Tag: weight loss surgery

Less Than Nine Hours to Go

It’s just after 8:30am on the Friday before Labor Day weekend and I haven’t punched in to work yet. I had a few things to do first. I went with Harry to the garage to drop off his rental car and pick up his car. It’s all set and it looks as good as new. He just left to go back to Burlington. He’s going to miss his first class this morning, but that’s about the only downside to this visit. All is well again.

I’m less than nine hours away from a three day weekend. I just finished season 11 of the new Doctor Who. I have 20 episodes over two seasons left to go and then I’ll be all caught up. I’m on episode 17 of season seven of the original show. Eight episodes left in this season and something like 2346123472572 episodes left in the full series. I don’t expect to finish either series this weekend, but I can pretty much guarantee I’ll be done with the new show in a week or so which means I will be 100% caught up before the next episode airs in November.

What about the music project? I have 27 songs finished and 39 total in progress. I have four more songs ready to mix and I hope to crank them all out tonight. I have 30 days left, including today, and a ton of work still to go, but I think I am more or less on pace to finish on time. I’ll have a few days at Disney World where it will be tough to make progress, but I think I will be okay. I should note that even though I took over two weeks off in August, I still managed to finish an RPM Challenge Rules album in a month as I started and finished 12 songs within the calendar month. I started and finished 10 in July too. In order to hit 50 songs over all I will need to start and finish 11 songs in September. Three album in a months in a row isn’t a bad place to be. I think once this project is finished I will try to get back into the last re-recording project which has been left hanging for a little more than a year now.

I mentioned in the last post that my stomach has been a little less than 100% this morning. I had some trouble with water early on and had to deal with a minor bout of The Foamies after taking my vitamins. I only got eight ounces of water in during my exercise, but afterwards I was okay for breakfast and I am feeling much better now. I’ve managed another eight ounces since I came home from Harry’s auto shop. I think we’re back on track today. I might have a hamburger on the grill for lunch today. We’ll see how it goes.

Okay, it’s 8:50am now and I have to be punched into work by 9:00. I think I’ll hit publish on this masterpiece of an update and get my work day started. Lots to do today, lots to do. Eight hours and 40 minutes to go until the long weekend.

You can do it, Robbie! You can do it!

Stomach Fail

Why?

I’ve found that if I make a mistake while eating instant mashed potatoes and some of the instant mashed potatoes get stuck outside of my redesigned stomach, after 15-20 minutes those ‘taters will come back up in mildly spectacular fashion. It’s unpleasant and gross, but it’s also my stomach literally fixing the mistake and within minutes I’m back to 100% normal and all is well.

I’ve also found that if I make a similar mistake while eating quinoa it will last for hours, yes hours plural as in multiple hours before it clears up. It isn’t painful, I can just tell that there is something subtly off about my digestive situation. After a couple of hours I’ll convince myself that I’m imagining it and try to eat something small. That will get stuck behind the quinoa that I wasn’t imagining was stuck and that will be painful and cause foamies and nausea. Unlike the potatoes though they never come back up. I just have to continue to wait for it all to pass on its own, even though I’ve already waited multiple hours and no other food ever gets stuck for more than an hour, or an hour and a half tops.

Jen made quinoa tonight and it was magical. It also got a little stuck and two hours later I thought I was okay until I had a bite of a protein snack. Now my stomach hurts and I’m nauseous and spitting up foamy saliva and just waiting for the damn stuff to pass, damnit.

Why is the reaction so different when the diagnosis is exactly the same?

I finished mixing three songs and I’m part way through two more. I paused so I could watch episode three of Ahsoka but I had to pause that while I deal with my stomach issues. I still hope to finish the episode and the two songs (and the protein snack) before I turn in for the night, but it’s already 10:00 so maybe I won’t get to it all.

After typing up all of this on my iPad while leaning over a bucket in the bathroom, some of the protein snack came back up and I feel a lot better. Okay, so the snack and the instant mashed potatoes have something in common, but what’s the deal with the quinoa? Why no improvement after two hours plus? We may never know.

Okay, back to Ahsoka. May episode three be as good as episodes one and two.

This One is Going to be Gross

Spoiler alert, this post is going to be T.M.I. and it’s going to be really gross. You have been warned.

