Tony's Journey: Volume Three

Today marks one week since Tony's gastric sleeve bypass surgery last Monday, February 21st. You can catch up on his story by going back here. Thanks to all who prayed for an uneventful surgery and for continuing to support him as he is back home now and as he says it, is preparing for his new life.





February 20, 2011

Well, son, in the morning is your big day, I wish you the best of luck on this journey and will be praying for you, I know everything will go just fine...love you, MOM

February 21, 2011

Well the time has finally come. Surgery Day. I weighed in this morning at 368 so that is 17 pounds lost in 10 days on their crazy diet before surgery. I had a rough time sleeping. Pretty much worried about this day all night. All my family called me last night and wished me well so that made me feel better. I won’t be on here (Facebook) for a few days but Judy will let everyone know how I am doing. I give her a hard time, but I gotta say she is a good woman who has been beside me and is willing to take care of me. So I gotta love her for that. LOL. Yesterday I really, really pondered over whether or not this surgery was for me. Well, I made my final decision and said, yes, it is for me. My goal weight for me is 200-210. We will see how it goes. They say if all goes well and I exercise I should lose 160 pounds within 1 to 1 ½ years. Well if I don’t kick the bucket on the operating table this morning I’ll be talking to you all on Thursday. Sorry, Mom. Have to have some sense of humor in there. LOL. C-YA ALL and thanks to everyone that is thinking about me.

TONY

February 22, 2011

Well it's 4 in the morning, they keep waking me up every 2 hours to check my vitals and my rose bud drain (it is the tube that is running out of my body cavity). Today is a big day I get to have blue ice all day so they can see if I have any leakage in my new stomach. If that all goes well then alot of things get unhooked from me. whoo hoo

This has been quit the experience for me, I know we all have had big things happen in our life. This is one of the biggest for me. I got to see my little buddy (Lily) yesterday and that really cheered me up it; just sucked cause I could not hold her. But at least she smiled at me, and that made my day. Well the morphine drip is kicking in time to sign out. A BIG THANKS FOR ALL THE WELL WIHES AND PRAYERS FROM EVERYONE.

And a really BIG THANK YOU TO JUDY for staying with me a taking care of me.

Well got to go for my first walk, everything is going great. Hope to go home tomorrow

February 24, 2011

Well I am finally home. This is my first full day of my new life. I have to say one thing that is weird, is it takes me a good half hour to drink 8 oz. of fluids. I haven't got sick or anything like that, but I notice when I rush the drinking my stomach really starts making noises. Everything is feeling pretty good EXCEPT my 6 incisions, they really hurt. The biggest one (where they pulled my stomach through) really hurts. It makes it painful to move around. Judy has to give me a blood thinner injection in my stomach for 10 days straight. I think she just likes to stab me with the needle. LOL

I am still on liquids only, for the next 14 days, I get 3-8oz protein shakes they have 35 grams of protein each, and 3- 8oz protein drink mixes, they have 10 grams of protein each. That is all I get for the next 14 days. Oh and I can ...have sugar free popsicles, but they have no value at all. They are just there for my mind games on when I think I am hungry. I am not really hungry at all, once the soreness goes away I think everything will be fine. I am up walking every hour for 3-5 minutes, and I am doing my breathing treatment every 2 hours so I don't get fluid in my lungs. Sleeping is really hard for me, because I like to sleep on my left side and that is where the big incision is at. So I can't sleep on it. I weighed in at 365 this morning. It was funny when I came home from the hospital I had gained 2 pounds from all the fluids they pumped in me. I beat by Sunday I am in the 350 pound range. I’ll just have to see.

February 25, 2011

I am doing pretty good, still sore. But that will soon pass. I am down to 362 this morning. Funny thing is I am not hungry, but I make sure I eat when I am suppose too. And Lily is coming out today to see me. I will enjoy seeing her that is for sure.

February 26, 2011

Well today my main incision has stopped draining. So Nurse Judy said I need to let it air out today and see how it does. 16 days ago I weighed 385; this morning I weighed in at 359. That is 26 pounds in 16 days. The funny thing is I don't feel hungry at all. I have to remind myself to have my protein drinks. I am going to try and walk a little more today. Hope everyone has a good day.

