psykhedelphinia

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ok so the day of the surgery i took my measurements ... keep in mind this was not my biggest by this ppoint i'd lost 16 lbs due to the liquid diet ...

Chest:              50 in
Right arm:       17 in
left arm:           16.5 in
Waist:               53 in
Hips:                 53 in
Right thigh:      28.5 in
Left thigh:        28 in
weight:            270lbs on March 25th,09

as of today ....

Chest:              48 in  (2 inches)
Right arm:       ??
left arm:           ?? in
Waist:               46 in (7 inches!!!)
Hips:                 51 in (2 inches)
Right thigh:      ??
Left thigh:         ??
weight:              258bs on May 18th, 09 (12lbs)

so I havent measured the rest yet. but i needed this for myself as a reminder that things have changed even tho i havent seen it ... that I am progressing ... things keep coming up (shortage of $$, car troubles, work) where I havent been able to go in for my post surgery follow up.   I'm rescheduling the app for this thursday .. and hopefullyi'll get my first fill and get back on track....I kno this is a good step forward but i ccant help but feeling that i could have lost more ... so far only 32lbs lost...

Ok, so one day post-op and I'm sore!!!!
hat bad - slow and steady
The surgery itself went just fine and dandy ... it was waking up in pain that got me - unfortunately I'm pretty resistant to pain meds and the pain meds that do work have tylenol - but I cant have tylenol because of my liver complications - so i'm trying to stick it out.  The pain is constant, but varies in intenstiy throughout the day, I find after sipping broth & drinks that the pain intensifies.

Once I'm up - moving around isn't that bad (slow and steady) - its the getting up thats killer.

Took my measurments for tracking purposes:
Chest               50 inches
Right arm       17 inches
Left arm          16 1/2 inches
Waist               53 inches
Hips                 53 inches
Right thigh      28 1/2 inches
Left thigh        28 inches
Weight            268lbs. (down 16lbs - since the start of "liquids only" diet)

gotta go walk around and alleviate the pressure on my shoulders for the gas they injected into my abdomen during the surgery .... gas rises - hence shoulders hurting.

Soo I stayed in South Florida, I moved closer to my job.

I have a tumor, benign, thank God.  My Surgeon may be able to remove it while I'm there for my WLS, hopefully we'll be able to get everything taken care of.

I'm excited and nervoue and every other emotion in between ... I'm confident about the surgery, I'm more concerned about after and maintaining.  I'm going to need help, but I'm ready I want this, I need this ...

ooo man ... whooo!!

Ok, so the move was put on hold ...

I have a tumor, Benign... thank God.  Tumor has taken residence up in my liver, soo crap - but my surgeon may be able to remove the tumor while placing the lapband, TBD.

I cant believe it in 9 days, I'll be going in for this life changing surgery. annnnnnnnnnnnd holy crap, I'm excited & nervous and a bundle of other emotions right now.

One thing is clear I will need help to stay on track, I'm going to do everything I can to keep my focus - lose weight and get healthy. 

I'm stocking up on all my liquid diet stuffs ... I'm ready for this change, I'm confident that the surgery will go well, I'm anxious to get everything started.

OK soooooo .... Its been a while since i've been on here ... and I find my self faced with an opportunity.

Stay here (and wait things out - the promotion that I've been striving for - as I have the past year) ....
OR
Move to Orlando (Staying with Kaplan of course - but going into a different position in the company)

there are good and bad on both ends ....

PRO's - Orlando Move ...
1.)  Living is sooo much cheaper up there
2.)  People are a lot more laid back
3.)  I'd be a buttload closer to my family again - I've already missed out on so much in my nephews life (I've missed out on almost all of my other nieces and nephews)  I'm having a really hard time not seeing him now :(
4.)  Did I mention things are sooo much cheaper!!!
5.)  There is a possibility that I could go into Kaplan Admissions Management Program or KAMP to finially take that step into the Admissions Manager role (that I was promised over a year ago) but it wouldn't be with the same crew of people and it would be on the University side not the KVE/KU High School
6.)  Moving is / has always been excting and liberating for me - I love the change

CON's - Orlando Move ....
1.)  I'd be leaving my life here behind .... again.  My friends here, they are my family.
2.)  I'd feel as tho I'm turning my back on something that I've poured a lot of time (60 hours a week), money (pay-cut), effort (creating policies, buliding a school from the ground up, accquiring new schools and revamping operations to smooth the transition) - I dont want to walk away from that, not when we've finally seen some growth.
3.)  My car wont make it back and forth from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale to visit.
4.)  I'd have to make some quick descisions about my surgery to I continue on pace, surgery in February?  or postpone and restart in another 6 months?  I dont want to wait, I could - if I had to but I'm over waiting.   I need a change, but I'm not sure if the change physically or a move is in order .... maybe both.

