076 It's the Little Things that Count

Good morning! It's been a while since I have been on but there really hasn't been much to report. Well that was until Jimmy and I got to talking last night and realized that we actually have a lot of little things to report :)

It's the little things that count. When you stop to add them all up you realize just how much things in your life are changing when you might not have noticed had you not counted the little things.

So anyway...without further ado, these are some of the little things that we have noticed over the past few weeks:

• Jimmy can now wear the seat belt without an extender
• Jimmy's shoes are loose because he no longer has swelling in his feet and ankles
• Jimmy's legs get smaller and smaller (can we say chicken legs!)
• Jimmy can see his knees when he sits down
• Jimmy was able to stand and preach for 30 minutes without his normal back and knee pain
• Jimmy loves going to the pool to exercise and last night was the easiest as far as getting in to the Y, changing, and changing again once he is finished swimming

There have been some other things that we have noticed as well but I just can't think of them at the moment. That just goes to show that I should write things down when I think about them. Ugh. Anyway, I will let you know when we have more little accomplishments to share.

050 Post-Op Week 3 Update

Happy Holidays! Yes, it's that time of year again. Can you believe it?

To me it is much easier to believe that it's almost Christmas time again than  to believe that it has already been three weeks since Jimmy's gastric sleeve weight loss surgery. I mean come on! Three weeks already! No way! Well I can deny it all I want but it is true.

So Jimmy has recorded a little week three post-op video for you to enjoy and to let you know how he is doing. He also wanted to let me know that it was really nice to see many of you at church yesterday. It was his first service he was able to attend since his surgery and he had really been missing everyone. Thank you all for all of the prayers and concern and thoughts that have been offered up on our behalf. We really appreciate all of them.

Before I start rambling, I better stop and let you get on with the show!

Thanks again,

047 A New Way to Celebrate

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JIMMY!

That's right. It's my hubby's birthday! Yes, we have back to back birthdays but he got his much earlier than I got mine ;)

Alright, I was dropping hints before but now I am going to tell you...We have to change the way we celebrate. As hard as it is to change your daily routines I was anticipating it being even harder to change our special occasions.

Special occasions invite excuses not to change like "It only happens once a year" or "But it's my birthday!" It is all to easy to rationalize your conviction away. We decided that no matter what we really had to take this serious. If we compromise just two and half weeks after surgery then we will be compromising for the rest of our lives and we will never see the full benefit of Jimmy having gastric sleeve weight loss surgery.

So here's the deal...

In the past we have combined the celebrations of our birthdays to have a two day Jimmy and Christiana Fest so that we both get twice the benefits. On one day we would usually go and DO something fun and on the other we would EAT somewhere and go all out on it. We don't normally exchange gifts or anything like that so we have more money to eat and do whatever we feel like that year.

So what to do...

We decided that we would still have two days worth of Jimmy and Christiana birthday fun but we have to do a few things differently. In the future we might still be able to go out to eat as a part of the celebration (not an option this year with Jimmy on his Stage 2 Diet) but it can no longer be the whole focus of that day of celebrating. It's time for new traditions to go with our new lifestyle! (I will probably write about how this will change our Christmas traditions when we get closer to that time too)

So here's the plan...

For one day of the celebration we are getting together with some of our friends to have a game night! It's going to be fun. We are sharing our days with people we really care about and we're going to have some good, healthy competition to go with it ;) Love it! Maybe I am too competitive...nah! Day two, we are going to go to the movies (sans popcorn) in North KC and then we are going to walk around the shopping center and see what we can see. Of course the walking may be short this year because Jimmy still wears out pretty easy but his stamina is increasing with his ability to increase his protein shake so next year we will be able to walk around and enjoy each other's company much, much longer.

That's our story and we're sticking to it!

TO JIMMY:
Happy Birthday, Baby! I love you and I am thankful for you everyday (even when you drive me crazy!). I hope you have an amazing birthday this year and for many more years to come.

046 A Day in the Life of Jimmy's Recovery

Happy Birthday! Oh wait it's not YOUR birthday. It's MY BIRTHDAY (Christiana). Yep that's right. I'm getting older. Tomorrow is Jimmy's birthday so please feel free to drop him some special lines of encouragement because we won't be eating cake, ice cream, or going out to eat--you know all those old celebration habits. So he really might be in for a hard two days. Later I will be writing about the new ways we chose to celebrate our birthdays because we need to start making new celebration traditions/habits. But more on that later...

