MW 2.0

October 17 marked the third month since I had the RNY surgery, so I thought I’d check in and mention some of the things I’ve observed over the last three months:

WordPress doesn’t make it easy to publish short form blog posts, so I opted to move my blog to Tumblr, where people can follow easier and where I can do smaller blog posts. Look for more posts in the near future.

Ever since Minecraft began influencing my eating habits, I’ve been on a spicy kick, which has brought me to my latest food test: the Pizza Hut Boneless Wings (Buffalo Mild).

This is the first food I’ve had since surgery that I can definitively say I cannot tolerate. I didn’t get dumping syndrome from it (thankfully), but I got many of the related symptoms, including severe but short-lived stomach pain.

I wish I knew what Red Robin put into their Buzz sauce, because whatever it is, it’s a hell of a lot better than buffalo sauce.

Technically, I’m not supposed to have any liquids while eating, but I can usually get away with a sip or two to “calm down” the reaction from a sauce like buffalo or Buzz. But while buffalo sauce has a weird reaction with water (that sometimes makes the spiciness worse), Buzz sauce does not. So while I’ll usually just wait for the spiciness to calm down on its own with buffalo sauce, I can use water with Buzz sauce to make it cool down faster.

I know that’s a really long-winded explanation. I do wonder though if anyone else has noticed this.

Bottom line, though: This is the first time since June that I’d been to a Red Robin (and I guess the first time since the surgery I’d been out to eat at an actual restaurant). I was only able to eat one of the Buzz clucks before I had to box the rest. They were just as good as they were in June, and, fortunately, I was able to tolerate them (as I expected I would after having Culver’s tenders).

Last night, after I had dinner in the form of spicy chicken strips from Red Robin, I got together with two friends to play some VR games. The VR equipment alone, including the components, the headset, and the controllers, weigh a total of about 10 pounds (by my best estimation). This didn’t include the other items I carry in my bag, so last night, in addition to going up and down two staircases twice, I was carrying at least somewhere around 10-13 pounds. Counting that and the workout from VR gameplay (though not as much last night compared to most times), somehow I managed to lose four pounds in about 9 hours. This brings my total weight loss to 60 pounds lost since October 2016.

not my photo, if it wasn’t obvious

Anyone who knows me knows I like to play Minecraft occasionally. Yesterday, I was building a home for myself on a friend’s server, and one of the blocks I used were acacia wood planks. Now, before I continue, I need to make it clear: I use a custom resource pack in Minecraft, and in this particular resource pack, these blocks are more reddish-orange than in the default resource pack.

Back when I was first preparing for the surgery, one of the things they told us was that bread and bread products couldn’t be eaten anymore. This is because the breading would increase in size in the new stomach, and it could cause blockages when digesting, which could land me a nice room in the hospital… again. So I’ve been sticking to that and avoiding bread products.

Technically, the stuff on chicken strips is called breading, but my guess was that it would be hard enough that it wouldn’t cause me problems, and now that I’m back on regular foods, it’s all about discovery and seeing what I can and cannot tolerate.

Yesterday, my surgeon cleared me to begin eating regular food again, so I commemorated the event by having some of these ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS AMAZING grilled chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A, which are beneficial and highly recommended for people like me.

It’s been awhile since I provided an update on my recovery and my progress. This will be long, and there won’t be a tl;dr. Good luck!

If you haven’t seen my other post yet, today marks the moment when I’ve lost more than 50 pounds since starting the entire process with my surgeon last October. There’s still a very long way to go, but this really helps. Since my surgery date (July 17), I’ve lost just under 35 pounds.

Since early August, I’ve been on a soft foods diet, so basically an extension of my liquids diet (incl. yogurt, jello, pudding, etc.), but also including thinly sliced meats and cheeses. I’ve found that I can eat up to two slices of meat at a time and remain full for about 4-5 hours. I’m still in that phase where I can’t actually believe this, but holy crap does that “full feeling” come on fast.

Since there’s really nothing for me to go by, and since everyone handles things differently post surgery, I’ve started a spreadsheet to help me remember in the future which foods did or didn’t work out for me. As a result of keeping a record, I’ve found that I might not be able to drink straight water with ice anymore, because a couple weeks ago, straight water with ice gave me some unusual chest discomfort.

Since this is a huge new step in my life, I’ve considered starting some sort of blog to help document my efforts, not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of those who continue to be curious and invested in my progress. If you’re someone who would be interested in reading such a blog, please do let me know. [Ed.: Some people did indicate they’d be interested in such a blog, so here we are.]

My five surgical incisions are healing well, except for one, which continues to have me concerned (though not enough to warrant any emergency trips, thankfully). I have an appointment with my surgeon next week so he can take a look at it. My mom believes there may be an infection, but I don’t think so. We’ll see what he says.

Day-to-day, I’ve definitely noticed the weight loss. My shirts fit looser, I’m starting to see loose skin around my upper arms, and my legs are starting to thin out ever so slightly. To help with my upper arms, I bought a 20-pound set of weights, and to help with toning up the rest of my body, I’m buying a set of resistance loop bands on the recommendation of a truly amazing friend (you know who you are!) who’s been there for me pretty much every step of the way. You have no idea how thankful and appreciative I am for everything you’ve done and all of the advice you’ve given me, even if I’m not always great at relaying that.