Before & After Gastric Bypass with Skotti, losing 202 pounds
December 27, 2016Celebrating Skotti's Before & After Gastric Bypass Journey!
I was always a “big boned” boy growing up. Yes, not fat, big boned. At least people meant well when they said that to me. One thing that I realized from an early age in elementary school is that I was bigger than other kids but didn’t have the physical endurance they did. Being tall, helped my appearance, but again, you could tell I was big boned. I never fit in when it came to playing sports. Yes, I was almost always the last kid picked for a team.
High school was the same, still not into sports, and definitely never had any girls interested in me. In my mid 20’s I was married for a bit, and to be honest, I am glad it didn’t work out because of my three kids that I have now. I have never been a physical person when upset or angry. Instead, I turned to food. One thing I remember about those years when things weren’t going well was turning to food as my coping mechanism.
I settled down at the age of 30 and started a family. I have three wonderful kids. I noticed as the kids were growing up, my weight was going up too. My definition of “enjoying life” was by sitting around on occasion with the family and eating chips and junk food seemed to add up. I tried to do things with my kids and family, such as hanging out in the backyard, playing light sports with them, because otherwise, I couldn’t do anything else. And sadly, I didn’t want to. I knew being that big, I was physically limited and just couldn’t do anything with them that involved physical activity.
I joined LA Weight Loss and lost 82 pounds. It felt great! They asked me to do a photoshoot for the newspapers. I was so happy at that time. But that time didn’t last long. I had a routine of watching what I was eating and exercising. It had to be both or I couldn’t succeed. After that one year of working hard to lose the weight with LA Weight Loss, I suffered an injury and left me pretty sore and unable to or wanting to exercise the way that I used to. That was just enough of an excuse to stop trying. So, I gained some weight back.
Aa group of us went to an amusement park. The really popular rides had a waiting line of anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. So for this one ride, there were a few of us from our group waiting. We were there about 45 minutes and when we got to the main line, at the beginning of the ride area. At that spot, they had a chair like the ones on the ride. There was a big sign stating that you have to be able to fit into this seat in order to ride it.
I saw a few smaller kids go up to and try it out, and for a couple of them, they couldn’t go on it because they were too small. A few adults tried it while laughing and carrying on. So then I went over to it and sat down, pulled the pilot type seat belt over my head and went to buckle it up. And I couldn’t! I tried sucking in my gut, and it wouldn’t fit. I tried turning a bit sideways, and it still wouldn’t fit. I fiddled for a few minutes trying to make that damn seat belt fit. Meanwhile, I had all these people watching me do this. Finally, I had to accept the fact that I couldn’t fit in it. I waited 45 minutes to find out that I was too fat to go on that ride.
And now, I had to make the walk of shame from the front of the line. I had to walk back past so many people to get out. If it wasn’t bad enough having to walk passed all those strangers, I had to go back to my family and friends and tell them. What did I learn from that? Not a thing! Another embarrassing part of my life, and I did nothing to correct it. I was so used to living with my embarrassment, that I accepted it.
In the fall of 2012, I was helping some of my family with a construction project around the foundation of the house. I was asked to jump into the bobcat/skid steer machine to help get it out of the mud that someone had got it stuck in. So I am in there, and the guy in charge had the come-alongs attached to it and he was in his truck pulling it out. I remember being bounced around in that thing like a rag doll. Finally, when he got it far enough out of the mud, he realized that he snapped one of the hydraulic cables that controlled the bucket in the front. This is 10 o’clock at night. It’s not like this can be fixed. The crappy part is that the bucket was part way up and the door wouldn’t open all the way, meaning I was stuck in there. I was already banged up from being bounced around, and after about 15 minutes of them trying to troubleshoot the problem, I had to squeeze my way out of the opening that I had. Finally, I got out - sore as hell, but I was out.
The next morning I went to work. I was sore, stiff and could hardly walk. The next morning, my alarm goes off. I sit up, swing myself to the side of the bed. I stand up. Take a step with my left leg, take a step with my right leg, and down I went - straight to the floor and I had no idea why. I managed to get up to the side of the bed. I stood up and while holding onto my dresser, I tried taking a step with my right leg, but it wasn’t working properly. I could feel it, but it wasn’t contracting to support my steps. I took a step with my left leg, let go of the dresser and took a step with my right leg. Once again, I fell to the floor. So, I crawled over to the phone, called work and said that I couldn’t walk and wouldn’t be in. I quickly figured out that if I kept my right leg stiff, and hung on to the wall, I could manage to get around.
After a couple of days, I was changing my clothes and my leg gave out, I snapped backward almost taking the dresser down on top of me. My family rushed in to check on me. I went to the Emergency Room to be checked out. I had bruises on my body from falling. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. I had an MRI done and it shows that the disc at the area of my back had disintegrated and pieces of it were on my spinal cord at the L3-L4 area, which was blocking the signal going to my leg.
After a few appointments with specialists, I was given a cane and told to be careful. Surgery would not be 100% guarantee, so it wasn't an option. They said I would get better, but will never be 100% again, and that I would have some kind of impairment for the rest of my life. I never went back to work. I was put on long-term disability. After my physical issues started, I moved out of the family home due to marital issues.
