Poop

The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery alters the digestive tract in very significant ways.  It reduces the size of the stomach, but it also removes a good bit of the small intestine, reducing absorption.  It can be a very effective tool in the pursuit of weight loss goals, and that has been true for Master.  The effects of the surgery, a year later are, of course amazing weight loss, but mostly just unbelievably improved health and well-being. 

There are still challenges to living in the aftermath of the surgical alteration of His digestive tract.  Eating is still something that we have to pay attention to.  We have to attend to the daily nutritional requirements, and we have to make sure that He gets all the supplements that are needed to ensure good health.  Some foods are still a real challenge.  We are only now finding that it is possible for Him to eat many of the vegetables that are commonplace on some tables.  The same is true for much fruit.  Beef and chicken are both sometimes very difficult.  Preparation makes a difference. 

One of the things that no one really told us about before the surgery is the dramatic impact that has been made on His bowel function.  After the surgical removal of small intestine in the first surgery, and then the resection of His bowel as a result of the bowel obstruction last November, we find that His insides are very touchy and that managing that to ensure His ongoing health and physical comfort is a tricky process. 

We rely heavily on twice daily doses of Benefiber and He routinely uses stool softeners to prevent serious constipation.  Our daily conversation always involves at least some variant of the "Did You Poop?" question. 

Who knew that the new skinny life He leads would be so continually focused on the workings of His bowels?

swan

A Promising Place to Find Good Recipes

One of the things that we are still learning about as we go along is what we can eat.  The relatively newly revamped digestive systems in our family don't tolerate many of the foods that are considered "normal" fare, and it is so crucial to get all the nutrients into what little bit they can eat.  We (T and I) are forever on the lookout for tasty foods that can be made in ways that satisfy these tiny, little appetites AND provide interesting and satisfying tastes and eating experiences.  There's no way to chow down on great quantities, so what we do eat needs to be exquisite...

Tonight, looking for ideas, I came across an interesting blog full of great ideas and wonderful sounding dishes.  We'll be dining on two of the recipes I found at Once Upon a Chef in just an hour or so...  I don't intend to turn this into a food blog, but surely, part of our way forward involves finding our way to foods that work.  This is just one resource to make our way easier and more enjoyable.

swan

Uncommon Conversations Ensue

I am enjoying my new body this morning. We got up about 10:00 marveling that our new floors we worked feverishly to clean and to reinstall all our furniture and possessions from the garage last night, where we moved them to be out of the way of the flooring workers, were still there. It wasn't all a dream. I have just been walking about nude all morning doing this and that and loving the fact that I am slender,

I am recalling my conversation with my bariatric surgeon Friday when t and I were in to see him for our 1 year post surgery check up. We both passed with flying colors by the way. t has made the average progress that one typically makes with sleeve gastrectomy and has significant health improvements as a result. I have actually lost more weight than is recommended for me. This was the second time a health care professional has told me it would be good if I regained a few pounds. And this comes after I've already regained between two to five pounds depending on where I am in my weight fluctuation. (Today I'm actually only up 1.5 pounds at 160 pounds from my all time low of 158.5 last December.) You cannot imagine what a thrill it is after an entire life of being overweight, to have Dr.'s tell you it might be good if you gained a few pounds! I never thought I'd hear those words spoken in sincerity. He then went on to verify my age. I am 60 now and will be 61 in less than a month. He pointed out that it is "uncommon" for a healthy person in their 60's to have their ideal weight and I am actually a little blow my ideal weight. I just looked at him and said, "Well, you know, I am an uncommon guy.....and I like it that way." A big grin came across his face and he said, "So I've noticed."

It was great to have an uncommon conversation about my new uncommon physiology and health.

All the best,

Tom

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.

One Year Later

It is late.
We've had a hell of a week, month, year...
We're tired and stressed out and sad and scared and ...
But ... this is a date that ought to be noted before it passes.
One year ago today, Master and T embarked, with great bravery on a path that would forever change their lives -- we hoped for the better.  It has not been an easy path.  There has been pain and suffering and a very great deal of adjusting as both of them have worked to learn to live with their very significantly altered digestive systems.  With all of that, between them they've lost some 222 pounds.  That's notable, and I want it noted here in this place -- before we all move on. 

