Monday, October 4, 2021

My dad seems to be slightly better, but still sounds terrible cough-wise. Poor guy. He meets with the Mayo urologist today to talk about next steps.

My aunt passed away yesterday at noon. Thankful she's not suffering anymore.

Not much else to report. The leaves are starting to change, the mornings are filled with gunshots from duck hunters and it's not cold yet. Lots of rain yesterday.

Hope everyone is well!

Not exactly cool here yet. Still wearing shorts regularly, but leave are beginning to turn, but only on the earliest of trees.

Having strong second thoughts about revision. Will contact my bariatric center today, but I don't think they will cover a revision with insurance, but I will talk with them. Anyhow, sleeve revision weight loss stats are not good. It seems to be a pretty non effective revision. Recommendation has come down that I would do better with a revision to RNY or mini bypass. Not sure that is where I want to go - especially mini bypass as acid reflux can be sever with that procedure and I already have to take Protonix daily for my VSG GERD. My gut sank when I read the approval. Yet, RNY does add the benefit of forcing sugar intake to be quite low, since dumping syndrome is a much higher risk with RNY.

BUT.... the good outcome of all of this is that I have been super aware of my carb intake and sugar intake. My carbs went down by over 100 grams yesterday from Saturday. I think they will be even lower today. Not sure. We'll see how the day ends. I'm not sure what a reasonable number of carbs for the average healthy person without weight issues is, but I'm guessing it's somewhere around 200 give or take.

I will not do a pouch or sleeve "reset" diet. I am going to try to follow what I know how to do to get my sleeve working - protein and cruciferous veggies and fruit with "soft" carbs low on the list.

All my buttons are being pushed right now regarding food, diet, self image, etc.... I don't think that's a bad thing and actually understandable. It's just hard.

Cecily, good luck with your Dad's treatment plan. Hopefully it isn't too onerous.

Peps, it is good that you are covering all the bases and not rushing into anything. BUT I thought RNY helped with GERD. In fact I thought that was mostly why people did a conversion from VSG to RNY?

Rainy, damp, cold feeling day today. I hate damp cold so could never live in the PNW. I just changed into a sweater and spent 1/2 hour looking for my boots. All my favorite ones were missing for some reason. Apparently I put them in a plastic bin in the basement to get them out of the way last year. Sigh.

Anyway, I am out with the visiting Florida ladies and SIL tonight. It should be fun. Mike's night will be less so as he is giving his Ex the message that she must move out of his Cape Cod home by May 1. He says he isn't nervous but has a headache and feels queasy. Hmmm.

Not much else going on here. But did you see that FB and their other apps have been down since 11:40 eastern time this morning? I was on TT trying to leave a comment around that time and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working.

Have a safe and healthy Monday!

RNY is a fantastic option for eliminating GERD. The mini bypass can lead to severe acid reflux because the pouch is connected directly with a single anastomasis to the intestine leading from the lower stomach and pyloric valve. The intestine can push bile up into the stomach pouch causing severe reflux in select patients. See pic:

I found this - maybe this is the issue that what you need for weight loss is different? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28063112/

Cecily, good thoughts for your Dad. Hope the antibiotics knock that cough out.

Peps, I am in agreement with Liz, I thought that gastric bypass was a treatment for reflux?

Liz, we can tell ourselves we're not nervous, but our body tells the true tale. I hope it all goes okay for Mike. Also agree, not a fan of damp cold. I was miserable in SFO. Our joke here when its subzero: at least its a dry cold.

The department of education has dumped a huge paperwork mandate on us. Hours and hours and hours of impossible, ill defined work to complete. Teachers were crying. Our boss offered us up to 4 hours of extra pay. Wow! After much thought, I am taking a path I didn't want to, but I see no other way forward. I am going to start using my sick time to stay home and do paperwork. It is not in the best interest of students, but if I burn out in November or October, that's no good either. Once I made that decision, I felt more peace than I had in awhile. They will not break me.

Tomorrow will be better. Maybe. I'm picking one of my Mom's friends up at the airport after work, and driving her to my parents house. It will be fun to see her, as she is someone I've known my whole life. And our son will be spending the night on Wednesday.

See explanation to Liz above.

This paperwork is crazy! I hate when bureaucrats demand documentation when they don't know the cost it takes to produce it and most of them won't even read it!