| Journal Continued |
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| 10/05/03 Well I am back on solid foods again, with new challenges. Since being on solids there are days when it has been a challenge to hold down everything. Support group assures me this is a phase that many have gone through just like the burping after eating. My six week follow-up went well, all my lab work returned positive and cleared to return to work. Weight as of Oct. 3 down 69 pounds and feeling great and my clothes are starting to get baggy. Went to our monthly clothing exchange but found nothing that would fit me, there was a very limited selection of men’s clothing. With this process and my new tool my weight goal is to be around 200-225 pounds and healthier. Since my return to work I have met a few ladies who are interested in this surgery and my progress. One person who I met was just denied by Cigna and plans on fighting them all the way and has made contact with the insurance commission for assistance. I provided her with all my information and web site to assist her in her appeal process. Well tomorrow starts my next term course, which I have made some changes with my degree program going from a BS in Business to a BS in Criminal Justice. This terms classes will be English composition I and Introduction to Criminal Justice and look forward to the start of classes. Well that’s it for now. 11/17/03, well it has been a while since my last update, so I have continued to lose the pounds, I’m melting away. My current weight is 374 lbs. which put me down 113 pounds in 13 weeks. My clothes are beginning to look like the teen style all baggy looking. Some of the problem that I have gone through over the past month has been with keeping food down, some of the problem could be from eating to quickly or selection of foods and from what they call the foamies which will be expelled. I have been experiencing some problem with dairy products and keeping them down. The next issue over the past couple of weeks has been with heartburn (real bad). My energy levels have been fine and I am able to move around a lot better. I continue to go to support group twice a month which has been a lot of help to me and gives me many new ideas both with food selections and techniques. I continue to take college courses through all of these events in my life, at times I think that I’ve taken on too much at one time but have been maintaining my grades in both classes (C). Just over halfway through this term and thing are going well, I have a some extra work in my criminal justice class to complete, which should raise my grade in that course. To add another twist to our life we have been trying to find a manufactured home to purchase over the past couple of months. However, we have had several problems with this event and decided to put this project on hold for another year. We have also decided to move to another apartment complex – Rainbow Highlands without anyone above us, a 2 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, a gas fireplace and a gated community. So the next couple of weeks we will be very busy moving to our new home and look forward to the peace and quite for a change. July 12, 2004 – 8 Months over due!!! Well a lot has changed over the past several months. One complication back in December, which I had to be scoped and ballooned due to the scare tissue closing the food track out. The only other issue that comes to mind is that I continue to have acid reflux problems, but every other medication that I was taking before has been discontinued. In forty-seven weeks I have averaged 4.6 pounds per week weight loss. I am approaching my annual check-up with an upper GI to be done. Hoping everything looks good when this done (7/13/04) and no leaks. The only other medical issue that I have had with my blood work over the past several months has been with my B-12 count being on the low side, and was given a B-12 shot. Other than that I feel great. Things that have changed since my surgery, where do I begin, I am more mobile and able to get around without difficulties. It’s also been 18 months since I quit smoking, and no desire to return to that nasty habit. Some of the activities that I have been able to participate in recently have been getting on amusement rides with my grandsons, camping, walking along the beach with my wife and grandsons, riding all three rides on the stratosphere here in Las Vegas. With the amusement rides it’s been over twenty years since I have been able to get on without difficulties. I am able to walk without difficulties, but do need to increase in this activities on a daily basis. My next activity will be getting on an airplane and going to my family reunion at the end of this month, back in Massachusetts. Clothes, is the next item, I am able to buy from the normal size racks and not from the big & tall stores or mail order catalogues. I have gone from a size 62” waist to a 44” waist currently, the picture on the home page shows my pants before surgery which were tight then and ready to move to the next size up. Shirts down from a size 5X to a 1X, what a great feeling this is to be able to walk into any store buy from the racks at a normal price. With my weight loss and changes we made in food selections this has helped my wife to also lose weight; she has lost around 30 pounds during this time. Now it is time for my daughter to look into this procedure or to make changes in her life before something happens to her health and her abilities in getting around (Love you Jessica). During this past year I continued with my schooling with online classes at Kaplan College, this was a very different experience, challenging at times but a very good. This fall I will be returning to the Community College of Southern Nevada working on my Criminal Justice degree. I now can fit in those desk, remember those desk from High School, well back in the fall semester of 2003 these desk were way too small for me, difficult getting in/out. I was the guy that would stand up with the desk still attached. I have little over a year left to complete my Associates degree and then change to UNLV to complete my Bachelors degree. I am also working on obtaining my Physical Security Professional-Board Certification from ASIS. The work attitudes have changed (less discrimination) I am still trying for a promotion in my department but this position has been on hold for the past several months, I also continue to have my eyes open to opportunities outside the company. Well that is it for now, I will update this in August, weight chart and home page updated weekly. THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT |