Where is my husband?

He is shrinking right before my very eyes!!  He is getting so skinny.  I can't believe he has lost 45 pounds so far.  It is amazing.  He has dropped below 200, which was his original goal.  I think he is going to continue to lose quite a bit more, he just doesn't eat very much.

I was putting away the food after dinner the other night and realized that I have way more left-overs than I have ever had before.  We have saved money on groceries, but I lack motivation when planning meals now.  I used to cook things I knew Eddie would like.  Now I am trying to train myself that just because he isn't going to eat most of it, I CAN still cook it for the family.  He will just be eating a smaller portion and it isn't a reflection of my cooking ability. 

It has been so long since I did an update and everyone has been asking about it, so here are some current pictures of my itty-bitty husband...

Friday update - week 3

I know, it's not Friday anymore, but I had a tooth pulled and was on some pain killers and couldn't write on Friday. 

Eddie didn't lose any weight over the past week.  Well, he went down to 224.  ONE POUND.  It isn't because he is eating more food.  It isn't because he is eating bad food.  I think it is a stall because he isn't eating. His body has gone on the defensive and is holding on to everything it has because he wasn't eating for the week. 

He had a lot of set backs this week.  He threw-up a lot of the food he did try to eat.  He was very tired and just had no energy at all.  It was a rough week.  I was scared a lot of the time.  One day he could eat peanut butter, the next day he threw it up.  One day he could eat tuna, the next day it sat in his stomach like a rock and made him double over in pain.  It is very hit or miss when it comes to eating anything.  I keep trying to remind him to eat very slowly and chew chew chew his food. 

He got down 2 mini raviolis the other night and they sat pretty well.  Eddie is nauseous most of the time.  At least to me it seems like most of the time.  He said that if it weren't for the nausea, he would feel rather normal.  I hope this goes away sometime.  He told me that he found people online who had nausea for a year.  Well, that will sure make a person lose weight. 

Someone asked Eddie if he was glad he went through with the surgery.  He said he couldn't answer that just yet. I told him I didn't want to ask him that question yet until he felt totally normal again.  I don't think he can honestly answer that question until he feels better.

Hopefully that will be soon.  He has one more week of soft foods and then he can move on to any food, just in small amounts eaten very slowly.

Friday Update

A quick update. 2 weeks post-op. Another 7 pounds lost. That is 15 pounds total.
Current weight:  225
He has good days and bad days. He was able to start eating soft foods. So far he has tried tuna and found his stomach really agrees with peanut butter.
He looks so skinny to me already. He is getting around really well. We have decided to take family walks in the evenings. We have scouted out a route that is a mile long. I can't wait!!  I'm really excited about it.
Tomorrow will be a challenge for him I think. We are going to our nephews birthday party.  I know I look forward to party food. I feel so bad that he can't eat the good food we always eat at parties. But I know he will get through it.
Hang in there honey!!

Pureed Chili

Eddie went back to work yesterday and made it through the whole day.  I am sure it was tough for him, but he did it.  He didn't have any pain meds through out the day.  He did come home and take a nap though.  I was home with two sick kids and exhausted from taking care of everyone, but I am so happy to do it. 

I had made a whole pot of chili and had it slow cooking all day so the house smelled wonderful when Eddie came in the door.  He misses eating so much, it is starting to get to him.  I reminded him that he is on doctors orders to be on a liquid diet for the next week still and then he can move on to "mushies" (soft foods) for two weeks. 

I had been pureeing vegetable soup for him to eat, but he was getting bored with that so I pureed up some chili for him.  He was so excited about it, but it didn't really sit well.  So I let him have a treat.  He got a Pedialite Popsicle and then a bowl of light vanilla ice cream.  It is the first thing he has eaten with a spoon in almost two weeks. 

I can't wait for next week when I can make him some kick ass mashed potatoes. 

There were still some opened bags of chips in the house from before the surgery and I have been trying to eat them so they are gone.  I didn't want to throw them away because that just felt wasteful and Goodwill wasn't going to take opened bags of chips that were half eaten.  But then I got to thinking...Why would I put bad food in my body just to get rid of it when we are trying to change our eating habits?  So, I threw them away.  After I finished off the bag of Cheetos, of course.  Don't you know it is illegal to throw Cheetos away?

Yesterday was also the first day Jordan has not asked for McDonalds, but he was also throwing up.  I think our bodies are still going through a transition with out all the fast food.  It will get better...eventually.

