Hello, my name is Ed aka Danger Mouse. I'm originally from Austin, TX but currently live in Upstate NY outside Albany. My surgeon is Dr. Baranov in Saratoga Springs, and I had my RNY Gastric Bypass surgery on August 10th, 2015. This is my story.

IN THE BEGINNING

I posted the meat of this in another thread a week or so ago, but I figured it's a good way to start out a thread on my story and use it as sort of a living diary I guess post op...as long as I can keep it up. So I start at the beginning...

When I see pictures of myself when I was younger (before 9 years of age), I was very skinny.

Before that time my parents would send me to after school daycare. There they would feed us a small snack and then send us outside into the playground until our parents came to pick us up. When I was 9, I started walking the mile home from school. Even with that exercise, being home alone for a couple of hours before the parents got home opened up the entire refrigerator for me, leftovers and all.

I still remember when I turned 13 years old, I had to take a physical to play football. On the paper I turned into the coach I was 5'10" tall and weighed 215 pounds. I never grew another inch as I still stand 5'10".

Strangely enough I was a pretty decent long distance runner. I loved it! I remember clocking in a 6.5 minute mile which seemed pretty impressive for my size and age at the time.

When I got to college, we had to take a couple of PE credits, and I elected to do weightlifting. Our pass/fail grade was based on how much weight we could bench press and leg press divided by our actual weight. That was quite an incentive to hit the weights hard and lose some weight. I started my first freshman semester at 265 pounds and got down to 238 pounds a year later.

I would do the weightlifting class Monday and Wednesday afternoon then head home and run 3 miles.

Then my sophomore year, it all fell apart. I became a delivery driver for Papa John's. Oh, yeah! Free food!! It was all over after that. I never ran again and very rarely lifted any more weights.

Unfortunately I don't have any weight statistics from when I was 19 until I was 31. I never went to the doctor or made any effort to weigh myself. My guess is that I got upwards of 350+ pounds before 2003 when I started exhibiting symptoms of diabetes. I didn't recognize those for what they were though, and I really loved the weight loss that came with being a hardcore diabetic. I remember running into a woman at the time who I had known before the diabetic weight loss, and she mentioned that I looked really good. I felt like I looked good, but oh man, was I feeling crappy in other areas: constantly thirsty, dry mouth, constantly urinating, etc., etc. However, since I had no idea I was diabetic, I was continually downing sodas and just about everything else with tons and tons of sugar.

When I finally saw a doctor in 2006 I was 300 pounds with blood sugars in the 300's. He immediately put me on insulin, and I gradually got up to 390 pounds in a year. I've documented what happened next in other threads, but I stayed at around 390-400 until late 2010. I was put on Victoza and lost about 60 pounds over the course of a year. Then I put it all back on in 2012 and then some.

It was in October 2012 when I went to see my cardiologist at the time that I realized it was probably time to do something. His scale didn't go over 400. They couldn't document my weight at the time, and when the nurse left me in the examination room, I lost it and broke down. That's when my cardiologist recommended WLS. It was something I thought about afterwards, but I really am so commitment-phobic, I just wasn't sure I wanted to put that kind of commitment in myself.

In July of 2013 I lost my job of 15 years due to a reduction in force. That certainly didn't help matters, and I became very depressed. It took me a few months, but I ended up taking a job 1800 miles away from where I lived in Austin, TX to where I now live in Upstate NY north of Albany. That was in February of 2014.

Well, one week later, things seemed to have cooled off, and I do feel better mentally and as far as my appetite is concerned. Getting my liquids in hasn't been too much of an issue for me although I don't always make 64 ounces daily.

On the plus side, I've lost 10 pounds in the last two weeks, and now 19 in the last five. I'm still wearing some of my old 5X shirts since I still don't want to buy anything new or "used" just yet. I have to tuck them in my pants though otherwise it looks like I'm wearing a tent. To me that's just simply amazing.

Hang in there ...you are making progress!!!!

Oof...threw up for the first time in several weeks earlier today. I made some pot roast in the slow cooker, and I guess I didn't shred the meat up small enough and/or didn't chew very well. I could feel it getting stuck in my pouch fairly early on, and then the coughing starts. I really hate how sometimes it takes so long before the vomiting starts. The pain in the pouch must have lasted nearly an hour before I was finally able to "free up" some room by puking it out. So painful.

I added a smidge of running to my cardio regimen this past Monday...just a little bit, maybe 4 minutes worth. Actually I should call it jogging. But my legs (quads specifically) have been pure mush since then. It's been nearly 21 years since I've tried jogging like that.

