Another encouragement.

I talked with the daughter of friends of mine, who had this surgery done 6 years ago. She said she did not regret having it done. She reminded me that once I get to my goal weight, I am likely to gain some back.

She encouraged me though at anytime I wanted to loose weight, to go back to the 30-30-30 method. Don't drink anything 30 minutes before my meal, make my meal stretch for 1/2 hour with no drinking, and don't drink for 30 minutes after I had finished my meal.

17 days after surgery - 270#s

270#'s, 17 days after the suregery is not bad. That is over 22 lbs, since I weighed in just before surgery and 46 from my highest weight. I know I have a ways to go, but I am heading in the right direction. The 260's and 250's will be territory I haven't seen for over 10 years.

Went to a family reunion this weekend and did well. Cottage cheese and ground turkey with some barbeque sauce. Both filling and tasting good.

Was encouraged by a family member who had this done to make sure I attend the support group meetings. She felt that it was important not to fall back into the food addiction habits.

Saw my brother Mark, he is still in Critical Care Unit, was slightly responsive with eyes and grip. Please keep him in your prayers.

Overate today

I have been miserable this afternoon after eating a Boca Burger. Boca Burger is a vegitarian hamburger. High in protein. I just ate one whole patty, and probably too fast.

Not quite ready to eat that kind of thing yet. Definitely need to keep in mind portion size.

Fortunately I did not throw up, just feel like I am stuffed all afternoon. Starting to ease and hopefully won't have trouble through my intestinal system.

Have a great weekend.

Two weeks after surgery 278#'s

Tonight at T.O.P.S., I weighed in at 278, which was a 14 lb. weight loss from the last time I weighted in there.

Rode the stationary bike for 15 minutes this morning.

Rainy here today.

Less later.

12 days since surgery.

Have recently noticed some big changes.

Doesn't hurt to cough or to stand any more. I am less tender around the incision areas.

I am eating some pureed foods. Still working on eating slower and the exercise.

I have been able to lay on my side better, even on my stomach without discomfort.

My brother Mark is in the hospital in Ft. Wayne. Please pray for him and his family.

Father's Day 2009 = 9 days after surgery

We celebrated Father's Day with Gloria's family, the Brickers, at Pleasant Hill State Park. My picnic lunch consisted of 1/4 cup of cottage cheese and 32 ounces of water.

Gloria took my picture with her dad, so if some want to see if I have changed yet can. The white legs in the picture are not a result of the gastric bypass surgery. Her dad is over 85 years old, and is doing fairly well. Her parents have been like a second set of parents to me over the years. I truly appreciate them and love them. Gloria's mom passed away in February.

Had a good time. Was not tempted at all by the picnic food, or others eating in front of me.

I did notice that I sat too long, and my abdominal muscles were sore when we got home. Especially around the incision areas. Was better today when I woke up though.

It has been a struggle to follow my schedule, as I had planned. But has not caused me problems yet. Everything is working fine, and am losing weight.

Have been walking much more and starting to feel I have more strength than last week.

More later.

One Week After Surgery

My one week appointment with Dr. Brethaur and Dr. Johnson went well. They said I was right where they were expecting me to be. They removed the last drainage tube on Thursday, so now all I need to do is heal up. When they weighed me they warned me that I may have gained some weight, so I was pleased to find out that I had lost a couple of pounds.

I am getting up and walking around with little or no pain. Still am lacking energy. Got to get more exercise.

I started sleeping in bed again after sleeping several nights in the recliner.

I feel one of my main jobs this next week is be very aware of my eating and drinking, logging it and keeping track of my protein intake. Every hour on the hour, I am taking something into my mouth, from 8 am to 6 pm. On the even number hours, I have a half hour to eat 4 ounces of either liquid of very soft food. Believe it or not, it is a challenge sometimes.

On odd hours, I need to sip some water or non-caffienated non-carbonated drink.

