My wife.

This post is a little off my normal topic, but I wanted to share. My wife has been an awesome supporter of mine for 4+ years. Especially since my decision to go through with gastric bypass surgery. Having her help me has been great motivation to not fail and disappoint. Sometime she can be a pain in the ass, but that's what women are there for. :D

In the last three years of our marriage, we've had two beautiful daughters. Being pregnant, damn near back to back, hasn't been easy on her and she has gained a little weight from it. I didn't think she looked bad, but in her mind, she wasn't happy where she was at. Plus, having the stress to be a stay at home mom and hardly ever go out didn't help. She pretty much takes care of everything around the house and puts the girls and I first on her list.

Well I'm happy to say she finally has been thinking of herself lately and has started to watch more of what she's been eating. I know it's been hard. Especially living with a dude who has been dropping weight like there's no tomorrow. I feel bad when I use to tell her I dropped 5 pounds in one day. She has been so diligent in watching her calories and not eating junk, this last month, that she has lost 11lbs!!! I'm so proud of her!!!! Its only a start to where she wants to be, but at least shes trying!! She has been working hard on this and I just want her to know that it hasn't gone unnoticed! I really wish she could goto the gym with me, but I know that's hard to do since we have no one to watch the kids. Once the weather gets better, we will start walking out side with the kids. Plus we plan to get bikes and start going for family bike rides.

My main point, I just want to let her know that she has been the single most awesome person in my life. I don't say it enough to her and I know that is wrong of me. She doesn't get the credit she deserves and I feel bad for that. I love the fact that she is down to earth and doesn't always have to fit in the trends as some women do. When she wants to though, she steps it up and always looks hot for me. I just want to say, I love you Jodi!! Thanks for being a great wife and an awesome mom to our kids. Don't ever forget that!

Week 2, stage 2.

After getting my drain taken out, I get to FINALLY have....................cream of chicken soup!!!! Drained of course. I know, you're jealous! It has to be drained because there are small pieces of chicken in it that could get stuck in the opening of my new pouch. Starting the stage two diet meant that I could have a little more flavor in my diet. Everything still had to be a liquid for the most part, but at least I could have more texture if you want to call it that. I mainly ate cream soups, sugar free pudding, sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles, light yogurt and protein drinks. You could have cream of wheat and applesauce, but I didn't like that stuff before surgery, sure as hell wasn't going to try it after and risk puking it back up! So I stuck to what I knew best. It was rough, but at least it was something.

Starting stage two also meant that I need to take things really slow. Meaning, you are suppose to take a half hour to eat 1/3 cup of food. Go ahead, try that. Go from eating 1/3 cup of food in one SWALLOW to taking a half hour to eat at ONE SITTING. Rough. So my first meal was cream of chicken soup and it took me around 10 to 15 minutes to finish. I basically tried to just Savor the flavor when I ate. Which, I guess is something we all should do, but I reeeeaaaalllly savored the flavor. Almost like Over exaggerated "eating" (more like slurping) my food. I tried to go slow, just for the fact that i wasn't sure how things were going to go. I wasn't sure if my new pouch was going to be pissed at me for cutting him up or not. I had no clue. So after 15 minutes, I was done and full. I didn't have any problems finishing it that "fast". I asked the group that I'm a part of and they said everyone is different and that once I get to eating "real" food, the half hour to an hour to eat applies more. Makes sense.

I'm thankful my tastes haven't changed all that much since the surgery. With Roux en y surgery, there is a possibility that your taste buds could change and some foods you once loved, now can't stand. The only thing I've found that tastes weird is milk and until recently, water. Milk has this god awful nasty after taste that I can't seem to shake. I use to love milk and was never bothered by the taste. I wonder if I'm lactose intolerant now because if I drink too much milk, it does a number on my system. That is another side effect from the surgery. you can become lactose intolerant. Could be coincidence. That could also be why the protein drinks I once loved, now sicken me to the core. I was excited to have them when I started stage two because you have to get at least 80 grams of protein a day. If you don't, you risk losing muscle mass and hair. I don't want to look like a bald bag of bones after all is said and done!! Ha! Ok, not really, but protein is important for a lot of things, so everyone should get an adequate amount in their diet. For gastric bypass patients, it's really important because we can't eat as much as others can. So we use the drinks to supplement. Well, I even tried switching brands and that didn't help the taste. The only thing I haven't tried is just taking a scoop of protein powder with water and mixing that up. I tried it before surgery and it about made me throw up. So I toughed it out and drank my drinks as best I could. I've found now, 3 months later if I take a half of a banana (thank you Gwen Stefani for helping me spell bananas), one scoop of protein powder, cup of milk and a cup of ice, blend until smooth, that's the only way I can drink my protein now.