There's a chance I'll be going to a tropical location south of Florida mid-April so I need to be in great Speedo shape by then. #majorsarcasm

One week later and only one more pound lost, but my clothes are definitely looser. The jeans I bought before Halloween definitely have a great deal more extra room (could almost already use them as an "after" pic like you see on TV). My belt is also on the last hole and ready to probably be replaced (or just add more holes).

Before I mentioned the loose skin under my arms, but my stomach definitely looks like it'll be a problem area as well. Probably too early to tell on my thighs and calves; at least I haven't seen any kind of squishy loose skin like in the other areas.

I talked with a gastric sleeve patient here at work last weekend. He had his surgery nearly two years ago this upcoming April; he's dropped from 475 to 160 pounds!!! Incredible! But he also had lots of plastic surgery done last summer and at the end of last year. I was asking if he self paid or was able to go through insurance, but he did self pay. I'm not sure that's something I can do in the future once my weight loss has "settled". If I did try to get an arm lift and tummy tuck, etc. I'll probably end up having to borrow in some way, something I can't even think about doing right now.

I find it amusing that people generally don't compliment you on weight loss. I guess they're worried you'll be offended that you even need to lose weight in the first place. However, last Sunday I had someone at work compliment me on losing some serious "L B's" as she said. Aw, shucks, thanks for noticing!

Added more running to my work out this week. I'm definitely not ready to be the endurance runner I was over 20 years ago though. Small steps...all in good time.

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by DangerMouse007

Added even more running to my cardio this week still mixed in with a lot of walking, and I feel really, really good afterwards. It's an odd feeling.

However, I have noticed that my appetite is now HUGE! As in I feel like I'm hungrier more often. I'm thinking maybe my body, adjusting to the larger loss in calories in my running, is starving for more?? I don't know. I do drink lots of Water after my runs. My surgeon doesn't recommend Protein shakes like most of the rest of the people on this board. He generally likes solid Proteins otherwise I probably would drink a Protein shake after my workout. I do have to fight off the urge to eat more than 3 meals per day right now, though, which could be troublesome in the future.

Edited January 28, 201610 yr by DangerMouse007

The weight loss really slowed down in the last week or so, but I did lose about 20 pounds between Christmas and the end of January which is something. I now wear size 48 jeans with a little room to spare. I don't normally measure myself, but when I went to buy the jeans, I had the salesman measure me. Apparently I lost about 3 inches in my neck as well going from a size 22 to a size 19? Does that make sense?

As mentioned last week, my appetite coupled with the extra weight lifting and cardio I've been doing has made me tremendously hungry. For example, I had a small dinner about an hour ago, and yet I'm super hungry craving more. It's tough to fight off since I don't want to be eating several small meals every day; just three. For Snacks, I usually stick to one 100 calorie pack of whatever: almonds, etc. but just one of those doesn't seem to be enough during the day. I try drinking my Crystal Light and Water as well, but this could be interesting going forward.

Had to make an impromptu flight across half the country yesterday, and for the first time in 10 years I didn't need a seat belt extender on the flight! I was sooo happy! I asked for one when I boarded but quickly realized I didn't need it after all! Soon Southwest won't let me do the Extra Seat Option that allows me to have an empty seat next to me. On that day, I will be happy but sad. As the flight attendant says, the last customer on the flight is never a cheerleader; they're always a linebacker! Ha ha ha!

I guess since I lost so much weight in January, it makes sense that I would be in a major stall now. Not too worried about it since I feel pretty good.

I had to fly back home to Texas last week due to a death in the family. Since the temperatures down there were way more agreeable than anything we've had up here in Upstate NY lately, I was able to get out and run Saturday morning outside at a park near my hotel.

Then Saturday night I went out to South Padre Island for a one night stay. Sunday morning I got out to the beach to watch the sunrise and get a nice run in on the beach. It was incredibly nice. I honestly don't know why I ever left Texas. Ha ha ha!

Now I'm back in Upstate NY with temperatures dipping into crazy low levels with wind chills that will make things feel all that much worse, while the rest of my family basks in mid-80's weather!

I meant to post yesterday, February 10th. That was the one year anniversary of my first consultation with my surgeon, and essentially the beginning of my weight loss journey. Unofficially I've lost 144 pounds in that year. When I go in for my six month post-op appointment in a few weeks, they'll give me the official amount I guess.

So much has changed in a year, but I'm loving it so far.

Still struggling with severe hunger after I workout though. I've written about it several times already, but it's quite the struggle to just stick to the plan and not try and "graze" all day.

