Bruce B.
12/26/07: First appointment. Weighed in @ 341. This is the heaviest I've ever weighed.
Week of Dec 29th: Went for my psychological, behavioral evaluation appointment, and received clearance from my Cardiologist.
Week of Jan 1st: Blood test done, received clearance from my Primary Doc, and took my Emmi tutorial online.
Week of Jan 8th: Went to support group, and had my EGD done.
Jan 13th through Jan 20: Disney Cruse. Thought I'd gain weight, but I actually lost weight. Had a wonderful time.
Week of Jan 20th: Had my Upper GI performed.
1/28/08: Dietary Consult. Dropped 16 lbs
2/5/08: Office visit Dropped 3 lbs. Reached and exceeded my first goal of losing 17 lbs so my surgery could be scheduled. Surgery date is 2/20/08. 
2/19/08: Went to Hospital for my pre-registration. Got there at 9:00am, and left at 11:30am. All went well, except for one thing. As I'm writing this (6pm, on the 19th) I just realized I forgot to confirm my surgery time of 6:30am tomorrow. It's too late to call now. Have to show up and hope for the best.
2/20/08: Surgery Day. Got to the hospital @ 6:30am. I couldn't believe it, I lost another two lbs. In the operating room around 9ish. Out by 10:00am. All went well. After I was brought up to my room, I took a nice long nap. Woke up feeling better. Started to walk around. Went down to get my x-ray around 2ish. Left the hospital @ 4:30pm. Very simple stuff. The hospital staff was great. Dr. Kwon is the best. Nice down to earth Doctor. Would HIGHLY recommend the Doctor, his Staff and the Hospital. I loved the pictures on the walls of the hospital on level SB. Real nice touch.
2/21/08: Didn't really sleep that well last night. Some pain in the chest area. Probably the average person would be able to tolerate the pain. I'm a big BABY when it comes to pain. Took a nap around 9ish for about 3 hrs. Felt better. Still pain in the chest area. I am able to tolerate it better now. The Doc gave me some good meds. Trying to take them only as the last resort.
2/22/08: Slept a little better last night, still in some pain. Getting better as each day passes.
2/23/08: Took my first shower since the operation. Felt good. Took off three of the five bandages during the shower. Chickened out when it came time to remove the large bandage and the small one next to it. My 16 year old daughter drove me to Walmart. When I first asked her, it was like pulling teeth, and she wouldn't. She was way to busy chatting on the internet. After several minutes if her refusing to drive me, she said she would. I guess she figured out she could get me to buy her stuff there. Why do I say that? Well, I went to the store to buy a "couple" items, and walked out with $170.00 worth of items. A lot of girly girly stuff. After I got home from the store, I realized it was a mistake going in the first place. I didn't fell well. The short trip kicked my A#$.
2/24/08: Woke up feeling pretty good. Starting to get my energy back. As I was laying in bed, i took the two remaining bandages off. Not so bad. I still didn't look at the sutures.
2/25/08: First Post Appointment with Dr. Kwon. Went well. Weighed in at 302. Lost 14 lbs in 5 days. Couldn't believe my eyes. I thought something was wrong with the scale. He took the staples out. Really didn't hurt, but I'm such a big baby, I had to hold my breath, and make noises. Started my EAS drinks. I buy them in Walmart. A package of 4 costs $4.97. Cheapest I've seen them. I went back to work. Kinda a mistake. I should have taken another day. Left the house at 6am, my docs appointment was 10:30, and came home at 5:30pm. I felt like a train had had run over me. I have so much trapped air on the left side of my chest. The pain shoots right into my shoulder blade. Doc says it's normal. Guess I'll have to deal with it.
2/26/08: 2nd day back to work. Felt 75% better from the day before. Maybe getting up and moving around actually helped me more to move the trapped air. Still have a little pain, but not as bad as yesterday. It feels so good to go into my closet and pull out clothes that actually fit me. About 6 months ago, I refused to buy the next size paints. So I had to deal with fitting 2lbs of Baloney in a 1lb bag. I'm looking forward to a good night sleep tonight.
2/27/08: It's been one week since my surgery. Feeling pretty good. Not really hungry. Drinking three EAS drinks and about 70ozs of water. Still have some shoulder pain from the trapped gas.