***RED ALERT***
***RED ALERT***
***RED ALERT***

Okay, so in the post Gastric Bypass Surgery world there are rules for how you eat. The big one is you eat your protein sources first, then when that’s all gone you eat everything else on your plate. Protein first, non-protein second.

Tonight I made tacos for me and Harry. Even before having my guts hacked to pieces, a taco for me consisted of taco meat and a taco shell and that’s it. Beef with some seasoning (sometimes chicken or turkey, but generally beef) and a taco shell. I used to put the beef into the shell and have a… ya know… taco-ish thing. Now I eat them separately. Beef first, then a shell. Tonight I had 3.2 ounces of beef and half a shell.

The 3.2 ounces of beef went down without issue. The half a shell did too, at first. I was going to have the other half of the shell too but my stomach started feeling a little off so I stopped.

15 minutes later the shit hit the fan. My stomach turned upside down and I had to make the mad dash to the bathroom before it all came up. Fucking taco shell.

My question then… I tracked how much protein was in the beef. How then do account for the small amount of beef that… came along for the ride when the taco shell came back for a second visit?

See? Told you it was going to be gross. I tried to be polite though and never used the word puke once. You’re welcome.

Random Thursday Thoughts

Just jotting down some smallish, random thoughts on a Thursday afternoon.

My stomach is being a jerk today. Gas. Bad gas. Lots of bad gas. My stomach is a bit upset. A little bit of pain. Nothing bad, just gassy. Super gassy. Pardon the T.M.I. of it all. I just felt the need to share.

In the interest of daily creative behavior like the photo a day challenge and my current 1400+ day posting streak on this little bloggie, I was wondering if I should post a daily haiku. What do you think?

One haiku each day
You know, to keep the brain loose
Could be worth a shot

I have watched a lot of Doctor Who today. Like, an alarming amount of Doctor Who. A frightening amount of Doctor Who. Both the original series and the new series. So much Doctor Who. I may have a Who problem.

We brought Harry’s car to the shop today. Here’s hoping they get the work finished before he has to go back to work next week. I may have to drive him back to Burlington after I finish work one night, and then turn around and drive home right away. That could be a long night. I will do it with a smile on my face, but… yeah, that would be a long night.

The cats have been super affectionate today. I am not sure why. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it is definitely a welcome development.

Unexpected Weight Loss Milestone

I had all of these milestones in mind when I had the weight loss surgery. You know, things that would mark the progress as I lost weight.

20 pounds, 50 pounds, clothes becoming too big for me and having to replace them with smaller sizes, you know, things like that.

At some point I reached the my-wedding-ring-doesn’t-fit-anymore milestone. At the time I thought that maybe I might hit that milestone twice. I’d have the ring resized and then continue to lose weight and have to have it resized again. After that first time though, when it was reduced by two ring sizes, the pace of weight loss slowed and then leveled off and then my weight started creeping up again. Just a smidge. I thought, rightly so, that I would not have to get the ring resized a second time.

Then earlier tonight I was in line at the check out at the grocery store and I was mindlessly spinning my wedding ring around my finger. It feels loose but not loose enough to slide over my knuckle without a push. Then, right on queue, it slid over my knuckle without a push. It was just, poof, on the wrong side of the knuckle.

Well shit, boys and girls. Maybe I am going to need to get the ring resized a second time. I think it’s okay for now, but maybe in a couple of months?

I should also note that I bought the belt that I am wearing right now back around Christmas time. It’s been on the second hole for the entire nine months or so that I have been wearing it. Then on Sunday when I was getting dressed for the wedding I tightened it to the third hole. My belt was just getting too loose.

The scale has been telling me I am maintaining an approximate steady weight. Not really gaining, not really losing. Maybe… but at the same time I might still be getting a smidge thinner… just a little bit, slowly as the days roll past.

Interesting.

It makes me curious what my September 4, 2023, 16 month weigh in is going to look like. We’ll see in a few weeks, okay? I’ll let you know.

The Scroll Wheel is Dead, Long Live the Scroll Wheel

I take a mouse with me when I work in the office. It’s not the same mouse I use when I work at home, it’s actually the mouse that came with the last desktop computer I was issued at work back in… 1862? Something like that? 2016 maybe?

I was using the scroll wheel to scroll through an email and it just stopped working. I closed the browser and reopened it, thinking it was a software issue. Nope, it still didn’t work. I rebooted my laptop (issued to me in 2021, I think) because I thought it might be a hardware thing outside of the mouse itself. Nope.

