Tag: health

Check In Appointment

I had my four year anniversary of Gastric Bypass surgery check in with the surgeon today. In summation: All is well.

We talked about energy levels and how protein intake might affect them. The take away being that I have an appointment with the clinic’s nutritionist in a few weeks. The last time I met with them was… over three years ago, I think.

We talked about a couple of slightly embarrassing digestion issues and the take away was to try adding a probiotic and see if it makes a difference. I can so that.

I asked a question that wasn’t really worrying me until I actually got to the appointment today. My weight has been steadily increasing over the last two years. Not a lot, but enough for me to take notice. I asked her at what point should I start getting worried about that. She basically said that I don’t have to worry about anything but if we someday get there, there are things we can do. That made me feel better.

On the way home I stopped at a river-walk along the Merrimack River in Lowell, MA. I had my new/old/used film camera with me. I am trying to work through a test roll and I took a few pics. Unfortunately the weather was crap and it was starting to rain so I bailed after a short few minutes. I’ll try again over the weekend. 

Other than that… not much happening today. Oh, except for one thing… My wife, Jen, bought tickets to a showing of The Mandalorian and Grogu next week. Opening night, thank you very much. I can’t wait! The first new Star Wars movie in about seven years. This is the way!

Bribes

Remember when bribery was illegal? That was before the nazi in chief of the fascist states of america declared that it was a smart move to let a foreign government give you an airplane as a present. Our new air force one, which will stop being air force one and become trump’s personal plane once he leaves office, assuming he leaves office before he dies.

Yeah, this country fucking sucks. Can you imagine if Barack Obama told the public he was taking a passenger jet as a gift from an Islamic nation? Fucking fascists.

Change of subject. Two things to look forward to this week. First, I have my three year post-gastric bypass surgery check in at the weight loss clinic. I expect them to tell me that I am the greatest patient they have ever had, and that no patient they’ve dealt with has ever had such overwhelming success with their post-op program. I am hoping for a plaque or something to honor me.

Of infinitely greater importance, my step son Harry is going to graduate from the University of Vermont this weekend. I am so proud I am so proud I am so proud I am so proud. Did I mention how proud I am? We’ll be heading up there after work on Friday. I am really looking forward to it. I don’t know if you can tell by the context of this paragraph, but I am really proud of Harry.

Okay, Robert. Back to work with you.

254/365

Three Year Anniversary Weigh In

Happy anniversary! Three years ago today I went under the knife and had my insides rewired. Gastric Bypass. Weight loss surgery. Most of my stomach was tied off and a big chunk of my intestine was skipped. It was a brutal experience that required all sorts of lifestyle and diet changes and had all sorts of icky side effects but it was oh so worth it. Health care wise it is the single best move I’ve ever made. Overall it doesn’t quite measure up to marrying Jen and being a step father, but it tops just about everything else.

I weighed myself this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see I was down a little since the last time I stepped on a scale. That’s nice, huh? My first appointment at the weight loss clinic was January 19, 2022 and I weighed 452 pounds. Yup. The day of the surgery I did not weigh myself. The most recent number I had was from April 29, 2022 when I weighed 431.4 pounds. On the one year anniversary, May 4, 2023, I weighed 204.8 pounds. Suck it, morbid obesity! The lowest weight I ever recorded was the magical day of September 22, 2023 when I weighed in at 198.4 pounds. Sub-200! Glorious! We were told to expect our post-surgery weight to bottom out at some crazy number and then start climbing up again to a more reasonable, sustainable value. That’s been the case for the last year and a half or so. At my two year anniversary I was 211.2. The last time I weighed myself was the three year anniversary of the first check in, January 19, 2025, and I was 222.6. This morning, the first thing I did when I got out of bed was step on the scale. I was expecting something between 220 and 230 and I got 218.6! Down four pounds since January and back in the teens, babie! Currently I am down 212.8 since the surgery and 233.4 since the start of the process.

