The surgery.

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for the great support! I truly never expected this much support for me, so I thank you all and appreciate it so much! If any of you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to ask me on Facebook or email or anyway you can get a hold of me. I'm open to answer any questions that I can help you with.

So on October 26, 2012, I had Roux-en-Y surgery. Four months before that, I took the first steps in getting to that point with my DOT physical. There, I learned that my weight was 431 pounds and I had a blood pressure of 175 over something. I say "something" because I don't remember what the other number was. All I knew was 175 was a bad number. Once I heard 175 I zoned out. I've always had high blood pressure, but never that high. So I finally blurted out the words I have been thinking about over 10 years, "What do you think about gastric bypass surgery?".
After talking to my doctor about it, we decided that it was the right road to go down. So he gave me the number to Grand Traverse surgery (GTS) and got the ball rolling.

I called GTS and they told me to come to a bariatric seminar in Traverse City Michigan. My wife and I went there and I was amazed at how many people were there. I never realized that there were this many people who were taking this road for a better life. We sat down and took all the information in and there was quite a bit of it. On a funny note, Jodi brought her dinner in and ate it while the seminar was going on. It was funny because we were at a seminar for fat people trying to lose weight. She was so self-conscious, to me, it was hilarious! To be fair, it was a dinner time and she hasn't ate all day. I devoured mine in the car just before we went in. At that time, she was a slow eater the family but not anymore!

At the seminar, they explained that they only do three bariatric surgeries. The Roux-en-Y, Lap band and the vertical sleeve. They also explained what the requirements they and the insurance companies, set to have bariatric surgery. For the most part you have be at least 18 to 65, non-smoking and have a BMI of 40 or more at least hundred homes or more overweight. If your BMI was 35 and you had two or more obesity related problems you can also get the surgery. You also have to have at least six months of doctor visits in a row showing that you have tried to lose weight. I was 30, had high blood pressure and bad knees and a BMI that was 59, which meant I could skip the six months because my BMI was so high. To be honest, that was a low part of my life. To realize that my size was so big, I could go have surgery tomorrow if I wanted. Well, not really as you will see you later.

After the GTS seminar, I turned in some paperwork and they said I should hear from them in two weeks. On the drive home, Jodi and I talked a little bit about what we learned at the seminar. We decided that the Roux-en-Y procedure was probably the best decision. The benefits or what I was looking for, which included rapid weight-loss, sense of feeling full and the dumping syndrome. The dumping syndrome as a side effect with any of these procedures, but seemed to happen more with the Roux-en-Y surgery. Dumping is exactly what it sounds like. It's caused by eating too many sugars and can result in other symptoms, most notably diarrhea. I figured I need to have some kind of "Checks and balance " system so I don't go overboard. So far, this hasn't happened to me since the surgery. The seminar was on 17 July, I finally heard back from them about three weeks later and set up my consultation for the 23rd of August.

Over the course of a couple months, I have lots of doctors office visits that were part of everything leading up to the surgery. I had the consultation, where my surgery was explained and how everything was going to work. I had to get blood work and a chest x-ray done before my next consultation which determine my surgery date and the start of 2 week diet. I also had to get a EGD done, which was an interesting procedure. Basically, they stick a camera down your throat to look around in your stomach. That's when he found out that I had hiatal hernia, which is where part of my stomach was sticking through my Diaphragm. I don't know how that happens, no clue. I also had my appointment with nutritionist which explains how you're going to eat After the surgery. I had an appointment with the psychiatrist where I had to take a 567 question test to see if I was crazy enough to have the surgery. Apparently I was! I had many other doctor visits which were mostly to keep track of my blood pressure. As I was going through the hoops you have to go through for surgery, I was also trying to get cleared to drive for my job. Since my blood pressure was so high I was only cleared to drive for 3 months, not two years like normal.

