jeneralist 

I'm not going to be riding for a while, folks: not only is the weather here in Philadelphia WAY below freezing with 40mph winds, but on Tuesday I'll be going for weight loss (stomach band) surgery. I should be out of the hospital the same day, but the surgeon has told me he wants me to spend the next month doing nothing more than walking for exercise.

So I won't be posting about rides or logging any miles until after Groundhog Day, when I get to come out from hibernation. Of course, I'll still be READING.

Happy New Year!

Neil_B

Let me know when you are on two wheels again.

Kamala

Good luck on your surgery! Had lapband last March and it's been a brave new world for me ever since.

funrover 

goodluck and quick recovery!

jgjulio

Good luck!

cyclist2000

good luck

Missbumble 

Good luck!

turtlewoman

Miss Bumble,
I'm going for my initial lap band seminar on the 23rd. Good luck to you and let us know how everything goes.

jeneralist 

So, I had the surgery on Tuesday, 1/5. Spent 3 days afterwards on "clear liquids" -- water, diet jello, decaf tea, strained broth. Now I'm up to "full liquids" -- skim milk, yogurt, cream-of-whatever soup run through a strainer. Over time, as my stomach heals, I'll move back to normal food, just less of it.


I needed to be at the hospital on Tuesday at 5:45; got taken to the OR around 9:00. I remember waking up around 11:30. There were things squeezing my legs and one of my arms. Eyes still closed, I recognized them as sequential compression dressings (squeeze the legs to make sure I don't get blood clots) and a blood pressure cuff. The surgeon's assistant told me later that she had an extensive conversation with me, sometime before I remember waking up. I don't remember any of it, and she didn't think I would -- but at the time, I was awake, and I was spoken to. OK.

Spent some time in the recovery room getting medicine for nausea and pain -- in that order, thank you very much. Most strong pain medicines make a lot of people nauseated, and I knew that throwing up would be a Bad Thing at that time. Then off to Xray, where I drank some liquid that shows up well, and demonstrated that my poor picked-on stomach was not leaking.

Then to a real hospital room, in the section of the hospital reserved for people having weight-loss surgery. They may have been trying to be extra nice: I wound up in a single room. From the look of the door (the only one I saw that was 1 1/2 doors, making an extra-wide opening) it may have been normally intended for very large people.

Friendly nurses came by and asked me to see if I could handle drinking, but to try to drink only sips: she poured out 3 one-ounce glasses of water and told me those should last me an hour.

The surgeon and his assistant came by later to make sure I was doing OK. The surgeon told me that even though I undoubtedly could handle giving myself a daily injection of blood thinner, he still wanted a visiting nurse to come to the house: he wanted someone more objective to take my temperature, check my blood pressure, and make sure my incisions aren't getting infected.

My hubby and I started walking back and forth in the hallways, slowly, to prove to the surgeon (and ourselves) that I was ready to go home.

Got out of the hospital around 7:30, and stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up pain medication and blood thinner.

I've got 5 tiny cuts on my belly, all north of the belly-button.

Thanks to all of you for your well-wishes.