Tue Nov 03 2009. Slow down, I'm moving too fast...

Today was an odd day. I had a uneasy day yesterday with my meals, and today I have just not been hungry. I kept and eye out on my stomach (well, literally) and I just never got hungry. I did get my protein in - 50g of it anyway - with my coffee this morning. It was about 4:30 before I felt like I could eat something, and I had a serving of homemade chicken soup that my sis-in-law Lisa Jones made. It really hit the spot. Afterwards I had 2 fudgesicles (low carb made with Splenda)... but that still is less than 1/2 of the calories I need, and about 2/3 of the protein for the day.

Laurie asked me to fix her a grilled cheese sandwich for her dinner - she says she cannot make a GCV sandwich near as tasty as mine are :o) I wondered the entire time I was cooking it if I would ever be able to have a grilled cheese sandwich again. Any kind of processed bread is not going to go over very well, though I did start to think about maybe a tortilla or some of those smaller bread offerings I've seen in the store recently. I'll hit my web resources and see what options some of them have tried out. And I did all this while closely watching the grilled cheese "grill". My mom can relate to burning bread (hi Mom!) and I still have to smile and laugh when I think of those childhood memories. Most of my grilled cheese sandwiches involve scraping off the over-cooked (burnt?) exterior! I think they taste better like that anyway.....

I enjoyed my day at work (from home) today, though I did have a real scare when reviewing my health insurance choices for next year. I had three plans to choose from and instinctively went with the highest priced one offered. I thought for sure it would have the most flexibility, and with Laurie and My issues, we need flexibility. But a good friend from work called and warned me to be absolutely sure..... so I called my gastric bypass surgeon and sure enough, he is not under the "most expensive" plan! All of Laurie's doctors and our family doc are under the "middle" Aetna plan offered, so I quickly changed my election choice just under the final-select wire as dictated by LexisNexis. Whew! The middle-tier plan has out-of-network benefits while the top-tier plan has none. How odd is that?

That is enough excitement for one day. Now to go get a drink and keep my liquids up. Have a great evening! Steve

November 01 2009. Monday.

Today was "not so good". It started out well, with my egg and a small serving of grits, but for the rest of the day I just felt unsettled. I returned to work today, working from home for a week. That was nice, cleaning up email and taking care of projects new and old. For lunch I had a bit of crab meat with a spoonful of mayonnaise. I did get my calcium and iron in, but fell short on my protein for the day.

At 11am I started on a beef stew recipe that was recommended on ThinnerTimes - puree it of course prior to eating. It was your standard beef stew recipe, with a can of cream of chicken, a dry onion soup packet, 1/4 cup of wine, a onion sliced into rings, and one hour prior to completion add carrots and green beans. It came out excellently, but even before I took the first bite I knew it wasn't going to work for me. I used my hand mixer to get a 1 cup serving to the correct consistency (see pic), and it was indeed tasty, but the moment the first forkful hit my lips, my stomach started feeling funny. I ate about 1/2 a cup and stored the rest.

Listening to the new Barry Manilow Christmas CD. Great music. Olivia Newton John has a new Christmas Cd out, too. It is never too early to get started on Holiday Cheer!

Ah, November first. It is cool outside, and I am cold enough to use a small space heater back in my office. I had every intention of getting out today, but found other things to keep me busy around the house. It was another good food day, with me adding the new Peanut Butter powder to my protein drink mix for my morning coffee.

I swear I am going to get out tomorrow and buy material to make the cottage cheese pancakes and the no-noodle lasagna - tomorrow! But tomorrow I start back to work, though the week will be "working from home". Many thanks to my director, Ed Musgrave, for working with me to make that happen. I will actually be back in the office one week from tomorrow, Nov 09, 2009.

One thing I will miss is being there to participate in the Gator v Bulldog football game talk. Oh well, there is always next year - for the Bulldog faithful :)

I found a fellow RNY post-op patient who has the same blood-pooling bruise scenario I do. His father is a surgery and he said that in some circumstances, blood can seep out after the surgery and it heads towards the lowest point via gravity - and inn my case, that is at the bottom of my abdomen. He said his Dad said it could take up to six months for the bruising to be reabsorbed into our systems. six months!

I've attached a photo of Laurie and I that was taken in Cancun several years ago - my first glance went straight to the plates of food we are holding. The restaurant, La Habichuela, has the best Sunday seafood buffet I have ever seen. Lobster, shrimp, ceviche, all kinds of seafood and pasta.... eating there now would be quite different, but just as tasty!