Finally, after all the doctors appointments and waiting around, I got a phone call on October 5th Telling me that I have an appointment with GTS on the 10th. What a relief!!!! Jodi was on the verge of killing me because this surgery was ALL that I was talking about. I don't blame her one bit either. I really have to give my wife lots of props for dealing with me through all this. She did a lot of hard work for me throughout this and I appreciate it so much. She still is, actually.

So I hade the surgery consultation. Got everything buttoned up so I was ready to have surgery on the 26th of October. The two week diet is a diet I'm sure most people do, but they just don't call it a diet. Where in the past I was consuming 3500 calories a day or more, I now was limited to just 1500 calories a day. I had to keep my fat grams under 30, my Carbohydrates under 100 grams and try to get as much protein as I could. They say you should get a half a gram of protein per body pound that you have. They have you eat 5 times a day with 3 protein drinks throughout the day. I felt so full each day that I didn't make my calorie limit some days. It was amazing! If you're looking to lose weight, this is a diet to try! I lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks on it. Of course I was also a big boy, so results not typical. Haha. I love when they add that line to commercials.

The day before my surgery was one of the worst days. Not only could I only have clear liquids, but I had to take some nasty tasting liquid to "clean me out", poor Jodi. Luckily she left for a few hours while I evacuated the dance floor. :D. That night I got pretty good sleep considering the fact that my life was going to change in about 12 hours. I had to be in TC at 630am, which is roughly an hour from me. Jodi and I woke up that morning to Jessi( my sister inlaw) telling us to get up. We overslept!!! Our alarms didn't go off and we only had a half hour to get ready to go!! It was very hectic to say the least. We did make it over there just in time though. My wife is a fast driver. :). We checked in and they called me back to get prepped for surgery. About 2 hours later I got to see Jodi, Jessi and Peyton. It took the that long to get an IV started in me. I'm so over needles now its not funny. At 10am I said goodbye and was wheeled off to surgery. I remember feeling a little scared, but mostly calm. It wasn't until I took my last breath( that I could remember) that I got scared. This surgery was supposed to only last about 2 hours. I don't know how long it was for sure, but I didn't see my family until about 5pm. Before that, I remember waking up to a lot of pain. They would give me pain meds and they had to keep reminding me to breath. They said it with some panic in their voices, so I don't know what was going on. It seemed like a rush of people around me telling me to keep breathing. I then fell back asleep and woke up to see Jodi, Jessi and Peyton.

After the surgery, I went home 2 days later. I felt pretty good other than my left side under my rib cage hurt very bad. Also, I would get lots of sharp pains in my shoulders from all the gas they use to blow up your belly with. While in the hospital I had a little depression. Basically feeling like, what the hell did I just do to myself type of depression. Eventually that passed. I have no regrets for ever getting this surgery done. I think it has been the best thing I've done for myself ever. I've had no complications from the surgery. Other than peeing blood a week after my surgery, everything has been good. The peeing blood was an infection from having the Catheter in my bladder. The only other weird thing that has happened that I didn't know was going to happen was the constant itchiness I had. It was so bad for the first 3 weeks of surgery, but I took Benadryl to help. I would recommend this surgery to anyone that has failed to lose weight for a very long time. I am always glad to answer questions that anyone has about this surgery as well. I'm going to stop rambling now. I'm sorry this was way longer than I anticipated. Below is a video of the surgery I had done. Not MY actual surgery, but this is a video I watched a couple times before to see what really happens. I will try to post after Christmas about how I am eating after having the surgery done. Thank you all again for the surprising support! Merry christmas to you all!

Changes.

Before I get started, I'd like to say thank you to my wife, Jodi. for standing beside me through all that we have gone through. I wish she knew exactly how much it means to me, even though I don't say it enough. I want to thank her for supporting me in my decisions that I've made and know that I'll hope to repay her soon. I love you so much, thank you!!

