Recovery and Reward: What a Year!

My surgery was a success now I have to recover.  It was easier in most ways from the last one.  Again, I feel much better, so I believe that my body is just better able to handle something like recovery from a surgery.  My only exception is the nemesis that is my belly button.  That wound still gave me the most trouble.  Luckily the port is no longer there.  My new port was placed much higher on my abdomen and on the opposite side and that incision seems perfect; thanks Dr. Jessee!  The couple side incisions used for the arthroscopic tools, were a bit itchy and seemed to develop a bit of a rash.  The rash was very red and started in the area around those incisions.  Later that was explained as a probable allergic reaction to the dermabond used to seal the wounds.  On my subsequent post-op visit, Dr. Ache removed the remaining dermabond and suggested some benadryl cream.  That seemed to help, but it still took a couple weeks or more before the rash completely disappeared.  The bigger issue was the belly button incision where they took out the old port.  It was leaking again, luckily no where near like previously with my earlier seromas, but it was still very concerning after what I had already gone through in that area.  For fear of an infection developing we moved my post-op appointment earlier and Dr. Ache was able to see me.  She is fantastic by the way.  She is very good at what she does and is very patient with her patients.  She cleaned out the area and said it was infection free.  I was pretty close to completing my antibiotic regimen, but she was confident that I wouldn't need any more.  Instead she treated the wound with silver nitrate I believe it was called.  It was pretty much some medicine on a stick.  She fished it around inside my belly button wound to make sure she treated all the affected tissue.  It wasn't horrible, but it burned, probably something like putting alcohol on a wound only the burning didn't go away for quite a while.  I believe these issues were mainly a result of the scar tissue and previous problems I had in that area.  It took a while for it to heal up, but that stuff did the trick.  And I'm happy to say that I no longer have any more issues in that area; thanks Dr. Ache!  A warning about this silver nitrate stuff besides the burning feeling that lasts most of a day, it isn't pretty.  The wound will kind of ooze black for a while until it completely closes.  It's perfectly normal and I believe it's just a sign of healing.  It's great stuff and am glad I had it, because I think it's what finally did the trick to get that area healed up; it's just not pretty while it's doing it's thing.  In fact it worked so well, that I have hardly any noticeable scarring after two surgeries in the area!  On a subsequent follow up I also had an adjustment done using my brand new port and it was a breeze.  What a difference it makes to have it secure.  The needle went in with no problem.  It was so not a big deal, that I nearly forgot to mention it here.

Now that I've recovered from my second surgery and I've hit a year from when my banded life began, I almost feel like I'm starting a new.  I'm emerging from halftime ready to dig in for the rest of my journey as I still have a long way to go to reach all of my goals, but I know armed with my Lap Band, it's just a matter of time.  It's true the start of my Lap Band journey had some more complications, that are certainly not typical, but if asked would I do it all again?  The answer would certainly be HELL YEAH!!!  Before surgery my body was run down succumbing to diabetes; I couldn't sleep, hardly walk, and barely breath.  Let's face it I was on a collision course to an early grave.  Now after a year banded, what do I have?  I've lost 60 pounds!  I can sleep through the night; I'm able to move and exercise including completing two 5K races!  Recently, I even had my yearly physical and instead of getting the usual lecture about my weight and health, the doctor was very impressed with my progress, especially by the numbers.  My glucose levels were cut in half to under 100 and my A1C is down to 5.7.  Has the Lap Band conquered my diabetes?  My doctor felt I was doing well enough to at least temporarily take me off my medication and re-evaluate later this year.  And best of all I feel so much better about myself.  I'd go through a lot more complications than I even went through to get this kind of reward, my life back; hands down one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Goes up there with moving to Florida, marrying my wonderful wife, and having my beautiful daughter.  Now with the help of the Lap Band, I will be here for them; I will be around to watch my daughter grow up; I can participate in this wonderful life.

Thank you so much to Dr. Jessee, Dr Ache, Susan Kay, Allergan(for supplying the Lap Band itself) and the wonderful staffs at both Suncoast Bariatrics and the Palms of Pasadena Hospital for this wonderful gift called the Lap Band and giving me my life back.  Thanks again to all of my friends and family for their incredible support without which I couldn't have done this, especially to my wife Heather and my friend and inspiration Paul.  You guys are the best!

God bless!  :-)

Before                                                                                Today

Surgery Part Deux

I'd like to clarify that I've been updating the blog a bit historically, as in this update made in July is referring to events back in April.  I hope to eventually catch up and be current with my posts, so I apologize for my tardiness.  I know there was some confusion on my last couple of posts, and wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.  This post refers to my second surgery, that took place on April 21st.

