It’s now been three months since my gastric bypass. Since April, I’ve lost 35 pounds. Since the first picture was taken in 2003, 135 pounds. I’m now on 7.5mg of Mounjaro which has been a big help in losing weight. It’s also been a big help with controlling my blood sugar. My sugar still spikes but it comes down without having to take any insulin. I go to my GP in two weeks and I’ll do the blood work to see how good it’s been. I haven’t had a soda in three months, or sweets in four months and to be honest, I don’t really miss either one.
I’m still in my boot and I hope, according to my orthopedic doctor, in three months I’ll be able to get rid of it and go to a regular shoe with special inserts. There will be a list of do’s and don’ts that I’ll have to follow and I will follow that list to a T.
Thursday, May 24th was one month since my gastric bypass surgery. I’ve lost 35 pounds. I’m eating way less than before surgery which is to be expected. So far, I’ve not experienced any sickness.
The doctor has taken me off of all my insulin and put me on mounjuro. (Sp) It’s a once per week injection of 2.5 mg for 4 weeks. I’m not sure if they’re going to up the dosage after that or not.
If I’m still in my boot and not in a cast, I’m planning on going to Summer camp with the Boy Scouts. There is no way I can hobble around the campgrounds in this boot so I’ve purchased a used mobility scooter. I had to drive 3.5 hours one-way to get it. I just couldn’t pass up the good deal. I’ll find other uses for it I’m sure.
The day of the surgery started off on a bad foot and it didn’t end there. First of all, I was told to be at the hospital at 5am with a surgery time of 9am. At 5am it’s dark and my wife can’t see to drive in the dark so I asked if we could move the surgery time to a later time. 7am was the latest that I could get there and still have the surgery. We arrived at 6:30am and were told that I was way early and my surgery wasn’t scheduled until 1pm. There was nothing to do but wait.
A little after noon, I was finally called back. My wife and I were sent to a pre-op room where they tried three times before they were able to start an IV. I was asked several questions regarding my meds and my health. I was given a gown and told to undress and slip on the hospital gown. I was allowed to say my goodbyes to my wife and was rolled out of that room into the surgery room where I met at least three more nurses who introduced themselves and I don’t remember anything after that.
I was awakened by one of my nurses yelling my name telling me to wake up. I remember them saying that my oxygen was low and they were trying to get my bi-pap working. They were having a hard time because the had the hose hooked up backwards. In my drunken state, I had to try to tell them they had it hooked up wrong. Why they didn’t put me on oxygen I’ll never know.
One of the things I had asked the surgeon to look at while she was in my belly was a hernia. She informed me that her main goal was to do the gastric bypass and if she had time she would look at it. Well, that changed. Once she got into my belly, she found that my gallbladder was about to explode. It was full of inflammation and was bleeding. It was surprising that I hadn’t had any symptoms. The first step was to remove my gallbladder. With the gallbladder removed she noticed that my stomach had risen up into my esophagus. She then had to fix the stomach issue. Once she did that she fixed the hernia then she proceeded to do the gastric bypass. The surgeon told my wife that I was one sick puppy.
During surgery, they had to run a tube down my throat. I’m still coughing from that. My incisions are still a little sore, all five of them. I’m still in the liquid stage of my diet and I should start to be able to eat pureed food on Thursday. I’m so looking forward to that. I can’t tell if I’m losing weight because of the cast. I just had a new one put on yesterday and it feels heavier than the others. The orthopedic doctor fitted me with a Crow Boot yesterday so hopefully, I’ll graduate from a cast in a couple of weeks to a month. At least in a Crow Boot I’ll be able to walk some and climb stairs better than I am now.
My gastric bypass surgery is this Wednesday, April 24th. It was originally scheduled for last Wednesday but COVID hit. I am having waves of emotion. One minute I’m excited the next, I’m nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. But, all the benefits outweigh the negatives. I think my wife is more nervous than I am. Granted, I know this will be a life-changing experience with a new diet and a new way of looking at my life. An extended life I might add.
Sporting a new cast, but the latest x-rays reveal my foot is in bad shape. The bones have become brittle and deteriorated, with multiple fractures and breaks. However, the good news is that they can save my foot, though it will take up to 18 months and require special shoes afterwards. I have to be really careful as to not damage my left foot as the bones have become brittle as well.
I had to wait until I got paid this month before I was able to but I signed my wife and myself up to the required class for the bariatric surgery. I also called my primary doctor and I’ve set up the first of three appointments that are also a requirement for the surgery. These appointments are to monitor how well I’m doing to adjust to my new lifestyle. The doctor will have to fill out paperwork to be turned in to the surgen after the three months. I still have no clue as to what my cost will be.
I had a visit with my phuminologist the other day and the nurse that did my trioge mentioned to me that she had the surgery about a year ago and she had lost over sixty pounds. I would be extremely happy with sixty pounds. As just so happens, my daughter worked at the same school that she did so they know each other. My daughter told me she looked huge. She still has some weight to lose but she doesn’t look nothing like she did sixty pounds ago.
