11 days away - anxious/nervous/scared

[395Ron 396]

It is nice to know that kind of customer service is still around.

[RNY DC 12]

@jdc how did the surgery go??? We were bypassed on the same date 7/28!hope u r doing great!!!!

[Dub 9,922]

Awesome attitude.

This has been a motivating thread in every way.

I hope it went well and you are doing great.

[vegas2013 12]

God Bless you on your journey. Much love an prayers.

[jdc121975 63]

Omg everyone I was out of recovery in under 30 minutes and I forced myself to walk the moment I was put in room. I was walking the entire floor 12 times or more Before the evening of my RnY procedure. By day 2 I probably walked a good mile during the day before they pulled the drainage tube, IV, and released me on no diabetic meds at all.

Since then I decided to buy a Fitbit (yeah no shit I was the guy that wouldn't turn of the video games or TV and only paused them to talk to kids from the couch or jump up to grab some food and by some I mean a portion suitable for King Aurthurs Knights - all of them)

Well now I'm walking 10,000 plus steps a day and trying to bike about 4 miles a day. Holy shit right? I'm just over two weeks out now and my July 1st weight was a whopping 348 pounds, as of this morning my scale had me at 289.8!!!!!! I'm busting my ass, pushing limits the surgeon has told me I shouldn't be pushing, and I've had INSANE energy since I came out of recovery. The tell me that in itself is an anomaly because most all people are weak and tired after a major surgery like this, but I haven't felt weak or tired. In fact I wake up at about 7:30am and bed at midnight on average. I'm eating by the clock, I don't really care for food anymore. Wife makes pizza it doesn't bother me at all. Tacos, couldn't care less. I make kids pancakes and they seem like a waste of time to me. I eat a single egg made into a cheese with salsa, pepper jack cheese, salt, and pepper. Or a filet of tilapia. A couple slices of Deli meats makes a meal for me now. I use the half of the tilapia filet fork shedded and mix it with an egg the next day and that makes me two meals of a mock fish patty (tastes awesome). But food is boring now. I toss more on my plate than I eat. I've been drinking 100oz plus of fluids since a couple days after surgery which I've gone against the dietician guidelines and have a 16oz Protein Drink (syntax nectar chocolate truffle) which gives me 46 grams of Protein.

It's not all great though. My wife and I are drifting apart. She sees it and I see it. I'm not the same lazy guy I was a few weeks ago. She isn't an active woman. She tries but I'm going for 4 mile bike rides with her and kids and then coming home and saying lets go for a walk I want to get in 6000 more steps......I'm becoming the guy who actually enjoys walking and basically beating my previous day's mark. It's sad really because no matter what she looks like I love her and am attracted to her. I just can't see it continuing like this and not having major issues down the line, I have to face it - she married the guy that was a home body not the get up and go for a walk guy. And especially not the guy who is going to walk miles and miles every night. My steri strips haven't even all fallen off my stitches and I'm going a mile a minute.

Heading to six flags great America tomorrow with my son and his friend, their 5 so no major coasters (that's next week when we take our 8 year old and her friend) - season pass holders. I want to test myself under the worst possible conditions. At a theme park as a dining pass holder surrounded by fried and massive portions, junk foods galore, soda, and just about all the rest of the no no items possible......can I do it? Well I've got my Water bottles, my lemonade crystal light, a half dozen sergentto snack packs I found that are new to market (cheese nuts and dried fruits) not all of which I am supposed to hAve yet but under a dire situation they will be handy. I've also looked over the dining pass options and I can get a deli wrap (take out meats toss the rest) and they also have a chicken Caesar salad in a taco shell bowl (grilled chicken meat is doable) also for a buck extra charge I can get a turkey leg (not the best as far as two weeks out from surgery but I'll try it well chewed and see)......snacks will not work, free refills in our sports bottle will go filled with ice for me so I can have my crystal light ice cold. I'll manage because I'm preparing myself for success. And boy oh boy will I get the steps in lol. Even a fish taco is doable if i scoop thru the fried outside and scrape out the fish part lol toss the rest of the crap.

And I'm gonna try some tester seats I couldn't dream of getting into a month ago and see if I am any closer to riding those coasters - I see surgeon a week from tomorrow (or today - Friday) depending on time zone. And hopefully he clears me for coasters so if I fit I can go on some with my daughter next week :-)

All in all I'm doing GREAT!!!!

And anyone that's got a Fitbit - I'm new there OBVIOUSLY but my email is jdc121975@gmail.com and I'd love to have some friends on that to keep me motivated and to motivate so add me!

I hope everyone who is pre op takes this advice - push yourself! No one else can and it may hurt to push yourself but the pain in only temporary and in days you will be asked stuff like "did u really just have major surgery????"

And to those of us that are post op my advice is - keep on track! Don't listen to the 1 and 2 and 8 year post op people who say "yeah I can eat a jimmy john unwich" fact is they have forgotten the whole reason we all gained weight to begin with - we pushed and pushed more and more in! Stay under 4oz of food people. Stay away from breads and crap. Processed food is a waste! Remember we all got fat not all at once but with that first bite of junk food.

We were all given a a pair of die that were weighted for us to win, but we have to do the work with the winnings so we keep winning!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Congratulations on your recovery. You sound like you are doing great and I love your enthusiasm.

I would caution you to listen to your surgeon and maybe not push yourself too hard. You are still healing, especially internally, and you don't want to injure something that might put you in the hospital and set back your surgery.

As to the snack packs at the amusement park, those would be a great idea if you were farther out post-surgery, but even though you are tempted, stick with your post-op plan. The texture of your food is critical early out (see my above comment about pushing yourself). Why not take some extra Syntrax packets instead of the nuts, etc.?

This is the first time I read your post. I don't generally read all the bypass posts and appreciate your honesty.

Best of luck with your further recovery.

[jdc121975 63]

Thank you. And yes the nuts are a little early I agree. I have an ability I have had since I was a child to basically do what birds do. To be a little more visual I can chew, swallow, and before food is down i can smoothly regurgitate the food which at that time has the feel of almost a lubricated ball but allows for further chewing and this lubrication adds to an extreme break down into a mush. Now I realize this is very detailed and visual and may seem disgusting but there's no different taste. Imagine a post nasal drip being pushed into your mouth from your throat. This process has allowed me to eat most whole foods like brats, chicken, etc non puréed as soon as I was off liquids. And yes with this process I actually showed my surgeon the consistency by giving him a quick 30 second "show"