New Years Eve

Tonight will be my last New Years Eve as a fat guy! That may sound harsh to some but I am very excited to be able to say it. When you have struggled for so long it feels great to know that very soon the outcome will be totally different. No it will not be easy, anyone who thinks the surgery is a magic fix has not been through it or has not investigated it. I look forward to this next year to some what may be strange things to some but here is a list of what I hope/plan to do in 2010. In no particular order and some are just milestones along the way.

To be under 300 pounds
Then be under 250 and then ...
To buy & be able to wear a size 38 pants ( I really hoping 36)
To start running for exercise again & take Eddie
To start biking again & go with my kids
To fit in a booth in a resturant comfortably
I can't wait to go sailing- thanks To Chalena & Dad
I want to go sky diving
To stand next to my brother and hold up a pair of my old pants and see how we both fit in them.
Above all else not to feel embrassed about how I look.

Happy New Year!

Countdown - 1 Week To Go.

Ok, so I made it through Christmas. Did ok- not as good as I should have done. I made sure to eat breakfast everyday but 1. That one was unavoidable. I actually had breakfast all made and was just sitting down to eat it when I got a call from work and the guy who was opening forgot his keys, so I had to run out the door immediately. Christmas was good. I had my last red meat- Tri tip from wood Ranch on Christmas eve to celebrate and Turkey on Christmas. I should do ok this week. I am planning on going out for New Years Eve however- the really last hurray. I start liquids only on Saturday the 2nd. I have not heard from the hospital yet for the pre-patient registration. I will call them on Tuesday if I don't hear from them on Monday. I am a little concerned because my approval says I am only approved for 1 day in the hospital, yet my dr. says I'll be in for two. Another call I have to make this week to get it straight. I also have to make sure i am covered at work for the week I am gone. Hopefully it won't be more than that. well i give you some more updates this week.

2 Weeks

With only 2 weeks before my surgery I am struggling between being good in what I eat and wanting to have the foods I will not have again in a very long time after the surgery or some ever. Obviously there are many things I will be able to have in small amounts later, but things like red meat I can't have for 1 year after surgery, ice cream- i don't think ever, an onion bagel, a soda or a beer. There is nothing i can't do without mind you, but the thought just makes me think. I have chosen to do this surgery for many reasons as I have explained but when I think about would i choose an in and out hamburger or seeing my kids graduate from college or get married or the birth of my grandchildren. The choice is obvious. We start Christmas Camp this week, this will be a test of my ability to stick to the new life style. So much running around, I need to make sure I actually take time to eat and not go all day without eating. That is part of the bad habits that got me where I am. I will let you know how I do. If anyone has any questions about the surgery, my decision or anything related to this topic let me know and I will do Q & A post. Merry Christmas.

I Got A Date!!!

Ok Hayden this ones for you, thanks for the encouragement. January 4th I will be having my surgery!! I am so excited and also nervous. So much to do before hand. I have lost 35 pounds so far, that is before Thanksgiving and the last week. Stress at work, holiday treats and lack of discipline have not been a good combination. I am determined to continue to lose weight before my surgery. There is so much I have to do in preparation. Get vitamins, protein drinks, food journal and other stuff. I am thinking of also going and getting a pair of pants and a shirt in a size I haven't seen in years to keep in my closet as a goal. I think the thing that worries me the most is that they go in and find something wrong and won't be able to do the surgery. A friend of mine asked me since i had lost some weight already had I thought about not having the surgery and just keep trying on my own. I told him if this had been the first time I had been able to lose some weight I might but this isn't the first time I have lost 35 pounds in the short term. Heck I have even lost over 70 pounds one time. It's the long term thats always been an issue. I know i need something that will help me in process. The surgery will be that tool that I need to change my life forever. I am so looking forward to the new year and the continuation of this Adventure To Normal.

Whirlwind

Ok so here we go. So I had the consult. It went really well. I met with Dr. Billy's nurse. we started off by getting my weight. I am proud to say I had lost 17 pounds in the previous 6 weeks. We talked about me and my history, answered a lot of questions and then she set me up with everything i needed to get started on the process. She gave me some breath test that found that i have a certain bacteria that causes ulcers- and gave me a prescription for a antibiotics for it. She told me to get some blood tests, an upper GI swallow test & a letter of clearance from my primary. She set me up with a meeting with the nutritionist, psychologist, EKG test & medical clearance exam all on Nov 10th. She also got me a consent review class(Nov 11), a pre-op instruction class(Nov 18), and the final visit with Dr. Billy(Nov 19). She told me that once I did my test and did the appointments on the 11th that they could then put the request in to Health Net to get the by pass done. So it appears I could have this done by the end of the year. I set up a blood test for the following Saturday and the upper GI test done for the next Tuesday. Both went fine. Although the stuff I had to drink for the GI test was like drinking liquid chalk with a little flavoring throw in.

The office called me back after they got the results from the GI and said I had a bad case of reflux and wanted me to get an endoscopy done. I informed them I had one in April and they asked me what the results were. I told them that everything was fine except that they found I had H-pylori bacteria and they put me on antibiotics for it. They said great they could just get the results from the dr.

I am getting both excited and nervous about the process that is occurring. Excited that I could be losing serious amounts of weight by New Years and nervous about the lifestyle change that will be coming -even more than I have already instituted. I can't wait to have to buy new clothes. I am trying to lose more weight by the Nov 10th to help show that I am serious about the changes and hopefully not have any problems getting the insurance to approve.

