Good morning everyone:

 This morning I weighed in at 173.2 pounds for my official 2 year anniversary WLS weight.  Here is a recap of the last two years.

August 30, 2005
Weight: 325.5 pounds

August 30, 2006
Weight: 191.2 pounds

August 30, 2007
Weight: 173.2

I will do a little math for you.  That is 134.3 pounds lost during the first year.  Second year I lost an additional 18 pounds for a total of 152.3 pounds lost since having Vertical Gastrectomy surgery on August 30, 2005.  My weight continue’s to hold around the 175 mark which my doctor think’s is just fine.  Let me share some pictures of my anniversary dates.

Picture before WLS August 2005.

Here I am at my 1 year check up August 2006.

Me and Adriana at my 2 year check up August 2007.

As I stop to reflect upon my last two years I find myself counting my blessings.  I did not have a heart transplant back in 2005.  To me this is the biggest advantage of WLS is that most of my medical conditions are gone.  Such as congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea.  I have said to others that the weight loss would mean nothing if I had to turn around and have a heart transplant and potentially die.  I did not want to make life easier for my pallbearers (haha).  I don’t mean to sound like life ends after a heart transplant cause I know it can give a person a new lease on life.  For me I just always felt that if I had to have a transplant that I would not live long after that.  I do not know why I thought/think that but just have and that is why I am so grateful that WLS did it’s job and allowed me to continue to write my my life’s story.

If you have not take the time to read my WLS story then I can recommend clicking on the WLS category and read about it.  I am in the middle of doing a post about May 3, 2005 and the 5 weeks I spent at CPMC being worked up for a heart transplant which ultimately lead me to WLS.  At current my blog starts August 2005 and should really start May 3, 2005.

I would like to take a moment at my 2 year anniversary and thank my family for sticking with me through thick and thin.  I know that 2005 was a real struggle.  To my wife Tammy who held the family together while I recouped and got better to continue to do my part as a husband and father I love you and thank you.  Love you Brittany, Brandon, and Adriana you guys are the reason I count my blessings and thank God every morning for allowing me another day on earth.

Thank you to those that continue to check up on me through my blog.  Maybe my experience’s inspire you to dig deep within and weight the options of life.

Take care and Happy Labor Day hope you have a safe three day weekend.

JB

Hi, I’m Brittany!

       OK, so I just started high school at Central Valley High. No I’m not a freshman, I’m a Junior. At first I thought it was a horrible thing and that I would completely and utterly hate it. But funny enough, it’s not like that at all. I am actually enjoying myself. I started myself in the school’s Yearbook class; It is so much fun!  I get to do so many things in that class. For instance, I helped out with picture day giving the kids their little slips for their pictures, It was a lot of fun, not to mention I got out of all my classes all day. Then I get to carry around a camera and just take picture, which is what I love doing anyways so it’s not really a big deal. Today I found out that I get to video tape Friday’s Rally!!! I was so excited!! I instantly called my dad and then my mom to tell them about the great news! Yearbook is such a good thing for me. I am meeting a lot of new people….different? Yes, but nice.

          Another thing that has happened to me is that I joined the CV Varsity swim team! I missed swimming so much because I used to do it when I was younger on a team. My coach is a really nice lady and all the kids seem to be pretty motivated and fun to be around. I got all my things that I needed for it; suit, goggles, bag, towel the works. Not to mention swimming is great exercise and it’s good for my knee that I hurt not to long ago. My first meet is on Wednesday September 5 against West Valley High our rivals. I am super excited to go and WIN!

            I truly thought that I would hate everything about this school, and I didn’t much care for my parents making me switch schools and leaving my music and friends at Enterprise, But I learned something. CV is a good thing for me. It’s a chance for me to start from scratch and not have to be someone I’m not to impress people which was all I was doing at Enterprise. Everyone is different and they aren’t afraid to be who they are. Now if you ask me, That’s the best way to be!

                                     BNB

I am postponing my weight update until Thursday this week since that is my 2 year offical anniversary date.  Please continue to check back.

Thanks

JB

Hi my name is Brandon I am 9 years old.  This is my first post on Fam5 Blog.  I got a new game it is called Destroy all humans for Playstation 2 game consoles.  The package describes the game as Use destructive weapons and innate mental powers to take on the most feared enemy in the galaxy…Mankind! Play as Crypto, an alien warrior sent to Earth to clear the way for the Furon invasion force. Your mission is to infiltrate humanity, control them, harvest their brain stems and ultimately destroy them. You choose the method infiltration or disintegration. 

To me I am Cryto the alien and go around and do the missions when I am done with the missions I go back to my saucer and destroy the whole entire place.  I have my game saved and it tells me I am 34% done with the entire game.  Then also I put in these game cheats to help me win the game.  Here are some of my favorite cheats for Destroy all humans for Playstation 2 game consoles.

Ammo/A/Plenty - It is for ever lasting Ammo - Pause the game hold the L2 button ->O R2 <- R1 then square button

Bullet Proof - This is for ever lasting life - Pause the game hold the L2 button then square button O -> ->O then square button

Pox’s Lab- Go to the mothership - Hold L2then square O -> -> O L1

MMMM Brain- Go to mothership - Hold L2 R1 R1 R2 R2 -> <- -> <- R2 R1

Remember these cheats are only good for each mission and need to be reentered for every new mission. 

