garyatgoal
The following are my journal entries as I proceed through this journey.
12/13/04 - I went to the MMPC in Grand Rapids with my wife for an overview of the surgery.
1/07/05 - Met with my Doctor to get a referral for Bariatric Surgery.
1/19/05 - (or sometime around that date) I received my insurance approval for a review by the MMPC for Bariatric Surgery.
2/2/05 - I met with the Internist today and they reviewed everything physically including the amount of body fat I have. (like I needed to know that, Huh?)
2/23/05 - I met with Scott Glass (the Behaviorist) today.
He had me fill out several physiological tests.
3/02/05 - I met with Scott again today and he noted some depression and recommended more evaluation. Scott told me that they would not proceed with out a separate evaluation by an outside physiologist. Scott told me this at the end of our session and chose not to answer any of my questions (no time left in session). I was very frustrated and fearful. Scott told me that I had to find my own Counselor so I contacted Pine Rest a local mental health facility to set up the evaluation. I was told that they would need my written approval for information from the MMPC. I did not want to delay the process so I drove to Pine Rest and signed the necessary forms. My first appointment with Dr. Bruce Retterath at Pine Rest was 14 days later.
3/02/05 - I met with the Surgeon, Randal Baker and asked him questions about the procedures. Also, I asked him about how the need for more counseling would effect my surgical possibilities. He said that this was just fine tuning and not to worry about it. Thank you Dr. Baker for you words of encouragement. I was pretty scared.
03/15/05 - I met with Dr. Bruce Ratterath at Pine Rest today. As I said I went to his office 14 days ago to provide written permission for my MMPC information. Dr. Ratterath had tried several times (unsuccessfully) to connect with Scott Glass at the MMPC. Dr. Ratterath spent our time together asking me to explain the reasons for my time with him. Then he had me fill out a physiological test at his office. I was approved by my health insurance for 6 sessions (this made me really paranoid) as I did not believe that I belonged there in the first place. And what if he figured out that I really am nutty as a fruitcake (oops, you didn't know did you).
03/17/05 - Went to have blood drawn today at a lab. Wow! Those vampires...they took 7 vials...is there any left?
03/22/05 - I met with Dr. Bruce Ratterath at Pine Rest today for my second visit. He started our session saying that Scott had still not provided the information that he needed from the MMPC. This was now 20 days after I went to Pine Rest to fill out the permission form. One of the reasons that Scott told me that this was necessary was that their (the MMPC) test indicated that I was not good at follow through and he was concerned that I would not do what the doctors at the MMPC wanted me to do. Not good at follow through, huh? Well Scott it does not appear that you are very good at follow through yourself. I'm not bitter though, ha! ha! Anyway, Dr. Ratterath proceeded to tell me that there was an indication of some depression. Was it clinical? No! Did I need medication? No! Did I need any more therapy? No! Whew! I dodged the bullet on that one. I was sure that this would stall the whole weight loss program. Oh, by the way if you are not at least a little depressed as a result of being super obese I sure don't know what it would take to depress you. I believe that depression (Dr. Ratterath confirmed that) is normal for those of us that struggle with obesity.
3/23/05 - Initial Sleep study appointment for Sleep Apnea. The doctor told me that I will wear the C-PAP until I have lost about 17-19% of my weight. I guess he is pretty sure that I will be getting the C-PAP.
3/30/05 - Sleep study completed at Metro Hospital. They wire you up from head to toe with about a thousand wires and then tell you to go to sleep. Yeah, right. I went to sleep at about 10:15 PM. At 12:30 AM Debbie came in and put the C-PAP on my face. The first one that she tried whistled all the time and at about 3:00 AM she came in and put a different one on. That one did a little better, but also whistled. I'm not sure, but I think that means that I will be getting the C-PAP to wear while I sleep. A good friend told me that it has done wonders for her and that attitude is everything, so I will be positive about the mask.
4/01/05 - I got a call from the MMPC and they will be compiling all the information in the coming week and submitting for surgery approval by Friday, 4/08, and expect a response within the next two weeks. Possibly, I will hear about my approval before the end of April.