I'm sure there are more but these are at the forefront of my mind.

This past weekend, a few friends of mine carpooled on up to Howl-O-Scream .... first off lets just say it was a miracle of sorts to even get there.

Lets just say, we had to reschedule after tickets had been purchased and the car rental reservation had been placed - due to lack of 'gas & fun' funds. 

Sooo despite all previous issues, including lack of funds and car rental modification crap and then last minute work obligations crap and ooo yea lets not forget the $250.00 xtra charge that Enterprise threw onto my debit card that I was not expecting and the extra $25.00 a day for car ins. for the 'weekend special'  .... I was pissed but everything else was already in place tix ordered, scheduldes fixed, plans in place .... screw it I sucked it up and 'ate' the extra $90 bucks ....   and we were off!!!!
We get to wonderful fun filled fantabulous tampa and decide that the first order of funness was to go on one of the rollercoasters .. the Montu (now I'm a coaster freak, I love it from the shit talking you do while in the line to the last minute anticipation of fun, giggles and thrills, to screaming/laughing similar to disney character Goofy like proportions.)
sooooo I've never had a problem with the rides before (Insert neccesary backstory here) but they took my chest measurements when I went in too the bariatric doctor and my chest measurement are 54 inches and the coaster had a sign saying people with chest dimensions bigger than 52 inches need to sit in specialized seats in rows 4 and 5.  So I try to tell all the little people i'm with .... 3 cool people all under 150 lbs (none of them have ever ever never ever been near overweight) and they either dont understand what i'm trying to explain to them (that i'm too big I need to go to a different row) OR its just not registering and they / I dont move.
Well once you get out of line, they bump u to the back so we're next in line, and my palms are now slick with sweat and I'm praying that all this working out that i've been doing will pay off and i wont be embarrassed ... the cars come thru (moment of truth) everyone gets on, and I try to pull the safety bar down ... and the bar is just shy of the belt and buckles(FUUUUUUUUUUU@#$#@#$K) so I pop outta the seat and the rows behind us are 4 and 5, so I ask one of the skinny girls if she would switch with me because I need the larger seat and she says "hell no" giggles and stays in her seat and buckles up. (now I have learned to control my otherwise fierce temper - usually its a very long fuse - in this instance i had to shove my hands in my pockets and bite my tongue til it bled to keep from verbally & physically shanking this unsuspecting ho).
The announcer come on the the obnoxiously loud speaker next to my ear to clear the way and get behind the white line, coaster attendants are making their way from the back to the front checking seat and safety bars, I'm asked to get on or back off .... I hang my head and move off the track, all I hear is laughter of anticipation from the people sitting in their seats and snickering from the afore-mentioned ho.   In my head I can hear the chorus from Chicago's 'Cell Block Tango"  .... "If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it ... I bet you would have done the same!!!" justifying the borderline violent thoughts I'm having.

Meanwhile my friends have no clue as to whats going on ... they are happily kicking their feet as the steel lowers and cars move forward on the track .... I sit on the bench on the opposite side of the platform, fighting off the hot tears I feel building up both of embarassment and anger, and feel my cheeks flush.  I say efff it I'm here to have fun, wooosaaau - I dont want anyone to see my face or ask me whats wrong for fear I'd lose my cmposure.

The longest 2 minutes later ... they come back in laughing and happy, kicking their feet and saying how awesome the ride was.   They get off, oblivious to my internal battle to keep myself in check ... to not cry, to not bitch them out, to not snark them to death. And they ask the inevitable "Where did u go, why didn't u get on?"
If i had answered at that time I would have bit their heads off .... they didn't desreve that so I simply turned and walked away from them fighting back fresh tears of embarassment.

Despite the shaky start we all had a very good night and the saying payback's a bitch ..... lets just say the aforementioned unsuspecting ho, got her comopins/kommopins.
;)

Things are coming together, 
the stars are aligning,
things are falling into place ....
my serious weightloss track is about to begin.

