Full liquid glory

Posted: March 19, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Food porn, Physical activity, Supportive Partner Woman, Walking, Weight loss
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Day One of the liquid diet has commenced. I was told many things about it, but somehow, they didn’t do it justice.

It sucks.

Profusely.

The lovely liquids... vanilla cream protein shake, beef broth and plain yogurt. Yum!

The lovely liquids… vanilla cream protein shake, beef broth and plain yogurt. Yum!

So far, since midnight, I’ve had 16 ounces of protein shake (probably the highlight), ½ cup of Jell-o, ½ cup of sugar-free pudding, 6 ounces of beef broth, and 5.5 ounces of plain Greek yogurt with some banana cream protein powder added to make it somewhat palatable. Oh, and unlimited water. I’m also having some orange PowerAde as I write this. That’s pretty good stuff.

I have to do this for three weeks?

WTF was I thinking?

It also dawned on me that 7 days from now, I’ll be post surgical and my life will have changed forever. I should be out of recovery and in my room with the PCA morphine drip going strong. Also, hopefully the catheter will be out. Yes, I know it was a fear of mine that will apparently come to fruition. They place it when surgery will be over an hour, which a bypass will be. I’m not going to lie… I’m still pretty freaked out about it.But I know I’m making the right move.

So, went with Supportive Partner Woman (most supportive!) to what we were calling, “The Last Supper.” Since we were close to Red Robin and we were both approaching stupid hungry, we opted for a burger and fries. I was a kind of good boy… I ordered mine wrapped in lettuce. It really hit the spot, though, and was sobering, as I have no idea if I’ll ever have fries again. I realize that the grilled fish at Red Lobster had the most votes, but we weren’t close to a Red Lobster. Maybe I’ll make that my first post-surgical meal out.

So, to sum up, it’s not been a particularly auspicious beginning to liquids. I can only hope it gets better.

I’m also going to attempt a visit to the Rec tonight before work and see how it goes. Figure I’ll stroll for a while and hopefully not feel too bad that I’m not totally killing it. It will seem really weird that I’m trying NOT to break a sweat. Go figure.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Song of the Day: Carry On – fun.

Currently reading: Red Storm Rising – Tom Clancy

If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results. ~ Jack Dixon

Another step forward

Posted: March 18, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise
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Had my last workout session with the boys this morning. Also had the blood work done. See, not only did I have the preop tests from Dr. McPhee, but I also had the full battery of tests from Rachel. The crazy thing is that I have results already. They stuck me at 7:30 and I had results by the time I got home.

When I went in for the bone infection, my A1C was 14.3. Today, it's 6.3. Still in the diabetic range, but greatly improved.

When I went in for the bone infection, my A1C was 14.3. Today, it’s 6.3. Still in the diabetic range, but greatly improved.

In the good news, my hemoglobin A1C level dropped again. It’s half of what it was at one point, which means that my diabetes is under much better control. My cholesterol levels have improved, as well. My HDLs are still low, but getting closer to where they need to be. Other than that. I’m pretty much disgustingly normal.

So, the workout session went well. I did intervals on the elliptical for 25 minutes, then hit the weights. I worked up a pretty good sweat and got to play medicine ball catch. It’s very cathartic, getting to slam a ten pound ball into the floor. As Ryan says, “Gee… hope they aren’t doing surgery down there.” From this point on until I get back to regular food, I’m not allowed to lift weights. I could still do one more cardio session at the Rec, but starting tomorrow, it’s slower walking on the treadmill. I should be able to do about 30 minutes at 2.5 mph and hardly break a sweat, so that will be fine.

Apparently, one of the post surgical instructions is to WALK. It helps keep blood clots from forming. This actually is something I look forward to. I’m hoping that it’s not too cold to walk outside during my recovery, but if it is, I can always go to the gym. I’m also looking forward to losing enough weight to fit comfortable into my swimsuit. I really want to swim again, and hopefully, the time that I need to avoid immersion will allow me to lose a few inches.

That’s about it for now. I am going to ask you for suggestions for my last meal before the liquid diet. See the poll below:

 

Song of the Day: Go Your Own Way (live) – Lindsey Buckingham

Oh myyyy….

Posted: March 16, 2013 in Administration
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Just a quick post to thank everyone. Today is the single highest number of page views for MOASTBFFG (108 and counting) and we also crossed the 9,000 page view mark.

Thank you all so much for your support.

