Hello and welcome to "Operation Operation" for me.

I have read quite a few stories over the past 8 months prepping up for the day I would be lucky enough to get a date for surgery. I have found them useful so I decided I will attempt it and try to use it as a sounding board and future reflection for myself. Someone I respect highly said that EVERYONE should write their own autobiography. That has always stuck in my mind and maybe one day I will but until then I will use this blog.

My date to change the rest of my life is day after Christmas, 26 Dec 2013.

Here are some reasons I am happy:

I am happy for monetary reasons because my out of pocket expenses have been this year and now I won’t pay anything or surgery!!! Also my deductibles and out of pocket expense amounts are all raising to over 2.5 times what they are this year (thanks Obamacare!!). So if I had it in January it would be a lot more!!

I am of course ecstatic because this is what I needed for a while and wouldn't allow it because I figured I could lose the inches without it but I have proved that false. I would lose a lot of pounds just to see them come back faster than it took to take them off and of course with some extra weight to add.

I am glad because my twin 8 yr. old girls will have Daddy in their lives for many more years.

I am delighted that my wonderful Wiff will get to have me around for the rest of her days on this planet. Not sure she is glad about this but I am (Just kidding of course.)

I am joyful that I will not have so many physical problems with this body.

So I will be updating "Operation Operation" here.

Edited January 1, 201412 yr by knt4ever

Update Post-Op Day 9:

My twin brother and his tribe visited this weekend and it was first time interacting with someone other than my Wiff. Of course he ordered pizza for everyone and I had my powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury Protein chicken Soup. I didn't have any problems with it to be honest. I liked the smell but had ZERO desire to eat any.

Then we went to parents house tonight all together and Dad had made a smoked ham and several other things. Again I didn't have any urge or desire for the food there and was perfectly fine with eating my FF Cottage cheese and SF Jello. It was great test of will power and handling this kind of situation that will happen many times in future where I won't eat what everyone else has on their plates. I was joking around and tried to not make anyone else feel bad about eating what they where eating.

I have on purpose had my Wiff and girls eat things in front of me so THEY get used to it and so THEY don't feel bad or guilty. I have always had our house eat together at kitchen table as one unit. I don't want this to change that. I feel like the more we do this the more comfortable they will be with it. I have no problems with this but the reality is that WE get to go through this journey together; it is just me.

So in short all is going well and I am still doing great with eating, drinking, and finally slept all 7 hours straight.

Tomorrow I get to add scrambled eggs for Breakfast. Not going to lie.....looking forward to this BIG TIME!!!!

You are working that pouch like a Boss! Super human willpower! Lol! I hope my post op will transition so smoothly. Keep up the heat work!

Still on preop liquids and that scrambled sounds like heaven!

Update Post-Op Day 11:

YES scrambled eggs are the BOMB!!!! Add some FF cheddar cheese on top and POW! I cried yesterday as I ate it.

Have to say something about My Fitness Pal (MFP) app. IT IS A MUST FOR ME!!!!!!

I can't say enough about how easy it is to use and how it keeps me on track for Water too.

I use it every meal and it helps me decide if I need anymore Protein which isn't always easy to track. I also will put in a meal and then save it as one of my meals and then I can easily add all the items at once instead of individually adding each item.

Using the UPC scanner to add food is awesome. I just hit the UPC button and let it scan my yogurt and BAM information is added!

If you don't use it give it a try and you will be glad.

Congratulations!!! That is awesome!

Hope all is going well kind Sir Just joined you on the Loser's Bench yesterday! Not much pain at all, a little odd for me. Just the gas is a bit of a nuisance, can't burp much.

Hope all is going well kind Sir Just joined you on the Loser's Bench yesterday! Not much pain at all, a little odd for me. Just the gas is a bit of a nuisance, can't burp much.

Are you using heating pad? It works wonders on gas pains and when I was home I used the Gas-X Strips too.

Also CONGRATS on Loser's Bench!!!!

Update Post-Op Week 2:

So two weeks down and Life to Go! What an experience!

I decided I will weigh myself "Officially" on Fridays. I do sneak on scale every once in awhile lol.

Today is Friday so my "Official Weigh-In is: 263 ---> Down 24!!!!

Also that puts my BMI below 40 (39.98) for first time in LONG time!!

I have been using MFP everyday for every meal and liquid.

Wanted to bring another tool I use daily and it is a food SCALE.

