Made my 100!

I have finally made my 100lb weight loss. At last week's weigh in a was down a total of 107lbs!

Back in June I had come across a sports nutritionist on Facebook. Her name is Tosha Knopp. She is a bariatric surgery patient and had her surgery in 2013. As she was going through her weight loss process she realized that she was not getting the proper nutrition and decided to become a sports nutritionist. Through her process she has decided to form a company called Bari-Fit. Her process focuses on macro-nutrients, proteins, fats, carbs and fiber. She was offering, at the time, to set macros for patients. I read about it and thought it was a good idea. In June I was going through a little bit of a stall on losing weight and as soon as I had my macros set and started following them, the stall was broken and my weight loss continued. Fast forward to the end of August and she had officially launched Bari-Fit and was doing not only macros but also developing a weight lifting regimen for patients. After talking to her and talking to Heather, I decided to retain Tosha as a personal trainer. The first week after having my macros adjusted and a weight training regimen I lost a whopping 6.1 lbs in one week!  Tosha knows her stuff and I am proud of being a part of the launch of her new company helping those who have gone through the surgery. With her help and guidance I hope to gain more strength, muscle and reduction of body fat. I've even gone so far as submitting pictures to Tosha for use on her website www.bari-fit.com.  I can't believe that I did that. Prior to the surgery I NEVER would want my picture taken, let alone shirtless. Now I have them up for the world to see. Any rate, here are pictures from my 100lbs weight loss. Scroll down to previous posts for before pictures.

Finally made it!

Well I finally made it. I'm under 300lbs for the first time in 20+ years. The last time I remember being 300lbs was the first time I went on Weight Watchers. That was in 1988-1989. I went on the program and lost 50lbs. I then proceeded to gain that all back and more.

I was bummed last week. I figured since I was so close the week before to being at or below 300 I would have surely made that goal as well as a 100lb loss by months. I actually gained about 2lbs that week. I, as well as my nutrionist/trainer feel that the gain was my body adjusting to my new workout regimen.  Three weeks ago Heather and I made a commitment to get to the gym and get our body's in shape. We have been getting up at 4am every morning to get to the gym by 4:30 and we work out until about 5:15. We have been consistent and dedicated. There have been many mornings that I've gotten up and don't feel like going, but I do. The nice thing is that once I get to the gym I love it. I never thought I would hear myself say/think that. Me, lazy ass, liking the gym. I like the way that it energizes me, and I like the results that I am getting. I love that I am showing my kids that it is smart to be healthy!

I have nowhere to go but down from here (weight wise). Attitude and energy are way up!

Until next time.

So close I can taste it!

Yesterday I did my weekly weigh in. I've now surpassed 95lbs lost, 95.7 to be exact! I'm so happy with my new life and my weight loss. 95 pounds in 4 months!  The so close part is that I am less than a pound from being under 300! I can't remember the last time I was near here. It has been more than 20 years! I remember when I went on weight watchers for the first time just out of high school. At that point I weighed 300 even. I've got between 80-90lbs left to go.

Heather and I started back at the gym this week. Well I guess I should rephrase that, I started back at the gym. Heather has been going since she is training to run her half of a half marathon in November. I made a commitment to get started back at the gym. I need to start getting more cardio and weight training so that I can tone and build muscle. With all of the weight loss I don't want saggy skin.  I don't have time to work out in the evenings. With soccer practice and just being downright tired after work (I work 10 hour days) I figured the only time that I can work out is early in the morning. Since I have to leave for work by 6, that means getting up super early. Heather and I have gotten up every morning at 4am this week to get to the gym by 4:30. We work out until 5:15-5:30. I did miss one day due to server problems at work, but I was still up at 4:30. I like getting my workout done early. Yes I am tired, but I also feel energized throughout the whole day. The only problem is that I crash by 8:30-9, but most of the time this week I haven't gotten to be until after 10.

Next report will hopefully be a big celebration. I should be at 100+ lbs lost and under 300!

Overdue update

It has been a crazy summer at our house. We started a project in our master bed room and what was the office, now the couples cave. On July 4th weekend I started ripping up the floors in both rooms. Since the dogs spend the bulk of their time in the rooms, and the fact that Bandit is now 16 years old and senile, the room was starting to smell of dog pee. We decided to pull up all of the flooring and do stained concrete. I have to say it was a hard process to prep it, but the actual application was rather easy. We're now back in the rooms after almost a month and we are pleased with the results.