Oct 31 2009 - Halloween! and Gators vs Bulldogs football game from Jacksonville, FL

Happy Halloween, All. Today was a good day, but moreso for the anticipation of the Florida Gators vs Georgia Bulldogs football game today. I had another egg for breakfast today (omlette tomorrow!) and my wonderful protein additive, and was off for a bit this afternoon. I stopped on the way home to get Laurie's Borrego cleaned up and since it was nasty outside, there was no crowd - and no workers! It took the skeleton (!) crew a while to get to the Borrego, so I watched the first few minites of the football game at the car wash - when the Gators scored so quickly in the 1st quarter, I relaxed a bit.



My weight loss continues, my body continues to heal from the surgery, the bruising is, well, still there. But all else is kicking along just fine.





I found a great recipe for noodle-less lasgna that meets my Phase 2 requirements and is high in protein, gonna try it tomorrow.

• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup marinara sauce
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp basil
• 2 egg whites.
• mix together, bake at 350degrees for 30 minutes.

Have a great Halloween, all. See you tomorrow.

Happy Gator on WDUN/AM

My mother has a Friday broadcast on WDUN-AM here in Gainesville, GA where she is known as "Happy Gator", a Florida Gator football fan. The two morning hosts, Bill and Joel, talk to "Happy Gator" for a few minutes around the Friday 8:30am timeframe during the football season and often pit her against Georgia Bulldog fans, all in good fun. I have a brief clip of "Happy Gator"s latest broadcast on Fri 10/30/2009. Go Mom!

www.conundrumcomputing.com/wdun_10-30-2009.mp3

Friday 10/30/2009 Post-Op followup with Dr. Richard

I had a great Post-Op visit with Dr. Richard. As I walked into the Dr's office, I noticed the others in the waiting room. There were at least six other "big" patients there, and some looked very unhappy. I figured the unhappy ones were probably there post-op and suffering through that two-week liquid diet, like I was two weeks ago. Others that were leaving with bags of vitamin supplements and protein powder seemed much happier (like me!). As I waited, the receptionist asked me to fill out a standard form that described my post-op status and had a list of 16 (sixteen!) maladies that often affect weight-loss-surgery (WLS) patients - and I was able to answer 'no symptoms' to all of them. I hope and pray that continues just like it is.

The doctor first noticed my Gator shirt. As a Harvard grad, he said he didn't have a "dog in that fight". Bad euphemism! He then "inspected" my abdomen and said everything looked good (other than the bruising, which he thought would get worse before it started to get better). I asked my questions (diabetes, blood pressure, goal weight) and he said I was free to move on to Phase 2 of the recovery diet. That means I can start to add softened solids, like fish and chicken. big day!

It was a cold and rainy day outside, but I felt pretty good! My brother Ken and I went to Sams to look at an item he is thinking of buying, and since it was lunchtime, we went to a Thai restaurant nearby. I thought I could find something on the menu that met my dietary needs - and I did. But I think my stomach (pouch!) overruled my brain, and my selections were not the best :o) I enjoyed eating the limited amount that I did (5 or 6 shrimp, soup, some veggies well chewed), but the rest of the day was uncomfortable. I see that the predictions that my new stomach would dictate my dietary comings-and-goings were indeed correct! A good friend who also had this GB surgery said that I would step over the line once, but not twice. Well, consider that done!

Today is 10/31/2009, Halloween, and the Florida/Georgia football game. And tomorrow is November! The Christmas tree goes up next weekend (why wait?).

Have a great day! Steve

Thu 10/29/2009 7 days Post-Op.

Today was a very good day. I was able to add refried beans to my diet, cutting them with chicken broth, or the tomatoe soup that Lisa and Ken have so graciously provided. Yum! But my big day is tomorrow. I have a 10:45am surgery followup with Dr. Richard. Tomorrow morning I get to have a single scrambled egg! I can put a tbsp of salsa and a pinch of shredded cheese on it. A real meal! I am guessing that the reason for the doc wanting me to have eaten "something of substance" is so that he can listen as it moves through my newly routed intestinal tract. Sounds OK to me! Bring on the EGG!

But this is interesting. I am down 18.8 lbs from my preop surgery weight!

Well, tomorrow is trash day, so I better start gathering the trash before it gets too dark out.

More tomorrow! Mmmmmm. An egg!