Hey everyone.
Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I have been really busy with work and a Christmas show and way too many doctors’ appointments (mine and April’s). Those are probably not good excuses and I am sure I could have found the time to do a post (or two). Anyway…
So I am really close to being ready for surgery. I had my last 2 appointments with my dietician. At this point it is just a matter of basically checking in, see how I am doing with the changes and see if I have any questions or concerns.
I think that I am well prepared mentally for the change that is coming my way. I know what to expect, or maybe more accurately I know as much as I can about what to expect without actually going thru it. Or put a different way it is kind of like my upcoming foray into fatherhood, I understand that I don’t even know what I don’t know about being a parent (and a post op person) but I know enough to know I can handle it and get thru both of them.
I am feeling good about the surgery but I am starting to get a little nervous. When I started this blog I talked some about different theories and forms of diets and weight-loss and about how statistically none of the work at all for the morbidly obese, that is save gastric bypass. Unfortunately I have been reminded of that recently via my own life. I had been doing really well on the diet, I had gone from 415 pounds down to about 385 and then plateaued somewhat but eventually did get down to about 380.
In the last month I have actually backslid somewhat and gone back up to just under 390 pounds. My dietician said that is actually pretty normal with this 6 month diet leading up to the surgery because you get to a point where you can see the light at the end of the diet tunnel and the surgery is in view. Along with this you also have to come to terms with the fact that there are some foods that you will likely never have again and you actually go thru a sort of mourning where you revert back to your old habits and indulge a little more than you should. When you combine that with it being the holiday season you end up putting on some of the lost weight.
My dietician also reminded me that while losing some of the weight before surgery is a good idea the reason I am having the surgery is because diets don’t work for guys my size.
I also went to a pre-op class that the surgeon and hospital require. A lot of it was on nutrition and specifics of what I would be eating and how. They also covered what I needed to do during the week leading up to the surgery and what to expect in the weeks just after surgery. Most of the nutrition stuff I already knew although it was good to get some specifics and some tips on how to choose some products. The general nutrition rules are that I need to get my protein first and foremost then get my complex carbs. For protein they taught us some simple math to do, in almost everything we eat they want it to be adding some protein their ratio they want us to look for is at least one gram of protein per 15 calories we eat.
As far as the days right before surgery they want you to already have anything you are going to need right after surgery already bought before surgery. That includes my protein shake of choice for the first week or two, chewable vitamins and sublingual B-12 lozenges. Also need some gauze pads for changing out over the incisions. They said they also get some form of good prescription pain meds for me as well.
They said I will be in the hospital for 2-3 days after surgery and out of work for 3-6 weeks (I am aiming for a month). I will be on a liquid diet while in the hospital and a few days after and then progressing kind of like a baby but hopefully faster thru varying degrees of soft food to normal food (that I will be cutting to the size of M&M’s…plain, not peanut and chewing to a smooth paste).
While they say that there are no foods that we can absolutely never have again there are some that they say will be in our best interest to avoid completely. First is anything with a lot of sugar because it causes something called dumping syndrome which sounds really unpleasant. The other one is rice, pasta, bread and anything really starchy, not because it is nutritionally bad for you but because of what happens to it after you swallow it and that is that it turns into a big gummy mass of starchy goo that ends up getting stuck in trying to pass from stomach to the intestines.
Now that I have my last appointment with the dietician behind me I have everything in place for the insurance approval. Unfortunately my liaison between me and the insurance company is out of the office on some personal family business and won’t be back until probably first of the year but I am still aiming for having the surgery the first week of February. I will let y’all know as soon as I have a date.
I also recently let my management at work officially know about the surgery, they are being really cool about it. Even though I don’t technically qualify for FMLA yet they are going to go ahead and approve it anyway , which is really cool. The rest of the office is doing a office version of “Biggest loser”, starting a week or so before my surgery. I figure I will track my progress alongside them but think it would be cheating to actually be eligible for the prizes, it will still be fun.
On the other significant life change for me in 2012. The pregnancy is going splendidly; the baby seems to be developing exactly as he/she should, mommy is definitely starting to show, although not as much as my sister who is a month ahead of us. We should find out the gender at our next appointment…assuming Little Noble cooperates with the ultrasound tech. The appointment is January 6th, I will let y’all know about that as soon as I know as well.
Once again thank you for reading my blog and of course thank you for all your prayers and support…for both the surgery and the baby.
Almost forgot, one last thing. Hope all of you have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year...Hopefully as great as mine is shaping up to be.