4/11/05 - Oh well, I thought that I dodged the bullet on this one, but I got a call today asking that I return to Metro for another night of sleep study. I will need to wear the C-pap all night this time. It took them so long to call back that I really thought that I must be OK. Well we will see how it goes on Thursday, 4/14, for another round of great accommodations at Metro Hospital.
4/14/05 - Spent the night last night at Metro for a second sleep study. The tech Debbie (very nice) started me with one C-pap and then through the night I went through 4 or 5 others. At 4:00 AM Debbie tried the last one that did not cover my nose but slipped inside (sounds gross, but this one worked the best). The problem with all of them is that I woke up shortly after I fell asleep chocking with a bone-dry mouth and throat. It was kinda like gasping for air and was kind of scary. I know this all sounds negative, but I am willing to do what I need to do. I confess that if the doc comes back and says I don't need to wear the mask I will not be sad. One thing that Debbie said last night that made me wonder was that when you are in the deep part of sleep (my words) that you dream. I did not dream on either sleep study nights, but I very often dream on normal nights at home. Go figure?
4/20/05 - Yeah! I received my letter of approval from Priority Health. We were loading our van to leave for the Hotel in Detroit. I won a Caribbean Cruise and we booked a park and fly arrangement for a few dollars more than it would have cost us to park for the week. I got the mail just before we left and I was afraid to open it, but my wife told me that I was being silly and that of course I would be approved and she was right. I have been approved for WLS.
4/21/05 - 4/24/05, My wife and I are on a Caribbean Cruise. We had a wonderful time.
4/25/05 - While we were gone Renee from the MMPC left me a message asking me to call her back and schedule surgery. I called her and we were scheduling the appointments for the nutritionist, and internist and I told her that I had my follow-up on Tuesday, May 3, with Dr. Goodstein for my Sleep Study results. Renee then asked me if I had the v-pap machine in place and I said, "no". Renee then informed me that she could not schedule surgery until I had the v-pap in place. As I hung up I thought, "Oh, no not one more thing"?
4/28/05 - I contacted Dr. Goodsteins office and Michelle gave me the results of my study and then she contacted Care Linc to come into my home and set up the v-pap.
5/02/05 - Mike Mosher came to the house at 11:00 AM and set up the v-pap.
5/03/05 - I met with Dr. Goodstein and he said that he would contact Renee at the MMPC with his approval for the WLS...yes that was another request after I told Renee that I had the v-pap in my home and I was using it. Dr. Goodsteins response was well of course you should have the surgery and he assured me that after I lost about 15 - 19% of my weight I would no longer need the machine. Yeah!
5/05/05 - I called Renee at the MMPC and she had spoken with Michelle and said that I had the green light from their office for surgery. Then she put me on hold, pulled my file and scheduled surgery. My surgical date is Monday, June 6, 2005. My birthday is May 30th so I look at this as the best possible gift.
05/09/05 - Renee called today and left me a message saying that Dr. Baker would be out of town and not in surgery on Monday, June 6, so they re-scheduled my surgery for Tuesday, June 7th. Oh well, what's one more day huh?
5/18/05 - Today I met with (along with several others) Carrie one of the nutritionists at the MMPC. She went over the rules for diet for the two weeks prior to WLS and the diet following WLS. The MMPC requires that you go on an 800 calorie fast of only their food (supplements). This is a high protein diet that includes meatless spaghetti, chili, cream soups, a variety of drinks, Jell-O's, bars, and puddings. These are individual sized packets that for the most part require boiling or stove preparation. The servings have either a one or two point value and we are required to have 10 points a day. They encourage spices and extracts as these items are almost tasteless. Carrie's encouragement was that it is only two weeks prior to WLS and two weeks after and that we can all survive that until we go back on real food. Also, Carrie warned us not to cheat because if we did not loose weight or if we registered a gain they would cancel the surgery. I will follow their diet to a "T" and I plan on exercising as much as I can, because I don't want anything to stand in my way. We were allowed to select up to 140 points in food for the two weeks prior to surgery. Then on the appointment just before our surgery date we pick up the supplements for after surgery. The two weeks following surgery we will be required to eat four points a day. Carrie encouraged each of us to make sure that we ate the four points each day as if we did not it would inhibit our weight loss post surgery. Carrie said that it would take most of the day to eat the four points following surgery. Wow! I cannot imagine…to think it will be a struggle to get that little bit of food down. It is a whole new life.
