SigmaChefSpe

This is Unbelievable So, surgery was October 9th, its hard to believe that just 2 short months ago I weighed 343.4 pounds, not the biggest I have ever been but pretty close. I look at that weight and think to myself WOW, what is God’s name was I doing. What in God’s name was I thinking. How was I living at 343 pounds, how didn’t my legs collapse under the weight, how did I manage to get down on one knee time and time again as I flung my 15 pound bowling ball. Time and time again. I can’t help but wonder how my body managed to keep up without having the sever amount of pain that should come from living with that kinda weight. Now, I’m down to 280.6. 280.6!!!!!! I can’t tell you how amazing this feels, I’m back bowling and I cannot tell you how much better my legs feel during my approach how much easier it is to keep my balance at the foul line. How much easier it is to get up out of my shot and that is just my bowling. None of my cloths fit anymore. NONE of them, I swear that my sneakers and work shoes feel looser. OMG I bent over and tied my shoes under my knee. Meaning for the first time in years I didn’t have to lay my foot on the side to tie my shoe. What a great feeling to have. Yesterday at bowling I had this white tee shirt on, and a fellow bowler had to do a double take at me as I was walking up to him, his face was priceless, he walks up to me and says holy shyt, where is the heck is the other half? My first response was right there as I pointed at my girl but then I realized that he was talking about the weight I lost. I can’t explain the happiness that bought to my life. To hear people I bowl with talking about how great I look as I walk past them is amazing. I can’t wait to go shopping, super excited right now. And the great part is there is at least another 60 pounds to come off. I’m already looking forward to it. #OverInspired

Well here we are about 4 weeks out of surgery, I have lost almost 50 pounds and I can tell you I am loing this surgery. I feel bad becuase i have not been on this site to update in a bit. as a matter of fact last time i was here it was still verticle sleeve talk. lol. no wonder my app wont work. Well Anyway, let me tell you this is great. if you are reading this prior to surgery, let me tell you IT IS WORTH IT. i am not going to lie to you, when i woke up from the operating table i hurt.... bad... but thankfully i was allowed to go back to sleep and, when I woke up it wasnt so bad. Here I am 4 weeks out from surgery and have no pain what so ever. I feel amazing, and i can tell you to be able to sit in a chair and not have my legs rubbing against the arm rest is a amazing feeling. I have been going out to eat with my wifey and of course while she get what she wants i have a soup or something and nurse the heck out of it, but i've noticed that i actually have space between my body and the booth table. Oh man! This is just a wonderful all around experience, I praise god for allowing me to have it, and am over joyed to be at the place i am. I just bought myself some new cloths and out of habit i headed to the big and tall section of the store well, i ended up trying on the smallest thing i could fit in the big a tall section and it was too big, i started to celebrate. I very confidently wondered over to the "normal" people sizes and found me this nice pair of jeans.... whoo let me tell you, one of the best feelings in the world right there. This has been an amazing ride so far, i've finally been able to go to the gym and have done so the last two day, and even that was eaiser. I am just so excited. yes this has its down falls as does everything in life, but i'll tell you what. if you even have the smallest of doubts about this surgery, email me or message me your questions and i'll be straight to the point with you... KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK>>>>>>>> LETS KNOCK ANOTHER 50 OFF!

Well I found out yesterday that the doctor’s office finally opened up the claim with my insurance, that mean my insurance countdown begins…. 15 days… well actually its 14 business days until they have to make a decision on my application for surgery. I have to admit I’m kinda nervous, but its only because I want this so bad. All the weeks of prodding and poking and procedures all lead to this moment, to these final days. I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel and guess where it leads….. to a beach walking around without a shirt and being proud about it. it leads to shopping at normal people stores, it leads to roller coasters and comfortable plane rides. It leads to a healthy and brand new life. I am 14 days away from losing the weight and seeing my kids graduate, meeting and enjoying my grandchildren, and loving my life in a way I haven’t been able to in a long time. I am 14 days away from a new chapter, if you can’t tell I’m really excited for this. I ready for this.

