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.

I had fully planned on coming on here this last Wednesday saying that I was apparently in another stall. My weight hadn't budged at all in about 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden I've lost 3 more pounds in the last 2 days. Obviously not a stall. Right now I'm at 255, just 17 pounds away from my lowest recorded weight as an adult (I turn 41 this mo nth).

The funny thing was that this last Sunday I was soooo hungry! So hungry! Since I thought I was in another prolonged stall I indulged myself a bit with 5-6 meals (whereas I normally just do 3 meals with one or two Snacks a day). I didn't have any of my normal snacks readily available at home or at work. At home I normally keep a jar of mini dill pickles in my fridge just so I can snack on something with a little crunch. I also usually have 100 calorie packets of peanuts or almonds at home and at work, but I ran out recently and haven't replenished my supplies. Maybe that little jolt of extra calories was what helped? I have no idea.

I'm about a week away from heading to South Padre Island in Texas for 5 days for a much needed vacation. I'm certainly looking forward to it.

I've been on a nearly three week vacation that was rather eventful and eye opening in some respects.

As I mentioned before, I'm a Texan that currently lives in upstate NY. I went home to Texas for nearly three weeks to help Celebrate my Goddaughter's 4th birthday and spend some time with family.

Of course, going back to Texas means all sorts of fantastic food. I think I probably ate in restaurants or fast food joints about 85% of my meals. I think I tested the limits of my pouch more times than I probably should have. I also happened to come home with lots and lots of leftovers as well.

During this vacation, I also visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio and Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. It had been 28 years since I'd been to Schiltterbahn and about 15 years for Fiesta Texas. Something that I noticed is that Fiesta Texas has weight limits for some of their Water rides. 300 pounds seemed to be the weight limit that I noticed on most of the rides.

Unfortunately Fiesta Texas was also the place where I reinjured my lower back. I was on a water slide that dropped me pretty ferociously into a pool that wasn't all that deep. My lower back hit the bottom of the pool scratching it a bit. It wasn't too much later that I noticed the lower back pain that I was experiencing last Fall. It didn't quite limit my ability to walk like the pain did last year, but it was pretty painful. I was afraid I had undone all the work my chiropractor had done last October-December. I was also sleeping on an air bed for several days after that which didn't help any. When I did finally make it to my family's house, sleeping on a real bed, the pain did seem to subside a little bit. Now I can barely notice it two weeks after it started. I'm hoping for more improvement because I really don't want to do more chiropractor visits again.

I didn't weigh myself at all while I was away mainly because I only want to weigh myself on the scale I have in my kitchen. I don't want to fudge my results using a different scale. I somehow still managed to lose 3 pounds despite all the good food I had while away. Makes me wonder if I could have lost more had I not been on vacation.

My one year surgiversary is pretty soon, just two weeks away, although my one year follow up visit with my surgeon's office won't be until after Labor Day.

I should have waited to weigh myself an extra day. Now down two more pounds to 250...just 12 pounds away from my next milestone (238) which is also the lowest weight I've recorded as an adult. It's so close I can feel it!

Today, August 10th is my one year surgiversary!

I'm down 122 pounds since that morning before surgery and 178 total since I first met with my surgeon 18 months ago.

I'm still 9 pounds away from my highest recorded weight as an adult (September 1994), but I feel good. Definitely good and very happy with the results so far. According to my doctor I should bottom out after another 27 pounds, but I do feel like I could go much lower. Time and effort will certainly tell.

I've been in crisis mode the last couple of days. Last week, on my surgiversary, I weighed myself at 247 pounds. On Sunday morning somehow I was back up to 260 and have stayed right there since then. I'm at a loss to understand or even reason out how that happened. I thought maybe my scale was broken, but I'm not sure I can blame it on that. I haven't eaten any more or less than I normally would. The only Snacks I eat are the 100 calorie packs of almonds or peanuts or the small dill pickles I keep in the fridge, and I never over indulge myself at those.

