 4 of them and ate more of the insides than the tortilla! This place is in a very bad section of the Hotel Zone. During the day the workers are cleaning up from the mess the nighttime partiers make, and at night you just flat out stay away from this area. Drugs, prostitutes, just a bad scene. But good food! There are about five ‘clubs’ in this immediate area, all offering ‘all you can drink’ packages to partiers for about $30USD – I’m surprised more people don’t get in a lot of trouble in those places.
I have my 6-month post-surgery follow-up on 4-28-2010 with Dr. Richard, and as part of our discussion, I have cut back on my Reglan from 4x-day to 2x-day, with plans to eventually cut it out altogether. He placed me on this med after my digestive ‘events’ on t’giving 2009 and New Years 2010, - his first though was that my intestinal area was acting like an accordion and collapsing in on itself as a result of excessive stomach acid in my “old” stomach. He also fears a kinking action where the ‘y’ part of the Roux-en-y procedure took place – he said he could go in and tack that up to stabilize if necessary, but he wanted to wait as long as possible to allow my weight loss to stabilize, as the chances of success a much greater if the weight loss has been achieved prior to any surgery. The same prognosis goes for my hernia (repaired 03-92) that needs to be readdressed. But since I have been on the Reglan, I have not experienced any further pain or discomfort since the New Years Day event; we will see what the good Doc has to say on 4-28. I also had an appt with my Cardiologist that I missed (gasp!) for I had foolishly scheduled it for the day after we got back from Cancun. I now have to call and reschedule.

Sat and Sun in Cancun (3/13&14/2010) - Chamber of Commerce weather!

2010-03-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sat March 13 & Sun 14 2010. Weekends are the busy times here in Cancun. A Typical vacation starts and stops on Saturdays, so those days find the most traffic, crowds, confusion, and partiers. All four of those found their way into our lives over the past two days. On Sunday Laurie gave herself her Humiera shot, which is a new drug therapy for her to help with her Crohn’s Disease. It has some minor side effects, but just the injection itself is pretty intense. She has to find a suitable injection site – this time it was in the back of her upper thigh. She quickly started a low grade fever, but that is somewhat normal.
We hung around the condo for the past two days, watching the world go by and enjoying the beautiful weather. It is what I describe as “Chamber of Commerce” weather, for it is the absolute perfect conditions that the local tourism authority and politicos know will draw great crowds of visitors. The days started out in the low 70’s and never got out of the 80’s and not a cloud in the sky and with light breezes. How could it get any better?
I am on my 2nd book of the trip, The Memory Collector, by Meg Gardiner. I just finished The Dirty Secrets Club by the same author on Saturday. Meg Gardiner is a mystery writer, in the Michael Crichton vein; I discovered her books while reading a Stephyen King article in Entertainment Weekly – he found Ms. Gardiner’s Evan Delancy series to be a great read, and I bought the set of five books for our trip to Solymar two years ago. DSC and Memory Collector introduce a new character, Jo Beckett, a forensic physchologist. She comes in after a “life ending event” – maybe a murder, maybe a suicide? And works to unearth what the state of mind of the deceased was and tries to unearth the truth from that angle – very interesting. I highly recommend her books if you are looking for a engrossing book(s) to read! But be sure you have some time to devote to reading (like on a vacation!) for you will not want to put them down. One thing for sure, sometime before next summer I will invest in a Kindle or similar, as lugging over 10lbs of books around is no fun – I have the new Stephen King book to read during this trip, “Under the Dome” – it alone is several inches thick! I did bring two paperbacks, but it seems that all of the most interesting books aren’t out in paperback yet (or so the marketers would have you belive!)
OK, back to the vacation. Saturday found us just lazying around here, enjoying the beautiful weather and the peace and quiet. We are enjoying so just ‘wtaching the world go by’- there are cruise ships passing by on their way to Cozumel, vendors roaming up and down the beach selling items (constantly, it seems) and and entire generation of different kinds of people all with different plans and agendas, hopes and dreams, some on schedules and some not, young and old, working and relaxing – it is amazing just to sit and watch.
Our condo is on the 2nd floor, which means there are really three levels below us. Solymar is built on an interesting floor plan – the two hallways have three accessways to the rooms. As an example (look at my pics for more info), from Level 1 you see several doorways. On the left there are doors that lead to rooms overlooking the ocean. On the right there are doors to rooms overlooking the lagoon (much cheaper), but there are also stairways. Some of the stairways go up, others go down. So from Level 1 you can access rooms on the ‘ground floor’, rooms on that level, or you can access rooms on the next level (but that is not Level2). If you were to take the elevator (or stairs, lots of stairs) to Level 2, you would find similar access – there are rooms on Level 2, there are stairs leading down to rooms below (which would be ‘above’ the ‘up stairs’ rooms on Level 1) and stairs leading up to rooms above Level 2 (which are the penthouse rooms). So if you are standing at the beach and look back at Solymar, you see there are six floors of rooms, but if you come into Solymar you only find 2 hallways. Very Efficient.
From our room, 2407, we have a great view of everything. We can see the pool, the restaurant and the beach. The sun angle is great in this room as there is just a few early hours of direct sun – which is a good thing, for after a few minutes you can get quite sunburned. Below us on the ground level are some college-age young men, and they have ‘the best spot’ in the complex – direct access to the pool, a nice patio with chairs (and a bathroom), which makes their room ‘party central’. Laurie and I have had a great time watching people come and go with this group. At times the crowd of young people at the pool can exceed 30 – the girls are not paying any attention to the guys, the guys are acting like typical college guys trying to get the girls to notice them, there is a lot of alcohol involved – even drinking before 9am! – and it seems that the world is in a good place – there will be this kind of interplay for generations to come, now and forever. There are families with young kids that play around the perimeter of the action – the pool to the left of our view is a very shallow “kiddie pool” – we are having fun watching the kids play and the parents and grandparents concentrate on them while also watching (staring?) at the college kids and maybe remembering times back when they were part of that group….
The Solymar “entertainment staff” cranks the music up early to get everyone’s blood moving around – but this is not The Oasis or The Rui Palace, though they try very much to be. They drag a volleyball net across the pool occasssionally and try to get the crowd involved, the poolside bar is constantly busy with imbibers, The beach has just been ‘rejuvenated’, the Cancun Association brought in barges to pump sand back up to the beaches which was washed away by the active hurricane season they had last year. But as oceans can do, Mother Nature is busy moving all of that sand back where she wanted it to be in the first place – you can see in some of my pictures the dramatic dropoff at the oceans edge – with each wave, more and more of that sand is working its way back into the ocean – right where it was intended to be. But for as long as man has assets on the beach, he will fight for the right to exploit The Beach, and Mother Nature will fight back just as hard and quite relentlessly to set things back the way she intentended. Such is the cycle of life.
Laurie and I tend to just eat one meal a day here – we used to say it wsa because of the heat, but in March it is just not that hot… anyway, on Saturday we went to The Shrimp Bucket – Laurie had a 1/2 lb of the Peel-and-Eat shrimp – they were the size of your finger and quite tasty. I had the Scallop and Shrimp skewers, and they too were quite tasty and pretty much exactly as described – scallops and shrimp on skewers (kabobs). I had cole-slaw as well. The Shrimp Bucket is lagoon side, and we got to watch the Aqualand Marina customers as they went on their Jungle Cruise excursions, rented JetSkis, or took group rides on the Jet Boat – everyone is looking for a different thrill. Me? I am too old for thrills like that :o)
Sunday was a quiet day, we lounged around Solymar most of the day, Laurie was really feeling the after effects of that Humiera shot. Late yesterday we headed to La Isla mall to find an internet café where Laurie could call back to her mom and Bridgette (our cell phones cost $.99min to call back to the USA!) but the café that used to be at La Isla is not there any more. We went by the new WalMart Superama and got some macaroni salad, chicken, and refried beans and stuff to make grilled cheese sandwiches and headed back to the condo. This new WalMart Superama is out in the middle of nowhere, so we gringos were quite out of place – and not a single person there spoke any English. I was peering into the deli selection and was able to get my ideas across to the deli lady – 2 of this, 4 of that, can you wrap this in cellophane? She offered tastes of things I didn’t recognize (and there were a lot of that), I also got a small container of their seafood mix – it looks like squid, crab, scallops, pico (salsa) – and Kenneth, I found the Rooster Sauce! After a quiet eat-in meal, we relaxed. A quiet day in paradise!

Cancun MX part 2 - Playa Del Carmen

2010-03-13T05:20:00.000-08:00

Fri March 12 2010 – today we decided to head south to Playa Del Carmen, since we had the rental car, why not see some new sights? Our first stop was at a new WalMart Superama in the commercial district near the airport to get some sunscreen – the two aerosol bottles we had purchased would not work! Heavens knows how to return them… the Superama was interesting, very small, more like a Publix vs Kroger. After we stocked up, we headed south on MX307 – the main drag that heads south of Cancun. It is as wide as a 4-lane interstate (2-lanes each way), but there are really no road rules – if there is room for 3-wide cars, then there are 3-wide cars! The speed limits are in KPH, and 100KPH seems to be about the maximum.
We traveled through Puerto Morales, past several new large hotel entrances, over several arbitrary speed tables and huge speed ‘bumps’ – all mean, I assume, to slow things to practically a stop for no obvious reason. We arrived in Playa Del Carmen and really had to hunt for a parking spot – one of the perils of having a car in this part of the world. We wandered around this town a bit – it was really just a smaller version of Cancun, as we expected, but it is a major port for ferries that run to Cozumel, visible on the horizon. Cozumel is a major port for cruise ships, and you could see them as well. Hit my flickr page for more pics. The beaches in Playa Del Carmen were pretty, but they were occupied by two major hotels – both looked pretty pricey. We had lunch at a nice eatery – I had shrimp and chicken fajitas and Laurie had chicken tacos – neither of us ate all of our meal, though we did get some table-made guacamole dip which was very, very good. The waiter asked if we wanted it ‘spicy’ – I did, Laurie didn’t :o), so we got it not spicy. We arrived back at Solymar in plenty of time to be able to enjoy the evening, and Laurie was able to get on the net and ‘text’ message her daughter Bridgette. We bought some bootleg DVD’s at Mkt 23 and tried to get them to play – we found out the DVD player didn’t have any cables hooking it to the TV! We’ll have to talk to Michelle about that! Laurie was able to watch one of her movies on my laptop. I awoke this morning to a beautiful moon, pre-sunrise. Check out the flickr page for those pictures – and I found out that Starbucks doesn’t open till 8am on Saturday and Sunday – I saw the “7am Lun-Vic” on their sign, but didn’t recognize the ‘8am Sab-Dom’ meant Sunday AND Saturday! I gotta learn some Spanish.

2010-03-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

3-09-2010 We started this trip to Cancun in the most traditional way – packing out suitcases. How people can go to far-flung destinations with just carryon bags amaze me – just Laurie and I ended up with two suitcases each – I brought books, electronics, medical supplies. The stuff we brought just seemed to grow with each moment. But we made it. This year we were able to get our two Delta tickets with frequent-flyer miles that I had accumulated over the past 10 years; I paid for the taxes and fees, the rest was covered by the miles.
My brother Ken volunteered to deliver us to the airport and pick us up after the trip. Laurie’s Mom and Dad offered to keep Koko, and we sure do appreciate all of that great help. Without it the trip would have not only been that much more of a hassle but also cost us more.
We boarded out plane early and with little effort – the plane was much less than half full, so and that made the 2.5 hr flight just a bit easier to take. Landing was “good” – I’ve heard that “any landing you can walk away from is a good landing”. The airport in Cancun has changed over the years, the latest change made immigration and customs very easy to navigate. Cancun Valet was waiting for us as we exited the airport, and we arrived at Solymar about 3pm Cancun time. We got our bags into out room, 2407, and got unpacked. And we crashed. No food to speak of today, Laurie and I each had snacks on the plane and some more munchies in the room, but we were so tired the first night that we just crashed.
3-10-2010. Wed. brought the discovery that the promised internet access in the room really didn’t work. I can ‘see’ the signal while sitting at the kitchen table, but not connect. We later figured out that if we take the laptop into the bathroom we can connect there (a bit closer to the wireless access point in a nearby condo). OK. So that is what we have to do. I went to Starbucks on Wed morning to do my Univ. of Phoenix work and was there from 7am to a bit after 9am. While at Starbucks at the La Isla mall I stopped at one of the car rental agencies and found that we could rent a car with all insurance for about $50/day. Hmmm. Talked that over with Laurie and we decided to splurge on it, and the next thing I know we are driving a fire-engine red Nissan Tsuru, an entry-level 4-door car. Auto tranny and an entry stereo, but it is a nice car for Cancun. Our first trip was to WalMart, but we first stopped at Bubba Gumps for an early dinner. After the WalMart run we went to Soriana for some Pico-de-Gallo, and then came back and unloaded our purchases. Again exhausted, we retired early. I gave Laurie a necklace for her birthday; it is of the state of Georgia with ‘heart” over where Warm Springs is located. :o)
3-11-2010. Thu found us on the balcony listening to a CD and reading. The sun was out, the wind was blowing, and we had a nice quiet afternoon. We headed to Market 23 to buy some DVD’s – they had Avatar :o) – and we ran by Plaza Las Americas to hit the drug store for some Tylenol (needed for Lauries sinuses). I am navigating the Cancun madness pretty well in the red Tsuru, we took the “aeropuerto” road home and saw the Cancun Autodromo (where a future Formula One race is slated to be held) and the Cancun BMW dealer, a bunch of new building going on, and in general controlled mayhem on the roads, but everyone going along and getting along.
Our return to the condo brought the discovery that, while we do have a DVD player, there is no cables from it to the TV! We will have to talk that over with Michelle the next time we see her. Another fun day. Tomorrow we go to Isla Mujeres. Peter and Michelle came by and dropped off some flowers for Laurie’s birthday. They are beautiful.

Off to Mexico for 2 weeks... pray for me!

2010-03-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

My wife and I leave on Tue 3/9 for our annual 2-weeks in Cancun, we stay at a condo managed by good friends of ours. (they have great condo's at an even greater deal - here is their site - use my name! It might be worth something, maybe even for me ) Michelle and Peter Hermick, great folks.

The big thing is this year I will be (at least) 110 pounds lighter than any year before! The condo we are renting is on the 4th floor, and though there are elevators, I am gonna use the stairs when my hands are free to do so! During all of our previous years we have had a ground-floor unit - which at my weight then (350ish) was almost a necessity.

And this year I am draggng alot of new things that will almost fill a suitcase - a tub of IsoPure protein (enough for 14 days), six bottles of mineral supplements and vitamins, five bottles of prescription drugs, liquid Lortab (haven't needed this in several months, but better safe than sorry) Liquid Tylenol (2 varieties, simply not availalble in Cancun).

And this year I will be able to take advantage of the nice wide sidewalks in front of our condo - the question is, will I take avantage of it (my plans say yes!) Access to the condo from the main highway requires a pretty good hike up their driveway - rea;listically not all that far, maybe 2 minutes and up a nice paved driveway to the main entrance - previous trip this hike alone would have pratically brought me to my knees, gasping for breath and sweating like a, well, like a stuck pig.

I am still under my 'no alcohol for a year' pledge to my surgeon, so no cervesa or margharita's but lots of water and relaxing and enjoying our time together. Lots of pics to follow!

But here is where it gets tempting - the food! I know some great seafood places, and plan on visiting them moreso than the equally-great tamale, burrito, enchilada, nachos (oh those authentic nacho chips!), rich sauces, Tequila (!).... my favorite breakfast spot has a great grill that makes absolutely tempting omelettes, but also has an equally tempting fruit bar and such....

I'm taking six books - two by Stephen King, one by Michael Crichton, two by Meg Gardinier, one by Temple Grandin. I will have an internet connection there, but promise I am just going to use it to teach my college classes and email, and for no longer than 2 hrs a day and only while my wife sleeps late. I promise!

Friends, please pray for me! I am heading off to this trip at 238, blood sugars "normal", blood preessure "normal", my knee(s) don't hurt near as bad - and I want to return on 3/23 even lighter / healthier / happier / rested / refreshed - can I do that? Ah, the journey is where the fun is!

Feb 26 2010 - "I'm Back In The Saddle Again"

2010-02-26T05:46:00.001-08:00

I’m back on the weight-loss curve again! Down to 237lbs this morning. I was plateaued at 240 for over 2 weeks, but didn’t change anything – same diet, same exercise, same everything. Maybe now I can get these last 27 pounds off….
Laurie is still in Houston visiting her daughter Bridgette and new grandson Jon Jon, and they are having a ball being together again. I can only imagine how tough it must be to live that far away from her daughter and new grandbaby…. Thank goodness for AirTran and cheap Tuesday ATL<->HOU flights!

Sun 02/21/2010 - how big is a 50lb bag of bird seed?

2010-02-21T03:25:00.000-08:00

Wow. Everything is so normal. My weight has plateaued at 240 for now. Its been a week since I have lost anything, but I am OK with that. It has been four months since the surgery, and I am down 108 pounds. My ultimate goal is to get down to 210, but I feel so much better now than before.
My brother and I are at my parent's mountain cabin for the weekend and we drove into Blue Ridge for some supplies - one of the things we needed was bird seed. I bought a 50lb sack and the fellow at the Blue Ridge Feed and Seed ("The Zoo") loaded it into Stella for me. When we got back to the cabin I threw that bag over my shoulder and walked it down to the lower level - and I imagined that just three short months ago I was carrying around TWO of those 50lb bags of seed on my frame. It does make you think......
My meals are going good, I am able to eat pretty much anything I want, but I have had to get accustomed to dating what I want and THAT IS ALL. No guilt about leaving food on my plate. It is just the way it is. No doggie bag (what, am I gonna eat it later?) No apologies. Buy what you want to eat, then eat what you want to eat, then have the strength to say "that's enough". That has been a tough lesson to learn.

