#BirdDog

Day 13, Woke up down a little more than a pound. That was a good way to start the day! Had my two week appointment with the surgeon, went good. He was happy with my results, lack of pain, and how well I've been tolerating liquids and now purée. Because of my level of activity he gave the okay for me to stop the blood thinner shots. Those were getting really old. Got my paperwork to go back to work on Monday Won't be too bad, but I do start out having to go out of town for a week. Just have to pack purée stuff and I got a hotel room with a fridge and microwave in it, right across from the convention center where the conference will be.
Today I'm feeling pretty good, went for a walk, about an hour long. Just a nice stroll nothing real strenuous. Got in 70g of Protein, and an easy 64+ oz of liquid.
My mom and aunt came into town to visit and are staying for a couple days. It's funny they feel bad eating in front of me. I don't think they understand, I'm just not hungry, and what I do eat satisfies me AND fills me up. It is going to take some time for my family and friends to adjust to the NEW me habits.
Pretty happy with my decision to have the surgery, it for sure will be a game changer for me!

I think I'll even include a photo of me the day I started my two week pre op diet and one of me 1 week post op.

Not much of a difference but I can sure see it!

Day 11, well my wife caught on, I can't blame breaking wind on the gasses they used for surgery anymore.
Today was alright, stuck around the house most of the day. Bowels seems to have settled down. Looking forward to my follow up with the surgeon in two days. Starting to think about the puréed stage, searching the forums for good recipes.
My weight loss has been moving right along so I'm worried about adding new foods. I don't want to mess things up. I have an appointment with the nutritionist but that's not until it's time for solids. I may try to make an earlier appointment when I go in for my two week.

Thank you very much! My wife is an extraordinarily great person. She has been very supportive throughout this entire process and I don't know that I could have done it without her.
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Day 8, I woke up feeling pretty good, which is surprising because I didn't take pain medicine last night. Got a shower and got dressed, with limited help from my wife. Had my medications crushed up and put into some sugar free pudding. Ate about half the serving of pudding. We then went out and took care of some errands. Since I hadn't taken any pain medicine I decided to drive. Stopped at the state surplus store, then an army surplus store, Bass Pro, and finally a grocery store. By the time we made it home I was pretty tired and a little sore. So I took half a dose of my medicine and relaxed the rest of the evening. Got in an easy 64+oz of liquid and 40g of Protein. Tomorrow I'm shooting for 80g of Protein. Hopefully that will help a bit with my energy.
Finally today I started to feel human again. I was sore but not in a lot of pain. Looking forward to what tomorrow holds. May even make it to church service.
I forgot to mention, my watch slid down my arm today and rotated. Had to cinch it up a notch! Seems silly but it was a big deal to me.

Day 7, the pain was a bit better, coughing still hurt but not nearly as bad as it had been. Getting into and out of bed wasn't too bad either. My wife had a horseback riding lesson so I went along and walked around the barn and arena with her. Got in all of my liquids yesterday but was still shy of my Protein goals by about 40g. The Isopure drinks are starting to get a little easier to stomach. Still taking it slow and trying to let my body heal.
I had a 1/4 cup of Tomato Soup again. Since my medications have to be crushed I put them in some sugar free pudding. Still awful but tolerable. I haven't had Jello since before my surgery, decided to give some a try. Went down fine and I was able to stomach it alright. Problem with Jello was I ate a little too much too fast and ended up in pain. It subsided within 20 minutes or so. Now I know I can't eat any more than half of the cup of jello.
Blood thinner shots still suck. No way around that though. I'm certainly ready to start the purée stage. Hopefully on the 14th. We'll see what doc says. Until then, liquids and Protein Drinks.
Last night I only took half of a dose of pain medicine and I slept through the entire night. That's progress!
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Day 6, got a full 64+oz of liquids in today. That included an Isopure drink that was 40g of Protein. I had another quarter cup of Tomato Soup. My wife wanted to go to some antique stores so we went and strolled around a few of them. Got in quite a bit of walking. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it has been, at one point today I had gone almost 9 hours without pain meds, but my dog put an end to that. He's been pretty bummed that I wouldn't let him lay on me while I was in my recliner. So he decided to just jump up there. Landed right on the large incision. Good thing he's just a Chihuahua but still hurt like a bugger, gave in and took some pain medicine. No leakage or anything from the wound so all seems to be well. Just hurt quite a bit there for a while. Blood pressure and blood sugar are still not being treated with medication and are both well within the normal range. I'm really happy to be off of some of the pills and am excited to come off the rest.
Today was the first time I got a little depressed and was questioning what I had done to myself. After a quick pep talk from my wife and a review of my lists, I was good to go. Come to think of it I don't think I've shared my lists with you guys. Basically I have a list of the pros/cons or having the surgery and a list of things I want to accomplish that losing the weight will allow me to do. I keep them with me and it's a good motivator when I'm down. Anywho, here's to tomorrow being as good or better than today

