Jaime Breckenridge

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I hit goal weight but it seems surreal.  Maybe because I feel like I cheated to hit goal by losing the last 20 lbs via the panniculectomy.  Maybe it is because I am in that post-op haze.  (You all know what the post-op haze is all about.  It's that "I hurt but not as bad as yesterday, which was better than the day before, which was better than the day before, etc...."  It's also that I cannot believe I did this feeling you get post-op when you are sitting on the toilet in agony, praying for poop or death, one way or the other you need relief.)

Anyway, I am not sure why but I thought hitting goal would be way more of a WOW moment and it hasn't been.  Not sure what I feel right now.  I can tell you most of the wls goals I set on here and my long, long bucket list at home has been achieved.

Not sure what else to say but I might post this on the forums and see how other people felt when they finally hit their goal weight.  I was looking to hit 225/230 but my surgeon said he wanted me at 250.  My lean body mass was 176.5 in February and I have worked out since then and hopefully put on muscle.  If I have put on 10-20 lbs of muscle since February that would put my lean body mass to fat ratio in a more acceptable range for me personally.

I had a very large hernia.  It was the size of baseball, actually larger cause a baseball would go through it without touching the sides.  They had to use some sort of mesh to patch the hole.  So the pain, unbelievable the first 12 hours.  That pain is even worse now, 2 1/2 days later, each time I have to cough.  It seems like I have to cough a lot lately.  I am also wearing these really cool looking leggings, designed to keeping me free of blood clots.  I also have two drains and I will be working on gathering more information and sounding more intelligent.  I am seeing double right now and I have spent 15 minutes, easily 15 minutes) going back and fixing mistakes.

I need to go for now but I do have a lot of pictures of the last few days, from my pre-op to just hours post-op to the actual wound.

Okay, I will talk to you later.

-Jaime

My son will be updating on facebook if anyone is interested.


So I think that title says it all.  It is a bit after 4:30 am and I am a few minutes form heading to Peoria for the panniculectomy.
I will post later about the experience, no idea when later could be a week or so but I will be back.

My facebook link is http://www.facebook.com/Willie.J.Breck

I made an appointment with Dr. Rossi for Friday the 13th so I could discuss the panniculectomy.  After a quick discussion on my vitamin levels, what I heard from the endo doctor and what some options were Dr. Rossi decided to prescribe Aquasol A.  I take 100,000 iu daily for 3 days then 50,000 iu daily for 14 days via Intramuscular injection.

The vials of Aquasol A are pretty pricey since my insurance will not cover them but I have to have them so we are just picking some bills not to pay.  The only problem is at $35 per vial and I need 20 vials a lot of bills are not going to get paid this month.  Heck, they are going to be a month behind for a long time cause we live paycheck to paycheck and there is not new money coming in anytime soon.  Somehow we need to come up with about $1,000 to catch everything up because we will have late fees and such.

Anyway, life is going forward with or without me, I prefer with me and I'll take the money issues, its better than dead with no money issues.

Okay, well I am going to bed shortly.

So back in Feb. 2009 Dr. Rossi's office called and let me know my vitamin A was in the lower 20's.  So they upped my vit A intake, and since it has bounced between 20 and 24 and been checked 4-5 times.  In July I met with him and it was still low, We also talked about getting my panni removed.  He gave me a price and a 90 day quote.  I borrowed the money and set a surgery date of Nov. 19th.  In October I had my 1 year checkup with Dr. Rossi and he said in a month I would have my panniculectomy but we needed to get my vit A up first.

He sent me to see an Endo doctor in Bloomington/Normal.  That Dr. said he had never treated someone for a vitamin A deficiency.  He wants me to go to Barnes Jewish hospital in St. Louis.  Dr. Rossi's office told me today that my surgery will be postphoned indeffinately until I get my vit A up.  I was livid.  I borrowed the money for the surgery with interest.  It could be 2-3 months before Barnes Jewish can see me.  I took this semester off of school due to having surgery in Nov. and missing the last 3 weeks of classes (final projects and final exams) and had use my 6 month grace period for student loans.  Not to mention I could have graduated in May 2010.