I did cook some dishes with Beans so maybe I've been a little more gassy than normal, but I don't know that could be the cause.

So I'm at a loss. Within a matter of days I've somehow undone nearly 2 months of weight loss. Hopefully this is something that doesn't last long, but I don't know what to think at the moment.

I've been in crisis mode the last couple of days. Last week, on my surgiversary, I weighed myself at 247 pounds. On Sunday morning somehow I was back up to 260 and have stayed right there since then. I'm at a loss to understand or even reason out how that happened. I thought maybe my scale was broken, but I'm not sure I can blame it on that. I haven't eaten any more or less than I normally would. The only Snacks I eat are the 100 calorie packs of almonds or peanuts or the small dill pickles I keep in the fridge, and I never over indulge myself at those.

I did cook some dishes with Beans so maybe I've been a little more gassy than normal, but I don't know that could be the cause.

So I'm at a loss. Within a matter of days I've somehow undone nearly 2 months of weight loss. Hopefully this is something that doesn't last long, but I don't know what to think at the moment.

Nuts and pickles are high in sodium. You may be retaining fluids - which may account for some of the weight. It's very unusual to gain 13 lbs in a week and that certainly can't be fat weight (you couldn't possibly have eaten enough to gain 13lbs). How are you doing on your fluids? Are you peeing normally? Constipated? Try drinking more - try tea or Water with lemon. If you continue to stay at that weight or gain - I'd call your surgeon. Please let us know how you are doing.

That's what I thought as well...retaining fluids...I had that problem when I was put on new blood pressure medication 2 years ago, but other than my insulin, I don't take any prescription medicine currently. Nothing really changed from last week to this one. But I'm fairly regular still, no issues urinating rather regularly or anything unusual that I've noticed. I do have my annual appointment with my surgeon on September 6th. If I continue at this weight or gain much more, then I'll definitely let them know. Even if I don't I'll let them know that I somehow added 13 pounds in a week.

@@DangerMouse007 You may want to look into whether your insulin needs to be adjusted.

I self adjust based on my glucose levels with the Novolog and Levemir. They've been good.

Quick update...weight on the scale this afternoon was 255 so the weight is coming down again and hopefully continues back to 247 and lower. I'm still at a loss at what caused the huge upswing. I've had 4-5 pound swings whenever I hit a stall, but 13 pounds was a bit of an overkill and scared the crap out of me.

I did drink a ton of Crystal Light yesterday; more than normal...had to be around 100 ounces...or at least 96. I ended up having to urinate constantly during the day so if the weight gain was through Water retention I don't know what caused it. One of these days I'll have to study up on the actual science behind weight loss.

Edited August 19, 20169 yr by DangerMouse007

The bounce back down to 247 and beyond continues. I was at 252 this morning. This particular weight swing is driving me nuts. I'd hate to think, one year out, this will be my "equilibrium" point since I have so much more I want to lose. I'll just have to keep the faith and keep on top of my food and liquid consumption.

While my one year surgiversary was August 10th, my annual check-up with the surgeon isn't until next Tuesday, September 6th. Last week I went in to get my blood drawn for the appointment and found out that the lab I go to now allows online access to the results. I signed up for it and was able to get all of my lab results since I first started going there back in June, 2014.

On Monday I received the results for last week's blood draw. Just based on what I see (and the "normal" readings indicated on there), all of my results were great...except for my A1C which is still elevated. I have a feeling that my diabetes will be with me for life despite the surgery. The only other reading that was off by 1 unit was my Vitamin D. Was a little surprised by that; I went back to all of my Vitamin D readings in the past, and this was the first time it was lower than "normal".

As far as the weight goes, I'm still yo-yo'ing a bit, but I haven't gone back down to 247 like I was on August 10th.