I can't believe how inaccurate I am with measurements. I am one who is good with numbers and approximations but food is so deceiving! I am positive that if I didn't use my $20 Weight Watchers food scale I would be eating too much of everything! I have not eating too much yet and I attribute that directly to the food scale.

That is my two cents for the day. Have a GREAT LIFE FINALLY LIVING!

Update Week 2 Day 3:

Constipation Emancipation

I ran into the wonderful world of constipation again. I took MOM at night and didn't move much so last night took it again and PADOW! I am concerned though because I don't want to keep playing catch up on the bowel movements (BM).

I sent my NUT an email and she said constipation is biggest problem with WLS. She suggested use Colace or MiraLAX daily in the morning. She also said that the transitions from one food Stage to the next Food Stage are when it seems to be the worst.

So I bought the 50 pound bottle of MiraLAX yesterday and I will be taking it daily. I did try it this morning and it is amazing how much it doesn't have any taste in water! I am not sure how long I will need to take it but I will do anything to avoid the constipation nation.

BTW I am now going into the Food Stage 3 - SOFT FOODS. I will update the first day of new stage tomorrow.

Yep! That constipation is a doozy! Glad you got a plan to deal with it now. I'm going to have to look into Miralax too.

Hope the next food stage transitions well!

Kenny, you are the superstar of WLS patients and an amazing, incredible inspiration to those who are just beginning their journey. Your commitment and positive attitude along with the all important sense of humor are an absolute delight. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to following your progress. Thank you for sharing and well done!!

Kenny, you are the superstar of WLS patients and an amazing, incredible inspiration to those who are just beginning their journey. Your commitment and positive attitude along with the all important sense of humor are an absolute delight. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to following your progress. Thank you for sharing and well done!!

Wow. Thank you very much! I don't know what to say coming from a man (you) who I have been following who I feel is the real superstar!!!

Update Week 3 Day 5:

DECISION INCISIONS

Today I would like to talk about the holes, AKA Incisions, in our abdomen area. I had Steri-strips put on my incisions and they must have used super duper glue on the suckers because my last two just fell off TODAY. And yes I have been showering!

I was real concerned about how to handle the incisions and the Steri-strips on them. My concern was I would pull them off too soon and my scar would be bigger or worse yet I would open some of the incision back open. I did not rush them coming off at all even though I thought they looked gross just hanging on as long as they did. Usually after shower is when they would loosen up and if they fell off enough that I could see the incision I would pull off. I am glad I waited because a few of them are hard to see already and none are raised and they look good.

The measurements of my 6 incisions are: 2 are 1/4" - 2 are 1/2" - 2 are 3/4".

I have seen so many options on how to take care of them to prevent the scars from being seen. One of my daughters had a fight with a marble shelf with her face and the marble shelf won!! We put Mederma on her cut on her face and it worked really good so I am using that couple times a day.

Can I see the incisions still? YUP. Are they going away slowly? YUP!!

UPDATE 1 Month:

Happy 1 Month Surgiversary!!!

So yesterday was one month from my WLS that was a blur that day. This last month has been mind boggling with how things can change so fast and it encourages me to want to work harder and never cheat. I can honestly say I have not cheated ONCE this last month! Will I never cheat? Yep probably because I am still human but this head start is great!

I have read so many of the posts from the Veterans here that have helped my mindset to stay focused and keep the path. I understand that everything slows down and eventually I will have actually be hungry again but not right now!! I am enjoying every second of this stage because I know it wont last. I know the changes and decisions that I am making everyday are cemented a permanent pattern for a healthy life! I had a teacher or coach that would always say:

"Practice doesn't make Perfect.....Practice makes PERMANENT!"

So here are some stats because I love stats and it is great to see the inches lost not just pounds. These are how much I lost in ONE month:

WEIGHT: 34 lbs

WAIST: 5 in

CHEST: 3 in

LEG: 2 in

NECK: 1.25 in

ARM: 1.25 in

I have also been able to do more on the exercise front. Today I went 2 miles in 32 minutes with running 6 mph for 8 of those minutes! A month ago I was walking 2.5 mph for 20 minutes.

More to come and thanks for all the support all of you!!!!

Edited January 27, 201412 yr by knt4ever

Great job on your first month! Your loss is amazing! I love reading your posts!

Awesome job!! Way to go those are amazing results!