Ok, so I had my endoscopy today, which means my file will be submitted to the insurance for approval tomorrow.... I hope that goes well. The Endoscopy was neat, I have never been under any type of sedation before. I feel good overall, except for this headache I've had all day but I think its because my body wants to go back to sleep and I haven't let it. I left the hospital at 12:30 and have been up ever since, everyone says I should be sleep, so I guess I'm going to turn in shortly as its 607 in the evening. Well I just wanted to say, I had the endoscopy yesterday and the 15 day count down begin tomorrow. Wish me luck everyone!!!!!

Ok, so let me tell you how I was SUPER nervous this weekend. So if you dont know anything about me (and i dont think you do) I love rollercoasters, love, love, love them, and it has been a very depressing past couple of years for me becuase I have been too big to ride them.... which mind you is the worse feeling in the world. I mean standing in line for an hour laughing and joking with your frineds to finally get to the coaster and not be able to close the harness.... its deflating, then whats even worse is to have to get off the coaster turn around and look at not only the 40 people on the coaster waiting to take off but the hundreds that are in line looking at you looking at them.... oh man its terrible. anyway this weekend we went to six flags and while bobbing around in the lazy river.... super cool if you dont have one, its this 1/2 mile long river that runs around the water park, but its got jets and sprinklers and all kind of stuff in it... amazing, but anyway in bobbing around in the river my girl and I are talking and she tells me that she has been avioding going to six flags because she wants to ride the rides with me and a lot of them i cant fit on..... i'm not sure what hurt worse getting off the ride in front of all of those people, or knowing that I am the reason that someone else I love is not doing something that they want to do. Anyway I try to shake off any bad feelings becuase i dont want to ruin the day anymore. So internally i'm having a fight with myself, do i run the risk of the embarrassment of getting asked to leave the ride or do i just deal with the hurt of knowing that i am keeping my love from doing what she love because of my size? What would you do? I end up saying to myself my embarrassment is nothing compared to the hurt and shame i feel because i how i'ver held her back and decided i am going to try and get on the coaster. Well, we head over to the theme park and find a ride, get in line for about 15 minutes and don't you know it started to rain and thunder really bad, so of course they shut the coasters down, we found a bench and waited 45 mintues to see if it would pass, when it didnt we decided we needed to go home and would try again another day. I would love to say that this story ended in a happy ending plummeting 200 feet to the earth at 60 MPH but the truth is it didn't. It didnt end the way we wanted it to, but what it did do was inspire, motivate, bring to light the darkness that was hiding within. what it did do was make me realize how this weight that i have been carrying is not only affecting me, but affecting the people i love, I promise you this, once this suregery comes I will NEVER see this weight again. Thanks for listening have a great day. #SuperHighlyMotivated

I can tell you that i have been in process for about 2 or 3 months and its been a roller coaster. Ups and down, but well worth it. I have two things left to do, the endoscopy on the 9th, and to submit the paperwork to the insurance. I have to tell you, one of the best feelings through out this process was setting the tenative date.... october 9th is what i am looking at and i cant wait... add me as a friend and we can go through this experience together!

Beach Lover, 4.8 million dollars is a lot of money.... and your uncle is a smart man. I think finding a way to generate additional income is the key to any successful lump some. People think oh I have 5 million dollars and can live off this forever because they currently live off of 60-90K a year.... but what people dont realize is your spending changes with you income, A 4 person family will find means of survival off of a salary of 30K just as they would off of a salary of 100K. Finding a way to generate income is the key..... with that being said I have to agree with Veruca, investing at this point and time just doesnt seem the best way.... at least not in the stock market.... I work in the mortgage industry which is directly related to the stock market and I see first hand the way it is all over the place..... somethime going up and down 10 times in a day.... just not enough stability for me..... I did forget to leave off my donation to the Churchs, My mothers side of the family is super reglious and I would have to make a "large" donation to a couple of churchs in my granmothers honor, I know she would have done the same Veruca...... RVing.... not a bad choice at all.... I have never been in a RV before but a saw a movie about a family that took a RVing trip across country and it was Hilarious.... but yes seeing the counrty by way of RV does tickle my senses too

notime, that is a great point, but i actually like the hustle and bustleof the airport but maybe that is only becuae i've only been on an airplane twice in my life. Lol, I do like the idea of traveling, i hear the Barbados is exceptionally nice right now..... and yeah playing is a key factor in winning HA HA HA