Today I wanted to give you an idea of what it is like to be Jimmy right now. As he gets better things will change--including his routine--but some things are now a permanent part of his life like taking vitamins. So here it is, a day in the life of Jimmy's recovery.

8:00 - 9:00 a.m.      Get up and take pain medicine to help with the tenderness in the incisions and Prilosec to help with the temporarily increased heartburn and other daily medications

9:30 a.m.      Start protein intake (have to consume a minimum of 40g a day but the nutritionist would really like me to get in 60-80g) usually through protein shakes

10:00 a.m.      Take first multi-vitamin with iron

10:30 a.m.      Snack time - Possibly pudding, yogurt, or a scrambled egg with cheese

11:00 a.m.     Take first calcium pill -- must be separated from iron pill for maximum absorption and intake more protein 11:30 a.m. Get up and walk around for exercise

12:00 p.m.      Take second multi-vitamin with iron

12:30 p.m.      Christiana comes home and we have lunch together. Possibly oatmeal with peanut butter or a scrambled egg with cheese

1:30 p.m.     Christiana heads back to work. Get up and walk around for exercise

2:00 p.m.     Take second calcium pill. Plus more protein

2:30 p.m.     Snack time

3:00 p.m.     Up and walking. Take B Complex vitamin

3:30 p.m.     More protein

6:00 p.m.     Christiana comes home and fixes dinner

7:00 p.m.     Take second dose of Prilosec for heartburn and other daily medications

8:00 p.m.     Up and walking

11:00 p.m.     Trying to get to bed but having trouble sleeping

These things are all approximate and subject to change. But I wanted to give you a basic idea of what he is going through and doing every day. I will try to actually get Jimmy on here to answer any questions that you have about his routine since he knows better than I do what he does all day. :)

043 Learning to Cope

Yesterday, I talked about an awesome and encouraging surprise Jimmy has waiting for him in his office. Today I want to talk about coping with surprises that aren't so pleasant.

As Jimmy heals, he has several weeks off from work. For the first couple of weeks we have also chosen to have church through the simulcast at home so that Jimmy won't be exposed to sickness or have hundreds of people wanting to hug him (which would press up against his incisions which are still tender). Jimmy has been doing amazingly well in his healing but we have felt a little disconnected with what has been going on. Thankfully, Jimmy's boss and our pastor (Aaron) was sensitive to this and decided to drop by our house on Saturday night and bring us up to speed.

We didn't know that when Aaron came over he would be telling us that he and his family (who we love!) had accepted a new position in New Jersey and that they would be leaving near the end of December. We had no clue he would be announcing that the very next morning but we soon found out. We are SUPER happy for this great opportunity and new experience that God has brought to the Robb family. They are going to do amazing and hopefully love every minute of it. But what about us?

Anytime you experience something unexpected--especially job related--their is always a certain amount of fear, stress, and uncertainty that comes with it. Jimmy has had experiences similar to this before and they weren't the best. Of course that doesn't mean it is going to be that way at McCarthy. The big question is what will we do? How will we handle it?

In the past, it would have been easy to turn to food. Although Jimmy is generally a "happy eater" there are times when it is easier to justify cheating because you are upset. That really isn't an option right now unless he wants to make himself really sick. I was impressed with Aaron's sensitivity when he told us that he waited until now to tell us so that Jimmy wouldn't be tempted to cheat on his two week liquid diet (which would have been very possible). There will be a time in the future when the fear of getting sick won't be there so it's important to take the time now to learn new methods of coping.

Hands down, the hardest part of losing weight (naturally or surgically assisted) and keeping it off is changing your mindset and habits. If you don't bother to change your patterns, behaviors, or habits then it won't matter if you had surgery or not because you will eventually find a way to put the weight back on. Losing weight is about changing your mind just as much if not more than changing your body.

After the initial shock passed, it was much easier to see how amazing this whole thing could be for everyone involved. We love and will dearly miss the Robb family but we know that God is sending them to New Jersey for a reason. We are also thankful that we get to use this experience to start retraining our minds now so that when other coping situations come along later they will be much easier to handle!

Aaron, Dana, Caleb, Kelsey, & Katie, Thank you for being an amazing part of our lives! You all will always be a part of us and part of the family of our heart. May God richly bless you in all that He has called you to do!

Grace and Peace,