One Year Post Op and Down 163 Pounds

Jan 04, 2009

WOW I can hardly believe it has been a year since I had my surgery. I would say the biggest surprise was that I fell into somewhat of a depression while learning how to use my new tool. But in the end it has all been worth it! I would do this over again in a heartbeat. Below are some of my exciting stats:  

Clothes: 
Pants - waste tight 42 to a comfortable 32
Shirt - 4XL Big to a normal XL
Boxers - XL to M  

Lifestyle:
I am no longer tired when I do things. I have started Snow Skiing again and I am full of energy. In fact on my Anniversary I washed both my truck and car as well as vacuumed and detailed them both…. all in 33 degree weather!  

As I sat down to write this I thought I would have a lot more to say as I have been thinking about how much my life has changed and how much happier I am now compared to before… Unfortunately I can really put it in words… It is just how life is now. I am happy again!
0 comments

7 Months out and doing GREAT!

Aug 04, 2008


Well I am now 7 months out and starting to officially have longer plateau’s and less weight loss each month. It is not that big of a deal since I have lost 135 pounds so far and only have 80 to go for my goal. For the first time I think it will really be possible to make my goal and if I do not make it I think I will be okay with it (at least I can say that today we will see if it actually occurs). My life has already changed so much! I have way more confidence in myself, I fit in every restaurant booth I sit in (even when I am thinking no way that will work), I am comfortable when flying on a plane,  and I was able to ride every ride at Disneyland!!! This surgery has been amazing and I could not be happier. I have also started trying to wakeboard when I go out with my friend on his boat. I used to just ride along but now the vest fits so I am giving it a try (of course with my T-Shirt still on).  

I also had my 6-month blood work and Surgeon’s visit this last month and got a glowing review. I do not know why I get so excited to hear I am doing good… I think that maybe I just need to know I am not wasting this tool I have been given! I just want to loose all that I can and he seems to think that there is no reason I cannot get down to my goal weight in the next year given how much I have lost to date.  

Well there is not much more to say for now so for now I will plan on updating again when I hit 250 or something major happens.

5 Months Out

Jun 05, 2008


Well it has been 5 months since I had my surgery and I am now down 120 pounds. Yesterday I weighed in at 285! It was a mix of emotions as I feel great and I am now in a size 36 jeans that seem to be loosening day by day…could I actually get to a 34 by the end of this???? Who knows… But the odd part was I got down on myself because I wanted to be at 275 or less… it is odd how I internalize my weight loss. I mean it is great that I am losing at a gradual pace but if you look at my tracker on the bottom of this page I got more joy out of seeing those huge drops and would like to get back that again… maybe one of these months. In the end I just hope I can reach my goal.

So speaking of my goal I currently have it set to 190 pounds… I think that I would look really weird at that weight but it is more of a personal goal since I weighed 225 at 16 and would just like to weigh as much as my older brother for once in my life
J

Nothing much is coming up on the horizon other then a trip to San Francisco (we altered our trip to southern California due to work issues). I am getting excited to fly and ride coasters… For once I should actually fit in the seats!!! 

I am going to post my next goal on here so that I do all that I can to make it and see that darn tracker dip like it did in my first month… So by July 4th (6th months out) I want to be at 250. That would make my loss for a month be 35 pounds but I think I can do it if I put my mind to it! Plus that is the next weight I wanted to post pictures at
J ~ Wish me luck!


I Have Joined the Century Club!

Apr 21, 2008


WOW it has been a while since I have posted on here! I have been really busy with work, the family, and life as a whole so personal stuff seems to take a back burner sometimes… Well I am happy to say that this weekend I hit the 100 pounds lost... and in fact, I have actually passed it up by a little. My weight as of this morning was 302.4 so I am officially down 102.6 pounds!!! This is huge as it is the most I have ever lost!!!! 