Wow i can't believe a month has slipped by since my last post. Sorry to the multitudes of fans. I have been swamped. Don't you hate those people that can't admit when there wrong. So do I. I hope i am not one of those - so here goes- I was wrong about my last post. I did learn something from the patient education seminar at Cedars. I learned 4 hours of travel time for a 1 hour seminar is too much. Then to find out I would need to go down there 2- 3 times a week until my surgery. Now if i had 5 hours to spend 2 -3 times a week i wouldn't need this surgery-DUH!

Anyway so i decided i need to get to see a doctor closer to home. Which turned out to be a good thing , because when Cedars called me back the day after the seminar to schedule the consult, they told me they don't have a contract with my health insurance(Healthnet). Now i thought this was strange since i held in my hand an authorization from Healthnet to have the consult done at Ceadars and told them so. They didn't know where the mix up came from and rechecked with their insurance person and confirmed that they did not have a contract with Healthnet.

So the next thing i did was to call Seaview who manages my health plan. After explaining what happened they apologized & said i was sent the authorization by mistake. Ok now i know your question is how did that happen, which by coincidence is exactly what i said only a with a little more- lets say "feeling." To which they apologized again and said what happened was with normal authorizations for healthnet they can just approve it without sending it to healthnet, but for gastric bypasses they are suppose to be sent back to healthnet, but somehow someone just sent it out. He said that they would reprocess it and should take a week or so. I told them since they had to reprocess it again anyway to make it for Dr. Billy in Ventura (15 minutes away) I had done some research and found out that Dr. Billy is the best in the county and actually goes around the county and the world teaching doctors on how to do these surgeries.

So a week later i got the authorization for a consultation with dr. billy, so i called to make the appointment. I was told i would have to attend a patient education seminar. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Another one, i explained i just went through Cedar's and watch the Emmi videos online- which according to his website is not required for a consult. They said i had to attend in order to get the consult. So i said can i at least schedule the appointment for the consult if i am registered for the seminar. They agreed.

So I now have a consult with Dr. Billy on Friday Oct 2 at 10:15 AM. There is also 20 pages of paperwork that i have to fill out before the consult. During the seminar they said the average time between consult to surgery is 4- 6 weeks. They can do it that quick because they have assembled all the prerequisite testing and nutrition education in house, so you don't spend weeks and months going from one place to another before allowing the surgery to happen. This excites me to think that this could actually happen before Thanksgiving-. I am thinking and hoping by the end of the year- figuring one hold up or another might happen.

Sorry this post is long and not very entertaining this time- i will make sure to update more often and throw in some of my witty repartee.

Step 1

Ok so tomorrow I go to the patient education seminar at Cedars-Sinai. I feel sick. No not because I am nervous but I actually feel sick. Hopefully I will be fine tomorrow. Either way I am going so I guess it just doesn't matter. I don't expect to learn anything new or to change my mind. Just the process that needs to be done. I can't wait until i have an appoint with the doctor. I am hoping to be able to get this done before the end of the year. I'll let you know how it goes. Hey I almost forgot- Congratulations Laura on your surgery!!. Hope everything is going well

Day 1- Well not really!

Why

This adventure really started years ago when I first thought about having this surgery. Having tried so many diets, programs and hair brained ideas to lose weight and keep it off and having only short term success, I decided over a year ago to try and get this surgery. Why do you ask- so many reasons and so many stories - which I may get into later- but mainly to be a "normal sized" person. I want to be able to go into any store - let's say Target or Walmart and buy some clothes that fit- Hey I have simple tastes. I want to be able to have my children put their arms around me and be able to touch their own hands while hugging me. I want to be around to see my kids graduate from college, walk my daughters down the isle, see my grandchildren grow and spoil them. I want to grow old with the woman I love. I want to be able to be described by someone else to someone who does not know me and my weight or size never come up in the conversation. The "big guy", the "fat guy" Why do this blog? I don't know what's going to happen along this adventure but I know that if i can share my story and help someone else as well as keeping myself accountable then it will be worth it.

So it begins.

I actually started this process in June of 2008 but between doctors office mix ups and insurance mix ups and changing insurance companies and my lack of pushing hard enough it didn't happen. So when my new insurance kicked in I started over. It looked like i was once again getting the story that we were waiting for the insurance company, when i got authorization in the mail to get the office consultation with Cedar-Sinai Medical Group.

So yesterday I called to get my consult appointment with the group They informed me I needed to attend a pre-patient seminar and watch a couple of videos online before they would make me an appointment. Thankfully they have one scheduled for next week. Wednesday, August 26. They took down my information and sent me a confirmation of the seminar and a link to watch the videos. The first video was about the different types of surgery. Nothing I have not already seen or known. I have done lots of research on this prior. The second video was about giving a medication history, making sure to include all medications not just prescribed ones to ensure that there are no drug interactions. I have talked to two other people I know that have had the by pass surgery and both have shared how it has changed their lives. I hope to be able to do that as well.

Here Goes Everything

I have never been a person who follows the crowd or likes something because it's popular. In fact just the opposite is true. If something becomes so popular that everyone likes it - that turns me off. However this might be the first time I want to be just another person in the crowd. As you scan through a bunch of people that you pass right by me because there is nothing that stands out. So here we go on the Adventure To Normal!