Today is my annual check-up. I've already seen my lab results for my blood (thank you, LabCorp for providing results online for me to view as soon as they're ready!), but will see what they have to say in the office. I expect it to be a pretty quick appointment.

As for the weight, this last Saturday, September 3rd, I had to urinate a lot. A lot a lot!! Sure enough, some of the excess weight I had measured came back off again. I have no idea why I had to use the restroom so much. On Sunday I was back down to 247 on my scale (my lowest to date and what I had originally recorded on August 10th). Unfortunately I bounced again and am back up to 251 as of this morning so I've got that stall bouncing thing going again that I've experienced with every stall.

This weekend I also got back on the workout and run pattern that I had abandoned around May do to some outstanding issues. I ended up having to completely restart the C25K program. Last time I used it I was in Week 5, but just completely restarting running again there's no way I could have gone back to that. Week 1 was kicking my butt again this weekend. So I have that going for me once again.

Will see what the surgeon says, or at least his PA's. I'm relatively healthy (with a slightly elevated A1C), my blood results are good unless there's something they see that I don't see (I'm not a doctor obviously), and so I don't expect much really.

Edited September 6, 20169 yr by DangerMouse007

My visit with my surgeon's PA ended up being a bit more in depth than I thought it would. We spent most of the time talking about my goals and my eating habits. I told her that I felt like I could eat more and more especially the foods I eat which consist mostly of ground meat. She reiterated eating more solid foods and trying to replace ground meat in my recipes with beef strips or tips, or chicken, of course. At the moment, I can't think of making that replacement in any of my mother's recipes!

She also mentioned that no matter what I think I could eat I should stick to just eating a one-half cup of food per meal. Now THAT could be interesting. She felt that this, along with increased physical activity, would help me get to my own personal goal meaning losing another 50 pounds or so (if not more).

She did mention the low Vitamin D number and prescribed me something that is a once a week 50,000-unit pill. I'm to take that for 2 months and do a Vitamin D test in 3 months.

As far as the A1C, she said that people with Diabetes for more than 5 years can usually take a long period before they're essentially off the insulin. Since I've had Diabetes at least 15 years, I very well could still have to take insulin the rest of my life...or get into a more controlled diet situation.

That was yesterday, September 6th. Today, she left me a voice mail saying that she had talked to my surgeon after my visit. He recommended possibly taking Saxenda to help lose even more weight. If I was interested, I just need to call them back. I haven't yet as I do a little more research on the drug, but I'm a little...hesitant at the idea of taking something like that AFTER WLS rather than before. It sounds a lot like Victoza which I took in 2011 and lost 60 pounds with before gaining all of that back in 2012 when the Victoza stopped working. In any case, I am thinking about it. Just not sure I want to go back to taking a prescription that's going to cost me a lot per month; currently my copays for the Levemir and Novolog I take is just $10 each.

My next check up will be six months from now in March.

Edited September 8, 20169 yr by DangerMouse007

Not much to update. I'm now nearly two months into a nice long stall. I hit 247 back in early August, bounced up to 260 inexplicably, and I've been hanging around 249-253 since then. It's incredibly frustrating especially since I still have quite a bit of fat around my stomach that I really, really just want to go away. And it's just not going anywhere right now.

Tomorrow, 10/4, I'm going into get my wisdom teeth removed...something I was told needed to happen 21 years ago. With the weight loss, I've also committed myself to getting other things fixed including my teeth. I don't have any pain, but I had gone to see a dentist a few weeks ago for the first time in...well 21 years. He gave me a list of several things that needed to happen to get me back to truly healthy teeth. One of those required that I get at least the bottom left wisdom tooth removed. So I'm getting all of them removed. It seems the post-op diet is pretty easy; cold, liquidy foods, then smooth foods, then eventually working myself up to normal foods. I'm nervous but feel good about doing this.

It'll be interesting to see if I do end up losing a little weight after my appointment tomorrow, at least for the next week or so as I recover.