From the bottom of the hour to the top of the hour, I am trying not to consume anything. The idea is that I want my stomach to be completely empty before I eat my protein and I don't want to wash it through my system before it has a chance to be taken in through my small stomach.

This is all according to Doctor's orders, but I had to process it in my small brain to understand how I could eat and drink all they were asking me too. I have this fear of eating too much, which they say will cause either throwing up or dumping. I want neither, and have had neither since I have been home.

We will take pictures within my first month. Right now I am weighing about 285 on our scale at home. So it is working.

Please keep praying for our kids; Jeremy and Erin for the baby that is developing, they are also travelling to Kansas for some family celebrations. Pray for Jeremy as he continues his job search. Pray for Jason as he transitions from NYC to Minneapolis. Pray for Jennifer as she adjusts to living in NYC without Jason. Gloria and I thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we continue on this new adjustment, they are much appreciated. Hope you have a great weekend.

48 Hours after getting home

Doing remakably well I think. I was overly optimistic before, but I think I am doing better than expected. We will see when we go to the doctor's appointment tomorrow.

I can stand straighter and walk farther for a longer time. Still have only taken one dose of pain medicine, so the pain have been very minimal. I am very tender in the tummy area. Can't hug anyone right now. Missed sleeping on my stomach last night.

I am still sleeping in the recliner in our family room. Have walked upstairs, which was no big problem, to get cleaned up and change of clothes.

Still not ready to talk business or do business yet. I need to rest. Will have to see if I can clerk the Village Council Meeting next Monday night. Right now, I think I am going to find someone to take the minutes.

But I am anxious to get into a normal routine for life. Still getting used to sipping a lot of water, which is probably my biggest challenge. They want 60 ounces a day, and I get so full so fast.

More later...

Home from surgery

Got home today about 2:30 from Cleveland Clinic Hospital. Quite an experience. I am more sore than I thought I would be, and I can see where they say you won't want to do much for two weeks.

Got along well with the surgery. No complications at all. All went as planned, as far as the surgery went. They didn't have a room for me un Saturday at 6:30 pm, so I spent well over 24 hours in an uncomfortable bed in small spaces. When I got to my room though it was spacious.

Jeremy and Erin kept Gloria company on Friday through Saturday, for which I am grateful. Gloria called a number of people to report my progress. Randy Moomaw from church stopped in today and prayed with us. Gloria said Pastor Ivanueldo stopped in on the day of surgery to pray also.

I was anxious to get out of the hospital, but didn't take any extra pain medication. Finally got up and walking on Sunday afternoon, because of the delay in getting a room.

The biggest surprise is how much fluid I will have to be drinking, by little sips. I get full after 2 ounces, so that is a lot of little sips. They say that I will be thirsty about all the time, so I need to carry water with me.

Although I have said that I was crazy for being a man who felt pretty good to go into surgery and feel like a man who has gotten beat up. Oh by the way, I forgot just how much it can hurt to get beat up. LOL

Well I hope all of your weekends were better than mine, and mine wasn't that bad. Praise the LORD!

By the way, if you use a CPAP machine and have this surgery you may want to take it and leave it in the car. We almost had a scare that they couldn't find a CPAP machine for me to use, but they finally located one.

Surgery today

Having surgery today at 12:30.

Appointments went well yesterday. They said I was low risk for complications.

Had to drink "Go Lightly" to clean out my system before surgery. This is the third time I have taken it in the last month or so, previously I had two colonoscopies done. Had to be repeated because the first they could not make sure of all the results.

Realized that I am going to be in more pain than I originally thought, but they will help me manage it.

Hope to feel a lot better by my one week check-up.

Still very positive that this is the right thing for me at this time of my life.

Jason

Gloria and I think and pray for all of our kids everyday. But today, I am especially thinking of Jason as he is interviewing in Minneapolis, MN. A similar job to what he has done, better benefits and an avenue for his creativity. Please pray that the Lord will bless him this day.

Last full day at home.