It was an early day.  I had to be there at 6:00AM and it's over an hour drive, but I was pretty glad to get it out of the way.  I had a mixed feel towards the day.  On the one side, I felt pretty relaxed in that I had my previous surgery and this should be similar and even a less intrusive one as the band itself shouldn't need to be touched.  On the other hand, this was a different surgery, and I wasn't 100% sure on the result; could they relocate the port in one surgery or would they find lots of signs of infection forcing them to do two?  The unknown can be a bit scary, but I knew I was in the skilled hands of Dr. Jessee and the wonderful care of the staff at Palms of Pasadena Hospital.  The registration process was very straight forward and then I was led down to the pre-op area.  I will say the nursing staff there are very friendly and comforting.  It seemed like things went smoother than the last time, but I think that was more about knowing what to expect having gone through it before.  I also had the extraordinary support of my lovely wife, who was over seven months pregnant at the time.  She's the best!

Before long it was time to go to surgery, so I was wheeled down the hall and told my wife not to leave town.  ;-)  The poor thing was to have to wait it out in the waiting area.  I was wheeled to the runway area near the operating rooms.  There they go through their final protocols including meeting the anesthesiologist.  Again they were all very nice and all went smooth.  Then I was taken into the OR and before long some of the night night juice had me out.  I woke up in the recovery room feeling pretty out of it, but not nearly as much as I remember being the first time.  I actually am starting to feel that the reason some of this is easier is because I'm in better shape than I was before the first surgery.  Since I had already lost so much weight, I believe I'm just in better health, and my body is much better at tolerating a surgery.  That realization gave me a nice reminder of why I started this whole process to begin with; I was in poor health and thanks to the Lap Band, I'm doing much better thankfully.  I didn't experience too much discomfort, but after a few too many ice chips I did have a bout or two of nausea.  They immediately gave me something for it and it went away nearly instantaneously;  I would say they were very attentive there as well.  I did experience a very strange side affect to this medication as I had a couple bouts of tears, that seemed to come from no where without cause.  It was very strange to cry not knowing why you are crying.  Luckily it was short lived and it was explained that was a common side affect to one of the drugs that they had administered.

Finally I got to go back to the pre-op area where my wife can be with me.  She was a sight for droggy eyes.  By now I had found out that I was fortunate and they were able to move the port all in one surgery, so I was good to go, well sort of.  The one mistake that was made was mainly my fault.  I had asked Dr. Jessee to give me an adjustment while I was in surgery to save me from coming into the office later.  Well, they give you adjustments while you are awake for a reason.  Without being able to drink during an adjustment, you can't tell what the right level is.  Despite Dr. Jessee's best efforts, I must had gotten too much.  I exasperated that fact, by choosing ginger ale when offered something to drink.  Carbonation is kind of a no no when it comes to the Lap Band, but I was hoping it would help sooth my stomach from my earlier nausea.  It didn't take more than a few sips before the pain started.  It was hard to understand what it was exactly, especially in my post-op state.  It was a distinct sharp pain in my chest and there was no way to get comfortable.  After some discussion with the nurses, we deduced that I probably was fully blocked by my band being overly inflated.  They paged Dr. Jessee, but she was currently in surgery.  I had to wait for a while for her to come down to check me out.

When she did, she said that sounded like what it was.  She was concerned that it was going to be fairly uncomfortable to put the needle in so soon after surgery, but it was a relief actually.  Without even having to draw back on the syringe, a few CCs popped right out.  It was an instant relief.  Thank you Dr. Jessee.  All in all everything went very well and I experienced a very successful surgery.  The adjustment was just a minor issue that was easily corrected at the hospital.  Once I'm recovered from surgery I can go in for a proper adjustment in the office, and now that I have a secured port, it should be much easier than my most recent ones.  Going through some of these port issues is not very typical at all, but I consider it just a small chapter in my weight loss journey.  I was very amazed at how much better my body handled the surgery compared to the first time.  My health has really improved, and I feel a whole lot better and in the end that's what this is all about.  Thank you Dr. Jessee and Palms of Pasadena; without you my improved health would not be possible.

God bless!
me  :-)

Belly Button Wars!