My stats so far are as follows:

Weight: 405 -> 302

Shirts: XXXXL (4x) -> XXL

Jeans: Tight 42x32 -> Loose 38x32 (I have already bought the 36’s in anticipation) 

I now really wish I would have taken measurements of my body before the surgery but then again at that point I did not want any pictures taken of me or any more time spent measuring my size… I like looking back on the last 3.5 months and loving where I am at but back then I hated every day!

I am really looking forward to the coming months as we have a trip planned to go to Southern California in mid July. We are going to see family and hit up the normal tourist traps like Sea World, Universal Studios, and Disneyland . I am really looking forward to the flight, rides, and being able to walk without feeling like I am disabled after only an hour on my feet. I think this will be the first time I will be comfortable in a plane seat, or comfortable going on a ride in over 8 years. As of right now I am hoping that I will be down to 250 pounds which would be amazing to me (and I think my wife too)!

So for now I will hope and do all that I can to hit the next few mile stones I have coming up… Passing up 300 pounds and then hitting the 250 mark. I am also toying with the idea of running a marathon as I NEVER would have thought I could EVER do one. I still need to check and see if it is doable in the first year or if I need to wait until year two but for now it is just an ultimate goal… And who knows maybe a Triathlon after that? I know my brother would love it if I could join him on some of his races!


2 Months Post-Op Today

Mar 04, 2008


I am going to make this one short but I wanted to track my monthly numbers. Today I weighed myself on my scale at home (so it is not really an official number) and it was at 327.4 without clothing. I am pretty happy so far but I want to make sure I am at or below 305 by April 4th. Wish me luck!


Could I be a looser again? Let’s hope!

Feb 25, 2008


If you read my last post I was a little frustrated as my weight had not moved in over 2 weeks. So I attempted a soy based protein shake on Friday and it went down just fine. I found it at a place called Emerald City Smoothies here in the Seattle area and it was great! I got one with Skim milk, Bananas, Strawberries, and 24g of Soy Protein. So with the milk it made it almost 30g! The guy thought I was nuts when I told him I could not have Whey when the drink has milk but I told him a little about my issue and he made me a tasty treat! I knew right away it was going to work for me which was exciting. So later in the day I ran out to Costco to pick up some frozen berries and Bananas. I also headed to GNC and picked up some Soy Protein for me to make my own shakes ($6.25 is steep when I need 2 a day!)

By Saturday afternoon I was feeling like I had tons of energy when I was watching TV so I headed out and washed both of our cars. I also did some other chores around the house as well! I was feeling great and the only change was the new Protein. This weekend was also kind of hard as on Wednesday our 6 month old got the flu, then as he feels better my wife got sick on Friday night. Then it was our 15 year olds turn on Saturday night as well as mine. The only saving graces was I did not get the full experience and was able to keep hydrated. I was worried about this as I wanted to make sure I did not make the scale move due to being sick!

Well after exactly 3 weeks the scale moved down 5 pounds this weekend and I am at 330 (according to my home scale without cloths.) I could not be happier! I hope it is not a fluke but then tomorrow morning will give me the answer to that one. My next doctors appointment is not until March 17th so I will wait to update the weight tracker until then as I like using his scale. I will also try and update on here at least once between now and then just to give an update on how things are going.


Slow Going

Feb 25, 2008


Well I had an appointment with my Surgeon on Thursday so he could check up on my progress. I was happy to go as the last 2.5 weeks have been really hard! After my last visit he told me I needed to take my protein in supplement form in addition to the food I was taking in. So I went home and started forcing the many products down that I have already purchased with poor results! I tried water, milk, ice, blending, hand mixing, and just about any other way I could think of to try and get these things to go down. The result was, I would start to feel ill after just two tiny sips. I would get all crampy and bloated, my taste buds would alter and I just felt like I had a flu but could not throw up. Thinking that I was just a wuss I kept trying and I bought more… I finally found one (the bullets) that I could choke more down before feeling this way but the feeling would just last longer. It got to the point where I did not want to eat or drink anything! So I decided that I was going to stop this insanity and see what happened since I would be seeing the doc again in a week.