I suspect April or May if I’m approved. That’s my goal.
Today’s appointment was with a Shrink. Supposedly, after all the weight loss, there might some be behavioral issues and they wanted to find out if I already had some issues that might need to be addressed. I had seen a shrink a couple of years ago when I was trying to get on dissability so I sort of knew what to expect. She said I passed. I had 26 out of 30 possible points. My next step is to get a chest x-ray sometime next week. I’m going to have to schedule a special class sometime in Januairy, Then it’s on to three months with my primary doctor. I have to proove to him that I can stay on some sort of program for three months before they invest in their time,
That’s my daughter’s favorite saying. When it’s been a while since she’s done something she’ll say “It’s been a minute.” Well, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything. I’ll try to keep it brief so as not to bore you.
Nothing has really changed except my weight. I have lost quite a few pounds, over twenty pounds since January. I woke up one morning and decided to take control of my eating habits. Actually, it was a New Year’s resolution that started it all. No more sweets, nothing white, and no fast food restaurants. Basically, a low-carb diet. Sure, I have my cheat days but I try really hard to stay on top of it. Weekends are my worst as far as trying to stay on it.
Taken in 2011 during a family Disney cruse.
Taken with my wife just after a kayak trip to the river just a few days ago.
As you can see, there’s just a little bit of difference in the weight. 340 lbs in 2011 and 265 lbs in 2023. Also, I’ve gone from a size 48 to a size 38 as of today.
That’s it for now. There’s a ton more that’s happened but I’ll save that for another day. I promise I’ll start posting more regularly.
Model Heavin A recent picture I took of a young lady
Drum Roll Please………. 15.6 pounds down since August 19th. No, that’s probably not healthy to lose this much in one week but consider this, it’s mostly fluid. I started taking a drug known as Metolazone which is a booster drug to Bumetanide. Bumetanide, or Bumax for short, is a drug to get the excess fluid off the body. When taken with Metolzone, it’s like Bumax on steroids. There is a certain way I have to take it in order for it to work. It doesn’t take but a week or two to get all the fluid out from inside the body. Now, if I have confirmed fluid in my lung cavity then I have to get rid of the fluid another way, Bumax won’t help there.
Not only did I take the booster drug this week, but I’ve also cut carbs, and salt and I’ve done a little bit of exercise. While on the drugs to help get rid of the fluid, I can lose upwards of 2 pounds a day. Once off the drug, I’ll be good to lose less than a pound a week.
I’m off the drug so we’ll see what happens next week.
I turned 59 a few days ago. I did not go into a dark, deep depression. It was just another day for me. As many health problems as I have, I consider it a blessing just to wake up in the mornings. My wife, on the other hand, has an issue with each birthday she comes across. She’s a little over a year older than me and when she turned 60, let’s just say that she turned into a different person. It took a few days for her to get out of her slump. I’m not looking forward to next year.
I know I’ve written about it before but one of my health issues is that I’m having issues with my breathing. This has been an ongoing thing for several years. It started off as a side effect of one of my cancer medications. The medication was causing fluid to build up around my heart and lungs. I had to have fluid removed from around my lungs on four different occasions totalling up to around 5 liters. The first time I had it done they weren’t sure what was causing my breathing issue and it took several weeks of testing before they found out. During this time I wasn’t able to do much of anything without getting out of breath. Even walking a short distance became a struggle. Remember now, I was still trying to work through all of this.
Like I said, this has been an on going struggle for a couple of years now but after several medication changes it got better. Now it’s back but with a difference. There is no fluid around my lungs. X-rays have proved it. As with the other times, my weight would go up dramatically, and it’s doing the same thing now. I’ve gained upwards around 30 pounds in about a months time. That’s not normal. I’m on mediation to help relieve the fluid but I ran out last week. I had to wait until this week before I could get it refilled because of the insurance.
I think a big contributor to this is salt. I’m supposed to be on a low sodium diet but that’s hard for me to do. I’ve greatly reduced the amount of salt but I need to reduce it some more. Another thing that is not helping is, of course, my diet. I’ve got to do better. I’ve committed myself to a weightloss program for the next six months. But, until I get this fluid undercontrol, I will just continue to gain weight. Losing weight for me right now will definitely be a challenge. One, I get out of breath so easily so walking is a challenge even the treadmill will be a challenge. Two, the fluid. If I only knew the cause then I might could do something about that.2
On August 15th, my birthday, I weighed in at 287.2. On the 16th I weighed 287.4, 18th 288.5, 19th 290.5, also on the 19th I received my medication and the next day, the 20th I weighted in at 286.6. Of course I peed every thirty minutes or so. I haven’t weighed in this morning so I don’t know if I’ve lost any weight or not. BTW, I know I’m going to get some people telling me not to weigh everyday but this is what my cardiologist wants me to do. I should weigh about 275lbs once I get all the fluid off.
I’m planning on posting weekly to let everyone know how I’m doing on my weight loss.
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