I Made It Out Alive!

The breakfast of post-bariatric surgery patients!

We have officially made it through surgery!

After 6 months of waiting, diet changes, and emotional roller-coasting, at about 9 AM local time yesterday, the greater curvature of my stomach was removed. The struggle made manifest, the dream is real, and any other pithy sayings I can come up with may be applied, In short: we are done,

The surgery itself went pretty well, i am informed by my surgeon The aftermath was a little chaotic, though. In recovery I was in agony from gas pressure from all the various gases pumped into my body during the procedure. My inflated abdomen was so distended that it was pushing on my incisions from the inside out. In my post-surgical logic, I asked both Lor and the recovery nurse for a pen or pencil, so i could put my own hole in my abdomen to release the painful gasses. They declined my request.

The incisions themselves are not nearly as dramatic looking as Lor's were. I don't look like i have been in a knife fight - I look more like I made poor life choices involving climbing a barbed-wire fence.  The holes themselves are still very painful, but the nursing staff here have kept right on top of administering pain meds, so the majority of the time I just don't care about the pain.

My surgeon has already been in to see me, and informs me that i could be released as soon as tomorrow morning if i stick with the program here. Doing everything i can to get home soon is foremost on my mind. Though the staff here are awesome, it is still a hospital, and I do not like hanging out in them. The sooner I get home, the better.

The real mind-blower came while visiting with my parents yesterday. Apparently, Dr. Tyner went out to meet my family after the procedure was done, and made the observation that since I had done so well in my weeks of prep before the surgery, he would not be surprised if I lost 100 more pounds post-surgery.

Let that number sink in for a minute.

Another 100 pounds down would leave me at 148 pounds. This is what i weighed at 16. Pretty sure that, whatever my "goal weight" ends up being, it will not be that low.

But, boy, the concept of weighing in at 180 at the end of this all? That is pretty remarkable.
Sorry for the later than normal update today. I have spending most my time walking around the hospital or sleeping, We will catch you all again on Thursday!

Now, How Long Before I Get Back To Solid Foods?

- Hawkwind