* My email address has changed. I believe that I've updated it on all pages. However, if I missed one someplace this is the correct one. *
Recently I decided that the format I've been using to post updates is too cumbersome and time consuming. Everything here will stay here but new updates will be posted in my new blog. I think the blog format will be much easier to navigate and organize.
Life's Different Now New Picture! New Recipe!
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My name is Greg. I'm in my mid-thirties, married with 2 kids and a dog. I'll have been disabled for three years in August of 2002. I used to be a salesman. In August of 1999 I had to have emergency surgery on my back to repair a disk that had ruptured. The disk ruptured inwards and caused severe nerve damage to my caudia equina. So, I went from being at work, making a pretty good living to paralyzed from the waist down literally over night. The hope was that I'd be able to learn to stand up well enough that I could transfer from a wheelchair to the bed or toilet or the like. Walking, however, was out of the question. Not being able to walk wasn't an option in my mind. To make a long story short, after months in a wheelchair, then on a walker with wheels, then to a pair of canes, I am able to walk pretty good with the help of one cane and braces on my legs. I still have a lot of numb skin and my legs don't work real well, in fact from the calf down they are useless. But I am walking again!
I've been a big person my whole life. I was about 150 lbs. in 4th grade, nearly 280 lbs. in 8th or 9th grade and over 300 lbs. when I graduated. All my family on my mom's side are big people, too. Now I'm sure some people won't believe this but it never bothered me. Even when I went over 400 lbs., it still wasn't a concern for me. I had a great wife, super kids, and a pretty good job that provided a comfortable living for us and no health problems at that point. Then out of the blue came the surgery and all of a sudden I'm facing a life severely limited by my newly acquired disability.
In the fall of 2000 my weight finally became a concern for me. I mean a real concern. I was still on a walker part time and not seeing a big prospect of getting much better. I decided if I could get some of this weight off I should be able to get around better. But how in the world was I going to loose weight being sedentary? Weight loss surgery! That would be the answer I decided. I knew several people that ahd had it done and they all seemed to be doing well. Now, I have to tell, I'd have NEVER considered this before the surgery but now it seemed to be the answer to at least part of my problem. So, in December 2000 I began looking very seriously into having a gastric bypass. In January 2001 I made my appointment for my initial evaluation. It was set for February 15. My wife, kids and I all set out to the hospital, Bariatric Treatment Center (BTC), to put the wheels in motion for my weight loss surgery (WLS).
The initial consult went very well. I found out that I was a perfect candidate for the WLS (and that I weighed 437 lbs.). I was young, had no severe health conditions but all of the precursors for them and my insurance covered it. The only thing was I needed to have a sleep study done to get my suspected sleep apnea under control before I could have surgery. So I went home, very excited to be approved and pretty much set to go, and scheduled my sleep study. It was set for March 3. The morning of March 4 I got the confirmation that I had sleep apnea. In fact, I had severe sleep apnea, the worst the technician had ever seen. He told me I woke up an average of 87.2 times PER HOUR during the study. My heart raced to over 200 beats per minute and they thought once or twice I might be going into cardiac arrest. The next week I had to go back for another study to be approved for a continuous passive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. Now I had my studies done and all I needed was the okay from my sleep doctor to get the CPAP, be on it for 3 weeks and then I'd be in for surgery. After a few weeks I still had no approval from the doctor to get the CPAP, even though it was sure I really needed one. Knowing what the sleep lab tech said about my heart racing at night, I was really getting worried and wanted that crazy machine. I made some calls and got my insurance company to pre-approve the CPAP on the say so of the sleep lab tech and a copy of his report. Finally, 6 weeks after my studies were done I got my CPAP. It took the doctor another 8 weeks or so to get around to signing my sleep studies! Now, everything is out of the way and I can get the WLS done. It was time for the pre-surgery test.
It took another month or so to get in for the pre surgery tests. They did blood work, urine tests, chest x-ray, abdominal ultra-sound, breathing tests, and I can't remember what else. Then the last test, an EKG. My EKG came back abnormal. Now they tell me I need to have a stress test. So, back home we go to have a stress test done in a week or so.
Since I have difficulty walking, the treadmill stress test was out of the question. I had to have some drugs through an IV to simulate exercise stress. After the drug part I had to have some sort of a scan of my heart to see how the blood was flowing. Well, finally I was done with it. Now to wait until the next day to get the results back. It was about a 20-minute drive from the hospital to my house. When I walked through the door my wife was waiting. The nurse had called from the hospital and I needed to go straight back. There was some sort of a problem. Back to the hospital and into the scanner again. No one could tell me why I was back, only that I might have moved slightly during the initial scan. So, back home I went after the second scan. It was Friday. I worried myself sick all weekend. Monday BTC called. My stress test was abnormal, too. I needed to have a cardiac cauterization now, as soon s I could. And my WLS is now on indefinite hold until after the cath results are in. So I made an appointment with a cardiologist.
The cardiologist was really great. He got me in very fast and was just super about everything. He told me there was something on my scan of my heart that appeared to be a blockage. I though I was going to throw up when he said that. I needed to have the cath done soon, was 2 days from now okay? I thought the weekend waiting for the results from the stress test was long but it was nothing compared to the 2 days wait to get the cath done. The procedure went very well. It was pretty painful though, much more so than I had expected. The doc finished up everything and walked around to the top of the operating table. Everything is fine. You have no blockage. You really don't even have any plaque in there at all. It was just a shadow on the film. What a rush of relief poured over me. I was fine! Thank God, I was fine.
Now I had all of the clearances. All of the tests were done. I was ready to get my WLS re-scheduled. It was now almost September. Over 6 months had passed since my initial consult. Approaching a year since I first began thinking about WLS. Now I was ready for the surgery. Only now I wasn't ready. During the last 6 months I had gotten a lot better. I had lost 25 lbs. eating healthier, thinking I had heart disease. I was feeling much better now that I had my CPAP and was sleeping well for the first time in years. And I was completely off the walker and getting around a lot better. I'm doing so much better and loosing some weight. I don't need to have WLS. I can exercise some now and I can loose this weight by myself! I decide to not re-schedule the WLS and do it myself.
That was about 8 months ago. As of today (April 19, 2002) I have lost 116 lbs., down to 321. That is about what I weighed in high school. I'm still disabled but I get around much, much better. My current goal is to be under 300 lbs. by the first week of June. And I am going to make it. I don't have my next goal set yet but I'll pot it when I set it.
Okay, I didn't have WLS. What did I do? I didn't do any fad diets. No pills, no shakes, none of that crap. I learned to eat and cook healthy. I learned what portion sizes are supposed to be. I quit eating junk food and candy and fast food. I greatly limited how much ground meat I eat. I drink very little soda, lots of water, some coffee and some iced tea. I take a multi-vitamin and calcium supplement daily (as per my doctor's advice). And I try to exercise as much as I can, taking my condition into account.
Here are a few photos of me. I plan on posting more as time goes by. Things like how my weight loss is going, some more recipes in My Kitchen that I use (many will be low fat/calorie) and other goals and such. I would greatly appreciate feedback and welcome any questions. I plan on posting more pictures very soon. In the mean time, I look forward to hearing from you.