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6/17/03 -
Dr Graber wants cardiac group clearance/consult, and ins requires psych clearance. If that's all approved, they have a pencilled-in surgery date of Sept 19th or 26th...

My wife is already approved and scheduled for Aug 01 2003, and Dr Graber (and I) think some spacing between the two would be a good idea.

7/6/03 - Well, my head's shrunk now (LOL). Psych consult went well; going to see about moving my med consult up a bit, just to guarantee a spot on the calendar. Beginning to get a bit nervous, but I guess that's normal. Hope everything goes smoothly with the medical and cardiac consults..

7/18/03: Good news and bad news; they want me to do a stress test at the end of July.. but that's not either good/bad news, that was expected. I'm going to be changing jobs before I can have the surgery. Now, I am going to have to try to work out the time off within the boundaries of the new job. I also will lose the 'forced savings' time off that I could have used for differential from disability from the surgery at my old job... But it is a better career move, and I hope it's better for my family as well. Even though I'm moving about an hour away, I plan on keeping same surgeon/hospital, just "commuting" for the surgery and appointments. Hopefully, he'll get an office in Utica soon so that I won't have to travel the extra hour to get to hamilton! :-)



7/30/03: I have my stress test tomorrow afternoon; I checked with my doctor, and even though it's looking as if my surgery date will be Feb-March at this rate (I need to make sure that I'm going to have an income better than just the 170/wk disability provides while out because of surgery :-( ), he said that it wouldn't be a bad idea just to make sure everything was okay, and that this should cover it for the surgery (thinking to myself, unless they find something wrong.. :-/). I'm nervous about it, as I hate the treadmill :-( but I've got my fingers crossed that everything will come out all right. Add to that my wife's surgery on Friday morning (barring any problems; she feels like she's coming down with a cold, but the surgeon said she sounded okay, and they'll 'recheck' friday morning.. at o-dark-hundred (0600 she has to be there).). So at least one of us will be on the journey, and I'll be her support team for 5 months, then she can be my support team :-)



7/31/03 - Well, stress test came out fantastic - all normal except for a few (benign according to cardiologist) skipped beats while at rest; the skips went away when they had me running :-) only 6 mins this time, but when I get in shape, maybe longer :) Now if it was only January so that I would be closer to a date when I could actually have surgery *sigh*. Trying to be supportive for Kim tonight, so going to log out and go support my nuggabunny :-)
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10/06/03:

Two bits of good news. First, I have another date - Friday, Feb 27th, 2004. Still staying with Dr Graber, even though it'll be a bit of a haul for the visits. Sent an email to my boss (out today), so we'll see if there are any issues with that date.

Second bit of good news: I'm down to 305 on my own. When I talked to Dr Graber the day of Kim's surgery (after he told me how it went), he said that every little bit I could lose before surgery would help him be able to see better DURING surgery, and would also help me afterwards. By other surgeon's standards, I would be 3 lbs from the 10% (or 1 lb, depending; I think Dr. Graber's scales had me at 337). That still leaves my BMI at 46, with many comorbidities, so I don't think I need to worry about not having a reason to have the surgery. :-)

10/08/03: Well, went to my PCP, and her scales read 318.. That's depressing. (Of course there's a difference with shoes, keys, etc.. but that shouldn't be a full 13 lbs.. :-( ).


At any rate.. She also threw me on Actos as well as the Glucophage for my diabetes, which I'm bumming about, but I suppose I should be grateful to some degree that she's that vigilant about my blood sugar; my last A1C was higher than it should be (above a 9), and I still haven't been able to get it back in control since I was on the steroids for Bell's palsy back in Feb 2003... *Sigh*. Part of me can't wait until I can have the surgery so I find out if I'll be one of the 85% that it helps solve the sugar control issues of diabetes for or the 15% that it doesn't solve the problem...


She also said a few things that bothered me in regards to whether or not I'd be able to keep to the diet, esp since I haven't been able to stick to the diabetic diet as well as she would like. I explained that you really don't have as much of a choice, esp to start, because of a) the size of the pouch, and b) dumping... She did say that she still felt I was a good candidate, and was glad I was still pursuing having the surgery, but then brought up the above.