Good Followup Visit with Dr. Richard on 02/11/2010

2010-02-13T01:43:00.000-08:00

I had a great followup with Dr. Richard. He said that with my trip to Mexico coming up quickly (3/9 thru 3/23/2010), and me doing well under the current regieme, he was not going to change a thing. I am taking 4 doses of Reglan daily, and when I return Dr. Richard will start to take me off of that, first to two doses daily for 2 weeks, then none.
But I really have been doing great - no abdominal pain at all. My appetite has returned, which is really scary because if I am not very aware of it, the weight will return. I have to remember - and remember and remember - that this gastric bypass surgery is just a tool for a lifetime of weight control. It is not a magic potion, for 'it' can be defeated and I could potentially end up right where I started; or worse!
And after going through all of this, I will not permit that to happen. I'm currently at 240 and seem to have hit some kind of plateau. Dr. Richard says to be patient - those last 30 pounds will be the hardest to lose! He also wants me to start exercising, especially in the upper chest area. He said that as men lose weight, it becomes the most obvious in the chest and shoulders, and we can, if not very careful, start to look gaunt. I don't want that!
It snowed today in Auburn, GA, and it was a dry, fluffy snow. Within just a few hours everything was covered and as long as my loved ones and I are safe and sound, I say let it snow! But I am already tired of it. To add to this fun, Laurie and I are packing a ReloCube this weekend to have shipped to Bridgette and family in Houston, TX - and the snow is adding a new wrinkle to this project! I'll post results of all of that later, but here is a link to the pictures of the snow - and the ReloCube.

Feb 07 2010 - Boxers or Briefs?

2010-02-07T03:23:00.000-08:00

My underwear is getting really sad. I know I am not supposed to go out and buy new clothes till I get (most) all of the weight off, but my underwear is just really, really sad. So I went out last night to Wal Mart and bought new underwear and socks. Boxers! Hey, it is time for a change.
My weight is down to 240, my blod sugars are in the 100-110 range, blood pressure looks good, so far everything is going my way! I have an appt next week with my surgeon Dr. Richard. It has been over a months since my last 'episode' with abdominal pain. Perhaps the Reglan is working? Something is!

Lunch today, Feb 04 2010 Open-faced Turkey Sandwich with...

2010-02-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

Luch today was just absolutely yummy: an open-faced turkey (no bread), a scoop of cornbread dressing and a serving of steamed squash. 2 Clementines. Totals: 650cal, 33gProtein. I also had my powdered IsoPure Protein in a pint of chocolate Milk: 330cal, 66gProtein. Totals so far for the day: 980cal, 99gProtein.
Dr. Richard wants me to get back onto more solid foods, and it looks like that is working just fine. My weight this morning was 240lb - down 108 total, 30lb to go. Stella is really working well and she is a blast to drive.
Life is good. I go back to Dr. Richard for a checkup next week, on Feb10. So far, no more episodes of that unexplained abdominal pain. Thumbs up and fingers crossed!

It's February! Have you ever tried Wakame soup?

2010-02-02T03:26:00.000-08:00

things have been going very well for me as of late. I have been able to eat fresh fruit again, and am doing well in getting my protein in mixing the powder with milk, most notably with Nesquick flavored reduced fat milk. Laurie and I had BBQ for dinner over the weekend, but it just didn't work for me - I barely ate two or three bites and even then I had to be certin to chew it very thoroughly. For lunch yesterday I tried spinach lasagna from the cafeteria at work, and while it was very tasty, I only ate a few bites. I also had a side salad, and that was quite good, and with 1000 Island dressing, satiated my lunch needs.
In fact, I am finding that salads are becoming a larger part of my daily meals. The roughage is good, the variety is nice, and it seems to be working quite well.
I also found Wakame soup, a Japanese Seaweek soup - quite tasty! And Amazon.com has a deal going on right now.
Bridgette and RJ and baby Jon are moving into their first apartment in mid-February, so Laurie and I are arranging for some of Bridgette's things to be shipped out to her in Sugarland, TX. That ought to keep us busy for awhile!

Hey Hey - sorry I have been absent for a few days (11/28/2010)

2010-01-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a few days since I last checked in, and for that I apologize. My weight loss continues, as of today 1/28/2010, I am at 242 pounds, down 106 pounds in 3 months (10/22/2009 surgery date). I have returned to a somewhat regular diet, but I still have not recovered my taste for beef. I miss a good rare steak, but if it were set before me I would not eat it. Yesterday I went to lunch with a colleague and we ate at a Mexican restaurant. I ordered the lunch special (burrito, taco, tamale) – he asked ‘can you eat all that?” I responded that, no, I could not. But one thing I had to get over was that I could NOT eat ‘all that’, but be satisfied with what I could eat and not feel bad about leaving half of the meal or more. No doggie bag, no leftovers, no guilt. Eat what I want, then push the plate away. It is harder than it sounds, not because4 I am hungry, but because I feel guilty for NOT eating it all.

Since I was here last I bought a new (to me) car – a 2007 BMW Z4, picture attached. Her name is sTella II. Stella I was my 1990 BMW 750iL, and Stella II is quite the scooter! I had to travel to Luxury Motors in Chicago to picker up, lots of pics are here and here. I also spent a great day of fun with some coworkers and friends at the golf course, pics of that outing are here.

I’m working hard to get my daily protein in, eat more solid food, and NOT have a reoccurrence of the pain I had on 11/29 and 01/02/2010 (coincidence that those two dates were also holidays?) Dr. Richard prescribed Reglan for 30 days and has me continuing the Protonix, so far so good. I promise to be more prompt!

I had been thinking about a nice “I Love Me’ present for once I reached my weight goal, but I went ahead, 30 pounds early, and found the right car. Bridgette (step daughter) and her husband RJ and baby Jon live in Sugarland TX and are without a car, and they really need a car – so I am shipping my 1989 BMW 325iS (“Booger “) to them now that my 2007 BMW Z4 – Stella – is here! But Stella was in Chicago and Luxury Motors.com wanted $600 to ship her to me. I found one-way plane tickets from ATL to O’Hare for $114, so Laurie and I took off on 01/22/2010 and we spent the weekend in Chicago, picked Stella up on Monday, and drove back to Atlanta – in the snow! 754 miles, we got as far as Bowling Green, KY before we had to stop for the night. Then up at 4am and finished the journey home before noon on 01/26. What an adventure!

Matt Dusk in concert @ The Hoover Library Theater in Birmingham, AL January 15, 16, 17 2010

2010-01-17T18:46:00.000-08:00

Laurie and I saw Matt Dusk perform this weekend at the Library Theater in Birmingham AL. The show was amazing. The theater is actually in a library. Very intimate setting. Matt sang for about 2 hrs and the trio with him were amazing. These four guys absolutely pounded the tunes out. The crowd was mostly a “subscription” crowd – you know the pitch where the local arts organization brings in groups or plays several times a year and you can buy six or ten shows for a flat rate. Most had no idea who Matt Dusk was, but at the end of the evening they were on their feet. Afterwards Matt mingled with the crowd and a good time was had by all. What really made this fun is that Matt and his trio were staying at The Wyndham Hotel - and were even on the same floor we were. As Laurie and I were getting on the elevator at the hotel after the concert, who should get on with us but Matt Dusk and his trio! They were not only staying at The Wynfrey in Birmingham, but on the same floor we were! I ran into Matt today - early - he was on his way out to run - and he came in our room and chatted with us, and even sang a few bars of Laurie's favorite song off his new album "Good News". I bought two of his CD's from him and he autographed them "To Laurie". pics are on my facebook page as well as my flickr page.

FOX TV used to have a series called "Casino", which was a reality-based show about, tada! - a casino - and the lounge singer was Matt Dusk. I really like his Sinatra-esque style and his powerful voice. There is a good bio on his home page, and a good review here. Having met him now I realize that he is just as genuine as he seems on stage - young, energetic, and hungry to "make it" big time. I hope he gets his shot!

As for food, I think Laurie and I have come to realize that we could really share a meal and both do fine. I went to McDonalds one morning and drank lots of coffee, but the next mornings I went to the restaurant at the hotel - Shula's - they had a wonderful fruit plate (for $8) and it was alot quieter than the McDonalds and also let Laurie sleep in a bit. On Sunday morning I paid for the buffet for $2.50 more - and got all the fruit I wanted as well as a custom-made omelet and juices. Dr. Richard had asked me if I was back to eating fruit yet, and I can now say, enthusiastically, "yes!". I did carry protein powder with me and mixed it with chocolate milk from McDonalds, and kept my vitamins up. So far, so good! For dinner on our final night we went to "Sweet Bones Alabama", a BBQ joint. I ordered the rib and brisket plate, Laurie got pulled pork, and each of us ate about half. We did split a peanut cheese cake for desert, and between the two of us we ate about half. Even tonight at Longhorn's in honor of Laurie's Mom, Shirley, we both ordered a 7-Pepper sirloin salad - and then each ate about half. No desert for me!

I feel good, bought two pair of work slacks and a pair of Levis - with 40inch waist! (down from a 46). Laurie bought me a real nice sport shirt, too - an XL! (down from a 3XL). I still have 38 pounds to go, so not gonna go out and get a new wardrobe - at least not right now :o)

100 pounds down! Onederland! January 14, 2010

2010-01-14T03:44:00.001-08:00

January 14, 2010. 100 pounds down! In the WLS family, this milestone is considered “Onederland”. 38 pounds to go. I am 12 weeks post-op today. (Lap RNY on 10/22/2009. (“Lap” means Laparoscopically done, “RNY” means Roux-EnY method of gastric bypass surgery. Check out this link for more details. There is a video of a RNY procedure if you are really interested and not too squeamish!)

This week has been especially hectic at work as we have our database vendor in-house for a periodic checkup on our environment. This means very little time at my desk as we are in meetings and presentations, but still the work has to get done! My day yesterday went from 6am to 5:30pm, and when I got home about 7:30, I just collapsed in the bed. And here I am for day 2! I do get tomorrow off as I was on call last week; Laurie and I are off to Birmingham AL for the weekend to see Matt Dusk in concert and wander around. We’ve been to Cancun many times, but never Birmingham!

The vendor folks did take us out for a very nice lunch yesterday, and I had a Pollo Especial fajita, but of course did not indulge in the tortillas at all. There were six shrimp on the platter, with a chicken breast, Mexican sausage and grilled onions and peppers. I was surprised at how really tasty the entire offering was, but I ate only what I felt comfortable eating: all six shrimp  some of the chicken, and all of the onions, peppers, and cheese. I worried a bit about the last part as it was pretty greasy, but I had a great afternoon – other than having to work 3 hours late! For dinner I stopped at Jason’s Deli and got Laurie a tuna croissant and a cup of chili; I got a bowl of their wonderful seafood gumbo, but when I got home I ate 2 spoonfuls and just felt like that was enough. I did save the rest!

I was so tired that I was in bed before 8pm, and again arose at 4am for another day with the vendors. This is not as big an ordeal as I am making it out to be. The vendor brought along their expert in the database field – she is considered the top expert in this field worldwide. It was as if Paula Dean had showed up to a cooking class at a local community school! We stayed as late as possible just to learn everything I could from her – the hours spent yesterday probably taught me more than I have learned in this field in the past 10 years. And she offered to come back every few months for ½ day sessions if we would like her to! How cool is that?

Sunday 01/10/2009 - 15 Bean Soup

2010-01-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

I was oncall this week and that means I was up alot early this morning performing maintenane to my corporate databases at LexisNexis. During that time I took on a project - fix 15 Bean Soup. I bought a 3-pack of ham hocks and the bag of soup beans(Hambeeens brand). Soak the beans in water for 8 hrs, add the hock(s), onion, garlic, and chicken bouillion, cook 2 more hrs, taste. Cook 15 more minutes. Very tasty! And good for you - a 1/2 cup serving of cooked beans has 1G fat, 8G protein, just 1G sugar, 20G carbs.

My maintenance work went well, I caught up alot on the stuff stored on the DVR (less tivoanxiety!), and feel pretty dang good.

Yesterday Courtney and the boys came over early as their water pipes had frozen and she needed some clean bottles and a load or two of clothes done. I took pics of the grandkids having a good time. See the link above.

I have a post-ER checkup with Dr. Richard in the morning, 9am. Everything since the New Years eve weekend ER visit has been going well, I am taking the Reglan 4x a day as prescribed, and eating a more solid food diet. Here is to better days!

Next weekend Laurie and I are off to Birmingham, AL for the weekend to see one of my favorite crooners, Matt Dusk, perform at The Library Theater. We are staying at The Wynfrey hotel and very much looking forward to the "break". Then March 9 it is off for our 2-weeks in Cancun. Busy times ahead.

2010-01-08T09:51:00.001-08:00

This has been a good week. I bought myself two new pairs of shoes for my birthday, and their eccentric styles is driving my wife crazy! I’ve been eating ‘regular’ food, though staying away from breads, beef, anything fried. I’ve been working through my protein issues, working in the new Greek yogurt offerings – like Chobani – which has14G in a single serving. It is a bit more expensive than the traditional yogurts, it works for me! I’ve also been able to mix the powdered protein in with milk as I describe in a few posts ago.
We had our first snow and icy weather of the year this morning. I was able to get to work, unlike many others in my department. Some of my peers have very treacherous drives with the windy roads and all. Better to be safe!
I’ve got lots of pics on my Flick page; before and after pics and all. Have a great weekend! I am oncall :o(

1/6/2010 - I'm 51 years old today

2010-01-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Down 92 pounds since this entire journey started, nine weeks post-op. Doing well at the moment, ate good today, had the innards of 2 McDonalds mini-wrap grilled chicken thingies - the chucken and cheese and ranch dresssing were good - and solid food. Had black beans and rice for dinner, got my protein down with 2 Nesquick Banana milk drinks (16 oz total). And on Wed 1/6/1959 I will be 51 years old. Life has just begun!

Oops, I did it again... New Years Eve and weekend

2010-01-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve brought another instance of intense abdominal pain, similar to what I had at Thanksgiving. That evening my father, brother, and I went to see Avatar at the IMAX 3D showing at the Mall of Georgia. What a movie. 3D is definitely come of age.
After the movie we went our separate ways. I stopped at The Green Tea Restaurant and got two sushi rolls to go. When I got home, let Koko out, and was eating the sushi, I could tell that something was going on with my stomach. I didn’t even finish the second sushi roll. I worked very hard to get my fluids and protein in that day, and completing that task went to bed early (Laurie was back in Sugarland, TX for a few days as Bridgette and RJ decided to get married on New Years Eve).

I suffered through Friday 1/1/10 taking periodic doses of the Lortab elixir, and the drug did give me some relief, but within a few hours the pain returned. Laurie was returning at noon on Sat 1/2/2009, and I was determined to get through this without having to have a repeat to the E.R.

I called Dr. Richard at 8am that Saturday and spoke with him (he was oncall) and he said to do what I thought was best – he was indeed oncall at the hospital and I could come in through the ER. He first asked several questions: was I passing gas (yes), was I drinking (yes, at the time I was still able to keep water down). I left for the airport at noon and picked Laurie up and got her home, then took off for the ER. The pain had not let up any, and might have been somewhat worse.

Upon my arrival at the NE Ga Hospital ER, I was quickly seen and given a bed in the ER. The ER doc, Dr. Freeman, came in and assessed me and ordered an XRay which was promptly taken. Dr. Richard did come by an acknowledged that I was there and ordered a CatScan, but first ordered me some Dilaudid and something for nausea. Once the nurse administered the Dilaudid, it was like a ‘whoosh’, and the pain disappeared. I was completely pain free (and quite drugged up).

Dr. Freeman came back in and said that they did see a possible blockage of my intestines and were going to admit me, which I kinda figured. I called Laurie and told her of my predicament, but insisted she stay home and wait for more word from me there. I saw Dr. Richard again and he described his concerns to me – he said it looked like my residual remaining stomach and the bypassed section of intestine were inflamed and possibly not draining properly at the junction with the “Y” part of the Roux-en-Y procedure. I was whisked to a room (6704), given more meds, and slept peacefully and pain free.

Sunday IU awoke and Dr. Richard said that he would “probably” release me if I had an uneventful day, but that he could see some additional surgery in my near future. Either my “Y” portion was kinking during these painful episodes, or the Y itself was not draining properly – and the related hernia that I had repaired over 15 years ago might be part of the problem, too. So he wants to watch me for a while and let the weight loss continue (I was at 258lb today, 1/4/2010). He would like to see me lose more weight prior to the surgery, but wants to ‘fix it’ quickly so I do not have any further painful episodes.
And he wrote me a prescription for the Dilaudid in pill form and for Reglan, which from the info on the internet should help ease things up on my gut – and help reduce the inflammation in my old stomach and related intestinal run. I return to see Dr. Richard on Monday 1/11/2010 at 9am for a follow-up. I’ll know more then!

12/30/09 - Nesquik Banana Milk rocks!

