Archive for November, 2007

State of the raph - an ongoing saga

Published at November 18, 2007 in The House, Weight, Education, State of the raph and Life. 0 Comments

So where to start? I am not really sure, so lets just jump in and see what happens.

The house is going swimmingly. Frame is totally up, Rachy and I wandered down on the weekend as is our habit and its really starting to look like a house. Woah do the cupboards look big! It will be most excellent to have a house with enough storage to put all my stuff away. Of course, i do have WAY TOO MUCH stuff ™ but I do plan on getting rid of a lot of it. Will sell some, and freecycle the rest. The debate is on between myself and Rachy as too how much furniture to keep and how much to throw out. The part of me that takes after my father is absolutely loath to get rid of stuff, especially stuff that can still be used, however to a point, Rachy is right in that it would be lovely to start off with a lot of new stuff. I suspect we need to make a big furniture list and see what we can afford to start with. Ah well, still have a short while to work on that.

A lot of people keep asking me how I am going with the lap band. The short answer is “quite well thank you.” but that isnt the whole story. Truth be told, I am quite often very very hungry at the moment. The scenario with a lap band is that when they put it in, it is unfilled, giving minimum restriction to food. This means that now that the swelling in my stomach has gone down and I am back onto solid food, as long as I chew carefully, food just slides down the hole. So, because there is still a band around my stomach I do feel a lot less hungry in general, I am yet to get that “ooh I am full and satisfied” feeling. The big problem there is that I am and always have been a nervous eater, and not having hunger does not necessarily equate to not eating. On the more fortunate side, because my insurance did not cover the surgery, I had to pay for it off my own dime, and that means I have a lot of guilt if I do not stick to it, so I have been forcing myself to eat minimally. I am looking forward to my first fill in 2 weeks so that hopefully I will get that satisfied, full feeling soon. In the meantime, just having the band does reduce the need to eat, as in general I dont feel too hungry most of the time. At times the hunger does flare up, mostly after having eaten carbs, but I try to ride it out, especially late at night where I am pretty sure it is just psychological hunger.

I am still losing weight, and though I know through the online forums that a lot of lap band people gain a little weight during the first few weeks, I remain determined just to keep losing and losing.

Its exam time for uni, and I have one take home exam for my Strategic Practice subject and a Microsoft MCSE exam to sit ad Excom. Had a look at the take home exam and it doesnt look like I will have too much of a problem. I have had a fair amount of issues with this subject, mainly related to the fact that during assignment time, I have been either starving myself for pre-op reasons or being generally messed up post op. The lecturer has been very good in letting me be late with my assignments though, and I hope to do well enough in my second assignment and exam to pass with at least a credit. Time will tell.

As for the Microsoft exam, its active directory stuff and I am reasonably well versed in it, both from constantly being immersed in it at work, as well as having done a little actual study over the course of the trimester. Should be fine there.

 Next trimester is going to be a lay-off trimester as none of the subjects I need are being offered. I may do some other industry stuff just to keep the study knack. Second trimester next year I will do two core subjects and hopefully finish the masters. Dad is really hopeful that I will consider a phd after that, but I am not so sure, though part of me wants to do a MBA at some point. So much to think about.

Anyway, thats about all thats going on at the moment. Work is busy, life is busy. Its full steam ahead and much fun.

More later.

Whats the difference between roast beef and pea soup?

Published at November 8, 2007 in food. 4 Comments

Its really easy to roast beef.

Anyway, today, a small diversion, I shall post the recipe I made up last night to make a very healthy pea soup. Extra high on the protein, as docs orders say liquids only, but try to get more protein.

So with no further ado, here is the recipe for

Raph’s Pea Soup

 1 Medium Carrot

1 Medium Onion

1 1/2 cups dried split peas

1 Smoked chicken breast

2 teaspoons of bonox

2 cups of chicken stock

teaspoon salt

teaspoon of garlic powder

pepper to taste

Medium Saucepan (5l)

Blender

Chop up onion and carrot into small pieces, place in 5 liter pot. Add chicken stock and bonox and fill pot about 3/4 full with water. Place on medium heat. While pot is warming, chop up the smoked chicken breast into small cubes, add to pot, also add garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Bring to boil then simmer gently for 2 - 3 hours stirring every 10 minutes or so until peas are mushy. Soup should reduce over this time till it is roughly about 2.5 litres in volume. 

Take off heat and let cool for a short while, then pour into blender.

Mix should blend very easily.

 Voila, Raph’s Pea Soup.

I must say, I am most impressed with the flavour of this soup.

We’re putting the band back together.

Published at November 7, 2007 in Weight, State of the raph and Life. 0 Comments

So, after much consideration, consultation and some financial consolidation, I decided that I was going to get a gastric band put in. This is the tale of how it all went down.