The scroll wheel is dead.

I went to Amazon and ordered a cheap-o wireless mouse to replace it. I found a few of various levels of cheapness, then took one of the cheaper ones so that I could spend a little more for overnight delivery to make sure I had it as soon as possible.

Long live the scroll wheel.

On an unrelated note, there have been no stomach issues today. Kick ass. It’s not even 4:00pm yet and I am already close to hitting my water goal, close to having all of my vitamins in, and sort of close to hitting my protein goal. After yesterday’s dietary B.S., things are looking really good today. Killer.

Okay, less than 1.75 hours left in the work day. I have to somehow get through the rest of the day without having a scroll wheel. How did we do it in the old days? How did we even survive without scroll wheels?

When Your Stomach is a Jerk but You’re a Bigger Jerk

Havin’ one of those days, I guess. One of those gastric bypass surgery recovery kind of days.

I woke up with a stomach ache this morning. It was bad but not too bad. I thought it was a sign that I was going to have a rough day but after a little time in the little boys room (TMI, sorry) I was a lot better. I still waited a while before I had anything to eat. When I did have breakfast it was free of any issues. I guess my problems worked themselves out, right?

Sometimes I have stomach pain when I am hungry. My stomach is empty and it lets me know by hurting a bit. I fix it by having a little something to eat and then the pain goes away. That happened today at around 11:30. That’s when I screwed up my whole day.

I had a snack. Unfortunately it was too big of a snack. It took a little too long to get through it, and it was too much. I have to wait 60 minutes after eating before I can have a drink, and I needed to have a drink to take my lunch time vitamins, and then I have to wait 15 minutes before I can eat again. The snack meant I wasn’t going to be able to have a drink before it was time to make lunch, which meant my lunch time vitamins were going to wait until late afternoon at least. It also meant that I wasn’t quite hungry when lunch time came. I managed to have something but it left me low on my protein count going into dinner.

Then what happened? I had something to drink, but not quite enough to hit my daily goal, and I had my afternoon vitamins, but by the time I punched out of work I had a hungry stomach ache again. Oh good. I had a small protein snack as I was cooking dinner, knowing it was going to mess up my dinner the same way I messed up my lunch. I had a tiny snack this time and my stomach ache was already inching back by the time I sat down to dinner. It still left me feeling super full really fast though and I couldn’t finish dinner.

The cherry on top? I paused dinner while I was feeling full because I really wanted to finish my chicken and mashed potatoes and broccoli but 10 minutes after I paused dinner I had myself a nasty dose of the foamies. I felt nauseous out of the blue but I didn’t throw up. That’s good, right?

So now it’s almost 8:00 and I am still behind on my liquid goal and my protein goal and I still have a dose of vitamins to get through tonight. I am 100% sure I am going to reach all three goals, but I am also really ticked off at myself for screwing up my whole schedule today. All because my stomach was bothering me when I woke up.

Nice work, red head.

Month 15 Weigh In

Today is the 4th of August. 15 months ago today I went under the knife and had my guts rearranged forever. It’s been a crazy 1.25 years, let me tell you.

The monthiversary is my weigh in day now. After a year of weeklies I cut back to just monthlies and today is the day. How did I do?

I did well, I think. I can say definitively that I am still maintaining. My weight is down quite a bit from last month but it is still above the lowest point. Last month I was at 213. Today I am at 207.4. I am down 5.6 pounds this month for a post-op total of 224, and a since-the-first-weigh-in total of 244.6 pounds. Glorious. My BMI is 25.2, which means that I am technically still overweight, but only by a couple of pounds. I can live with that.

I had given up on my vague goal of dropping below 200 pounds and reaching the mythical “onederland.” When I was over 210 last month it seemed like something that was unobtainable. Now? Today? Seven and four tenths pounds doesn’t seem like that much to lose, does it? Not really. If I dipped below 200 I think I would still be able to consider myself maintaining. It’s only four pounds and change below my lowest point.

Naw, let’s just stay the course and not be tempted by magic numbers. Until next months, friends. Happy weigh in day.