Now on to the weight loss. As of Friday, July 31, 2015 I am down a total of 90.3 pounds! I am so happy and pleased with myself. As I told Heather a week or so ago, the only regret I have about the surgery is that I didn't do it 15 or more years ago!  I'm down from wearing a size 5x shirt to comfortably fitting in a 2x shirt. I've gone through all of my old clothes and donated most of them, or will be soon. I'm buying new clothes in limited quantities as I know I won't be at these sizes for very long.

Tomorrow starts my serious gym work. We are getting up at 4am to head to the gym. It is not going to be fun getting up that early, but I don't have time to work out any other time. With soccer and life in general mornings are my only time. The bad thing is that I have to get up that early since I have to leave for work by 6.

I'll try and update more frequently from here on out.

10 weeks out

Well I am just a few days past 10 weeks out. As of this morning I am down a total of 67.5 pounds! Hello 320's. Hopefully I won't be staying long!

I feel great. This week has been crazy and I have been tired. Not from the surgery or the weight loss though, it has been because of lack of sleep.

I just started working with a fitness/nutrition coach. She works heavily with getting macro nutrients in. I will be starting next week with her plan of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber.

Sorry for the shortness of this post, but I don't have a whole lot to say this week. We're gearing up for a soccer tournament with Evan's team and the weather is going to be HOT!

7 Weeks Out

I am now a little over 7 weeks out. Down a total of 55 lbs and feeling great. We've been forgetting to do comparison shots from pre-surgery so we took them tonight. Here they are. I'd say a noticeable difference!

I'm happy with the progression. It is just going to continue getting better and better! I also had a NSV  (Non Scale Victory) on Friday evening. Evan came to give me a hug and he was able to put his arms completely around me!

6 Weeks Post-Op

I am now a day past 6 weeks post-op. As of this morning I am down 49.5lbs!

Along with my weight being down so much, I am also thankfully shrinking. I've gone from wearing a 52" waist pant to a 46".  I've also gone from 5XL shirts to a loose fitting 3XL. I should be into 2XL very soon.

As for my diet, I'm pretty much on regular foods now. The only difference is the amount of food that I can eat. My portions are 3oz and I am sticking with that and measuring. I did have a stall in weight loss for a couple of weeks but after doing some reading I found that stalls usually happen because of either not getting enough water or not getting enough protein (or both). Since then I have been trying as hard as possible to get my 90-100 grams of protein a day. That is hard to do just eating 3 3oz meals a day. I've supplemented this with drinking protein shakes in between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner. The shakes that I like are Premier Protein chocolate. They give me 30 grams of protein per shake, very little calories and about 10 grams of sugar which is good.  Starting this week I have also had the Premier Protein bars for breakfast. These are OK, not my favorite as they are very dense and it definitely takes more than 30 minutes to eat the whole thing!

I still haven't taken comparison pictures from the day before surgery. Heather and I both keep saying we need to do that. Maybe this weekend we will have time.

I have also started going to the gym on a regular basis. I never thought I would say this but I LOVE going to the gym. I have taken advantage of the personal trainer that is offered from when we signed up and am now on a workout regimen. Now the only thing is that we need to get a little more consistent in going during the week. It is difficult to do workouts during the week due to the boys soccer schedules.  My plan right now is to do my gym stuff on Friday Saturday and Sunday and then the rest of the week either cycle in the mornings or walk during practices.

Speaking of bikes, I just bought a new one! I will be picking it up this Friday and I'm so looking forward to it. I went with a mountain bike this time to use for both training and to be able to ride with the boys and as a family easier. I'll put pics up of the bike once I bring it home on Friday.

Until next time....

3 weeks post-op

Well I am now at 3 weeks post-op. I had my followup with the doctor and also had a visit with the nutritionist.

Let's start out with the stats. I am as of the doctor's scale down 33 lbs. This is with my phone, keys, money clip everything in my pockets. According to the scale at home I am down 35 lbs. I'll take either one!

