Category: weight loss surgery

Sigh of Relief: Imminent

I am not ready to breathe a sigh of relief yet… but hopefully it’s just a matter of time.

I went on leave for most of the month of May and a couple of days in June. My company set me up with a claim for the Paid Family Medical Leave act and hooked me up with the insurance company they work with. It was this insurance company that is supposed to pay out my claim which, when combined with some sick time that I used to cover a small piece of the time off, will cover my salary for the month out.

I’ve had some trouble with the process. Partly just due to time zones but also due to some miscommunication and some difficulty getting documentation moved from point A to point B. There was a moment not long ago where I was thinking I was going to have to jump onto a plane, fly to the west coast, and staple a form into someone’s head.*

This morning I got an email from the insurance company telling me that I had a new document to review. What could it mean? I clicked the link in the email and their site was down. Most of the work I’ve done in this process was actually done through an iOS app so I tried to log into that and it was down too. Shit.

I carried on with my day and around 10:30 I tried the app again. It worked. My claim has been approved! Huzzah! Now what? I don’t know. I started drafting up an email to my rep but got pulled away for some work things.

A few minutes ago, as I was going to lunch, I checked the website to see if that was working. It was. There was one thing that didn’t show on the app. They cut a check. Yesterday. I checked the mail, symbolically, but it hasn’t crossed the continent in the last 18 hours.

This process has been more difficult than I ever would have imagined it would be. The latest update to my account shows that the end is in sight, but I am not going to breathe that sigh of relief until the check arrives and clears. Please please please let that be soon. Going a full month without a pay check is so stressful. You wouldn’t believe how stressful it is. I really want this off of my back. Please.

*Figuratively speaking, of course.

Planning and Postscript

Two things. First, weather.com says it is going to be sunny in the morning. I am going to try to get up around sunrise and go find a place in the city to take some film photo tests. Maybe just downtown before everything opens. Maybe the cemetery near the railroad station. Maybe the castle ruins. Maybe something else. I don’t know, but I want to do it and I only want to bring dad’s film camera. We’ll see what (if anything) happens.

Second, In regards to the previous post, Jen read an article tonight saying that people recovering from Gastric Bypass surgery probably should not try to eat broccoli until after three months or so. Something about the fiber causing food to get stuck. Well then I’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but I do feel perfectly fine at the moment. No worries.

Bonus third topic. I am in the middle of a third straight photo a day project thingie on Flickr. Every day for two years and nine months I have taken a picture with my iPhone. As of now, 9:14pm, I have not taken a picture with my iPhone. The streak lives, however, because I have taken a picture with my D90 and it’s on Flickr. The streak continues, babie!

Ain’t she sweet?

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Post-Surgical First

What’s your favorite vegetable? Cool! Me? It’s broccoli. Nothing else comes close.

After having surgery, when I hit the phase three diet I thought I was good to go, but they suggested we stay off of green veggies for a while. I did what I was told.

Tonight though, Jen made dinner and on the side of the plate was 0.8 ounces of broccoli. I ate it. It was delicious. My stomach has not complained at all.

Now we are good to go, folks.

Clothes

I need new clothes. I’m nearly at the point where I can’t deal with it anymore.

I like loose fitting clothes. When you’re might height your clothes shopping options dwindle greatly. When you’re my weight too, they pretty much vanish. I wear what I can get my hands on. That’s it.

Today though, I am wearing clothes that I bought 80+ pounds ago. Everything I own is super baggy now. I really don’t mind with t-shirts and collared shirts except that the neck opening sometimes hangs down low enough that it feels like a v-neck. Jeans… well… Ever seen a movie from the 50’s with a hobbo character? That’s how I feel. I am starting to feel like I look like a clown.

Jen and I are planning to do some clothes shopping this weekend. I usually buy online, but I don’t really know what size I need now. I am going to have to spend some quality fitting room time. I’m actually stressing out about this a little. Why?

I’ve been using a selfie a day app and taking a picture of myself in the mirror every morning. I don’t see a lot of difference in my appearance. I wonder if that’s because the clothes are the same size in all of the pics. If I wear smaller clothes will I then look thinner? I don’t know. I don’t care. Well, maybe I do care.

Wednesday is my weigh in day. I woke up this morning needing to step on the scale. I mean I needed to. I didn’t. I fought the urge to break the routine. I don’t know if I will be able to do the same tomorrow (Tuesday) but I will do my best. Once a week is good. Once every two weeks would be better. Once a month would be best. I just don’t want to get caught up in the numbers game, but at the same time I feel like this whole post-surgery experience is difficult enough that I should be celebrating every single ounce I lose. I don’t know.

Weigh in the day after tomorrow. Clothes shopping three days later. Such a crazy, weird new world, huh?

Absent Minded Doofus

I am in the office today. It’s the first time since before the surgery. The traffic was really bad. Another sign that the pandemic is over, even though people are still getting sick in droves. Hooray.

I was 10 miles down route 93 before I realized that I forgot my headphones. Damn it! Fortunately I had an old set of ear pods in my desk, so we’re good to go for today but… dumb ass.

It’s my first attempt at monitoring liquid and protein intake from outside of the house for a full work day. I will also be taking my meds (just vitamins, actually) at work today too. What could go wrong?

Surprised Myself

Hello and welcome to the seventh weekiversary of my weight loss surgery. It’s Wednesday and that means it’s weigh in day.

I stepped on the scale today, hoping for a 2-3 pound drop and fantasizing about a 4-5 pound drop, but not thinking that was in the realm of possibility. In Weight Watchers terms (That’s WW now) an average of 0.5 pounds per week is considered spot on perfect. I have been eating more this week than before, and I have snuck in after dinner snacks a few times. The progress should be slowing as a result.

I was down 7.2 pounds. Holy shit snacks. Seven pounds? I am a couple of hours removed from actually stepping on the scale at this point and I’m already wondering if the scale was wrong, or did I read it wrong (I absolutely did not), or if I step on it again would it be significantly different?

I have a spreadsheet that I use to track my weekly weigh ins. It has a column for week to week change, and two fields for total. One total is the weight loss since the last pre-surgery weigh in and the other is the total since the first weigh in. They are 64 and 84 pounds. I say again, holy shit snacks. I also added a column for BMI today. My BMI has dropped 10.3 points since the first weigh in.

Faint.

Ouchie

30 minutes of marching in place this morning.

10 minutes on the exercise bike during my lunch break. I probably could have kept it going a little longer, but I ran out of time.

The two things combined, along with going up and down the cellar stairs a number of times throughout the day, equal… ouch.

Maybe we’ll do 15 minutes on the bike tomorrow? We’ll see.

Post-Surgery First

For the first time since my surgery, I ate take out tonight. It was just a couple of small chunks of grilled chicken and a couple of small scoops of baked potato, but it came from a restaurant and did not make me sick.

Victory is mine!