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

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

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

On August 8th I had my two year weight loss surgery check up.  I was asked if I would be a speaker at there monthly meeting that evening.  Since I was down there I figured it would be good to talk about my experiences.

My two year (wow 2 years) check up was at 2 pm in San Francisco with Pacific Laparoscopy.  My appointment was typical wait for over an hour for a 10-15 minute talk.  This time I met with Jennifer Smith PA-C instead of one of the doctors.  My blood work looked great and they were pleased with my progress up to this point.  I am at the weight that they like to see me at.  They do not want to see me lose much more if any.  Jennifer Smith PA-C was rather surprised to hear after 2 years I still not eating sweets or drinking carbonated beverages.  She did say it was okay to eat fruit in small quantities.  I eat grapes and nectarines on occasions but do not splurge on them.  After that was done I had time to go back to the motel to freshen up and change into something more presentable for the meeting.  We like to stay at the San Francisco Days Inn on Grove Street.  If your ever in San Francisco and need great little hotel centrally located I highly recommend staying at the San Francisco Days Inn on Grove Street. 

Tammy and I showed up to the meeting about an hour early to make sure everything was setup ahead of time.  Tammy went off to the presentation for people interested in learning about the surgery options and what it takes to have a surgery.  I stayed in the meeting that was a questions and answer session with John Rabkin, MD, FACS.  Doctor John is the surgereon that performed my surgery August 30, 2005.  Very, very talented at what he does could not ask for a better doctor.  A lot of the Q/A was about reconstructive surgery for those that have had weight loss surgery.  The two groups merged at 7 pm for introductions and the guest speaker (me).  They had everyone introduce themselves and tell there name, what surgery they had, how much weight they loss, and there wow moment for the month.  They went around the room and then Barbara Metcalf, RN, Program Director introduced me and I went into my speech.  I spoke about my heart issues that started all this in 2005 and then lead into my surgery and the life after my surgery up to that day. 

The presentation got the point across but I thought I choked a little.  Doctor Rabkin was standing right in front of me in the back of the room.  That sort of through my game off a little not sure why.  Overall I thought the evening went well and it was good to talk to people that either had or were thinking about having weight loss surgery.  There were approximately 40 people I believe.  People that were years out of there surgery and others that were not so far out.  There were even a couple of folks that had Vertical Gastrectomy just like I had.

Have a great day and see you online.

JB

This morning I weighed in at 172.  I keep vacillating between 172 and 175 which I will not complain over.  I will be making another post later about my two year check up and presentation in San Francisco.  Be sure to watch for that.

Have a great day.

JB

Oh no, it was not a very good week.  I weighed in at 175.4 this morning, that is up a couple.  Some would say about time but for me and where I have been that is not what I wanted to see this morning.  I know my problem is the grazing I have been doing at night.  I have been doing a little more than normal.  I will need to dig deep this week and work on my mental attitude towards eating. 

I find that eating is a huge mental game.  I am not hungry mainly because I still do not get hungry due to my surgery.  So with that in mind it is all in my mind that I feel I need to eat something.  Sometimes I think I graze because of boredom it only happens at night when I am home.  This would be a good one for Dr. Phil don’t you think?

I will work through the issues and do better this week I need to be around the 170 mark for my 2 year annual checkup.  No reason other than I want to be at that weight.

Have a good week all and if you have bad eating habits let me know what they are.

Later
JB

I awoke this morning at 0600 and jumped out of bed to weigh-in.  This morning I am showing 173.2 pounds.  Once again I go up 2-3 pounds and then back 2-3 pounds.  I seem to be hovering between 170 - 175.

I would say the cause of this is the grazing I tend to do over the weekends.  Most of my grazing tends to be Sunday evening and Monday evenings.  If I were to get away from that I bet my weight would stay about the 170 mark.

I am still sticking to the protein drink in the morning.  Sometimes I have a half a bagel with peanut butter.  Then take my meds and get around.  Right before I leave I tend to make my protein drink for the road.

I can tell you what I need to do it’s just actually doing it that tends to be the issue.  I need to have a protein drink in the morning and no other food.  Then eat at lunch and then again at dinner.  No grazing from the 5 pm (dinner) to 10 pm time I go to bed.  If I do need a snack I need to stick to popcorn only. 

I have my annual checkup and speaking engagement coming up in San Francisco in a few weeks (Aug 8th).

Have a great week.
JB