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So Day 1 is in the books and for all intensive purposes was successful. I was only able to get 6 meals in instead of 7, but it really didn’t matter. I really never felt starved yesterday, but then again I never felt like I was completely satiated either. I tried the tomato soup last night and it was surprisingly good right out of the foil packet. I wasn’t sure the best way to fix it and the directions were adamant about stirring the powder and not shaking it. The last thing I wanted was clumpy tomato soup. I am not one for following directions to the letter so I went off the reservation and did my own thing and I feel it worked damn well.

Instead of the stirring process I decided that using our magic bullet (no, not that magic bullet) was going to be the best. I seemed to remember on the infomercials you could do hot liquids with them. So I took the cup and stuck it under the spout of our Keurig coffee maker..... Continue reading at  http://twopoundsaweek.com/2013/02/keurig-coffee-maker-magic-bullet-tomato-soup/

Day 1

So my journey officially kicked-off this morning at 8:00AM with an 8 oz. Optifast 800 Chocolate shake. My wife did offer me some words of encouragement this morning as I was getting dressed and acknowledged that my adventure begins today. Adventure is kind of an odd word to use, but I guess this is an adventure of sorts. I guess I prefer thinking of this more as a journey than an adventure. It is a journey to a healthier way of life and to be able to live life they way I want to and not have to sacrifice experiences because of my size.

Read the rest here... http://twopoundsaweek.com/2013/02/the-journey-begins-day-1/

Somebody asked me yesterday if I was excited, nervous, scared…my answer, yep…all of the above. Ever since they gave me my surgery date my mind has been racing. I have had 5 months for preparation, but “shit” just got real…and it got real a lot quicker than I was ready for. I had been pushing and driving this process all along the way, and then they pushed back and sped things up faster than I was ready for, it really took me by surprise. Funny how that happens, when they aren’t moving fast enough for my liking I am agitated, then when they start going faster than I am ready for, I am all “hey, slow the roll…not so fast!”

The rest can be read at  http://twopoundsaweek.com/2013/02/the-journey-of-a-thousand-miles-starts-with-a-chocolate-shake/

Since learning of my appointment on Thursday and sharing this exciting news with my wife, I have started to get an increasing vibe that she just really isn't behind my decision to have this surgery. I have gone back and forth putting a number on how much I feel she is for or against this. For the most part I have felt that her support was close to 100%, not quite there, but fairly close. After comments made today, I put it at about 50%....Today it seems that her fears are that my surgery is going to disrupt and create long term issues regarding meals, meal preparation and decisions that are made when choosing a restaurant or social event. Well...no shit... this is going to happen, there is no way that it can't. However, this seems to be a huge concern for her. Not the fact that all of us in my household could benefit from eating healthier and making better choices at the grocery store. I just sat in disbelief as she talked about this, I am facing something that was not a rash decision and one that was not come to lightly with out regard for others. I thought that I was doing the right thing by making this decision, one that that cannot be reversed, one that will benefit me in a very long term healthy manner and hopefully keep me around for many years. But apparently it appears that that I am going to fuck up dinners with what my new eating habits I will have after surgery.

Well when you least expect it life sometimes jumps up and plants a giant wet one on your kisser, and I mean this in a good way. The call I have been anxiously waiting for came today and it came much sooner than I expected. I was honestly just hoping to hear something by tomorrow, but had also resigned myself to the fact that it could very well be next week before I heard something. And not only was I surprised by the call, but it was chocked full of other good news that caused me to do a little Snoopy happy dance inside.

You can read the rest on my blog...http://twopoundsaweek.com/2013/02/the-king-is-dead-long-live-the-king/

Well it was bound to happen at some point…today is the first time where I really felt my time was wasted by the bariatric center. I left my appointment today feeling that I wasted almost a full week in the process. Now I am looking at this through my side of the glass house....The rest can be found on my blog http://www.twopoundsaweek.com/2013/02/wasted-days-and-wasted-nights/.

