Care and Feeding

Dan and I on our wedding day, 20 years ago

I haven’t written in over a week, so it’s time to catch up with the latest. 

At 10:00AM last Monday I told Dan (DH), “Exactly one week from now I should be waking up from surgery!”  At 10:30AM, the scheduling rep from the hospital called and told me that my surgery had been rescheduled for March 18^th, two weeks after the original date.   *sigh*

So the countdown was reset and I am now 13 days away from surgery.

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I promised that I would list the types of foods I’ve been eating as part of my pre-surgery diet.  I was told to eat lean protein at every meal.  I should avoid the high-carb “white” foods such as potatoes, white rice, white bread, pasta, and sugar.  I should have dairy twice a day and several servings of vegetables and fruits each day. 

So here’s what I’ve been mostly eating:

• Scrambled egg whites
• Beef jerky 
• Costco sells their own Kirkland brand that has 0.5 grams of fat, 4 grams of sugar, 60 calories, and 9 grams of protein in a 1 ounce serving and it is delicious!
• Broiled or microwaved chicken breasts
• Canned salmon 
• Again, Costco sells wild Alaskan salmon in cans that is very good.
• Lots of vegetables, both cooked and raw
• Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts
• Salads with mixed greens and a variety of vegetables, seasoned with nothing but plain, but very good quality balsamic vinegar.
• Fresh and frozen fruit 
• Pears, oranges, grapes, mango, berries, and bananas
• Unflavored, unsweetened Greek yogurt mixed with berries and/or banana and chopped raw almonds.
• Skim milk
• Once in a while I will have a whole wheat sandwich round with peanut butter for breakfast.
• Whole grain flat bread (occasionally)
• Protein shakes made with whey protein isolate

I sometimes have a glass of caffeine-free iced tea, but my usual drink is plain water.   Our water goes through a water softener, then through a whole house filter, and finally through a Britta filter.  The result is water that is clean and tastes wonderful.

I love my morning cup of hot brown though, so I have several cups of decaffeinated coffee each day, with some milk and about half a packet of Sweet n Low.  I tried to drink my coffee without any sugar or sweetener, but I finally gave in and started using that little bit of sweetener to make it taste like the coffee that I love so much.

So, there you go. That’s what I eat 90% of the time.  Tonight I had an incredible craving for pizza, so we ordered one with fresh tomatoes, onions, and green peppers.  It tasted wonderful, but I won’t do that very often and certainly not again before the surgery.

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At the introductory seminar that DH and I attended, the surgeon presented a lot of charts and graphs and statistics related to this surgery (which I loved).  One of the things he told us was that someone with my BMI had a 2,000% greater chance of dying early than someone with a healthy BMI.  2,000%!!!! 

Then last week when I went for my final pre-surgery doctor’s appointment, my surgeon told Dan that if he could find four more women with the same BMI, health, age, etc. as me, and then track the five of us for five years, that one of us would be dead from an obesity-related illness at the end of that five year period.    

Those are sobering statistics.  So you see, I’m not just doing this to wear cute clothes again, I’m doing this to save my life.

As for the risks of surgery itself, Mt. Carmel is a nationally-recognized Center of Excellence for bariatric surgery.  My surgeon has performed over 1,000 weight loss surgeries and has lost only one patient, who died about two months after her surgery.  I am in very capable hands.

Hugs,

Sandra