Category: health

Stomach Fun

It’s been an eventful day in terms of gastric bypass life today. My stomach has not really been a team player. I think if I am being honest with myself I cannot blame today’s fun on my stomach. I have to put all of the blame on myself. Which is really the same thing, isn’t it?

Twice today I have had stomach pain caused by my poor little redesigned stomach pouch being too empty. Three hours after breakfast and three hours after lunch I had stomach pain bad enough that I had to eat something to make it go away. As my doctor said when I told her about the occasional hour-three-pains, duh you’re hungry. I thought about adding something to my lunch in the hopes that it would keep me full for longer, but I felt pretty stuffed when I finished lunch and I didn’t want to risk overdoing it. Looking back, I wonder if I should have pushed things a little more. Probably not.

The next fun came during dinner. I had a couple of ounces of chicken on my plate along with a scoop of instant mashed potatoes. I had finished the chicken without issue but I really wanted to get into those potatoes, babie. Just call me a red haired Irish stereotype. I had what I thought were a couple of small bites but either they were bigger than they should have been or I just ate too fast because my stomach felt a little blocked. Something was keeping the last bite or so from getting into the tiny little redesigned stomach pouch and that leads to some real discomfort. Worse than that, it lead to those few bites of instant mashed potatoes coming back up for an encore. Yikes! Sorry about the gross TMI here folks, but I need to document this stuff for posterity… or something like that. It wasn’t bad, just a couple of blasts and it was over. This happens with mashed potatoes once in a while (not very often, but enough to spot patterns) and as usual I felt better almost immediately. I still paused on eating for about half an hour and then I finished my dinner without further issue.

The last bit of stomach excitement is happening as I type this and it really is a non-issue. I don’t like going to bed without having eaten something. It probably makes my sleep less than ideal, but it is WAY better than waking up in the middle of the night with those empty stomach pains. I try to be full when I turn in for the night and tonight I think I may have over done it a little. I was a little behind on the old protein goal so I had a small protein bar to get over the hump. Then 20 minutes later I had some crackers. The two things combined were a little too much and now I feel SUPER full. Not painfully full but a little uncomfortable. I am going to try and stay awake for another hour or so to make sure I feel better before I lay down, but hindsight tells me I should have skipped the crackers. Oh well. It’s hard to gauge what my stomach will need at night so I may actually have to eat something else before I sleep, but I doubt it. I think food and I are done with each other for the night.

So four instances of stomach issues over the course of a single day. That is a lot more than usual for difficult days and given that most days are issue free it’s WAY more than normal for the average day. None of it was really too bad. I mean the vomiting was unpleasant but only for a couple of minutes and as soon as it was over I felt fine. All in all it wasn’t bad. I’d rather a full on easy day, sans-problems, but as problematic days go this one was pretty good.

In closing, I will quote the band Traffic, whose legendary self-titled second album was released 55 years ago this month, and say who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Weight Loss Goal

Daily writing prompt
What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?
View all responses

Right then, I have to make this quick. Today is my work from the office day and I have an actual morning commute ahead of me.

The hardest personal goal I’ve set for myself has to be losing weight. I had to take some brutally extreme measures to achieve it, but I got there… for now at least.

My whole life I’ve been overweight. I believe morbidly obese is the correct term. I was always able to lose some weight but I was never able to keep it off. You know, the way it is with almost everyone. I would lose 20 pounds over the course of a few months and then gain 30. I would lose 40 and gain 60. Lose 30 and gain 60. By the time I got to my mid-40’s, weighing 400 pounds was almost normal. I was so out of shape that simple tasks were becoming difficult. Walking up a flight of stairs would leave me out of breath and in pain. My back and my legs hurt all the time from carrying myself around. Once the pandemic hit the yo-yo weight loss went out of control. Suddenly weighing 450 pounds was becoming normal and I literally felt like I was going to die on most days.

