Gotta hear good stuff...

Kevin, Keep that positive mental attitude, bud! Like a lot of things, it's attitude that'll put you over the top. I had my surgery 2/23, so I've got a four-week head start on ya. Like you, I was very apprehensive (tears running down my face as I hugged my wife just before they rolled me into pre-op) and had never had surgery before. In retrospect, I'd do it all over again. The hospital stay was really pretty easy, all things considered. Not a lot of pain, and it was easily managable with the morphine and other meds. Coughing up the junk in my lungs was hard, as was getting out of bed for the first couple of times. Now that I'm home and almost three weeks post-op, I'm adapting pretty easily to the new life. I've lost 30+ pounds and feel better. My ankles aren't swelling like they used to, my knees don't hurt as much (despite discontinuing Celebrex) and I'm trying to walk as much as I can (if only the snow would go away and spring would come!). Pureed food gets boring, but it's amazing how difficult it can be to eat 800-1000 calories a day (my current goal). I'm learning a lot about portion control, as well as reading food labels to see how many carb and protein grams are in each portion. Keep up the positive attitude, Kevin, and let us know how you do next week. Joe