Lets do this…

Posted: March 16, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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Perhaps best known as the last words of executed murderer Gary Gilmore, they really have special meaning to me today. See, yesterday, I had my “physical” and my pre-op EKG. The physical wasn’t quite what I expected. I’m used to the whole “turn your head and cough” thing, but this was more checking if I had a pulse, had continued to lose some weight (down two more pounds… Woot!) and evolved into a question and answer session with Dr. McPhee.

Every time I interact with him, I feel that much more confident that I’m making the right decision. He’s very frank and open, describes what he’s going to do and why he does it that way, and what kind of success he’s had with the bariatric procedures. One of the things that was worrying me was the possibility of a leak. Dr. McPhee said that he’s not had a leak yet (knock wood) and that he takes “old school” steps to avoid them. Primarily, he doesn’t just staple the joins, he sutures them as well. He said it may make for a slightly longer procedure, but one with less risk of leaks.

We discussed possible complications, including scar tissue, leaks and blood clots. They are very proactive in that they give you a shot of heparin before the surgery and monitor things closely. They also hook you up with the squeezy things for your legs to make sure that blood is kept moving through the procedure.

There’s also the possibility that, if everything goes swimmingly, I could be released the next night. I’m not going to push it, but if I have the opportunity, I’ll do it. I did of course, tell the surgeon that all depended on the cable package. He said it’s just basic, so I should bring my iPad.

Once again, I can’t stress the amount of individualized care that the practice puts into each patient. I’m left with the distinct impression that if someone fails in the quest to become healthy, they take it personally. That’s actually been the case with the vast majority of the health care professionals I’ve met while dealing with the LGH system. The jackass ER doc being the exception, of course.

There’s a story there, as there always is… seems that when I visited the ER with the original infection, I had to deal with an extremely brusque ER attending physician. He took one look at my foot and pronounced, “Well, that’s coming off,” and walked away. Seriously. For that, he got a bigger insurance payout than the surgeon who did two operations on my toe. WTF?

At any rate, I’m going to get prepped for the liquid diet. The real reason behind it is that it shrinks the liver and gets it out of the way, giving the team more room to work. There will be two board-certified bariatric surgeons in the OR with me, which doubles my confidence level. I’m still scared, but I’m more sure that I’m making the right decision. And after I shed a Backstreet Boy, and am off my meds, well, then I’ll really be sure I did the right thing.

I’ll keep you posted.

Song of the Day: In Too Deep – Sum 41

Latest post up on Enjoying the Magic

Posted: March 16, 2013 in Disney, Enjoying the Magic, Uncategorized
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That time I wrote about the best Internet radio station I know.

Enjoy!

It feels good to be working out again

Posted: March 14, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Physical activity, Walking, Weight loss
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It does feel good to be working out again. Funny how I’ve become such a fan of the gym that I hardly went to the first five years I was a member. I never actually tried to quit the gym, unless I was moving to another gym. I’m always reminded of the clip from Friends when Chandler was quitting the gym. Classic stuff.

I had the pre-op nutrition class today. Filled with a lot of interesting information, primarily what can be expected before during and after my operation. The before is the fun part. I get a week of full liquids. That means, starting next Tuesday, no real food for me for three weeks.

Let’s recap…

Brian with no soda, caffeine, or real food = grumpier than usual Brian. Be warned.

There’s a whole bunch of paperwork to be done, not to mention the pre-op bathing ritual. Apparently, I need to shower the night before and morning of using a special soap called Hibicleans. This is part of an infection-reduction initiative. I also can’t shave that morning, and no manscaping four days prior to the surgery. Apparently, they no longer shave whatever area is being operated on. Good and bad… the good is that it won’t itch nearly as much as it grows back, but the bad part is that it will be a cast-iron bitch to remove the heart monitor leads.

Speaking of hearts, I have to go get a pre-op EKG. It won’t be the first one I’ve ever had, but they really aren’t that much fun. Primarily due to the leads getting stuck on your hairs. Last time I was in, I yanked one off and it looked like it was wearing a toupee. Not a lot of fun. I also have to get the requisite blood work done. I guess I know what I’ll be doing Monday morning.

Immediately before surgery, you get to put on a lovely gown, meet the anesthesiologist, and your surgeon comes and autographs where he’s going to do the deed. They give you an IV and it’s off to the cold table. I will also apparently leave the hospital weighing more than what I started at They give you an IV and it’s off to the cold table. I will also apparently leave the hospital weighing more than what I started at, due to the fluids they pump in to keep things clean. They also inflate the abdominal cavity with CO2 to make sure there’s room to work. That gas apparently works its way out of the body eventually. I’m hoping it doesn’t exit through the normal route, because I don’t need to be sitting in the room cheesing like a defective rocket.