2009-12-30T05:39:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that 2009 is coming to a close. I have a year-end visit with my surgeon Dr Richard today, since effective 2010 his practice is ‘out of network’ for my new health insurance carrier Aetna (thanks, LexisNexis!). But on a positive note, Dr. Richard has been asked to head up the new bariatric Surgery program at Gwinnett Medical Center, and while he will not be leaving his practice in Gainesville, this new program in Gwinnett County will be considered ‘in network’ for my Aetna health coverage! So I can continue to see Dr. Richard, albeit via the Gwinnett Medical Center program. When God closes one door, He opens another one.
12/31/2009 will be my nine-week anniversary since the Lap RNY surgery, and I have lost a total of 88 pounds from my initial date with Dr. Richard, and 74 pounds since the surgery date. Absolutely stunning. I am still having a big of a nervous stomach, but I have found that if I can eat it, my new stomach reacts well. No more scary episodes like I experienced Thanksgiving (see prev posts).
I am concerned though about my protein intake – since that episode I have not been able to get the IsoPure protein mix down – and prior to that I actually looked forward to mixing it with my morning coffee. Now I can’t even get that mix to my lips without retching. Just thinking about it makes me queasy. I have been drinking the IsoPure flavored drinks to try to get some protein in me, but I fear that is not enough. I have been feeling weak lately and dizzy, and am having issues with my left hand not wanting to cooperate. This is really affecting the accuracy of my typing, and in my job as a Database Administrator, you have to be accurate.
This morning I was able to mix a scoop of IsoPure protein in with a cup of skim milk and drank it just fine. I am going to try another scoop here in a few minutes with a bottle of Nesquik Banana-flavored milk and if that works, I’ll go with the milk/protein mix for awhile. My hope is that by increasing my protein and better tracking my food intake will help me with this dizziness…I read on Brad Garland’s blog that he experienced dizziness and found that his protein intake was too low. Crap. I do however hope that is my problem. I just completed a stressful oncall weekend where I had to review very carefully all of my entries (which I probably ought to be doing anyway), and everything went well. But still, this isn’t how things were just before my t’giving episode. At first I thought it was a head cold causing inner ear issues. I went to the doctor and got a shot for that (he did see some pressure building behind my left eardrum). And I took a z-pack. Then another z-pack. Still no change. I’ve tried Mucinex. Nothing. My doc said that the next step would be to have an MRI done, which I did (yesterday), and the results should be back today. I was fortunate to get that MRI done so quickly, but I pressed hard since my insurance deductibles for 2009 were all met, meaning no out-of-pocket expense for me. I called to check on when I could get in, and the receptionist asked if I could be there in 20 minutes. Oh yeah! I got there, got scanned, and was back home within an hour.
I’ll post the results when I get them.

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

I remember my Christmas mornings from my youth well, but one of the fondest memories was of my parents on those chaotic mornings. With 4 kids it was an energetic time, and generally way before dawn on Christmas day, after a full evening of ‘can’t we open just ONE present on Christmas Eve?” Finally Christmasx morning would come and Mom and Dad would make sure that all four of us were up and somewhat awake (WE were all awake, it was Mom & Dad that were shaking the cobwebs out after a long night of making sure that Santa had everything all taken care of). We would each take a turn opening a gift, first checking with Mom to see if it was OK to tear open the wrapping paper or having to try to ‘save’ the paper for future use. Once all those formalities were worked out we would tear open the gift, squeal with ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahhs’, and then gather all of the paper, tissue paper, connectors, and trash, and hand them to Dad who had a large plastic trash bag at the ready. Then it was my brother or sisters turn. As we worked through this, it was exciting to see who gave out of gifts first. I remember when I got my High School class ring as a gift, while my younger brothers and sisters had many more individual gifts than I did. I ran out of gifts to open early that year, but the ring was a wonderful gift and a sign that I was growing up. Christmas Mornings were orderly, somewhat structured, and made for some wonderful memories. And no mess! After all of the gifts were opened we would reassemble all of the carefully under the tree with the reminder from Mom and Dad that Santa would base NEXT years gifts based on how well we took care of THIS years gifts.
After Courtney and Chris were born and we were with my (ex) wife’s family for Christmas morning one year, I remember how different it was to watch as all of their kids and grandkids opened everything at once – it was crazy! but a tradition in their family and another flavor of how families spend their Christmas mornings This year, with just Laurie and I (empty nesters!), it was our dog Koko that watched with rapt attention as we opened our gifts – I think he was hoping that each brightly wrapped package was somehow a treat for him! And Koko had the most number of gifts, which brought all of this full circle for me. Oh how excited he was to see the new chew toy, and how neutral he acted about the pretty new treat canister (it even says “Stud” in bright blue letters). But when you get to be “my age”, Christmas is so much more than how many gifts, or what gifts, or even gifts, period..…. Both Laurie and I opened out gifts to each other and relished in the thought and love that each represented (socks!), remembering back to our Christmases past (my Dad always said ‘you can never have enough socks’), and looking forward to Christmases future with our kids and grandkids later that day and the next. It’s a celebration that can span several days, as my Mother likes to say “it’s a moveable feast”. And indeed, it is. A feast for the soul, the heart, and the memories. Thank goodness for our digital media so we can save in a visual form so many of those moments!
And right next to me was a large plastic trash bag, ready for the cardboard, Styrofoam popcorn, wire wrappers and such. Now when Courtney brings my two grandsons over today for our Christmas together, I wonder what the protocol will be for opening those gifts? Peirce is more aware of Christmas this year, and my gut tells me that HE will be making the rules :o)
I've loaded all of the pics at my flickr page. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your families. Steve

Wednesday 12/23/2009 - chili and gumbo!

2009-12-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

Took my boss to lunch today to celebrate his upcoming birthday. At Pappadeaux! They had a great looking lunch buffet, but I had the gumbo and a sushi roll instead. Yummy!

My wife has been on a Chili kick lately, so I have made two batches of Chili for her along with my corn soufflé. It has tasted exceptionally well, and agreed with my system. We also have booked our trip to Cancun for March 2010 (two weeks) staying at our favorite place, Solymar. Now to figure out how I can get my protein while I am there! The powder is just not agreeing with me – I tried this week again with coffee and just couldn’t even get the first sip down before I was gagging! I have found respite in the IsoPure drinks, but an 80z bottle run about $2 and I need three of them a day to equal what two scoops of the IsoPure powder gives me (50g protein). Iso Pure also sells the 20oz bottles, which I have kept at home – but the sheer weight alone would make transporting them to Cancun prohibitive. Perhaps Amazon can ship me a case of the 80oz bottles without breaking the bank. How else am I to get my necessary protein for the 2 weeks? Yogurt is 7grams, lentil soup is 13. (imagine 4 cans of Lentil soup a day!) Sargento string cheese has 8g in a single cheese serving (you’ve seen those).. How about peanut butter? Anyone have any suggestions? I have till March 03 to figure this out.

And it is just a few days till Christmas, so please, to you and your family and friends – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

the weekend 12/19 & 20 - Chili!

2009-12-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Laurie and I went to a birthday dinner for my nephew Clayton at Kiku's Japanese Steakhouse. The Hibachi dinner was excellent - I even had a small sushi appetizer and with a substntial mix of wasabi and soy sauce, things were very good. I had the scallops and some rice and vegetables. Yummy!
Tonight Laurie really wanted some chili, so I cooked up a pot for her, along with my corn souffle. Both were yummy.
Tomorrrow starts Christmas week. I also go on-call. It will be a fast week. Merry Christmas everyone

Wed -> Fri 12/16,17,18/09 Soups on!

2009-12-18T09:27:00.001-08:00

The doc asked me to quit taking my high blood pressure meds – he thinks my dizziness may be due to my BP being too low! IT was 113/78 at my visit. So no more insulin, no more Lisinopril… slowly getting rid of the “co morbidity factors” that come with being obese! But he is also concerned that I might be dehydrated, so I am now concentrating on making sure I get the minimum 64oz of fluids each day.
I’ve been bringing in lunch from home – wonderful soups that Mom and Lisa make, and also have tried he soup of the day selection in my cafeteria to work! A cup of warm soup makes for a great meal. I’m still hovering around 268lbs – and have been for the past week. A plateau maybe? I can wait it out! I still have 50 pounds to go to hit my goal.
The home life is returning to normal – Laurie is back, Koko is happier with a warm body in the house during the day so he doesn’t have to stay in the crate. Life is good!

Wed Thu Fri 12/16,17,18 2009

2009-12-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

The doc said to stop taking my high blood pressure medicine - my bp was 113/78 when I visited him. So now I am not on insulin (still on metformin for now), and no more H

Tue 12/16/2009 Seafood tastes better with Hooters Hot Sauce!

2009-12-16T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today I cooked seafood - first a meal of about six scallops (big ones) quick-fried them in some olive oil, then tossed in some Hooters sauce (hot, Kroger sells it) and some salt, pepper and garlic. Very tasty and agreed quite nicely with my stomach.
Laurie and her mom returned today from Houston, where they were visiting with Bridgette and baby Jon. They hated to leave them, but sure looked glad to be home.
I am off to see my general Dr. today - I am unusually dizzy and feel disoriented - hoping it is something that can be treated with a shot or a pill :o) Doe't we always hope for that...
Brought in a serving of tilapia (again, cooked with the Hooters sauce) it was almost as yummy as the scallop. I know I need to be getting more fluids in me. Need to work on that! Blood sugar is doing great - at 116 this morning (weight at 268.2)

the weekend and Monday 12/14/2009

2009-12-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

the cabin was very nice - it was a cold weekend and it did rain on Saturday night, but that was not a problem. With the tin roof the rain was very soothing. Koko enjoyed the trip, he rode in the passenger seat like he owned the car.
I took the chicken pot pie that I baked at home with us and picked at it most of the weekend. I also bought some chili at Ingles, and I did eat half of it - Koko had the rest and loved it.
Nice and quiet weekend. Laurie returns on Tuesday!

12/09-12/11 W/Th/Fr Chicken Pot Pie and off to The Cabin for the weekend

2009-12-11T06:42:00.001-08:00

I have been a little under the weather for Wed and Thu (and even today, Fri 12/11). I did swing by my family doc on Tue (12/08) and he said my sinuses are a bit swollen. So I am slugging through things and waiting for “this cold” to be over.
I thought about a quick meal on Thu and decided to cook my Chicken Pot Pie – not all that quick or easy, but always tasty. I cooked up a pack of boneless skinless thighs on the grill and 90 minutes later I had a Pot Pie! I ate exactly one serving (about 2 tablespoons) and Koko got to enjoy the rest. I am taking the other 5/6 of the Pie with us to The Cabin! It gets better over a day or so. My weight continues to drop – today (fri) I was at 268.8 (down 66 lbs). Koko and I are doing w2ell, Laurie and her mom return from Sugarland, TX on Tue 12/15,.

Dec 7 and 8, 2009 Mon and Tue - Dr's visit and Working from Home and Chicken-and-Rice!

2009-12-09T05:12:00.001-08:00

Monday found a return to work, and boy, did my legs hurt! I guess Ken and I did a lot of walking during the SEC Championship Football game…. I read a Facebook post about cooking Chicken and Rice, and boy, did it sound good. I have a C/R recipe I like, so I stopped at Publix on the way home Monday evening and bought a pack of boneless, skinless thighs, a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom with garlic and spices soup, and a container of Texmati Royal Blend rice (a mix of Basmati, wild rice, and red rice). Instead of water I use chicken broth, 1C of the rice, 1can of soup, 3cans Broth, 1/2stick butter or margarine, all in a rectangular casserole dish, stir well. Lay 4 or 5 of the boneless, skinless thighs on top of this mixture, season to taste, preheat oven to 350, and bake for 90 minutes.

And it sat very well with my new stomach! I was concerned about the effects of the rice, and I was very light on the rice for the first serving – but everything went fine! In fact, I have had leftovers for 2 days. Mmm Mmm Good!

On Tuesday I had 2 doctors’ appointments, with the first being with my Endocrinologist, Dr. Neland Shenoy. My appt was at 9am, I was there at 9am, and the waiting room was already full. Bad Omen. My 2nd appointment was with my Family Physician, Dr. Crooker (well, actually a P.A. at that office, Richard Petit). I was still in Dr. Shenoy’s waiting room at 10:15am and there were now people standing! I decided that if I was still waiting at 10:30am I would leave. And find a new Endocrinologist! There is no excuse to be 90 minutes late at 9am.

And as fate would have it, the nurse called me back right at 10:15. As she was weighing me and recording my vital signs, she realized that I was the wrong “Stephen”! But since I was back in the exam area, she was not going to make me go back out there. Gee, wasn’t that nice. I could tell by the nurses attitude that this was already a very bad day for her, too. My weight on their scale was 277 (271 at my home scale), my BP and O2 were fine, and I was left in an exam room to meet with the doctor. It was now 10:30am.

And in walks…a P.A.! Dr Shenoy now has some help! He was very friendly and spent quality time with me, and we discussed my GBP surgery and overall health. My A1C was unchanged at 8.2, but he said that this measurement runs about 90 days behind the trend. He recommended I start on Metformin ER but not change any other meds (no insulin, no glimiperide, etc) and start blood testing twice a day (Laurie took my sugar monitor to TX with her :o). He then wants me to fax the 4-week readings back to their office so they can decide where to go from here.

I bolted out of there and hit the GPS in Laurie’s Kia Borrego to find the fastest route to Dr. Crooker's office, and I arrived there right at 11:15a.m. I didn’t sit down in the waiting room good and I was being called back by the nurse. After she weighed me and took vitals, she reviewed my drug list and asked one-by-one if I was still on Regicide. Regicide? I’m not on Regicide. Oops! She called back the wrong Stephen, too. But she went ahead and put me in an exam room, and before she even got turned around good, Richard Petit walked in. I told him of my ears “percolating”, and he examined them. No obstruction or excessive wax (very surprising!). He recommended I take Mucinex (otc) to help with the slight pressure he detected behind my eardrum. This office converted to all-digital in the summer 2009, so he was able to transmit the prescription (Z-Pack) to my pharmacy (Publix in Dacula), shook my hand, I whisked by the receptionist, and I was back in my car by 11:30. 15 minutes total! What an odd day.

I returned home and got Koko out of his “enclosure”, and ate some of the Chicken and Rice leftover, drank my IsoPure protein drink, worked from home (it was cold and rainy outside). I went over to Courtney’s for dinner and got to play with Caden (Peirce stayed the night at his grandmothers) and had a nice chat with Courtney. Donley had to work late. When that was over I drifted home, did some school work, chatted with Laurie in Sugarland, TX, and went to bed. It was a very full day!

Sat 12/5 and Sun 12/6 - the SEC C/championship Football Game

2009-12-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

On Saturday my brother, Ken, and I went to downtown Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game with the Florida Gators vs the Alabama Crimson Tide. We got down there very early, did the ESPN Gameday madness, and were in our seats in time for the kickoff. The game didn't go our way, but it was a great crowd, and afterwards we wandered around a few feet from the hotel looking for somewhere to eat that didn't have an impossible wait. We ended up at a Brazilian Steak House where I had just a bite or two from the salad bar (seafood, asparagus, snow peas). Ken did as well. Then back to the hotel. Got up early this AM and returned home.

tomorrow is another work day, the stomach is feeling OK, but I'm still not up on real solid food. But it hasn't even been 7 weeks since the surgery! I'm down 61 pounds to 273. 60 pounds to go!

Thu Dec 03 and Fri Dec 04 - Go Gators!

2009-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, I had a errand to run at lunch, so I stopped at a QT (our local quickie mart) I ate the insides of a QT Southwest Chicken wrap for lunch - just the chicken and grated cheese and spices. the label said 320 calories for the entire sandwich - I did not touch the wrap or the lettuce - thought the lettuce looked very good! I am recording 1/2 of the numbers for my record - 160cal, 14g carb..., 7g protein. ONe-half hour later, still feeling fine! In the pic below, you see the wrap and lettuce at the top - and the chicken at the bottom. Yum!

For dinner, I really wanted Hot & Sour soup for dinner. After I left my daughters house I went by our local Chinese buffett.... and the lady said $7.25 for soup. One price for dinner, including soup. I couldn't buy just the soup. OK. I bought the meal and absolutely loaded the foam container with food - and the soup container with... Hot & Sour. Then when I got home I gave the "meal" to the teenagers next door (free food!) and kept the Hot & Sour soup.

The protein is going down so much easier via the IsoPure 20oz bottled drinks. Lots of flavors, kinda pricey, but the negatives of not getting enough protein are pricey, too! Like losing my hair! I have worked very hard to keep the hair I have, no need to rush the balding process.....

Off to the SEC Championship Football game tomorrow to cheer the Florida Gators on as they face the Alabama... well, what is the Alabama mascot? Is it the red elephant? the "crimson tide". And what exactly is a "yammerhammer"? Well, tomorrow they will be pulling out all of the stops to win, but I believe the gators will as well.

Wed and Thu Dec 02 and 03, 2009 - I need to get my protein!

2009-12-03T03:57:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was a very unsettled day as far as my stomach goes. I am still forcing myself to mix the protein mix in my morning coffee, and yesterday it just wasn’t working. It made me miserable all day, so I have decided to stop ruining my coffee – I’ll get my protein another way for now. And that way is – via bottled IsoPure drinks! One 20oz bottle has 40grams of protein (2scoops of powder is 50g). I bought five bottles on Monday at Dr. Richard’s office, so I will go that route for now. $3.75a bottle, but at least it doesn’t run my entire day. I had some of Lisa’s chicken broth for lunch. I just wasn’t hungry…..

And here I am on Thursday on my 2nd cup of plain old black coffee, and it feels pretty good. Dr. Richard did prescribe Protonix to deal with a suspected acid problem in both my “new” stomach and in the old one – but from what I read it can take up to 6 weeks for Protonix to kick in. I brought miso soup for lunch today, and a gelatin snack, pudding, and two Sargento cheese sticks.