Dude's & Dudettes,

My job just recently put in a Gym/fitness center ... which tells you that they realize they have too many unhealthy people working here and we're dropping like flies.  The fitness center is fairly small complete with:

4 Treadmills
4 Eliptical Machines
1 stationary bike
1 KoKo SmartTrainer ....(5 GOLD RINGS!!! - lol kidding I totally had the christmas song stuck in my head after writing this tho)

Now the smart trainer, is pretty badass its like a computerized personal trainer.  No more worrying what excersizes I shoud do in order to slim down my hips or get rid of arm flab or jelly rolls ... HALLELUJAH!!!
The really cool thing about it is that it tests your Range of Motion, and remembers the info and then has you do sets with different weight adjustments after every 5 sets - it gives u this blue bar while your completeing your sets to make sure that you are doing the sets correctly and getting the maximum out of the excersize.
There are like 20 different programs that you can choose from and sign up for - i picked the Weight Loss (duh).  The weightloss has an 8 week program, based on 3 excersizes a week = they track your success rate, your strength imporvement and your results and weightloss so far.  THANK GAWD!!!
To check out & learn more about the koko smart trainer go to: www.kokofitness.com

It's been a week since I started working out @ the company fitness center and the KOKO machine is kicking my ass into shape, along side the treadmill and dreaded eliptical machine .... Now I just have to start changing my eating habits (particularly - my eating fast habit!!! and learning to eat 3 to 4 small meals a day, not one big meal)
*****ON THE surgery front ....
I need to schedule my bloodwork, the nutritionist and contact the shrink for my psych evaluation. ... ooo fun.

Just had my date; albeight brief first consultation with my Bariatric Surgeon, he feels that I 'm a good candidate for the Lap-Band system (to learn more about the lap-band system go to www.lapband.com ).

Well I got what i went for, answers as to whats next ....

My Insurance Company requires a 3 month 'Multidisciplinary Weight Loss Surgery Checklist' including but not limited to the following:
  Step 2 (after initial consultation):

• Schedule Initial Nutrition Evaluation
• Call to schedule Psych. Evaluation
• Labs & Diagnostic Testing
• Schedule Physical Therapy Evaluation

v     MONTH 1 (10/20/08 – 11/20/08):   Nutrition visit (1^st), schedule psych. eval. v     MONTH 2 (11/21/08 – 12/20/08):   Nutrition visit (2^nd), Physical Therapy Evaluation (must be completed), 2^nd surgeon appt v     MONTH 3 (12/21/08 – 1/20/09):   Nutrition visit (3^rd), Support group (yeah hello, been here – doing this), surgeon pre-op visit. Step 3: ·        Schedule Nutrition Clearance Appointment (must complete 3 day food logs for the appointment or you will not receive clearance)

• Complete any required psych behavioral groups
• Call the dr.s office if everything is completed to talk about scheduling a surgery date, shed. Pr-op appt. and verify for final time all insurance authorization.

Step 4:

• Pre-op appt w/ surgeon – surgery date and details will be finalized
• Complete EMMI online learning tools & complete handbook exams complete with signature – bring to class
• Attend Mandatory pre op education classes & support groups (call to pre-reg.)
• Attend Pre-admission Testing @ chosen hospital out patient department.

Step 5:   ·       TAKE THE PLUNGE!!!!! Surgery ….

whoa man ... this isn't really too much to do right now (in the grand scheme of things) ... but I've heard from a few other people that the psych evals dig deep ... really deep. awww sugar .... what deep dark secrets will they uncover?
do I have hidden in the depths of my mind the secret to unlocking amazing abs?
or the answer to the biggest question int he universe?
os some scandelous skeleton buried deep in the family closet of denial?
.. tune in next week to find out ....
or not .... puh lease i'm not nearly that interesting people. :p (kidding, I totally am.)

So my insurance company / Doctor sent me video info packets to my email for me to view, to get some more info.  (basically all the same info they've told me) It's good though, because my family has a lot of questions about my choice, and instead of my trying to explain it perfectly to them I can easily show this.  

I also got a confirmation call fo my appointment this Monday with the surgeon for my first consultation!!!  I'm really excited. I have a lot of questions ... namely whats next?

I think I have all the info packets completed, PCP doctors file in hand, insurance clearance letter .... I'm off to see the wizard!!!

I'll keep you guys posted  ..... woot!