What do you do before you’re going to be off from work for 8 weeks? Why, you have a happy hour! Thanks to my friend Becky for organizing it! We had some good beers available, went all in on cheese fries and finished up with (randomly enough) crawfish boil! That was some spicy stuff!!

I hope this and my bowl of ice cream will up my weight? When I weighed I last night, I’d lost 5 lbs under where I wanted to be. I’ve found that since I’ve cut back on my running and have gotten flabby, my weight drops. I’m a true believer in muscle weighing more than fat. But I’ve been taking it easy with these Houston allergies and sinus infection.

Cheers to a great evening followed by reading books to my kids, along with kid snuggle time!

So me and my stomach are enjoying an extra two weeks together. It would’ve been nice without the sinus infection, but oh well. For the Memorial Day weekend that was given back to me, we enjoyed some Lupe Tortilla for Auntie G’s birthday, plus lots and lots and lots of swimming with the kids.

To assist in my weight gain attempts, there was some Chick-fil-a and Whataburger. And tonight I actually got some motivation to cook! The result was cooked, homegrown green beans, sausage jambalaya and blueberries/melon. I’ve been throwing in some margaritas and beers as well throughout the weekend.

Thinking foods post surgery…I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to eat most all the foods I ate before surgery after the surgery, but it might be quite a journey. Although, the folks I’ve talked to who have already gone through this say they can eat most everything they did before, but just in small quantities very often.

My biggest long-term concern has been running. Having completed my fifth marathon this year, which I also PR’d a 3:21, I desperately wanted confirmation running would continue to be a possibility. The fellow stomachless guy I emailed is 4-5 years post op, running 5-6 miles 5 times a week! He was able to get his first run in 7 or so weeks after and his sister even completed a full marathon within a year of her surgery! All very reassuring.

So lucky to have the Internet and this network of contacts worldwide who we can learn from and ask questions of. I’ve gotten a better understanding of the entire process just by reading through others blogs.

And now off to movie night with the munchkins!

Been mentally preparing for this surgery for a few months. This last weeked we had a going away party for my stomach and was trying to get everything ready to be prepared to be off work for ~8 weeks.

Today, I came down with a sinus infection. Surgery date is moved to 2 weeks later. It’s in my best interest not to have an infection going into a major surgery, but I’ll have to go through this terrible waiting game for two more weeks.

Oh well, 2 more weeks to gain some more weight and enjoy large helpings of yummy food.

I plan to try to do some decent blogging as I work my way through a prophylactic total gastrectomy. We’ll see how I do. 🙂

At this moment, it kind of consumes your thoughts. You’re sitting here 3 days before surgery trying to finish up work before a long time out of the office. But you’re also thinking with every meal you eat, you might as well woof it down and enjoy every minute of it.

I’m little. I gained maybe 8 lbs for this thing. I just hope it’s enough. I can’t eat when I’m not hungry. Wonder if I’ll remember to eat if I no longer “feel hungry”. Guess I’ll find out after surgery.