Jaime Breckenridge

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

So I am 48 lbs from goal, I have lost 278 lbs, as of last week.  I am visiting my sister and her family in Traverse City, Michigan and the only thing I have to weigh myself on is their Wii Fit Board, not as accurate as my digital scale.

I saw my surgeon, Dr. Rossi, July 13th and he gave me a quote for a tonsillectomy, good for 90 days.  It will cost $10,500 and my insurance will not cover it.  Even though I have had back pain caused by the panni that swings as I walk, I have been in physical therapy and it isn't helping, my back is so bad now I can not walk as easily as I did at 570 lbs.  What a crock!!!

Dr. Rossi knocked $4,000 off his portion of the bill so I could come up with the money.  It will only cost me $5,515.  my wife and I had to borrow the money but we had to do it.  Heck to save $4,000 alone made it worth borrowing.  Dr. Rossi is great!  The wife and I sat down with her school calendar (She is a Special Education teacher) and we figured out the best time for the surgery.  She would have to take the least amount of time off around thanksgiving.  So we asked if the week before was a good time to have the surgery and Dr. Rossi's scheduler said sure thing.  So exactly one week before Thanksgiving I am having surgery.

I cannot imagine what life will be like with a stomach that is not larger than my chest.  From what I understand this is a much tougher and far more painful surgery than any surgeries I have had in the past.  Which doesn't amount to a lot for me because I have only had an appendectomy in 4th grade, tonsillectomy when I was 17 and the DS in October 2008.  I was a bit worried about having the panniculectomy before I was at goal but Dr. Rossi assured me it was the right time.  I have lost nearly all my weight, I can feel my bones all around my chest (That's right I feel ribs!) and I will not lose much more weight from there so in order to continue getting healthier I need to have the panni removed.

I will be able to walk and work out  again, once healed, with little to no back pain.  Dr. Rossi said he would take anywhere form 12-30 lbs off but it was hard to determine how much the panni weighed.  I tried to see how much it weighed by weighing myself, then weighing myself with my son holding my panni up, it was rough but it took about 27 lbs off the scale.  I am attempting to lose 30-40 lbs before surgery in November, just cause.  All the Dr.'s office told me was to up my protein and vitamins to stay as healthy as possible between now and my surgery day.  So that is what I am doing.  Back to basics, nothing but protein for the most part.  I am cutting carbs out again and I am back to losing 6-9 lbs a week.

I never though I would weigh less than 300 again in my life.  Here I am less than 50 lbs from goal, down 278 lbs and am dang close to weighing half of my starting weight.  It is a glorious feeling.

-Jaime

I decided this morning, after a month of deliberation, that I will not let a few dozen Oh users pass along inaccurate advice.  Or just plain bad advice because I was too stubborn or irritated to help others with questions.  I was told to get a life and that is just what I have done in the last 10 months.  I want to give others the opportunity to do the same.

So I was simply tired of the negativity that I have found on the Obesityhelp website, mainly the forums.  I simply got tired of the misinformation and the garbage people were spew out of their mouths.  I saw it in full force against a member, I had no idea who the member was, but it bothered me a lot and I posted comments after the negative posters.  I then had people telling me I should just leave OH to better the Oh community.  I thought about it and decided if that is the attitude and public perception of Oh, I didn't want to be a part of such negativity.  So I locked everything on my account and left it open so I could get all my weight loss and blog information.

I decided to make a blog elsewhere, since my blog is more for me than anyone else, more of an on line diary I guess.

I am getting emails from people asking my advice about nutrition and other issues that go along with wls.  I get questions about everything from not getting the surgery and losing the weight the way we all wished we should to pre-op diets, medications, health issues, post-op eating, exercises, back pain, etc...  I guess I did bring a little something to several Oh users because I get half a dozen questions a week from people that tell me they used to follow my advice on Oh and they had a question or two.

I'm on a couple of different sites and post regularly answering questions the best I can.  If I do not know the answer or I do not feel qualified I have a lot of resources so I can effectively give a well documented and stable answer.  I have taken nutrition classes at the university, health classes, I have a physician (Gastro Dr.) in the family, two friends are doctors (a gastro and an orthopedic surgeon) as well as several RN's, LPN's and Nurse Practitioners in my circle of friends and family.  I would say I am well covered in the knowledge category.  That doesn't mean I am smart enough to answer people on my own, I just have a lot of good, qualified resources that do not involve the Internet alone.

Long blog coming to an end.  I came to the conclusion that I should just place the irritating people on ignore and hide them and their posts.  It will make my life easier and I can simply ignore them or report their post(s).  I have placed my profile on "only friends can view" that way I can control something on Oh anyway.