The rooms are apparently nice. They are singles on the seventh floor and there is room for a family member or loved one to stay the night. I will be in for two nights, if all goes according to plan.

The surgery itself is pretty involved. One of these days I’ll have to post a diagram. Basically, they create a stomach pouch, take part of the small intestine, and create a “Y” which allows for most of the food taken in to bypass the biggest piece of the stomach. The malabsorption creates a bypass and you lose weight. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s the short of it.

28998_10200855151807645_1127838705_nSo, had a good run at the gym. While I forgot to take an actual picture of yesterday’s results, when I uploaded it to the website, I did manage to capture a screenshot. Improvements are good.

Tomorrow will be busy. Preop physical with Dr. McPhee, EKG and a workout session. That’s all before bedtime. Yikes! My last session with Ryan and Cory will probably be on Monday, since liquids start on Tuesday. They don’t let you work out if you’re on liquids, although you can do some relaxed walking. No strenuous cardio, which I guess I understand. Not a lot of calories going in the tank. I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Back in the saddle again

Posted: March 12, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, Exercise, The Beetus, The Rec, Walking, Wayne, Weight loss
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Today's summary

Today’s summary

After doing a night on third shift, my first stop was the Rec. Did a smidge over 30 minutes of cardio, which is 10 more minute than I did yesterday. Maybe tomorrow will be 10 more minutes. We shall see. Wasn’t my best distance or time, but I still need to take care of Wayne while getting my work in. If I don’t, then bad things happen and I get even fatter. I don’t want to be that guy.

The hardest part of the shift change is going to be establishing a time when I should go to the gym. Ideally I should go before my shift, get the endorphins going and that will make surviving third shift that much easier. The downside is sleep, or lack thereof. I often joke about plenty of time to sleep when you’re dead, but I’ve grown to appreciate some quality shuteye.

I also thought I forgot my insulin kit last night. As much as I am looking forward to never needing to use it again, it still keeps my going for right now. Turns out I left it in the gym bag. Another stellar recall achievement by me!

At any rate, I need to grab some of that shuteye I was talking about.

Free at last, free at last

Posted: March 11, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Supportive Partner Woman, Wayne, Weight loss
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Had a foot doctor appointment this morning to see how Wayne is doing. In a word, he’s pleased.

About time that phalangeal bastard behaves himself. Just sayin’

Prescribed care is to continue with the betadyne for a few more days, then I’m good to go. Most importantly for me, this means I can get back to a somewhat normal workout.

See, I’m released from the Boot of Shame. Woohoo!

In other news, we had the family combined birthday thing yesterday. My mom, sister, aunt and uncle all went to the Lobster of Redness. Sadly, Supportive Partner Woman (possessor of a norovirus!) was unable to attend due to illness. My aunt and uncle extended their invitation for Easter dinner and I had to tell them that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to travel too much, being all of 5 days post surgery at that point. My mother seemingly forgot I told her I had a date set. That didn’t go over particularly well, but what can you do? We did manage to talk about it afterward and while her and my sister might not agree with my choice, they’ve both pledged their support, which really means a lot. Granted, if my mother decides to come and stay with me while I’m recouping, it will be like the genesis of Stubby, Part Deux. We’ll just burn that bridge when we get there.

The bad part is that the week away from regular workouts has probably not helped my weight loss efforts. I’m thinking of trying a pre-liquid sort of liquid diet. Two meals including fruit, yogurt and/or protein shakes, and a sensible dinner. I’m also going to hope I don’t get hit with what SPW got hit with.

I’ll continue to keep you posted as I transition to third shift. I’m also assuming that you can expect some rather doped up posts while I’m in the hospital. They supposedly have wifi, so that’s a plus. I have the iPad ready to go.

200 posts, really?

Posted: March 8, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, Cooking, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Goals, Physical activity, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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Wow… 200.

That’s a lot of posts. I started the blog in 2010, so we’re approaching the 3rd anniversary. Granted, I did take almost a year away from writing, otherwise we might be talking about 300 posts. So, if you counted the actual time period when I did something with the blog, I’m averaging a post every 3-4 days. Some months there are more, some months, there are less.

It’s the nature of the beast, I suppose. If I have something to write about, I write. I hate when I say I’m going to write every day for a month and I find myself struggling to write something because I can’t think of anything to say.

At least on the chosen topic.

I could always go off on a tangent about the infield fly rule, or the designated hitter, or any hot button issue. I could wax rhapsodically on pretty much anything ranging from music to movies to television.