Day 5, getting better every day. Today I finally got in a decent amount of fluids 60oz so far. Still not much Protein, but I'm working on that. Got some Isopure drinks today, those should help. Did a little pacing in the house. Then around noon my wife and I went and saw a movie at the theater, I got a 20oz Water for $5 and sipped on that throughout the movie. Luckily our local theater has some comfy recliners so I wasn't in pain at all during the movie. Except for the occasional laugh, that smarted a little. Came back home and I rested for a bit, then we headed off to GNC for some Isopure drinks and non-flavored Protein powder. We also hit the grocery store. Since my surgeon allows strained Soups at this point I picked up some Tomato Soup. Once we got home, my wife warmed up a quarter cup of it and I worked on that with a baby spoon. That little bit of Soup was plenty. No pain and it didn't try to come back up. So all went well with that. Sure felt nice to get something other than Water in the system. Oh and in other big news, had my first bowel movement since September 1st. Good to know everything is still working.
My wife has been a angel throughout this process, I have no idea how people get through this alone. If you are going through this alone or have already done it my hats off to you, you are obviously tougher than I. I would be lost and in a lot more pain than I am now. She is doing everything she can to make sure I'm comfortable and doing everything she can to keep me from injuring myself where they operated.
Goal for tomorrow is to get in my recommended amount of water and my Protein. Oh and walk walk walk. These shots of blood thinner are getting old.

Surgeon wanted me under 200 lbs. didn't really set a goal weight for myself. But I woke up this morning and weighed in....



Pretty stoked!!!!

I was sleeved on September 2nd and on October 7th I was riding again without pain.
I do believe Pete may be one of the biggest fans of my weight loss! Lol!!!

Today I had an awesome NSV!!!

I work for the State Patrol and they are supporters of the Special Olympics. They were looking for people to run our leg of torch run. So I participated. It wasn't pretty but I got it done. From Olympic Drive in Gig Harbor to the war memorial SR16/Jackson. It was a good 4 miles. Doesn't sound like much but considering this time last year the only way I would have completed it would have been in the back of an ambulance... this was a major win for me. Not only was it a win for me but it was for an awesome cause.

Thank you for the kind words! I went to my first support group yesterday. I think it was pretty good. I plan on continuing to go. Hopefully it will help me keep my head in the game. Maybe my experiences can help others who are just beginning their journey.

Been hovering around the same weight for a while now. This morning I weighed in two pounds lighter. Guess the scale isn't done yet

