Huge Milestone Reached!!!!

Hello peeps!!!
Merry Christmas to all.  I hope that during this holiday season that you take the time to celebrate the meaning of Christmas...the birth of Christ.  His birth gave hope to a world separated  from God. As we celebrate His birth I can't help but ponder the Cross.  I can't help but think of the mercy and grace he show a lost and dying world.  His death and resurrection gave victory over death to that same world.  His love for me still amazes me.

Now an update.  This morning I got on the Wii and weighed.  Guess what I was under 300 lbs.  The last time I remember being under 300 lbs was around 2000 and it was only for a few seconds, prior to that would have been in the military in the early 90's right after high school.  This morning I weighed in at 299...WOW. So here are the stats

4/2010  391
10/6/2010, date of surgery 371
10/18/2010, 341
11/22/2010, 321
12/22/2010, 299

I have lost a total of 92 lbs, 72 lbs in 77 days.   I am more than half way to my goal of 210 lbs and just 8 lbs from losing 100 lbs.  At this point I have 23.53% of my total body weight and am feeling great.

My knee is still hurting a bit but is slowly getting better. Not being able to take any type of anti-inflammatory SUCKS.  I have had a cold for the last few days and today nothing settled with my pouch very well.  Nyquil however is THE GOOD STUFF.  About 15 min after taking a dose of Nyquil I can walk sideways pretty good and am ready for bed.  It seems to go straight to my blood stream.

As I said at first, have a Merry Christmas and remember the whole point behind this festive season.

A couple of pics.

The one in the grey shirt was taken in 2008. I prolly gained 20 lbs between then and surgery, 10/6/2010.

81 lbs GONE...100 lbs from GOAL

Thursday evening I got on the Wii and weighed 310 lbs, Currently I have lost 81 lbs total and 61 lbs since 10/6/2010.  I am exactly 100 lbs from my goal weight of 210 lbs.  Wednesday evening Max and I went on a "walk".  I was feeling great and decided to push it a little so I jogged every other 100 yards...Thursday morning I woke up and could barely walk.  My right knee was protesting my choice, my normal remedy for this type of situation is 4 advil and 4 tylenol and move on.  Post op however I can no longer take advil because it causes ulcers. The bariatric program nurse said that I could crush some advil and take 1 dose and should be ok, not.  That was like pouring liquid fire into my guts, that won't ever happen again.  I went to the doctor yesterday and had a great visit, her scales were the same as mine.  She quote said "You are SOL".  I knew that before I went to see her, I was hoping for some help.  So here I am, my right knee is killing me.  Finally I wrapped it up and have been icing it, that helps a lot, but I need to get back on my bike and back to walking again.

My next goal is to be under 300 on New Years, should be easily do able if my knee gets better.  If my knee doesn't get better I guess I am going to be hurting while walking a lot.

Just a quickie.

First let me state that I love my Beavs and will always remain loyal no matter how much they suck.  I have lost 77 lbs to date and several clothing sizes.  Tonight Stefanie and I did some Christmas shopping and I was able to by my first ever Old Navy t-shirt.  My energy levels continue to be very high. I sleep 6-7 hours a day and never seem to run out of gas!!  I have been doing quite a bit of bike riding and or walking.  Last weekend Sarah and I rode the dike trails and had a great time.  It does seem to me that my loss is very slowly slowing down.  In the last 7 days I only lost 3 lbs, by the numbers I should be losing about 1 lb per day.  I can't say that I would be ok with not losing anymore but let me tell you, I feel so much better than I have in many, many, many years.  This losing and not losing or slowing way down is a normal cycle to this process. Some weeks you lose inches not pounds and some weeks you lose nothing. I need to remember that this is not a race. I need to lose 3.4 lbs per week to be at 210 lbs by July 4 or my 9th month post op.  Currently I am way ahead of goal

I had a great Thanksgiving, it was the first that I can remember really being in total control of what I ate.  This year I ate a bite of this and a few bites of that, several bites of turkey and I was done.  I did make some wonderful desserts that were WLS (weight loss surgery) friendly and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Well until next time.

70 lbs gone....REALLY!!!

I am still not sure where it is going.  I have lost 70 lbs total and 50 lbs since Oct 6th 2010.  My clothes fit differently on almost a daily basis.  My blood sugar and pressure is doing great so far.  Today i actually climbed 5 flights of stairs without dieing even once, the elevator was broke.  I did however call someone to fix the elevator.

This past Sunday as I was getting ready for church I thought "I will just see if these tiny 48 jeans fit yet".  Guess what they did. They even fit good enough that I wore them to church!

Note to self: no more grape juice even at church!!!