Laurie and Shirley are becoming Sugarland regulars, finding their way around to all of the necessities – Outback steakhouse, Walmart, the regional Mall – and of course the beeline route to that new grandbaby, Jon! They are there for 2 weeks, till 12/15. Lots of great bonding time for everyone involved. Koko and I are settling in with just the 2 of us for that 2-week period. Off to the SEC Championship Football game, Gators vs Alabama, this weekend. Well, I am anyway. Koko is off to the kennel. He gets his latest rounds of shots and the canine flu shots. Hey, better he than me!

I’ve uploaded the latest pics from Laurie of baby Jon to my flickr page here.

Tue Dec 01 2009 - the girls are off to Sugarland, TX

2009-12-01T18:04:00.001-08:00

Laurie and her mom are on their way to Sugarland, TX to see Laurie's daughter Bridgette and her new baby Jon. They are going to be in Sugarland for 2 weeks, which means it is me and the dog (Koko) in the house by ourselves for awhile. Laurie tells me it is cocld and raining in Sugarland, kinda the same weather we have here in Auburn, GA! I drove them to the Atlanta airport this morning - the traffic in Atlanta is as bad as ever. I worked from home the rest of the day.

I did stop at Chick-Fil-A and got a sausage and egg burrito combo, I ate the small hash browns (about 10 pieces) and about 1/2 of the burrito. I had miso soup again for dinner, though my Mother and Lisa have prepared some wonderful soups for me!

And most importantly, today (Dec 01) is the start of Laurie's and my month to place flowers at my son's grave. Chris' mom and I alternate months, and I get December and January each year. I have more pics of Chris' headstone and picture and the December flowers at my flickr page. This will be my sixth Christmas without Chris, my how I miss him! Chris passed away in May 2004.

the other pics are at www.flickr.com/photos/stephenj .

Monday Nov 30 2009 - 6-week Posts-Op with the surgeon, Dr. Richard

2009-11-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

Monday brought another day at work, which is not all bad. My coffee again nauseated me – why oh why did I have to lose my love for coffee? I did manage to choke down enough cups to get 5/6 of my protein down, but it really was unpleasant. I tried missing the protein with Powerade Zero – and that was not going to work either. Oh well, hopefully this change in my palate will not be a permanent thing.
I went to see my surgeon for my 6-week Post-op visit this afternoon. Dr. Richard had been briefed by Dr. Proctor Jr. after my episode at the emergency room on Friday (after thanksgiving) and we had a nice long talk. He said that he was pleased with the results of Friday’s tests and he would not have done anything differently if he had been on-call there. He said that he was concerned with my nausea, and was going to recommend that I start taking Protonix daily to combat an acid situation that most likely exists and is affecting my stomach, gut, taste, and such. He said that in some cases where there might be a bowel obstruction, sometimes the obstruction causes “things” (I’m trying to be sensitive to readers with delicate stomachs) to back up – even into the “old stomach”. But the CT scan showed none of that. He said that occasionally the bowel will act like an accordion and compress and expand as a result of an obstruction, but again there was no evidence of that. He said that my upper bowel was “distended”, but that he believed that was a result of the trauma that my nausea dealt to my stomach pouch and such, and should settle down. He saw no evidence of a blockage or any feces impacted along the lower bowel – in short, everything looked fine. His remaining concern was the possibility that my large stomach (the old one) and my new pouch might be overproducing stomach acid – and that might be the cause of all of this. He wrote a prescription for Protonix, one tablet a day, and wants to see me in a month (Dec 30). He recommended that I start on soft foods as soon as I felt comfortable, then progress to a “regular diet” after that.
We shook hands and that was that! On my way out I noticed that the nurses’ station had some IsoPure beverages in 20oz bottles – and that each bottle contained 40 grams of protein. Could this be my answer to the coffee dilemma? 40 grams is almost the same as 2-scoops of the IsoPure dry mix. I bought five bottles, various flavors. Maybe?
For lunch I had miso soup (I really like Miso Soup!) and for dinner I had a single serving of a broth mixture from sis-in-law Lisa. Tasty! I also had a pudding and a yogurt with dinner, and a pudding and a gelatin with lunch. No pain, no cramps, but just an uneasy feeling of nausea. I hope the Protonix helps!
Laurie and her mom Shirley leave for Sugarland, TX, tomorrow to spend 2 weeks out there with Bridgette and new grandbaby Jon. Safe travels! It’ll be just me and the dog Koko for the 2-week period.

Sat and Sun, Nov 28 and 29, 2009

2009-11-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

Not much going on these two days - I have been nursing my sore stomach. Probably sore from the vomiting and drama on Friday, but still just a bit unsettled. I did have an egg today (sunday), and I see Dr. Richard tomorrow as part of my 6-week post-op followup.

Coffee is no longer palatable to me. I cannot figure out why. For most of my adult life, I loved coffee! When I started this program, I was mixing my protein powder with my coffee and loving it - it tasted just like a QuikTrip Cappucino. But since I "got sick", just the smell of coffee nauseates me! I am going to have to try mising the protein with my PowerAde Zero and see if I can get the necessary nutrients that way. I hope my taste for coffee returns soon.

I did get to go to The Monkey Barrel, a bar/restaurant in Gainesville, GA to watch the Florida Gators defeat the Florida State Seminoles - Kenneth (my brother) and I will be in Atlanta on 12-5 for the SEC Championship Game (Gators vs Alabama). It was intersting to smell all of the great food that the other Gator fans were eating - pizza, wings, fries, salads, pasta! But I was a good boy and stuck with my water and a serving of chicken broth that sister-in-law Lisa brought me. Thanks Lisa!

Thanksgiving Day and the day after - all prepped and ready for surgery?

2009-11-27T16:35:00.001-08:00

What a day this has been. It all started on Thanksgiving Day, which was spent at Greg and Angie King’s (Laurie’s brother and wife and kids). The dinner was a spread fit for a king – and I was very careful to eat the proper amounts – a spoonful of this, a spoonful of that. But the desserts did me in. I had to have a piece of carrot cake. It was a small piece, but within a few minutes I knew that I had done a bad thing.
As part of the gastric bypass surgery, high sugar and high fat or greasy foods are a no-no. Failure to understand this can bring something called “dumping syndrome”. Well starting about 4pm yesterday, I was miserable. My entire gut ached. To the point that I could not get any rest or even get comfortable. This went on all evening, and about 10:30pm I got sick. That is the first time I have gotten sick since the surgery. Then I got sick again. I self-medicated myself with a painkiller and tried to get some sleep.
About 3am I was awoke again with the abdominal pain. I tried to go to the bathroom (no luck) and my gut was aching so…. I vomited again. Finally at 7:30am, hoping that my surgeon’s office would open at 8am, I called the office and the on-call service paged the surgeon on call – Dr. Charlie Proctor, Jr. My surgeon was Dr. Robert Richard; along with Dr. Charlie Proctor, Sr., those three guys make up Surgical Associates of Gainesville, GA – and are ObesitySolutions.com. (Dr Richard is in the middle, Dr. Charlie Proctor (Jr) is on the left, Dr. Charlie Proctor Sr. is on the right)
Dr. Proctor said for me to try to have a “liquid breakfast” and see if I could keep it down at all and to call him back if I got sick. Two sips of water later and I was back on the phone with him. He said to go ahead and get dressed and head to the ER at the NE GA Medical Hospital in Gainesville, GA – he would call ahead and let them know I was on my way. I awoke Laurie and we hit the road.
When we arrived the ER was deserted! I was immediately checked in, vitals taken, and was escorted to an ER observation room. The ER doctor in charge introduced himself – Dr. Paul Merlis . Dr. Merlis said that Dr. Proctor had called and filled him in on my case and that Dr. Proctor wanted me to have a CT scan of my abdomen to see if there was a blockage, hernia, distention, or stricture. The nurses came in and took my vitals and started an IV and left me with 32oz of orange-flavored contrast which I was to consume over a 90 minute period. This all took place within the first 20 minutes of my arrival at NEGA hospital. What customer service!
The nurse did give me Zofran for nausea, but my stomach still just ached and pulsed. I drank about ½ of the first 16oz of the contrast and asked for some pain killer – they gave me a dose of Dilaudid and boy did that do the trick! The doc said this drug is a morphine extract, and once administered, I was able to complete the entire 32oz of contrast and promptly at 11:30am I was being wheeled into the CT Scan room. The CT scan took 15 minutes and I was back in the ER feeling much better.
I was very surprised when Dr. Merlis reported back to me that the CT scan had shown a blockage of my small bowel. Oh how disheartening! Dr Proctor was also the on-call surgeon for the ER this weekend, and he was currently operating on a stab would victim – but he would be in as soon as that surgery was completed. Dr. Merlis though that I would need to have an NG tube inserted to continually empty my stomach of all contents while I was being treated for the blockage – at least one overnight and possibly surgery meaning even more nights…. And Laurie is leaving for Sugarland, TX to see her daughter and new grandbaby in 3 days! Things were not looking so good for the home team.
But I felt very good – Laurie and I started talking about “what if?”s…. but until we could talk to Dr. Proctor, everything was up in the air. Over the next hour or so several very sick folks came through the ER – a critical infant, and elderly lady who had a heart attack, a hunting accident…. With little time to prepare for this, I had left home without anything to read or occupy my time, and the tiny TV in the ER room was …… not so good. :o)
But the next thing I know, Dr. Proctor is in the room. He asks me to lay back and inspects my abdomen. He notices and comments on the hernia that I had operated on back in the early 1990’s – he recommends I have that “taken care of” again as it seems to have aggravated itself and was in need of some attention. He picked and prodded, but then said that the blood work came back fine, my numbers looked good, and his interpretation of the CT scan was that there was NOT a blockage and that I take it very, very easy for the next few days – and released me! I already had an appointment with Dr. Richard for Monday of next week, and Dr. Proctor said that was excellent, and he recommended that I back up to a liquid diet for a day or so, then go back to soft foods and stay there till I see Dr. Richard on 11/30.
Then we went back into a waiting pattern, as Dr. Merlis was treating the critically sick infant and was unable to sign my release form. About an hour later the nurse came in and removed the IV and released me! It was 4:30pm.
What a bizarre day. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

The Big Five-Oh! Wed 11/27/2009

2009-11-25T23:48:00.001-08:00

Well, friends, five weeks post-op and I am now down 50 lbs! Yup. 284.4. Amazing.

It was a short day at work today, even our corporate CEO announced that all offices would be shutting down at 2pm. Not much else going on, did I mention that I am down 50 pounds? :o)

Monday and Tuesday 11/23 and 11/24/2009

2009-11-24T18:35:00.000-08:00

I learned something new about me today - carbon monoxide, like from car exhaust, nauseates me. It hasn't before, but I noticed today that as I exited a Walmart and walked behind a BloodMobile bus, the exhaust fumes about made me pass out! On the way hoem from WM, I got behind a dump truck, and I had the same reaction. I could smell the exhaust, and just a few seconds later I got swimmy-headed.

This is quite different from pre-surgery. It was an irritating thing to be around, but I never felt like I was going to hurl. Interesting.

Last night I had about 2 tbsp of some homemade chili that my wife, Laurie, made - and it felt good! Prior excursions into ground meat or really any kind of beef brought an uneasy feeling to my stomach - but the chili was good! I see Dr. Richard again on 11/30, for a six-week post-op checkup - maybe I am ready to move to Phase III foods? (regular foods, but still somewhat guarded, stay with the soft foods, progress as I can, etc.)

Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving! It is hard to believe that the holidays are already here.

Sunday Nov 22 200 - I'm home safe and sound from Orlando, FL

2009-11-22T15:59:00.001-08:00

Made it home from Orlando just fine. Left at 5am, arrived home around 1pm. on and off rain from the GA state line all the way home. How does FL do it? Their marketing group must be much better than Georgia's, for the rain was at mile marker 2 on the GA side! FL was bright and sunny. Final pics at my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/stephenj/sets . the trip is broken down into two sets - one set is for the LXA Celebration, the other is for the Nov 20 2009 Orlando trip. Enjoy!

My stomach has been a bit uneasy today - back to the softer foods for a few days. I may have overdone it during this 4-day sojourn. One thing for sure - my stomach will not LET me overdo it. One thing I did notice is that since I have to drink slower and with smaller sips, I cannot even finish a 22oz drink at one sitting. I use a QT plastic cup during the entire trip, and for the 500ish miles to and from Orlando, I only had to stop once during the trip - for gas and for a potty break. Prior to the surgery I would go through huge cups of drinks during the trip and have to stop every 90min to 2hrs. Well, there is another good thing about this new stomach!

on the trip I passed a very bad accident (going the opposite way of me, thank goodness). I found the Ocala News web page which reported on it http://www.ocala.com/article/20091120/ARTICLES/911209980?Title=One-dead-in-multiple-motorcycle-crash-on-I-75 .

Sat Nov 21 2009 - UCF 49 Tulane 0

2009-11-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

Today brought the UCF vs Tulane football game. Several of the brothers from last nights celebration were gathering, with their families, and tailgaiting in the parking areas prior to the game. Victor Collazo likes to have a theme for each games tailgaiting party, and since Tulane is from New Orleans, he chose Cajun. He is quite a chef! The weather was perfect, in the 70’s with a light breeze. A very enthusiastic crowd was gathered, everyone around us was in good spirits as well, and since the game didn’t start till 2pm, they all had an extra couple of hours before we all migrated to the field. I still cannot believe that UCF has a football team, but they sure do! It was a very good game, with UCF winning 49-0! The crowd kind of broke up at halftime, so I wandered to a local coffeehouse where the local Gator Club was meeting called Embers. They had a great outside patio area with several big screen TV’s and a projection screen as well. I ordered a chicken-wing appetizer called Screamers – it was five chicken breast portions! I ate part of ONE. I also ordered their Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, and ate about half of that.
I wandered around the campus for a bit and am now back at the room. Exhausted. It has been a great weekend. Plans are to leave first thing tomorrow morning when I wake up (Sunday) and head back up the highway to home. The Weather Channel is calling for a “soaker” for the southeast – wonderful. That should make the trip home just so eventful. The earlier I leave, I figure, the better.

Fri 11/20/2009 at the Univ of Central Florida LXA celebration dinner

2009-11-21T04:10:00.000-08:00

Lots of pics on my flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/stephenj/sets

The Lambda Chi Alpha, Beta Eta Chapter, Centennial Celebration was a magical event. Lambda Chi Alpha is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and the Beta Eta Zeta chapter at the University of Central Florida is celebrating its 38th anniversary. The event celebrating these dates was held at the Fairwinds alumni Center at UCF on Friday, November 20, 2009.
I arrived in Orlando about 2pm on Friday after spending the morning in Gainesville, FL getting my stereo fixed in my truck. I had spent the night in Gainesville, FL, leaving my home on Thursday afternoon after work.
Orlando sure has changed in 30 years! I came in on the Florida Turnpike and from there on things were way different. Alafaya Trail even has its own exit on the East/West Expressway! When I was here in 1979, Alafaya trail was a red light. I found the hotel where I was staying and relaxed a bit before heading off to the Fairwinds Alumni center. Arriving there a bit before 6pm, the first person I saw when I walked in the lobby was Stu Caldwell, one of my brothers from the chapter! Stu and I were part of the same initiating class in 1979, and it was good to get caught up with him again. Other brothers began arriving, and I was thrilled to see so many familiar faces. And of course the current brotherhood classes were there – a good looking bunch of young men, energetic, excited, strong students and a good group to carry the legacy of Lambda Chi Alpha into the 21st century.
As we entered the fellowship hall, along the left wall were old scrapbooks and photo albums, as well as chapter photos for the past 38 years. How melancholy to look through all those photos! Other brothers began to arrive: Steve Simmons with his newly-initiated son John, Randy Crews, Victor Collzono. The “happy Hour” was just that, with lots of catching up to do. Dinner started promptly at 6pm, and after that, the nights program.
As expected, James Blount came in fashionably late. James and I were close during my time at UCF, and roommates for part of that time. James was the Student Body President, the first black ever elected to that position at UCF, and a good politician. I always thought he would have a future in politics. It was so good to see James – I have been looking for James for the past 30 years! Some folks are very hard to find – either by chance, or by choice.
The first event of the evening was the chapter roll call. Each brother stood and said his name and Beta Eta number – I was Beta Eta 227 (out of over 1690), so I was pretty early on, but there were several before me. Next came a presentation by the current High Alpha of Lambda Chi Alpha history, from Warren Cole in the early 1980’s to now. Next, Mike Saunders gave a very moving Chapter History presentation. He has been around so long that he knows where all the skeletons are buried.
Next came a roast of Michael by various brothers. Some older, some younger. Stu Caldwell gave a rousing roast using memories from my time here at Beta Eta, including the Daytona Beach spring break trip. Lots of great times, and great memories.
After the roast were announcements and then a slideshow. The slideshow really took my breath away. The various historians over the years had kept so many pictures and items that many of us would have just overlooked, but it is times like this, during this celebration, that the importance of those historical items comes to light. The pictures in the slideshow were so important – the clothing styles and hair-do’s have changed so, and the glasses people wore! There were brotherhood pictures from beach parties, community events, fund raisers, dinners, and just horsing around. Steve Simmons was in several of the photos, and I could see his son sitting there next to him taking all of this in. It was, and is, quite a legacy. During the slideshow, the soundtrack played several songs that have meaning to the fraternity, with the final song being “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”. As that song started, James rose and when he did, so did the rest of the crowd. We locked arms and sang that song along with the soundtrack at the top of our lungs, culminating with a group hug and celebration of the past, the present and the future.
As I sat down to catch my breath, I realized that this evening is “one of those moments” that you could never repeat. There might be another celebration in a year or two, but the enthusiasm, the love, the brotherhood shown last night were magical – and singular. Mike Saunders, in his closing remarks, said that 2012 will be the Beta Eta Zeta’s 50th anniversary, and we will have a celebration then as well – but he also said there would be others, more frequently than just every 38 years! I know there will be, but I wonder if they can recapture the moment we had last night. It will be, as they say, a tough act to follow.
After the dinner was over and people started to leave, the High Alpha said that some of the current brothers were heading to a local watering hole, Delaney’s, to continue the party. My happy (and old) self was ready for bed! It was almost 10pm…. I walked to my truck and sat on the tailgate for a minute, not really wanting the evening to end. Two of the current brothers walked by and stopped to shake my hand. I told them how proud I was of the way they have “kept the flame alive” of Lambda Chi Alpha at the University of Central Florida, but also challenged them to “do what we just did” – when they have graduated and been away for decades, be able to look back 3o years at what the current brothers here at Beta Eta have done and be able to say “good job”. It is a remarkable legacy, to see these young men starting their lives and wondering what their future holds, but bonding with other like-minded men in the traditions of a Greek organization like Lambda Chi Alpha, carrying on traditions of service, loyalty, ideals, and brotherly love. I don’t think they grasped what I was trying to get across, but one day, they will.

