His pain is our gain

The healing process is turning out to be a little more painful than Eddie had expected.  I was home with him all day yesterday, willing to wait on him hand-and-foot.  He really should have taken advantage of that because it doesn't come around very often.  He is trying to be manly and strong by trying to do things on his own, but he is really just delaying his recovery (of course, that is just my professional medical opinion).

I wanted him to rest as much as possible yesterday because today I am back at work.  He has to fend for himself today.  He is also going to attempt to go back to work tomorrow, although he isn't supposed to drive for a week and is supposed to rest for 2 weeks.  MEN!

But, our whole family is reaping the benefits of this surgery.  Eddie is not be able to eat anything that can't go through a straw for 4 weeks so the rest of us are showing our support in our eating habits also.  Eddie claims that I am the spiritual leader of our family and he is the food consumption leader.  We used to eat fast food SEVERAL times a week.  When I say several, I mean at least 5 times a week.  Eddie may have eaten fast food more than that because he would often get Del Taco for breakfast. 

I can very proudly say that none of us has had fast food for a whole week.  I thought I had a touch of the stomach flu yesterday, but it may have just been my system going through withdrawal.  Eddie and I used to drink soda like it was the only source of hydration available, but he hasn't had a soda in a whole week.  I have had maybe 3 sodas.  I won't give up my morning coffee though!!!!

Eddie drank protein shakes and chicken broth yesterday.  The warm broth makes him feel much better.  Anything cold seems to upset his stomach more, but he needs that protein drink and it is nasty if it is warm.  He was having some cramping and the doctor suggested warm liquids and it really did help. 

I have to empty Eddie's drainage tube twice a day.  It doesn't bother me until I have to "milk" it (squeeze the tube all the way down to the reservoir).  I tend to gag a little when I have to squeeze out a clot.  I can handle bodily fluids, but not chunks or clots.  I remember Jordan had a very bad bloody nose once and I was totally fine with it until he pulled out a GIANT clot.  Then I lost it.

So Eddie's pain from going through this surgery is good for our whole family.  When I have to decide what is for dinner, I no longer think of which drive thru I want to hit.  Instead, I get out the cookbooks and find something to cook.  Fast food just doesn't even seem like an option anymore.  I just hope my body can adjust to the decrease in grease, calories, fat, sugar and some other nasty unmentionables that are sometimes found in fast food.  Now if someone spits in my food, it will have come from a child who is upset that mommy isn't letting them eat chicken nuggets for the 4th day in a row.  No joke, Katie's first 2 word phrase was "french fries".  Still wondering if I am mother of the year yet...

I want to go home

Well, today isn't going as planned. I was so excited this morning to get to the hospital and take Eddie home. But when I arrived he said he isn't being released just yet. His blood pressure is up, his pulse is up and he had a low grade fever earlier. So the doctor wants some lab work done and wants to see him before he can be released. Unfortunately, the doctor won't be coming around until later today.

Eddie attempted to drink some smoothie and a bite of jello. He kept it all down but it was very painful. He has really bad acid reflux and is on Zantac for it. When he drinks the Zantac he is in tremendous pain. I hate seeing him like this. 

He has been off of the morphine since last night and trying to just get through the pain with out anything. Crazy!  He finally asked for something around 10:45 am. He is resting peacefully again.

I hope I get to take him home tonight so he can be more comfy. The kids miss him and I am sure aunt Glo is ready for a break from them. She is my hero this weekend!!

The day after surgery

When I arrived at the hospital this morning Eddie wasn't in his room. You never want to visit someone in the hospital and find the room empty. In the movies that means bad news. But thankfully, Eddie was just down in radiology having an upper GI series done so they could see if his new banana shaped stomach is leaking. If it isnt , he will get to start drinking small (2 oz at a time) amounts of clear liquids.  I hear this is when the vomiting will start. Oh joy!!

He is moving around a lot better today but still in a great amount of pain. He says everyone online lied about the pain. Props to Jeff and Gloria for telling him it would hurt like hell (they have both had portions of their bowels removed due to Crohn's disease). 

Eddie just wants to get some good sleep but these darned attentive nurses keep waking him to check his vitals. How dare they!  Once he gets home and the kids are are in bed, he can get some sleep.

I think I have lost some weight already. I have been trying to be supportive and not eat in front of Eddie. When he was on his pre-op liquid diet, I did the same. When I do eat I am trying to eat healthier. Our whole family needs to kick the fast food habit and start eating better and our kids aren't going to do it unless we do it. Wish us luck!!

Surgery day

We got up early this morning and headed to Chapman medical center in Orange. Eddie checked in and was taken to pre-op for a bazillion questions.

The nurse told him, "Now you are going to get the same questions over & over.  It doesn't mean we aren't listening or that we don't know why you are here. It just means we are making sure we have the correct information"

Eddie was really nervous. Then the nurse gave him something to calm the nerves. When the doctor came in a few minutes later he asked Eddie, "Are you on any medications?"  Eddie's answer, "Yah. The nurse just gave me a shot of tequila". Then the doctor asked Eddie, "Why are you here?"  I thought Eddie's eyes were gonna pop out of his head and he would run out of the hospital leaving behind a cartoon dust trail. I had to remind him that he would be asked the same questions over and over.