Well thats all for now, cause I am getting kinda tired.

Blogging between Bites. Sounds like a race or something....Prizes for the right answer

Ok so i am supposed to take 20-30 min to eat a meal. that meal is no more than 1/2 cup by volume. By the way there are 3 T in 1/4 cup and 3 t in one T so the amount that I am eating is super super small.  Don't misunderstand I get full but the Lord blessed me with a HUGE mouth for consuming large quantities of food in a short period of time.  Eating so slowly is BORING to say the least so I am blogging to between bites.

I have lost 47 pounds since surgery and 67 total, again if you have found it, you know what they say "finders keepers", you keep it. I don't want it back.

I am selling all of my work Carhartts on ebay because they no longer fit and I need some new ones.  Right now I am wearing a pair of Carhartt bibs that I last wore when Sarah was 2 now 12, Emily was just born the last time I had these on. Holy cow batman!!!!

Just kinda a random question that I hope someone can answer for me.  I have been pondering this for a long time and have no answers yet.  So here it is:  The need to urinate (pee) increases exponentially as the distance to the bathroom decreases lineally.  I will translate this for you non mathematically inclined peeps. When I have to pee it starts as just a slight urge, the closer I get to the bathroom the stronger the urge. By the time I am preparing for business I am about to burst!!! Why??? That is my question for you today.

The first person with the correct answer wins---some pocket lint from the Carhartts that I am selling.

Have a great day!!!!

I am done with lunch,  2.3 oz of tuna.  I have to go back to work, wiring door alarms.

1 month 4 days post op

A good friend reminded me that I was supposed to be blogging, I forgot about it a little. Or maybe I was just being lazy and didn't have anything smart to say.

So here I am a little over 1 month post op and I feel great.  I no longer get up 7-8 times in 6-7 hours to pee so I am sleeping more.  I am no longer taking high blood pressure meds, I do need to watch that very closely though.   Today at my dietitian appointment I weighed in at 332 lbs, only 4 lbs in the last week and 10 in the last 2 weeks.  I need to lose 3.2 lbs per week to meet my goal weight of 210 at 9 months post op or by 4th of July, 2011.  Milestones for me:

1. Off of my meds related to weight. This is huge both mentally and financially.
2. I started the process wearing a 5X jacket, a few days ago I bought a  2X and it fits!!! I still however cannot fit into 4X work shirts, whats up with that?
3. My Carhartts are 56 and HUGE on me now, but that extra looseness will help keep them from rubbing on my belly, I do have a pair of 52s that fit ok.
4. I bought a pair of sweats and some underoos (superman) from normal people stores, whoohoo. This means that I spent $18.00 instead of $80.00 for the same quantity of clothing.
5. Eating is no longer expensive, $1.50 for lunch and I am good to go. Who wants to buy me lunch??
6. This is BIG, BIG, BIG...unless you are or have been heavy you won't get it.  I fit in a booth at Subway and it was comfortable to eat while in said booth!!!
7. I have been riding my bike or walking nearly everyday. My highest mileage so far is 6 miles on my bike (today) and 4 miles walking.  The best part, is that I am still alive and can move after words and don't hurt for days after such stupidity. 

This surgery is in the best thing I could have ever done for me.  I know that there are peeps out there that say "You took the easy way out".  My response is this "Maybe, but this way just WORKS. By the way how is that 'will power and exercise thing working for you?'"  If anyone thinks this is "easy" we need to chat.

About 2.5 weeks out

Hello my friends,
Well I am about 2.5 weeks out and doing well.  Last night I went with the youth group to a haunted corn maze in  the Eugene area. It was about a 2 mile walk through the maze and it was a BLAST.  Previously when going through a maze I would be hurting and winded about 1/2 way through, last night was pretty easy.  I had some pepperoni yesterday and I think it may be causing me some "issues" today.  I am having some pain from two of the incisions above my belly button, I am pretty sure that it is just healing and stretching that I am feeling.  I feel like I am getting more of my energy back, so thats a good thing.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

1st Post op appointment

Well I am about 12 days post op right now.  I feel great, many of the aches and pains that I had pre-op are gone.  I had this problem called "fatty liver" it made my chest hurt so bad I thought I was having a heart attack, gone. Today I weighed 341 lbs or something like that. Stefanie has the exact number. 341 is close though and it makes for easy math. 30 lost since 10/6, yeah thats like 2.5 lbs per day, holy catfish batman!!!! 50 lbs lost since starting this adventure.  If you have found the lbs I have lost, I DON"T WANT THEM BACK. Consider them a gift from me to you, Merry Christmas.  There are 3500 calories in 1 lb of human fat. That means in order for me to gain weight pre op I was eating close to a whopping 9000 calories a day!!!!! Mylanta 9000 calories, thats a big number. So anyhow I have been walking a lot and done some biking.  It feels like I am starting to regain some of my stamina, where did that go btw??  I also got some pretty gross pics, drop me a line if you want to see em'.