The visit with the doctor was good. I am going to backtrack a little to Monday when I had a followup appointment with my nephrologist (kidney doctor). I had blood work done last week for this appointment and the doctor was thrilled with the results. The last time I was in there in March I was showing as being diabetic. That is no longer the case! All of the rest of the tests were in a good state. My blood pressure was also low. So low that she has decided to cut back my blood pressure medication to a lower dose. Technically I don't have high blood pressure, but blood pressure has a direct effect on the kidneys causing them to deteriorate faster, and since I have one that wouldn't be a good thing.

So now to the visit with the WLS doctor. Both last visit and this visit I met with the nurse practitioner Carmen. She is happy with how I am progressing and has cleared me to start trying the stage 4 diet, which means I get to have MEAT! I am so happy!!!  After that visit I also saw the nutritionist. All she did was go over the nutrition guide, ask me how long it took me to eat, etc.  She did also correct me as far as when I should be taking my vitamins. I was doing it all wrong. I also talked to her about my protein intake. I asked if I should be shooting for the recommended protein for my height, which is 90-100g a day. She said yes. This is kind of hard to do since I can only eat such a small amount. She advised me that I will need to start supplementing with a protein powder that I can add to foods as I eat. I will have to start researching that. I know from reading posts in the facebook groups I belong to there are many out there. The most popular that everyone seems to like is called Unjury. They make several different flavors, including chicken soup, and they even have an unflavored that you can add to other foods. Definitely will be looking to order some of that.

Getting back to the meat thing. Evan had a soccer game last night in Los Banos, which is about an hour and a half away from here. Since the game was at 6pm, and we had to be there at least a 1/2 hour before, that meant leaving at 4. Dinner had to be eaten out. Since I was cleared to start trying the stage 4 foods we decided to go to the kids' favorite place, Subway.  I ordered a 6" meatball sub, minus the bread. Both Heather and I thought it might be a weird request but the girl behind the counter acted like it is very common. Oh the meatballs, as I said to Heather, almost better than sex! They were good and they were sitting fine in my stomach so we had success there. Today for lunch I had some pastrami lunch meat and provolone cheese (3oz total) and dipped them into mustard. Again it sat well with me and it was delicious!

My next followup appointment is not until July. I will try and update the blog once a week, but it may turn into once a month. I know after a month I will do a photo comparison from pre-surgery to 1 month out.

1 Week Post-op

Well I made it. 1 week post-op. I have to say it hasn't been that bad. I had my 1st post-op checkup yesterday and they were impressed with how I was doing. I'm down a total of 17 lbs. ! At the appointment I was cleared for the next phase of my diet, stage 2 which is liquids. This means things like yogurt, milk, soups with some color (still has to be smooth). I can honestly say I don't ever want to see or hear of chicken broth again. By Monday I was over it completely and was just drinking G2 the whole time. I was also cleared to try stage 3 foods (pureed or baby food stage) to see if I was ready to tolerate it.

After my appointment I went to the grocery store to buy some better foods. I picked up yogurt, sugar free pudding, cream of broccoli soup and cream of potato soup. The soups I will most likely have to run through the blender before eating but it will be better than broth! I also picked up some cottage cheese which is on the stage 3 list. I tried the cottage cheese as soon as I got home and it was wonderful as for the taste. 2 bites in and my stomach said nope, you're not ready. I switched to yogurt and pudding for lunch. It is still weird at the amount of food that I get. It seems very small but I get full! For dinner I decided to try a hard boiled egg mashed up into egg salad. My stomach was OK with it and I was full after eating a little more than half!  I'm getting all of my water in (64 oz. minimum). I've decided to cut sugars even more and limit my intake of G2. I'm only having that in the morning, the rest of the day is water.

My next followup is on May 5th and I'm hoping that I have a substantial loss by then.

3 Days post-op

Well I made it. It is Saturday April 18, 2015 as I type this. Surgery was on Wednesday the 15th!

I still can't believe it is finally done.I'm elated that the procedure went very well and I am doing great.

To recap what I went through several days:

Monday (13th):  This was my last day at work. I got things semi-cleaned up there so I could be away for a couple of weeks. We went out to dinner at Tahoe Joe's for my "last meal". I had a rib eye, and it was great.