5/18/05 - I met with Randy Brady, Dr. Baker's PA today and we went through the pre-op information and I signed the consent forms. Randy was excellent and answered all of my questions completely. I really would like to have Randy as my regular physician. Randy has really great bedside manner and made me feel comfortable with what is ahead. He did not sugar coat anything and yet by his response I feel much more comfortable with this process.
5/23/05 - Well I made it through my first weekend on the supplements from the MMPC. My life has always revolved around food and on Sunday I commented to my wife that I was struggling because I love to cook and we always have had big meals on Sunday afternoon. Normally, we would eat our main meal around 3:00 PM. We get home from Church about 1:00 PM and with preparation it would take the next two hours for me to have the meal on the table. Yes, I love food, I am a terrific cook and I am a food addict.
We chose the chili (supplement) for our main meal on Sunday and we were done eating at about 1:45 PM. Wow! That is so strange for our family. Also, my stomach has not quite adjusted to the supplements. I don't really have a stomachache and I don't feel like puking, but something sure is not right. Also, after I eat I have no desire to put anything else down there for a long (a very long) time. It is strange, but I have noticed that since I started on the supplements all the commercials and billboards seem to thrust themselves out at me. Yikes! I hope that feeling goes away soon. It is really weird to be drawn to food but have no desire to eat.
I have found that if I don't like one of the supplements that I can usually add spices/extracts to make it tolerable. I was very unhappy with the chicken noodle soup. I added parsley flakes, chives, dried onion flakes, garlic, pepper and bouillon. I like the soup once I have added all of that to improve the taste. It really helps that I can cook. I'm sure most men would really struggle with what to do with the supplements and just have to get through the bland tasteless (and pasty) high protein concoctions that we are required to eat.
The one supplement that I have found that is really good is the protein bars. My favorite is the caramel nut along with the coconut almond bars. They are a bit gritty, but very palatable and filling. Also, the soy nuts are good to use in the chili, and soup for something crunchy like crackers. I also eat the soy nuts individually and they are very tasty.
I will be on the fast for two weeks, before my pre-op appointment on June 1st. Dr. Brady said that that was OK, as my wife was not approved for the WLS and is on the fast for 12 weeks and she began on the fast on the same day, so I will be on supplements almost three weeks prior to surgery and then two weeks after surgery. I know that I can make it and I will not cheat. I am considering sticking it out with the supplements if the doctor allows so I can be a support to my wife after I have my surgery. I am stubbornly and defiantly determined to show everyone that I can do this and be a success.
05/25/05 - I am scheduled to meet with the PA at the MMPC on Wednesday, June 1st for my pre-op one week before surgery. The MMPC has you begin their fast two weeks prior to surgery to loose weight and shrink your liver for Laporscopic surgery. My wife began their medical weight loss program on Thursday, May 19th. I decided to begin the fast early so that we would begin together and both be eating the same food (supplements). I decided that I could not wait two weeks to weigh in and so I went with my wife tonight and I lost 14 pounds my first week on the supplements. Yeah!
06/01/05 - I had my surgical pre-op today. My WLS is scheduled for Tuesday, June 7, 2005. I have been on the supplements for two weeks now and when they weighed me today I was down 23.8 pounds in the last two weeks. I lost another 9.8 pounds this last week. Yeah! Yippee! Yeah!
6/9/05 - I am home from the hospital. My WLS was Tuesday, and the surgeon said that it went really well. When I arrived at the hospital they prep'd me for surgery, but while in the surgical holding room the anesthesiologist came in an said that my potassium was to low and that they may cancel surgery. Then my surgeon, Dr. Baker came in and said that they were going to run the labs again and they drew more blood. The initial potassium level came back 2.8 (2.6 is the bottom). The second lab results came back at 3.1, but they decided that they wanted a higher level. They sent me up to my room and pumped me full of potassium. At about noon they came and got me and moved me back down to the surgical holding room. Surgery was Laporscopic and lasted about 1 1/2 hours. I stayed one night and came home from the hospital at about 6:00 PM on June 8th.