Day 5 whew. So much better.

Today was a great day. I am feeling good. I am growing tired of liquids. I need something to wrap my gums around. I have been driving rather than riding...driving is much, much softer. We went to Albany this afternoon, and that was a long trip it seemed.

See ya tomorrow.

Day 4......GRRRRRR

Today has been miserable!! I have vomed twice for reasons that I can only speculate about.  Did I put the wrong stuff in my mouth, everything was on the approved list.  Consume to fast or too much at once, who knows.  I know that since I have not had any Jello or Popsicles, bummer, I love those things. Just so you know puking really hurts and there is no trying to go easy. It is just heaving until my pouch feels like it wants to be done.  After the first time this morning I slept for like 4 hours it just sapped my energy levels.  I went to Wal-mart with the fam this afternoon and while it was good to get out the ride to and from was less than pleasant to say the least. On a positive note my BG levels are the lowest I have seen them in recent years at about 115 and falling. Hopefully they will stabilize soon.

See ya all tomorrow sometime. Hopefully it will be a better day

What a difference a bit of sleep makes!!!!

Today is day 3 post op, I am feeling so much better. I slept better last night then I did even before surgery. Before surgery I would wake up nearly every hour to pee and have a drink of huge drink of milk and many times something to eat with it.  Last night I woke up to pee and took advantage of being up to get some fluids in. other than being sore when I woke up I felt great.  Today I have been experimenting with beverages that I like within my post op diet limits, clear very low calorie liquids. Lemon crystal lite is my favorite so far. I have tried and like sugar free Jello and sugar free real fruit popsicles.  I have slept a lot of today. One thing that is kinda amazing to me is that so far the smells of food, which were like an aphrodisiac, have not bother me or made me want food. Stefanie and the girls had link sausage and eggs for breakfast and it smelled good but I didn't desire any at all. I sure hope that this does not change when I can eat.  I think most of the pain that I am in is from bruising rather than the operation.

All in all, I feel that I am doing as well as can be expected. I might even be in church in the morning.

2 days post op. I am finally home.

Well I made it through the surgery. Dr Read said that it went well and that I was going to be sore because he "really had to do some torquing on me", which reminds me of a visit with Tim Hindmarsh, but that's a different story. Se he was right I am sore. I was only allowed 1 oz of liquid per hour on the first day, that was brutal I normally consume 44oz in about 10 min. This is a whole new thing. I was held over for 1 day due to high blood sugar levels. They are down to about 145 right now with no insulin.  Staying over for 1 day was not a bad thing at all I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday.  So today I came home about 1230 or so. FYI car rides are brutal, I think we hit every pothole one the way home from Corvallis.  After arriving at home I took a couple of naps, a shower and consumed a measly 20 oz of liquid.  Who would have thought that crystal light would taste so good.  The really amazing thing to me is that I have no desire to eat, the thought, sight, smell doesn't bother me but its not attractive either. Lest just hope it stays that way and food will become nothing more that fuel. The above picture is showing the 8 HOLEs that the poked in me to get the gadgets where they needed to go.

8 hours to go!!!!!

Well friends I have about 8 hours to go before they cut me open. At this point I am having very mixed emotions about all of this. On one hand I am utterly terrified. I mean really what the heck am I thinking; I am willingly allowing and even paying some bozo (sorry doc) to cut into my guts and replumb me. Did the shrink miss something in his evaluation, maybe he should have asked me back for a 3 visit of maybe just referred me up to Salem and a rubber room.

On the other hand I am stoked, like so excited I don’t think I’ll sleep much tonight. I have been obese nearly my entire life. I remember coming home from school so many days in tears because the other kids were so mean. Mostly just degrading names they came up with for me. I learned just to laugh with them, if I didn’t respond they shut up a lot sooner. You would think that those kids would have matured as they aged into adults, however they just remain bullies in an adult form. As an adult the bullies have had different names and been in different places but have been bullies none the less.

I have never really let my weight get in the way of what I wanted to do, if I really wanted to do something I just did it and paid the price in pain the next day, maybe into the next week. Now my weight limits what I can or am willing to do. Heck I get out of breath tying my boots. Many mornings I just don’t tie them up all the way.

So many things will change some for the better some for the worse. It is hard to imagine the “worse” at this point, thinking I already have that t-shirt, yeah it’s a 5X.

