Michael S.

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First... the food:

B: Scrambled egg with 1 TBL Ketchup (8g)
S: Scrambled egg with 1 TBL Ketchup (8g)
L: 4 ounces of 90/10 ground chuck with sloppy joes spices (30g)
S: Protein Shake (30g)
D: about 1/3-1/2 cup mashed potatoes with crumbled bacon (10g)

Total Cals: 800 cals (getting close to my personal daily goal of 1,000min)
Total Protein: 86g (Right between the 60-90)
Total Liquids: 80 ounces so far, should hit 100 ounces

Okay... so the reason why I am pumped ... well I guess there are 2 reasons, but 1 stands out MUCH more in my head! I'll talk about that one first!

Dinner!  So, I had already hit my protein goal for the day, but I knew I needed more carbs and fat (I need some energy, and if you don't get enough fat in you can cause permanent damage to your brain... no joke), so I figured mashed potatoes, and I'll cook up a few slices of bacon really crisp and crumble it as I would then be able to chew chew chew it to make sure it went down okay (it did!  No puking or pain at all today). 
Okay so here's the deal, about 1/2 way through I felt "full" ... WTF! "full?" What the hell is that feeling said my body to my brain.  I looked at my plate and saw food left, my brain told me, eat it you can't be full yet, but I listened to my body, and it told me ... "if you eat more, you will feel pain, you are happy and satisfied right now" (I felt a very slight pressure in my pouch). 
I had no clue know how different this feeling of "full" in a pouch was going to feel.  I wasn't sure what I was waiting to feel as far as "restriction" to be able to eat the proper amount of food.  I now know!
When all my swelling goes down, and they start filling the band, I now know what to aim for as far as restriction!
If this is how eating is going to be the rest of my life ... I can do this, and I know I can loose weight.  I am on cloud 9.

My other happy news... I do my weigh-ins on Sunday... Well it's Sunday, I am down 5.6lbs since surgery morning. I am down to 422.2.  It's nice to see the scale still moving the right way.

I am feeling about the same energy level as yesterday, and my arms are still weak, but I did manage to go grocery shopping with my wife today.  We made sure to walk every isle to get some exercise in for me.

Hello all! I am now on the loser’s bench! I have my Realize Band!   My port location is tender and I can tell I am still very swollen (I'll explain my complication here in a bit for those who didn't hear about it), but as long as I take it slow, I'm doing okay.  I can't believe how hard these types of surgeries really can be.  I was lucky (well, nobody is "lucky" to have a complication) enough to have a non-life threatening complication instead of ... well... a life threatening one.

 I was in the hospital from Friday to Tuesday...

I was feeling good on Friday and ready to go, I was actually about to but on my street clothes... when liquids became my enemy.  ALL liquids. 

To put what happened quite simply... I got swollen really bad.  The tissue beneath my band (stomach), swelled more than normal (gastritis) closing my new pouch off from my stomach.  So liquids went into my esophagus into my new little pouch... then nowhere to go but back up.  A barium swallow test confirmed this on Saturday. With the barium swallow we could tell that the band was properly placed and it was all swelling. I had another swallow test on Monday, and it showed that a little liquid was starting to get through, but far to slowly for me to be able to stay hydrated at home yet.  On Tuesday I spent most of the day at the hospital getting IV liquids and starting to drink on my own, and was sent home at the end of the day.

Let me tell you that this was hell on earth.  This was one of the hardest things that I personally have had to endure on a physical and mental level like this. I was only able to take 1 medication for my panic disorder as all the others had to be taken orally. I was constantly spitting up/vomiting my own saliva. The medications I was taking (pain, vomiting, panic) made it so I had to physically move my legs to get them to move on the bed they were that weak.  Sleep was next to impossible for a guy of my size in an uncomfortable hospital bed, and there was really nothing I could do but wait and hope. Would they have to go back in and take it out already? I was fearing that it would have to come out after all the hard work that I had done pre-op and all the hard work the doctor's did in the O.R. I'm a really big guy, and it took some work for the surgeons to get the band properly placed and locked in. I believe they told me it took 5 tries to get it exactly how and where they wanted it.

I am glad that I had the best nursing staff, doctors, and surgeons around.  I'm sure I was mean at some time to everyone as I was not in the best mood, and they were nothing but helpful.  Dr. Gould was amazing he came in to check on me and try to remove any possible fluid and air that may have gotten in the band during surgery.  I had my first "unfill" 2 days after surgery. I owe my new life to their care and patience with me.  I owe my new life to my wife's care and patience with me and her ability to take care of everything without me around.     I am doing really well today and will hit about 100+ ounces of liquid and 60+ grams of protein! YAY! Thank you to everyone that has help me out so far on this journey!!!

Only 2 days until my surgery.  Less than 48 hours.  Now the nerves are really kicking in.  I don't think I could eat solid foods right now if I wanted to, so it looks like I stuck to my pre-op liquid diet 100%.  0 cheating.  I am really proud of myself for doing that.  I will always remember that I stuck to it!

My scale this morning told me I weigh 430 lbs.  That would be 100lbs lost pre-op.  I am curious to see what the hospital scale has to say on Friday morning.

So... 100 lbs preop lost, sticking to the 2 week preop diet to the letter, I don't think there is much else I could have done to make myself psychically prepared for this surgery.  I also don't think there is anything else I could have done psychologically to prepare for this either.

I am ready for this change.  I am ready to give myself the life I deserve.  I am ready to give my family the husband and father they deserve.  I am ready.

I wish the best of luck to everyone who has had WLS, who is in the process, and who has yet to begun this journey.

Well the tests went well (I haven't gotten the results yet), the only result I got was my weight.  444.6 so, that means I'm now UNDER 450lbs.  I'm excited for that!

I am done with all my final pre-surgery work (that I know about), and got all the information about my 2 week preop diet (I start on Feb 6th), and all the information about my post-op diet.  I'm now really excited and nervous at the same time. I start my liquid diet in 8 days!  I thought that getting to this point was taking forever, but now that I'm here, it really feels like the time has flown by.  On my surgery day it will have taken me around 6 months from start (informational meeting) to finish (surgery).

The staff at UW-Health has gotten me very prepared, and very informed.  This makes me feel much less nervous, and more excited about the new life I am going to be living!

--Mike

Well, I have a bunch of more tests and meetings coming up next week!  I'm excited and nervious.  I hope that they don't find anything that would prevent me from having the surgery... But if they do find something wrong I would be glad that they did!