My belly button and my port don't get along.  It's time to realize that they have irreconcilable differences, and they need to part.  The latest was yet another infection, and this one was particular bad, worse yet actually.  It came on very quickly and seemed difficult to fight off.  I was put on antibiotics and it took quite some time for them to knock back the infection.  Dr. Ache decided that even though the issues have always centralized with the port area, that we needed to make sure the band itself was not the cause.  Apparently one possibility is that if the band has eroded into my stomach, that some stomach acid may escape and travel down the tubing that leads to the port causing the frequent infections.  Honestly, I never felt that to be a real possibility as my stomach area has always felt really good and recently when we saw it under fluoro it looked well positioned, but it's always smart to eliminate the possibility.  I had also been experiencing some GERD, so we scheduled an EGD.

An EGD is a test where they put a tube down your throat with a camera on the end to check out the inside of your stomach.  I will say that it sounds worse than it is.  They do this under sedation, and Dr. Ache was very gentle as she made sure she did it herself, especially with the band concerns.  Normally for this type of procedure, they would deflate the band to make sure passage of the tube would be easier.  In this case, since my band is too difficult to access, especially with the infection in the area, Dr. Ache made sure they had a pediatric tube on hand if needed to get by the band.  Everything went very smooth and Dr. Ache said the band looked really good.  The stomach did seem a bit irritated, but that seemed to be from popping ibuprofen like candy due to the fever accompanying my infections.  She prescribed some medication and I need to avoid ibuprofen for a while.  As for my port/belly button area, Dr Ache would discuss it with Dr. Jessee as soon as she gets back in the office.

After I successfully fought off my latest infection, I was scheduled to come in and discuss my treatment plan.  Both Dr. Jessee and Dr. Ache came in to explain everything to me.  I will say, they really took the time and were very patient with all of my questions.  They have been incredible surgeons and care givers through all of the hurdles I've faced with my port.  I could see where other doctors may have abandoned me after some of the issues, especially since their services have been all free of charge.  They have an incredible work ethic and really care about their patients.  If anyone is considering bariatric surgery, I would give them my full recommendation.  I'm sure my issues are an isolated case; and just a matter of my belly button picking a fight with my port.  Thank you so much to the wonderful folks at Suncoast Bariatrics, especially Dr. Ache and Dr Jessee for this great gift and for all the excellent care that I've received.

My next step is surgery.  Dr. Jessee will go in and remove my port; time for the war to end.  The plan is to relocate it to the right side of my abdomen away from my belly button and the current area of the infections.  Depending on how things look when she gets in there, will determine whether she can do this all in one surgery.  If the infected area looks too bad, she may need to delay the placement of the new port  to a second surgery.  She has spoken to Palms of Pasadena and they are on board and willing to facilitate and cover another surgery as well.  My only out of pocket expense will be for the anesthesiologist.  Thank you so much to Susan Kay and the team there at Palms of Pasadena for being so generous.  My surgery was scheduled for April 21st.

God bless!

Gasparilla Race Report

I've been trying to keep up with my exercise regiment despite some of my abdominal and foot issues.  The abdominal issues have been well documented in previous posts, but my feet may warrant some detail here.  I have flat feet.  When I say flat, I mean flat!  There is really no visible arch plus they are some what deformed with this odd curly toe formation which virtually tucks my pinkie toe out of sight.  I've only come across one other person with such funky feet, and that was my poor mother; God rest her soul.  If you look at our feet you probably couldn't tell us apart.  I've always had a lot of trouble with them as they would cause me lots of pain and fatigue with just a little activity.  I saw a podiatrist as a teenager who said I had the feet of a 40 year old.  Now that I'm over 40 he would probably say I have the feet of a blistered corpse!  If they weren't bad enough when I was younger, they certainly got worse as an adult, especially as the weight I carried increased.  During a particularly active time years ago, I aggravated them to the point of injury.  I ended up with Plantar Fascitis, which is a particularly debilitating malady where the tendon across the bottom of your foot begins to swell and get damaged.  There is no real cure.  The treatment consisted of ice, stretches, anti-inflammatories, sleeping in a boot brace, using a custom made orthotic to try and give me a simulated arch as well as several cortizone shots in the heel.  Probably took over a year to get past it, during which I couldn't exercise much as I had to stay off of them, so of course that just helped my BMI climb the mountain of obesity!