I guess I'm just disgruntled/bent out of shape tonight. To some degree, I have the same concerns, but I think I can do it, especially with the physical restrictions that will be in place for at least the first 3-6 months after the surgery AND the NEGATIVE reinforcement of dumping!! Once I can get down in weight, I think I'll see enough reward to want to stay there. Part of my biggest bitch about the diabetic diet, especially lately, is that no matter what I don't eat, or how well I 'behave', my damn sugar doesn't reflect it - ie: I don't see any good out of going thru the pain/aggravation). Therefore, like any other human, I don't have the 'carrot' to want to make me continue the grief and aggravation.


Ah well.. more later.



1/6/04:
Long Time, no update.
I have a surgery date: Feb 27. I've got my pre-op physical scheduled for 2/4/04, which is also my 15th anniversary. :-( Sorry Kim.


Last I checked I was in the "pre-cert file" pile to be pre-certified, so we'll see what happens. Since I also work there, if there's any issues, maybe I can run upstairs (okay okay, I'll walk upstairs or take the elevator) and have a "discussion" with them (lol).


Everything seems to be cool with work about the time off tho, I've talked to my coworkers, boss, HR, etc about it and started the paperwork process for being off for the 2 weeks...


I'm starting to get a little nervous about it, but still looking forward to it. As I said to one of my coworkers when she asked if I was having second thoughts, I'm having lots of thoughts, but none of them seconds :-) .



01*13*04

Made it over to Utica for Support Group tonight; was great to see people again. On another note, not doing so well on the weight; back up again *sigh*. Boingy boingy boingy. Saw one of my friends, Pierre tonight - he looks fantabulous :-) He's down to 299 from 430 on 9/25/03 - just amazing. All of the women in group were grumbling about men losing faster (lol). As I told them, watch me be the exception :) . More later.


02-11-04
Well, had my pre-op physical on 2/4, and a followup consult with Dr Graber yesterday. He's not terribly happy that I've gained about 20 lbs since I saw him in June... and I'm not happy with me either. I could chalk it up to "last meal syndrome" and having a job where I'm at my desk more now... but that would be an excuse.. *sigh*. Getting nervous now that we're just about 2 weeks out, although I'm glad I got rid of the bronchitis I had 2 weeks ago. Now if it only stays away!!!


On the road a lot as I try to wrap up things before being out from work, and that doesn't help the weight any either. Well, we'll see what I can do in the next 2 weeks to get down presurgery.



2/12/04:

FINALLY... I finally got my preapproval letter!!! With the office moving and staff upheavals at Dr G's office, things had been kind of delayed a bit. I kept calling, much to Teri's chagrin I'm sure. She kept saying "you're in the pile.. we'll get to it..", but I don't like last minute surprises (lol) so I called every few weeks. They submitted it on 2/3 and I got the pre-approval today. Now one more call, to check the anesthesia group and make sure they're all set too.

2/23:
PreOp all done. Now all that's left is one last supper, 3 days of clear liquids, followed by NPO after midnight Friday am, and a trip to the hospital to be there at 6 am, strip, lie down, and off to lala land. lol. My new birthday will be 7:45am on 2/27. On a good note, I'm down about 8 lbs since my doc visit, so that's already a start in the right direction. I'm sure that I'll lose more on the clear liquids, but we'll find out on Friday morning if they do a final weigh.

Have my measurements (chest, belly, waist, upper arm, thigh, neck), so I'm set there.

Still have to take the final pictures.
I may throw my own backgrounds in here soon.. Celtic update coming through :-)

2/26/04:
Well, so much for things being easy *sigh*

My surgery is still scheduled for this friday 2/27, but is now depending on one other thing.

Last night about 1130 I had a sharp pain in lower right quadrant of my stomach; one that pretty much doubled me up on the floor. Within a half hour, I was back to pretty much normal (if it hadn't, I would have been in the ER) except for some minor discomfort and a little tenderness in that area.

I've already been on clear liquids for 2 days now (1 complete day at that point), and have another day of clear liq. to go (and no, vodka, gin, beer don't count, but thanks for trying lol).