Luck to everyone and God bless.

-Jaime

My PCP, Dr. Phillips, sent me to physical therapy with Advanced Rehab in Macomb, IL.  I met with them the day after I saw my PCP and went through the initial meeting.  While there they told me I should have water therapy but they did not offer water therapy.

They said they would contact the local hospital and transfer me to them for physical therapy.  They said they would call in a couple of days, I said By Monday then?  they told me yes.  I called Advanced Tuesday and they said they hadn't heard but would call then and get back to me in a couple days.  I heard nothing last week so I called today.  I got the run around again. So I called my PCP's office.  My PCP's nurse just called and told me it was up to Advanced Rehab to get that squared away and that I should go into Advanced and complain.  I am going to go in shortly and give them heck and wait right there while they contact the hospital.

My back is killing me and I cannot do a thing, walking alone is hard to do and I am down to only losing about 1 lb a week.  I was losing 8-9 a week and I am still following the diet my surgeon gave me so I am sure 7 weeks isn't just a lull.  I have another hundred pounds to lose and 40-50 before they will do the panni this July.  that means I need to lose 25 lbs a month for the next 2 months.  I know I can do it but I need to be able to get out and walk.

Starting to get bummed and in a fair amount of back pain,

-Jaime

I never had this sort of back pain, even at 570lbs. So I did what we all do when we are in pain and it has lasted over 3 months and has progressively gotten worse.  I went to see my PCP yesterday and he took some xrays of my mid/lower spine.  He also sent me to physical therapy.  My stomach fat is hurting me now.  When I got up/down stairs it 'jiggles' and tugs on my lower back.  When I walk, cycle, heck anything, my gut flops side to side and hurts my lower back and pulls on my stomach muscles. I think they are called rectus abdominis, upper ab muscles.

They called me this morning and set up an appointment for this afternoon.  It was great, they wee very nice and seemed to really know their 'stuff'.  they gave me one of those big balls to use.  I am suppose to sit on it because it relieves pressure form my lower back.  It works!

I was back from the physical therapy and got a call from the pcp's office.  The nurse said I had something called Scheuermann's disease.  She told me it is normally found in children (I have always been told to grow up, stop acting like a child, etc... LOL).  I have not had time to do any research on it but give me a day and I will know everything there is available to me about it.  I am a research junkie.  I do know what she told me, it has something to do with the curvature of the lower spine.

I have had xrays before and no one ever said anything about it.  The good news is I might get the insurance company to cover the cost of the panniculectomy.  I asked if that would reverse it and she said no but it will relieve most of the pain caused by having the disease.  That is good but the disease cannot be reversed.  Physical therapy would help but it would be lifelong.  Which I am not looking forward too.

Anyway, just an update.  Oh, and I see my other doctor about my sleeping issues in the morning.  I told him to fix my sleeping issues or I stop taking the medication (Lamictal).  I guess I find out tomorrow morning eh?  I think I will put this post on the forums to see if anyone else knows anything about Scheuermann's disease.

Take care all,

-Jaime

My sleep is still very poor.  Let me clarify, my quality of sleep is good but I cannot get to sleep.  I think it is the new medication.  I also hurt my shoulder and it hurts just to lift it or move my arm.  I have an appointment to see my PCP today at 2:15.  I am going to tell them "Either fix me so I can fall asleep or I stop the new medication."

I wonder how that will go?  Most doctors, specially general practitioners, love being told what you are or aren't going to do.  After all I have a medical degree right?... Oh maybe not.  But still I cannot go on like this, less than 4 hours sleep since Tuesday morning and today is Thursday.

Here's hope to a good nights !!!

-Jaime

I have only lost 13 lbs since April 3rd, I weighed 368.  It is now May 4th and I weigh 355.  I was losing a bit over 8 lbs a week and now I am down to a couple of pounds a week.  I am trying to figure out why I have another 105 lbs to goal and it is driving me nuts.  My goal is tossed out the window and there is no way I can make it now.  It is really starting to get to me mentally.  Physically I feel so helpless that I am doing very little with my life at this point.  I almost feel as if I am simply going through life like a... like a drone or the undead,  just wandering through life looking for my next meal.

