Well surgery day has dawned.
Everything I have been working for in the last few months has come about.
Like any 10 week diet, nothing is perfect and I had a few small blips (But nothing major) but of course you still worry if that one piece of bread or something small is going to de-rail.
I get to the hospital and nerves kick in, is this the last time I will be entering here? Is it the last time I will see the sun (Stupid thoughts, but still none the less as humans something we do)
Got in, got changed, my wife left and I went in.
Those who have had surgery before will know this process, but I am 32 and never had surgery before, so it was all daunting and new to me.
I get wheeled into a room, needles and things go into my arms to prep me, a nurse tells me that she had it done 8 years ago, and congratulations on doing an amazing thing, another comes up and asks me a whole bunch of questions.
I get wheeled into theater and by now I am shitting bricks (Not literally, but almost could have been).... from here my anesthesiologist comes in and starts going through what's going to happen, I remember him saying something about starting the process, and then the next thing I remember is waking up 2.5 hours later in pain, disoriented, wondering if things had gone well, was I alive, and that's when everything changed.
Once the initial pain came through, I was pumped full of some great drugs, feeling like I wanted to be sick, I was taken to HDU (High Dependence Unit).
Lots of pain relief and anti nausea drugs later, I finally got the holy grail, ice chips, I could suck on one small chip at a time, but oh that feeling of cold coursing into my mouth was sensational. As I woke up they had me rugged up in blankets galore and I started to feel the heat, being obese you generally don't feel the cold as much as I was over heating, I had to throw everything off me.
The night in HDU, the nurses were simply brilliant, I was very well looked after and I have to say the staff at The Avenue hospital were amazing.
I was saying to a lady whose name I forgot (She was the over night co-ordinator) and basically a jack of all trades, she ran around for people, covered breaks etc, she was brilliant, I had mentioned I was so so hot and she found me a fan and oh my that breeze was the best thing to happen to me all week (apart from waking up alive)
From there I slowly introduced vegetable broth and jelly, eating maybe 2-3 spoonfuls at a time.
Flash forward to 4 days later, I am home, feeling great, I still can't sleep properly yet, getting some headaches (Which was a combination of Dehydration and coffee withdrawals (totally a thing) I am drinking and taking fluids, I am eating ok (I worked out my max is about 200ml of food at a time) and to not drink and eat at the same time.
I have found some great support in the gastric groups I am apart of on Facebook.
The biggest two changes I have found so far
1) Eating - Now it's very small amounts and small tea spoons, I watched my FIL eat some shepherds pie last night, and the serving size is about 6 of mine now, damn it looked so good (I am on liquids that would fit through a McDonald's straw at the moment.
2) Coldness - Pre Surgery I could walk outside at 3C and be like yea, its a bit chilly, now at 12C I am frozen and feel the chill, how ever likely a effect of Anesthetic paying havoc with my body clock.
Overall I have to thank my lovely wife for being amazing and being there for me, all my friends who have checked in on me, called me, messaged me etc and to all my fellow Sleevers and Bypassers who I have leaned on in the last few weeks, but again to the Drs and especially the nursing staff at the Avenue, thank you, absolutely top class health care and I feel lucky in Australia that even a private hospital to have such wonderful staff and system in place.
For me now the next 2.5 weeks will be spent recovering and learning to adjust to my new life.
I am also down a little more in weight (Tho in the next 6 weeks this is not important at all while I recover)
HW 310.0Kg (Highest weight) (Estimated as I used scales that were 300 in April 2018 and they stopped at 300)
SW 279.8KG (This was the weight I started at Pre-Diet for surgery on April 8 2019)
CW 248.4 (Today June 24)
Weightloss Since April 31.4KG
Paul