February 28, 2011

I am now down to 356. That is 29 pounds in 18 days. My problem that I am having besides the soreness of the incisions. Is that I am not hungry. I am supposed to have 3 shakes a day and 3 protein drinks a day and I am getting only 2 shakes and... 1 protein drinks a day. I forget that I have to eat. I have signal to the brain anymore that I am hungry. And it is really weird. I sit and watch the food channel and I just think I bet that will be good. But it doesn't make me hungry. I have my first check up with the doctor on Wednesday the 2nd. Everything is going good, I am just bored here at the house by myself and I can't get out and really do the things I am use to doing. I will go back to work on the 14th of March if the doctor ok's it. That is really all there is to update, I seem to lose a 1 or 2 a day. I figured by Saturday the 5th I'll probably be in the 340's.

Sweet Sunshine

Today I've made two trips to Walmart, two passes through a drive-thru, one run to Lowes, and another to Starbucks. I've planted two flats of pansies, experimented with a backpack leaf blower, and raked piles and piles of pine straw. I've had sand in my eye, sand in my hair, and sand in my shoes.

It's been a pretty darn good day.

Normally I complain when I do all that running. I complain that I have too much to do and I complain about gas prices. Not today, though. I have a hamper full of laundry, dishes in the sink, and no idea what I'm going to make for supper.

I couldn't be happier.

Last night my husband asked me to go for a walk. I told him I needed to clean the kitchen. Really, he said. Clean the kitchen? What did we have kids for?

Good point. So we went for that walk, he told me a joke in the funniest accent, and I laughed so hard I barely made it up the hill. Sooo much better than dishes. I have vowed to spend more time sitting in his lap and less time worrying about the kitchen.

The birds are singing, my swing is swinging, and I'm in the middle of a really good book. The only thing that would make this day more perfect would be if my mom and dad were coming over for supper.

Of course, then I would have to leave this swing and clean and make a plan.

But don't you know I would do all that smiling, too?

Henry The Eighth I Am!

For King Henry the Eighth,

if all the Patterns and Pictures of a merciless Prince

 were lost in the world, they might all again be

painted to the life, out of the story of this King.

 Sir Walter Raleigh

Forgive me while I go all academic here. I've been working on a pretty in-depth powerpoint project of the Tudor Monarchs of England this week and today has been devoted to the six wives of Henry VIII.

Good grief.

I remember learning in a history class many, many years ago this rhyme to remember the sequence of events that befell his many wives:

Divorced, beheaded, died;

Divorced, beheaded, survived.

Don't you know the wife at the end was the lucky one? She about got busted, too, due to some evidence that had surfaced that would have clearly shown her differences in opinion (from Henry's) regarding religion. Somebody in her court caught wind that the axe (no pun intended) was about to fall and she was able to sweet talk (my opinion only) Henry into believing that she only questioned him so she could learn from him. Quick thinking. Lucky for her he died before she could mess anything else up.

And then there's his first wife. She was married to his brother and future King of England, Arthur, for only six months before he died. Since she was young enough to remarry (lucky her!) and because she was the daughter of the King and Queen of Spain, the powers that be decided it would be good for her to marry Henry, and when his dad died (you keeping up here?) they were both crowned King and Queen of England during the same coronation ceremony.

Oh, to be a queen.

Of course, as history tells it, Catherine had a little problem in not producing a (living) male heir (and we all know it's the woman's fault, right?). Around this time another pretty young thing had caught Henry's eye so he did what any self-serving, egotistical man would do... he sought a divorce. Catherine had her title of Queen stripped from her and spent the remainder of her life in not-so-fancy castles probably wishing she could have lived her life as a peasant girl baking bread for the village blacksmith.

Wonder what she thought when she heard the axe had literally fallen on that pretty young thing's head?

Okay. I'll stop with that. It's not that I'm bored (although you might be). Trust me, I could go on and on for quite a while. History truly is better than fiction. No... I have to go because it's time to pick up my own little scholars from school. I hope they enjoyed their academic day as much as I did.

(Yeah, I can hear their snickering in the background, too).

Things That Make Me Smile

Waking up to thankfully discover it was only a dream.

Having kids that really want to go to school and wake up on their own.

Borrowing my son's truck for the day and having him tell me "good luck" and "be careful."

Logging on to facebook to discover a former student from long ago thanking me for teaching her the three most important ways of dealing with stress: chocolate, coffee, and the Bible.

Knowing that the day has just begun.

Plug Your Ears

While coming out of our county courthouse today, the youngest and I caught the tail end of a one-sided conversation of a lady on her cell phone. Her words were laced with the f-word among other character-building vocab choices and as we walked away, I pulled my girl in close. I'm sorry you had to hear that. I wish I could shelter you from the world.

Mom, she sighed, I'm twelve. Just be glad you're not in my school.