It’s been quite a while since I put a good entry in here and being as I got a few moments I figured now is the time to do it…… So, what’s on my mind…. First off I went to the doctors on Sunday and afterwards she said she didn’t need to see for again until 6 weeks after the surgery??? Normally people would be rejoicing in the fact that they don’t have to go back to the doctors, but I’m thinking…. 6 weeks, isn’t that a little long for someone who went through MAJOR surgery? I’m actually feeling like maybe she is just pushing me off, not rally a good feeling to have about a new doctor….. Maybe it’s just me taking it wrong. I can wait to get this surgery done, I keep looking to see if there is anything I can do to speed the process up but I know at this point it’s just a waiting game. The endoscopy is scheduled for September 9th. Which is over a month away, I now it will fly by but still I want to do it now…. And then to think I have to wait another month due to the insurance needing there time to review/approve the package… and then on top of all of this my job is slowing down to a dangerous level. Now do get me wrong my God is a amazing God and I know that no harm can come of me as long as I continue to serve Him, but just seeing it slow down is worry some. I talked to my girl about this whole thing and while you can see she is trying her best to stay calm on the outside, she is terrified on the inside, you can see it in her eyes whenever we talk about it… and because I see this it makes me not want to talk to her about it because I don’t want to see her worry. Not sure what to do with that. Oh and how about the lottery??? I don’t know if you have the lottery where you are but in this area the Powerball payout is up to $400 million. Yes you read that right 400,000,000.00 dollars. I guess if I hit it alone after taxes I should bring in about 265 or 270 Million… Whew what to do with the money, well being as I always play with the annuity option that would mean that I would make around 8.5 or 9 million dollars a year for the next 30 years… more than enough to set myself up for life. I would buy a house outright, and set up a separate account for property taxes alone, I would $750 thousand aside for each child that they wouldn’t even know about until the turned 25 and completely pay off all of my debt, buy two newer… not new but newer cars and probably take a few trips. Once it was all said and done, I would bank the rest and live off the interest. Man how easy would it be? Well now that I have been brought back to reality by my work phone I guess I can wrap this up for now. While I thank you for reading I pose the question to you, if you ended up making 9 million dollars a year for the next 30 years what would you do with it?

Just another update! Sat with the Nutritionist yesterday, She was a very nice lady, we reviewed my three day food diary, what type of protein shakes they thought were best for this type of surgery. All of the food groups and my caloric intake, what I should be watching out for and what I am ok to eat and not eat. We also discussed what to expect for the weeks before surgery and after surgery. I thought it was a great visit. I also had the pleasure of setting a preliminary surgery date 10/9!!!!! Woot Woot! I am very happy to know that we are getting close, I still need to have my endoscopy done but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m getting very excited. Anyway I have to go to a conference call but I’ll write again soon!

My God! 10 inches in 4 months, that is AMAZING! i hope i have that same success once i get mine done! CoNgRaTs!!!!!! live it well!

Ok, If you read my last entry you will know that on the 11th I was crazy Mad because the surgeons office called and wanted to reschedule my appointment from 7/19 to 7/16 becuase the surgeon was doing a conference on the 19th and the person doing the schedule made a mistake. I was mad not becuase they wanted to move it up but because they wanted me to have 6 sets of test done prior to sitting with the surgeon and they still hadnt given me the scripts to get them done. Needless to say i thought it was impossible and ended up setting a tenative appointment for 8/2. Well i decided that on Saturday the 13th i was going to get whatever work done i could get done being as i didnt have anything else to do. I went to LabCorp to get the bllod drawn and come to find out the needed to take 8 vials of blood. after that i decided to go to the hospital and have the xrays done. Once i got there the lady who registered me decided she was going to make a call and see if i could make an appointment to come back next week and have the other test done. Well when she came back in the room she said everyone was able to do the test saturday. So I got ALL of my work done on a Saturday and was able to sit with my surgeon yesterday!!!!!!!! So, yesterday i'm with the surgeon and we are going over all of the test results and i find out there is 1 thing i need to get corrected before scheduling the surgery, apperently i tested positive for H. Palri, or how ever you spell it lol. So i have to take antibaotics prior to surgery. I also found out I need to have an endoscopy completed, so i sit down to schedule my endoscopy and the next open date is 9/9, yup, 9/9. My surgeon only does endoscopys on the 1st and 2nd monday of the month and he is off on vacation the first two weeks of august, oh and the first monday in september is Labor day, so after all the back breaking and blessings and all that other stuff i still have to wait until september. Now, I can laugh at it seeing how silly i was to try and rush things along, now i'm just trying to get myself together mentally for the life long journey that comes. I probable wont be back here until there is another update but just know that it is coming as soon.

