Did I mention I hate blogging?

Lol... no seriously. Okay, so Joe is doing alright. He has been feeling sick still, nauseous and some vomiting associated with that. We are pretty sure this is from dehydration though. He is not getting his required fluids nor his required protein, not to mention his vitamin supplements. It is like pulling teeth to get him to take him pills when he feels like his stomach has a rock in it and drinking only makes it worse. Oh well, he is still in very good spirits and so far I have my own stash of phenegran so that has helped it a little. He goes to weigh in a couple of days. I am hoping he is feeling well enough to go walking mo tues and wed with me. That in itself usually makes him feel better. I have also been taking vitamins and I know I feel pretty good, plus after the intitial shock on my kidneys went away when I started drinking water, I realized I was probably a normally dehydrated person. I sent out a progress pic yesterday to much of the family, at least the ones whose email addresses I have. It is amazing the difference in his face alone. I will put it on the page, but I don't know how recognizable it will be, I don't know how small they have to make it. Well, that's all for now. I am super tired and I need to go to bed before my kids realize they are sleeping and wake up, lol. Ttyl. :-)

nothing special

I am just blogging to let you know all is pretty good here. I was told today that someone said I am not blogging ofter enough, which on boring days where nothing out of the norm happens, I just don't blog. But, I will try... :-) Anywho, Joe is feeling kinda bad today I guess. He said he feels like he ate a rock, he said it's trapped gas. He ate supper and about 15 min later he puked it up. Since then, he has been laying in his recliner. I guess I am going to send it back Saturday to the rent to own place because I had to make a washer/dryer payment to my old neighbor. I look at it like it is a blessing to have the washer and dryer, since I used to have to laundromat it, and that sucks. But I only make $40 a week and I had to give her $20 and I will have to buy a phone card because that is the only number the surgeons have and plus we need it to stay in touch when I leave and he stays here, in case of emergency. That is $15, so then I will have $5 to last me until Tuesday when I work again. Oh well, I will just take it back when the payment of $15 is due on Saturday , he is pretty much healed anyway... he will just miss is because he sleeps a lot in it because it helps his breathing and his back. Argh! I hate even talking about it... OK, that's enough from White Trashville USA. Maybe something eventful will happen, Oh, side note-- I lost 11 pounds, go me!

weigh in day #2

Ok, so he is in bed right now, kinda depressed cause he wanted to lose at least 10 lbs, he came close... 7. But he feels like he has let everyone down. I told him since last month at this time he has lost 50 lbs. If someone would have told him last month he would be 50 lbs lighter now he wouldn't have believed them. Anyway, so now he weighs from 479 to 472. I personally would take that and run, but like he said after such a huge loss the 1st week, to go to under 10 lbs is just disappointing. Last night we were looking at the 2nd day out of the hospital pics when we went to the work out place and walked on the treadmill, and we couldn't belive the HUGE difference in just his face alone. I had to alter his meeting pants, 4 inches in!! He will feel better later, but for now, he is kinda down and not really even taking phone calls. :-( Anyways, thanks for your support on the blog ya'll, I will try and write more later when he gets to feeling a little better.

Sunday November 16, 2008

Okay, can't remember if I put the day of the week in the title usually or not. I am super tired, falling asleep even, so this WILL be short, sorry. I just wanted to post about his inches lost. I think it's quite amazing actually. I don't remember off hand exactly WHERE all of the inches were, just a few. Here's what I DO know...

2.5 inches lost around his neck
9 inches around the hips
4 inches around the waist
1.5 around the calf
3 around the thigh
3 in the chest

Total lost after 1 week= 26.5 inches.

I know what I have there doesn't add up to the final, but like I said I don't remember all of the measurements. He records them on his fitday.com site. Ok. enough from me. I am so going to bed. G'night all!