You guys are all so supportive!
So I had my own version of a "food funeral" a couple days ago. I had purchased a new rifle and was headed out to the mountains to sight it in. On the way out there I stopped to get fuel and decided to get a bottle of Water. While in the gas station I noticed the Coke-a-cola cooler and thought about how much of that I used to drink. Sometimes I'd have up to three cans of it at a meal. So I thought why not have a little symbolism of not letting those things have any grip on me anymore. So I bought a 20oz coke. Then I pulled into McDonalds and bought a bigmac. Once I made it up to the mountains I sighted in the new rifle and set out the soda and the bigmac. I also set up my GoPro. Stood back and took a shot at the soda, it literally exploded. Same thing when I shot the Big Mac. It actually looked like it was raining Big Mac for a few seconds. Felt pretty good to get some kind of closure, to actually say, "no, I am not going to give into this drug called "junk food" anymore!" It is so much like a drug, I think these foods are engineered to make you want them more and more. Then I went up to my GoPro and hadn't pressed record. Bummer, I was looking forward to sharing my "food funeral" video with you all.
This morning I weighed in at 50lbs down. That's a nice mile stone to hit! Many more to go! This was also my first day back at work. Not like a real work day as I headed out of town for a business trip. Now I'm several hours from home staying in a hotel. Brought a cooler full of foods that are okay for my stage of the post op diet. Still one of my coworkers wanted to go out to dinner, heck employer is footing the bill so why not. Went to a nice seafood restaurant, I got a cup of clam chowder and only had about a 1/4 cup of the broth before I felt full. Not the best food selection as chowder is a bit high in fat content, but it was a decision I can live with. No ill effects. I'm on the purée stage so it was something that was on my list from the nutritionist that I could have as long as I steered clear of the chunks which I did.
Tomorrow I'm going to try and hunt down some scrambled eggs for Breakfast and will probably work on a Protein shake for lunch. Then I'll have to decide if I stay in for dinner or go out again.

Today I had an awesome NSV!!!

I work for the State Patrol and they are supporters of the Special Olympics. They were looking for people to run our leg of torch run. So I participated. It wasn't pretty but I got it done. From Olympic Drive in Gig Harbor to the war memorial SR16/Jackson. It was a good 4 miles. Doesn't sound like much but considering this time last year the only way I would have completed it would have been in the back of an ambulance... this was a major win for me. Not only was it a win for me but it was for an awesome cause.

Good! No way I would have been able to do them myself. My wife was kind enough to give me all of the shots I needed. The one that really hurt was when she got my credit card bill.... wonder why that was? Lol!

Good! No way I would have been able to do them myself. My wife was kind enough to give me all of the shots I needed. The one that really hurt was when she got my credit card bill.... wonder why that was? Lol!

I had the shots, I hate needles. HATE isn't really a strong enough word for my dislike of needles. But it's important. I don't have a history of blood clots but my surgeon felt them necessary. My wife gave me the shots. Took them in the thighs. I'm a big sissy and whined about them every time. But I'm doing this to get healthy and felt like it would all be for naught if I ended up with a clot. They sent me home with 24 pre loaded needles. Doctor allowed me to stop them a couple days early since I was up and about and being so active. I suggest talking to your surgeon. May be that they can reduce the amount of time you need them depending on your activity level.

Good! No way I would have been able to do them myself. My wife was kind enough to give me all of the shots I needed. The one that really hurt was when she got my credit card bill.... wonder why that was? Lol!

Put together a new set of before and after photos.... 370lbs to 209lbs.

Still losing weight, down to 209 so I'm closing in on 1derland. Spent one day last weekend out at the barn riding with my wife. She snapped a photo and I shared it on Facebook, so many good comments from my friends. I still get a kick out of running into people and having them not recognize me. Happened twice last weekend

Going out with friends and not being worried that the wait staff would try to sit us at a booth. That fear kept me from going out with friends on many occasions. I even remember one where I arrived after the rest of my group and we all had to move because I couldn't fit in the booth.

Congrats!!! Such an exciting time!!

I'm hearing the lion King theme song in my head. You look like mufasa holding simba.

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It is AWESOME!! I'm really happy with how things are going. I went from a size 48 jeans to a size 34 and a size 4x shirt to an XL.

It's been a while since I've posted. Thought I'd give an update. I've continued to go to the gym and eat within my surgeons plan. I'm down 155lbs now. Meals are getting easier as I learn more about what I can and cannot have.