After having surgery,(well for everyone really) it's important you get enough fluid in you or risk becoming dehydrated. They recommend you get at least 80 ounces a day. I now try and get a gallon of water a day. I say now because in the beginning, I didn't try hard enough and had a slight complication. To me, it's slight now, at the time I was scared shitless! After two weeks of being out of the hospital I was right back in it. Sunday morning I woke up and went to the bathroom and noticed my pee smelled really bad. Kinda like ammonia. I didn't think anything of it. About an hour later I felt like I had to pee again. Not normal to me. So I tried and during the whole time it burned as I was going. I only went a little bit and at the end, blood came out. I freaked out for a bit. I never peed blood in my life. Totally new to me. I thought maybe it was a fluke. So I left it at that. About another hour passed and the same thing happened only more came out. Finally after like an hour of deciding, I went to the ER. I just didn't want to be there and I didn't want to spend more money at a hospital. Those were my only two reasons why I didn't go sooner. Haha. So I get there, pee in a cup, sit and wait, only for them to tell me it might be an infection, might not. might be a kidney stone, might not. Sweet. So they gave my some antibiotics and off I went. I got home and realized I can't take pills whole because of the surgery. So I had to crush the pills up and put them in my cream of chicken soup. Big fricken mistake right there!! You ever tried crushed up pills that weren't meant to be crushed up?? The worst taste ever in your mouth. A taste that cream of chicken soup can't hide!!!! I did that once. After that I crushed them up and mixed it with an ounce of flavored water. Wasn't that bad because it was a quick shot compared to a long lasting meal. I only did that for 4 days out of the 10 i was suppose to do and stopped. Everything was better after the fourth day. Not that it was the right thing to do, but I couldn't handle the taste anymore. My doctor wanted me to go get a CT scan and do some other tests, but I didn't. This stuff wasn't cheap! Plus I felt a lot better, so I left it alone. I don't really know what happened. Either I had a bladder infection from the catheter during surgery and the antibiotics cleared it up or I had a kidney stone that was caused by not drinking enough fluid and I passed it. So ever since then, I try to get at least a gallon of water in me a day. I don't want to go through that again.

I went back to work after being off for a week and a half. It wasn't too bad, but the not bring able to lift 15lbs thing was killing me. Everything I use at work Is well over 15lbs. A case of pop/soda is 30lbs. My hand cart weighs at least 20lbs. So I was really limited on what I could do. Basically sit in the truck and stock the snack machines. I had to wait until my third week of being out of surgery was over before I could lift anything heavy. Going back to work wasn't bad. I felt ok. My energy was alright, but not great. I wasn't eating much and not taking vitamins yet, so that was to be expected. Even being next to the temptations(no, not the Motown group) wasn't that bad. I wasn't hungry, so I never had the feeling of wanting any of the snacks I work with. Which was great by the way! I was worried about that.

Thursday the 15th of November rolled around and I got the ok to go back to work at normal capacity. Which was a relief that I didn't have to worry about picking stuff up and it being too heavy anymore. When I got out of surgery I weighed 377lbs and stayed that weight for a whole week. When I weighed myself at the doctors office, I weighed 365lbs. So in 3 weeks I only lost 12lbs. I could deal with that. That wasn't too bad considering I haven't been able to work out the whole time. The only exercise I was doing was walking a mile a day. I was happy for the most part. I still had bouts of depression that I was dealing with. Overall, I felt good and was happy with my new life. After I got out of the doctors office, I was really happy. Reason being? Thanksgiving was only a week a way!! Oh yeah, I got cleared to eat real food!!!!! Hell yeah!! I'll tell you more next week. Thank you all again for the amazing support!! Truly humbling! Thank you!! I added a photo of me that I use to like. Not because I'm holding my daughter by her ankle, but because I thought I looked good compared to what I was before. That was taken in August of 2012. I weighed 415lbs then.

Week one after surgery.

The first week after surgery was a long week. When I woke up from surgery, I was pretty much back asleep. I saw my wife, sister inlaw and my baby for what seemed like only minutes and then they were gone. I don't blame them either. The nurses told them it would be about a 2 hour surgery and then they could see me probably around 1 o'clock and they didn't see me until around 5pm . That I know of, there weren't any complications during surgery, but I guess they didn't have a bed for me and they were trying to get my pain and breathing under control. So when they left, I went back to sleep. It's kinda shitty sleeping on your back if you didn't already know that. You have to do that for the first week at least. When you get out of surgery, they put in a drain tube and for whatever reason, you have to sleep on your back. Probably so you don't break the staples on your pouch or rip one of the incisions open. Plus, you have to worry about this tube that is coming out of you with a ball on the other end. I had 5 incision marks across my belly forming a line just above my belly button. They all looked ok except for the one on my left side. That one hurt the most and I looked like they tucked all my skin in the incision because I had a pretty big dent on my left side. I don't know how else to describe it, but there was an actual dent in my body. They said it could be from the stitches. They might have sewn more layers of skin together on that side, I don't know. It doesn't look that bad now, so I'm fine with it.

