Jonathan Blue

@Bandista I am thinking I may have to steal your idea about writing a goal letter to yourself. That is an absolutely amazing idea. That is one I will put into practice with my goals for the next year! Thank you for your support. To everyone: Thank you all so much for the kind words and support. Best of luck in reaching your goals in the coming year. I cannot wait to hear all of the success stories!

As the New Year approaches everyone begins assessing how they have done over the last year and what changes they will make going into the New Year. If you have had surgery in the last year, you have a lot to look back on: all of the changes, all of the pounds lost, and all of the amazing things you are doing now. If you are still trying to decide if the next year will be your year for surgery, I strongly hope that you read on. As the New Year approaches everyone begins assessing how they have done over the last year and what changes they will make going into the New Year. If you have had surgery in the last year, you have a lot to look back on: all of the changes, all of the pounds lost, and all of the amazing things you are doing now. If you are still trying to decide if the next year will be your year for surgery, I strongly hope that you read on. At the end of 2013 I was a guy who could barely get up out of a chair, someone who was scared to go down the stairs for fear of getting hurt, was hurting on a regular basis, and dreamed that there had to be more to life than wasting away on the couch. I sat in bed at night dreaming of doing all of the things I never thought I would ever be able to do. Then on November 4, 2013, I took the plunge. “But your surgery wasn’t in 2014?” you may say. True, but my journey truly began in 2014 as I has just finished recovering from surgery and was starting to piece my new life together. Over the last year I have seen my body change. I went from being over 530lbs down to a current weight of 310lbs. I still have plenty more to go, but not bad for a year of hard work. During the last year I walked a 5K and walked my first 10K, but that wasn’t good enough for me. I then bought a bike and began biking in events which culminated in a 30 mile ride at Bike MS Venture the Valley and a 38 mile ride at the Twisted Pretzel ride in Germantown, Ohio. Still it wasn’t good enough. I follow the biking up with a three quarter mile swim in the Ohio River. I swam from the Cincinnati side to the Kentucky side and back in under 17 min. I actually got 6th place in my age group if you can believe that, but it still wasn’t good enough. I could do more. I finished out my year by running my first ever 5K without stopping at the DAV 5K and attempted the Thanksgiving Day 10K with mixed results. I ran 4 of the six miles and learned some valuable lessons on nutrition and training. Looking back I have had an amazing and productive year. I have done some amazing things that only a year ago I was dreaming about. The problem for me is that with all of those amazing things, it is still not good enough. For me, every time I push myself, I want to find my absolute limit. The problem is that when I get to the end, I realize I could push harder, or go longer, or go faster. I have not yet found my body’s limit. That is just how amazing it is. So what do I do about it all? I PLAN 2015! In 2015 I plan on doing more 5K’s and local bike races, but the big events are simple. I will begin training to run the 15K at the Heart Mini followed by the half marathon at the Flying Pig. I then want to compete in my first triathlon. It is an Olympic triathlon in Cincinnati, Ohio. I plan on finishing out my year with a 2.4 mile swim in the Ohio River down in Louisville, Kentucky. I want to continue pushing those limits in 2015 and I have a sneaking suspicion I will still not find my limits. I strongly encourage you all as 2014 comes to a close to begin thinking about your journey over the last year. Yes there are plenty of other fun resolutions to make like reading more, learning a new language, or taking a chance on love, but for now I want you to concentrate on you and your weight loss. I want you to take inventory of the amazing things that have happened over the last year and all of the area where you feel like you have not pushed it to its limit. Make a list, make it tangible, hang it where you will constantly be reminded of the list. I just want you to ponder it for a couple days. Then you can move on to step two. Step two is where you begin making your goals and resolutions for the New Year. I want you to make sure that these are goals that you can accomplish with pushing yourself a little. I don’t want them to be too easy or too hard. If you need help with this, my door is always open, shoot me a line. I want you to think of all the things you have dreamed about doing but your weight has held you back from. Make a list of those things and begin knocking things off of the list. This could be things as simple as going down a flight of stairs without help like it was for me at the beginning of the year, or it could be to run a marathon. I do not know where you are in this journey, but you need to make your resolutions ones that are personal to you. If you are not passionate about the things you are trying to accomplish nothing will come of it. I have been working really hard to gain sponsors to help me reach my goals for the next year and for years to come. I got my first one for next year just this week and am super excited, but I am still going to push with my resolution to try and have three sponsors before the end of May. Remember when you are forming your resolutions that you follow the formula for SMART goals. Make sure they are: S – Specific – The more specific you are on the details of your goals the easier it is to monitor progress M – Measureable – You should be able to give a specific number to your goals (distance, time, reps, etc.) A – Attainable – These should be goals that are feasible to accomplish in a set time frame. R – Realistic – Being a goal you are both willing and able to work toward. T – Timely – Make sure your goals have a specific time frame. I hope this helps you begin thinking of what resolutions you will make with your own journey going into 2015. This last year has been truly amazing and I can’t wait to hear all the amazing stories from readers going through the next one. I strongly encourage all of you to share your resolutions in the comments below so the Bariatric Pal community can rally around and encourage you as your pursue a whole new level of awesome in 2015. I BELIEVE IN YOU! MAKE 2015 EPIC!

