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!