Saturday November 15, 2008

So, as everyone can tell, I am not very good at blogging... hehe :-) Oh well. So, here's the latest. Joe has been walking about a mile every day, sometimes more. Wednesday's are going to be his weigh days, which last Wednesday was his first one. Last month when he weighed, he weighed in at a hefty 521, then when he left the hospital Friday, after his surgery, he weighed 512. They had told him he would most likely gain weight in the hospital, but it would only be water weight. Evidently, most people gain a few lbs after surgery from the IV and from the swelling and retaining water in the skin, tissues, and organs. The Dietitian said that they had to warn all of us about it in class because people already were hurting after surgery, initially regretting the decision to have it due to the pain, and then they would weigh and have gained weight and then they were REALLY unhappy. However, joe never gained any, he just kept losing. So, on Wednesday when he weighed, he weighed in at a lighter 479. That meant he actually lost 33 lbs in the course of 5 days, awesome, I know. He is going to weigh again on this Wednesday, which he can hardly wait. He wanted to weigh sooner, but I really think he should keep it to once a week. Also, eventually he WILL hit a plateau for a while, so it's not going to always be these massive numbers. I personally don't want him to get super small anyway. It already is weird for me to hug him cause he feels so small to me, even though I know he is still big, but I can actually get close to him whereas before, I had to lean out because of his belly when I hugged him. So, basically, I never felt that close to him. :-( He is eating pretty good too, not getting all his protein or all of his fluids quite yet, but we are working on it. I gave up pop to support him, and caffeine, so after the thoughts of killing everyone went away, lol, the world was a better place. He needs a hobby desperately. He gets so bored, and when he is bored, that is when he gets head hungry. On a bad, yet funny note, there is this thing called dumping, and NO it's not what you are thinking. It is when your body rejects something you eat, like sugars, or maybe something to heavy or maybe just something your body says no about. The symptoms are sweating, dizzy, nauseous, shakes, abdominal cramping, and eventually vomiting and or diarrhea. Well, Joe had his first dumping episode Friday night. He had been worrying that they had made his ouch too big since he would sometimes get hungry again a couple of hours after a meal, and he kinda figured it was just his luck to have something like that happen. He had had it on his mind for a few nights, and I made Baked chicken breasts. Well, he really wanted to taste it, and I said a super tiny bite chewed up really well shouldn't hurt him. Well, somehow that translated into have two bites, bless his heart, and sure enough 10 min later he said I don't think I should have done that. % min after that.. I really don't think I should have done that. Another 5 min, I think I am going to puke... I told him to go out onto the front porch and get some cool air. AND I told him if he did throw up to do it in the side yard, not right in front of the house, just in case... 2 min later * wretch* yea, he barfed. BUT, he said it made him feel better to know that he could NOT eat anything he wanted and his surgery was done well, so he said it was a very important lesson, and that it basically was a test. Oddly enough, in this instance vomiting isn't failing... go figure. Also, important note, he went to the assembly today, and spent all day there, no napping i the van, no leaving early from feeling too bad, AND most importantly, he walked around all morning and stood with me while I spoke and he spoke to all our friends. Only kinda sad part was his meeting clothes don't fit him, so he wore a pole shirt and a pair of jeans, but he did wear dress shoes, so it was all good. :-) Everyone was just so happy to see him there that no one cared what he was wearing, me included. He didn't feel uncomfortable at all either, not in his clothes, his seat.. nothing. It was awesome!! OK, that's enough blogging for now, I think it makes up for the almost week with no word. I WILL write Wednesday to tell the newest weight, so I guess I will tty then!

Sunday November 9, 2008

Well, today was even better. I guess it is going to be a steady one day at a time progress, which is good. He will probably kill me for saying this, but he did poop today, lol, first since surgery, so everything is awake and functioning. One alarming thing though is that they warned us in class that this surgery makes you a very gassy person post op, and I was like... great, cause he's already got more gas than exxon, bp, and shell combined, lol. Funny thing too, I never thought I would be happy to hear him crack one off, but I sure was. Spent the better part of two days waiting and hoping to hear him fart. It was really funny in the hospital because he was finally at a point where he was really feeling like he could do it, and then the nurse walked in and he was like awe man, and then he really did get to where he felt it coming so he just ripped it, and then was all embarrassed and apologetic to the nurse, and she said don't be sorry, it's politically correct here, have a party!! Ok, back to today. He did a lot more walking, he ate good and took his pills like he should except for his citrical, he didn't get them all down, yet. I may stay up and keep forcing them down. He has about an hours worth of em to get down. I really don't think it's necessary to log his meds again, I think you all get the point with that. I started at 6:50am and it's 9:36pm and we are still not quite done. Jason Douglas stopped by for a bit today and my bff brooke was here too. Pretty sure I will end up on the news for going nuts though, it gets lonely and very, very, very stressful for me. I spent the better part of the day at wits end with the kids. I am pretty sure Will is going back with granny to stay for a bit until Joe is healed better. When all three are here, they feed off of each others madness, which then quickly adds to mine. Joe is sleeping right now here by me. The only pain he has now is just t hat one incision on his left side of his belly button. It is a tad swollen, but it is healing. I took the bandaid off of his belly button where they put the scope through, and besides the dried blood you can't tell there was ever any scope in there to begin with. All the others look awesome. As soon as the one where the tools went through gets less painful, he will be more back to his normal self. I am sure he has already lost weight... I cn see iti n his face and through his chest. I plan on taking him to weigh Wednesday morning, if I have time, if not it will be Wednesday afternoon, as long as their open. I have to take him to the dialysis unit to weigh. I guess that's it from here, more tomorrow. :-)