I promised Kim I'd call the dr, so I called the dr today, and got a call back from his nurse. I explained the deal (as well as checking on some of my paperwork she had called on the previous day), and she called me back within about 15 mins, telling me that Dr Graber insisted that I get a CT Scan to rule out certain things before the surgery (mind you, it's in less than 42 hours at this point) or he wouldn't do the surgery. (and he still might not, depending on what they find, as he wanted/wants to resolve any issues before I have the surgery).

From where I'm at now, this is reasonable, although disappointing. But at the time, I was absolutely crushed, and just couldn't deal. My PCP is in Cherry Valley (almost 1.5 hours away, and an hour from Utica), she would want to refer me to Cooperstownor else just say 'Well I don't know any of the in that area, so you'll have to find one and let me know, then I'll get you the referral...'

... add that to the fact that I don't know any places here in Albany yet - haven't had to go to them. Dr Graber's nurse asked if I was willing to come to Utica, and I said yes, because I'm planning on having the surgery there anyways, and at least that way, Dr Graber can 'lean' on them to get the results quicker...

So tomorrow am at 930, I'll be at St Lukes drinking stomach contrast for a CT scan at 1130.
Based on the results, we'll find whether I'm having an appendectomy tomorrow (don't think it's likely, as I'm not running a fever), if it is gall bladder or kidney stone, or if it was/is 'unknown'..


My only prayer is that if it's unknown, he won't cancel me... because I am so ready for this surgery - mentally, physcially and gastrointestinally (lol). Besides all that, even though it's a minor point, and a small reason - I really don't want to have to go through another 3 days of clear liquids if I can avoid it without the benefit of having had the surgery.


At any rate, that's the scoop, not quite how I was hoping to write today's update, but there you have it.



2/26: Down to 7 1/2 hours before surgery... Got the results of the CT scan at about 5:30 tonight - negative (thank God!). So we're on for tomorrow morning at 6 am to be at the hospital, 7 am down to the surgery 'holding area' and 7:45 for surgery...
Thanks to all for thoughts and prayers...



See you all on the losing side..



2/29/04: Discharged today! :-) I'm going to stay around Utica one more day just in case there is anything that 'comes up' although I don't anticipate anything. He was able to also fix my umbilical hernia as well while he was in there, although he said, as with most umb. hernia's - he's not sure how long it will stay fixed lol. :)



Feel good for the most part, except a little tired. Had a lot of gas pain yesterday, but then started moving more, and the gas started moving too (grin). Actually felt really good the day of surgery itself - was up and moving around really well. Wasn't until day 2 that I had the gas pain. A little today, but the gas keeps moving, so that's the key.



3/17/04: Had my 3 week checkup today.. (thought I had updated this while I was out.. hmm guess not). LOL. Oh well. Came through 2 weeks off work okay; returned to work this past Monday and doing okay. Did about 15 mins on the treadmills at work in cardio workout mode... only a little over 1/2 mile but did it at 2.5 mph and 132 of the 600 or so calories I eat each day went poof* :-)



Anyways, at the checkup, I'm down to 316.6 lbs - 30.7 down from my max (before surgery, but last time I was at the surgeon's office) and 20.x since I was discharged from the hospital :-) yay! Drops my BMI to 48 and change, which is better than the 50-something it was :-)



3/20/04: Well, it happened.. Had my first incident where something decided NOT to stay down. It wasn't that bad, but still kinda a pain! :-) I've had that food before (in fact had it 2 hours earlier), so I know it wasn't the food itself.. It may have either been too dry, I ate too fast or ate too much.. Gotta work on learning this here tool (lol).



4/2/04: Stepped on the scale this morning, and I'm FINALLY under 300! Yay!!! Haven't seen that in a few years, and then only for a short time! Also taking cipro for a little infection in one of my incisions, but confident that it will take care of it...



4/17/04: Still hovering just under 300 - about 296-297; Dr Graber's scale was mean on the 5th; said I was still 308 lol. I weight myself at home only one way; and unless they move the scale from a hallway into a private room @ Dr Graber's - not going to weigh myself that way there!!! I'm not necessarily shy, but not quite THAT public (lol) :-)

Dr Graber did have to reopen the OPEN SURGICAL incision that he did for the hernia repair to make sure it was all straightened out and the infection drained properly, and I was on another 7 days of Cipro, but that's all gone now and I can take my calcium and vitamins again in the morning instead of trying to remember to take them later in the day (Yea!) :-).

