aaddison57

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Until the other day I had a squirrel for my avatar. I finally decided to take that furry little mask off and reveal the real me. I have never considered myself good looking but at least now  is not so round and I do have a neck now.


On the left is my photo from my license 350 + pounds, On the right is my current photo 236 pounds

First the good, I am a little over three months out since surgery and I have lost a lot of weight. and inches. If you count the 38 pounds I lost pre-op I have lost a total of 107 pounds. I have a lot of energy and I have replaced all of my clothes. I have gone from wearing a size 56 pants to a size 44 pants. I went from wearing a 5X shirt to XXL, so I feel great about my progress.

Now for the bad and all of this has nothing to do with my weight loss surgery. On my birthday I ended up in the emergency room in a great deal of pain from kidney stones. Two days later back to the emergency room with more pain. The following week I had surgery to remove one of the kidney stones that was too big to pass. Okay so I thought I was okay, feeling a little week but okay. What I didn't know was I had an ulcer in my pouch that was bleeding. By  the time I realized I had a problem I had lost a couple pints of blood. So I ended up in the hospital getting a blood transfusion.

This is my first post after surgery, Prior to surgery I had wondered if I would have a good experience or a bad one with surgery. As you know on OH you can find a wide range of experiences. I would rate my experience a pretty dad gum good. I was in the hospital for three days and it was as pleasant as possible. The nurses were very nice and took very good care of me. I was told that while in recovery I did tell one of the nurses that she was pretty (I guess my filters were down and I was just saying what I was thinking. The only time I really felt sick to my stomach was when they switched me to an oral pain medicine but we resolved that by switching to a different pain medicine.

My ride home wasn't too bad even though it takes about an hour to get home, my son was careful to avoid the bumps in the road. On Thursday I switched from my full liquids which had been water and sugar-free Popsicles to a full liquid diet which is three protein shakes a day and two snacks. My favorite snack is very thin instant mashed potatoes which taste wonderful to me. I have not been hungry since surgery.

Physically, I am feeling pretty weak, my favorite activity is sleep, I am still taking pain medicine but working on weaning myself off of it.

As far as my psychological well-being, I am feeling a little blue but I am chalking that up to the whole "they cut me open and rearranged my guts thing". I'm sure it will pass. My wife stayed with me this week to lend support and she has done pretty good. She has been upset and I have had to use some of my energy to try to help her through this. She struggles with her weight too so I guess the way I have chosen to deal with my weight issues is causing her concerns.

Now as far as weight loss is concerned, when I started my pre-op diet I weighed 345, Monday morning before surgery I weighted 307, this morning five days after surgery I weighed 293.8. This is the first time I have been under 300 pounds in 28 years!

 

I am close to finishing jumping through the insurance hoops. I have had all the doctor and dietitian visits. The shrink said I was pretty normal (but she didn't ask about squirrels though). I have one visit left with the exercise therapist in the morning and then they are sending my paperwork off to the insurance company. I have my fingers and toes crossed and it is just a matter of waiting for the approval and keeping negative thoughts out of my head.

I'm not really going to write about squirrels, I just couldn't think of a title. It has been about five weeks since I went on my pre-op diet. this is the first diet that I have been on where I haven't struggled to stay on it. I don't know if it is because I am preparing to do battle with the surgeon's knife or maybe this time there is some hope of actually being successful this time. Before when I would diet going in from the start I would know that I had an insurmountable amount of weight to lose and I would probably fail. this time I have a window of time before I get additional tools to help me with my weight loss.

I went to my doctor and the dietitian this week. According to my doctor I have lost 24 pounds since the first of July. My dietitian says I have lost 15 pounds. They were both pleased with my progress so I won't worry about. Next week, I have my psychological evaluation. I am more nervous about this than anything else, I don't know why, probably because no one has ever given me one of these before. I keep telling myself not to make jokes. When I'm nervous I tend to make jokes and that gets me in trouble sometimes.

Okay, time for a picture of squirrel so the title makes sense. Hey this squirrel is relavent I am going to a shrink and what does a shrink treat? Nuts! and who eats nuts? That's right my little furry friend below.

I attended another information meeting last night and I believe I have found the surgeon I want to use and the hospital for the surgery. Now I have a bunch of hoops to jump through to get my insurance to cover the surgery. I am covered by Aetna and I found out I won't have to go on a 6 month physican supervised diet. there is an option to do a 3 month pre-op program. That will allow me to have the surgery done this year.

I am planning on using Dr. William Johnson with Atlanta Bariatics. I am going to have the surgery done at Emory @ John's Creek. I selected the surgeon based on his skill level and it helped that he is in-network for my insurance. 

I am getting excited about the surgery, even the prospect of making such a drastic change in my life is a little scary.  

I have been scouring the internet for information about weight loss surgery the past few weeks. When I started I was sure I wanted the Lap-band, but after looking at all the different procedures I have come to the conclusion that the RNY is the best procedure for me. With my size and other health issues, RNY fits my situation better. Now it is on to Phase 2 of my research which is attending information sessions at different practices to find the best surgeon who is in-network for my insurance. I attended a meeting last night and it was a nice presentation, but the practice is out of network for my insurance carrier. So I will keep looking.

I found out that in order for my insurance to pay I have to partisapate in a doctor's supervised weight loss plan. before I can be approved for the procedure. So I will be calling my doctor to get started on that immediately. I have been on and off diets all my life. I seem to be able to lose and gain the same 30 pounds over and over.

After 52 years of being a big guy I have reached a point in my life where I have to do something about my size. When i was younger I could be pretty active but at 52 if I don't address my size I will be like Jabba the Hutt sitting around not able to do anything for myself. I have several health concerns that will put me in a grave if I don't take care of my weight.

Just a few years ago I would have never considered weight loss surgery, I could still get around pretty good, I wasn't out of breath whenever I did anything. So here I am starting a journey I never imagined I would take. This is something I can not take lightly. I am not what you could call a risk taker, but weight loss surgery just may be the option that has less risk than doing nothing.

I starting thinking about weight loss surgery a few weeks ago, I have started doing research on the Internet and I am going to an informational meeting next Wednesday. I had an appointment with my endocrinologist today and asked if he thought this option would be an okay thing to do, and he responded that he highly recommended that I have weight loss surgery.

I am not one to act on emotion or how I 'feel' at any one moment in time. So for the first time in my life I will be writing in this blog in an attempt to keep my head on straight while I make my way through this journey.