November 8, 2008

Well, last night was okay, he was very sore and he tried to sleep. I guess he did sleep most of the night. He did not have any nausia last night, he only has that when he walks. That is caused be the pulling and stretching of the esophaugus and the incisions. His pain today is better though. Just the one incision really is sore, the one that the dr used to put all his instruments through. It is about 4 inches to the left of the belly button, and it is about a 2 inch incision. Their incisions went throught the skin, then the fat layer, then throught the muscle wall, then they aired him up under the muscle wall, to quote the surgeon, " Like the superdome." I told him that sounded scary and he said "actually, it's pretty cool." He is a young guy, maybe a little older than me, mid 30's or so. Anyway, Joe has been walking and he has been eating. He eats 6 ounces a day right now, but he drinks 32-48 ounces of fluid right now. Plus, he has to take 3 flintstones a day and 3 and a half citricals, but I have to gring those up right now cause they are huge and I would have to cut them into 3's which would be about 12 pills when I was done. So, for now I pulverize them and put them in whatever I can, mashed potatoes, yogurt... I also had to go to the rental store today and rent him a recliner. He can't lay flat, like I said, it stretches and pulls right now, so NOW he is more comfortable. That makes me feel better and it's $15 a week, so I think I can swing it for a week or 2. I am going to include his pill regiment so far for today so you can all see what he is going through, although he sleeps through most of it right now, I just wake him up and put a pill in his mouth and give him a drink. So, here's that so far.

7:45- half percocet

7:55- "band aid"

8:05- half percocet

8:15- breakfast= 1 oz oatmeal, 1 oz vanilla yogurt

9:50- half percocet

11:20- half percocet

11:35- prilosec

11:45- half blood pressure

11:50- " band aid"

12:00- lunch= 1oz applesauce, 1 oz yogurt

12:30- half blood pressure

12:48- half antibiotic

1:15- half antibiotic

1:30- kadian

1:45- flintstone

2:00- half percocet

2:10- half percocet

2:20- dilaudid

2:30- effexor

2:48- effexor

2:58- flintstone

3:30- abilify

4:10- lamictal

4:20- half percocet

4:30- "bandaid"

4:40- dinner= 1oz mashed potato, half oz cottage cheese, 5oomg citrical mixed in mas pot

5:25- half percocet

5:35- lyrica

6:00- flintstone

6:50- kadian

7:08- dilaudid

7:18- antibiotic

7:30- antibiotic

8:00-1oz yogurt with citrical mixed in

8:50- "bandaid"

9:00- half muscle relaxer

9:10- half muscle relaxer

9:20- half muscle relaxer

9:30- half muscle relaxer

That is about it, we still missed a bit of meds today believe it or not, but it's totally because of me, it's hard to take care of the house and the kids and joe's meds and helping him to the bathroom and helping him to bed and helping him walk and making his food, plus the kids food, and their school, and cleaning the house up after the kids play while I am doing all the other stuff. By the way, for anybody wondering, the bandaid medicine is what the nurses call it because it coats the stomach like a big band aid and protects from ulcers and since he is H-pylori positive, he takes it 4 times a day. It looks like really runny pepto, and it smells a bit minty, but by the look of joe's face when he takes it, I assume it tastes like dirty gym socks smell... so this blog has taken over an hour, but I am going to stop writing cause I have too much out there in the house to do, a bit scared to venture out of my bedroom and see the house. I am sure it will look like it threw itself up since the kids have been out there, and mostly quiet, that's a good sign that it is going to be a mess. Kids + quiet= something bad going on. Joe appreciates all the phone calls and so do I. It gets lonely here sometimes, and believe me, there is no amount of calgon in this world to make it all go away, lol. i am outta here. More tomorrow...