Tuesday (14th): My liquid diet started. This was not fun. I also had my pre-op appointments with the surgeon as well as my blood work. Once that was done I came home for a little bit and then headed back out. On the agenda was my blessing with Father Adrian. That was interesting as I had not had an anointing of the sick before.  I was happy and at peace knowing I had god watching me through this process. Next came picking up the kids and heading home until soccer practice started.

Wednesday(15th): Since I could not have anything to eat starting at midnight and my surgery was not until the late afternoon, I decided to try and sleep for most of the day. I figured this would be less stressful and it turned out it was. Heather and I left for the hospital at about 2. We had to be at the hospital by 3pm and had a few errands to run.

Once at the hospital I checked in and waited. After a bit I was taken back to a room to get prepped. The nurses were very nice and joked with me. After they got me prepped they brought Heather back to see me until it was time for surgery. We waited for about another hour before it was my turn in the OR.  Again all of the staff and nurses were very nice and introduced themselves as they were reading the OR for my surgery. The last thing I remember is that the anesthesiologist telling me he gave me something to relax, then asked me what I did for a living. Next thing I knew I woke up in recovery. I don't remember much about being in recovery or how long I was there for. The next thing I knew I was being wheeled into my room and saw my beautiful wife and our friends Jacqui and Luis.

By this time, it was around 7:30 and the nurses were coming in  getting vitals, giving me ice chips and getting me settled.  My nurse Leizle was great. Very nice and explained everything. The night was rather uneventful and not restful. I was up at 11:45 for my first walk, then roughly every hour had someone coming in checking my vitals. The nice thing is that I felt great! I had one bout of nausea when I was given my BP meds, but was immediately given something for the nausea and was fine after that.

Thursday (16th): The next morning I had a very brief visit from the Dr. and then a short time later was told that I was ready to be discharged. We just had to wait and talk with the dietician. We ended up leaving the hospital around 12. Came home and slept.  Later in the evening Heather and I went to open house at the school. It was nice to get out and walk as well as see friends. However, I was exhausted after coming home and crashed pretty much after walking in the door.


Friday (17th):  Friday was pretty uneventful as well. I slept, drank my gatorade, water, broth.We also went to the VIP day at the boys' school. Again it was nice to get some fresh air and see friends. Once we got home from there took another nap and just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.


All in all I am so happy I had this procedure done. I'm glad for the support of my wife, my boys and my friends. So far this process has not been hard. Yes it is difficult to have nothing but clear fluids right now, but I know that farther down the road I will be able to have more foods. Right now the important thing is for my stomach to heal.

I guess I should give some stats. I will update these periodically as well as post some before and after pics.

Stats:

Heaviest Weight; 396
Pre-Op weight (Dr's office):393
Pre-op weight (Hosital):382


I have my 1 week post-op appointment on Tuesday the 21st so we'll see how I am at that point.

7 days out

Well today marks 7 days until my surgery. I have to report to the hospital by 2pm for surgery at 4. I'm excited. I can't wait for this next chapter of my life to begin. It has come fast but I am mentally and spiritually prepared. I have two more days of work until I will be off.  I received my pre-op instructions to go on a liquid diet starting next Tuesday, nothing but liquids. This will include protein drinks, water, milk, liquid yogurt, and soups without any chunks (tomato soup etc). As of midnight Wednesday morning I can have nothing, no water, nothing until after the surgery. It's going to be tough but not as tough as it was when I had my kidney surgery. When I did that I had to be on liquid for two days AND be on a liquid laxative. NOT FUN!

Yesterday I received another tool to help me in my weight loss and fitness. I had been wanting to get a smart watch. I have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 Neo watch and was about to purchase one. After contemplating it I decided to go with a FitBit Surge. It gives most of the same functionality that the Gear would but it also has the health and fitness portion included as well. I will be able to track my exercise and heart rate as well as my food and water intake. I'm looking forward to using this tool along with the tool of my VSG (Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy).

I'll update again after surgery!

21 days and counting!

Twenty-one days and counting. I can't wait!

There is not a lot to update. Things are starting to get busy in our personal life. Both boys play competitive soccer and their spring league starts up this weekend. This means that pretty much every weekend from now until the end of May to early June will be consumed by soccer. We like it is fun!
We also have a baptism to attend for my great-nephew 4 days before surgery and then Hudson's First Holy Communion 10 days after the surgery.