Oh, I haven't lost an ounce of weight so far.  I guess fast food wasn't what was making me fat. Until I lose 8 pants sizes, it is going to be "pregnancy weight", even though Katie turns 2 in a few days.

Lawnmower man

I took Eddie to the doctor today to have his drainage tube removed.  I didn't warn him how much it might hurt.  Jeff, my sisters boyfriend, told me was going to hurt like hell.  Jeff was right when he said the surgery would hurt like hell and he was right when he said it would take longer then a few days to recover.  So I didn't want Eddie to be too worked up over how much it might hurt to have that tube ripped out of him.

When I was in high school, I had a chest tube for a few days and when they went to remove it, they didn't warn my mom or me that it was about to happen.  They just put one hand on my side and yanked on that tube like they were starting a lawn mower.  They did pretty much the same thing to Eddie.

I knew it was coming and I was doubled over and had my hands over my eyes.  Eddie let out a yell so loud and so long I thought maybe the tube was wrapped around his intestines.  Eddie wasn't prepared.  That was my fault.  But I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  Oh well.  It's over with.

He doesn't feel any better yet.  He may actually feel a bit worse.  I am really hoping that tomorrow he will feel better now that the tube is gone.  I don't know.  He is beginning to think he is going to feel this way all the time and I know that is not the case.  He just has to give it time for the healing process to finish.

Warm liquids still feel good to Eddie and he has discovered smoothies from Juice It Up work wonders for him.  The Isopure protein drinks are NASTY!!!  The other protein shakes are not that great, but he does his best to drink them down.  He is still on a liquid diet.  Next week we may start pureeing some foods for him to eat instead of just soup all the time.  He wants to get meatballs and spaghetti sauce and puree those.  My answer to that is, "We'll see."  And we all know what it means when a mom gives that answer...

Friday update

Eddie may not look to happy in this picture compared to the last ones, but he is still in quite a bit of pain. We are going to see the doc today for a follow up and to get his drainage tube removed.

Eddie has lost 8 pounds so far. I can see the difference in his face.

We will give more of an update after the doctor appointment today.

The Backlash

I went to work yesterday while Eddie stayed home to rest and recover.  We had a bit of a snafu during the day.  Eddie called me and asked if I knew the location of his wallet.  It is probably the norm in all families that everyone ask mom where there stuff is.  My mom explains this phenomenon in the following way:  A woman's uterus becomes a tracking device for everyone's stuff. 

As it turned out, I happened to know where the wallet was, because it was in my purse.  I had taken it with me to pick up Eddie's prescriptions.  He was so pissed at me!!  He wanted to go to the store to see how he would feel driving since he planned on going to work today.  I got mad right back because he is not supposed to be driving for the first week.  His stomach and his abdominal muscles need to heal.  I ended up hanging up on him.

So I sent him an email to explain that he needs to concentrate on healing so he doesn't end up getting injured or popping a staple and being laid up for even longer.  I didn't hear from him the rest of the day.

When I got home, he came up to me and told me he got my email, that he was sorry and that he called in sick to work so he could rest more.  I was so relieved!!!  

I found out that he isn't trying to be macho, he actually feels like he is being a burden.  I explained that he is in no way a burden.  I knew what his recovery would be like for me and I have no problem taking care of him and taking care of the kids while he heals.  It is important to me that he takes it easy and gets better.  This recovery time is in no way a burden to me at all. 

I also think the frustration he felt was from being cooped up in the house and not eating actual food.  I know there will be more outbursts in the following weeks, but I am prepared for them.  It's just like when my hormones were regulating after I gave birth. 

So I made him some cream of chicken soup and strained out all of the chicken chunks and served him his 3 oz dinner.

But Eddie isn't the only one with some backlash from this.  Jordan (12) met me at the door after work with bright eyes and a very hungry look on his face.  He looked down at my hands, saw that they were void of any fast food bags, threw his hands up in the air and kind of made a frustrated grunting noise.  I quickly said I would start making dinner right away.  He snidely responded with, "Can't you just go pick something up?"

NO!  No I can not!  We aren't eating fast food for dinner.  I cooked up some dirty rice and beans, which no one really ate and everyone complained about.  Katie threw it on the floor in her protest.  They all went to bed a little hungry.  They will learn that if they want to eat, they will eat what I cook. (Katie did wake up at 4 am screaming for crackers.)

Jordan has been searching the cupboards for the junk we used to have on hand.  Again, that was only met with frustration. 

He might be thinking he can call child protective services on me for starving my kids, but the lack of junk food in our house might just get me that award yet...