They wheeled him away a few minutes later. I can't wait for the next 2 hours to be over with.

I am hopefully attaching a before surgery picture. This was taken yesterday May 12th, 2011.

Pre-Op, Day 1

Eddie's instructions for the day are as follows:

Eat breakfast.
No more "food" until well after surgery.
Clear liquids only until Midnight tomorrow (broth, water, Crystal Light, but nothing red)
As soon as he gets home from work, he has to drink a bottle of Magnesium Citrate followed by 2 glasses of water.
NOTHING after midnight Thursday. 


Surgery Friday morning.

Since he won't be eating any BIG meals ever again, we went to Disneyland yesterday to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and ate dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant.  We will be spending the night at my sisters house Thursday night since we have to be at the hospital at 5:30 am Friday. 

I'm getting nervous.  Eddie has been nervous for quite a while, but he is afraid if he doesn't do this then he won't be around for our kids when they are older. 

This evening he will be working on cleaning out system.  I may have to stop and get some really soft toilet paper for him to make it through the evening.  

The sleeve is not just a tattoo anymore

When Eddie went to the informational meeting at Sharp, they talked about all the different types of weight loss surgeries available.  He came away from that meeting talking about "the sleeve".  I had never heard of it before and had no idea what he was talking about.  He calls it the sleeve, but it's also called gastric sleeve or verticle sleeve gastrectomy.

Eddie explained that a surgeon will remove approximately 60 to 80% of the stomach leaving a small tube, or "sleeve" that extends from the natural stomach opening to the natural stomach outlet. The procedure helps to limit eating and control hunger by removing the part of the stomach that produces the hunger-stimulating hormone Ghrelin.

It is not gastric by-pass surgery which cuts the stomach outlet and reattaches it to a different part of the small intestine.  All of the food will still go through the whole digestive system.  Eddie was told that the long term complications of this procedure are fewer compared to the Lap Band procedure.  He started researching the sleeve procedure on-line and looking for forums and blogs from people who have the sleeve.

He was finding that most everyone is very happy with the procedure and that a lot of them had the Lap Band and had a complication with it, had it removed and then got the sleeve.  The more he researched it, the more he felt he needed to switch his plan and get the sleeve rather than the Lap Band.

We met with his surgeon and talked about our feelings of switching to the sleeve and the surgeon was very encouraging.  He has preformed the procedure many times and is confident that it will really help Eddie reach his weight loss goal.  The doctor takes many precautions when he does the sleeve gastrectomy that made Eddie feel more confident. 

So we set up a surgery date and had some pre-op work done.  Eddie is scheduled to go to the hospital this Friday, May 13th.  He has to start his prep on Wednesday.  We will have breakfast that morning and then he has to drink some stuff that will help flush out his system and he can only have clear liquids after that until Thursday night, when he will stop eating until after his surgery. 

He will stay in the hospital for 2 nights and come home on Sunday.  He is getting nervous and scared.  I am trying to be as supportive as I can be, but I am scared also.  This is life altering.  I have watched some video blogs from people who have had the procedure and you can watch the weight come off of them.  They are all loving it.  It is a tough recovery and a huge adjustment, but this is what my husband has set his mind to and he can be stubborn when he wants.

Wednesday we will start tracking his weight and keep everyone posted on how everything is coming along.

Another day, another doctor

Eddie started scouring the internet looking for another doctor to perform his Lap Band surgery. He was searching all of Southern California, but was having trouble finding a doctor who would do it with out charging an “administrative fee”. This is the craziest thing I have ever heard of a doctor charging. He was finding that this fee was ranging anywhere from $1500 to $3000. It isn’t something that insurance would cover. I don’t exactly know what it was supposed to cover, but it doesn’t sound ethical to me.

Eddie decided to try Sharp again. Last time they wanted him to go through 6 months of medically supervised dieting, with their food, before they would do anything else. Now he just had to go to an informational meeting, fill out some paperwork and get the process started.

Since the last time he had gone to Sharp, the FDA had dropped the requirements for weight loss surgery. It used to be that you had to have a BMI of 30 AND some other weight related problem, such as Sleep Apnea or Diabetes OR have a BMI of 35+ without any other problems. NOW you only have to have a BMI of 30+ in order to qualify for surgery. Any way you look at it, Eddie qualified. I think the FDA dropping the qualifications has pushed Sharp to lower their requirements also. Just my opinion though.

Even though Eddie attended the meeting at Sharp and he knew he trusted Sharp doctors and hospitals with his life, he was still searching. He ended up finding a place in Tustin with a doctor who has a great resume and background. So in early March 2011 he started the process of having his insurance approval switched over to this new doctor.

But something had been eating at Eddie ever since he went to the informational meeting at Sharp. Did he really want the Lap Band?????