Thu 11/19/2009 - off to Orlando

2009-11-20T05:09:00.000-08:00

The trip to Orlando started uneventfully. A nice drive towards FL, got as far as Gainesville, FL before I stopped for the night - how convenient, right next to the Univ of Fla! Stayed at the Econo Lodge on University Ave..... clean, convenient, safe(?), heard lots of police sirens and street activity - Laurie said that Econo Lodge is on "Cops" (a TV show) alot... that made me feel so much better! More pics at my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/stephenj - look for the sets on the right side of the screen.

I brought a supply of SF puddings and gelatin, as well as some of those great soups from Mom and Lisa. And cheese sticks! I am going to stop this morning (fri) and get an egg and a small serving of grits before I head to Sound Depot and Performance to get my truck's radio looked at - it quit on me in Valdosta. Satellite radio worked great, but no radio to play it through! The hotel desk guy (a UF student) said he knows the owner of this audio shop - Omar - and that he could "hook me up". I wondered, "with what?" :o) Free coffee, got my protein in and vitamins..... hope to be in Orlando and at UCF by early afternoon for the Lambda Chi Alpha celebration. Then a UCF vs Tulane football game on Saturday, meeting long lost fraternity brothers (it has been 30 years since I was last at UCF), gonna stay in a nicer place in Orlando :o)

Tue and Wed Nov 17 & 18, 2009 - Holiday Treat Eat-n-Meet

2009-11-19T05:29:00.000-08:00

Tue and Wed. Well, what has gone on for the past two days? Bridgette and RJ are enjoying their new son and our new grandson, Jon. Jon is currently in the NICU at Sugarland Methodist Hospital in Sugarland, TX as they monitor his bilirubin levels – I remember back 26 years to when Chris and Courtney spent all those weeks in the NICU when they were both 10 wks premature….. not bad memories, just a crazy time for everyone involved. Jon will not be there long, according to the docs and nurses, but watching and listening as Bridgette and RJ go through what I did long ago, it makes my heart ache. Jon is a strong baby, eating well and very vibrant, but the docs want to watch him for a few days. And as young parents, I know how crazy it can be to have your firstborn children not with you. There are pics of Jon at my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/stephenj (look on the right side of the page for albums).

I went to the WLS support group on Tue night and the theme tfor that night was Holiday Eat-n-Meet. Attendees were to bring a favorite gastric-friendly dish and lots of copies of the recipe. Oh my goodness, the food! A cheesecake make with Splenda. 130-calorie enchiladas. Two cool-whip pies (fat free, sugar free!). pita wedges and hummus dip. I’ll get the recipes typed in next week and post them. Pics of the support group feast are at my flickr page, too – look to the right side for album titles. This was my first meeting “post op”, and it felt good to hear everyone go around the room and introduce themselves – and I got to say “post op 10 weeks, and I’m down 45 pounds”. There were about 35 folks there, plus an additional 8 to 10 who are pre-op (a requirement to be approved for surgery is that you attend the weekly support group at least three times).

Dr. Richard’s surgeon’s group that sponsors this meeting has very far-reaching tentacles – http://www.obesitysolutions.com/ – there were people there from Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and of course Georgia. The leader each week is one of the nurses from the office, and they are a bit self-serving with samples of vitamins, protein supplement, and new drink offerings each intended to help us keep our “numbers up” and weight down. There were several folks there that are 2- and 3-years post op. What amazing stories. On Dec 08 we are having a clothing swap meet, and I will have a bunch of ‘way too big’ clothes to get rid of – I wore a pair of pants to work yesterday and didn’t think about it as I got dressed, but I spent all day yanking them UP. Finally I just undid my belt to see exactly how much too big they were – I bet I could pull the waist of those pants out 8 to 10 inches or more. I shoulda took a picture. I will before I get rid of those pants! I also was able to wear a 2xl shirt that I had in the back of my closet. I really liked that shirt when I bought it years ago, but never thought I could fit into it. Oh yeah I could!

I don’t talk much about my real numbers, but this is big. I am down 44.8 pounds in the 4 weeks since surgery, currently at 298.4. My goal weight is 215-225, though the FDA-approved chart shows that a 6-ft male’s ideal weight is 175. I don’t think I can get to 175, and Dr. Richard said that the low-200’s is more reasonable. I go back on 11/30/09 for a 6-week followup. My blood sugar is right at the normal range, with no insulin or pills since the day before surgery. Blood pressure normal, and my blood gasses are all right where they need to be, along with other necessary measurable enzymes, minerals, vitamins and lipids. I can tell that the pressure on my arthritic left knee is getting better, and my asthma is much better – I can’t think of the last time I needed to use an albuterol inhaler. I did have a flare-up of gout in my left big toe – I hope this weight loss helps with that, too.

I don’t feel hungry, I am experiencing some stomach queasiness but nothing terrible, I’ve experienced NO Nausea, no vomiting or reflux, and I don’t miss Diet Cokes a bit (well, maybe just a bit). I thank God every day for this blessing, and for my continued success.

Monday 11/16/2009 - more pics of Jon

2009-11-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

Today was uneventful, except that I forgot my protein mix. I got to work, got my first cup of coffee, and reached inside my lunchbag for my protein container -- and nothing! I use a baby-formula keeper that my daughter Courtney introduced me to - it is a cylindrical container that has three partitioned areas and the lid spins around. Each section holds just the right amount of formula for a single bottle - or in my case, a single serving of Protein mix. But anyway, I forgot it!

The rest of the day seemed to go downhill as well. But 2:30pm, I was ready to GO. I got home exhausted - I think it was just part of my getting bback into the swing of things with work again.

when I got home I got a call from Courtney and her and the grandsons came by for dinner as donley had to work late. What a great surprise! We enjoyed having them over, and by the time they all left, I really was tired! I was in bed by 8pm....

Bridgette and baby Jon are doing great, Jon seems to have caught on to breast feeding pretty quickly and is getting lots of good nutrients and "face time" with Bridgette and RJ. I have posted the pics I have at my flickr page - www.flickr.com/photos/stephenj .

My tummy has been uneasy today, I had a single soup serving for lunch (thanks, Mom!) and two cheese sticks all day - dinner just didn't work, I ate maybe two bites of chicken and two spoonfulls of coleslaw.

Sun 11/15/2009 Jon Royce Hixon is born! Congrats to Bridgette and RJ - and Jon!

2009-11-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well, the big news today was that Bridgette had her baby! About 3pm Houston time, Jonathan Royce Hixon was born. Bridgette and baby are doing very well. Bridgette called her mom around 8am this morning letting her know that they werre at the hospital in Sugarland and she was in active labor. Things progressed quickly for Bridgette and baby Jon, and Laurie was fortuate to be able to listen to Jon's birth on the phone.

As I was oncall, I have been up since about 2:30AM completing the numerous tasks I had laid out for the database maintenance window. Rather than go back to bed, and with Bridgette's labor and all, I just stuck out the day. Now it is a bit after 7pm and I am ready for BED!

I fixed a cottage cheese and onion pancake today. It was a first for me. I have to get a better handle on the browning property of cottage cheese, but even with a very dark exterior, the pancake was very tasty. For dinner I nibbled on some left over Jamaican Chicken Salad. My blood sugar was normal today, I have lost a total of 38 pounds so far.

2009-11-15T02:20:00.000-08:00

Ah Saturday. My first week back was quite busy with being oncall and all. My dieting went well, I was able to reconnect with old friends and received inquisitive looks from people who noticed that "something was different" with me. A good friend says he knows I am at work when he now hears my hand blender humming as I mix my protein mix into the morning coffee. Everyone has been very supportive.

Today Laurie and I tackled the basement - Bridgette and her boyfriend moved out on Labor Day and the basement has been in a state of limbo everr since. Now we aree moving their stuff out (to the curb or to Goodwill) and reclaiming our space! Get the carpets cleaned, paint, upgrade! laurie is also reclaiming what used to be Bridgette's bedroom and going to use the closet space for sure - there never seems to be enough closet space!

Finally about 4pm we took a break and I ran a load of donated goods to Goodwill. Afterwards I went to get us a bite to eat, and it seems that there was either a flooding problem or a water main problem, for most of the restaurants in our little town were closed with notices on the door about this weather-related incident. The Dairy Queen was opn, though, so I ordered for Laurie and then thought about what I could eat. The Firecracker chicken strip wrap looked good, but so did the chili dog - and of course an order of onion rings. There goes the pre-surgery Steve, at it again!

But I ordered and took the food home. I cut the chili dog into small pieces and ended up just eating the hot dog itself. And the Firecracker chicken strip wrap! I took one bite (a small one at that) and ended up pulling the chicken strip out of the wrap (it had been rolled in hot sauce!) and cutting it into very small pieces. And I ate 2 onion rings. But I was satisfied! I still hate to throw away food - or see anyone else throw away food. Maybe that is why I was the way I was! No longer...

Early to bed last night (8:30pm) as I had to rise at 3am to continue my oncall duties. Now (5:30am) on Sunday, those duties are complete - and I might just head back to bed for a short while. Have a great day, all!

Fri 11/13/200 - Friday the 13th! Lunch @ Jason's Deli

2009-11-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

I went to Jason’s Deli for lunch today with Dave, it was my first real foray into the “real food world”. I love the Spicy Seafood Gumbo there, so got a bowl of that. I thought their chicken salad (with pineapple!) would sit pretty well on my new stomach, so I ordered their special – a Chicken Salad Wrap. With free water, the meal came to $7.12.

I opened the wrap and ate the chicken salad and small tomato slices – bypassing the onion and lettuce. The gumbo was as good as I expected…. It was a great meal, and I came back to my desk “satisfied” – no cramps or discomfort, no guilt, and my friend Dave, who has seen me devour entire restaurants at lunch, was somewhat shocked by my “new attitude” and pace. We had a great lunch, concentrating more on talking and laughing than on shoveling food into our mouths. Even Dave commented that he ate less than he thought he would, and enjoyed it more!

Laurie’s daughter Bridgette had a great OB visit today – the doc said he needed to review the ultrasound results, but if her amniotic fluid levels were low, he would induce labor tonight (11/13/2009!) If not, he would schedule her to have labor induced on 11/20/2009 (next Friday, if she goes that long). He said the baby is already in excess of 7lbs! Bridgette is living in Sugarland, TX with her boyfriend and his extended family. She’s a long way from her Momma, but is doing well and is ready to have this baby (a boy, plans are to name it Jonathan).

Does anyone have any idea as to what to do about Gout! I have suffered from Gout for over 20 years and it comes and goes between my left big toe knuckles to my right big toe knuckle…. I understand that Gout is a buildup of uric acid that crystallizes in the joint… but I cannot completely cut out “dark liquids” (coffee!), though since my RNY gastric bypass I have cut out red meat (for at least three weeks!).. Any remedies or incantations that might help? I take colchicine when the pain starts, but it takes 24-36 hrs to show any benefits. Can anyone help?

Have a great weekend all. It is finally drying out here in NE Georgia, and a beautiful weekend is in store.

Thu 11/12/2009 - Great checkup!

2009-11-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Wednesday 11/11/2009) was a unique day. I had a single serving of soup for lunch but also brought in leftovers of the veggie lasagna from the night before. But the soup was enough, so the lasagna was discarded. I had to work hard to ensure that I got my protein for the day, for even at dinnertime I just wasn’t hungry. I also worked to get my minimum fluids in for the day. But I did it! I am oncall ths week and that has added a new dimension to my first week back at work.

I took a picture right before I ate my “cup of gumbo” at lunch. This is where I work! How many items can you identify that I have around my terminal? And for a change it is somewhat picked up! I also got a call from my nurse at Dr. Crookers - my blood sugar is "normal" and my A1C is 2 whole points down - almost "normal", too - with no insulin or pills since the day of the surgery. I do so sincerely hope those diabetic days are behind me now - and forever.

Tue 11/10/2009 - work from home day, visit to Dr. Crooker

2009-11-11T05:58:00.001-08:00

Today has been a bit funky for me. My stomach has a hungry feeling, but I just don't feel like eating. I did get my protein in via my morning coffee. Laurie and I went for our doctor's visit today - I've been seeing Dr. Christopher Crooker for 20 years, Laurie has been a patient of his since we got married. We schedule appts together and it's like a reunion! Dr. Crooker was pleased with my decision and action and results of the GB surgery. He had bloodwork done on me at my request, I want to make sure my enzyme and mineral levels are doing well. One big change is that I am so cold now. I mean very cold! I sleep under at least 2 blankets, and wear long sweat pants and long-sleeved shirts around the house. Time was when I was the one that wanted to turn a fan on or roll the car windows down. I want to make sure my iron levels are OK, I do take a iron supplement as part of the post-op vitamin protocols.

While Dr. Crooker and Laurie were going over her medical situation, I looked down at a wart I have on my left ankle and it looked a bit odd. I've had this wart for several years and just have never been able to "get to it" because of my weight. But since I am down 38 pounds, I thought I'd try again and sure enough, I was able to bend myself in such a way that I could get to my ankle! That in itself was a real accomplishment. When I ran my thumb over the wart, it crumbled and fell OFF. Dr. Crooker looked at me, then at the wart, and handed me a band-aid. He said that sometimes warts do fall of, but not often. He said it might come back, and to keep an eye on it. The wart was located on the outside of my ankle, right where a shoe-line falls, so it alone kept me from wearing some of my shoes. No more!

My waxy ears were clear, which is another amazing thing. It is a regular request of mine to have the Dr. clear out the wax in my ears - they do it so efficiently. But I didn't need it this trip. I got a flu shot.

For dinner I fixed a single-serve vegetarian lasagna from Trader Joes, but ate only half. (380 calories, 9g protein). I'll take the rest to work on Wed.

Have a great day, all!

A WOW! moment today (11/11/2009)

2009-11-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

I had a WOW! moment just now. Sitting at my desk I noticed that my badge kept ketting caught between my gut and the edge of the desk. When I move the least little bit, I felt a tugging at my neck. That was odd, I've not felt THAT before...... I looked down to find out what was tugging at my neck, and there it was! Just a few short weeks ago, my gut was big enough to keep my badge from getting anywhere near the edge of my desk - 38 pounds and 3 weeks later, I have a new irritating "thing" to deal with. I love it! Here is a pic of my badge and the desk edge. hehehehe!

Monday Nov 09 2009 - Back to work! today was a great day.

2009-11-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

today was a remarkable day - went back to work for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks, and started OnCall as soon as I got there. Sure enough, there were enough issues crop up today that the day flew by and I really felt good at the end of the day. I took a single serving of Mom's soup, a serving of Garlic Tilapia, some homemade tartar sauce (mayo, chowchow, celery seed, some wasabi) and Sams salsa. I also took a single serving of gelatin, pudding, and yogurt, but ate none of those last three. I took the baby formula powder carrier with 2 protein mix servings and my vitamins, and my hand blender, and had my protein early in the day. I can't believe I actually have missed that "industrial strength" coffee we make in the break room. I meant to get to the cafeteria for a single serving of egg before they closed at 8:30am, but time got away from me.

The next thing I knew, lunchtime was upon us. Several friends asked if I wanted to go to our local "all you can eat Chinese buffet" :o) I said "anytime"! I told them I would love to go, but I wouldn't be eating like they were accustomed to see me eat. I know better! But I encouraged all of them to treat me the same as they always have - I know what I can and cannot do, and I will not deny myself things that I want - I will just be very closely monitoring what I eat and when, and how quickly..... so instead of 12 or 15 wings I might have 2. Instead of two plates at the chinese buffet, I might have a deseert-sized plate with some vegetables and some captain Tso's chicken (a piece or two)... but this is my deal, and I am prepared to deal with it for now and for the rest of my life. I also had several conversations with folks that wanted to "know more about "it"" so I gave them the web page of the surgeons group that I used http://www.obesitysolutions.com/ . I bet word-of-mouth keeps those Doc's business humming.

I took my time and ate my lunch very slowly, all the while answering the phone and responding to pages that were plaguing is today as over 1million extra inquiries hit our production servers (at almost $4/inquiry, that extra income more than covered MY expenses for the day :o) But those extra inquiries really maxed out the mainframe, and it wasn't till about 4pm that everything got caught up. It sure was a nice way to end the day - worked hard, felt like I made a difference, and friends visited all day to see "the new Steve".

