Home Again. Home Again...

as my mom would say.

I arrived at the hospital early Monday morning at 7:00. Bright eyed and bushy tailed. Ready, willing and able...Then proceeded to wait 3 hours until they finally called me back. Apparently some guy before me had a lot of scar tissue and he was a tough surgery. Knocked everythng back about 2 hours.

The first thing they did was weigh me. I was looking forward to that because I know where I started but had no clue how much I had lost on the liquid diet. They weighed me in kilograms. D'OH! I did the 2.2 conversion in my head but just gave me a rough estimate. Turns out I lost 23 lbs in those 2 1/2 weeks on the liquid. WOOHOO!

The guy came in to give me the IV. He asked where I have had my other IVs and I told him my hands. Blood taken, IVs all in my hands. He then proceeded to needle me in the forearm and poke around for what seemed 5 minutes. After not being able to find the vein, he put one in my hand. I asked him why he bothered to ask me where my IVs go when it was clear he had an agenda. He was very apologetic and we left on good terms.

Is it prejudice or racism when I say I prefer my Drs Asian-American? Dr Kim who performed my surgery as well as Nate Newtons by the way is Asian. He did a bang up job. I was his 8th surgery that day. In and out in 45 minutes. Took 75% of my stomach with him.

The day of surgery you can't drink anything. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. The first thing you get to drink is barium on day 2. 24 hours after surgery. Ever had barium? Nasty, Nasty stuff. And when I say nasty, think of me saying it as a home girl eyes wide open shifting my head back and forth across my shoulders.

Started to drink water and protein drinks on Tuesday. Felt a little nauseated after that I must say. Gradually though, my ounce filled cups have been going down easier and faster. I am right on track so all is well.

The treadmill is here. I have been on a few times. I am ready to burn out the motor. Baby steps though. Baby steps.

Liquids until Monday then eggs and cream soups. I can't wait.

I'll keep you posted.

Tomorrow is the big day...

under the knife.

I am ready. Not nervous. Ready to get on with this chapter of my life.

If you're thinking of me tomorrow at 9:00, I could use a prayer. (The surgery was moved up 1/2 hour)

Don't know when I will get back to the blog but I will make it ASAP.

Surgery is scheduled...

Monday at 9:30 at Forest Park Medical Center on 75 and Forest.

Counting the days. Never thought I would be so excited to eat broth. You see after the surgery I am still on a liquid diet but I can have broth. Sweet broth. Sweet wonderful broth.

I am still not hungry. I get pangs of wanting to chew periodically but I have a sugar free popsicle and all is well. Knowing I will eventually get back to normal is the thought that keeps me going. I say normal but I mean fractions of what I used to eat. There are some things I can never eat again but that's OK. Again, I've had a good run.

I thought of a way to prove Obama is a citizen. Someone steal his wallet. I lost my wallet and trying to get a replacement drivers license is not an easy task.

While sitting at the DPS as the number 025 was called while I held 048 in a room full of sadsacks, one thought warmed my heart. The people responsible for this room will soon be responsible for our entire health care system.

Happy days!

If I were the Governor of Wisconsin, I would tell the protesting teachers, who are doing it illegally by the way, they have 3 days to get back to work. If they do not go back, fire them all ala Reagan and the Air Traffic controllers.

They'd have those jobs filled in a week.

T minus one week and counting...

My surgery is a week from tomorrow. I can't wait.

I am flying through this thing now. I am not hungry. Ice and gum are enough to get me through my chewing need. It's all down hill from here.

As a part of the new exercise pledge, we walked the kids down to the park. While we were there, Ian was climbing a tree. He was straddling the branch between his legs when he broke into song loud and clear for all to hear;

Oh, Oh my teetee hurts.
Oh, Oh my teetee hurts oh yea!

At least he made up his own tune and was on key. That's my boy.

Signed Ian up for his first tee ball team. He will be playing with 3 cousins and a neighbor. It will be a blast. Mike, Steve and I are coaching. Reed, Mike's son, Patrick and Christian, Steve's sons and Ian are all playing. We are the Dodgers. We will be going out today to practice a bit. I hope he has fun. I think he will.

I think perhaps Ian's foray into organized sports may be a catalyst for this surgery. I have always wanted to coach him. In my present state, it would be very difficult.

That is soon to change.

The dreaded before picture...

...And he's large!

Thought I should throw one up here so I have something to look back on.

Not sure what prompted this new mindset. I have been skating along status quo for quite a while. Perhaps it was the traveling I've been doing to Chicago. There are a lot of mirrors in hotel rooms. A lot. Brush your teeth; mirror. Go to the bathroom; mirror. Take a shower; EEEEEEK! mirror.

Geez Louise, I'm sorry, Kelly.

