First of all, I apologize for taking longer than normal to get my next blog entry done. The last few weeks have been very, very hectic to say the least.
I went back to see Dr. Douglas Lorimer a couple weeks ago for my 3 week checkup after surgery. It was pretty routine office visit. He checked out all the incisions to make sure everything was healing up well and asked some questions about how the diet was working out for me. After I got done, he sent me over to the lab to have some blood work done and to see if there were any changes since pre-op. I got a call later in the week that everything was looking good and all the results within normal range. I am fortunate to have not had a lot of medical issues before surgery with the exception of normal day-to-day stress and something called fatty liver syndrome. From my understanding there are lots of bariatric patients who have fatty liver syndrome. I assume that since all the results came back normal, that maybe that is gone now. I will need to confirm with Dr. Lorimer next office visit. I have my next follow up on July 7th.
Then last week, I received some very unfortunate news. My lovely mother passed away at the young age of 59. My poor mother has been through the ringer with medical issues in her life but had been doing well recently so this came as a huge shock. So instantly life go a little crazier as my family starting making plans and trying to deal with all the stress that comes with it. I didn’t do very well with my diet last week. I was so busy that I found myself on what amounted to a very poor clear liquid diet again. I wasn’t keeping much of anything down and was starting to think that I had fallen off the deep end and maybe mentally I was making myself sick. I talked with our dietician Jaime Bass at the hospital and she reminded me to do my best to stay hydrated and eat when I needed to eat. She put my mind at ease that I was not going crazy and that a lot of this was probably my body’s way of dealing with stress. After all in just a month, I have had major surgery and now this. My body probably didn’t know what to think. Things are better now and one of my biggest supporters is my guardian angel who can be with me all the time. She will be missed, but I have found peace in knowing she is in a much better place and all her health problems are gone.
I experienced my first holiday since surgery, Father’s Day. We spent some time with my dad on Saturday and then had dinner with my father n law on Sunday afternoon. My son and wife plotted together to make a custom made card for me. I opened the card and couldn’t help but laugh a little when it said I love you dad. I am glad you had your surgery. At first I thought this was my wife’s way of making a joke but apparently when they ordered online, that is what he asked her to put into the card. Obviously with the holiday and the meals that came with it, I was put to a major test. I did well. I had my little portion of food and sat back and enjoyed the company of my family. I think it is funny that people realize the position I am in and apologize for eating in front of me. I make it a point to explain to them that it is not a problem and as much as I would love to partake in the bbq or steak, I would much rather not be sick from eating it.
So after yet another week off work, I am back in the saddle and working to play catch up here at the office. Things are going well in my mind though. It is nice to be back at work and talking with my clients again. It has been a very productive week which always makes it better and next month is already looking up as well.
These little life occurrences make the journey a little more interesting but really tests my ability to stay strong and continue down the right path. If it is ok, I would prefer to not have many more big surprises like I have had over the last couple weeks for awhile. So far I have lost 80 lbs since I started this journey and I feel like I am beginning to gain some of my strength back. I encourage everyone to come to the support group for Bariatric surgery patients Thursday, July 1 at 6:00 pm at the hospital. Jaime Bass from bariatric services will be discussing Bartiatric diet which I know I can definitely use.
The journey continues….
- Casey Armstrong
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