The other poor part about the last 2.5 weeks was that I have not lost any weight! Let me tell you it is hard going from loosing 70 pounds and feeling great to feeling like poo and not loosing anything with some days the scale going up (it would come back down so that was better). I was getting really frustrated as if I did this surgery to loose weight and to feel better and as of right now both are not occurring… what did I do it for? Trying to think of something that would work and drawing on my mass amounts of TV over the years, I figured I needed to get in more calories (I was only getting about 500) so I rushed my diet a little and started to try Chicken and Fish. I also tried ground beef, baked beans, and hot links. All of this food was fine with me. I also started to take my pills with Skim milk and still the only issue with dumping I had was with re-heating the fish (too dry!).

So today I went into my doc’s office very serious as I needed a different acceptable solution for the protein and I wanted to find out why he thought my weight loss went from dropping 2.5 pounds a day to nothing, overnight! 

He first told me that he is not concerned about my weight loss at all… The reason for this is that I have already lost a great deal of weight and two things need to happen before I can loose more… One is that we have to figure out the Protein thing… Both of us are thinking I have a food allergy to the Whey and we are going to try the Soy to see how that goes. Since I can keep other liquids down he thinks this might be a good solution. Also he said that loosing 70 pounds in such a short amount of time is great but that my body will get shocked by this and level out before realizing that all is okay and the weight will start to come off again. (Of course I am paraphrasing). I kind of knew this already but for some reason I needed it to come from him. Also I needed to know that he was happy with what I have done so far! It is so hard for my family and friends to know what I am going through and they are all so proud of me that I need an “expert” in the field to validate what I am doing.

So I will be trying a Soy Protein this weekend and hope that I can keep it down and see some results… I mean after all I am an instant gratification type of guy!
J


One month Post-Op today!!!

Feb 04, 2008


Well I had my second follow-up today! I was excited because according to my scale at home I was dropping weight and I was feeling great! I knew that I had not been great about my Protein or about going for walks but I figured the walks would start after a month post-op and the protein… well I still needed to figure something out for that one! 

First up when I walked in I needed to fill out a questionnaire about how I was doing. The topics were pain, vitamins, exercise, Co-Morbidities, medicines I was taking, etc. As I filled it out I could tell I was not doing great but then I knew I was loosing weight so how bad could it be???? I went into the exam room and got on the scale…. 340lbs… Woooo Hooooo I was ecstatic as that was down 40 pounds since I last saw him 2 weeks ago! I know some of it was water weight but not that much! And now my BMI is down to 47.6 that is almost 10 points down from pre-op!

Next up we went over the questionnaire and I found a not so happy Chebli ! I was not getting enough Protein as I need 80 grams a day and I have only been getting about 30 to 40. Also I did not even realize it but I am not taking my Vitamin B-50 so I have to go out and get some today ( I have also ordered the Protein Bullets). And the last one he was upset about was the exercise. I have been doing more daily stuff but not going and walking or exerting myself for the required 30min a day. Over all he gave me a D- bordering on and F… I think he is just doing that to get at me because he knows I am an overachiever and anything less then an A+ is unacceptable to me. I guess it is a good thing as he said I am loosing the weight but I could be loosing more and I am not healthy. He wants it to be a healthy loss of weight so that I am not one of those RNY patients who looks sickly all of the time!

Well due to me not being the start patient I hoped for he wants to see me back in two weeks to make sure I am on track with everything. I guess the good thing about that is I will at least get to use his scale again thus resulting in another post!

Wish Me Luck!


My First Follow-Up Appointment

Jan 23, 2008

On Monday the 21st I had my first follow-up with Chebli since being released from the Hospital. I did not really know what to expect but I had some questions as I am always cold and my feet are still pretty swollen. I also was curious how the scale would treat me as I was not feeling any different.

The scale was not bad! I was at 370 with clothes on which meant I am 35 pounds down from when I first saw him in November. And since I gained so much water weight in the Hospital it meant I have either lost all or most of that weight! Since then I have been weighing myself at home each morning after my shower (without the weight of my clothes) and as of this morning I was at 359.6 This whole process is kind of crazy! I seem to be averaging about 2.5 to 3 pounds of loss each day.

