This is day 9 of the clear liquid diet. It has become more of a religion rather than a spiritual experience for me. I follow rules and drink what and when I am suppose to, rather than when I am hungry...because I am no longer hungry. I feel kind of numb, but I am also emotional.
I was up early and made it to church for first service. It's been months since I've done that. Tears welled up in my eyes for most of the service. The people there are special and I am not quite sure why I have cut myself off from them during the past year... or has it been longer? The message was on community, appropriately. Our pastor is an exceptionally gifted teacher who has a knack for delivering a relevant message. He was of course, speaking directly to me today... as he does most Sundays, and 95% of the people there would also tell you the same thing.
One of the things I have learned during the months of preparation , is that gastric bypass is actually a cure for diabetes. Yes, it's true. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I am sure it has something to do with the removal of the part of the intestine that processes sugar. Diabetes goes away, but is replaced with something else called dumping syndrome when sugar is consumed. Dumping syndrome pretty much just makes you want to die, from what I have been told. If your interested in what it is, google it. What I will tell you about it is that most gastric bypass patients have experienced dumping syndrome. Once is usually enough, but there are patients who are gluttons for punishment and experience it several times. After gastric bypass, patients are on a close to sugar free diet for life. No wonder why they get so skinny!
If I break down and eat too much sugar, I will be sure to tell you all about the dumping. I am hoping that you'll get to miss out on those details though.
My father was diagnosed with adult onset diabetes when he was just a few years older that I am now. One of the signs is extreme thirst. I can remember being out to dinner, I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it was next to the Shakey's Pizza or the Foxy Lady salon on Colima. The place had a big red door and it was a restaurant-lounge kind of place. Dark and smokey. Anyway, the waitress brought my father a cocktail and it wasn't his usual, it was clear. Probably vodka. He downed it like it was water and flagged the waitress down for another. We had not even ordered dinner yet. I remember him mentioning how thirsty he was. Months later he was diagnosed.
Thankfully, there will be no diabetes in my future since diabetes is a huge contributor to heart disease.
While I was preparing for this surgery I ran through a gamut of tests. Let's see if I can remember them all: barium gastric swallow, abdominal ultrasound, bone density test, breathing test, mental health test, ekg, stress-treadmill test, echo-cardiogram, cat scan, a 24 hour urine analysis (had to capture it all for 24 hours and carry it around a jug) and lots of blood tests....13 vials of blood in one sitting. As it turns out my heart is perfectly healthy however they did find some complications with my kidneys.
-a
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