Ending Phase 1

 Two weeks down and I am almost at 💯. 

It hasn’t been without its ups and downs. 

Let me tell you about Tuesday, a week and a day after surgery!  Before I do that let me tell you about me.  My body does not have a food clock.  I have conditioned myself over the years to have breakfast.  However, more times than not, it will be 4pm, and I will realize I haven’t had lunch.  But no, not this particular Tuesday.  I woke up wanting/needing breakfast, and not breakfast of clear fluids.  I wanted a shake, ackee and saltfish, bacon and eggs; I had water.  At about 12/1pm, I wanted lunch.  I saw an ad on tv for peanut butter and jelly, which I dislike, however, if I could, I would have jumped through the screen and demolished that PB&J.  I had to chew my jello to pretend I was eating and added another one to my evening dinner of broth, when the clock told me it was dinner time.  That was my most difficult day.  Thank heavens it lasted only one day.

The next day, I had a rush of energy.  I taxed my brain that morning through the afternoon, working on projects for my job.  I was busted that evening throughout the next few days.  I can’t contribute it all to the overwork; I am sure most of it was because of the lack of nutrients. 

So, how does it all measure up?

The Good

• No pain.
• Weight is coming down.
• Gas and bloating have dissipated a lot.
• Energy level is going up.
• Except for that one day, no feeling of hunger.
• My backache is not present.  I can’t say it’s gone, because I am not as active. I did do three loads of laundry one day and yesterday I walked around a full block (about 1/4 mile) with no back ache.
• My blood pressure numbers are going in the right direction - down!
• I am already fitting into my size 20s as I should, and not squeezing into them, with the back and the front out of line, my butt area pulling my dress up in the rear and in front the belly and waist jostling to twist the dress from side to side and me constantly pulling it down. 

The Bad

• Some gas remains in my rib cage.
• Low energy at times.
• I have stuck to the diet, however, this filling up of over 60 ounces of clear fluids daily is taxing and boring.
• My regularly timed bowel movement is off.  I never know when.  I need it to come back to first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  This is where my body clock works.

The Ugly

Nothing!  

Now unto the next phase - baby, I mean purée food.

The before and after photos below don't yet show much of a difference.

A Week Later

 A week ago today, I underwent surgery (see prior blog post, dated 8/14).  According to the surgeon, everything went well.  Not only was he able to perform the prescribed surgery, he was also able to repair my hiatal hernia, which was discovered after a follow up visit and referral, after passing out in the street, a year prior.  Another silver lining, after years of experiencing acid reflux, possibly caused by the hernia.  

I was able to walk two hours post-surgery, assisted by nurse tech Damien.  I kicked him getting out of bed and told him that was to whip him into shape.  Of course the kick was an accident, but this was how we joshed his short time with me.  I told him to bring me one of the forms where you can salute a tech, but he never did.  Damien!  

I strutted out of the hospital the next day with the music of James Brown, “I Feel Good,” playing in my head and the cocktail of “feel good” drugs still making their way through my body. The ride home with the twist and turns of the Bronx River Parkway and the god awful roads of Mt. Vernon, along with the wearing off of the drugs, gave me a feeling of malaise: chills, wanting to upchuck, weakness and tiredness.  My daughter sent me to bed.

I have had highs and lows over the next days, and even the lows could have been worse.  I had no pain at the incision sites, just extreme discomfort from gas pain and bloating.  I also had minimal pain when getting up from a seated position and when lying in and getting out of bed.

This is my eighth day of drinking only clear fluids, with one more week to go. Thankfully, I have no hunger pangs and no need for food, because these last two days I have been staying at my sister’s house where she has these divine tropical fruits.  I would have engorged myself.  But then, she doesn’t have mangoes.  Would I have been able to resist?  I will never know.  

I had to learn how to administer an injection to prevent blood clots.  Who knew that I could do that?  Not squeamish me!  But I did and it wasn’t bad, after all.

The worst part of this journey has been the gas pains. Air was pumped in my body to allow the surgeon to perform the surgery laparoscopically. I had what seemed like never ending gas pain in the shoulder blade, rib cage and bloating in the belly, the kind of gas that doesn't come from the top or bottom. Walking and flailing my arms like a mad woman gave me some relief. 

Any regrets?  None.

Pre surgery

Sister Sandra and daughter Jo-Ann 

The amazing Dr. Weber

My ballooned belly

The incisions

Getting ready to walk with Damien

Sashaying out the hospital

A New Journey

Tomorrow, I will be going under the knife, not for a life saving procedure, but for what will be life altering, and, yes, possibly life saving.  I was vehemently opposed to having weight loss surgery, until I fell out on Court Street, White Plains, on August 6, 2022, after celebrating Jamaica's 60th Independence.  I didn't actually fall; family and friends led me down as they noticed that I was passing out. Dehydration and exhaustion was the diagnosis.  No one said weight, but for me. I decided then that I had to do something about it.  The nurse on duty, in her 20s, small and petite, told me I was choosing the "easy way."  She didn't know my sturggles over the thirty-five years of gaining twice my weight.  It wasn't without trying through various methods, some of which worked, until the moment something took me off my path.  I knew that this time, it called for drastic action - bariatic surgery, specifically laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.

Tomorrow, my life will change, hopefully for the good.  I have severe back pain, I worry about my knees carrying all that weight, I am on low dose blood pressure medication.  I pray all those gone and I am so ready for the surgery.  I am pumped.

My only sadness is that I will have to drastically change my relationship with Jamaican food - the goat and oxtail swimming in gravy, rice and peas cooked down in coconut cream, the fried dumpling, fried plantain, fried fritters.  Can you see and taste them?  I can, and lawd, it hurts my heart.  But it could hurt my heart.

Here is something I have never shared with anyone, except for medical staff.  My  current weight is 258, at my largest 265.  Now, you know everything about me.

At the Jamaican Festival 2022

White Plains Hospital ER 2022

Pre Surgery Photos.  Will post in same outfits as weight loss progresses

From whence I came.  Circa 1974.  Less than 1/2 the weight I am today