Have fun destroying all humans…haha

BW 

Just realized I did not post my weight for Tuesday it was 173.8.  That means I keep hovering at about 172 - 175 I am pleased with that result. 

This morning in the Record Searchlight there was an article about weight loss surgery (WLS) called ‘Study ties stomach surgery, longer life spans for obese‘.  It says ” Obese people are significantly less likely to die if they undergo stomach surgery to lose weight, according to two large new studies that offer the first convincing evidence that the health gains of losing weight translate into living longer.”  Please be sure to read more about ‘Study ties stomach surgery, longer life spans for obese‘.

At one point the article says “I would hate to see these studies being used to justify the argument that we should be doing weight-loss surgery to save lives,” said Paul Campos of the University of Colorado, author of “The Obesity Myth.” “The claim that we have to give people weight-loss surgery to keep them from dying imminently is greatly exaggerated. At best, it’s a very, very modest effect.”

I guess I could argue the issue that WLS does not save lives due to my past two years.  You can read part of my argument that WLS does not save lives at a post I did August 7, 2005 WLS and Update.  This would have been before weight loss surgery and the WLS category you can read my post about my journey before WLS to current day progress.  I suppose some doctors or skeptics would argue that I am only 2 years out but I would have to argue that I am 2 years out and did not have a heart transplant.  That to me is a huge success story for WLS.

 I would not go as far as saying everyone that is obese needs to have surgery.  However, I would say if you are having medical conditions (my medical conditions before WLS) and your obese that would be a good reason to talk to a specialist.  If you do not have one in mind I can recommend talking to PacLap as a good starting point.  No matter what specialist your thinking about make sure you do your homework.  Do some searching on the Internet and go to some newsgroups and forums and talk to others that have had surgery.  They might be able to answer some of your questions and concerns.  I had so many and as time drew closer I still had questions and concerns but people were more than happy to talk about there experiences and that was what I wanted.  I did not want people that were not experts trying to act like one.

Here are a couple of newsgroups/forums that I visit/visited often.

Pacific Laparoscopy Yahoo Newsgroup - For existing patients, or anyone interested learning about the program at Pacific Laparoscopy in San Francisco, CA, with Dr. John Rabkin. For support and discussion of issues specific to the Distal Gastric Bypass/Duodenal Switch, and Vertical Gastrectomy surgery performed at California Pacific Medical Center and at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco, CA.

Obesity Help Forum - Welcome to the Vertical Sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) forum. This forum is dedicated to educating patients about advancements and opportunities pertaining to the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, a surgical procedure under active development. If you have knowledge or questions about this topic, please participate by posting to our message-board and introducing yourself. We are actively recruiting patient and clinical advisors to our forum to help share news, experience, support and insight.

Sleeve Gastractomy Forum- This group is for people who are interested in learning about the “Sleeve Gastrectomy” weight loss surgery procedure. This surgery is unique and is being done by a limited number of surgeons throughout the world. This is a safe place to share experiences - ranging from choice of procedure, surgical, post-operative adjustments with food, weight loss, medical problems, etc. This procedure is quite different from other types of WLS. This list provides a place to address the issues sleeve gastrectomy patients deal with specifically. If you are researching this surgery or are a support person to someone who is a sleeve gastrectomy patient you are also welcome to join!

Of course anytime you want to ask me questions offline about my experiences shoot me an email Jeff @ fam5.com (purposely spaced out).  I am one that will talk about my experiences until your sick of asking. 

Have a great day and read you online.

JB

Ok, I just had to post about an experiment that Sprint recently conducted.  They asked seven emplyees to give up there cell phones for a week (7 days).  No cell phone, no handheld, no walkie-talkie, and no broadband cards.  They were asked to blog daily about there experiences on Sprint’s Speed Blog. 

This prompted me to think about the question “Could I give up my wireless lifestyle for a week?”  After reading a few of the blog entries I would say yes I could give up my wireless lifestyle for a week.  The main reason is that like the participants I would still have access to the internet.  So I would either use the internet at home or at work.  I could get my contacts from Outlook and print them out if needed.  I am not saying I would enjoy giving up my Cingular/AT&T 8525 PDA Phone for a week however I guess with access to other means of broadband I could do it.

What do you think, could you give up your wireless lifestyle for a week and why?

I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions on this subject.

Thanks and have a great wireless week.
JB

Went to Shasta Lake over the weekend to fish, swim, and relax.  Even though Shasta Lake is at an all time low it was still a very nice relaxing time.  Went out with the family and my brother Ryan.  Here is a picture of Uncle Ryan with our 2 1/2 year old Adriana.

As you can see from the picture it was a good time had by all.  To give you an example of how far down the lake is in the picture below you will see a lot of dirt. 

Yes the water is normally up to the trees.  This lake feeds the Sacramento River which in turn feeds the central valley for agriculture and drinking water.  The fishing is not all that hot right now due to how low the lake is. 

Here is my Dad trying to catch a fish which we have been skunked for about a week.  We are thinking the fish are deep for cooler water so we will try to go deep and see what happens.  If you have never been to Shasta Lake you should come out to Northern California and give it try.  Ask my friend Rich how much fun it can be?  A little inside joke that I could not do justice trying to explain.  Just imagine high speeds and a body rolling across the lake.

Take care everyone.

JB