Thankfully with the blessing of my Lap Band surgery, I was able to start my way back down that mountain.  It seemed that my plantar fascitis was gone and I just had some of my normal foot soreness for quite some time.  Well unfortunately that didn't last.  As I've increased my work out regiments to include more walking and running to prepare for my goal to complete a 5K, my feet couldn't take it.  The last straw was when I played tennis with my friend Mo and I didn't use my orthotic.  The orthotic can make me feel like I have a little elevation where the side to side nature of tennis makes me feel like I'm going to turn my ankle.  I pushed the feet too far and the plantar fascitis is back.  Apparently it is very common for it to recur once you've had it and will make exercise on my feet tough.  From now on I can't be without my orthotic for virtually any walking.  I've learned my lesson.  This happened about three weeks before my planned 5K Gasparilla race.  My training had to stop in hopes of still completing the race.  Luckily, I had already completed a number of weeks of training and the Lap Band was not allowing me to put my weight back on while I was grounded, like I had in the past.  Thanks to the Palms of Pasadena and the wonderful team at Suncoast Bariatrics, I wasn't going to let my feet sabotage me this time.

I had a lot of support for doing this race, which made things a lot easier having you all in my corner.  In fact several people even went as far as being there and doing it with me.  Thanks to my old friend Ilene, who was the original person who got me into doing these races.  Thanks to my dear friend Paul, who has been an inspiration through my weight loss journey for taking the time to be there.  Thanks to my family Jen, Dewey, and Ma for doing a 5K for the first time just to show their support.  Thanks to my incredible wife who did the race very pregnant to be there with me.  God bless you all!

For those who don't know, the Gasparilla Distance Challenge takes place in Tampa and is considered one of the largest in the Southeast United States.  The total number of participants was in the tens of thousands.  This year it was on February 22nd.  It was a cloudy day with a high threat of rain.  Most of us car pooled down and parking was challenging, but we were able to find some not too far from the starting line.  The night before we had stopped at the convention center to pick up our race packets including our numbered bibs, so we didn't have to pick them up the morning of.  Plus we got to get ready at home pinning our bibs equipped with timing chips to our shirts with safety pins.  It was a good thing because people were like ants.  The turnout was phenomenal.  We were early enough to go and see Ilene and her husband Chip, who were doing the 15K and would be about finishing when we got there.  Amazingly we were able to find them in the crowd.  We spent a few minutes with them and then it was time for us to get into position.  We needed to find our waiting area for our waves.  Yes, this race is so large that they need to have several different waves to accommodate everyone.  Most of us were in the blue wave, while my wife and Ma were in the red wave as they were designated walkers.  There was no way my wife could finish in the time limit for our wave as pregnant as she was and Ma was nice enough to walk with her to keep her company.  Thanks Ma!  The rest of us got into position.  We tried and stayed to the middle of the pack as we didn't want to get trampled by the real runners up front, but didn't want to have to dodge too many of the fast walkers or real casual participants either.  We got our various listening devices and head phones ready and listened to the national anthem.  Bang! goes the starting gun.

We just stood there.  There were so many people it took several seconds before we even started moving towards the starting line and the mats that we would walk on to activate the timing chips on our bibs.  As we worked our way there over to our left we spotted my wife with her camera taking pictures and video of us starting as she waited for her wave, which started after ours.  She is so amazing.  I'm so very lucky to have her and all of her love and support.  Thanks babe!  In the end I think it took us nearly two minutes to reach the starting line.  I started walking and was going to try and do the race with a combination of walk/run in intervals of 30/45 seconds.  It wasn't easy as my feet were already aching from the plantar fascitis.  I decided to just bare it as I wasn't going to let it keep me from my goal.  The running was difficult and slow going as the crowd was massive.  I often found myself blocked by strings of side by side walkers, clumps of slow joggers, or any number of configurations of humanity along the route.  I would do my best to duck and weave on the runs, at times even having to run in the median or on grass embankments to get around the masses.  I was very pleased with my plan and stamina despite the foot issues.  There's no way I would be able to compete at this level if it wasn't for my Lap Band surgery.  It certainly is a gift and makes a real difference.  The race starts in downtown Tampa and makes it's way down scenic Bayshore Blvd and back.  The view of the water and opulent homes along the way is very nice.

Along the way, you find water stations where volunteers will hand you cups of water, so you can stay hydrated.  There was also entertainment with some people playing music as well as yelling encouragement.  It's a big help.  Once I could see the finish line, I started telling myself that it was within reach, even if my feet were telling me otherwise.  By mile two I was walking with a discernible limp and doing my best to trudge through the runs.  It was all worth it as I crossed that finish line.  I felt like I had accomplished one of my main goals as I started my weight loss journey and it felt good.  Shortly there after I saw Jen walking back to find me and Paul shortly there after.  It was great to see them both.  It meant a lot that they were there, and that they took the time to come find me and see how I did before even helping themselves to the food and refreshments.  I love you guys!  We made our way back across the Platt Street Bridge to where they were serving the refreshments, bottled water, fruit, yogurt, etc.  Along the way we were given our finishing medals.  I felt like it was a symbol of how far I came since surgery, and how much I had accomplished.  I had a great sense of pride.  It has been a while, since I felt good about myself.