Heather and I joined a gym about 2 weeks ago. I went for the first time last Saturday. I walked for about 15 minutes at a fairly fast pace then cycled for another 15. I'm taking it slow and going to ramp up my workouts. I am meeting with a personal trainer on Wednesday evening to go over a workout routine for both pre-op and post-op. I will not be able to do much more than walking for the first 6 weeks after surgery but I want to get a plan in place. We get three free sessions with a trainer so I figured I would get one in now and then save the other two once I get get more active in the gym with weights etc.

I have joined and been doing quite a bit of reading on gastricsleeve.com about the surgery and what to expect after the surgery. The stories from other "sleevers" is enlightening and inspriational. It seems the trend among most of the people that are nearing their surgery date is that they are nervous. I don't know if it just isn't close enough for me, or the fact that I am ready to enter this new phase of my life and am looking forward to this new tool in my goal to become healthy. I hope it is the later!

Until next time...

We have a surgery date!

Today has turned into a great day!  Not only did I get to spend my day off with my beautiful wife, but I also received a call from my surgeon's office. I was told that the insurance had approved my surgery and they were ready to schedule my surgery date! The first available date was a day that most people dread, but will stand as a great day for me from here on out, Tax Day, April 15th.

I am beyond excited right now. That excitement also comes with nervousness for myself as well as my wife. Right now I am going to bask in the excitement of receiving my date and readying myself for this glorious day!

33 days and counting!

Update - Gettting Closer

I put in a call last week to the Dr's office to see where we stood. I received a call back from the coordinator that she had called the lab and they were not able to locate any blood work results for me. Odd, since my kidney cancer 5 years ago I have blood work done on a regular basis. Granted it has been almost a year, but they still should have the record of it. Anyhow she told me she would be sending the lab order to me and to let her know once I had the blood work done. That day was yesterday. I called the coordinator and left a voicemail that the work was done and to proceed. Today I received a call that she had submitted everything to the insurance company and we should hear back by next week. Once the auth comes in from the insurance they will then schedule the surgery. I asked for a tentative date and was told April, if all goes well with the insurance. Hopefully by next week I will have a surgery date!

Update - No surgery date yet but psych test is done!

Last Friday, Friday the 13th no less, I had my psych exam. I arrived at the office and was escorted into the psychologist waiting room and handed a clipboard with paperwork to fill out. That paperwork was a series of 50 "complete the sentence" questions. The questions ranged from how is my marriage, to self esteem and self image. Once I was done writing my answers I went in and talked with the psychologist. He was a personable man and we chatted about what my expectations were, what my background was and what support I have for this process. All in all it appeared to be a good meeting. I found out that he was also a bariatric surgery patient and had his surgery about 11 years ago. He shared some insight of what to expect and reaffirmed that surgery is not the easy way out. It still takes work but it is a worthwhile tool.

Once the appointment was over I found out that it will take him about a week to get my report done and over to the Dr. group. Hopefully once they have it I will get a surgery date. If I don't hear from them by next Monday or Tuesday I will be calling to follow up and see where we are. I know that at my first appointment the coordinator said it would probably be about 2 months from that day, which puts us into the middle of March. As I've said before, if they say we have an opening for tomorrow I'm there!

Until then I'm starting to alter the way that I eat. I know that I practically inhale food when I eat. I am trying to be mindful to slow down, put my fork down between bites and chew my food completely. I also started sipping my water more. I need to start setting a timer as the goal is to consume about 1oz. of water every 15 minutes throughout the day. The other thing that I started yesterday is not drinking with my meals for at least 30 minutes before and after. That one is a challenge but I am going to continually work at it. One other thing that the psychologist suggested is to start exercising more now. I'm going to make a good effort to do that. Walking more is going to be my next goal.

Also I wanted to thank my wife Heather for her support. I know this isn't an easy process for her emotionally and eventually physically. She has been doing a blog posting every Wednesday with her point of view on the whole process. Her blog can be viewed at http://peanutandchicken.blogspot.com.

Anticipation

Well I am in a holding pattern now. I've gone through almost all of the steps to proceed with the surgery and have the last one to go this Friday. I'm hoping after doing the psych test that they will be able to get my surgery date scheduled.