With that being said, I want to let you all in on something that has been going on in my life. After thinking long and hard and after much debate, on October 26, 2012 I had gastric bypass surgery. More specifically Roux-en-Y surgery. It might come as a shock to some, maybe some will say its about time, but I'm extremely happy I had it done.

All my life I've been fat kid, I was born over 10 pounds. I have never been a normal size ever in my life. So after many years of diets that didn't work and bad habits that I couldn't break, I took a big step in my life and had surgery. Many people will say it was the "easy way out" for me. Many people will be mad because I wasn't upfront with them about the surgery. Many people truthfully won't care I had it done. To be honest, I'm fine with that. It's been 10 years since my first doctor recommended I get the surgery. 10 years of, nah I won't be this big for ever. 10 years of wondering what it'd be like to not be so big. Well soon I won't have to wonder.

I finally took the right step for a healthier me and I'm finally happy. I can't pin point as to why I was so big in the first place. Maybe it was eating only Mac and cheese and hot dogs as a kid? Maybe it was eating a large pizza by myself in one night as an adult? I take comfort in food apparently. I just don't know why. Maybe it was when my mom said I should put a shirt on when I wanted to swim in my cousins pool, so as to not embarrass myself in front of everyone. Maybe it was from when I felt sick walking past the group of girls that use to hang out near the entrance doors of the middle school everyday because they all would make fun of me. I still fucking hate the ring leader of that group to this day. I don't know. It could be a combination of it all. I do know that I don't want to be embarrassed over my weight anymore. I don't ever want people to go on and on about how much I should be able to eat when I say no thank you to having seconds at a meal. Or having people defend me against other people because they are rude or because their kids make fun of me. I don't ever want the people around me, or myself for that matter, to ever have to deal with that again. I'll say this, if it ever happens again, as of this date, December 8th, I promise I will embarrass that person until they cry or punch me. I'm not backing down for anyone anymore. I've had enough of being made fun of and not being able to do the things I want for the last 30 years. From here on out its about me and my wife and kids.

So I should end this soon. I've gone on this rant for too long. What I wanted to accomplish in this "blog" was to let everyone in and to let you know why I chose this path to go on. I felt like I had no other option and I want to see my kids grow up. That's basically why. If after reading this, you no longer want to be a friend of mine, fine. If you want to support me in this, awesome! I will keep posting in this blog for a little while and if it seems to keep people interested, I'll go even longer. The next one I write will probably be about the surgery and the process I went through with that. I promise not to be as long winded as I have with this one. A big thank you goes to my wife again. She has been amazing through this! Another thank you goes to John Basedow and Derek Poundstone. Those guys have been great with any questions I have ever had about nutrition and exercise. Follow them and hit them up on twitter (@johnbasedow and @derekpoundstone). That's where I go to talk to them. Also a big thank you goes to Derek for letting me call his siriusXm radio show about my surgery as well! And to John for giving me his Fitness Made Simple book, a great read for anyone struggling with weight! Also another big thank you goes out to the SiriusXm Radio show I listen to for 5 years now, Covino and Rich, channel 104 (@covinoandrich on twitter).They have been great to me and always entertaining. I appreciate them letting me talk on air about the surgery and other shit that has gone on in my life. And to all the C and R listeners that have been there for me. I truly appreciate it and I hope one of these years I can make it to a DBC sometime! Thanks again for reading this. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

Oh and one last thing about the pics below. The one with me in the black shirt was from 2 years ago. I weighed roughly 430lbs there. The one with me in the white shirt was taken a week ago and I was at 336lbs. That shirt I got when I was a senior in high school 12 years ago. I could never wear that shirt before. It's a little tight there, but at least my gut isn't hanging out like it did before when I put it on. As of today, I weigh 329lbs. Which would have been my Sophomore weight. I use to be afraid to say my weight, ashamed to say what i really weighed. now i don't mind that much because i know I'm never going back! Tell me again why I shouldn't have did this surgery? Thanks again!