I also started to use my belt again today. I had stopped using it as it was getting to tight and it was just more comfortable to go without it. Well I am happy to say that not only was it easy to buckle on the last notch but I had to use the 3rd notch in!!! This was really my first time of “seeing” the loss. My wife has even noticed it which is cool since she is with me everyday and those people always have a harder time recognizing weight loss.

I asked my doc about the being cold all of the time. He said this is normal and a lot of his patients say they have had to deal with it. He said it was a combination of still healing and rapid weight loss. As I loose my warm layers the body has a harder time regulating the temperature. He said that next year after I have lost a lot of weight I will really notice it… I guess it is a small price to pay! The good news is it is getting better in that I am not as cold from day to day. As for the feet swelling he said it is normal and I am far from being done with the fluid weight so the loss I am seeing now is the loss of fat which is exciting. But to help with the feet he said to simply elevate them… Now how basic is that? It is amazing how I seem to think everything needs some sort of “special” guidance when I just need to use common sense!

Well that is it for now! I have my next appointment on the 4th of February where I will get to see my next official weigh in.  


My Surgery

Jan 21, 2008

Wow… Where do I start????

On January 1st I had my last “real” meal for a while. We had Chicken Cordon’ Blue and veggies (still had to stick to my diet!)  It was a tasty meal but looking back I wish I had opted for steak and lobster! I then woke up and had my Atkins shake for breakfast. My plan was to start the prep at lunch as I did not want to begin that journey too early in the day
J At about noon I mixed my fleets with some diet caffeine free sprite and chugged the first 1.5 oz bottle with little issue. I then did the second one… WOW was I full at that point. The next 3 to 5 hours was filled with the shivers an many trips to the bathroom… but all in all it was not that bad. The hard part was I still had two more days of eating Jello and other clear liquids… that was harder then I thought! But I made it…

Well on January 4th my wife and I drove to the hospital for my surgery… To say I was nervous would be an understatement but then I was also really excited too! I really did not know what to expect other then I had full confidence in my Surgeon. 

We checked in and I was taken back for my pre-op stuff pretty quick. They got all of my vitals and IV setup and then gave me a shot for clotting (little did I know that was just the beginning of the needle fun!) My wife was then brought back to hang out with me until I was taken into surgery. During that time I was able to meet the Anesthesiologist (nice guy) and my Surgeon came in to give me a last minute pep talk about what to expect after surgery. The time seemed to fly by as the next thing I knew I was saying good by to my wife and sliding onto the table. I made some jokes with the nursing staff in the room as that is what I do when I get nervous and the Anesthesiologist gave me something that was to make me relax before we got started…. Next think I know I am waking up in a very different room with someone showing me the pain med button in my hand. I fell back a sleep and then woke up in my room with my wife waiting for me. It was really nice to wake up with her so close to my side!

Apparently the operation took just over 4 hours to complete. Since I am a bigger guy and most of my weight is in my chest area he had a little trouble getting everything routed the most common way but in the end he got the plumbing hooked up correctly and it was all done laparoscopic! That was all I really cared about… I did not want to have to heal from an open procedure. Plus I had to get back to work in a week!

My first night in my room was good! I slept a lot and the staff was great. The next morning I was pretty swollen and was having trouble getting ice chips down and I was getting the hiccups which was painful. So my doctor gave me a new medicine that would help with the swelling…. And it did! Next they took out my catheter and were asking about removing my pain med button… since the catheter was not pleasant I was not to keen on giving up my pain button! This proved to be a good thing as once I was given the new medicine for the swelling I was not going pee on my own. At first they thought I did just not want to go but I just did not have to! I was doing everything they wanted with the walking and trying to get ice, water, and the protein they brought me down but I just did not have to go to the bathroom! At about 7pm I could tell something was wrong… I felt dehydrated and my back was killing me and I was shaking. I looked at my wife and said I needed the catheter back in and they needed to give me fluids. She got the nurse but she would not do anything without the doctors orders first. This was frustrating as I knew what I needed and in the end he ordered just what I was asking for. This helped and allowed me to get through Saturday night okay but my Surgeon was not going to let me go home on Sunday now that the catheter was back in and I was not making enough pee.