I've already started to try and change my habits. Sipping water throughout the day is one of the biggest as well as trying not to drink 30 minutes before and after eating. The consumption of water is not hard for me. I have, ever since my kidney cancer, been drinking between 6 and 8 bottles of water a day. My goal after surgery is 64 ounces and I've been doing ~96. Only thing is I don't sip the water. Generally I'll open a bottle and down it!  The other hard part will be the not drinking before/after. I haven't tried that yet but that will be my goal for next week.

I can't wait for the surgery. Heather, as well as other people, have asked me when I want to do it. I told them as soon as possible. If they tell me we'll do it tomorrow I'm there! With other commitments that Heather has, since she will need to stay with me a few days, I'm hoping that it will be either the beginning of or mid March.

One thing that I find interesting is arguments that I have heard from some of my family against having the surgery. The first was, do I realize how much my life will change. Yes, I am fully aware. The argument along with that is you won't be able to eat like you do now. I get that, it's the point. However, I've been reading up on what I can/cannot eat and found a wonderful blog (http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/) that has a plethora of recipes that I am going to try once I get out of the 5-6 week phase after surgery. Granted those first 3-4 weeks after surgery my diet will be very different, going to clear liquids, to liquids, to basically baby food but once that phase is done and I'm eating solid foods my options will be rather open. The biggest thing is that I have to get my protein first!  That I do not think will be an issue for me. I love proteins. I'm not that big of a carb eater. Sure I like bread, but I don't have to have it with every meal. My biggest problem is the quantity of food that I eat. With a smaller stomach, that isn't going to be the problem.

The other argument, or solution I was given, is you know you're going to have to give up so much. Things like alcohol. Honestly that isn't a big deal for me. Sure I drink, but it is not that often. Heather and I love to go out on our patio after the kids go to bed and have a glass or two of wine and an cigar. We can still go out on the patio and sit and talk, the alcohol isn't mandatory. I can live without it. I was then told, OK, so you're willing to give that up, just do that now, why do you need the surgery? Well the biggest reason is like I stated above. I consume A LOT of food when I eat. Sure I could cut my portions, that's what a diet is, but due to the size of my stomach those cravings and the sensation of not feeling full is still there. With the smaller stomach it is going to take a lot less (3-4 ounces total) to fill my stomach. The cravings won't be there because I didn't consume enough food.

Ah well sometimes it's like talking to a wall. As I told this relative. My mind is made up. I've educated myself on this procedure, and continue to, and am steadfast that this surgery is going to help me lose weight and enable me to be around to grow old with my wife, watch my kids grow old and one day play with my grandchildren. Without this surgery I don't think that would happen.

Hopefully my next post will be news of a surgery date! Wish me luck!

Rebirth

I originally started this blog due to a new found passion with cycling. At that time my wife was becoming a runner. My philosophy is cycling beats running, hence "It Beats Running".

I still have the passion for cycling, but have not had the free time, or the drive to actually go out and do it. I've become sedentary and more overweight.

The rebirth is that after many years of thought, prayer and research I have decided to go through gastric bypass surgery. It started several years ago after a co-worker had gone through the surgery that I started thinking about it. I mentioned it to my wife at that time and was not met with warm and fuzzy thoughts on it from her. Fast forward to Christmas 2014 when I was off on vacation and I decided to broach the subject again. Heather was receptive at this point so I started to research doctors in our area. I came across ALSA and their program. Their slogan of "This time will be different" struck a cord with me,  I've been overweight most of my life. I started down the slippery slope the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade and it has gone downhill since then. I've been on and off diets for longer than I can remember. Sure they worked, but if you stray even a little bit, the tumble down the slippery slope happens again and generally with a weight gain higher than when you started.

January 3rd, 2015 was the start of my journey to go through bariatric surgery. After talking with Heather and her being open to the idea, I signed up for one of the seminars through the Fresno Heart Hospital and the Dr's of ALSA. Heather and I attended the seminar and learned quite a bit. Being obese is essentially a disease. Diets, 95% of the time failed (which I can attest to). Also that the stigma of having weight loss surgery is generally seen as being the easy way out, but honestly it is not. Once the surgery is done, your diet and the way you eat is DRASTICALLY changed. Your body chemistry is changed, all for the good.