Boy, talk about something that makes me sad. For a long time, we did shelter those kids from the world. We kept them in small classes in small schools for as long as we could. We kept the tv off most of the time, kept the radio on one family friendly station, and kept them away from anyone with a foul mouth.

I'm not sure when things began to change. Somewhere along the way, we bought a Nintendo with a few video games. Then we added a computer and had the internet hooked up. An x-box appeared later with even more video games. Gameboys, i-pods, dsi's. Laptops.

Bigger schools.
School buses.
Adults outside a courthouse.

Everywhere you turn you're faced with things you'd rather not see or hear. Even as I write this, our television is tuned into Andy Griffith and four out of five people are completely captivated by Opie's latest escapade. It's one of the few shows we can watch without our finger on the remote in case we have to change the channel quick. Yes, our kids are big and yes, they've heard it all before (and I would imagine have even uttered a few choice words of their own), but I'd rather them not hear it in their own home.

I'm a big believer in maintaining that safe haven. We may not do everything right. We argue. We get on each other's nerves. A lot. But I hope, I pray, that when they are out there in a loud and sometimes ugly world, they think of home. And not necessarily the home with the i-pods and dsi's and an overload of information with the click of a mouse; but a home that, when at least compared to the world, is quiet. Respectful. Not so angry.

Twelve years old and she thinks she's heard it all.

Yeah. That makes me sad, too.

Why Hug When You Can Just Shake Hands?

Yesterday morning while sitting in church, a lady came up to me and asked me my name. Normal enough. Next she asked me if we had been coming there long. Still kind of normal. Finally she wanted to know the exact number of times we had been there. Getting kinda weird.

Then she hugged me.
As in pull-you-in-close, arms-wrapped-around-the-neck type of hug.
Definitely at that awkward stage.

Have I mentioned I'm not a huggy kind of person?

Yep, I've had well over twenty-four hours to think about this and well... I'm still thinking about it. I have therefore determined that in my world, there are three kinds of hugs (hey, I always said I think too much).

1. The Honey, I'm Home Hug: These are the hugs my husband gives me when he comes home from work. I'm typically in the kitchen or sometimes I'll meet him out on the front porch. Hugs like these make me feel warm and fuzzy and give me peace.
2. The Goodbye Hug: These hugs always make me cry and I have a hard time letting go. One of these hugs was shared with my grandma on a September morning the day we moved. Now they are all reserved for my mom and dad and happen twice a year.
3. The Awkward  Stranger Hug: These kinds are generally found inside a church during the welcome song or at family reunions with people you have honestly never met. I am not a fan of these and always feel like my personal space has been violated.

Maybe that's the problem right there. I like my personal space.

And I know this is gonna sound corny, but well... have I mentioned that I'm a little obsessed with dictionaries? Particularly old dictionaries. I like to know what words meant before we added ain't to the English language according to the modern day Webster.

So here is the definition of hug from my 1892 Webster's High School Dictionary: To embrace closely; to hold fast; to keep close to.

I know, I know. I'm putting too much time into this. It's just after that moment in church yesterday, I was left thinking what's wrong with me? Are other people comfortable giving and/or receiving hugs from people they don't know? That woman certainly was. Does she have more of Jesus than I do?

(Understand I'm just rambling here because I really don't think that Jesus part. He loves me whether I'm a huggy person or not).

To me, a hug is personal. I want to at least share a cup of coffee with you before I wrap my arms around your neck and even then, well, let's just say that better have been one good cup of coffee. If I'm perfectly honest, I prefer a good old-fashioned handshake.

I just gotta figure out a way to tell that lady this before she comes after me next Sunday.

I Think The Mirror Told A Lie

I'm thinking of alot of things tonight.
Things I didn't get done today.
The things I did.

My boy's first dance.

It's crazy how fast time goes by.
Sometimes I think, I'm such a mom.
And then I think, What else would I be?

My husband took me out for dinner the other night. He asked me if my life was turning out the way I planned. I told him all I ever wanted was a husband and a house full of kids. A curious thought occurred to me, though. All those times I saw myself with a house full of kids, I was always young and they were little. I never really looked ahead to when I would be not-so-young and they would be taller than me. I wonder if we can ever look ahead and see what reality will look like in the mirror. Do you get that? All I know is I looked at a picture of myself that was taken today with my boy. Really looked. And I thought, Who is that woman?

I sure didn't recognize her. The face looked a little fuller than I remembered. The eyes a little more tired. And we won't even get started on the lower half.

Yep. Time's a funny thing.
We change. We grow.

We take pictures of kids going to a dance.