I started to feel bad for myself and dealt it like I always did - by eating. By the fall of 2013, I still wasn't working. The doctors reconfirmed that surgery was not an option. I was told I needed to lose weight but it would be difficult because of my mobility issues. My doctor told me that I needed to have weight loss surgery. He explained that I was really heavy and wouldn't be able to exercise properly to lose weight. He advised that I needed to have weight loss surgery to do it for myself. I decided that I could lose weight on my own because I'd done it before.
I started dieting but wasn't getting anything from my efforts. I started to do a little bit of research on having weight loss surgery. After a disagreement with my ex-wife, I was sad and hurt. I called my doctor asking for help with my emotions. During my appointment, I agreed to move forward to have WLS and requested a referral to start the process. During my appointment, I was weighed and I couldn't believe I weighed 419 pounds!
Before & After Gastric Bypass
OH Username: SkottiRNY
Total Weight Loss: 202 pounds
Surgical Procedure: RNY
Surgery Date: 7/7/2015
Surgeon's Name: Dr. John Hagen
I had my group orientation for WLS and I met the nurse practitioner, social worker, and dietitian. In preparation for my surgery, I had my pre-op testing done and was cleared for surgery. I met with my surgeon in April of 2015, and my surgery was scheduled for July 7, 2015. Since I was in the 300-pound range, I had to do three weeks of the Optifast liquid diet prior to my surgery. Because I was in the 300 lb category, I had to do 3 weeks of Optifast liquid diet prior to surgery. I was well prepared and mentally ready to have surgery, and I was not scared at all.
My surgery took 1 hour and 15 minutes and went well. My liver had shrunk due to the Optifast diet. I was the last patient of the day and didn't get to my room until 5:00 p.m. By the time I was coherent enough to know my surroundings, all the day staff had left, so I did not get a chance to get up to walk. My only problem that I had was that two of my ports had popped open when I was trying to wiggle my way up in the bed. It made quite the bloody mess, but the nurse cleaned it up and the doctor on-call came in to stitch up those ports. Aside from the severe pain from the gas of anesthesia, I felt okay. I was discharged the next day. Because of the amount of blood that had pooled when those ports popped open, I had quite the hematoma on my belly. I only needed pain medicine for two days post-op.
I feel that my success to date is from following the food guidelines from my clinic's handbook. I followed the foods allowed in each phase of post-ops nutrition. I wanted my new stomach to heal properly. I started walking for exercise 1½ weeks post-op. By the time I was four weeks post-op, I started slowly to lift light weights and continued with cardio.
My meals were consistent with the size of my new pouch. I ate everything that I did before, just in tiny portions. In fact, I have tried so many new creations since having surgery that I wouldn't have tried before. Before surgery, I didn’t think about food too much. I just ate whatever sounded good and whatever I wanted. Now, I plan out my meals and create new meals. It’s amazing!!
I can’t believe how much energy and confidence I have now! I love having my picture taken now. My goal was 219 pounds. While that weight is still higher than what my BMI is supposed to be, I've been told by doctors years ago that I don’t need to stress about getting to that BMI range. I was told my body structure would not do well or look well at that weight. So, I've chosen 219 pounds as my goal weight since it is a good number from my starting weight of 419. Today, I weigh 217 pounds. I have been in maintenance since February 2016. I try to keep active and get to the gym three times each week. Sometimes that doesn’t happen, so I make sure to keep a close eye on my food intake. I have a good appetite and enjoy a variety of foods.
Special Milestones and Non-Scale Victories
I have so many milestones and NSV’s, I don’t know where to begin.
I think one of the biggest milestones that are overlooked by some is actually having the surgery. A few people I know have thought about it, but never commit to it. I am proud of myself for being strong enough to hope for a better future.
Another milestone is being able to go up and down stairs without any problems.
I'm able to run on the treadmill. It is for a couple of minutes at a time but considering I was walking with a cane two years ago, I think that is impressive.
One of the most obvious and frequent NSV’s is the changing of clothing size. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine wearing “Large” size shirt. I have two NSV’s that are connected to each other: One being that I have gone from a size 52 pant to a size 34 (the odd 32) And the second being my famous belt as YouTubers know it. I have drilled so many holes in this belt to make it smaller. The long-running joke asked is why don’t I buy a new one, or that people are going to buy one for me. I've explained to them my belt is a keepsake and a reminder of my success.
Lastly, another NSV is being confident enough to speak in front of people about my WLS story. I would never have talked to people openly before about anything. Now, I wish I could talk to more people going through the process.
Life today is actually quite odd. Odd in a good way. I have so much more confidence in myself. I look forward to going to the gym to exercise and doing physical activities with my family. These feelings are something that I can honestly say, I have never felt before. I have a new lease on life. Being healthy is fantastic!
This is a quote I created about life as a WLS post-op: “Not every day is fantastic, but at least I have the opportunity to live every day.”
How has ObesityHelp.com been a part of your journey?
ObesityHelp.com has been a great educational tool for me. Before surgery, when I was doing a lot of research, I found this website. I read about so many different scenarios and how people’s lives were impacted by WLS. Though I didn’t join in on conversations, I found that pretty much every question I had, was asked by someone else along with an answer to go with it. With so many people here to connect with each other, I always tell people in my local area that I know going through the process, to come and check out this website.
Share Your Before & After Success!
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