That first night in the hospital was pretty shitty. I'd only sleep for 2 hours tops. Wake up, get poked for either a blood draw or medicine and then go back to sleep. I had a room mate, which was very interesting. The guy had back surgery and broke out with a 103F degree fever while he was staying there. He was probably in his 60s. I felt bad for him. Seemed like a nice guy, but he complained a lot that he was going to die. I heard EVERYTHING that the guy did. And I do mean EVERYTHING. I didn't talk much to him. Didn't want to get too close, ya know? Probably for the fact that if he did die, I didn't want to have to get his wife flowers. What?? Surgery is expensive! I couldn't waste more money on something else, let alone flowers for someone I didn't know! I just had my insides rearranged, I ain't got time for that! I'm of course just kidding and I would have bought her a nice floral arrangement for what ever 5.99 could buy. Ok, maybe 10.99, but I'd keep the receipt for tax purposes!! That I know of, he didn't die and went home the day after me. There, a happy ending for the guy.

The next morning after surgery, the nurse had me try walking around so I didn't get any blood clots in my system. They really should make hospital gowns like robes. Just throwing that out there. Oh and more manly colors too! So I took my floral pattern ass out in to the hallways. The nurse, whose name was joe, as in a male nurse, not Bobby Jo, which would imply a female nurse, walked with me. They probably figured if I was gonna fall down, this poor guy was gonna catch me. It was funny because he seemed pretty unsure the whole time we walked. I felt good though, no real uncomfortable pain that a little breathing couldn't help. I actually walked a pretty good distance. Oh, did I mention I had a god awful catheter in? I was never use to having anything dangling between my knees before until now! Haha! It's definitely weird having one of those in. Thankfully I wasn't awake when they put it in, but I was when he ripped it out of me!! I hope to never in my life have one of those in me again. I walked at least three times a day which is what they wanted. Basically I walked and slept the day and a half I was there.i was doing very well and they gave me the ok to go home on Sunday. I got to shower Saturday night which felt great! It's very weird showering with drain tube coming out of the middle of your abdomen. It didn't hurt having it there, but one time when I was showering I hit it and pulled it out a little bit. They give you a oxygen type tube to clip the drain ball to and have it hang around your neck.

On Sunday I left the hospital and came home. What a relief! It was nice to be home and see my family. It felt great to get kinda back into the swing of things even though my wife was yelling at me for over doing it. The doctor told me to not lift over 15lbs, something that was incredible hard to follow. 15lbs is not a lot of weight at all! My youngest daughter is 19lbs so she was "off limits" to pick up. Well, I didn't quite listen all the time. I did pick my daughters up once in a while because I missed hanging on to them. Plus I felt extremely bad that my wife had to do EVERYTHING by herself with no help from anyone. For a dude who can just about lift up anything (within reason), Not be able to lift up his 6 month old daughter, That truly made me feel like shit. Jodi does so much around the house with me helping a little bit, that after my surgery she was doing everything by herself now. Which, I guess was no different than normal, so I guess I shouldn't have felt that bad. Haha! So, I did over due it a couple of times, but it never had any affect on my incisions or my new pouch. So I don't think I did such a bad thing. Of course, everyone is different, so listen to your doctor, said the hypocrite.

During my stay in the hospital, I lived off of ice chips. Water, even after I got home tasted like a creamy watery mix that was absolutely hard to take. When I got home I had only crystal light, sugar free Popsicles and chicken broth to "eat" for the first week. I could "eat" as much as I wanted of those items. For the first week, you are on a clear liquid diet until your drain is taken out. I'm assuming so my little pouch could heal. It wasn't too bad for the first few days, but when Jodi made dinners, man the smells were so great! I never felt hungry though. I did take some regular food and chew it up, but then spit it out afterwards. I'm not really proud to say that, but for having nothing but clear liquid in your system for a week, there's nothing better then having a food taste in your mouth. Jodi would look at me like I was crazy, but she was only worried I would mess this surgery up. Im not crazy and my nurse at the surgery center said that it was pretty normal to do. She just said do not swallow it, which I never did. I was too scared to even think about swallowing it. It was just great to chew something other than ice.

On the Friday after my surgery, I had my drain taken out. What a weird feeling that was. Writing this, I can still feel it bring pulled out of me. It felt like my stomach just did a flip when she pulled this 10 inch drain out of me. So gross!! It didn't hurt though. I was bummed out because I thought she was going to have to stick me with a needle. I have now had my fair share of needles that I could scream. Especially after the hour of the nurses trying to get an IV started before surgery. Oh and the half hour of them trying to get a new one started Saturday night after my line went bad. Pretty much done with needles, but I know I still have blood draws todo after a few months. Oh well. So I was glad that all she had to do was snip a stitch and pull! After that I got the ok to progress to stage 2 diet which I will update next week.

This was getting a little long so I want to cut this short and I will update this every week until I run out of things to talk about. Thank you all for the support and for taking the time to read this little blog! It means so much to me, I'm deeply humbled by it. Have a great day everyone!