When I awoke this morning I hit the scale and found that I have lost a total of 34 pounds! I have over 100 pounds to go, but already I feel great. I noticed several differences today as I wore "dress clothes" for the first time since surgery. First, I could get my socks on much easier. My pants fit better (still in the same pants for now. I have a nice "set" of pants!) My belts are way too big! What used to be a small section after the buckle is now a LONG section that I have to fold and wrap to keep from flapping around. My shirts feel better. and this may be odd, but my truck does not have electric windows, and as I approached the parking deck and got my badge out to "badge in", I found that I was able to roll down my drivers window without knocking my knees together as I manipulated the window handle. Another oddity is how cold I am! Even on the way in, I had the windows rolled up and a bit of heat on. The same is going on at the house. Long sleeved shirts, sweat pants, and I now sleep under several blankets! I am just cold cold cold!

I get to (again) work from home tomorrow, as regularly scheduled, and I go to my family doctor, Dr. Christopher Crooker, for a checkup. I am going to get him to run a bloodwork series just to ensure that my vitamins and such are in line - especially my iron and calcium. I take both those as part of the regieme I am on, but I just wanna be sure. tomorrow at 2pm is a phone conference call with our VP at work - just the DBA group (Alpharetta and Boca Raton, FL) - the good Lord knows what this call is about, but I sure wish I did. with the layoffs last week in the department just across from me, everyone is a bit nervous. I'm not quite there yet, but who knows! That school bus driver opening is looking better and better.... I just wish it paid $125K :o) Yeah, don't we all.

Hurricane Ida is on its way to our area - it missed Cancun barely - I bet Michelle and Peter, our friends there, are feeling prettty good. BTW, they have five or so condos at The Solymar that they personally rent - if you are looking for a great and CHEAP way to see Cancun, give Michelle and peter a holler - http://www.cancunresortcondos.com/ . Laurie and I are looking forward to returning there in 2010 at some point - I want to see how my knee feels in about a year (or less?) before we go back to Cancun. It will also be our 10th anniversary in 2010 and we are trying to think of somewhere different to vacation for that special celebration. Anyone have any good ideas?

G'night all. See you tomorrow!

sunday Nov 08 2009 - I return to work tomorrow!

2009-11-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well, the post-op surgery recovery at home comes to a conclusion this evening. I return to my workplace tomorrow after 2-plus weeks away from there. I was able to work from home for the past week, and I am very appreciative to my immediate director, Ed Musgrave, and my three teammates: Bill Shumate, Mo Hazineh, and Chuck Devlin for their flexibility and assistance as I worked from the house. I haven't had to wear a pair of dress pants since the surgery date 10/22/2009, nor hard shoes (or really any shoes!) and just remembering to shave has been an ongoing battle!

The alarm will go off at 5am tomorrow, and that in itself will be a real system shock! Though I do admit that most of the 2--plus weeks have seen me rise between 3:30 and 5am, I guess it is my system fighting back against that life of leisure :o) The two weeks of rest-and-recuperation have been welcomed and muchly needed.

OK. back to business. Yesterday, Saturday, laurie and I went to Trader Joes to get some rations. I have been reading alot about Tader Joes on the Thinnertimes.com gastric bypass site, and the Norcross store did not dissapoint. I found lots of GB-friendly foods there, the store is similar to a Whole Foods or Harris Teeter, but a good bit smaller. Most of the offerings are of the organic variety, with alot of single-serve and pre-prepared items. I bought several seafood offerings like seafood stew and Garlic and pepper Tilapia, vegetarian lasagne, and a Maine crab soup and corn chowder. We enjoyed our excursion and time together - even with our 2-plus weeks of extended togetherness, there have been times where we were in the same house but in different worlds! Lauries daughter Bridgette is ready to deliver her baby at any time, in fact last night (sun AM 3:30) Laurie got a call from Bridgette that she was in labor and on her way to the hospital (she is living in Houston TX with her boyfriend and boyfriends Mom and family - that is another long story). But later today we got a call that Bridgette had been sent "back home" as the labor was not as active as first thought. That alone has kept Laurie on her toes. I'm back in my office "working from home" and the next thing you know is that it is bedtime. And at my age, that means 9pm :oD

Last night I went to Gainesville, GA to meet with the Greater Gainesville Georgia Gator Group to watch the footballgame vs Vanderbilt. Night games are rougher on the Gator Club, as the Monkey Barrel where they normally meet starts the live music around 9pm, so for now the G5 group is meeting at the Elks Lodge for the night games. The Lodge is one nice place! A full bar and very remarkable menu - everything from loaded burgers to steaks and seafood. I had the blackened salmon and a baked potatoe, and ate about 1/2 of each. I left at halftime and made it home in time to watch the last quarter on TV (espn2), but..... fell asleep :o)

The meal was very good, I made sure to mash up the salmon very thoroughly and chew chew chew. Same with the potatoe. Mash Mash Mash, chewe chew chew. Mom sent me home with a dozen new soups for my freezer. Mmmmmm!

Today was a 'clear things up' day, as I prepare to return to work. I had to rebuild my briefcase, making sure I know where my badge is, and make sure that my lunch box is ready. I cooked the Garlic Tilapia on the grill today and the small pack came in three pieces - I cooked all three pieces and ate one for lunch - and dinner. I'm taking another piece to work tomorrow for lunch, along with one of mom's frozen soup.

I found a baby formula divided container that Courtney had evidently left over here, and I am going to use it to take my Protein Mix - along with my Swiss Miss chocolate powder and a single Splenda packet. And my iGo mixer. And a water bottle. I also am taking two small containers - one with a tbsp of mayonaisse and a forkfull of ChowChow (for homemade tartar sauce) and one container with Salsa (from Sams - they have an amazing salsa creation there). I will proabably take a baked potatoe, too, but hope I can buy one in the cafeteria (for $1, a great deal).

I can also have a single serving of egg for breakfast, and maybe a small order of grits. And a 8oz V8 - spicy!

Dr. Richard said to be aware that my energy level will be less than before - I guess time will tell on that one. I have been walking alot, and NOT using the electric cart at Publix during my visits there (like tonight, needed dog food). I am sure I will get some exercise at work, too. My friends are going to be insistent on that.

Well, that is about it. I will post more tomorrow - thanks everyone for reading and for putting up with my rants. Onward!

Back to work! On Monday, 11/9/2009....

2009-11-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

Today was my last official day of "working from home" before returning to the office on Monday (11/9). To really add to the misery, there were layoffs at my workplace yesterday, and an entire department was cut. I hope that we are all taking care of ourselves - professionally and personally - and not counting on thngs to stay the same any time in the near future. Take every opportunity you can to better yourself - both for your benefit and your family's. Network, get out and about, go to that educational class you have been thinking about, even if it is at the local rec center! Listen and talk to those around you - especially people that are not your regular social circle. Find out what they think, what they worry about, what their hopes and dreams are - and make them part of what makes you who YOU are. This is one of the reasons I like teaching college so much - I am constantly around motivated people - people who have a dream and are working hard to achieve it. And in my own way, I am doing the same. Am I ready should I lose my job? No, sadly not. But who is? All we can do is react when and if things happen - and that goes for the positive and the negative. Be supportive of those around you, and when and if the time comes, lean on the support of those around you! None of us go through any of this alone.

Fri Nov 06 2009 - the bill arrives!

2009-11-07T04:42:00.000-08:00

I got the hospital bill for my gastric bypass surgery yesterday. This is just the hospital bill and does not include any inevitable discounts that the insurance company will apply to the final settlement. I had my surgery at the NE Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA, by Dr. Robert Richard of Obesity Solutions. I was very impressed with the hospital, and with Dr. Richard as well. In the documentation I reviewed, they cover expected costs for this surgery if it is "self-paid", meaning no insurance benefits are available.

the estimates were
$15,500 facility fee (Hospital)
1,200 anesthesiologist
8,000 Surgeon
700 Surgical Assistant
---------------------------------
$25,400 total estimate

I have just rec'd the Explanation of Benefits for the hospital. Here is what they billed

$ 1,312.00 Room/Board (2 full days, 2 nights)
4,642.57 Pharmacy
27,547.12 Supplies
1,360.00 Lab
1,276.38 Radiology
231.78 Cardiology
16,928.97 O.R. Services
46.45 Professional
----------------------------------------------
$53,346.19 total patient charges

The insurance company, United Healthcare, applied a "net discount" of -$39,922.04 to the hospital bill, leaving a net of $13,377.70 for the Hospital portion of the procedure.

Dr. Richard charged $9,225.00 for his services, the Surgical Assistant charged $2,244.00. Those charges are "under review" by United Healthcare.

More to come!

Thu Nov 05 2009 - two weeks Post-Op!

2009-11-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well, here I sit two weeks since my Gastric Bypass surgery. I had a good day, enjoying a single serving of Mom's Taco Soup for lunch. After work (still WFH for the rest of this week), Laurie asked if I would like to go with her to hit a few stores, and we left! We stopped at Sonny's BBQ for dinner, I thought I could find something there I could eat. I ordered one of their specials: a half-rack of Baby Back ribs with a baked potato and corn bites. Water to drink. I mashed the baked potato up real well and ate about 1/2 of the potato, no skin. I also ate about 1/2 of the half-rack, peeling the meat from the ribs and very carefully chewing up each bite. I brought the other half of the meal home in a to-go box. I could feel the food on my stomach, and knew when to quit. Looking back, I probably should have just had their soup, but damn, I wanted a taste of the ribs and those corn bites are great, too! The meal was $7.99, and I in effect ate half of it.

Afterwards we roamed Hobby Lobby and toys-R-Us looking for Christmas decorations and presents for the current grandkids and Bridgette's soon-to-be-born baby, our future grandson Jonathan. By the time we finished at T-R-Us it was 7:40pm, and we were just exhausted. Funny how early I hit my limit energy-wise. But that is to be expected.

When I got home I looked up the calorie and protein count for Sonny's BBQ food and found a great site, www.thedailyplate.com . You type in a restaurant name and nutrition data is displayed. The half of a half-rack of ribs came in at 207calories, the corn bites 300calories / 4 protein, and the baked potato 150cal, 4 protein. Lots of calories! I think back to a month ago, where I would have eaten the full rack of ribs, a baked potato and the corn bites, and a serving of bread, too. Over 3000 calories, easy. My oh my.

Tomorrow (fFri) is my last WFH day, and I am looking forward to returning to work.

Wed Nov 04 2009 - A Chili Dog?

2009-11-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

Today even the cofeee was unpleasant. I did get 2 scoops of protein mix into the coffee pot before the end of the morning, but it just wasn't the same today. Not sure why. I laid low through lunch time and called my Mother around 2:30pm to see when she might be ready to meet me with her Taco Soup! Mom graciously made me single-serving containers of Taco Soup, and it sounded tasty. We met around 3pm and on the way home I thought about a thread on ThinnerTimes that I had read last night about processesd food.

The thread talked about "processed foods" like hotdogs and balogna and how they were actually easier on a "new" stomach like mine, since these meats were already partially processed (pre-digested?). While I was driving home that got me thinking about a hot dog, and there was a Sonic right on my way home..... so I stopped and bought a Sonic Coney Dog and a small tater tots.

I sliced the Coney dog into very thin portions and ate one, with the bun, chili and cheese. It tasted good, but I could tell that the bread was not going to "work". So for the next few bites I gave the bun (with chili and cheese) to Koko - he was in heaven! I did eat the entire hot dog - just the hot dog - with no discomfort. The tater tots were a different story, but when I slowed down and thoroughly chewed each Tater Tot and made each tater tot two bites, things got better.

Mom's Taco Soup will have to wait till tomorrow! And, BTW, I am down 27 pounds!

Grandkids Halloween costumes - a Bat and a Kangaroo!

2009-11-03T16:24:00.001-08:00

Caden
Peirce

Peirce is a bat, Caden is a Kangaroo. Granddad is having a ball with all this!

Tue Nov 03 2009. Slow down, I'm moving too fast...

2009-11-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today was an odd day. I had a uneasy day yesterday with my meals, and today I have just not been hungry. I kept and eye out on my stomach (well, literally) and I just never got hungry. I did get my protein in - 50g of it anyway - with my coffee this morning. It was about 4:30 before I felt like I could eat something, and I had a serving of homemade chicken soup that my sis-in-law Lisa Jones made. It really hit the spot. Afterwards I had 2 fudgesicles (low carb made with Splenda)... but that still is less than 1/2 of the calories I need, and about 2/3 of the protein for the day.

Laurie asked me to fix her a grilled cheese sandwich for her dinner - she says she cannot make a GCV sandwich near as tasty as mine are :o) I wondered the entire time I was cooking it if I would ever be able to have a grilled cheese sandwich again. Any kind of processed bread is not going to go over very well, though I did start to think about maybe a tortilla or some of those smaller bread offerings I've seen in the store recently. I'll hit my web resources and see what options some of them have tried out. And I did all this while closely watching the grilled cheese "grill". My mom can relate to burning bread (hi Mom!) and I still have to smile and laugh when I think of those childhood memories. Most of my grilled cheese sandwiches involve scraping off the over-cooked (burnt?) exterior! I think they taste better like that anyway.....

I enjoyed my day at work (from home) today, though I did have a real scare when reviewing my health insurance choices for next year. I had three plans to choose from and instinctively went with the highest priced one offered. I thought for sure it would have the most flexibility, and with Laurie and My issues, we need flexibility. But a good friend from work called and warned me to be absolutely sure..... so I called my gastric bypass surgeon and sure enough, he is not under the "most expensive" plan! All of Laurie's doctors and our family doc are under the "middle" Aetna plan offered, so I quickly changed my election choice just under the final-select wire as dictated by LexisNexis. Whew! The middle-tier plan has out-of-network benefits while the top-tier plan has none. How odd is that?

That is enough excitement for one day. Now to go get a drink and keep my liquids up. Have a great evening! Steve

November 01 2009. Monday.

2009-11-03T04:25:00.001-08:00

Today was "not so good". It started out well, with my egg and a small serving of grits, but for the rest of the day I just felt unsettled. I returned to work today, working from home for a week. That was nice, cleaning up email and taking care of projects new and old. For lunch I had a bit of crab meat with a spoonful of mayonnaise. I did get my calcium and iron in, but fell short on my protein for the day.

At 11am I started on a beef stew recipe that was recommended on ThinnerTimes - puree it of course prior to eating. It was your standard beef stew recipe, with a can of cream of chicken, a dry onion soup packet, 1/4 cup of wine, a onion sliced into rings, and one hour prior to completion add carrots and green beans. It came out excellently, but even before I took the first bite I knew it wasn't going to work for me. I used my hand mixer to get a 1 cup serving to the correct consistency (see pic), and it was indeed tasty, but the moment the first forkful hit my lips, my stomach started feeling funny. I ate about 1/2 a cup and stored the rest.

Listening to the new Barry Manilow Christmas CD. Great music. Olivia Newton John has a new Christmas Cd out, too. It is never too early to get started on Holiday Cheer!

2009-11-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Ah, November first. It is cool outside, and I am cold enough to use a small space heater back in my office. I had every intention of getting out today, but found other things to keep me busy around the house. It was another good food day, with me adding the new Peanut Butter powder to my protein drink mix for my morning coffee.

I swear I am going to get out tomorrow and buy material to make the cottage cheese pancakes and the no-noodle lasagna - tomorrow! But tomorrow I start back to work, though the week will be "working from home". Many thanks to my director, Ed Musgrave, for working with me to make that happen. I will actually be back in the office one week from tomorrow, Nov 09, 2009.

One thing I will miss is being there to participate in the Gator v Bulldog football game talk. Oh well, there is always next year - for the Bulldog faithful :)

I found a fellow RNY post-op patient who has the same blood-pooling bruise scenario I do. His father is a surgery and he said that in some circumstances, blood can seep out after the surgery and it heads towards the lowest point via gravity - and inn my case, that is at the bottom of my abdomen. He said his Dad said it could take up to six months for the bruising to be reabsorbed into our systems. six months!

I've attached a photo of Laurie and I that was taken in Cancun several years ago - my first glance went straight to the plates of food we are holding. The restaurant, La Habichuela, has the best Sunday seafood buffet I have ever seen. Lobster, shrimp, ceviche, all kinds of seafood and pasta.... eating there now would be quite different, but just as tasty!

Oct 31 2009 - Halloween! and Gators vs Bulldogs football game from Jacksonville, FL

2009-10-31T17:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween, All. Today was a good day, but moreso for the anticipation of the Florida Gators vs Georgia Bulldogs football game today. I had another egg for breakfast today (omlette tomorrow!) and my wonderful protein additive, and was off for a bit this afternoon. I stopped on the way home to get Laurie's Borrego cleaned up and since it was nasty outside, there was no crowd - and no workers! It took the skeleton (!) crew a while to get to the Borrego, so I watched the first few minites of the football game at the car wash - when the Gators scored so quickly in the 1st quarter, I relaxed a bit.

My weight loss continues, my body continues to heal from the surgery, the bruising is, well, still there. But all else is kicking along just fine.

I found a great recipe for noodle-less lasgna that meets my Phase 2 requirements and is high in protein, gonna try it tomorrow.

3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup marinara sauce
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
2 egg whites.
mix together, bake at 350degrees for 30 minutes.

Have a great Halloween, all. See you tomorrow.

