July 21st, 2011 - Just a touch of cold feet

July 2011 Mt Evans Colorado

There are several things that I needed to do before my surgery. First, I had to give up alcohol, but I kind of cheated with that one because I can't drink a drop with my liver cirrhosis. The last time I had some serious drink was my birthday on March 19th.

Second, I needed to quit caffeine. This is the first day I will be 100% caffeine free so it's still on my mind. As I said in the previous post, caffeine is so addictive that even the causal coffee drinker will get a massive headache if they miss more than one day without caffeine. I can go longer than that without side effects from my bipolar meds ~ Lamictal, lorazepam, Seroquel, hydroxyzine, and Oxycontin for my spleen pain.

July 2011 ~ Before surgery

If you were to wean yourself off of caffeine and then have a couple cups of coffee you would be so charged up it would be like you were on meth. Don't believe me. Try it, but wean slowly. It's taken me over a week of weaning down from modest consumption to the point where I only had one glass of caffeinated ice tea yesterday. I now have decaf tea so that is all I will be drinking. Even decaf has a trace of caffeine, but not enough to dehydrate me.

June 2011 ~ Country Boy Gold Mine

So, I was more excited than scared of the surgery, but now I occasionally think about the radical changes that are about to take place. After the surprisingly uncomfortable transvenous liver biopsy, I am a little wary of the surgery itself, but I have more anxiety about the full sedation. Nothing serious, just a bit of the pre-surgery jitters.

July 18th 2011 - Caffeine and alcohol

So you're not supposed to drink caffeine after bariatric surgery because it's not a good source of hydration. Actually, coffee dehydrates you. You are supposed to drink one glass of water for every cup of coffee. People should drink by the 8x8 rule. 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water.

After my Realize Band surgery, my surgeon wants me to stop drinking liquids 15 minutes before a meal with no drinking during the meal and on out to 45 minutes after the meal. And you can only sip on water because of the reduced stomach path. It is a bit of a challenge to drink 64 ounces of water, let alone the replacement volume from a cup of coffee.

I love espresso. I love coffee, but I only drink one or two cups of coffee per day. Plus, I drink maybe 50 ounces of light iced tea a day. I love tea. So I tried to back off like I did about a month and a half ago and I got a massive headache that went away as soon as I had a cup of coffee.

I'm trying to wean myself now, but it isn't easy. I don't think people realize how addictive caffeine is.

Of course, my surgeon also recommends no alcohol for the same reasons plus the empty calories. That, of course, is not an issue for me and my broken liver. The last real drinking I did was March 19 before I found out about my liver. I've never been even close to an alcoholic, but I do enjoy craft beers and wine and the occasional martini. I've now been totally dry for two and a half months. I kind of miss the flavor, but not the alcohol.

Tuesday July 5th. 2011 - Independence Day weekend

The July 4th US Independence Day is full of BBQ's, picnics, family, friends, and fireworks. Yesterday, the weather in Denver Colorado was smoking hot. I believe it was in the mid-90's and the sun was blazing down until around 4PM when some welcomed clouds appeared.

My brother was initially going to have a relatively small BBQ at his house, but some more people got invited and he decided to have it at Delaware Park in Littleton. The park was hosting a huge fireworks display so there were at least a thousand people with picnic blankets and overhead tents. Children were running freely between the families. Frisbee's and footballs were being thrown around all over the park. We had about 20 people in our group.

My brother had brought his huge gas grill to our spot and we had hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, baked potatoes, broccoli salad, chips, soda, beer, and a 40th anniversary cake for my parents, plus someone brought a cherry pie. Out of those I had a bratwurst, broccoli salad, iced tea, and then I had cake. 

The fireworks were great as usual, but my wife complained of stomach pains when we were finally headed to bed and then I woke up with an emergency diarrhea situation. After I was relieved I fell back to sleep. I still have a stomach ache, but it can't be from the BBQ. Actually, it could have been the mayonnaise. I'll have to compare notes with anyone else that got sick.

As I was sitting watching my cousins twins chow down on bottles I realized that this would be the last 4th of July picnic where I could eat anything I wanted. And my second thought was GREAT! Still can't wait!

On a sad note; On July 8th 1993 a good friend of ours found my father, Paul Sharits, dead in bed in Buffalo New York. He had told his friends that he was heading to Toronto for the July 4th weekend with his girlfriend and then he cancelled with her because he said he was sick. So most people assumed he was taking a bit of a vacation when he was really committing suicide.

While he was found on the 8th, I think he started the process of overdosing on July 4th because it was his favorite holiday. He was 50. I mention this not only because I get sad between July 4th and July 8th, but also because it was one of the events in my life that caused some considerable weight gain.

Some people have strained relationships with their father's, but I did not. I was his only child and he treated me like an intelligent young man. I miss him deeply. He is a famous artist and filmmaker. He was also bipolar and an alcoholic. His work can be found at PaulSharits.com . Have a good week.