Before, during, and now!

The first picture is when I was at my heaviest. I weighed in at 305 or more. This was one of the pictures that convinced me to either die or live. I prayed to God for just that. Either Kill me, or make me better.

This is the first post surgery picture. The belt I am wearing is a measure of my progress, waist wise. My starting waist was 52+ inches. I think I lost around 60 pounds at this point.

This picture was taken today (you can see the date stamp in the lower left). I am now 218 and feeling great, especially compared to picture number one. My waist is now at 42 and dropping. I still have another 70 pounds to go, or more. I am working hard on that.

I miss hearing Paul Harvey, but now, you know the rest of the story!

Life's been good to me so far! Joe Walsh!

The meeting was another monster!
Attendance was so big, that they had to open up the adjoining room. There were people lined up and down the walls!
Amazing!
The speaker was a Post Patient from Lifespan, which is a social worker/therapy type clinic. Her discipline is of course Bariatrics.
She spoke about the changes that happen to us and the people around us before, during, and after the surgery. Her boyfriend was there to offer his viewpoint from time to time.
They were very interesting, informative, and entertaining.
We never got to break into groups and that was a disappointment to me.
Not to belittle the speaker, but this is supposed to be a support group, not an informative talk. It's good to have these people speak to us, but I really feel that I need to hear others around me offering tips and tricks, personal experiences as well as understanding about what we are going through. I will express this to the team and suggest to them that they consider having an extra meeting just for post people to do that.
On a similar note, I am making two changes in my medical team:

1. I have found another family doctor, and am leaving my present one. I did this because I have not been satisfied this doctor has been meeting my needs. I found one closer to my home and it is actually within walking distance. I had my records copied and had to pay a pretty penny to have them done. But, now I actually have them and have read them. An eye opening experience. I bought a multi-function machine to copy them into my computer so I will have them in the future.
2. I am in the process of looking for a psychological counselor familiar with post Bariatric problems. I have spoken with counselors before when my son and I were dealing with ADD and all the other letters, and found it very helpful. I am not ready to check into the funny farm yet, though!

There are so many things I want to do, and have no idea of how to do them. So, I am working as hard as I can, and trying not to burn myself out.
If anyone would like to help, I have a list! I plan to make some real money in the next few years, as well as fulfill some of my dreams and goals. Money has never been my motivator, but I am looking forward to making some and getting out of debt, and feeling good about my life and my accomplishments.

I have many things that I want to do, and I have said this before:

Last year, I was getting ready to die. This year, I am getting ready to live.

Meeting notice

March 5th, tomorrow night (Thursday) is the next support group meeting.
This time, it's being held at the Lancaster General Hospital, instead of the Health Campus.
This is because of the large number of people (not the number of large people!) who have been showing up. The room we were in at the Health campus is full to over full.
So, until they open up the new office, we will have to bite the bullet and hang out in the thriving metropolis of Lancaster City (UGH!). I hate the city, any city, but I guess I'll be there.
They have information available about where to park and it is free, so you don't have to drop your hard earned money.
So, show up, and learn something, and know that you are not alone in your quest to lose weight and keep it off!

The Daily (under Links)

I use this as my home page. I listed the main page so you can pick which one you would like.
I use the Daily Bikini, of course.
This page has so many listings for searching that you can spend lots of your free time surfing around. There are lots of links listed too. Some are for interest, and others for information.
If you like it, send copies to your friends. If you don't like it, send it to your enemies!
Enjoy!

Mike the Post poster!

His name is Mike, and he is posting comments throughout the blog. His first comment is on the post before this one.
Remember, your experiences are different than his. He is an expert only in that he had the surgery way back before many of us.
Take what he says with a grain of salt. Take everything I say with a grain of salt too while you're at it. I am not an expert either.
Feel free to email me and ask questions. Or, you can find both of us on Facebook and ask us there.

Facebook!

I guess it's time to talk about it since so many people are there.
Face Book!
I was able to find many of my old classmates, and connect with some friends I haven't seen in way too long.
I have traded stories with folks, and debated stuff there, and avoided the games and gifts. I also caught a virus that my computer hasn't forgiven me yet.
Now, I found a fellow Post Bariatric patient. He is much further down the path than I am, so I asked him to comment about some questions, and see if I could pass them on here. He said yes, so I will do that as it happens.
If you go onto Facebook, you can join his group: the Staple Club. He asks many of the same questions, so people from both here and there can see them.

Holding pattern

Life has been at a stall speed for almost a month now.
I need to make more changes in order to move into the second phase of my weight loss.
My insurance company assigns a nurse to oversee things and to make comments.
This week, after talking to me for about an hour, she sent me a glucometer with instructions on how to use it. I am not interested in doing that, and am resisting. I can tell my blood sugar is dropping and take measures to correct it on my own.
She also has to make these disclaimer statements after everything she says to cover her butt for the insurance company.
I don't know how she can make any suggestions when she doesn't have my medical history in front of her.

Also,
I found a Facebook friend who just told me he had the surgery done back in 2000. I asked him to write some stuff for this blog and he said he would. I was interested in what it feels like after 8 or 9 years and he agreed to do that. I don't know if he will, but I'm hoping.

And,
I have another new FB friend who is making some very interesting suggestions about types of food. This person is from another part of the country, and they use different ingredients. All of the food here in Central PA is so bland, so this should really be a welcome addition to my diet. Maybe it's what I need to move on?