I feel bloated, and I paced our hallway last night because of pain, pressure and gas. How long should I expect the pain, pressure and gas to last. They gave me all my meds in liquid form and I gagged them down. Several of them so bitter that I thought I would throw-up. I was in so much pain last night that I called the surgeons office. His PA called back and told me to keep walking and take Milk of Magnesia (I have not had a bowel movement since Monday morning) and gas-x. Finally, some time after midnight I fell asleep in my recliner. My sweet wife set her alarm so that she could give me my 4:00 am dose of liquid vicodin. I had strange dreams and found myself trying to get out of my recliner at one point, but after a while I went back to sleep. The pressure in my stomach and back makes it impossible for me to lay down and really difficult for me to sit in most any chair. I hope that I can find relief from that soon. Well I made it to another day…or at least that’s how it feels right now and my wife is giving me the meds on the hour so that I don't have to take so many at one time. I have started to eat the supplements and I have one down with three more to go for today. The supplements are very high in protein and they have told me that I will not loose well with out the protein. Also, they say that I will loose my hair with out adequate protein levels. I will eat the supplements no matter how yucky they make me feel. I am so looking forward to getting through this time and getting to the point in time when life somewhat returns to normal. I guess this part of the journey is the rocky edge up hill climb part. I am praying that I will get through this time with a positive attitude.
06/11/05 - I have been terribly nauseas since yesterday afternoon. I paced the floor until around 1:00 AM and with the aid of some gas-x I finally went to sleep. I have been getting my water in and so I end up waking up several times at night having to run to the toilet with both an extremely full bladder and a bad case of diarrhea. This is gross, but several times I have not made it and soiled myself through to my sweatpants. This morning I was so nauseas that I called my friend Jane to see what she thought. Jane had WLS on May 24, 2004. Jane was very encouraging, but she said that she did not have any problem with nausea. Sandy, my wife, suggested that I call the MMPC. After hearing my symptoms the on-call doctor Matt said that I should go to Blodget emergency, because I may have an infection. My wife and I spent six hours at the hospital and after a CAT scan and blood work they sent me home with another prescription. This time the medication is for nausea. I will be so happy when I am past this part of the journey.
6/17/05 - Well the first week after surgery was pretty rough and at times I questioned whether it was the right move. I don't remember ever being that sick in my life. I am just very glad that it over. I had my (official, but not actual, WLS 6/7/05) two week surgical follow-up today and the doctor gave me wonderful news. No more liquid meds. Yeah! I hope that I never have to face liquid meds again in my life. Also, they weighed me and I am down another 15 pounds since surgery. That means that I have now lost a total of 39 pounds since I began this journey. Yeah! Yippee!
6/20/05 - Well tomorrow, 6/21/05 is two weeks since surgery. I met with the dietician to begin introducing normal food back into my diet. The best news is that I am down another 5.6 pounds so that is a total of 45.2 pounds in just over four weeks. Wow! I can't hardly believe it! Also, the dietician, Carrie released me from the MMPC supplements today and said that I never have to eat them again. Yeah! Yippee! Cause they were real yucky and gave me a sour stomach all the time. That is the good news, but now comes a little speed bump in the road. I came home (I never feel hungry) and prepared an egg (fried with Pam) 1 slice of FF cheese (I made a one egg/cheese omelet) and 1/2 - 3/4 of a yogurt. My pouch is extremely full and Carrie wants me to eat every 2 hours. Who would of thought that it would seem a burden to eat every two hours? Anyway, Carrie wants me to get in 50+ g of protein and my breakfast was a whopping 12 g of protein. I don't know how I am going to get it all in. What a problem to have, huh? Praise the Lord for such a problem. I am already very glad that I made the decision to WLS. Also, I am thankful to God for directing me to the MMPC. In spite of some bumps I believe they have my best interest in mind and have done an excellent job so far.