Other than that, doing pretty well. Still learning what works, what doesn't as far as eating goes, and what 'full' feels like. Picked up Teri Kai Holtzclaw's workbook "This isn't brain surgery.. but there is a magic pill" and have been looking at that; would like to pick up those 2 books, but having a time finding them. Also ordered 1-2 other books on Amazon, one of which is backordered, the other, David Fouts cookbook, has some good tips in it, but a lot of the stuff is "for later" - he does make some good suggestions about cuts of meat you will/won't be able to probably eat after surgery.. For Example: except for hamburger, the cheap beef probably isn't going to work, because of the reduced fat content in it, therefore it generally* doesn't stay as moist. In addition, well done beef is harder because of the dryness and general texture of the meat, unless you chew very very very very well. Hamburger is the exact opposite, because the less-lean hamburger tends to have more fat, therefore is a little juicier when cooked and not so dry.

Pizza and wings are still a no-go, at least they were last week, but ham and scalloped potatoes (in small amounts) worked well for easter. Bought some hamburger this morning and may try a small amount grilled later today, with any luck it will go well, although again, may still be too early for just hamburgers.

Did have a very bad experience last night with some CarbSmart ice cream;those darn sugar alcohols (you know - malitol... sorbitol... lactitol... damnitol :) ) send me into major dumping syndrome (aka dumpage); of course, I also may have eaten a little too much of it - probably should stop at a half cup... Live and learn...


4/19: Quick update: Down to 292. Yea!

4/24: Quick update: Down to 289.



5/5 : Down to 280, although I can't recommend the method; had a lower GI disturbance Sun-Mon that wiped me out. Still not 100%. Did have a positive thing tho, bought my first size XL shirt for ME in quite a while! :-) Will get to wear it when it's washed :-)
Also need new pants, and found out that 46's in Dockers (with the 'expand' feature of either the elastic or "comfort fit") will now fit, so can retire these way loose 50's. :-) Now all I need to do are to FIND some, reasonably priced, because there's no point putting a lot of money into close I'll shrink out of hopefully shortly. :-)




6/13: Definite slowdown lol. Down to 270 (again, my scale). Exercise a constant battle. I make sure I get in to the gym at least once a week, but even that is a matter of making sure I take the time out at work.



8/12: Had my 6 mo appt a little early (coincided with my wife's 1 year) - she's lost a little more now, and I'm OFFICIALLY on his scales down 80 lbs now - 267.7 :-) Can't argue with that, except it's a little slow. Had some issues at work, and haven't been working out as much; need to come up with a better plan.



9/26/04: Closer calendar wise to the 6 month date, and down 85 lbs. I lose in the oddest places - I have lost weight under my ribcage, but not in the belly, so when I 'suck in my gut' there's a hollow where my ribcage sticks out then my belly goes WHOOMPH outwards lol. :-) Also talked in our last group online chat about the aches and pains that bones are feeling now from previous damage. :-(



1/11/05: 10 1/2 mos. FINALLY made it to the Century Club - yea!! Down to 246. Some of the aches and pains are going away some - hips haven't been as bad in general. Now the extra skin is starting to get annoying; I stayed at a hotel the other night for work and they have the full room bathroom mirrors above the counter... *shudder*

Since both my wife and I had the surgery, I'd like to see her get her plastic done first, then think about mine, but we'll have to see; most people say it's like 10k each and I'm not sure I can swing that. Anyways, I'd still like to see 165-185 if possible, which is another 60+ lbs. Not impossible, but it will definitely take work.