Knowing your pain management plan post surgery will allow you to reduce complications and get out of the hospital soon. I have included some helpful tips from a hospital pharmacy insider... ME! I often times get asked what is the biggest piece of advice I could give someone for surviving their hospital stay. For me the answer is a hands down no brainer. CONTROL YOUR PAIN MEDS! Nurses and hospital staff will be in and out to see you, but you need to realize that each nurse probably has four to six other patients all vying for attention. It is your responsibility to take your pain management into your own hands. You do not want to mess around when it comes to managing your pain! If you are in pain you will be unable to get up and walk. The longer you take to begin walking the greater your risk of complication and the longer your hospital stay. In this case DO NOT BE A TOUGH GUY! Wuss out and take the meds. You will be constantly asked during you hospital stay what your pain level is. It will be on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being no pain at all and 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt in your life. Be sure to answer honestly. DO NOT TRY TO BE MACHO! 3 to 5 on this scale is considered pain, but tolerable. If you drop below a 3 many doctors will begin reducing pain medication. Above 5 and they may begin increasing. The doctors and nurses want you in the blissful middle zone of 4 to 5. It should feel as though you have a bad muscle pull in your stomach, but no sharp or stabbing pain on a continual basis. Your pain post-surgery will most likely be controlled in one of a two ways. The first is with a gloriously blissful device known as a PCA pump. This is a machine in which a syringe of Morphine or Fentanyl (depending on what your doctor and a hospital pharmacist deem to be appropriate) is placed to be administered to you at the push of a button. The best part is that you have control of the button! The machine can be set to allow you to administer the dose yourself every so many minutes; usually half an hour. The other way your pain will be managed is with an injection of morphine or fentanyl? This is pretty straight forward and don’t worry if you are scared of needles. This pain candy is injected into your IV. Once you get past the injections or PCA pumps, usually once they take out your IV, you will most likely be weaned onto an oral pain medication of some kind. Many surgeons prefer Percocet for this application, but you may also be given an oral morphine. There is really no major difference between these in terms of effectiveness though there are other consideration that your doctor and a hospital pharmacist will use in consideration of which to give you. It will be your job in the hospital to stay on top of when you get your pain medications. Here is what you need to know from an insider. I work as a pharmacy technician in a hospital so I am familiar with the workarounds. Here is the rule of thumb. The PCA pump will be available to you at your discretion and will most likely be hooked up before you wake up from surgery or shortly after, but injectables last about two hours and the oral liquid lasts about four. That is a very short window and you need to be sure to talk with your nurses and find out how long each medication is good for. I made it a point to let my nurse know half an hour before each medication was due. This will allow them plenty of time to get your medication to you before time runs out. If the medication is not stocked on the floor then it will be delivered from the pharmacy and will take time. You want to give your nurse plenty of time to make this happen. Your nurse will not always remember when your pain meds are due so it will be your job to remind them. Remember, they have five other six people all needed medicines and all needing extra special attention so it is possible that you could be forgotten if you do not speak up. I am positive some nurses found me annoying, but other said they really appreciated the fact I was trying to stay so consistent with things and remind them. They key here is to be very nice and just let them know you are trying to stay on top of things since you know how the pharmacy works. Nurse’s love blaming the pharmacy for delays and they will love you for not blaming them. Far too many people do. Running out of pain medication is a lot like falling off a cliff. You go down fast and it takes a while to climb back on top of it. So do yourself a favor and make sure you understand how long your pain medication will last and what types you are on. Make it a point with one of your final doctors’ visits prior to surgery to discuss what their plan for pain management will be and specifically which drugs he likes to use and why. With this in particular and your weight loss journey in general, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! The power to finally begin taking control of your life. That is what this amazing journey is all about. This will be a great way to practice in the hospital before you get home and the real work begins!

Amazing article!

I took the time to find a bunch of Russel Stovers sugar free chocolate candies. They go a long way to curb any craving for sweets I have without blowing my sugar or calorie intake out of the Water. I have also found the Jolly Rancher and a few other hard candy companies also make sugar free versions of their products. You just need to look for them. I usually do not eat many sweets, but when I feel like I need a little something to combat those cravings, or when it is all around me, I reach for one of these go to options. I can have something a little sweet without blowing my calorie intake for the day.