7/01/05 - Wow! What a week! On Sunday (6/26) we went to my brothers cottage with my wife and Mother. I brought my cottage cheese and Sandy brought her supplements from the MMPC. Rick cooked Hamburger's on the grill and had all the fixings. Also, he had corn on the cob. I had been told that I could have cooked vegetables. So after arguing with my wife I ate an ear. I thoroughly enjoyed the corn, but within minutes of eating the corn my stomach twisted in a knot, my face almost instantly covered with sweet, my heart raced, and I found myself running to the door to barf all over the front porch. I spent the next four hours barfing with my head swimming on the couch. I finally started to feel better and then it was time to go. I then spent Monday through Wednesday feeling week and dizzy. I called the doc at MMPC and they took me off two of my medications because my blood pressure was dangerously low. Wow! My blood pressure was low, I cannot imagine my blood pressure being low. Then last night my wife made fresh green beans steamed and a little crisp. I ate 6 beans and (Yikes!) a repeat of the experience with the corn. Oh well, I guess I will have to forgo the veggies for now. On the positive end I had my four week follow-up with Todd the PA for Doc Baker and I am down another 10.2 pounds and that gives me a total weight loss of 55.4 pounds. I really like Todd, he helped me understand some of the feelings that I am experiencing and he was very reassuring.
7/18/05 - I met with Matt the PA, Carrie the Nutritionist, and Andy the Exercise Physiologist. I am down another 4.4 pounds and I was not to excited about that considering that I eat so little. I attended the WLS support class on Thursday, July 7th and I weighed myself. I was shocked because I had gained two pounds. I decided that I was not going to record the weight gain for the following reasons. I have had a really difficult time getting my protein in and my calorie count is really low. Also, I really struggle getting my water in. Anita one of the nurses at the MMPC let the support class that night and it could not have been more timely. Her topic was water and how it effects our weight loss effort. She gave us several hand-out's including one from a doctor talking about the effect of water on our Liver, bowel, and Kidneys. The article opened my eyes and I committed to making every effort to get my water down. According to the information that Anita provided I should be getting over 90 oz of water in each day. Well one of my problems has been bowel movements. That issue is also addressed in the article. I go 3 to 5 days with out having a bowel movement. I guess it should be a no brainier as the only thing that I have been able to eat the last four weeks is cheese. Cheese (especially cottage cheese) is really high in protein and my options have been so slim that I have ended up either eating cottage cheese or string cheese. Right now I don't think I will care if I don't eat cheese for another year. So needless to say I was pretty bound up. ***Warning, this is gross*** Well, two days into my push to get my water in it was like the dam burst and I was not sure that I was going to get the toilet to flush. I don't think I have ever had that big of a bowel movement in my life. Now I still struggle with water, but I am getting better in the process. The good news is that the nutritionist has opened the way for me to eat a whole new group of foods including red meat. She told me that Wendy's Chili is really high in protein and so after my appointments I went to Wendy's and got a small bowl of chili. Their small chili is 17g of Protein and I (very slowly) ate my bowl and I have not had any trouble with the meat (or anything else for that matter). This is in my mind a major victory since I have heard so many horror stories about people who could not eat meat (especially red meat). I sighed a big sigh of relief today and thanked God that I was not going to be one of those people. I am a carnivore and that will never change. I ate beef for lunch and beef for dinner and so far no problems. Yeah!
09/06/05, Well, it has been a long time since I updated my journal. I have been sick for so long and I have not felt like doing anything but sit in my chair, belch and fart. You'll have to forgive me, but that seems to be my life at this point in time. I eat almost nothing because of extreme nausea, but that does not seem to effect the gas at all. I am now on my third nausea medication with some success. Two of the four days during my holiday weekend were OK and I did not throw up. I have had a terrible time keeping any food down and as a result I have lost allot of my muscle tone. I especially noticed my weakness this last weekend. We went camping and several times I had to ask my friends son for help with things that I used to do with no problem. They have been testing me for Gallbladder problems and the tests came back saying that it is not functioning. I guess that I should consider myself very lucky, because everyone that I have talked to about Gallbladder says that they had extreme pain with their gallbladder problems. I have not had any pain, but I take some really heavy duty pain medication (a narcotic called Norco) for a bad shoulder problem. I guess that that pain medication is taking care of both problems. They are setting up surgery to remove my Gallbladder this week or early next week. I can't wait for that thing to be out of me. My regular MD told me that over 50% of Bariatric patients loose their Gallbladder within the first year following their Bariatric surgery. I guess I am falling within the 50%. I will write more after I have my Gallbladder surgery.