2/27/05: Happy re-birthday to me! :-)
Well, it's been quite a year. Counting my blessings, my diabetes has been completely in control WITHOUT medication for the past year. Before the surgery, I had told myself that if that was the only thing I gained out of the surgery, that I would count my blessings. I also have lost 100 lbs (plus and/or minus). I still would like to see 165-185 again, which would mean another 60-80 lbs that I would need to lose.
Like many others, I find myself unwilling to accept this "little" however, and want more for myself. As I have told so many and realize more and more each day, they can do surgery on your body, but unfortunately, they don't do surgery on your head :-). I think in the next few months that this is where I need to re-focus and regain not only perspective on how far I've come, but also what I need to do, and most importantly, NOT do, if I want to reach my goal weight and maintain my newfound level of health.
Again, my best advice for others is one that I have a hard time facing myself - the sooner out you can look at yourself openly, honestly, and START DOING WHAT YOU NEED TO DO and NEED *NOT* TO DO to resolve the core issues for yourself as far as how you got to where you were pre-op, the better you will end up being post-op. Hard lesson to learn. Even harder to maintain and keep on top of.



7/4/05: Update. No real update. Still in the same weight ballpark - have been as low as 236, and bounced as high as 248, then back down. I'm seeing the hypoglycemic 'episodes' a little more with the heat of the summer that we have had, so I keep some quick sugar on hand and keep my meter with me again. At least I get symptoms when it happens (usually a 'taste' in my mouth as well as feeling shaky). Has been as low as 48 (!) but it usually 'tells' me when it gets to 70.. Need to get back exercising again, go figure. :-)



10/11/05
Well, had to go back in for a (planned) hernia repair... Mostly umbilical (belly button) hernia, but they've "improved" the process and made a habit of closing some interstitial spaces that they left open at the time I had the original surgery, so I'm now a "version 1.5" as I call it - modified version 1.. It's one of those things where, since surgery is doing the same thing the surgeon learned over and over again, they hopefully improve over time... Better for the people that come later, but sometimes, that means that you end up with an earlier version of the same procedure. Wouldn't trade it for the world tho..



A bit sore, as would be expected - he went in laparoscopically, and fixed a few potential areas that may have been causing some twinges as well as one other area that has been a problem for some other people.. And also (I think) the umbilical hernia - belly button is a bit sore right now (lol) so I'm not going to be poking it to find out.
Not yet at any rate. :-)


11/19/05 Just an observational update - weight is still hovering as I am good or bad (lol) or even retaining water. Going back to basics, I tend to "feel better", which leads me to believe that as I am "bad" there is more of a physical impact from the sugars bouncing around than I ever thought. Looking back at the op report, my pouch is a little bigger than normal (7 cm along the curve instead of 5), so that means I might eat a little more than some, but the biggest reason I don't have more loss is the 'head stuff', which I still need to work on.

As I and the surgeon have discussed numerous times, you can operate on the body, not on the head. It's almost amusing in some ways, because they have theories on how all this works, but they don't have 100% hard data, I mean there's ghrelins and incretin (sic) that are insulin analogues that help, once they do surgery in the gut, and of course, SOME malabsorption, but not as much as you would think, and the body adapts really quickly to changes, so it the mal. can't explain all of it.

Second reason besides head stuff, is of course, my love (NOT) of exercise. Need to get back into it -that's one of those just do it type things. I know I need to do it, but it's not something I want to do (lol). Ah well. Again, told myself back at the beginning that if I was able to control sugars that that would be all I really wanted, and, so long as I am 'good', that's still happening... So anything else (pardon the pun this close to T'day) is gravy (lol).

01/23/06: Jan 23rd: Managed to maintain and actually lose a few pounds over the holidays. Overall a little gain, but it was 243 or so last Dr Appt.
On the bad side, can start to feel the umbilical hernia peeking back out if I have to strain.. *sigh* may suggest next time we use 2x4 to reinforce the sucker.. doubt I can talk him into mesh..

04/09/07: Been a long time since I updated this. Have continued to slip a little bit, still running an online support group on Monday nights based on the 'local' YahooGroup for our surgeon. Exercise is still (not) my favorite thing lol... Some habits die hard...  

 

 

Found the following sheet tracking weight loss:

 

Date Weight
Highest Preop weight was actually 359.

2-10-04: 347
2-29-04: 336 (hospital discharge)
3-17-04: 316 (@ Dr office)
3-26-04: 304
4-2-04: 299
04-27-04: 289
05-02-04: 282
05-05-04: 280
06-18-04: 270
01-11-05: 246
01-23-06: 243

04-09-07: 262