Sunday afternoon came and my wife had to head home to the kids as we thought I would be headed home and did not plan for any more help… Sunday night was filled with me constantly being woken up for blood tests, a chest x-ray, and vitals. Also the nurse kept checking on me… I thought it was odd but she was really good at her job! The next morning I went to the bathroom (not number 1 though) only to be interrupted by my surgeon at 7:30am saying the he needed to get me down for an upper GI and CAT Scan… It was at thins time I found out that he was concerned about me and wanted to rule out anything wrong with my new pouch. We did the tests and it confirmed what he though. The medicine for the swelling caused for my Kidneys to shutdown. SWEET! But he told me not to worry as he would do all of the worrying for us both….ummm okay but that still is not going to work for my wife
J

Monday the 7th was a good day, they pumped me full of liquids to get me flushed out and to kick start my Kidneys. I was still not peeing enough for them by Tuesday but that did not stop the next issue from presenting itself! Since I had been in bed for so long and not really able to walk as much as I wanted I was having lung issues…(I had a bad cold 2 weeks prior to surgery) and I developed Phenomena. This was scary because I did NOT want to be on a ventilator! So I was trying to walk and do my breathing as they all told me with would help. But what was not helping was all of the liquids they were giving me for my kidneys! On Wednesday they gave me medicine to force me to pee and it worked! I was like a machine for 2 hours (and this was without the catheter!) It looked like I was on track to get out on Friday if I could just keep peeing, get my breathing down and keep from spiking one of my now famous 102+ temperatures. They took me off my pain meds Wednesday night so now I was just getting IV fluids and Antibiotics. Then on Thursday they switched me over to oral Antibiotics in hopes that I would head home on Friday. Thursday at about 7pm I went for my walk and was feeling great then at about 8pm I started to cough and then vomit and this repeated itself for the next 5 hours with no break! And my fever came back. At about 12:30 I requested my Nurse as I wanted to know what was the plan and if it was nit good enough I was calling my wife to come and help me as something was wrong and I was scared. I can honestly say I have never been that scared! My Nurse was great and got me calmed down and eventually at about 3:30 I semi stopped the cycle. By the morning I was freaked out cause I knew I was not going home and I had not slept in almost 20 hours. They did more tests and gave me something for the pain and anxiety. In the end it was determined that all of the fluids to help get my Kidneys working was now surrounding my lungs causing me to cough and vomit. They then had me get on the scale and I was back up to about 410lbs. this meant I had gained like 35+ pounds in water weight!!! That was crazy to even think about! We are now at Friday the 11th with maybe getting out of the Hospital Monday or Tuesday… The next issue that came up was due to the medicine that helped me pee… apparently it dropped my Potassium really low which is a sign that a Heart attack has occurred and my Nursing staff was rely concerned so they raised the flag to make sure I was not having any issues that were not being monitored. It turned out to be okay and really the last issue I had! I can honestly say that I was done! I just wanted to go home and to stop being woken up at night and stuck with needles but I would have to wait!

Monday ended up coming and my Surgeon released me at about noon so I was out of there at about 1pm. Looking back I could not have been at a better place or with better people taking care of me. I know it was a rough road but the Surgery was a complete success, I just had some bad reactions to medicine. But lucky for me the staff really cared about me and were always proactive in my care!


About Me
Kent, WA
Location
33.9
BMI
RNY
Surgery
01/04/2008
Surgery Date
Dec 05, 2007
Member Since

Friends 11

Latest Blog 12
7 Months out and doing GREAT!
5 Months Out
I Have Joined the Century Club!
2 Months Post-Op Today
Could I be a looser again? Let’s hope!
Slow Going
One month Post-Op today!!!
My First Follow-Up Appointment
My Surgery

×