Four months ago today

Today marks four months since I had my surgery.  It also marks eight months (to within a couple of days) since I started this process.  In one way it is a big day.  The date of my surgery is a fulcrum, the balance point between before and after.  In a lot of ways it is just one more day in my life.

I came into this process relatively healthy, beyond the obvious of being morbidly obese.  My blood pressure was good, cholesterol was very low, so on and so forth.  For an old fat guy, I was pretty active, running a business that is physically demanding.  Just as I was starting this process, my blood sugar nudged up to the lowest number that qualified me for diabetes for the first time in my life.  That has since returned to normal.

Probably my biggest goal to achieve by this date was to lose as much weight post-op as I did pre-op.  I accomplished that and posted about it earlier in the week when I realized that goal.  I have only lost a single pound more since then, but I will take it.  This was an important goal, since I was second guessing the whole surgical solution right up to the point where they knocked me out and removed me from any more consideration in the decision making process.  To date, I have shed 135 lbs.

Along with that, I am 46 lbs away from my goal.  I will revise that as is appropriate, but for now, it is the goal.  When I did the initial calculations at the start, I expected to hit 325 lbs.  The current goal is 300.  When I was married 33 years ago, I was 270 and slim.  I may get there again.  I do not know what the future holds, but I am going to go where it takes me.  As if I have a choice, right?  In any case, I am not setting arbitrary points where I might stop ahead of time, or worse, taunt myself with something unachievable.  

The above original goal of 325 was based on averages and poor communication from my medical group.  I have learned that these folks are just like people everywhere else.  They have a certain knowledge set, and getting them out of that is almost as hard as trying to get a computer to do something it is not programmed to do.  Hence, I recognize the value of communities like this one.  I am not talking about harebrained advice from random strangers, but rather the collective wisdom that can be verified, as well as direction given in ways to research and study.  I appreciate that.  

I experience NSVs almost daily.  Some of them are the same ones over and over, and some are brand new as my weight continues to drop.  Some are simple, and some are huge.  Some are unexpected, as I posted about the other day in my snow blower story.  There are some I look forward to with eager anticipation.  Ultimately, all are welcome because they serve to reinforce the value of my decision to do this.  

I have been blessed in that very few of my personal relationships have changed.  My wife of 33 years changed her diet along with mine, and in the process has lost a significant amount of weight as well.  She is extremely supportive, and I can truthfully say that without her help, this would have been nigh on impossible for me.  Most of my family and friends have also been very supportive.  I have not had to deal with any negativity from any quarter, at least relative to this process.  I've gotten quite a bit of curiosity, and have been happy to discuss the process, especially in light of educating others to the reality of what actually goes on.

For anyone reading this who has not gone through the process, but is contemplating it, I have this to offer.  It was scary.  I was not sure I would even wake up from surgery.  I've been sedated a few times in my life, but this was a first for me in the way of major surgery.  Even after I awoke, I was concerned that I might experience life changing consequences of a negative fashion.  I am grateful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that I was not put through any of that.  I could not know that ahead of time, and looking back, I would make the same decision all over again.  As scary as it was, the prospect of living out the rest of my days becoming more and more debilitated was even scarier.

It has certainly been life changing.  While not every single thing has been positive, overall it has been very good.  I look forward to what is in store in the coming weeks and months.  

Very happy for you, sir.

You are doing great and you will continue to inspire and enhance the lives of those around you. 

Love this!

You look great, LittleBill!!  Congratulations on your success!! Thank you for sharing.

What a well thought out post.  Truly a pleasure to read.  You are looking so healthy!

Rachel

Always great to read a success story. Good for you, Little Bill. Keep it up, you will get to 270 if you want. I am "far out" LOL  at over 7 years and am still totally glad I did this. You will be too. Diane S

Bravo! Thanks for the inspiration to keep pressing on!!

Thank you everyone!  Today had an interesting twist to it after I posted.  We are attending a wedding in a few weeks, and I have no dress pants at all.  I've been keeping clothes buying to a minimum, and relying on jeans, which are the uniform du jour around here.  I can even wear them to church with a nice shirt, since our church is pretty laid back about this stuff.  But I won't get away with that for a wedding, so off we went to the big and fat store to find me a pair of khakis.  And yes, khakis constitute "dress pants" around here.  

Mrs. LittleBill got me into the store, and into the dressing room.  She appeared at the door with the assistant manager and a small stack of pants to try  I finally settled on a pair that was comfortable, just a tiny bit snug, and one size smaller than I have been wearing.  She liked the way they looked as well, so I thought I was done.  I put my jeans back on, and that was when I discovered just how baggy they really were.  So against my better judgment, I told her that maybe I should try on some jeans as well.  Her eyes sort of glazed over, and she got this look on her face that said "OH BOY!"  The next thing I knew, piles of clothes were coming in the door, faster than I could try them on!

We also decided that since we were in town, I should try the next size smaller T shirt, which is also part of the standard undress uniform around here.  It was too baggy.  I have officially gone from a 3XL to just XL.  Add a stack of them to the pile.  

Finally, we added one more dress shirt, just in case I need to get dressed up more than once in a week.  So what started out as one pair of pants turned into a complete wardrobe for me for the next few months, at least.  She loves buying clothes for me, even more than for herself I think.  Part of that is watching me squirm every time I have to get changed to try something else on I think.  

You look marvelous!   

Just wait until you get to the point where you're no longer "big", you're just "tall".  Then you'll find that there's no brick & mortar stores that carry anything to fit.  My hubby is 6'6" and just a tad overweight, so he's a LT or sometimes XLT generally (with a 38" sleeve).  We have seven kinds of hell finding clothes for him, and it would honestly be easier if he were a 3XLT.  The stuff we ordered from King Size Direct was such shoddy workmanship that we're not doing that again.