Happy Gator on WDUN/AM

2009-10-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

My mother has a Friday broadcast on WDUN-AM here in Gainesville, GA where she is known as "Happy Gator", a Florida Gator football fan. The two morning hosts, Bill and Joel, talk to "Happy Gator" for a few minutes around the Friday 8:30am timeframe during the football season and often pit her against Georgia Bulldog fans, all in good fun. I have a brief clip of "Happy Gator"s latest broadcast on Fri 10/30/2009. Go Mom!

www.conundrumcomputing.com/wdun_10-30-2009.mp3

Friday 10/30/2009 Post-Op followup with Dr. Richard

2009-10-31T02:43:00.001-07:00

I had a great Post-Op visit with Dr. Richard. As I walked into the Dr's office, I noticed the others in the waiting room. There were at least six other "big" patients there, and some looked very unhappy. I figured the unhappy ones were probably there post-op and suffering through that two-week liquid diet, like I was two weeks ago. Others that were leaving with bags of vitamin supplements and protein powder seemed much happier (like me!). As I waited, the receptionist asked me to fill out a standard form that described my post-op status and had a list of 16 (sixteen!) maladies that often affect weight-loss-surgery (WLS) patients - and I was able to answer 'no symptoms' to all of them. I hope and pray that continues just like it is.

The doctor first noticed my Gator shirt. As a Harvard grad, he said he didn't have a "dog in that fight". Bad euphemism! He then "inspected" my abdomen and said everything looked good (other than the bruising, which he thought would get worse before it started to get better). I asked my questions (diabetes, blood pressure, goal weight) and he said I was free to move on to Phase 2 of the recovery diet. That means I can start to add softened solids, like fish and chicken. big day!

It was a cold and rainy day outside, but I felt pretty good! My brother Ken and I went to Sams to look at an item he is thinking of buying, and since it was lunchtime, we went to a Thai restaurant nearby. I thought I could find something on the menu that met my dietary needs - and I did. But I think my stomach (pouch!) overruled my brain, and my selections were not the best :o) I enjoyed eating the limited amount that I did (5 or 6 shrimp, soup, some veggies well chewed), but the rest of the day was uncomfortable. I see that the predictions that my new stomach would dictate my dietary comings-and-goings were indeed correct! A good friend who also had this GB surgery said that I would step over the line once, but not twice. Well, consider that done!

Today is 10/31/2009, Halloween, and the Florida/Georgia football game. And tomorrow is November! The Christmas tree goes up next weekend (why wait?).

Have a great day! Steve

Thu 10/29/2009 7 days Post-Op.

2009-10-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a very good day. I was able to add refried beans to my diet, cutting them with chicken broth, or the tomatoe soup that Lisa and Ken have so graciously provided. Yum! But my big day is tomorrow. I have a 10:45am surgery followup with Dr. Richard. Tomorrow morning I get to have a single scrambled egg! I can put a tbsp of salsa and a pinch of shredded cheese on it. A real meal! I am guessing that the reason for the doc wanting me to have eaten "something of substance" is so that he can listen as it moves through my newly routed intestinal tract. Sounds OK to me! Bring on the EGG!

But this is interesting. I am down 18.8 lbs from my preop surgery weight!

Well, tomorrow is trash day, so I better start gathering the trash before it gets too dark out.

More tomorrow! Mmmmmm. An egg!

Nice day! Wed 10/28/2009 Day Six Post-Op

2009-10-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today was very pretty outside, so the dog, Koko, and I went for a walk before noon. Meals have been going good, the coffee drinks (2) have been really beneficial in the mornings, and I had to go restock on gelatin and pudding this evening. My sister in law Lisa and brother Ken fixed me up with a generous supply of homemade soups, each neatly stored in a 1-serving storage container. Heat and eat!

I didn't sleep very well last night, Laurie was restless and Koko threw up twice for some reason. He seemed OK today, we switched him to a "s/d" vet supplied diet for the day, and he ate it up! Strange. But in this household, anything can be expected! I do mean that in the nicest way.

My Post-Op checkup with Dr. Richard is on Friday! Kinda excited about that for some reason.

Have a great evening, all. BTW, the "woot off" at www.woot.com is going into its 2nd day. When will the madness end? :o)

Tuesday Oct 26, 2009 Day 5 Post-Op

2009-10-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. Well, sortof... it rained the entire day, and the dog and I had every intention of getting some exercise! It was a nice, steady rain, something that this area has needed for years - and one that has been wreaking havoc with neighbors to the south of us for the past few weeks.

But I digress. Today started well, with me again enjoying the "cappuccino" style coffee drink(s) this morning that got me 50g of the required 95g of protein for the day. I am down 17 pounds so far (since the start of the liquid diet) and can really feel the difference. Today was the 2nd day of being 'on leave' from work, add that to the bad weather, and it seems that I have been cooped up in the house for almost a week.

I tried a lentil soup recipe from the web page http://www.thinnertimes.com/ recipe page - 300 calories total for two servings, and I can add salsa and a bit of hot sauce -and puree it thoroughly. I have to watch my liquid intake, making sure that I get at least 64 oz of water each day - that is 1/2 a gallon! It's not all bad - I get to count the coffee, tea, and SF popsicles towards that goal.

I still had the hunger confusion today, but with splitting the lentil soup into two separate "meals", that helped to keep my mind off the hunger aspect. My energy is good, my health and recovery seems to be very good, and I am quite blessed.

I read this somewhere....

2009-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

"Chewing is the first part of the digestive process".

It does make you thing, doesn't it? Chew your food! I have to be especially conscious of this.

new pics of the grandsons!

2009-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Caden

Peirce!

Monday 10-26-2009 4th day Post-Op - Am I hungry?

2009-10-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have to get past a mental block. I think that I am hungry, but am I really hungry? Yesterday was a tough day for me, and I am just 4 days out of surgery! I thought about food all day – of course the TV and periodicals are slam full of advertisements for every kind of food you can think of, so that doesn’t help, but it is life – and I really have to get over that.
My abdomen is still tender, but I had major surgery! My stomach was split in two pieces and stapled, my intestines were disconnected and reconnected – I will be swollen for quite a while. But why am I hungry? I am doing a great deal of reading about what others have gone through and found several good resources out there – it is interesting to differentiate between the “amateurs” out there and the corporate-sponsored sites. Everyone seems to have an agenda.
I read of some folks that are weeks or months post-op and can’t even look at food without getting sick. I see some that pop right back from surgery (like me?) and never look back. And there are some that suffer for weeks or months with medical complications. I am indeed fortunate.
Today I tried a recommendation I found on www.bariatriceating.com (an amateur site that has now morphed to a corporate-sponsored one). As part of my post-op therapy, I have to make sure I get 95grams of protein a day. I use a powered protein supplement (like bodybuilders use!) called IsoPure. One blogger there mixes their IsoPure with their morning drink. Hmmmm. 2 scoops – 50g of protein, so I tried one scoop with a cup of coffee, 1 pack of Splenda, and my hand mixer (this little iGo hand mixer is a jewel!) and Poof! I have a very tasty cappuccino-like drink. Very nice. I’m on my 2nd cup this morning, which ensures one-half of my daily protein requirements. I also found a nice “liquid diet” approved soup recipe: one can of black beans (drained), ½ cup of salsa, 1 cup chicken broth. Mix in blender, makes 2 servings. EAT ONLY ONE SERVING at a time. (Remember, you dumb schmuck, you are NOT hungry, you only think you are!). I’m going to try this for “lunch”. I get my supply of wonderful soups on Friday afternoon from my brother Ken, his wife Lisa, Mom Happy – frozen and ready to eat!
Also found a neat recipe for Phase 2 (soft foods), cottage cheese pancakes! Cottage cheese, diced onions (from www.beforeandafterhelp.com )

Half a medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter (I actually don't use any butter. I just sauté with PAM and some butter spray instead)
1 egg (I use egg substitute instead)
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons flour
saltpepper

I feel much better with a bit of caffeine in me. Today is my first day “on leave” from work (at my workplace, any time away from work is considered “leave”). I am taking it easy, trying to stay busy (and keep from thinking about food), and healing well.
Thanks for reading, thanks for caring, and thanks for being part of my life – my new life! Onward, friends.

Sunday 10/25/2009 - broth, jello, coffee!

2009-10-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning and I am home. The doc kept me an extra day to make sure my kidneys and bladder were working properly. Shortly after the catheter was removed, I quit peeing. For five hours. The doc said it would be a good idea to keep me one more night, for if this were indeed a problem and I was sent home, I would have to come back to the hospital through the emergency room. He wrote orders for 1000ml of fluids via the IV, and I got to enjoy dinner (broth, jello) and another night in rm6717. during the evening I quickly converted the 1000ml of fluids into an equal amount of urine, and after a rousing breakfast of - broth and jello and decaf coffee - Dr. Richard released me and I was home by 11am on Saturday.
I return on 10/30 for my followup, with instructions to "eat a scrambled egg" before the followup visit - I guess Dr. Richard will want to see how I handle solid food.
I feel pretty good, though sleeping is a bit rough with the abdominal pain I have. Dr. Richard prescribed Lortab Elixir for pain, but the pain is not really that bad - just uncomfortable as I move around - I didn't realize how much you use your abdominal muscles.
I also get to start on my vitamin regime - b12, b-500, calcium citrate, iron (sub lingual), multivitamins. All but two are chewable, the iron is under-the-tongue. Documentation states that anything in a pill form may not be absorbed properly by my new stomach and need to be either liquid or chewable.

I'm back! Sitting up, eating 1oz of ice, feeling pretty good. Not hungry!

2009-10-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

Courtney and the boys picked me up at 6:15am and took me to the hospital. Laurie stayed behind; I was worried that she might pick something up at the hospital in her weakened state, and she reluctantly agreed with me. As we pulled up to the entry way, Happy and Doc (my parents) were right behind us! Hugs were exchanged all around.
Dad and I proceeded to the Surgery Waiting Area while Mom and Cournty ran an errand, and about 7:50am (right on time!) I was called back for PreOp. The nurse gave me the ever-popular hospital gown that ties in the back :o) and a set of compression socks (knee high) and the non-skid footie socks. An IV was started, the Anesthesiologist came in and talked for a bit, and I was ready! The nurse I was assigned revealed that she had gastric bypass surgery five years ago, dropping from 287 to 137. She had Obesity Solutions do her surgery as well. And sure as “grits are groceries”, the OR Nurse came for me at 9:30AM. These folks are on time!
The Operating Room was very cold, with three HD monitors hanging from the ceiling and three of the large OR lamps. The operating table was a very thin mattress, maybe 2 ft wide. When I arrived, two of the OR nurses started to build-out the table, increasing its width, installing arm boards, and installing a foot board. I scooted from the hospital bed to the OR table and the nurse put a blue hairnet on me. I asked about the foot board and was told that for this procedure, I will be rotated so that my head is higher than my feet, and the footboard (along with a seat belt at my knees) will keep me from sliding off the table.
The anesthesiologist peered down at me next and placed a mask over my nose and mouth and said “breathe very deeply, Mr. Jones”. And that was all that I remember.
My next memory is waking up in recovery and having to go to the bathroom badly. I tried to get out of bed (nope! Can’t do that!) and the nurse told me that I had been catheterizedand was urinating just fine. I had my BiPap machine on my face, which made my recovery a biteasier. I felt this intense pain around my midsection, again like someone had hit me in the gut with a bat. About 1pm I was wheeled to my room (6717) and got settled. My brother Ken was there (I think), and I kinda went in and out of consciousness for a short while. I was allowed to have some ice chips, and boy were they good ice chips! I called Laurie and told her that everuthing went well, and later in the evening Courtney and Lisa came up to visit for a bit, it was good to see them. I watched a bit of TV and went to sleep around 9pm. I woke up at 1am and wanted to sit up for a minute, and proceeded to knock over my ice, drop the TV controller, get my feet caught up in the covers and pull loose one of the compressive leg sleeves. I was a mess! I did see the TV controller and was able to press the “call” button with my big toe. Success! When the nurse came in she got a good laugh out of my predicament. Once I got settled we went for a short walk – it seemed like a marathon, but I am sure it wsa just 30 or 40 feet down, and back. Still just in my hospital gown – commando!
Well one thing is different. I am not hungry!
More later. It is 4am on Friday, 10/23/2009

Wed 10/21/2009 PreOp Day 14 - surgery is tomorrow!

2009-10-21T06:16:00.001-07:00

Today is “the day before” – surgery. I have survived the two-week liquid diet, but the thought of the surgery has really taken my appetite anyway. I have read and re-read the “what to expect before” and “after” material, and kept good records as requested by the docs and nurses. Now it is just a matter of getting the surgery over with. I’ll be back online sometime Friday – the surgery is Thu 10/22 at 9:50, and after an overnight stay, the plans are to release me “around dinnertime” on Friday 10/23/09.

And with that, the rest of my life begins. There is no turning back on this decision, which in itself is reassuring to me. I have found wonderful support from my family and friends and employer, and want to make each of you proud of me and this decision that each of you helped me make. I regret deeply having to have this surgery, but as they say, “it is what it is”. I got myself into this predicament, and I will endeavor, with each of your help, to extricate myself from it, whole!

Check back periodically, friends – there is more to come!

Two days to surgery. Mon Oct 19 and Tue Oct 20

2009-10-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

The diet continues. I am getting things lined up for the short hospital stay and the 2 weeks at home afterwards. The diet immediatley after surgery is pretty strict, but from what I hear I will not be interested in eating anything at all for a while. I have a followup visit on 10/30 (one week post-Op) and prior to that visit I am to have eaten one egg, scrambled, and to do so in very small bites. Prior to that, no solid food at all! Lots of liquid, but no more than one ounce at a time for the week after surgery. From the material, I understand that my new stomach will essentially be a pouch the size of an egg - one ounce. This pouch will expand over time, but care has to be taken not to overeat, or face possible hernias and "strictures" (narrowing around the suture area?) So I will be taking it easy and enjoying my new lifestyle.

Mon Oct 19 1050 caolries; 141 carbs, 89 protein
Tue : in process

Surgery is Thursday 10/22/09 at 9:50am.

back material part 3

The application packet became more of an endeavor than I thought it would:

* The sleep apnea study that I did in Feb 09 was acceptable, but if you snore or think you snore, a sleep study will be required – if for no other reason than to document that you don’t have sleep apnea. In my case, I have been using a BiPap machine for over five years (BiPap machines are similar to a CPap machine, but force air both into and out of the lungs.)
* I needed to write a “Letter of Understanding” to the doctor’s office outlining my understanding of the pro’s, con’s, lifestyle changes, medical monitoring and such required – and also have my ‘support group’ to write one.
* I was surprised at the different requirements that different insurance companies have: some require a weight-loss program for the six-months prior to applying for approval. Some require a loss of 10% prior to approval. Aetna requires a physician-monitored weight loss program for 2 years. One thing for sure – check with your insurance program early early early. In my case, United Healthcare required: a BMI 40 or greater or a BMI 35 to 39.9 with at least one related “co morbidity – cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia (cholesterol), type-2 diabetes, hypertension, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea.
* I needed a 5-year medical history from my family doctor. Luckily his office “went digital’ over the summer of 2009, and he had my records right at his fingertips. He was able to document our discussions, my weight at various points during the five year period, and his comments encouraging me to “do something about” this.
* The psychological test took about 4 hours. Written exams, multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank, and an interview. Interesting. Took 2 weeks to get an appointment.

PreOp Day 9 and 10 (of 14). Saturday 10/17 and Sunday 10/18/2009

2009-10-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here is another picture of my grandson, Caden. Great kid!

The weekend was..... the weekend. I am oncall this past week and this weekend, and that keeps me pretty close to home and available should the system have issues. I am continuing to enjoy the wonderful soup that my sister-in-law Lisa Jones made to meet my PreOp requirements. Add some hot sauce, and you have quite a meal. Well, quite an improvement over the cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups I have been having..... Thank goodness for sugar-free gelatin!

Four days to go till surgery.

Sat 1210 calories; 183 carbs, 87 protein.
Sun 1055 calories; 130 carbs, 92 protein.

Part 2 of background material.

After I attended the informational seminar and filled out a questionnaire, I got a call from the staff at Obesity Solutions. One of the first considerations is who will pay for the procedure. Obesity Solutions has a price sheet for the gastric bypass at two different hospitals - at NGMC in Gainesville the facility fee is $15,500; the anesthesia is $1200; the surgeon $8000, and surgical assistant $700, for a total of $25,400. Lapband surgery at NGMC is $14,500. At Northside hospital in Cumming, the bypass surgery goes for $17,186.00. A good bit of the detail is covered at the Obesity Solutions web page, which is here.

I received a very large mailing early that next week (april 2009) that contained all sorts of documents that had to be filled out, signed, completed, notarized - you name it! When I spoke with the staff at OS, the nurse encouraged me to complete this application as quickly as I could, for it could take months to do. I thought that was somewhat comical - months? But in all reality, it took three months for me to get the applications "complete". Not all of that was my time, but waiting for others to get things done, too. It was a timely and laborious process.

The documents that I had to complete included

a demographic and insurance info sheet (3 pages)
Medical History (very detailed) 5 pages. I had to document attempted weight loss - as far back as I could remember, but for at least the last 10 years. 10 years! My family physician was a big help with this (more later).
Insurance Verification (who did I talk to, when?)
Authorization to share health information
Type of surgery and hospital preference
Contact information
PCP Acknowledgement (to be signed by my family doctor)
AGreement to pre-surgery criteria
Agreement to pre-surgery screening
Alcohol consumption warning - no alcohol of any kind for at least a year
Agreement to the Plan for Success
Insurance Verification continued (document in-network and out-of-network costs and deductibles)
copy of drivers license front and back
copy of insurance card(s) front and back
document family history
frequently asked questions
sleep study (sleep apnea?)
psychological test info
need two letters of understanding, one from me, one from my support person/group
need for nutritional counselling
attend support groups

It took about three days for me to fill out my part. I had undergone two sleep studies over the past 10 years, the latest one less than a year ago. I scheduled the psych test and the nutritional class (2 classes), and found out about the support groups. I contacted my family doctor about my medical history and he said he had records on me back to when I first began to see him in 1988. That is a good thing!