I am getting pretty down over this stall.  I have tried to reverse the stall I am in but I am having problems.  It is starting to bother me a great deal.  I wouldn't say depressed but damn close.  I am still not sleeping well but I have slowly over the last week or so changed form taking the new medication at night to in the morning and it has helped but I still cannot sleep until about 3-4am, better than before because I could stay up a day or two in a row with no sleep.  I still have to get up early so getting very little sleep but 3-4 hours is better than none.  I would love to get my 7-8 hours though.  I think that has a lot to do with my lack of weight loss over the last month.  It all started with this new medication.  I keep telling myself I need to get used to the new medicine.  I started out on 25mg, then went to 50mg two weeks later, tomorrow is my last 50mg dose then I go to 100mg.  100mg is suppose to be the maintenance dose so things better calm down in another week or so or I am going to flip out.  This is unacceptable.  Maybe I'll talk to the Psychiatrist and see if I can put the medication off until I hit goal then start it up again.

Here's hope to a brighter future,

-Jaime

So after all my preaching about carbohydrates and being careful with what you eat on the boards, my blog, to people that I have actually spoken to, etc... I feel like I am slacking off and not practicing what I have been preaching.

Here's is the down low on what's been going on.  I started a new medication almost two weeks ago, Lamictal, and a side effect is weight gain.  I blew it off because I figured I could deal with it.  Well, I am confident that I was wrong!  A few days went by and the only thing I noticed was the huge lack of sleep since I started the medication (one side effect was that the drug made you sleepy, HA! I wish!)

After a few days of being on the medication I started to feel really hungry, I think.  I have not felt hungry since the day I had the surgery... until last weekend when it all went downhill.  I am craving foods that I haven't in the last 6 months.  I am eating more than I have been eating the last six months.  I started out about 1.5 ounces, then gradually went to 2-3 ounces over the next 4 months, then in Feb/March I could eat about 4-5 ounces.  My wife and I still weigh my food (5 ounces) and I ate all but the last bite or two, then we would weigh it again to see how much I actually ate.  I was eating about 4 ounces, mainly protein (fish, shrimp, beef, pork, poultry, deer & elk meat, etc...) occasionally small amounts (less than an ounce) of taters, baked fries, coleslaw or veggies.  Over the last couple of weeks I eat all 5 ounces and don't get full anymore.  I am also eating the bulk of my food in the evening (like I did before surgery).

We had some sort of beef steak thawed so I cut it up into pieces, tossed it into the old Teflon coated pan with a little soy and teriyaki sauce and browned it, then added water and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile I took a casserole dish and dumped in a can of mushroom soup, cup or so of rice, half a bag of frozen broccoli, shredded some carrots and added garlic (we use a lot of garlic in our house).  I dumped the mixture from the pan right into the casserole dish and mixed it all up and put the lid on and baked it for an hour and 20 minutes at 300 degrees.  It was delicious and very moist, I added plenty of liquid because of adding uncooked rice.

Anyway, I put a couple of scoops into a bowl and added some noodles (chow mien or something like that, brown and crunchy).  I forgot to tare the scale with the empty bowl on (when you tare you basically reset the scale to zero).  I weighed it once it had my food in it and it was like 14 ounces. I figured I would eat til I was starting to feel full.  After about 20 minutes or so I had a few bites left and told my wife to weigh it.  The difference was about 7-8 ounces.  To say the very least I was shocked!  I had no idea I could eat so much and I am worried, nay, highly concerned.

-Jaime 'needs some support right now' Breckenridge

So I saw a Psychiatrist last Wed. and he told me they misdiagnosed me with add/adhd combined type, anxiety disorder, and a few other things they said I suffered from.  He said the adderall xr was making me much worse and I needed to stop taking it ASAP.

I was on 30 MG of AdderallXR in the morning and 5 mg of Adderall morning and noon.  He told me even though I scored in the upper 90% for add/adhd combined type on 4 different add/adhd tests that wasn't my problem.  He said I was Bi-Polar.  I told him I had never really been depressed other than the normal depression we get now and then.  I have never, that I can remember, suffered severe deep depression where I wanted to die, or stayed in bed for hours and hours, day upon day, I have never been overloaded with negative thoughts and ideas.  He said I had bipolar and to do some research on it and take a medication.

I take 25 MG at night for 2 weeks, 50mg for 2 weeks then 100MG nightly after that.  I am on day 5 or 6 of the 25mg and I have no gumption at all.  I talk slower, I think slower, I am lethargic and I have the feeling that nothing is important anymore.  I could care less about a single thing in my life right now.  I do not like this feeling and I hope it passes soon.  If it doesn't I am going to call his office and talk to the nurse.  I think it the name of the medication is lamictal.

The last 3-4 days I haven't watched my diet like I was, maybe cause of having an Easter meal at two places, I ate a roll at both place, potatoes, etc... I have yet to do that.  Then Monday I craved food all damn day long.  I hope this drug isn't going to mess with the weight loss goals my surgeon set, or the goals that I have set.

Oh well, is the feeling I have right now and that worries me a lot.