I am starting to feel for the first time that this is very doable. I am looking forward to solid food of course but it is not driving my thoughts. I am not having the all consuming urge to drive into Quick Trip and get a candy bar. As a matter of fact I did pull into Quick Trip the other day and came out with skim milk for my protein shakes and a bottled water. Yea me!

One step at a time. One day at a time.

43 years. I had a good run.

Day by Day...

Day by Day...Oh Dear Lord...3 things I pray

To have a plate of baked ziti
To have a diet coke and CC
To have a slice of pi...zza

Day by Day

It actually is getting easier. I have not had half as many wanting to quit moments and the hunger pains have pretty much subsided. Every day is one step closer to healthy-ville. Population: me.

I bought a treadmill. Not one of the Sears specials either. A heavy duty one for a heavy duty dude. I am looking forward to wearing it out.

It has 20 pre-programmed routines on it. You can hook your mp3 player up to it. It inclines up to 15 degrees. And a bunch of stuff that I will probably never use. But it's there if I need it.

My goal is to run a 5K. I don't know how long it will take me to get to a point where I can actually run one but as I get closer I'll let you know. I have been promised by my good friend Jim he will run with me. I am excited about this challenge. Maybe I can get Kelly to go with me? Honey?

Not that she needs to exercise because she is pretty much a babe but for moral support. I can use all of that I can get.

Surgery is less than 2 weeks away. Have been on the liquid for a week. Pants feel a little looser already. Don't know if that's just mental but regardless, I am feeling better about myself. Which is huge.

I don't have a lot of self-confidence when it comes to my looks. When I am a lean mean fighting machine I hope I gain some.

Thanks for reading.

It actually is getting easier...

thank the Good Lord Almighty.

It's amazing how seriously you entertain the thought of jeopardizing your longevity by eating a slice of pizza or a chicken wing. I keep telling myself one day I can have a bite of pizza or a chicken wing or even a cookie. I'll have that taste again. I just won't have half a pizza or 15 wings or 6 cookies.

I went to my Bariatric University class yesterday. That is simply the introduction class to what I will be going through. For those of you that don't know I will be having the gastric sleeve surgery. There are 3 types of weight loss surgery: 1. Gastric bypass - where they cut out most of the stomach and re-plumb you 2. Lap Band - where they tie a belt around your stomach and tighten it periodically and 3. Gastric sleeve - they make your stomach into the size of a banana cutting away about 75% of it. There is no re-plumbing and the vitamin absorption rate is normal.

If the classes objective was to scare the crap out of you, mission accomplished. There are a lot of rules and new habits to put in place. Most of it mental. But if that doesn't translate to the physical, you pretty much are relegated to a quivering vomiting mass of sugar-feee food stuffs.

I get the point.

This is a big step. No turning back. Non-reversible. All that doesn't matter to me anymore; extending my stay on this sacred wet-green one that we live on, is.

I went sledding with the kids yesterday on the one hill in Farmers Branch. Other dads were sliding down the hill with the kids. Not me. Too big. Mark my words; my kids will never have a day where their dad won't be able to sled with them down the hill.

Never.

You can't make this stuff up...

Evil, Evil Ronald!

One day down...

the rest of my life to go.

For the most part, I am doing pretty well. I have had a few moments of wanting to turn back but I have muddled through. I realize it's only day 2 but I presume things will get easier as I go along.

Yesterday morning I walked into the kitchen and picked up a piece of sausage Kelly had made for the kids and just about took a bite. Old habits die hard I guess. Luckily, I remembered my lifestyle change and did not cheat before I even started.

Have you realized how many food commercials there are on TV? Holy moley, from apples to ziti I must have seen them all. I was stalwart however and came out on top. Hungry; but on top.

How is it I haven't had solid food in over 36 hours and yet I am still camped out in the hopper? TMI I know but I want to give you every aspect of what I am going through.

I go to my orientation class tomorrow. I guess they'll tell me what to expect and all that. I expect to be thin, not take any pills and not dread dropping things on the floor for fear of having to bend over to pick it up.

Being fat sucks. I guess I could blame it on McDonalds or chocolate producers or cattle ranchers. But I figure they didn't force me to eat the food. I did this to myself. I'll get myself out of it.

Then I'll sue their asses off.

Big changes...

tomorrow starts a new chapter in my life. I am going to call it the "Little John" era.

Tomorrow I start on my all liquid diet in preparation for my gastric sleeve surgery. I am having 3/4 of my stomach made inoperable.

I have pondered this decision for quite some time. It all boils down to 4 things; Kelly, Madison, Ian and Reagan. If I were to keep my current eating habits up, I probably would not be around too much longer.

I don't want that.

So tomorrow I start my journey to health. It is not going to be easy. I know that. But I have mentally prepared myself for that and I am very excited about the new path.

I will keep you posted on the progress.

I've had a pretty good run. It's time to suck it up and pay the piper.