I'll post Part 3 in a day or so. the psych test!

have a great week, all. three days till surgery! Amazing.

Fall pictures of my grandsons, Peirce and Caden

2009-10-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

this is the latest pictures of my two grandsons, Caden on the left, Peirce on the right. Peirce does not like to have his picture taken (by a professional). Can you tell?

Preop day 7 and 8!

2009-10-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

Thu Oct 15 was a miserable day. I awoke feeling very dizzy and unstable. I checked my blood sugar, it was 140. I came on in to work and asked 2 good friends to check in on me periodically. I had a bowl of grits (no butter) for breakfast and a pudding cup and started feeling a little better. By lunchtime I was OK. But when 4:30 pm came around, I was again feeling a bit shaky. I didn’t get enough protein on Wed (no shake at all), I wonder if that was it?

Thu numbers: Calories: 1530 (a bit over the 1200 limit); Carb 220 ; protein 114

Today, Friday, has been a very good day. I had to work late last night till about 3am as I was oncall, but I slept till 7am and then came in to work. My blood sugar was at 67 this morning, so I ate a bowl of grits before I left the house. I brought a “box” of soup for lunch, V8 Corn Vegetable. No shakiness today. But right as I left work and got in my car, the cold sweats started. It is really odd. I stopped on the way home and got an unsweet tea from QT and ate a few sugarfree jellybeans. For dinner I had another V8 soup, Butternut squash. Very good!

Fri 1035 calories; 197 carbs, 24 protein (way too low protein. I need to make sure I get at least one protein shake in each day)

Part 1 of “back material”
As part of this blog, I want to revisit where this whole journey began for me. I turned 50 this year and am “obese”. Way too obese. It is obvious that I cannot or will not do anything about it, though I have tried several diets, exercise regimes and such. Nothing stuck. Except the weight! My father also was overweight, and he had a “lap band” inserted several years ago. He has lost some weight but it seems to be a battle for him to lose, gain, lose. I thought about the lap-band, but when I hit the big five-oh, I decided it was time to do something. Laurie and I talked about it for a long time – months – and I started a conversation with my family doctor, who has been encouraging me for 20 years to take care of this weight problem. I asked if he had a preference here in the Atlanta area – and also one that my health insurance company would work with. He gave me two choices: Atlanta Bariatric (Emory) and Obesity Solutions. Each group had a slick web page, and each offered a “informational seminar”. I decided to go with Obesity Solutions in Gainesville, GA based on that seminar. At the seminar there were about 30 people, along with one of the surgeons and several post-surgery patients. The surgeon, Dr. Richard, spoke to the group and showed a short video outlining what Obesity Solutions offers and briefly describing each of those options – be it lap-band, gastric bypass, or sleeve gastronomy. At this time Sleeve Gastronomy is not an “approved” procedure by most insurance companies and is primarily used for the super-obese as an in-between measure before performing gastric bypass. That ruled out the sleeve procedure for me! A Q&A session followed the video, then Dr. Richard turned over the rest of the session to the post-surgical patients for the group to ask questions of. Pamphlets were available and there were several staff members who were eager to answer any and all questions. A questionnaire was offered for those interested in looking into this procedure further, and I filled on out.

More to follow!

PreOp testing today, Wed 10/14/2009, day six of the preop liquid diet. Surgery date set for 10/22/2009 at 9:50am

2009-10-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today was my preop appointments with the surgeon and the hospital. Appt at the surgeon was for 9:45am, I was actually called back at 10:30. OK, first thing. How can a doctor be 45 minutes behind at 9:45am? Enough of that.... The entire preop with the surgeon involved signing another stack of forms regarding the use of a surgical assistants (and understanding that my insurance will probably not pay for this surgical assistant) One form said that if my insurance would not pay for this assistant, my bill from said surgical assistant would not exceed $250.00. The other form, for another surgical assistant group, said their bill would not exceed 10% of what the surgeon charged. I asked the nurse why the two forms? she said they would not know which group would send a S.A. till the morning of my surgery. :o)

After all that the surgeon came in and asked me if I had any questions. Then he brought out a rubber model of the stomach and small intestine and showed me what the surgery would entail. No surprises there!

The only question I had was regarding diabetes. Since the surgery eliminates diabetes in 98% of patients, why are people still dying from diabetes? I have lost three associates at my workplace in the 20-plus years I have worked there. All three were not obese, but had rampant diabetes. They lost feet, limbs, and eventually their lives. Why didn't the medical community offer this surgery to "cure" diabetes?

The surgeon smiled and said if he could absolutely prove why this bypass eliminated diabetes in practically all patients, he would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and be a rich man - and smiled. He showed me how the pancreas interacts with the stomach and liver, and how surgeons outside of the US are redirecting the intestinal tract to bypass the area where the pancreas secretes into the digestive tract. And with no stimulation, the pancreas does not excrete insulin - and that - they believe - is how this surgery eliminates diabetes.

He said that surgeons in Brazil and Europe are indeed performing this kind of surgery for problematic diabetes sufferers, but the FDA has not approved this surgery for that malady at this time. But if I walked in with the necessary cash and asked for the surgery, could "he" do it? He just smiled. It seems so odd that people are losing their lives to diabetes when there is a treatment that "might work" for them. I just don't get it.

I digress! Back to the exam. The surgeon pressed around on my liver and listened to my chest and shook my hand and said he would see me in a week. The entire exam took less than 30 minutes. :o)

From there I headed to my brothers house for a quick bowl of homemade soup (liquid diet!) Lisa Jones, my wonderful sister-in-law, made some wonderful tomato soup - oh my, it was good. It was better than good. It was amazing!

After that short break, I headed to the hospital for preop. Nothing surprising there other than the efficiency and friendliness of the entire staff at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA. They are just top-notch. The equipment is state of the art, even the chair I sat in for the bloodwork raised and lowered to bring my veins to the most optimum level for the nurse to draw blood or do the EKG.

The last lady in was from Respiratory. She said she needed to draw some blood for an "Arterial Blood Gas" test. an ABG. I didn't think anything about it till she opened the test packet and drew out a syringe with a very long but very fine needle. She then asked me to turn my left wrist over (palm up) and she felt around at the base of my wrist, then proceeded to insert that damn needle way up into my wrist! She did warn me - "big sting!" - before she assaulted me, but the big sting was a big sting! There was another nurse in the room with me interviewing me and she could see my face contorting as this ABG test went on. It turns out that the ABG test has to get blood from an artery instead of from a vein, like most blood draws are made from. Just thinking about that needle makes my entire left arm tingle..... well, she got her arterial blood alright. From there I went to xray for a cursory chest xray and then I was released.

I drank too much coffee today and my blood pressure was up (I gotta wean myself off caffeine), and my diet today was enriched by Lisa's Tomato Soup.

Calories 980; Carbs 180; Protein: 26. (Protein needs to be 95 or more. I did not make a Protein Shake today. I have to watch that! Protein ingestion will be quite important after surgery).

another cold and rainy day in NE Georgia. At least Lake Lanier is back at "full pool". It has been almost 5 years since the lake was at "full pool".

Oh, and the big date: Thu Oct 22 2009 at 9:50am is the surgery. I need to arrive 2hrs earlier than that, but no "bowel prep" prior to the surgery! Hey, I am grateful for the small things at this point. If all goes as planned, I''ll spend one night in the hospital and go home "around dinnertime" of DAy2.

Over the next few weeeks I'll post not only the present information, but also go back five months or so and discuss what has happened as I traveled from deciding to look into surgery till now. It has been an interesting trek! Stay tuned.

Gnight!

Steve

more psych fun!

2009-10-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some more interesting questions from my recent pre-surgery psychological evaluation. There were 400 of these; I’ve included just a sample of the more interesting ones. The answer choices are True/False.

Respond True (T) or False (F)
· I have a good appetite.
· Evil spirits possess me at times
· I enjoy detective novels
· I am very seldom troubled by constipation
· I am an important person
· I sometimes tease animals
· I like poetry
· My soul sometimes leaves my body
· I think I would like the kind of work a forest ranger does
· I see things or animals or people around me that others do not see
· I believe my sins are unpardonable
· I don’t blame people for trying to grab everything they can get in this world.
· Often I cross the street in order not to meet someone I see
· Someone has control over my mind
· Given the chance, I would make a good leader
· At one or more time in my life I felt that someone is making me do things by hypnotizing me.

Fascinating!

btw - the doc said that of the 1,500-plus times he has given this exam, over 90% of the participants answer "true" to the first question.

PreOp Diet, Monday Oct 12 2009

2009-10-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a tough day - the first day back at work, which I thought would help to keep my mind off eating, but all it really did was keep me from eating - is that all bad? My numbers for Monday were entirely too low, even with the Tortilla Soup broth. I did not fix a Protein shake at all, again with being oncall this week and not home till after 6pm, a milk-based Protein shake just didn't sound appetizing. On top of that I had to work from 11:45pm Mon till about 2:30am Tue for an oncall issue, so I went to bed around 8:30pm. I have to be careful with this - I need at least 95G protein a day.

Cal: 660; Carb 122; Protein: 21

On Sunday, I went to Publix to get some "rations". The experience was very unique! Sunday was Day3 of this liquid preop diet, and the moment I walked in the doors, I was overwhelmed by the stimulus! first was the aroma from the bakery, and then the deli! The SF gelatin is located in the Deli, so I had to wind through there. Then past the Seafood counter - even the smell of seafood was so amazing. I then walked down an aisle to get coffee.... and the bright colors of the breakfast cereal boxes were so amazing! It was sensory overload. Even the refrigerated milk box was bright and enticing. When the cashier asked if I "found everything I was looking for", I had to smile quite broadly. If she only knew!

Preop meeting with the Doctor on Wednesday, then with the Hospital that afternoon. Both want me to bring my checkbook and pay my part of the cost not covered by my insurance. These folks are getting pretty savvy!

2009-10-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

As part of my Gastric Bypass approval by my health insurance company, I had to undergo a psychatric evaluation. Part of that evaluation was an IQ test. Here are some of the “fill in the blank” progressive questions that were asked. I wasn’t given the “answers”; what would your answers be?

1 2 3 4 5 _

12321 23432 34543 456 _ _

Tot tot bard drab 537 _ _ _

Knit in spud up both to stay _ _

3124 82 73 154 46 13_

Two w four r one o three _

57326 73265 32657 26573 _ _ _ _ _

Surgeon 1234567 snore 17365 rogue _ _ _ _ _

Tar pitch throw saloon bar rod fee tip end plank _ _ _ _ _ meals

Mist is wasp as pint in tone _ _

PreOp Liquid Diet Day 3 Sunday 10/11/2009

2009-10-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today was a difficult day. It seems that everywhere I turned there was food - being advertised, talked about, cooked (Laurie has to eat!), in the newspaper (Sunday papers are full of FOOD), on TV, the radio - and I went to Publix for some more gelatin. Can you imagine that assault on my senses! Every aisle looked so colorful and smelled so good - the bakery, the deli, the lady fixing the sample dishes....

I think it will get easier tomorrow when I go back to work. And I start on-call, too. It should be a busy week. I also have Pre-Op with Dr. Richard and at the hospital on Wednesday.

Rather than labor with what I ate, I'll just post my totals for the day

980 cal, 115carbs, 86protein.

The Gators won, the GA Bulldogs lost, and Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR race. It was a good weekend!

Preop Liquid Diet Day 2 of 14 (10/10/2009)

2009-10-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

B'fast today

protein shake 220cal 26 carbs 68protein(!)
Cottage Cheese 110cal 5carb 11protein
yogurt 120cal 17 carbs 7 protein

lunch

grits 140cal 31 carbs 3 protein
pudding 80cal 19 carbs 1 protein

dinner

protein shake #2 220cal 26carbs 68 protein
soup 185cal 27carbs 19protein (used FF chicken broth instead of water, much tastier!)
applesauce 50cal 12 carbs

snack

gelatin 45cal (3serv bowl)

total 1170cal 159carbs 164protein

much closer to the top end of the 800-1200cal goal.

I was home all day, and it seemed that everything around me made me think of food. But I made it!

Preop liquid diet, Day 1 (Fri 10/09/2009)

2009-10-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

So far, so good. I took gelatin, pudding, and applesauce to work today. For the day, I ate the following:

1cup grits (more than you think!) no butter. salt/pepper only. I do use the yellow grits.
1 serving cherry flavored sugar free (SF) gelatin: 5cal, 0carb, 1protein
1 serving chocolate pudding, SF. 80cal, 19 carbs 1protein
1 service applesauce, No Sugar Added (NSA), 50cal, 12carbs
1 light yogurt Fat Free (FF) 100cal, 17 carbs, 7protein
1 Protein Shake, 50protein
2cup milk, Lowfat, 220cal, 5carbs, 18protein

total 795cal, 101carb, 85protein

This was actually below the 800-1200 calorie goal for the day. I never really felt hungry, but food was on my mind all day.

I did have 3 cups of caffeinated coffee at work. and a 32oz Diet Coke from QuikTrip

fantastic post

2009-10-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

the first post at this link, by "Lisa", is very powerful.

http://www.thinnertimesforum.com/pre-op-gastric-bypass/14784-things-people-wish-they-had-known-beforehand.html

PreOp Liquid Diet, day 1 of 14

2009-10-09T04:43:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day on my journey to lifelong weight loss. I will be posting background material over the next few weeks, but to sum things up: I am scheduled for Gastric Bypass Surgery on October 22, 2009.

I will be undergoing the Roux-en-Y version of the Gastric Bypass Siurgery,. To be performed by Dr. Robert Richard of Obesity Solutions in Gainesville, GA. Their web page is www.obesitysolutions.com . here is a high-level explanation of the procedure that I will undergo.

Gastric Bypass
Gastric bypass uses surgery to form a smaller stomach (making it a restrictive procedure) and bypass part of the intestine (making it a malabsorptive procedure) to slow the eating and the absorption of calories and some nutrients. The potential lack of nutrients is what made the first bypass procedures so dangerous. But since the inception of bypasses in the 50’s, they’ve evolved into today’s gold standard of safe weight-loss surgeries, called the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RNY). The gastric bypass offers the most weight-loss potential, because the body no longer tolerates so many high-calorie foods, such as sweets and those high in carbs. But this means that patients must be prepared to never eat the types of food that may have been a large part of their enjoyment in life. The upside to this permanent and highly restrictive diet is a quick and ongoing weight loss. (learn more)
As part of the preparation for this surgery, today I get to start a 2-week liquid diet. The purpose of this diet is to “loosen up” the liver and reduce its fattiness prior to the surgery, since most of the procedure will take place behind the liver. Dr. Richard said that the easier the liver can be moved around, the better.

Todays weight 334.2

Allowed
Water
Decaf coffee
Decaf unsweetened tea
Sugar-free gelatin
Sugar free popsicles
Broth
Crystal Light
Sugar-free Kool-aid
Skim, 1% or Lactaid Milk **
Soymilk **
No-sugar-added fudgesicles
Low-fat cottage cheese
Protein supplements
Low-fat creamy soups (strained) **
Tomato soup
Unsweetened applesauce **
Sugar-free pudding **
Cool Whip Free
Cream of Wheat, oatmeal or grits (1x day) **
Light yogurt **

Not Allowed
Alcohol
Soft drinks
Caffeinated drinks of any kind
Carbonated drinks of any kind
Fruit juice
Sweetened tea
Sweetened gourmet coffees
Other solid foods
All others

Combine foods allowed above to provide no less than 800 and no more than 1200 calories per day
Consume 1-2 servicngs of protein supplement (meeting above guideliens) per day.
Begin a multivitamin supplement.
Record all intake daily using a food journal

For diagetics (I am diabetic)
Monitor blood sugars regularly
Consume 15g total carbohydrate every 4 hours. Foods containing approximately 15g total carbohydrate per serving are marked with the double asterisk (**)

Sample Mneu: PreOp Liquid Diet
Breakfast: ½ cup Cream of Wheat, protein supplement (50g protein)
Mid-morning: 1 cup light yogurt, 1 sugaqr free popsicle, Sugar free drink
Lunch: 1 cup low fat cream of chicken soup (strained), ½ cup unsweetened applesauce, ½ cup low fat cottage cheese, ½ cup sugar-free gelatin, 2 tbsp Cool Whip Free, sugar-free drink
Afternoon: protein supplement (50g protein), 1 no-sugar-added fudgesicle
Dinner: 1 cup low-fat cream of broccoli soup (strained), 1 cup skim milk, 1 sugar-free popsicle
Evening: ½ cup sugar-free pudding, 2 tbsp Cool Whip Free, sugar-free drink

Nutritional Information: 1140 calories, 136g protein, 10g fat, 126g Total Carbohydrates.
Notes: this sample menu contains approximately 15g total carbohydreates every four hours and is therefore appropriate for people with or without diabetes. Be sure to consume sugar-free liquids throughout the day between meals.

I brought a sugar-free pudding, sugar-free gelatin, and unsweetened applesauce to work today. I did buy a 32oz fountain Diete Coke at QuikTrip on my way in – I will have to cut that out, according to the preop diet. I am going to wean myself from caffeine slowly, starting today with ½ reg ½ decaf, and do the same with tea – at work we have a Flavia portion brewer that makes coffee and tea, so that shouldn’t be a big deaql. At home I can brew my own tea and coffee and slowly decrease the caffeine in both. The nutritionist says caffeine is a natural appetite stimulant, and I do not need any appetite stimulant.

But my history shows that if I do not get my caffeine fix, I get headaches. How can I deal with that?