I still have problems with food getting stuck on the way into my new digestive system but not nearly as often as before. I can have trouble if I don’t chew enough, or eat too fast, or eat too much in one bite, but these days I can go faster and more per bite than I could have two years ago. Eating is easier now than it was before. When it goes bad it still goes bad. If a bite of food can’t get into my stomach (it’s actually technically called a pouch now) then it has to go somewhere. Either it just hangs out and blocks the path so that nothing else can get in (until it breaks down enough to enter) or it comes back up to say hello again. That’s life these days, but it doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to.

In closing, here’s my selfie a day video from the first year. Enjoy watching me melt away.

Purple and Yellow and Gross

I mentioned a few times last week that I had a medical thing last Tuesday. It involved anesthesia through an IV. Today I noticed that the area around the IV point is now a giant yellow bruise. Like… how did I not see that yesterday or the day before or whenever? Did the bruise form four days after the fact? Not likely.

I mentioned in a post yesterday that I stubbed my toe on the end of the bed while I was getting ready for work. It hurt like a mutha. It continued to hurt a little for the entire rest of the day and my foot felt a little swollen. It wasn’t bad enough to have a negative effect on me or anything like that, it was just there. Last night when I went to bed I took off my shoes and socks and found that my forth toe on my left foot is a dark purple, almost black, bruise of epic awful ugliness. It is definitely not broken but it is swollen and ugly and gross.

So those are two things I have going for me on this gloomy Saturday morning.

The sun was out this morning for the first time on a Saturday in something like 35 years. Did my camera and I make it outside to take advantage? Nope. I way over slept. Is it too late? The thunderstorms are rolling in so yes, it is too late. I am enjoying a nice breeze as Miss Robin Sparkles the cat and I are sitting next to an open window in the bedroom. That’s something at least, right?

This Blows

It is 3:20am. I have been up for an hour now. I had to take a pre-medical appointment dose of awful meds last night after work, and I had to take a second dose in the middle of the night. It took me a long time to get through it and now I have to be sick for a couple of hours. Are any of my current problems gastric bypass related, or is it just the prep-meds? I don’t know. Hooray. This sucks.

My appointment is at 7:30 so I still have four hours to go until the actual start of this garbage. Hopefully a few hours later I will be back home and able to eat food and able to sleep the last of this thing off.

Hooray.

This sucks.

Seven Hours Later

My last post was published seven hours ago. I’m hanging in there but really can’t wait for this crap to be over. I’m fasting ahead of a medical test and I am hungry. I barely have a stomach left after gastric bypass surgery, but what I have is really jonzin’ for a snack, know what I mean? No hunger pains yet, which is odd given that I get hunger pains all the time. Maybe my brain is trying to protect my stomach? Who knows.

I can’t eat today, but the birds can.

240/365

That is today’s photo a day challenge pic. Blurry backgrounds are fun. Bokeh.

The cats are in a state of hyper vigilance right now. There is a mouse in the house. It was in my home office earlier but it got away. In was later seen in our bedroom but I think it got away again. Both cats are on the hunt so it’s days are numbered. I will catch it and bring it outside if I can, but the feline avengers might not give me the opportunity.

Here’s a picture of Robin from before the mouse presented itself.

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Here’s one of Lily. Robin was already stalking the rodent invader at this point, but Lily wasn’t in on it yet. She was blissfully unaware.

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Today is Going to Absolutely Suck

I have something scheduled for tomorrow. It’s a medical thing. A test. It requires some heavy duty prep-work over the 24 hour period before the test.

The side effect of the preparations is going to be me having one seriously awful day today. Like, grade A suck. Its the sort of thing that would suck for a normal human, but the stomach is involved so people like me who have had gastric bypass surgery (three years ago this coming weekend)… I wonder if it will be worse for me. Probably not, but maybe? We’ll have to wait and see.

Clearly I am not going to share what’s going on until it’s over, if then. 24 hours from now (it is 7:15am) I will be at the clinic, hopefully getting ready to get it over with. I just have to deal with some awful today and a small chunk of tomorrow.

Shit.