How do I sign up for spring classes not knowing if I will have surgery or not?  So I put off one more semester and will graduate a year later.  We picked November 19th because it was the Thursday before Thanksgiving because my wife had to take the least amount of time off from work, I would be healed up by the time spring classes started and it fit in well.  We planned that date back in July.  Dr. Rossi knew my vit A level was low then and didn't do anything other than what he normally does, "Take 50,000 iu daily and get rechecked in 3 mo."... HORSE SHIT!!!

All because my surgeon should have sent me to a specialist in July when we talked about surgery and he knew since Feb. that my vit A level was tanked.  wtf?

On top of all that I got a speeding ticket Thursday on my way home from visiting my sister and her family in Traverse City, Michigan (98 miles an hour) and then Sunday less than 72 hours later I got another ticket (74 miles an hour) and then... the front passenger tires blew out and the spare was almost flat.

Money issues are mounting up and I am beginning to flip out big time.  I keep thinking of the quote from Talladega Nights, "I'm all jacked up on Mt. Dew!"  I don't even drink soda, beer, booze, caffeine, etc...  I am thinking of starting soon if this surgery doesn't happen on the 19th.  Maybe some weed and booze will help mellow me out and de-stress...  I've never tried either before but now seems like a good time to start.

-Jaime

Well I cannot believe I have lost 300 lbs since last September.  in 12 1/2 months, I guess that is a wow moment eh?

I am getting anxious about my up and fast coming panni surgery.  It will be nice to have the sagging gut off though.  It causes me so many issues.  My back pain was never as bad as it is now, then again my gut wasn't loose and swinging like it is now.

I am going to go through my goals and see what I hit and then log off.  I am in Traverse City, Michigan visiting my sister and her family.  I wanted to see them all before my surgery.  Having a good time with the kids and playing wii fit.

Best to all,
-Jaime

Yes you read that correctly.  I am about to go fishing.    I have done a lot of fishing this summer, more than I ever have before in my life.  I have put a lot of fish in the freezer so it should last me a while.  At least until March when I can get back out on the lake I hope.

So my vitamin A is tanked and nearly bottomed out.  Hopefully the appointment with the endocrinologist on Oct. 30th gives me good news because I am scheduled for the panniculectomy Nov 19th but Dr. Rossi said no surgery if I cannot get my Vitamin A levels up.

Okay.  the water is hot for my hot beverage so I am going to fill the thermos and take off, have a great day all.

-Jaime

So it doesn't seem like it has been a year already but time does fly the older you get.  A lot of things have changed for me over the last year and I must say that I feel a lot better today than I did one year ago, well excluding laying in the hospital.  I am much more healthy, thinner and more active.  I am living finally.

I am stoked about my weight loss but I am bummed because I really wanted to hit goal at my one year and I am 30 lbs away.  Not sure but since I have until October 13th to lose the 30 lbs and it is October 9th I am thinking I'm not going to make my personal goal.

When I figured I wasn't going to hit my goal I figured I would shoot for a 300 lb loss.  I guess I can settle for the 290 lbs because lets face it, dropping 10 lbs in the next four days is not a good idea, doable but not a good idea.

Now that I am done feeling sorry for missing my goal I will point out the obvious, mainly for myself so I can see it in print.
12 months -290 lbs breaks down to ...

24.16 lbs a month
5.57 lbs a week
.79 lbs a day

I went from not fitting into a size 72 pants to a size 42 fitting loosely.
I was wearing 9-10XL shirts and I can now wear a 4x (I have to wear 4x because of my panni, which is getting removed Nov. 19th, 2009 so I should be in a 2x after I heal a bit)

There, I wanted to put this in writing.  I started out writing things down so I could copy/paste them and keep them for posterity and just in case I needed to remember the things I went through.

So I just realized I am only 18 lbs away from having lost 300 lbs since October 13th, 2008.  That is just at 10 1/2 months, unbelievable!

Not much else to say right now, just had to blog this little tad of information so I could read it.