09/12/05 - Well I had Gallbladder surgery today and it is finally out of my body. Yeah! I would never have thought that I would get so excited about having surgery.
10/24/05 - I decided to take the time to do an update today. I had Gallbladder surgery six weeks ago today and I am thrilled to have that thing out of me. What a difference! I now have dropped all nausea medication and the Aciphex for my stomach woes. I am just now learning what it really means to be a Bariatric patient. I was so sick before that I did not know when I was coming or going. I am now learning how to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat. I must confess that I have regained a small amount of my appetite (I think) and I do enjoy some foods. The really weird part of all of this is the change in my taste buds. Everything tastes either to salty or to sweet. I mean sickly sweet/salty. I used to cook with loads of spice all including salt and then salt my food right before I consumed it. Now I use no spice or salt when cooking and none right before I eat. It all taste plenty salty to me without any additional salt. I just began exercise. I was so sick for so long and because I was not getting my protein I was very weak. I started walking about a week ago and now I am on the treadmill everyday. I feel stronger each day and the weight continues to fall off. I am now down 122 pounds. Wow! I can hardly believe the difference myself. I saw some old friends recently and they barely recognized me. What a thrill that was to have someone not know me because of my weight loss.
12/27/05 - I met with Carrie the dietician at the MMPC today. Carrie commented on how much I had lost and exclaimed about how much better I should be feeling now. My response was less than enthusiastic and she probed for more information. I explained that after my Gallbladder surgery the eating issues improved greatly, but that for the last couple of months I was having more difficulty eating. When I ate it felt like my pouch would twist up in a knot and the pain was miserable. This pain lasted for up to 3 hours. The problem was that by the time, it was time to eat again, I was not motivated to eat again. I spent most of November and December struggling to eat and very rarely got my protein in for the day. Carrie went out to speak with the doctor and they immediately scheduled an EGD (scope down to my pouch) to figure out what the problem is.
12/30/05 - Dr. Randall Baker performed an EGD on me today and found ulcers. Wow! I could not believe that I had ulcers. I did not meet any of the criteria and Dr. Baker was surprised as well. Dr. Baker immediately put me on a medication to heal the ulcers and encouraged me saying that the medication would take care of the ulcers.
02/08/06 - Today I had the follow-up appointment with Dr. Baker to discuss the results of the medication for the ulcers. I gave him an update and although I was doing better I still was not where I should be. Dr. Baker prescribed a new medication that is supposed to rebuild the lining of my pouch (stomach).
2/20/06 - I did not notice much difference the first week after starting the medication to rebuild the lining of my stomach, but by the second week I was noticing a difference. I still find times of difficulty, but it really has helped. I no longer have the problem with my stomach twisting in a knot, but I have gotten really sick at times and had to throw up. If I take the medication several minutes prior to eating I tend to do better.
06/09/06 – Today my wife and I met with a cancer specialist. The word is official and I have been diagnosed with internal cancer. I have cancer in my right Kidney. The following is my story starting August 4, 2006 going back to June 26, 2006. Bariatric surgery did not cause my cancer, but my recovery was affected by my lack of nutrition as a result of complications related to Bariatric surgery. I still do not regret having Bariatric surgery, but it is not without risks.