At some point along the way I had talked to my doctor about weight loss surgery. I went to an information session at a clinic in Chelmsford, MA and it scared the holy hell out of me. The surgery itself was terrifying, but the work needed to be done afterwards to stay healthy was worse. It was so intimidating. I would have to watch every bite of food I ever eat for the rest of my life. I would have to monitor my intake of liquids and proteins forever and I would never be able to eat sugar again. Also, eating too fast or not chewing thoroughly enough could make me feel really sick for short periods of time. It all just felt like too much.

Then the pandemic happened. My father had a heart attack and my mother’s dementia was advanced beyond the point where we could take care of her. Suddenly mortality was very close by and very real. Suddenly my weight and my health as they were became much more terrifying than the weight loss surgery process. I went back to my doctor and then went back to the same clinic and five months later I went under the knife for gastric bypass surgery. I literally had a doctor butcher my digestive system.

It worked. I lost almost 250 pounds over about a year and a half and so far I have been able to maintain that loss. The work required to stay healthy is immense and it has been very difficult at times, but I feel like a different person and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. In the past I would have considered surgery as taking the easy way out. Now that I know how difficult the post-surgery world is, I no longer think it’s a shortcut or cheating. It’s a different sort of challenge than just dieting, but it’s still a difficult challenge.

Now all I have to do is stay on the right path for the rest of my life and I hopefully will maintain the achievement of my weight loss goal. Fingers crossed, right?

9:50am on Day 20

Good news, everybody! Our long national nightmare is over! This morning’s Covid-19 home test came back negative! I’ve been symptom free for a week already and now I have a negative test to go along with it!

This is the final post (probably not ever, but for now) that will be tagged “Live Blogging Covid” and I am really happy about this!

I can go outside again!

I can get the car inspected!

Well… that’s nothing to be excited about. Way to kill the mood, Robert.

Happy negative test day, everyone!

8:51pm on Day 19

Things to do if I test negative tomorrow…

  • Get the Mazda inspected. It’s only three months late.
  • Grocery shopping. Instacart has been fun and all but it will be nice to not have half of our groceries be the wrong things.
  • I want to say go out shooting photos, but it’s supposed to rain all weekend. If we get a little surprise sunshine then maybe.
  • Return a couple of items to Best Buy and Amazon.
  • Change the mask, hose, filter, and tank on my CPAP machine. I will do this even if I don’t test negative, but I figured I’d add it to the list so I don’t forget… again.
  • Pick up a copy of EA Sports NHL24 which was released today.
  • Watch the first episode of season two of Loki with Jen. Again, not Covid related but will happen anyway. I wonder if Harry would be up for a group watch?

Here’s hoping tomorrow sees the end of this ridiculous virus that’s kept me locked up for almost three weeks.

9:11am on Day 19

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

Well……. shit.

I tested myself for Covid-19 again this morning. Same results as two days ago. You have to squint to see it, but there is the faintest little line. It’s just barely there. It was so faint that I took the test upstairs to my wife and asked her opinion. She called it positive too.

Shit.

I really needed this test to be negative. I didn’t just want it, I needed it. I am so sick of this crap.

This stupid Covid Live Blog continues for at least one more day. Or for forever. Whichever comes first.

8:16pm on Day 18

I have a sneaking suspicion that my last post with the tag “Live Blogging Covid” will be written and shared tomorrow morning. At least if all goes well that should be the case.

I am planning on taking a Covid test tomorrow before work. Yesterday’s test was just barely positive. I am optimistic that tomorrow’s will be negative. I say this even though I am still a bit sniffly and I had a teeny bit of a nasty coughing fit this afternoon while on a weekly one on one meeting with one of my staff members.

So… yeah. Let’s keep looking at that bright side and keep those fingers and toes and eyes firmly crossed for good luck. I wants me some good news tomorrow. Here here.

8:59am on Day 17

You can’t tell from this picture, but Jen and I both reviewed the results and we both agree that this is a positive test. There is the faintest of faint T lines so I am still positive but just barely so. Probably safe to bet on me being negative tomorrow or the next day.

DSC_1998

So I sort of feel justified working from home today when today is our work in the office day. I feel bad about it but I would rather keep everyone else safe and just work from home. My boss agreed, even if I did have a negative test today. Safety first.

