Its’ been some time since I added any information to my journey.  At the beginning was full of a lot of excitable energy, but that soon subsided. Eating had always been more then something that was necessary, it was enjoyment.  I never looked at that way I ate as overeating or indulging.  It was a way to relieve stress, something that I felt I did better the most people. Well, what to my wondering eyes should appear, when my first post surgery meal was brought to me?

This had to be a mistake; this was really meant for my 3 year old grandson, not me.  Well, I was wrong, my wife Michele said that was size of the portion I could have.  I took my first bite and said to myself this won’t take long, boy was I wrong.  Midway through the 3 ounce portion of pureed chicken, I found myself getting full.  Wow! There must be a blockage; something is not right with the surgery.  But then reality set, my days of gluttony were done.

If ever I choose to eat like I had in the past, I would have to be willing to pay the piper.  On the Friday after the surgery I had my first post surgical appointment with my surgeon.  After a quick once over, he told me he couldn’t get over how well I was doing. He told me that since my last visit with him, which was two weeks before the surgery, I had lost 36 pounds.  Since that time I have lost an additional 14-16 pounds, with two more weeks before I return for my next appointment.  I have become more active then I have been in years. The food I am eating has become more tolerable.  I decided that I needed to go back to work two weeks earlier then I was suppose to.

I wake up in PACU, hearing my name being called, about 1:40pm, asked “How are you feeling Ralph?  Do you need anything for the pain?”  In a couple of minutes they were getting me out of bed to start walking.  This was to continue to go on for the next 2 days during my stay at Mercy Hospital.  Around 6:30 I was visited by Michele and Dee.  They stayed it seemed 2 hours, but I know it wasn’t because anyone who knows me knows that I’m a terrible patient and a terrible conversationalist.

At 10pm I was moved from PACU to a regular room.  The night shift nurse who was assigned to me was great, helping me with my pain and keeping walking through the night. The next morning I would be going for the “Swallow Test”, sounded interesting, but my mind is always in the gutter.  Basically the test has you take x-rays of your new stomach, swallow a radioactive liquid, then some more x-rays. This lets the Doctors know if anything is leaking that they may have to go back in a fix. Luckily, everything was fine.

At this time, it might help you better understand if I explain what the surgery entails. The Surgeon makes 5 incisions across your abdominal area, with one of them being larger than the other 4. Into these incisions are inserted different instruments, lights, suction etc. The Surgeon then clears away a layer of fat or membrane covering the stomach.  Once this is completed, the Surgeon inserts a tube which will be his guide for creating a new stomach. At this point the surgeon uses a tool which cuts away and staples the new stomach.  The Surgeon then puts the part of the stomach which been detached into a plastic bag which is then closed and pulled out through the larger of the incisions that were made.  Once he feels that everything is good, he removes all the instruments, then stitches or glues them closed.

After the Swallow Test, I am taken back to my room and find a tray with clear liquids and protein for lunch.  I consume as much as I can and then only want to return back to bed to rest.  Of course the day nurse doesn’t want to hear any of it. I battle with her as much as I can, eventually telling her I am not walking.  Between her and nurse’s aide they seem determined not to let me rest, coming in the room regularly to take my blood pressure, temperature and all the other little things that are normally done.  I probably can’t blame the nurse and her aide, they were just doing their job and I wanted to sleep.

What bothered me more was that it was 6:30pm and I hadn’t received my blood pressure medication and my head was pounding? They told me that is was because I was not doing my walking, but I didn’t want to hear it. Eventually I received 1 of my morning meds, the other one was one that they didn’t have in their pharmacy. They asked if they could call my house and ask my wife to bring in the other medications. I said no, and my bad attitude started again. Luckily, the night nurse from the previous night was back, but I was feeling like hell. My blood pressure was through the roof and couldn’t bring it down.  She called the surgical P.A. who prescribed morphine to calm me down and another medication for my blood pressure.  Once my blood pressure stabilized, they let me sleep through the night, not waking me till 5am the next morning.  At that point the night nurse asked me if I wanted to walk, and I said sure. A breakfast tray of wheatina and cottage cheese and a liquid protein drink.  I ate as much as I could and did more walking.  The nurse told me that he written up my release instructions and that she would be back later to finish up the paperwork and disconnect me from the I.V. and cardio hook-ups.

About 12:30 my wife and my son, Ralph came in right behind the day nurse who was going to finish my release.  I was going home.  If you had asked me earlier the night before, I never thought it would have happened.

4/10/2012,  at the end of this day, all my weight problems and frustrations would be concluded.  Boy was I wrong, but that’s a story for another day.

Its 7 o’clock, the morning of the surgery, waiting for Michele to drive me over to Mercy Hospital.  Have to be at the ambulatory surgical unit by 7:30, but no idea of what time the actual surgery will happen.  Get there, can’t be here longer than 15 minutes, an orderly brings me to another room to get changed.  The gentleman who had been using the changing room prior to us had an accident, so I had to maneuver myself around the room and going to the next stage. After changing, I bring my clothes to Michele and move on to the next stage.  The orderly then brings me into the surgical staging area, basically the area where nurses start all the paperwork and drawing blood and things like that.

It’s now 8:30 and I know that Michele has to go to work.  She comes into the room stays with me for about 20 minutes, and then goes off to work.  I am scheduled for surgery at 9:30, but I am told there was an emergency surgery for which they needed the OR.  What a bunch of hooey, someone’s life may have been needed to save, so they put me on the shelf, the nerve of them.

Back to reality, next thing I know is they are wheeling me to the last staging area before surgery.  In this room, I am visited by Dr. Angstadt and the Anestoglist and his assistant telling me it won’t be long now.  It was about 10:40 or 10:45 and all the participants are ready to get the game started. The anesthogolist has both my arms strapped down to the side of me, hooks me up to the EKG machine and H2O.  The last thing I remember anyone saying is the Anestogolist, “I just gave him something to relax he should be ready in a couple of minutes” .   Showtime!

Most of you that know me, know that I have fought the battle of the scale and most times lost. After having had Double By-Pass surgery April of 2011 and losing 77 pounds, I thought that I might have licked  always thinking of ways of eating) this problem. WRONG, by the end of 2011, I gained it all back and more.

I started off 2012 teetering the scale at 400 pounds. I had scheduled 3 different doctor appointments, with all of them coming up with the same conclusion, I needed to do something more serious then diet to control my weight. Now just to back up a bit, prior to the By-Pass surgery in 2011, I had an appointment to start the process of Gastric By-Pass procedure. At this point I started the long and tedious journey to getting something done.  After visits with Pulmonologist, Cardiologist, Endocrinologist, Nutrionist, Psychologist, this involved a 4 hour LIRR trip to Smithtown, finally ending with a visit to my Primary Care Physician.  At this point he felt a stress test and echo Doppler would be necessary.  With all this done and all the reports turned into Dr. Angstadts office, all that was left was my final appointment with him.  I don’t know why, but I made the smart move by bringing my wife Michele, to this appointment.

What I am about to say isn’t easy, but needs to be said. During 42 years of marriage, on any important decisions she was right 75-85% of the time, so I felt it would be good to have another set of ears listening to what the Dr. had to say.  This time boy I was right.  At the conclusion of the appointment the Dr. set up a date for surgery.