After attending the seminar Heather and I talked more about this possible journey. I was 100% committed and she was behind me 100% as well. Monday morning I called to make my first consultation appointment!

My consult appointment was scheduled for January 20, 2015. Heather and I both attended the appointment and met with Dr. Higa and one of the fellows with the practice. Dr. Higa is the doctor that was the presenter at the seminar that we went to as well. After meeting with him personally I was very impressed with his credentials, and his compassion. I think he truly cares about his patients and what is best for them. After talking with the Dr. it was confirmed that I am a good candidate for the surgery. My BMI is over 50, I am a kidney cancer survivor with only one kidney left, I am pre-diabetic and am on high blood pressure medication (honestly not for high blood pressure but to alleviate stress on my remaining kidney) and I have severe obstructive sleep apnea.  Dr. Higa recommended a Vertical Gastric Sleeve surgery. This was a shock to me, as I thought I would be more suited for a Roux-En-Y gastric bypass. Dr. Higa stated that the sleeve would be a better option for me as there is a lesser chance of developing ulcers. The Sleeve Gastrectomy actually removes a good portion of the stomach. It is less invasive than the bypass as the only thing that is done is the removal of the stomach, no re-routing of the intestines is done. After further research I have done, the sleeve is starting to become the standard surgery.

Once it was decided I was a candidate we started the next steps. First stop was to one of the coordinators to schedule the various tests that are required before the surgery is done. There were a total of 5 things that I had to get accomplished before we could start the scheduling process.

1. Find out if the insurance was going to cover the procedure. I called our insurance company, which is through Heather's work to find out. Heather works for the Diocese of Fresno which is self insured. The first call was to the company that administers the plan for the Diocese. After talking with them I was crushed. I asked if the procedure was covered and was given a solid "NO".  Knowing that the company was only an administrator of the plan, I then contacted the Diocese benefits administrator. After a conversation with him, my spirits were lifted again as I found out that yes, it could be covered, as long as the Dr. stated that it was medically necessary. After going over some of my health issues with the administrator I was assured that as long as the Dr. stated it was necessary we were in the clear.

2. Wait for the call from the testing center for a Manometry test. This is not a fun test. I'm glad that I did not know what this entailed before I actually showed up and was back in the room for the procedure. I was told it was a swallow test, and technically it was. What they didn't tell me is that they would be numbing my sinuses with lidocane gel, then shoving a catheter in through my nostril, through my sinuses and into my esophagus. NOT FUN! But as I told the technician doing the test, it was a means to an end and I would gladly do it!

3. Attend a nutrition class.  This actually came quickly. I received the call the Thursday after my consultation and was told there was a class that night, or I would have to wait until the end of February to attend. I signed up immediately.  Heather and I both attended the class and it was enlightening. I found out what Dr. Higa meant by having this surgery was done was not the easy way out.  The first 6 weeks following the surgery were going to be a major lifestyle change. The first week is nothing but clear fluids and most meals would consist of a total of 3 ounces. In explaining that to my boys, I told them "You know the little medicine cups that we use to give you your liquid medicines (allergy)?" They both nodded yes, I then said, "3 of those filled up will be my meals!". They were astonished.

4. Wait for the scheduling of an endoscopy. I received the call for that on January 27th and we scheduled the procedure for Feb 2nd . That procedure was not too bad. The nurses were friendly and it so happened that both the prep nurse and the recovery nurse had both had the surgeries done as well. Thankfully for this procedure I was knocked out. The last thing I remember is the nurse anesthetist telling me he had given me what he coined a morning margarita, and waking up to Terry the recovery nurse and my wife. The only bad thing about the procedure is that I apparently bit my lip rather hard during the procedure so it was swollen. Two days later it still is.

5. Attend and take a psych test. That test we scheduled the same day as the consultation. I have this last step to take before hopefully getting the surgery scheduled. That appointment is on February 13th!

So to wrap up this long post. The blog was originally a jab at my wife that cycling beats running, but now it has a rebirth in that having the surgery beats running from death. Something that I am sure would have come sooner than later if I don't have this surgery!

I will be chronicling my journey through this here on this blog. I'm sure that cycling will come back into the fold as without exercise the surgery would be pointless!