It boiled down to the long term view of the fact that though I can lose weight, my ability to keep that lost weight off is not very good, and that every time I have lost a significant amount of weight, within few years, I have regained it all, along with an extra 10% or so. Research has shown that such yo-yo dieting is worse for the health than just remaining overweight so its not really a good long term option.

So after attending a seminar back in August on lap banding, I booked an appointment with the specialist and started the ball rolling.  The initial appointment was in mid-september. At that appointment, a plan was laid out in order for me to get the required surgery. An appointment with an independent physician and a seperate psychiatrist were required in order to be sure that I was an acceptable candidate for the surgery.

Both the physician and the psychiatrist cleared me for surgery, and then a definite appointment for 31st of October was made to perform the surgery at the Epworth Hospital in Richmond.

A week before surgery, I was put on an Optifast diet. I will say that the optifast tasted so god-awful that I pretty much just fasted for that week, not feeling able to eat it. In one week, I managed to lose nine and a half kilograms. Not a bad effort really. The main objective of the pre-op diet is to shrink the liver so that it is easy to move around while performing the surgery laparoscopically. Mission there accomplished.

Surgery day arrived, and with little drama got to the hospital. Ended up in a shared room, not a private one. Was also a little disgruntled by the fact that my bed had a clear label on it stating that it was not rated for more than 125Kg. If i was under 125Kg,  I would not be having surgery for it. Was rather uncomfortable in the bed, with my butt pushing down on the mattress hard enough that it felt like it was resting direct on the wooden backboard.

At about 4pm they took me down to the operating theater (after having my stomach shaved from just below the nipples all the way down to the top of my pubic hair). Apparently the operation was a resounding success, though there were some issues with my oxygen levels near the end, forcing them to wake me up while still having the oxygen tube in my mouth.  A rather unpleasant experience I must say.

Back up to the ward, and the most pain I have is actually in my shoulder, not where they operated on. This is caused  by the gas they use to inflate the body so they can move around the internal organs during surgery. I get given a pethidine injection in my thigh for pain, and get put on oxygen as I am still having issues getting enough oxygenation in my system. My beautiful girlfriend, Rachel, is there, as is my mother and stepfather. I am not coherent, and they go home, my father turns up, I am still not coherent. He leaves, I find out that the old man in the bed next to mine is an undiagnosed sleep apnea sufferer. He sounds like a broken chainsaw that is stop starting all night. Being that I am a diagnosed sleep apnea sufferer, and am on oxygen, I cant use my CPAP machine, and therefore do not get much sleep.

The nursing staff keep me medicated with a combination of paracetamol and trammadol through the IV line, also giving me antibiotics through there. One nurse steps on my IV line, causing me pain. The IV line in general is rather uncomfortable.

Still having trouble breathing, am concerned about this, as it may delay me coming home, and I REALLY HATE staying in hospital. The dietician comes to visit, and talk about the eating plan for the next four weeks, which will be a build up to eating solids. Due to participation and much reading on the lap band talk forum, I am already aware of most of this. The phsyio comes to see me ad gives me some breathing exercises in order to help with my low O2 levels. I also take a work call. Jesus, they really CANT LIVE without me. Visitors on day 2 include Andy Blume, my beautiful darling Rachel, my sister, my mother and step-father, bed,  and my father.

That night, after hours of non-sleep, I convince the nurse that my CPAP machine would be the better way to go for sleeping, rather than the oxygen, and manage 3 or 4 hours sleep. With the help of the exercises shown to me by the physio, I am able to get more oxygen into my system, and convince everyone that I am alright to go home.

Minor issues getting home, dad cant do it, so once again Rachel to the rescue, she comes and takes me home. Much much much more comfortable to be home in my own bed.

Day 1 at home, am unable to sleep on my stomach due to surgical wounds. Finally fall asleep on my back, turn over in my sleep, wake up in agony. Not hungry but forcing myself to keep fluids up.

Rapid improvements over next few days. Able to sleep on my stomach by the fourth day after surgery.

day 7 after surgery, still have no appetite, forcing myself to keep hydrated and have small amounts of soup. All the foods I bought in anticipation of this time are laying wasted in the fridge. Have left the house a few times, it is tiring, but good not to be totally housebound. Am going to attempt to go to work tomorrow. Expecting it to be tiring. For some reason my thigh where they gave me the pethidine shot is still numb. Also have massive bruising and a raised vein where they had the IV line in. My mother assures me this is normal, but if it hasnt cleared in the next few days i will get it investigated by a doctor.

I dont know how much more weight I have lost, but it is definitely coming off. Will have a better indication after my visit to the surgeon on the 12th. Will keep you posted.

As to the long term efficacy of the band, people have said very good things about it. I look forward to finding all about it first hand, and shall endeavor to share those learnings.