That’s not why you come here, and while I’d like to believe I’d write whether y’all read my scribbling or not, you’re the reason I keep doing it. I appreciate everyone reading this, from friends and family, co-workers, Nigerian princes, and any other subgroup you can name.

So, onto the actual meat of the topic… support group.

We had a session last night and the guest speaker was a psychologist who works with the clinic. She had an interesting graphic showing the circles of support ranging from the center (you) to immediate family, extended family, friends and coworkers, the clinic staff and finally social media and online groups. To sum up, she stated that if you have two or three of these support levels, you’ll succeed. It was also noted that the clinic as a whole has an 85% success rate for people who get the surgery and stick with the program. It was really inspiring and it’s nice to hear that there are so many successes just in one practice.

They also announced that they are looking to pair up post-op patients who have succeeded with pre-op patients who are struggling. That’s a great idea, in my opinion, because these are people who have gone through the same process, have been fat and beaten the odds.

Supportive Partner Woman (Awesomest spouse EVER!) also managed to attend the group session with me, which really meant a lot. She got to see what goes on at a meeting and to meet some of the folks she’s only heard me talk about. She passed on sampling some of Dr. McPhee’s minestrone which was quite tasty, despite the fact that he left the pasta sitting on the counter next to the stove at home. This did make me hope that on my surgery date, he doesn’t forget to reattach anything important. His food is actually quite good, though, and sampling some of the recipes is a highlight of group.

In other news, Bariatric Physician Specialists was just recognized as a Center of Excellence in bariatric surgery, which is a pretty big deal. As comfortable as I was with the procedure, it still makes me feel better knowing they have a national accreditation. I also had the opportunity to speak with Dr. McPhee for a few minutes and he’s pretty excited for me.

In short, it’s been a pretty long road, to get to this point. It’s going to be longer after the operation. This is a change for the rest of my life. I plan to continue blogging about the journey and it won’t always be rosy, I’m sure. There will always be those who don’t agree with me taking that step. To them I say, “It’s OK if you don’t agree with this choice. I just ask that you respect my choice and we’ll be fine.”

After all, it’s my life and if I could do it another way, I would.

My journey is just beginning.

Thank you for reading.

Song of the Day: Candy-O – The Cars

If you really want to be depressed, weigh yourself in grams – Jason Love

Wayne, Part Deux

Posted: March 5, 2013 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Foot issues, Physical activity, snow, The Beetus, Walking, Wayne, Weight loss
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As many of you know, Evil Wayne (not to be confused with Vegan Wayne) has caused me some problems of late. Namely a giant blister that left me short a toenail and a good part of toe.

I’m pleased to report that as of 6:00 tonight, Wayne is actually looking pretty good, all things considered. Looks like the wound is scabbing over nicely. This is a good thing that I’m attributing to my much better controlled glucose levels.

It took me a lot to understand what was involved in getting the sugar under control. See, I’m a huge carb junkie. I love carbs and would scarf unbelievable amounts of pasta and bread, not to mention snack foods. That’s a big no-no if you’re battling The Beetus. I didn’t understand that at first, figuring I was OK because something didn’t have much actual sugar in it. Well, maybe not, but the 40g of carbs are an issue. It makes a huge difference. Have I eliminated carbs? No, but I’m eating a lot less of them.

It really came to my mind again today when I was told by a friend that she had been diagnosed with Type-2 (that’s the type I have). I hope that she will use me as a resource, since I’m a pretty good example of what not to do when you’re diabetic. Or, I was. I’m just so excited that the toe is getting better pretty quickly so I can get back to the gym at full speed. I’m just going to make sure that I protect the toe with a moleskin wrap. Blisters just slow me down. Plus, the surgery date is three weeks away. How’d that happen?

I’m still really excited and freaked out at the same time. I think it’s fear of the unknown that get’s me freaked out. I actually don’t mind the anesthesia… it puts me out pretty good and I usually don’t have much memory of what’s going on. This will mark my third time going under general anesthesia, so I’m getting kind of used to it. The part that’s really freaking me out is the possibility of a catheter. I’m just not thrilled with the idea of getting some tube run up through my junk. Of course, talking to some post-op patients at the clinic, not all of them had a cath done. I’m hoping I’m one of the lucky ones. I guess we’ll know in a few short weeks.

So, we’re supposed to get a boatload of snow here in the northeast. If you’re in the area, please be careful when driving and especially while shoveling.

The next post will be #200. Guess I need to come up with something awesome. Wish me luck!

 

Song of the Day: Bright Lights, Bigger City – Cee-Lo Green

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