Dec 4, 2007 - Melting

Today I am 15 days post op. I don't want to make it sound easier than it is, for some folks it is very difficult. Difficult to make the transition to less food, pain from the surgery, difficulty moving around. It just has not been that way for me. I don't know if I have a high pain tolerance, or I am a quick healer, or what ever - I don't know, but it just hasn't been that difficult so far. Maybe I am just too stupid to realize that it is difficult, but it hasn't been. Now for the big announcement.

42 pounds.

Thats right, from 10 days prior to the surgery till day 15 post op, I have shed 42 pounds. 2 large bags of dog food. One large turkey + 3 chickens. Three 14 pound bowling balls. Gone, disappeared. This is just strange. I am a bowler and I have lost my balls. I eat 4 to 5 times per day, I am full, not starving, and loosing almost 2 pounds per day. Clothes that did not fit, now fit. Many are getting too big. My watch is spinning on my wrist and my wedding ring is spinning on my finger. I have lost 10 percent of my starting weight in the first 25 days. I am waiting for the crashing stop, the inevitable stall and I am sure the intoxication will subside when the stall occurs, but right now I am living not so large in it.

Lets now talk about the difficulties of the first two weeks. I wrote earlier about Days 1-4. After that, my big issue was the gas pains. Not gas from the what I was consuming, but what had been pumped into me for the surgery. That large gas bubble provided some intense pain through day 10 or so after the surgery. If I laid down, it hurt, if I sat too long it hurt. My left shoulder hurt. I could feel the bubbles moving around in my chest cavity. One day I thought I was having a heart attack but it was just the gas. Pain wise, there has not been a whole lot of it. The lap sites were pain free by day 5. The pain from the surgery was only evident when I tried to sleep.

I normally sleep on my side or stomach and when I tried that in the first 10 days, I felt pain in my insides. After day 10 I was able to sleep on my side or my stomach with very little or no pain whatsoever. In fact, I have not taken any pain meds since about Day 7 post op. Sleeping the first seven days home was hard. I just had trouble falling asleep at night. I do not know why, I just did. I took some Ambien for a couple of nights after I stopped the pain meds, but since about day 10, I have fallen asleep much like I did prior to the surgery. Now sleeping on the other hand has been a bit strange. I have been have just downright strange dreams. Not that most dreams are not usually strange, but these have been most unusually strange. I have heard others have experienced this and it will go away.

Did I mention I have lost 42 pounds.

If you have been following this blog, you will remember I made quite a to-do about taking a crap. Bowel movements. In the first week, when I still had alot of gas, the bowel movements continued to be an experience. They are basically, sorry mom, crap explosions with lots of crap shrapnel. Wifey is definitely not happy and after 7 days of this, I could not longer get out of cleaning up by telling Sandy I hurt to bend over a clean the toilet. Thank God that by day ten, the bowel were back to normal, except for the frequency. Taking in much less food has decreased the frequency of the venerable BM.

By the way, I have lost 42 pounds.

One thing that has been very difficult has been watching television. Not the sitting, or the inane crap that most network television shows consist of, but the food commercial. One half hour show had 9 or 10 restaurant commercials, and I found that just mentally difficult. The marketers make all that food look so good. I have just taken to looking away when those temptations are there.

All in all, it has been an amazing two weeks. I am back at work, I feel great and feel incredible positive about the future. I plan on sharing it all with you so come back as I add to this saga. Be well, and if I didn't mention it already, I have lost 42 pounds. Absolutely Awesome.