The incredable shrinking people.

Most of you know that Rudee and I both had bariatric surgery in June last year. I had it first and then Rudee went thru her procedure 2 weeks later. The decision to have the surgery was not made lightly or in haste. We went to classes for 6 months and researched everything we could get our hands on. We talked to several who had done the procedure with varying degrees of success. We were fortunate to be able to have a laproscopic procedure so the recovery was not as bad. My surgery was on Tuesday morning and went very well. The whole thing lasted a couple of hours and after a little while in recovery I was in my room. That first night was not the best, I had some discomfort and they kept me on a morphine pump until the next day. They encourage you to do a lot of walking to help the healing and it also helps with any discomfort you feel after eating. I was discharged on Friday and on a liquid diet for the next week. Rudee stayed with me for a few days making sure I could take care of myself. My meals consisted of broth and protein shakes made with condensed milk and Carnation instant breakfast mix. By week 2 I was on to soft foods, mostly scrambled eggs with melted cheese on top, peanut butter and cottage cheese. I could eat about 2-4oz. of food at a time and this filled up. When not eating I was drinking water, lots and lots of water. The first few weeks flew by and after 6 weeks I was back on a more unrestricted diet and back to work. I would take a lunchable with me for my lunch and we ate a lot of soups. Of course we had regular follow ups with the surgeon and staff at the Bariatric Center. The weight came off fairly quickly at first (about 7 lbs per week) and then slowed to a more reasonable level. I am still losing but only about 2-3 lbs per month right now. We are back to eating a more liberal diet. I still can't eat much bread and we have stayed away from anything with more than 13 grams of sugar per serving. There is a condition called "dumping syndrome" which can be triggered by too much sugar intake and is very unpleasant for several hours so we are careful to watch what we eat. We also have to watch how fast we eat since our stomachs went from the size of a football to less than the size of baseball. Overeating causes a "full" feeling and is uncomfortable for around 45 minutes to an hour unless by emptying your stomach (sorry to get gross). We are both very pleased with the results. I weighed 396 lbs on our very first visit to the Center and am now 222 lbs and feeling great. Rudee has done fantastic as well. We are both committed to keeping the weight off and being a more healthy couple of we can. We do have to continue to take vitamins the rest of our lives but it's only 2 pills so not too bad. The best thing for me is prior to the surgery I suffered with sleep apnea and used a C-pap machine to keep me breathing regularly in the night. I have been off the machine now for 6 months and no apnea!! I sleep very well now and no snoring to keep Rudee awake. I posted before and after pictures of us so you can see the dramatic changes.

Yesterday we went to Stacy's birthday. She is a co-worker of Rudee and Amanda's. The party was at Maggiano's Little Italy in Indianapolis. We rode the bike over and had a nice lunch. We had a good time visiting with the folks there and celebrating Stacy's big day. Thanks for inviting us guys.

We left there and took a short bike ride. I say short because the winds were howling and even though it was in the 80's it we couldn't enjoy it much because of the winds. Today looks like it's going to be the same as we plod our way thru the work day. Planning on Bingo tonight with Steve and Trish. We'll keep you posted.