I am awfully proud of the two of them.  I am thrilled for the new and healthier lives that they have ahead of them because of this choice.  Some few, sour souls have insinuated that there was a lack of discipline that set all of this in motion -- made it necessary.  That's just pure, ignorant nonsense.  There are real medical reasons why some people cannot successfully control their weight, and there are weight driven morbidity issues that make finding a way to conquer the issue a critical life decision.  Choosing the path of bariatric surgery is not a simple decision, and anyone who believes it somehow provides an easy fix is just an uninformed fool.  The surgery gave my Master and my T the tools they needed to get control of their weight issues.  It was not any sort of magic.  They have done the work, made the changes, and won the battle.  Today, in the midst of everything else happening in our lives, I want to shout from the housetops that this is a "birthday" of sorts and deserves its own celebration.

swan

Valentine's Day -- A Year Later

One year ago, we took some pictures of Master and T on Valentine's day. They were glowing and wonderful, and so clearly in love -- but they were also, clearly, two people who had lost the battle with obesity...

Then, on March 23, 2009, they both had bariatric surgery for weight loss. Master had rouen y gastric bypass, and T had sleeve gastrectomy. They each recovered -- T quickly and easily, and Master with great difficulty and terrible pain. We learned our way along the path to a brand new relationship with food and eating and exercise and a whole host of new body-image issues and understandings. We went through an enormous pile of discarded, too-big clothes. Master joked that He was renting clothes from Goodwill as we purchased and then donated back bags and bags and more bags of garments.

As we moved through the year, Master lost 142 pounds and T lost 80 pounds. They are, today, both much lighter and much healthier.

And so, we come around the year to another Valentine's day, 2010. So, we got out the camera and took some more pictures -- and here they are. My lighter, but and even more beautiful Valentines... swan

Socks -- An Unexpected Benefit

He has always worn Gold Toe brand support hose.  They are a pretty premium men's sock, and they are made to provide some pretty intense compression.  They are advertised for the treatment of varicose veins, edema, and post surgical circulatory support. 

In the bad old days, before His bypass surgery, when He still weighed something over 300 pounds, when moving and bending were just too physically taxing for Him to attempt -- He'd pull those moster socks off and toss them in the hamper; always inside out.  ALWAYS.  It was just too difficult for Him to work them off His legs and off His feet without turning them completely inside out. 

We'd do the laundry, and then there remained the chore of turning all those compression socks back inside out so they could be mated and put away.  I know I never thought much about it.  It just was the way it was. 

Last weekend, wading through a pile of laundry, I got about 3/4 of the way through the pile of socks when it hit me -- they were all RIGHT SIDE OUT!  Wow!  Turns out that, having lost 142 pounds, taking off His socks is no longer a huge ordeal.  He can easily slide them down and pull them off, and they almost always end up right side out. 

I know it seems like a small thing.  It is a small thing, but it is one more small and unexpected benefit from all the changes that we've been through.

"After" Photos -- Nine Months

We have passed the nine-month mark since the bariatric surgeries (which happened back on March 23). It has been an amazing and wild ride to this point, and I don't think we really ever quite had a picture of where we would be at this point.

One of the things that has characterized our passage through this transition has been the sheer size of the physical change. Both Master and T have gone through many, many, many wardrobe changes as the pounds have fallen away. We've hauled bags and bags and bags and bags of discarded, too big clothing to our local Goodwill. Too, we've bought our share of "replacement" items from Goodwill. Master has laughingly remarked that He mostly just rents clothes from Goodwill -- keeping them for a few weeks and then returning them to rent others. Whatever we call it, that process has kept them both looking pretty decent, and has saved us a small fortune.

One bit of foresight on my part was that, as He began to shrink, I put away a pair of the largest size pants so that "someday" we could take one of those amazing "after" pictures that you sometimes see -- the skinny new body in the former fat pants. We also managed to hold onto the shirt jacket that He wore home from the hospital right after the surgery -- mostly because He just liked it so well that He was never quite willing to turn it loose. T manged to hang onto a couple of great big shirts (one of which was too small for her when she had her surgery), to help remind her of the size that was.

Today, we pulled out the camera and took some of those "after" photos. Perhaps as clearly as any other images, these photos give a clear impression of the radical change that has happened in our lives in 2009.

Here is Master --

And Here is T --