4 Days Post Operation so much to tell

OK lets start the the day of surgery itself...left the house at 5:45Am to be at the hospital by 7am. We got to Memorial Hospital  in plenty of time. Was taken into pre opt by 7:15 where they do well what all pre opt areas do make you sit in front of a clock and watch the time, as well as meet your Dr and the nice people that will make you go to sleep. Then you wait and wait and wait...Finally its 9:1 and I am wheeled into the operating room.

Once in the operating room I lay on the table and I hear after a couple of mins are you ready to go to sleep and the next thin I know I wake up in recovery. So the surgery itself took all of 45 mins to do and that is where they took 90% of my stomach out. once awake in the recovery room i feel no pain at all but I do feel the bloating gas pain from them pumping me full of air. SO from recovery I am wheeled directly into my room which was 410W. From there I proceed to begin walking about 30 mins of being put into the room. Walking is the only way and best way to get rid of the bloating and pressure in the belly. Although I an very tired from still having anesthesia in my system I walk and walk and walk. My wife comes up to see me and stays a while then I tell her to go as all I was doing was sleeping. That's all day one....

Day 2... I wake up with my tail bone hurting like a bitch because I didn't sleep in the bed because it was uncomfortable so I slept in a reclining chair that was not  much better. SO upon waking I now really feel the discomfort in my belly but I cant tell if its gas pain or the beginning of the healing process. SO again I start walking the halls looking for as much relief as I could find. Finally I give in and ask for my pain medication. After taking them I feel much better. Of course while doing all this I need to keep myself hydrated as I will be on all clear liquids for the remainder of the week. My family comes you to visit and they can see that I am in discomfort so I ask for more pain meds and my boys make me get up and walk the halls. for Now while I am trying to drink liquid every time I would swallow I wound get a pain in my lower chest /upper abandonment. I I would relay this to my DR the morning of day three. This is the end of day 2.

Day 3 I'm going home right...NOT... My ass is killing me and sleep evades me so I'm tired as all hell and I now hate everything on channel 4 here in Jacksonville. I proceed to tell my Dr about the sensation I have when I try to drink and he orders a cardio consult. The cardo department proceeds to do an EKG of my heart as well as a Echo Cardiogram. My surgeon sends me for a CT scan of my abdomen. Get the results of the EKG back and I'm told that there looks to be some kind of possible damage to my heart. and that depending on what the Eco shows will let them know what direction to go in. I am told that I may need a valve stint put into my heart and that I could of had a minor heart attack somewhere. SO I wait upset scared I break out crying thank GOD my wife was with me when I got the news as she was my ROCK that I needed there. I wound of been no good without here there. Lets fast forward a couple of hours,....the CT scan of my abdomen comes back normal but still no results of the ECO. I tell my wife to go home as we now know that I will not be coming home on this day and hopefully i will be home come day four. The Cardio Dr finally comes in and tells me that the Eco is all normal and that everything looks good. Finally some good news on this day.....lets not forget that through all this I am walking and walking and attempting to sit and get somewhat comfortable.  Finally I take a shower brush my teeth and attempt to get some long overdue SLEEP.