The Bible is pretty clear about me being able to add days to my life, I can’t. However I am fairly sure that I can shorten it significantly by making poor choices. I feel that this surgery is one of my better choices.

I know I am kind of rambling, it’s my blog that’s what it’s for, for me to ramble.
So I will post again post op and let the world know how it went. Maybe I might have pictures of the insides of me. That would be pretty cool.

4 Days to go!!!!!! WOOHOO

I have only for more "sleeps" until the big day. I am uber excited on one hand and crazy scared on the other.

I am really looking forward to losing the weight and becoming 1/2 of the man I am now. I am however scared of several thing
1. The unknown...
2. Losing a friend that has been with me all my life.
3. Never being able to eat again. I know thats not true, it just feels that way.
4. What if it doesn't work?? ???

I am not so scared however that I am going to back out, I am more committed than ever just apprehensive.

Kevin

Pre-Op today

One step closer. I have just a few more days left to go. Today was my pre-op appointment. I met with the surgeon again, he made sure that I understand that this is life changing and cannot be undone.

I had labs and an EKG done.

Surgery is scheduled for the 6th of October at 7:30AM....HELLO the chickens aren't even up by then. I think they maybe have some plumber come in and do the repipe job because doctors don't get up that early. I have to be there at 5:30AM....yeah I know, thats before McDonalds opens too. I going to have to get up at like 4AM.

I will tell you all about it after surgery. This is the best part, I might get pics. If I do I will post them here, so you all can see the inside of my guts too!!!!

And if you haven't heard, I attempted to kill Sarah this last weekend, but was unsuccessful, she ducked at the last second. I built her a hanging bed with 2 sides attached to the walls and the opposing corner supported by vinyl coated cable. She was sitting under it and I was showing Stefanie how "strong" it was by hanging on the side. The vinyl around the cable just slipped right off and down the bed came on top of Sarah and a little on me. Sarah is screaming, Stefanie is screaming and the engineer in me only wants to know "what failed and why". My second thought however was "I am sure Sarah is ok cause she is screaming". It will be really funny someday to someone.

Insurance approval

My insurance has approved my surgery. Woohoo. Pre-op appointment next Monday, then on to surgery.

Reasons why

So why you ask, well if its not obvious then maybe you had a little too much crack on your Cheerios this morning. Aside from the obvious reasons I will give you a few more that are not quite so obvious.


1. It will be nice to be able to reach my butt with both hands
2. Sweat rash…need I say more?
3. Fear of lawsuit for visually scaring small children at the pool.
4. Restaurant booths
5. Chairs with arms
6. Theater seats
7. Airplane seats
8. Cut the monthly grocery bill in half.
9. Buy clothes because I like them not because they come in gigantic
10. Be able to cross the living room without getting out of breath
11. Go DOWN a flight of stairs without getting out of breath
12. Avoid vehicle seatbelts because they are so tight I can’t breathe with them on
13. Tie my shoes without holding my breath and feeling like I am about to pass out
14. Man boobs
15. I will add more as I think of them.

Pre op goal weight

Today I met my Pre op goal of 20 lbs of weight loss. I started at 391lbs, today I was at 367. The stress was lifted. I didn't eat or drink hardly anything today because I wanted to make sure I made weight.

Bariatric Surgery

Hi all,

Most of you who know me know that I have a serious problem with my weight, I am undertall for all of it!! It seems however that I have stopped growing in hight and have continued to expand width wise for many years. The obesity in my life has caused several problems for me health wise, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc, etc, the list it seems goes on and on.

I have tried many different diet plans from cabbage soup to Adkins to Weight Watchers, while I have lost some weight on all of these programs I just gain it all back again and a few extra pounds with it.

Early this year I began researching a different approach to weight loss, surgery. After a few months of research and talking to Stefanie about this I decided to move forward with getting the surgery done. Surgery is the only approach to weight loss for people that have 100 pounds or more to lose that has been proven to be effective on a long term basis, greater than a 75% success rate. All other methods combined have less than a 1% success rate. Pretty easy math, even for me.

I started in the Samaritan Bariatric Program in April or May. I have completed almost all of the prerequisites to have the surgery done.

1. General informational meeting

2. Surgical informational meeting

3. Psychological Evaluation (almost failed I think)

4. Nutritional Consult

5. Sleep Study

6. Support group meeting

7. Lose 5% of original weight, 391, 19.55 lbs, today I am at 373.

8. Insurance approval

9. Program Fee $750.00

Currently I still have about 2 lbs to lose and am still waiting on insurance approval.

My surgery is scheduled for October 6th, I am hoping to get it moved up to the 4th though.

This blog is just a way for me to keep track of the day to day stuff really after surgery