Let the liquid diet begin!….Just got word from Anthem, big props go out to Amy the Customer Service Rep for actually doing what she said she would do. I know sounds simple right? But I have been constantly surprised that she has done exactly what she said she was going to do all along the process. Somebody needs to give her a raise! And not more than 5 minutes after I hung up with Anthem, Bev from Summa called me and also gave me the news that we were ready to fire up the disco ball. I go next Monday and give them the rest of what I owe them and we start talking about surgery dates. Hopefully we can still shoot for early mid-April. That will give me a good jump on getting into my Speedo when summer hits…Ha…like that would ever happen! Maybe by next summer . So next up, the date needs to be set and I need to start my 6 weeks of Optifast.

Can’t Wait!

Arghhh…every time I turn around there is another hurdle I have to clear in this process. Please don’t mistake my frustration of the process and misconceive that I don’t appreciate what everyone does in the office at the Summa Bariatric office. I do truly appreciate all of their efforts and their follow-up. So I finally got my psych clearance earlier this week, which was the last hurdle in all of the pre-testing. Great! Right?…lets go, next stop…a date with a guy in a mask and a knife…But alas no…not quite yet…Yesterday I decided to be just a little proactive and call the finance person Bev, at Summa she is the person that makes sure all the documentation is assembled and handed off for approval to the insurance company and makes sure they are going to get paid. I am sure I am over simplifying Bev’s job exponentially, so Bev if you ever run across this blog post, please take no offense…so I call Bev yesterday and leave her a VM…She returns my phone call first thing this morning (Yay Bev!…Thank you! Some one that actually returns a voicemail) and we go through my “packet” got this..check…got that…check…done this….check…ohhhh wait a second….hmmm….looks like we may need some additional info. So I ask “what other info is needed?” Response: “your weight history from the last 4 years”….arghhhh….Reason being my health care provider doesn’t require a 6 month diet supervised program prior to pre-approval (thankfully), but that just means they want a do-do load of documentation…WTF…Can’t I just take a picture and send it to them?…One look would tell them I am a candidate. Okay as per usual I am getting a little off track here..

So this isn’t horrible, just means a little leg work, a phone call and a roll of the dice that I get a helpful person. So the issue is I have only been seeing my current primary care physician for a little less than a year, those records they have already. So I have to go back to my previous Doc and see if they will send the records over. As luck would have it at least that office was also in the Summa family. So I call the office and get a hold of their first line of defense…the name associated with the first line of defense is Amy…and Amy needs to read my previous blog post about how to make someone happy…Amy’s first response, “oh we can’t do that, the bariatric center will have to send over a request before we can release that information.” My response….Bull shit Amy!…Okay…I was thinking that, I really didn’t say it…but I countered with, Hey Amy, I understand, however I am trying to do the leg work myself and if I could get some one to fax this over to them, or I would even be willing to stop by at lunch to pick it up that would be great.” I am just trying to make it easy. Her response…”Well we don’t have that here we would need to get it from Records”. Bingo…easy peasy …”Great, what is their number?” I will just give them a call and take this off your plate. Apparently the phone systems that Amy was in command of had some rather advanced features and she said, “well I guess I could just connect you to them.” Bingo Amy!…that’s what I am talking about…now we are cooking with customer service! So Amy transfers my call to the mysterious “records” department. As the phone is ringing all I can imagine is Milton from the movie Office Space in the basement with his red Swingline stapler is who I am going to be connected with. Much to my surprise the phone was answered by the cheery voice of Melissa. I again explained the same thing I told Amy to Melissa…lather, rinse, repeat…I was totally ready for the second line of defense…I was prepared to storm the gates…I was not only locked…but I was loaded…instead the response I got was, “do you need the weight from every visit or just any visit in that time period?” It took me a second to respond…What was this mysterious defense she was mounting….I had an overcome objection round already chambered and I certainly wasn’t expecting Melissa to lay down and surrender this easily and comply with my request. I was still a little suspect, but I politely asked if she could pull a random chart with my weight from 2009, 2010, 2011 and fax it over to the Bariatric office sometime today. Again…her response was “sure, not a problem, I will have it over later this morning.” I thanked Melissa, hung up the phone and within a hour I had an email from Bev confirming that Melissa indeed followed up and did what she said she would do. Melissa…I am sure we will never meet, but today you are my Customer Service Hero!