3/16/08: Weighed in last Monday, and only lost 1.5 lbs in ten days. They said my body is in starvation mode. Makes sense. I wanted to get a band adjustment, but they looked at me with six heads and told me I had to wait several more weeks. I'm still keeping my calorie intake under 1,000. Averaging around 900. Doing well with learning what not to eat, and what to eat. Over the last ten days, I've kinda cheated a couple times. My kids left 4 cookies on the table last week. I felt like a had no control. I started with one cookie, and five minutes later, I had all four. I did chew them well, but I felt like Sh$@ afterwards. What are you gonna do. I'm human. Then, a couple nights ago, I had low fat ice cream bars(round). Once again, I saw them, it the freezer, had to have one, and 30 minutes later, i had three. A couple days prior to the ice cream slip, I started to track my calories online. That is helping big time. When you enter my slip up in black and white, I can see it's not worth it. It also did nothing for curbing my hunger that night. Once again, oh well. Life goes on. I bought a treadmill last night, and started running on it, no actually walking on it this morning. Did 30 minutes, and it told me i burned 55 calories, and 17 fat cells. I sweated (not sure thats a word) like a pig. Felt good. Prior to the operation, I bought a Bowflex. Got a really great price. I started to use it a couple days prior to the operation. I can't weight to start up again. AT my last Docs appointment, they told me I had to wait another two weeks before I could use it. Makes sense, I can still fell tenderness in my chest. I have so much more energy with the way I'm eating. I feel great. Overall, I know I'm going to make it this time. I realize my life depends on it. Oh, one more thing before I go, at work on Friday, my Boss bought some pizza's and a large cake for an office birthday. I was very proud of myself, and didn't have either of them. I'm keeping in mind the cookie and ice cream slip, and know it's just not worth it. My cloths are starting to fit better, I was at my last belt hole, made a new hole in my belt (with a sharp knife, i was careful not to cut myself), a week later, made another hole in the belt, and now I have to make a third hole. What a great feeling that is. I remember going in the other direction, and my belts didn't fit. I'm going to make it this time. Thanks Dr. Kwon. :-)
3/16/08 ( Part two) I went shopping today with my daughter for her Jr Prom dress. While at the Mall, she said she was hungry and wanted to get something to eat. We sat down and she ordered a drink. I was a good boy and didn't order anything to drink. I ordered a soft food and ate it kinda slow. Looking back, I should have eaten it a bit slower. All was fine until I decided to eat a little of her food. After a couple minutes, I got a real sharp pain in my upper stomach. I thought I was going to get sick. Got up, went outside for a while until the pain went away. Good lessened learned. Eat slow, and only small portions. Still all in all, I've only had about 700 calories through dinner. Still doing good. Visited my Aunt in the hospital. Was brave enough to jump on the scale. I lost another 4 1/2 lbs. Down to 296.5. First time in a long time I'm under 300. I'm gonna make it this time. I feel strong. Just need a kick in the a$@ sometimes. Or in a case like today, I real hard kick in the chest.
4/7/08 Since my last visit to the docs, I was given the green light to eat. And boy did I eat. I didn't feel any restriction, so I was real hungry. I called and asked for an adjustment, but they couldn't fit me it. Anyway, I called again this morning and got a 1:40pm appointment. I drove up from Queens. Took me about 90 minutes. On the entire trip, I was getting myself ready for the bad news. I thought for sure I had actually gained weight. The way I ate, and what I ate I thought for sure I gained 10 lbs and put me back over 300 lbs. Anyway, I got on the scale, and I told the nurse, this is the time you yell at me. I was SHOCKED. I lost 5 1/2 lbs. I'm down to 290 1/2 LBS. I got my 50 lbs lost pin. It felt great. :-). I got an adjustment. My band is a large. It holds 14CC. When the doc "installed it", he put 5 CC's. Today, I was given 2 more, which upped me to 7 CC. I drank a glass of water, and felt the restriction right away. I of course drank it to quickly, and I felt pain in my chest. Took a minute to get my breath back, but after a couple minutes, I felt fine. All I can have for the rest of the day is water. Tomorrow I can only have protein drinks, and Wed I can start eating soft foods again for one day. Then I should be fine on Thursday. The doc told me I could come back on Friday for another adjustment. I'll wait and see how I feel.
4-11-08 Had another fill today. Went from 7 to 8CC's. Can't believe I lost another 1 1/2. Exercise is key. I'm running on the tread mill at least 3 times a week for 30 to 35 minutes. Feels great to sweat like a pig. Getting all those toxins out of my body. Stopped drinking diet soda months and months ago, but I'm sure some of that sh*% is still inside of me. I was told, one can of diet coke can stay in your system for a long time. Over a year. Best thing I ever did was to stop drinking that stuff. No more migraine headaches, and I feel much better. Have you ever seen a skinny person drink diet coke? I haven't.