Today is August 4, 2006 and I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to be home. I have to confess I became really discouraged. I spent a total of 29 days in the hospital and I was taken to the operating room four different times. During my last hospital stay I had a couple of days where I broke down and wept during different times of the day. Believe me when I say that I was not questioning Gods goodness I just did not understand the reasons and why throughout this process. God has been so incredibly good to me. My first hospital stay was in Butterworth Hospital. We live in a large city with four hospitals. I was at Butterworth for fourteen days and had two major surgeries. Unfortunately, I caught a very serious staff infection while at Butterworth. It is called a M.R.S.A. I was released from Butterworth and home for 10 days. This kind of staff infection can be deadly if not treated and the longer I was at home the worse I got. It is a staff infection at its very worst. The M.R.S.A. created several large abscesses in my abdomen (lower stomach) where I had the Kidney and Hernia surgeries. After 10 days home from Butterworth my doctor sent me to Blodgett Hospital for a CAT scan and I was immediately admitted to Blodgett Hospital. This was on Thursday evening and on Friday the surgeon performed my third major surgery to remove the abscesses leaving me with two major wounds and what is called a wound vacuum. I know I have never heard of a wound vacuum before either. The wound vacuum (literally) was attached (in two places) to my body. The purpose of the wound vacuum was to suction out the infection from the wounds to clean them on a continuous basis. This was to me like weird science and kind of freaky. I had two hose’s that drained blood and puss (sorry) from the wounds. This machine was attached to the end of my hospital bed and unfortunately most of the nurses did not know much about it. If I had to go to the bathroom they would push buttons trying to figure out how to shut the machine off. Each time this created a change in the suction and it felt like I was being kicked in the stomach. Finally, after about five days I was assigned two new nurses, Sue and Krystalyn. Krystalyn came in and said (out loud) “why is the wound vacuum attached to the end of your bed it should be on your IV pole” so that you can move around. So Krystalyn immediately moved the wound vacuum to the IV pole. Yeah!!! Now the wound vacuum was on wheels and I could leave the bed. Both Sue and Krystalyn knew how to work the wound vacuum and were a tremendous help in my recovery. Sue was a wonderful nurse and she was my nurse for the remainder of my hospital stay. I could not say enough good about Sue and if you spend any time in the hospital you know how important the nursing care becomes. The doctor told me that the wound vacuum would be on me for up to 6 weeks following my hospital stay. I am thrilled to tell you that they decided to remove the wound vacuum several days prior to my release from the hospital. I still have the wounds (although they are significantly smaller), but they felt that changing my bandages twice a day would be sufficient and that I no longer needed the wound vacuum. Yeah!
They treated the M.R.S.A with multiple kinds of antibiotics, and because my nutritional levels have been so low they put in what is called a pick line. This is an IV that is guided under x-ray from a major vein in my upper arm down and through my heart. The purpose is to connect to the vein in your heart that provides blood flow through out your body. Then they put in a bottle and large IV bag the equivalent of all the nutrition that our body needs. Since my Bariatric surgery I have not eaten well. I never got my appetite back and in fact I was averaging 300 - 500 calories a day. I am 6’3 and doctors say that for my height and build I should be getting 2300 calories a day. Food many times made me sick and very uncomfortable and I went from a man who loved food to a man that hated to eat. I still do not have an appetite, but I am eating. I was literally starving myself to death. That is why I lost so much weight so quickly. I have now lost 245 pounds and I am still dropping. Fortunately, after 12 days on the nutrition IV I started to eat and drink on my own again and they were able to take me off the IV nutrition. The doctors told me that I would have never healed without the nutrition. I am now using a web site called www.fitday.com to track my calories and protein so that I can make sure that I get enough each day. I have been averaging about 1300 calories and 80 – 90 gm of protein each day. I am motivated to get well so I force myself to eat throughout the day. I was trying to do three meals a day, but that does not work for me. I eat every two to three hours now. Wow! What a story, Huh?
Anyway getting back to why I said that God has been so good to me. While I was in the hospital after the Kidney surgery the surgeon told me that Kidney cancer is the fastest growing cancer there is. It is called the silent killer because there is no pain involved when you have cancer in your Kidney. Most individuals go 3 – 5 years without any symptoms until it gets to their lungs and start having pain. Once it is in your lungs it is too late and most people die. My wife works for a school and one of the parents in the school died of Kidney cancer while I was in the hospital. It was that scenario exactly and he lived with the Kidney cancer for several years until it took over his body completely. There was nothing his doctors could do. I started complaining about pain in my lower abdomen in May and on May 31st my doctors did a CAT scan. The result of the CAT scan was the Kidney Cancer, and they did not see the Hernia. After a tremendous amount of pain and swelling while I was in the hospital for the Kidney cancer surgery they decided to do another CAT scan. The Kidney surgery was on June 26th based on a CAT scan that showed no evidence of a Hernia. They did another CAT scan on July 3rd and found a major Hernia. The surgeon operated on July 5th and said that the Hernia was one of the biggest Hernia’s he has ever seen and that it had been there at least one year. The Hernia was the cause of the pain that I was experiencing not the cancer. He was not able to explain why the Hernia did not show up on the May 31st CAT scan. It was then that it became obvious to me that this was a miracle. If they had found the Hernia on the May 31st CAT scan they would have missed the cancer and addressed the pain, but God was good and they missed it totally until all the cancer was gone. Then they were able to see and take care of the Hernia. I am not sure what purpose God has in all of this, but I know that He has one. I intend to use my life to honor Him.