I was really hoping today’s test would be negative and to have it be so close is just frustrating. I’ll probably test again tomorrow, but I would be smart to wait until the day after. It’s definitely* going to be negative the day after.

*Definitely unless there is some extenuating immune system/viral circumstances. I’m choosing to be optimistic here though so let’s go with definitely.

Month 17 Weigh In

Today is October 4th. My gastric bypass surgery was 17 months ago today. It’s time for an official weigh in. Are we ready? Am I still gloriously sub-200 pounds?

No, of course not. Don’t be silly. I dropped into Onederland thanks to Covid. I even said at the time that as soon as I started to feel better I’d hop back into the low 200’s. That’s precisely what happened. I am at 205 exactly this morning. That’s up 6.6 pounds since my sub-200 fun on September 22nd, 12 days ago when I was at the height (or was it the low point) of the Covid journey. The happy news is that I am still 0.6 pounds below my 16th month weigh in, so we’re “officially” down… or some crap like that.

My BMI is at 25 again, which is the exact line between healthy weight and overweight and sort of where I expect to be. My total weight loss since the surgery is 226.4 pounds (102.69331 kilograms, according to Google), and my total weight loss since the first weight loss clinic appointment on January 19, 2022 is 247 pounds (112.037 kilograms).

So there we have it. My 17 month weigh in is complete. Up next is the 1.5 year weigh in on November 4, 2023. Will I maintain and still be around 205 or will I drop into the sub-200 Onederland once again? Let’s all join in and find out, shall we? Until then, have a happy weigh in day!

Things to Do Tomorrow

I talked it over with my boss and I am not going into the office this week. For the second week in a row Covid is making me work from home for the full week. Even if I test negative I am still working from home this week. Wednesday is the in the office day, and the rest of my staff (with the exception of the guy who is on vacation) is going in, but I am staying home. We’re all in agreement that it’s just not worth the risk and we’re all more comfortable with me staying away, even though the CDC tells me I am not contagious.

So that’s good.

What about music? I’m feeling better so I should get back to that, right? The 50 songs in 90 days challenge ended on October 1st, two days ago, and I was very far from finished. I have a bunch of unfinished songs in the works that I plan on finishing, but I am sort of thinking that 50/90 should become 66/121 this year and I should just keep going through October. Either that or I will just add a 10 songs or 35 minutes of music album in a month on top of finishing off what’s still in the works from 50/90. Something like that. I just watched a bunch of Mahavishnu Orchestra concert videos on YouTube and watching John McLaughlin tear a 12-string guitar a new asshole (figuratively speaking) is making me want to put the focus on any October songs onto my acoustic 12-string… which really would be as far removed from anything McLaughlin did on his electric 12-string as humanly possible, but really the idea of me and John McLaughlin being mentioned in the same paragraph is utterly absurd given that he is possibly the most talented guitarist in history and I am a complete and utter hack. Whatever.

I’m on season 16 of the original Doctor Who. That binge watch continues at a break neck pace. There is also a concurrent binge watch of Good Omens 2, Futurama, Archer, Daryl Dixon, and Ahsoka (which is going to be over before I sleep tonight) with binges of Severance, Silo, and Foundation all being finished within the last few days. There is so much TV out there that needs to be watched. Also, Jen and I are about to finish 90210, which is amazing given how many thousands of episodes of that show there are. Unfortunately, Amazon Prime Video’s license of the show is dreadfully incomplete and nearly half of the episodes of the last few seasons, including the series finale, are missing. Something to do with not being able to secure the music rights? I don’t know. All I know for sure is that the writers and actors strikes are going to push all new shows back for a long time which means we have to enjoy what we have while we have it. Oh yeah, and Loki season 2 kicks off later this week, so that’s yet another show to add to the list. There is so much TV!

Okay, time to hit publish and watch the last episode of Ahsoka. I bet I am going to love it. How can I not love an episode of a Star Wars show?

Right then, see you tomorrow while I work from home and dig my 12-string out of the cellar closet. Good night, friends and neighbors and kind readers.