This is my last full day at home. Tomorrow, I have appointments all afternoon at the Clinic to prepare for the next day's surgery. I still have a positive attitude about the surgery. The liquid diet and the exercise is still a challenge for me. Hopefully, when I have a lot smaller stomach, and the threat of getting sick everytime I eat something I am not supposed to is enough to keep me on my nutritional plan. I haven't lost as much this past week, which I credit to not exercising like I should have. Got to work on developing that habit much better after the surgery.

Busy today trying to take care of all the loose ends that may require lifting especially. Cannot drive for two weeks.

We are expecting company, so need to clean up my areas of the house and office. I feel like an expectant mother, who is "nesting" getting ready for her return from the hospital. I may not be too far off on that. Nobody wants to come home to a lot of work, if you can avoid it, after being in the hospital. =)

One week to go.

One week to go before surgery. Have let more people know about this blog. Still several things not certain of, whether they will keep me overnight next Thursday or if I go home and come back the next day. We will see.

Still have questions about some billings that insurance didn't cover even though that are related to the appointments leading up to the surgery.

I know I will not have much energy, may feel like I have been punched hard in the stomach but I am anticipating a fairly speedy recovery. I think I will be moving around doing things, and at least keeping up on this blog. Then when I can drive, I am back to my "normal." That includes mowing the lawn.

I will work with a trainer over at the Orrville YMCA after I learn what I can and can not do and for how long. She has been very patient with me so far.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, and don't forget to go the house of worship of your choice.

Allrrrrrrrrrrighty then!

Well I weighed in tonight at our T.O.P.S. (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) meeting in Orrville. I lost 8 1/2 pounds in a week, and that is a total of 22 1/2 pounds since I weighed in at Cleveland Clinic in December. My pre-op goal weight was 299#'s and I am now 294 1/2 #'s. I know that is not much weight loss for 6 months, but I am a yo-yo dieter. Or is that a Yoh-Yoh Dieter? Anyways, up to this point I lose some and I gain some.

That's not to bad for a week of protein shakes, jello and a lot of sugar-free popsicles. I have one more week of this before the surgery, so I am hoping to be under 290. My goal weight is to be about 210#'s within a year and maybe go back up to 215-220. And to realize that I cheated several times during this week and have not exercised quite as much as I should have. I am anxious to see what I can do for another week. But I forgive myself, not forgetting my shortcomings and striving to better tomorrow and in the week to come.

For those who are considering this surgery, let me tell you that I keep focusing on how much more energy I will have, how much better I will feel with a better back and lighter on my feet as well as being around hopefully a little longer for the people that care for me. If you are overweight, I would suggest you find something equivalent to the amount and try caring it for just 5 minutes. Think how much better you will feel by losing it (putting the weight down), and how much better it will be on your heart, joints and everything else. I know that is what is driving me now.

I know I am not purfect, but I am encouraged by knowing so many people for which this has worked. And I know this is not for every one, but I believe this is what will help me.

I go to Cleveland Clinic on Thursday for tests, consultations and admitting process. My surgery is scheduled for sometime on Friday, 7 years to the day when I was hit head-on south of Wooster. I am NOT nervous at all about this. I just hope and pray that I can perservere with the resisting temptations afterwards about eating and not exercising. Keep Gloria and I both in your prayers. Thank you.

Cheating!

I have gone off my liquid diet on purpose a couple of times over the weekend when we went out to eat. (I only had a small bowl of soup each time.) And I felt that was acceptable.

Yesterday though I ate some small round pretzels and a small ice cream cone. I think part because of some boredom with the liquid diet and the thought that I would feel more full. There was also the opportunity to cheat, and I took it. Lord, help me resist temptation.

Today is a new day though, so I need to forget what I did wrong yesterday and strive to do my best today. Besides Gloria and I got 3 bags of 12 better tasting sugar-free popsicles last night at Save-a-lot. We always need to forgive ourselves of our past, remembering only to help us not repeat the past and always strive to do our best. I will do better today on exercising and not cheating on the liquid diet.