I know that all of you care and I just wanted to share all of this with you. I pray that this is a source of encouragement to everyone. God is so wonderful!
Weight Loss Chart
All time high weight, 500+, (see white tux picture below) BMI 62.4, Super Obese
(my best guess…no scale except WW scale 4 years earlier at 452.8) Super Obese
06/07/06,WLS Day, 422.8, (Hospital scale) BMI 54.2, Super Obese
Week 1, Pre-op Fast, 408, BMI 52.4, down 14.8 pds., Total Weight Loss 14.8 pds, Super Obese
Week 2, Pre-op Fast, 398.2, BMI 51.1, down 9.8 pds., Total Weight Loss 24.6, Super Obese
06/17/05, 383.2, BMI 49.2, down 15 pds., Total Weight Loss, 39.6, Morbidly Obese
06/20/05, 377.6, BMI 48.4, down 5.6 pds., Total Weight Loss 45.2 Morbidly Obese
7/01/05, 367.4, BMI 47.1, down 10.2 pds., Total Weight Loss 55.4, Morbidly Obese.
7/18/05, 363.00, BMI 46.6, down 4.4 pds., Total Weight Loss 59.8, Morbidly Obese.
7/28/05, 358.4, BMI 46.0, down 4.6 pds., Total Weight Loss 64.4, Morbidly Obese.
8/04/05, 356.0, BMI 45.7, down 2.4 pds., Total Weight Loss 66.8, Morbidly Obese.
8/16/05, 346.0, BMI 44.4, down 10 pds., Total Weight Loss 76.8, Morbidly Obese.
8/26/05, 341.0, BMI 43.8, down 5 pds., Total Weight Loss 81.8, Morbidly Obese.
9/06/05, 329.2, BMI 42.2, down 11.8., Total Weight Loss 93.6, Morbidly Obese.
9/23/05, 318.8, BMI 40.8, down 10.4., Total Weight Loss 104.0, Extremely Obese.
9/26/05, 316.6, BMI 40.4, down 2.2., Total Weight Loss 106.2, Extremely Obese.
10/10/05, 309.0, BMI 39.6, down 7.6., Total Weight Loss 113.8, Extremely Obese.
10/17/05, 306.4, BMI 39.2, down 2.6., Total Weight Loss 116.4, Extremely Obese.
10/24/05, 302.0, BMI 38.7, down 4.4., Total Weight Loss 120.8, Extremely Obese.
11/07/05, 297.2, BMI 37.1, down 4.8, Total Weight Loss 125.6, Obese
12/05/05, 279.8, BMI 34.8, down 17.4, Total Weight Loss 143, Obese
01/02/06, 275.6, BMI 34.3, down 4.2, Total Weight Loss 147.2, Obese
02/06/06, 256.0, BMI 31.9, down 19.6, Total Weight Loss 166.8, Obese
03/06/06, 246.0, BMI 30.7, down 10.0, Total Weight Loss 176.8, Obese
04/03/06, 243.6, BMI 30.3, down 2.4, Total Weight Loss 179.2, Obese
05/01/06, 232.4, BMI 28.9, down 11.2, Total Weight Loss 190.4, Overweight (wow!)
6/06/06, 220.8, BMI 27.4, down 11.6, Total Weight Loss 201.2, Overweight.
07/03/06, 212.2, BMI 26.4, down 8.6, Total Weight Loss 210.6, Moderately Overweight.
8/07/06, 207.8, BMI 25.8, down 4.4, Total Weight Loss 215.0, Moderately Overweight.
8/14/06, 195.2, BMI 24.3, down 12.6, Total Weight Loss 227.6, NORMAL WEIGHT...WOW! I AM NOW THOUGHT OF AS NORMAL. WOW!
I will write more later...
About Me
Before & After
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