Showtime!

Lor and I on July 23, right before my surgery. I am at 248 here. She is at 188. She got a 6-week headstart. Cheater.

At the point in time when this is posted, I am getting prepped for surgery.

However, when I am writing this, I still have a few hours to go. I had been getting increasing frantic as the days went by. Lor finally had all she could handle on Saturday, and decided to force me out of the house.

Here's where we went:

This, my friends, is what we call "The Valley". A little tiny town in the Northern part of New Mexico, sitting alongside the Rio Grande. It also happens to be where I grew up - as did 4 generations of my forebearers. 

When I was younger, I was convinced my hometown was the ass-end of the Universe. The moment I had the chance, I got the heck out as quickly as I could. No small town life for me, nope. I was destined for bigger things - a bright and glorious life that could only be achieved in "The City". And, over the years I have grown to love Albuquerque, and come to consider it home. I certainly have no regrets about moving here.

But...there is something about the place where your roots are. I am forever spiritually invested in the place that gave me birth and acted as my home until my twenties. The graves of my grandparents and great-grandparents are all within a few miles of The Valley. While spending just a few hours up North on Saturday, I could feel myself growing more centered - my anxiety sloughing off like a snake shedding its skin. Sure, I can do this, I was able to say to myself. Northern New Mexico produces self-reliance and toughness. It was a glorious reminder, and yet another demonstration of Lor's wisdom in hauling me up there and then stepping back and letting my ancestors do their work on me.

The end result? I am back to feeling great about the surgery and the changes that will result from it.  By the time you read this, I am probably already done with my surgery, and watching the pretty lights in recovery, or possibly getting settled in the room that will be my home for the next two days. 

Tomorrow I should be back behind the wheel of Misdirected, and will let everyone know how it all went. Thanks for tuning in, and for all the support you have provided the two of us with over the past few months!

See You On The Other Side,

- Jeremy (aka Hawkwind)

Surgery Day -1

Photo Credit: pw_tumblr via Compfight cc

After months of planning, preparation, and planning, our first "Life Transition Day" has arrived.

Lor's surgery is tomorrow.

The upheaval is awesome. We have Lor's Mom moving in with us for a few days to help out after the surgery. We have packing to do since I will be staying with family members closer to the hospital. We have drugs to pick up, groceries to buy, and I have a mile-long list of people I am supposed to be keeping informed every step of the way through her procedure. The stress level is high, and I am not even the one having the surgery.

Well, not yet, anyway.

The endless questions are all coming up: is this really going to work? Will we get to a point where this will have all been worth it? Or, six months down the road, will we be wondering why we did this in the first place? We know that a "buyer's remorse" phase is coming, where Lor will be angry that she decided to go through all this in the first place. How long will that last? How severe will it be? What complications might come up? Have we learned to do everything right, so that we don't wind up with Lor re-hospitalised?

Yeah, like that.

Oddly, neither one of us is terribly concerned about the procedure itself. The staff at ABQ Health Partners Bariatrics have done TONS of these procedures - they specialize in them. So we've been spending our time worrying about before and after, not so much "during". Thank goodness they have been so calm, reassuring and collected through all this - if we were worried about the surgery too, I am not sure we could stand the stress.

By the next time you read a post here, we will be a mixed marriage: one pre-bariatric surgery patient, and one post-surgery. I still have 41 days to go before my procedure, which means that I will be able to watch what I can expect to happen to me over the first 30 days after surgery just by caring for Lor. It seems a little odd, and in a way unfair that she is experiencing the process by herself, but I still think we made the right choice. I make a horrible patient, and Lor deserves to have me at 100% while she is making the transition to whatever post-surgical life will look like for her.

She has taken it like she does most everything - bravely, confidently, and making jokes about how, since she was the oldest of 3 children, she is used to being the guinea pig. I admire her, and am very excited to see what a life without diabetes will be like for her. I can only hope that I handle my last two weeks before surgery with as much grace and composure as she has.

But, I probably won't.

If you are moving about your busy life tomorrow and happen to have a free moment, I would appreciate a prayer, a thought, or some positive energy on Lor's behalf. We'll take all the spiritual help that we can get.

See You All On The Other Side (Part #1),

- Hawkwind