Edited February 12, 201610 yr by DangerMouse007

Your post are inspirational. You seem to really have this. Thank you for your posts. I'm getting ready to tell my story. I'm not there yet. I am happy to have yours to read.

@@plane224 No problem. Thanks for reading.

As for the latest update, still in a stall; nothing gained, nothing lost. I went in to do my blood draw yesterday for my upcoming 6-month post-op appointment. They took SIX vials of blood! Whoa! Changes in my insurance this year pretty much guarantee I'll be paying a percentage out of pocket for that. I'm dreading that bill when it comes.

I keep thinking about those two 5K's I've signed up for in May. With just under 3 months left for one and just over 3 months on the other, will I be able to run over 3 miles at a time? At the moment, no. But we'll see how it goes from here.

I head back to Texas (and 80 degree weather) this upcoming weekend; probably my last trip down there until July I think.

I don't know if you have talked to your nutritionist about having high protein snacks. I eat a lot of 80 cal fit and light Greek yogurt. It has 12 grams of protein. I have found that high protein snacks can help get me through the day. I try for 3 meals and 2 snacks. Some days I don't make the 3 meals. I am working on the 75-90grams of protein.

I hope this helps

Edited February 19, 201610 yr by plane224

Quite the disappointment that I lost so much weight between Christmas and the end of January and absolutely no weight loss in February. So yeah, I've been in a 4 week stall at least.

Next week is my 7 month post-op appointment (should have been 6 month, but I had to push the appointment back due to scheduling concerns) so will be interested to see how I'm doing with Vitamins, etc., and even more excited to find out what my A1C is. They took six vials of blood, one more than they did at my 3 month post-op appointment. I didn't think anything changed in the tests they ordered, but they sure took enough of my blood!

Still no movement on the scale so this is easily the longest stall I've had since my surgery. I am feeling quite a bit disappointed, but I can only wait it out for now. I've still been using the Couch to 5K app, and so my cardio workout is slowly increasing along with what the app suggests.

On Monday night, I went to my first ever Bariatric Support Group that is held locally once a month. The topic for the night was about Plastic Surgery after WLS so you can imagine it was a packed room! It certainly got me to see what it was all about.

The plastic surgeon talked about insurance requirements (or lack thereof). He went through examples, and showed before and after pictures. To be honest, while I definitely have loose skin on various parts of my body, none of what I have compares to the examples he was given. Granted I still have several months or longer (and hopefully a lot more weight to lose) before I can even consider plastic surgery and will probably have lots more loose skin, but he showed some pretty extreme examples. It was a pretty informative session and gave me some things to think about.

I also had my 6-month post op appointment on Tuesday. It was actually 7 months post op since I had to push the appointment down a few weeks due to other scheduling conflicts. Everything came out fantastic with Vitamins, etc....except my A1C. It was at 7.9, worse than at the end of November. I'm very, very disappointed by that. My follow up with my endo isn't until April, but since I self regulate my own insulin with Novolog and Levemir, it's basically up to me to get that number down. I was actually hopeful it would come down since I've recently been hitting extremely low numbers meaning I probably over medicated myself, but that certainly was not reflected in my blood work.

Another week gone by and still stalled out.

I feel like my body is fighting against me. First it was the lower back issues that crept back up about 6 weeks post-op. That was thankfully mitigated by a chiropractor. Now it's my shoulder.

Back in November I had started doing more and more weight training especially for my arms and shoulders. Sometime then I felt a little pop in my right shoulder. Shortly afterwards I started feeling a little pain there. This last month the pain got much, much worse even to the point that when I would stretch my arm out or try to lift it over my head, I would get a shooting pain in my shoulder, and my arm would go numb.

I scheduled an appointment with a doctor and saw him earlier this week. I don't know how to spell or pronounce what he said the issue was, but it's basically inflammation. He gave me a steroid shot and told me to use an ice pack. If I still had issues six weeks from now, come back and see him.

I think the inability to use Advil or Ibuprofen post-op is definitely something that can not be glossed over when it comes to the gastric bypass. Both my chiropractor and this doctor both said that either could have helped, but since I had the gastric bypass I can't take either and have to rely on other methods...like an ice pack.

Anyway, hope the steroid shot and ice pack combination work. It's really aggravating to have my body just fight against me like this.

Hopefully you are almost through this stall. Keep fighting, I enjoy reading your story.

The inability to take NSAIDS is a major concern for me. I've stopped taking them the last 5 weeks in preparation, and am able to manage the day to day with Tylenol, but I am concerned for the joint replacement surgeries I'm headed for, not to mention the daily issues like what has happened to you. Ugh.