edthurman

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Today I met my goal. Sooo happy

I have not posted here in about 5 months so here is the latest update. I began to realize that losing all that weight at a rapid pace certainly has it's rewards but it also comes with a price. I had been so caught up in the dramatics of how much I had lost in such a short period of time and then it hit me....One morning I was just out of the shower, bent over in front of the mirror brushing my teeth when I looked up and saw my reflection. The skin. All that excess skin. Granted, I knew it might happen and it was a byproduct of the weight loss. I just never expected to have "the melted candle syndrome" to that extent. Ugh.

I decided I would continue to exercise and eat right. However, I was determined to slow down my weight loss in an attempt to give my skin a chance to catch up. I figured it was worth a shot, right?

I have continued to lose but at a much slower pace and coupled with wearing a men's compression garment to help "train" the excess skin where to go, I have to say, looks tremendously better. Don't get me wrong, there is still excess skin. I realize the only thing short of removing it surgically won't get rid of it. But I trusted myself in making the right decision to slow things down a bit and it paid off....at least it did for me. 

Today is 140 days out from surgery and I am exactly at 100 pounds gone. I have had several setbacks and no less than 7 weight loss plateaus but I have finally arrived here. It's still an average weight loss of .71 lbs per day so I'm not complaining at ALL!!!! Just 65 pounds more to go!

I have to say, I'm really disappointed with the Tickers. They never update themselves with your new information. It's really frustrating. I've deleted and re-added the ticker to my profile several times but they just won't update. Today is my birthday, May 15th. 4 months and 2 days out from surgery. 91 pounds down, current weight 274.

I'm now 96 days out from surgery and appear to be coasting right along. Now at 86 pounds gone. That's an average of .90 lbs per day. WooooooHooooo

I'm 86 days out from surgery today. Finally, after my FOURTH weight loss stall, it's coming off again. 76 pounds so far for an average daily loss of .88 lbs. YAY

Today is not quite 2 1/2 months out from surgery and as of this morning, I'm down 70 pounds. YIPPPPEEEE! 71 days out from surgery and 70 lbs gone means an average of .99 pounds lost per day. I've actually hit about 3 separate weight plateaus since surgery. I've had my disappointments because of those and have cheated with alcohol (wine or beer) and have eaten things I shouldn't have. Those were not proud moments but I think I'm back on track now. Walking 3 1/2 miles per day.

Ok, so yesterday was 3 weeks post-op. I must confess that after I posted the last post on here, whatever pain I was in was gone in just a couple more days. Right now, I can't tell that I ever even had surgery. I feel great. I'm down 48 pounds as of this morning.

I remember when I was doing my research on the surgery, there were several side effects that they said most people undergoing gastric would experience. First off, I was told that most people are repulsed by sweets and I was soooo hoping that I would be in this club. Nope, I still love sweets and must keep myself away from them. I was also warned about dumping syndrome. Nope, none of that either. I have some pretty serious discomfort when I forget and drink something while eating or eat too much or eat too fast. It just feels like a very painful gas bubble in my chest. However, if I remain calm and sit still for about 20 minutes, it goes away gently on it's own.

Only twice have I had to go to the bathroom and make myself throw up a little to alleviate the discomfort. What can I say? Old habits are a bitch to die. It didn't take too many times of this before I realized where I have to stop myself when eating. All in all, not that bad. I can certainly say, I look and feel better already. Before 10 days was up, I was off all medications, blood sugar was in check, blood pressure was normal, and the cpap machine was packed up and put away. WOW

Hang in there folks...It gets better and easier.. In no time, you'll also be thinking how glad you are that you did this. More posts to come...Ed

Ok, so I went to the pre-op surgery class and got all of that stuff out of the way. Despite taking notes that I have referred back to, it was just too much information packed in to the class to ever comprehend it all. Then the 10th arrived, day of surgery. Nerves were off the charts. Part of me was telling myself I have done the right thing by having this surgery and the other part of me was telling me to get up and run out of the surgery ward right then! I elected to stay.

Folks, I would NEVER try to dissuade anyone from having this surgery. Right now, just 7 days out, I still feel like it was the right thing for me. I've read that for everyone, the threshold of pain is different. There are some people that skate right through it and others, like me, that were overwrought with it. Yes, I followed everything to the letter but the pain was quite bad. I began questioning, "what had I done to myself". Finally, the pain meds would kick in and I'd be ok for a few hours.

The second day was the worst. On top of everything, they get you up and wheel you back for the upper GI to check for leaks and you have to have several sips of the most nauseating liquid in order for it to work. I won't sugar coat it kids, this stuff was a mix of sweat socks and dishwashing liquid. They finally got the results of the test back and then up it came! Wow, it's never hurt so bad to vomit but fortunately, it was over in just a few minutes and the nurse rushed in with something for nausea (IV of course).

I kept thinking, "there's no way I'm going to be able to go home tomorrow...I've never read where anyone had this amount of pain and there wasn't something wrong". Suffice to say, despite the pain, all systems were go and I was free to go on the third day whenever my partner got there to pick me up. The pain at this point had gone from a recovery room 8 to a 2nd day of 6 1/2 to a discharge day of just 4. Every day gets better and better.

Today is day 7 and my original game plan was to bound out of bed and be back to work this morning. No way. I mean, I could have made myself but why? I've decided to finished out this week and take off today and Friday and then try it again this coming Monday. I'm sure I'll feel so much better. The good news is that as of this morning, I'm up to 32 pounds gone (12 just since surgery as the first 22 was the pre-op liquid diet).

So far, the only noticeable physical changes in myself I can see is getting my color back in my face and my urine is back to a good color. In the hospital, it was an awful rust color (I guess they really have to manhandle your liver to get it out of the surgeon's way).

I'm glad the hardest part is over. I'll keep you posted.

 

 

Just 1 day later and I woke up this morning with 2 more pounds gone. It's true what they say about this liquid diet. It DOES get easier as it progresses. Don't get me wrong, it still bites the big one but it DOES get a bit easier. I just keep telling myself, "ONE week from today"!