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“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” -- Mark Victor Hansen

Day 22 AS

I had a good visit with my surgeon this morning -- she is pleased with my progress. She confirmed the 30 pound weight loss over the last 3 weeks and said that it's better than expected -- typically this is more like 10-15 pounds. I asked if this was a concern then, and she said not -- that I'm one of the lucky ones whose body seemingly isn't reacting as though it's being starved as many do during the first month, causing them to hang on to some fat. Interesting.

I shared with her also my concerns regarding continuing exhaustion and occasional dizziness, and she agreed with my internist that cutting the blood pressure medication in half should help, but reminded me I will be tired for a couple more months. I also told her about cutting out the cholesterol med until my diet is normalized and she suggested I contact my internist and add this back -- perhaps at a lower dosage. She noted that during rapid weight loss there are a lot of lipids floating through your blood stream so that it might be a good idea to keep on that for the time being. I called her and she agreed, so half dose it shall be.

I also told her that I still can't sleep in bed because when I roll over onto my left side it feels like my stomach's falling out. She reassured me this was normal, particularly for someone like me that carries most of my weight in my abdomen. When I roll over onto my side it puts a lot of stress on the sutures, giving me the sensation of the stomach falling out. She suggested I either wear the abdominal binder when I try to sleep in bed or continue to enjoy sleeping in the recliner for a few more weeks and just don't worry about it -- I think I'll go for the latter!!

She also cleared me to try to ride my stationary recumbent bike now also, as long as I pay attention to how I feel. She suggested I may not be able to ride for more than a couple of minutes, and if that's the case to stop. It will be nice to add something to walking in my exercise repertoire.

Last night John joined me for the support group. It was a good meeting -- lots of good questions from pre-op patients. There was another 3 week post-op patient there (who'd had the lapband rather than the gastric bypass), so the facilitator let us ask about our biggest current challenges. The other 3 week patient is having a hard time with her fluids (thankfully I am not!) so the group gave her some ideas. I mentioned how much I am hating the pureed food in general and the facilitator (an RD) told me not to worry -- stick with fluids if I must. She went on to say most people eat inappropriate pureed foods anyhow, and that it's such a small quantity of food it doesn't really matter. Seems like an odd response to me... I will continue with my common sense approach I think -- the vegetarian soups with added protein powder. I mentioned this issue to the surgeon today and she said getting my protein is the most important thing -- so if I need to drink more milk, eat more yogurt and scrambled eggs, go for it. Just get to my goal of 75 grams as fast as possible. My last couple of days have been 50 grams, so I have some work to do on this. There are 8 grams of protein in a cup of milk and 6 grams in a quarter cup of scrambled eggs, so they are pretty good sources. It's really strange to think in terms of food's nutritional value, rather than just as something that tastes good...

After the pre-ops were excused, the post-ops had a discussion regarding exercise. I know this is going to be the hardest area for me to conquer during this journey. The good news is that my knees are already feeling better -- I don't wince every time I stand up. We each had to talk about our plan individually. The folks that are a year or more pre-op are all regular gym-goers now -- on average 5 times/week. Our facilitator warned us not to start a program we can't commit to -- because once you stop you will gain weight unless you start eating less. I don't see myself as a gym goer to be honest -- we'll have to see what alternatives I can come up with for me. A couple of people start their days off with hour-long walks with their dogs... I wonder if Ali or Cari would like to walk on leashes? :) Somehow I don't see John ever going along with a dog being added to our household...

I met Fern's friend Janet last night at the support group -- that was fun. She looks great 4 months post-op. She is jogging now for the first time in decades -- very fun. She had a lot of the same challenges in her first six weeks that I am having now, so it was encouraging to see her surviving these and moving on to feel better than she has in years now.

One of the interesting differences between Pleasanton and Oakland has been the difference in sizes of patients. I felt a lot more "at home" in Oakland -- there were a lot of patients my size and larger there... in Pleasanton I wonder how some of these people qualified for the surgery in the first place. There were a couple of pre-ops there that I'll be ecstatic if I look as good as they do today a year from now!

Two outings tomorrow -- I'll have to be sure to nap in-between. I can't believe how tired I am after just one small excursion. Wish me luck!