Then the rain came!  And it was a deluge.  I had already finished my race, but my poor pregnant wife and Ma were still out there trying to finish their wave.  I was concerned especially with the potentially slippery conditions, that I decided to make my way back along the course to find them and walk them in.  It didn't take long to get drenched in these water works.  It was a slow trudge and my feet were ready to pack it in and disown me for sure.  I found them a mile or so back and was glad that they were both alright, despite nearly drownd from the weather.  We walked back in and found the others near the refreshments.

Despite the weather and the feet it was a great experience.  I would highly recommend it.  Participating in one of these has a lot of motivational value and is a great goal to help you along your weight loss journey.  I completed the 3.1 miles in 41 minutes and 46 seconds, which is about a 13:25/mile pace.  I was very please with this result especially considering all the human obstacles along the way.  It was a big improvement from my earlier attempt where I took an hour while walking the whole thing.  I'm not sure when I will be able to do my next one as I need time for my feet to recover as I was pretty well hobbled afterwards.  With the help of the Lap Band I was able to over come my feet to actually participate in this race and life instead of just watching it pass me by from the bleachers of obesity.

Thank you and God bless.  :-)

Fun with Flouro

The New Year is upon us and a time for new hope and resolve; maybe even a resolution or two.  My last fills and attempted fill were not so good with my elusive port.  We felt it was time for another try.  Unfortunately, the result was the same as that in December.  The port is moving and very difficult to access in it's current position.  Luckily Suncoast Bariatrics was getting a new machine that would allow them to perform a procedure such as a fill under Flouro emissions, pretty much under X-ray, allowing them to see what's going on inside as they work.  My next attempt was scheduled to be done using Flouro for this purpose.  Unfortunately on my next visit the machine was not yet in service due to some overdue safety badges to detect radiation levels from the machine.  Dr. Jessee still gave it a shot, since I had come all the way down there and she was the one that was able to access it before, even after things got difficult.  She wasn't able to repeat her magic again this time however, and we decided to try again only after the Flouro machine was in operation.

The very next week, in fact it ended up being on my previously scheduled 9 month follow up, we came in to try the fill under Flouro.  This was fascinating.  Standing in front of the machine when they fired it up, I could see my insides on an x-ray screen live.  I have to say it was pretty cool!  They could see my band, and it looked like it was still in great position.  My port on the other hand had flipped entirely, where the side that can be accessed with the needle for adjustments was now facing away from the skin.  Through some heroic efforts on Dr. Jessee's part, she was able to manipulate the port through the skin where she was able to access the port from underneath.  I have to say it wasn't easy and took more than one attempt, but the tenacity of Dr. Jessee made it happen.  They drained the band and gave me some fresh fluid with what they refer to as a reset.  Oddly enough in the end, they actually put less fluid back in.  We were able to test this fill out, while still using the Flouro machine.  I was given some tasty barium to drink, so it would show up on the screen as it went down.  It collected in the small stomach pouch and would trickle through the band just as designed.  Dr. Jessee felt we shouldn't rush to fix the position of the port as it would require surgery.  If we waited some time for me to further lose more weight and stabilize, it would be better.  Now she knew the exact method she would use from this session under Flouro, to give me subsequent adjustments.  I was concerned, what would happen in the event of an emergency and I had something get stuck in my band, and needed an emergency adjustment.  I was concerned that the doctors in the emergency room would be ill equipped to adjust my band through my port.  Dr Jessee assured me that she would always be available for me and could always be reached via pager.

I am continually amazed at the dedication of Dr Jessee, Dr Ache, and the rest of the staff at Suncoast Bariatrics.  My particular case has certainly had some challenges along the way, but they have always given me extraordinary care and gone above and beyond the call of duty.  It's been over nine months since my Lap Band surgery, and despite some of the unusual challenges, I certainly don't regret it.  I feel tremendously better; I'm able to sleep through the night; My diabetes is under control; and I've lost a bunch of weight!  Thank you for this great gift; it certainly has changed my life!

God Bless!

me

Where's My Appendix?