Day 4....OK I wake up after getting some sleep and I do mean SOME sleep and I'm walking the halls as I feel really good this morning...its 7am and I meet m  surgeon in the hall where he proceeds to tell me yep I will set you free and you are going home. About a half hour my endocrinologist comes in says the same thing that he is OK|ing me to go home today then an associate from the Cardo team comes in ask a few questions and leaves she says she will review my test from the day before but all looks good...WOW its now 8:30 and I'm thinking I should be home at least by noon.......NOT. My nurse comes into my room and lets me know that the Cardio team has ordered another CT scan this time of my chest. At this point I am thinking here we go again......finally after waiting 2 hours they come get me for this test. I take the test and about an hour later my nurse looks up my results and says that everything came back normal and that all we are waiting on is for  Dr's to give their OK and I'm on my way home this is now at 12:30 PM. So I wait  and walk and wait and walk and finally I decide that If the Dr for whatever reason says I am not going home today that I will evoke my right and check myself out. I made a decision that I was NOT spending another night in the hospital. SO more sitting  more waiting more walking ans FINALLY at 4:15 Pm I am set free to finally come home. I officially get out of the hospital somewhere around 5pm I get home get attacked by my dog lucky eat dinner and begin getting things back to normal. Of course now that I'm home I should be sleeping but here I am at 12:26am writing all this. LOL. Oh yea the first thing I do when I get home is get on the scale where it says 263 which is 11 lbs gone from when this all began on 4/14/14. I am very happy with my decision and cannot wait to begin to see the dramatic results. I have no pain at all with the exception of the incision that the stomach actually came out from and oh yea my ass hurts from those damn hospital chairs...LOL. More to come.

Tomorrow is THE BIG day......

Well I have completed the 2 week pre opt died as of today. I have lost a total of 7 lbs and an inch off my waste. I have mixed feelings about tomorrow as I am nervous of course but excited to be on the other side of the surgery so the healing process can begin and so I can begin the road to a healthier/smaller me.

I am going to do something I haven done in a long time and that is post pics of me so that in a few months I can see why I went through this surgery. I was disgusted when I looked at these.

1 week down 1 week to go.

OK this is my last week before the big day next Monday. I have been on the pre op diet for a week now and I am proud to say that I have lost 5 lbs last week.( It wound of been 6 lbs had I not eaten popcorn at the movies on Saturday but oh well.) My surgery is scheduled for 9am Monday so I have to be at the hospital at 7AM. Today though I have one last appointment with my surgeon Dr. Webb and then its off to the pre op testing and to finish up any paperwork that they may need.

Nerves keep popping up as I keep asking myself am I making the right decision but I know deep down that I am. I know that nerves are to be expected as this is a life altering decision. Meredith and I (well more Meredith) have been researching and reading a lot of blogs of individuals who have been "sleeved" and not one person has said that they regret their decision. Matter of fact Mere read me a blog where a gentleman was 4 months post operation and is already down 75+ pounds and off all of his diabetes meds. That is EXACTLY where I want to be. That post is the one that has stuck with me and that post is the one that keeps telling me that I am making the right decision and that post is what makes me excited about what I will be doing for myself to better my life.

Took My Measurements YUCK

So last night I decided to take all my measurements and I am completely disgusted at the results. I have no shame in posting these numbers as this way you all can see the transformation. So here it goes

Waist 51 although my pants now are a 42 and falling off me so I don't get this one LOL
Bust 51
Belly 56
Neck 21
Thigh 23 1/4
Bicep 14
Weight 274.6
BMI 44

Last Weekend before my pre-op diet begins

Well its my last weekend before I start my pre opt diet. I will not be able to eat any carbs. or have any fruits for 2 weeks. The pre opt diet is to shrink your liver so that when they do the surgery they don't have to move  the liver  as much. I do have to admit while I am still excited i am beginning to get nervous as this is a major surgery.and a huge life change that once it is done there is no going back. But then again what would I want to go back to??? Being overweight ?? having to wear a xxx size shirt or a 48 size pants? having to take all these meds to manage my diabetes or continue sleeping with this annoying sleep apena machine no thanks. The surgery has a sucess rate of 87% of curing diabetes and 78% rate of curing sleep apena. My goal is to wear a medium size shirt and a 34 waste pants. Also one of my goals is to fit into my sons old NY Yankee jacket that he wore only a couple of times...I was going to good will it but then I saved it as a goal for me. So as I am typing this i am again getting excited that I am going through with this.The jacket that is my goal.. 

                                         

starting to get things ready

Putting together my list of things i need to begin my pre opt diet.

Surgery is all set.

Just got my surgery date for my Bariatric sleeve  its 4/28/14. Have a lot to learn. Pre op diet starts on 4/14. Feeling excited