So now according to Bev we have ALL the information that is needed to proceed and submit to my insurance company for approval . So hopefully in 7-10 days I will have the approval that I need and we can move to the next step. Until then, the weight is killing me….

I woke up sober and have done so every day since…

So yesterday was a mile stone of sorts…yes, is was 12-12-12, better known as sound check day….get it? Check 1-2-1-2-1-2. Yesterday also happened to be the 25^th anniversary of my sobriety. Coincidentally it was also the 25^th anniversary of the last time I wore handcuffs….well at least wearing handcuffs against my will. And today I celebrate the fact that I have woken up sober every day for the past 25 years.

If you want to do some quick math I am 48 years old which means I gave up drinking when I was 23 years old. When I quit drinking I was really in the prime of my "party" years, and while my drinking career was short, I will say it was pretty illustrious. I joke with people and tell them that from the time I was 20 until I quit drinking that I never fell asleep or woke up, I just passed out and came to. My time spent in the bottle was an interesting time and has left me with many memories, some very good and some very not so good. There are also quite a few lost memories as well that I know I will never get back and only sometimes surface by way of a stories that friends that knew back then recant. Though this doesn’t happen too much any more as I have lost touch with most of that group. Thankfully I never had to hit bottom before I figured out that my addiction to alcohol was going to be a serious health detriment and would take me to an early grave. For the most part when the decision was made it was easy for me to throw the switch and stop drinking. I did work a 12 step program for a year or so and I did do a 30 day stint of out-patient rehab, all of which helped me to understand my addiction in greater detail and give me the understanding that I am not wired to ever be a social drinker and be able to drink in moderation.

Today I am a different person than I was then, and there is no one in my current circle of daily friends, acquaintances and co-workers (wife included in this) that knew me when I did drink. So for many when I posted a status yesterday on Facebook that it was my 25^th anniversary I am sure it was a surprise for most to know that I am a recovering alcoholic. This is a badge that I am not ashamed to wear and have worn it with pride most of my adult and sober life. I am, and always will be, an alcoholic, I am a recovering alcoholic, and I continue to beat the addiction a day at a time. Albeit most days I don’t even think about it and the temptation to drink alcohol has long gone away, but I am still ever vigilant that it could only take one drink for me to slip back to a place that I don’t ever want to revisit.

 In many ways my alcohol addiction parallels what I face today. Though in this circumstance I feel that I did experience rock bottom with my weight. Just as I knew 25 years ago that if I continued on the path I was on, the alcohol would probably kill me sooner than rather later. Today I find that I am on the same path just in a different vehicle that is speeding me to an early grave appointment, and if I don’t stop my current situation and make some serious lifestyle changes soon, I will surely die sooner than I want. So for me my decision for WLS is a lot like the decision I made 25 years ago to stop drinking. I am making a decision to live a better and healthier life than what I am today. The difference is today I am married and have children and this decision isn’t just for me, but it is for their sake as well.

 So here is to another 25 years of sobriety…I hope that with the changes I make I am around to see my 50^th anniversary.

Well the process keeps moving in a positive direction. Yesterday I had the joy of going in for an upper endoscopy with Dr. Dan. Again, I will preface this by saying that once again I had another positive experience with people at Summa – Akron City Hospital in general, from the free valet parking for the procedure to the nurses in the Endoscopy unit, everyone was great to work with. The procedure itself was pretty non-eventful and there is not much to remember. The procedure was performed while I was under the influence of a “twilight” sedative and I remember very little. I woke up in the recovery area with pretty much no recollection, though I do vaguely remember the sensation of something being in my throat, but I wouldn’t classify it as painful, only a mild discomfort. All in all the worst part of the whole thing is that they numb the throat first with some spray while you are still awake. The spray tastes somewhere between dirty socks and dog doo. Why they couldn’t have sprayed that in my throat after they gave me the night-night juice I will never know. Note to self, ask the doc that question the next time I see him.

So I can tick another pre-req off the list. Now on to my appointment with the nutritionist tomorrow.