The Other Half

Well now it's hubby's turn...Where do I start. First let me say he wishes he would have done the sleeve just because he thinks it would have been faster. I guess 50 pounds in four months isn't fast enough...ummmm when is the last time you lost 50 pounds HUN! That usually shuts him up.

Hubby has had the hardest time of all of us. Surgery was rough for him he went in just to get the band and came out with the band and a hernia repair. That explains the terrible heartburn/reflux he had for many years. I got the update on him as I was getting rolled in... Surgeon told me that he was fine had to do the hernia repair and the surgery was a little rough and he got jostled around pretty good... He carriers all his weight in his belly so they had to really struggle. Then I was knocked out.

I finally saw him about 11:30 pm... He was up an walking around and came into my room. It's funny how your mothering instincts kick in and I felt like I should have been up helping him even though I was out for the count...

Now it's six am and because my surgery was so late I didn't have to walk around until then... First thing I did was walk to see Eric. I could tell he was in what seemed to be more pain then me but wrote it off to men are baby's...

We were released later that day. Him first, he came to my room to wait for me to be discharged and when he walked up to my room I could tell something was wrong, but along with being babies, they are stubborn as hell and he just wanted to get home and be on the couch... Well as we were sitting there waiting he was foaming and spitting up a lot. I don't think the nurses were really paying attention and said that was normal... WELL IT'S NOT.

We went home and now my mothering really did have to kick and I had to take care of him. Luckily my son did the same the week before so he really new what we were going through and he also took care of us. As the evening progressed Eric couldn't get any pain meds or water down. He was still foaming like crazy and we just figured it was OK because the nurses said so. He tried to drink warm tea because we read that on lap band talk but that didn't work. I took some pain meds and went to bed, he said he would be fine. At about 6 am on Saturday (we had surgery on Thursday, came home Friday afternoon) I could hear him just moaning like crazy, I called the surgeon and he said go right back to the bariatric unit and they will be waiting for you.... My son drove him up and I went up later. There he stayed until Tuesday on morphine and IV fluids. His stomach had swollen shut from such a rough surgery and the extra stuff for the hernia repair... We had to wait to see if the swelling came down or they were going to have to go back in. As you can imagine, after what he was feeling now, there is no way in hell he wanted them to go back.

Here is were I talk about me and how life doesn't stop for mom's.. I had surgery on Thursday and had my last pain meds Friday afternoon. With him back in the hospital and having two little ones I had to go right back into regular mode. I had to get myself to the hospital to go see him, I had to feed and take care of the little ones and in reality my banded son was only a week out so I was still needing to take care of him (my needs really) and I was back to work on Monday. Believe me I sat on the edge of my bed Saturday and Sunday night and just cried. I wanted to sit and around and recover like everyone else gets to... I was in the pity pool, it was warm and the margarita's were flowing... I guess crying myself to sleep was the best therapy... Like my mom says "suck it up and get over it"...

ANYWAY... Hubby came home on Tuesday, no more surgery and he was going to make it. How's that for drama.

Fast forward to now... he has lost 50 pounds but even that has not been easy for him... He gets things caught constantly. He is on fill number three and I would say he get stuck more then he doesn't but he won't go in a get any taken out. He says he will live with it and it helps him lose weight faster. It drives me crazy, but it's his body and he is going to do what he wants.

Why are men so stubborn. Is admitting you might have to much saline make you a wussy or something... I guess because he is a 6'4" Norwegian guy he is supposed to handle pain... Not elective pain dummy! But like I said he is a big boy and can make his own decisions... It just helps me out in future arguments when I need an example to give him of what an idiot he is... said in a very loving way of course!

The fun part about us doing it together is we got to do our laps around the nurses stations together... we got lots of attention because we were husband and wife doing it together and the nurses remembered me from a week prior with my son... So it was nice to feel a little special... Not Jon and Kate special but just our own little special.