Hi Guys, Thank you for all the support. It's really nice to know that you guys are out there. I'm going to be posting a new blog but jyust incase you dont want to read everything I got all my testing completed saturday the 13th at another facility close to home, and was still able to sit with the surgeon this past tuesday. It is great how God moves when we least expect it. Sometimes i just have to remember that even when things turn upside down he is still in control!

Nothing make me madder then when i am busting my hump to get stuff done in a timely manner and one issue throws the whole thing out of wack. So i talked to the registar on the 3rd of July, she ask me, do you think you can get the testing done by 7/19, im like heck yeah, well here it is now 7/11 and still no scripts, so i start calling around looking to see where they are, come to find out she never sent them? REALLY????? REALLY????? then i also find out on my call that the docter is scheduled for a conference the day of my appointment, he has been scheduled for that conference for three months..... WHAT WAS THIS LADY DOING???? So the new nurse says to me, we will let you meet with the doctor 7/16 instead of waiting until 7/19, well that would be great if the stupid lady would have sent out my scripts for the test back on the third when she was suppose to. I have spent the last three hours trying to see if i could find a place to get the test done prior to 7/16 to no avail. so i call the hospital back and the lady is like well the next appointment we have the the doctor is 8/2. August 2nd? are you f***ing kidding me? 8/2???? i am so mad right now. Here i am thinking that im moving along at a great pace and this one lady throws everything into a tail spin. So now not only am i back to waiting but i need to take an additional day away from work to get this satisfied. Well as it currently stands 7/16 i go in to get all 6 test done 7/30 i have the meeting with the nutritionist 8/2 i meet with the surgeon. Oh and to beat the doctor goes on vacation for three weeks on 8/4 so i wont be looking for a date until september, this is really starting to boil my blood. and i wanted to have it done by mid august, oh well, there that idea goes..... still kinda PO All of this could have been avoided, the the original lady would have just looked at the schedule correct.........GRRRRRRRR.........

So this past sunday was the first time i've been to the doctors in 16 years, yeah i know, that;s pretty bad, but the truth is besides being fat i'm a pretty healthy dude. I dont take any medicine, i dont have a problem sleeping, no asmah, the only problem i really have is elevated blood pressure.... So as i said i went to the Dr. Office Sunday and had my "check up" she said everything was fine, my blood prossure was high, 151/91, which is right in line with the last few times i was at the P. Center to donate, but she said she wasn't going to put me on meds cause i am in the weight loss process. She said that i would quilify for the procedure on my BMI alone, according to the web is 42.6 (6'1" weight 325) so that made me feel a little better. The Nurse was really nice, she took a few minutes to explain what she was doing and why she was doing it, she looked at the thing on my stomach and confrimed that it came from the belt rubbing the bottom of my stomach from sitting so much and that it would heal as the stoach went down but could confrim that it would ever look the same which was kinda depressing. She told me that i have to continue to have my pressure checked every week and if the bottom goes over 100 or the top goes over 160 i need to come back to her office right away, i guess that is heart attack range, but i didnt ask. I still did not get the information from the the hospital yet to get the blood work and other stuff done, i keep forgetting that there is no mail movement on the 4th of July so that makes everything slower. Well i'm really excited to get this thing moving. and am actually kinda antsy. Well I got to get back to work but just wanted to let you know about the doctors appointment. Ill talk to you soon!