-Jaime, the lethargic

Well I went in to Dr. Rossi's office yesterday to ask about a change in medication and they had me just wait and see him.

Good news, I have lost 205 lbs I have 115 to be where he wants me.  He figured I would be close about June/July.  I asked him about the size of my stomach and how another 115 lbs would get rid of all of it.  He said "It won't".  I was slightly in shock and thought, OK, keep up the strict regime for another 3-6 months.  Then he said you have to have it removed.  It will all be skin and gelatinous fat that has shrunk but will never disappear.

Bad news, he said I would need abdominoplasty this summer to remove 30-40 lbs, or a little more, of skin/fat around my stomach.  I was surprised but thought, OK I figured Christmas or next summer.  Now the bad part of the news... My insurance will not cover it, not a single penny.  So I asked what the cost would be and he said I would have to ask the nurse that does the scheduling.

I asked her and she said it depended on the hospital, how long the OR was used, how many days I was in the hospital.  I asked if she had a rough high amount, she said $10,000-$12,000.  I felt like someone reached in and grabbed my heart and started squeezing.  Dr. Rossi isn't the type or surgeon to tell you to get something unless you needed it, he wouldn't tell me to have something done for purely cosmetic reasons.

I have no idea how to come up with the money, We have maybe $500-$600 in the bank and there is virtually no way to get the cash.  We lost our house last summer and had to file for the big B.  So even getting a loan is not in the realm of possibilities.  I haven't been this depressed, anxious and stressed in a long time.  I figure I am screwed and will have a large protruding 'gut' for along time to come.  The cost will only go up as I wait to try and get enough money over the coming years.  I am to the point I wished I hadn't had the damn surgery.  I never would have done it had I known I would have a gut hanging out as far as mine does and another 100-120 lbs isn't going to do enough.  My thighs have huge 'sacks' on the upper inside, my upper arms are very saggy, I can live with the arms and thighs for a while til I get the money but the gut has me ready to give up.

On a positive note I visited someone in the hospital that had the surgery yesterday, Jennifer Ferrell, and she is doing great.  I visited for a couple hours, hope I didn't overstay my welcome.  I met Jennifer on OH and saw she had Dr. Rossi and her surgery was April 3rd and I had an appointment at the same hospital on the 4th so I offered for some stranger company.

Jennifer has a great husband and two very nice children, they seem like a very happy family.  Jennifer is so upbeat and nice.  It was a pleasure to visit with them.  I hope the best for Jennifer and her family, I am sure, with the support she seems to get form her family, that things will go very well for her in her WL journey.  It was nice to not think about my money problems for a couple hours while visiting with the Farrell's.

-Jaime

I was responding to a post a few minutes ago and thought I would put this on my blog.  I might put it on my facebook blog as well.  Not sure yet, deciding still.

I asked my surgeon why he wanted me at 250 when I am only 5'6" because that would place me as obese still.  He did a bodpod to check my lean body mass/fat ratio.  (They normally do this preop, 6 months and a year but they couldn't shut the door preop.)  I had it done in February and I have 176lbs of LBM (lean body mass), which I guess is everything but fat and hair.  So I have stopped looking at BMI, ideal weight ranges for people based on government and medical agencies and started calculating my body fat based on 176lbs of LBM (lean body mass).

According to my calculations I had 394lbs of body fat.  Now I have 202 lbs of body fat.  Surgeon wants me at 250lbs, that means if I do not have any changes in LBM I should be at 29%, which seemed odd for me but the surgeon said I would have an extra 25-30 lbs of skin.  If I subtract the skin from the figures I would weigh 220-225 and be at  20-21%, which is within the healthy range even though I would still be considered obese with a BMI of like 40.  I took my height 66 inches, plugged in my LBM and I was overweight so that crap they give you at most doctors offices is worthless.

   DATE     WT/LBS    BMI     BODY FAT
10/16/08     570         92            69%          (day I got out of the hospital) 
10/24/08     525         84.7       
10/28/08     503         81.2
10/31/08     499         80.5
11/14/08     489         78.9
11/20/08     483         78
11/24/08     480         77.5
12/03/08     477         77
12/08/08     471         76
12/09/08     469         75.7
12/15/08     463         74.7
12/30/08     453         73.1
01/14/09     440         71
01/26/09     430         69.4
02/02/09     425         68.6
02/10/09     420         67.8
02/13/09     411         66.4
02/23/09     403         65
02/26/09     399         64.4
03/07/09     392         63.3
03/20/09     378         61            53%


If anyone wants to know how to figure your actual body fat percentage you need to know your height, and LBM and the rest is fairly easy.

-Jaime