Sleepy Wednesday Night

Today has been a long day. I am tired. I had a little problem eating dinner tonight but after a little more than an hour break after coughing up a small ocean of foamie saliva, I was able to eat the last of my protein goal. I have hit all of my health goals today so it’s good in that case. Now I just need to get some sleep.

I haven’t done any music challenge work in two days. Tomorrow I’ll get back into it, I promise. There’s so much left to do. I think I can say I am behind the pace of my three previous 50/90 successes. I’ll catch up soon enough.

The long range forecast is calling for good weather this weekend. Maybe some post-sunrise golden hour photography? I keep thinking about going into the city and walking around the Back Bay. It might be odd doing it that early in the morning, but the plus side is I should be able to get in and out of town easy enough, and I might even get some street parking, and I won’t need to worry about crowds looking at me funny. Yeah, maybe a 6:00am photo walk up and down Boylston and Newbury streets? That could be fun. I could do that on Saturday morning, then maybe Kenmore Square or the theater district on Sunday? Who knows.

For tonight though, I am trying to finish a Doctor Who season three serial from 1965. I am starting to get close to the end of the run for the first Doctor. The NuWho binge watch started season seven earlier tonight. I am starting to get near the end of the run for the 11th Doctor. I am ready for both of them to change. Tomorrow morning while I exercise before work though, it will be the musical episode of Star Trek: Brave New Worlds with songs written by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce of Letter to Cleo. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Spoke Too Soon

I got up this morning to watch the new episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds while doing my morning exercise and I found that there were two new episodes, not one. They released a Lower Decks cross over a few days ago and somehow I didn’t catch it. How the hell did that happen? That episode was fun. This week’s episode is dark. Woah, babie is it dark.

That’s not what this post is about though. Yesterday I wrote something about having a good day food-wise. I spoke too soon. Not that when things went bad it was that bad. It was not. It wasn’t even technically a problem. I was hungry when I left work. Really hungry. I had a protein bar on the drive, which put me over the 80 grams of protein goal for the day. I figured I’d have a little bit of supper with Jen and then I’d be set for the day. That was the plan.

When I got home though, she had dinner waiting for me. It was quinoa with chicken. She used taco sauce in the vegetable stir fry. It smelled like heaven. Amazing. I put a big spoonful onto a plate… then another big spoonful… then a smaller spoonful. I never thought I’d eat it all, and I didn’t. Not even close. What I did do was eat too much. WAY too much. I stopped when my stomach was feeling uncomfortably full. I should have finished 5-10 minutes earlier, but I didn’t. In the first few minutes after I stopped the uncomfortable full feeling started getting worse. I set a timer for one hour because I still had my evening vitamins to take even though I was already over my water goal for the day. I figured I’d have a few ounces of water with the two calcium pills and then I could move on with my life.

When the hour timer went off I was still painfully full. I set another timer for 30 minutes. I was still not good when that went off. I did it again, and again, and again. I had stopped eating at 7:22pm. At 10:20 I was still feeling too full to take the pills. I was also seriously exhausted so I just went to sleep. I wasn’t happy about missing a vitamin dose, but I could live with it given the circumstances.

At 2:00am I woke up needing to pee (TMI, sorry). My stomach felt normal again at that point, as I suspected it would. I took those two calcium pills with two ounces of water. Sure, they were taken on the wrong calendar date, and it was 9-10 hours later than I like to take them, but I got them in. I also did the dishes, which I was planning to do before I went to sleep but failed to. I felt pretty good.

There were a couple of weird things though. First, when I woke up I was dripping with sweat and my bed sheet was down right soggy. What the hell happened there? I have no idea. I didn’t feel hot at all, quite the opposite. Why was I sweating buckets during that 3.5 hours of sleep? On top of that, when I eventually laid down to sleep I couldn’t. What the hell, Robert? I was still feeling super tired. It just took me about half an hour to get back to sleep. Weird.

Okay, I just finished today’s Star Trek episode. It was really good. I mean, really good. I think next week will be a musical episode with songs written by two former members of Letter to Cleo. Boston music across the stars, babie! I am not sure that’s what’s going on, but that’s the rumor I’ve heard. Check Kay Hanley’s social media for details. I’ve been avoiding it out of fear of spoilers.

For now though, it’s time to get ready for work. Have a good day, everyone and if you’ve had gastric bypass surgery, don’t over do it with the taco flavored quinoa, no matter how spectacular it tastes.