My first "solid" food? Part of one scrambled egg and an ounce of refried beans. Next meal was four small shrimp (grilled) and two ounces of green beans. I can eat a total of four ounces at each meal five times a day. Lots of water drinking in between. All of this is supervised by regular visits with the dietitians at Bariatric Solutions in Greenville, SC.
My one-month followup with the surgeon, Dr. Eric Bour, on Nov.6 was good. All the signs were positive and right on target. So check out today's photo to see how I am progressing.
I still feel great, more active every day. I am now off my blood pressure medication completely. This morning the pressure was 117 over 75. Blood sugar readings remain in the 92-110 range. My weight continues to decline, although not as fast as the first two or three weeks. I started a full range of workout exercises at the gym, supervised by a trainer who knows about the surgery and who worked with me some before the surgery. His help is part of a wellness program in the Mill Spring Volunteer Fire Department paid for by a FEMA grant to get volunteer firefighters in top physical condition. I continue to attend post-op support group meetings in Greenville every Tuesday even though it is a 104 mile round trip. The lower gasoline prices help that. It was down to $1.75 a gallon yesterday in Greenville.
I was trolling the Internet and came across this photo of Fidel Castro, the first in months. He is leaning on the arm of the Russian Orthodox Church's top foreign relations official, Bishop Metropolitan Kirill, last month in Havana. Fidel is showing his 82 years. He is certainly not the robust firebrand who had me in one of his jails briefly in 1969.
The Washington Post also had an interesting story about how the news media have gone bananas over Barak Obama. This story is by the Post's media critic, Howard Kurtz.
Tim Reiterman of The Associated Press wrote a recollection of the Jonestown massacre for the Nov. 18 anniversary of that tragedy. Reiterman was wounded in the attack at the Jonestown airstrip that killed Congressman Leo Ryan 30 years ago.