I'm back from my show and tell tour, and after enjoying my time there a little too much, it's certainly time for my next fill.  After having some difficulties during the last two fills where hitting my port with the needle has been particularly challenging for the doctors at Suncoast Bariatrics, I'm a little apprehensive about going.  The doctors have been as gentle as possible, but there is still some discomfort and inevitable bruising that takes place when you have a needle wiggling around in search of a port.  This time was no exception.  Unfortunately this one was even worse in that they weren't able to access the port even after sustained effort.  It was very disappointing, since as difficult as the last couple fills were, at least they were successful in that the adjustment was accomplished.  We decided to let things sit for a bit and try again after the New Year.  The cause seems to be that my port has shifted a bit and seems to be at an angle towards my belly button.  More on this development in a later post.

It's Christmas time now and along with the holiday cheer, I've got belly pain.  Not from the aforementioned aborted fill and resulted bruising, as that has already dissipated, but from my right side, no where near my port or band.  After several days of pain, my wife convinced me on a trip to the emergency room.  Apparently most of my symptoms seemed to point to an appendicitis, which if not caught in time could be life threatening.  On Christmas Eve Eve we ended up in the emergency room.  It was an interesting experience, which included a CAT scan to check my appendix, which they couldn't find.  This didn't give me a lot of confidence; for some reason I expected a hospital to know where my anatomy is located.  On the plus side they were impressed with all my vitals.  Thank you Lap Band surgery!  It seems it has made me much healthier along with the weight loss.  It was nice to get some physical confirmation of that.  The CAT scan didn't find my appendix, but it did see my Lap Band and they said everything looked really good, which was another nice confirmation.  In the end they didn't have an explanation for the pain and recommended I see my primary care physician as a follow up.

I was able to get in to my regular doctor's office.  They didn't find anything wrong either and were concerned that perhaps it was something related to my surgery like scar tissue and I should consult with my surgeon.  My next stop the next day was to Suncoast Bariatrics and they sent me to another hospital ER where they can run another battery of tests for them to review.  As you can imagine, I was fairly frustrated by this point.  Every hospital and doctor's office was a full explanation and battery of tests with the same result until now.  Finally Suncoast Bariatrics had someone at the hospital that came right into radiology and made me feel quite better.  I went through the tests and got a much better diagnosis even if it was a somewhat embarrassing one.  Before I get to that, they did say that the Lap Band was looking good, but they did note that my port had shifted.  They decided that we should wait and see if it continues to shift as sometimes it may shift back based on how and where the weight comes off.  It wasn't a priority right now as the band was certainly not what was causing my current pain issue thankfully.

OK, now for the embarrassing part.  Apparently to no one's surprise, I was full of it!  Yes, it was as simple as being constipated.  I was surprised as I felt like I had been regular, but maybe I wasn't going enough?  You could see right on the CAT scan that I had my intestine full all the way around to my side where I was feeling the pain.  They prescribed me some stool softener and sent me on my way.  Again the hospital staff was impressed with my vitals as they indicated that my Lap Band surgery and certainly done a lot for my over all health, which was nice to hear.  I certainly feel a lot better over all.  I can breath; I can sleep; I can move comfortably on my own without feeling like I'm going to pass out.  It's been nice.  My body has gone through some changes and perhaps one of them is my body chemistry where I may not be relieving myself as often as I should.  It could just be I need some more fiber?  Within a week of taking the stool softener, I was pain free and back on the healthy track.  It made for a bit of a stressful holiday week, but in the end I felt better for it and glad to say I haven't had any constipation issues since.  Thank you to all of those at Suncoast Bariatrics for seeing me on such short notice during the holidays and helping me with my constipation.  They didn't dismiss me just because my issue had nothing to do with my Lap Band; they gave me excellent care and made sure they got to the bottom of my issue.  Without their care I may not have been able to go as I needed to.....

God Bless!

me

PS - The reason the hospital couldn't readily find my appendix on the CAT scan is that it is usually very small when healthy.  It only becomes very noticeable if there is an issue and becomes inflamed; at least that is my layman's understanding.  I certainly don't have a medical degree.

Show & Tell Tour

It's been over six months since surgery, and we are full in holiday mode.  Spending Thanksgiving with my wife's family, we went up to Connecticut to see my family the following week.  The air is heavy with anticipation, not only to see what people say about my weight loss, but also the added baby news.  Baby news did seem to trump Band news, and as much fun as it might be to recount the telling of our baby news to the family, it is a bit off topic, so I will let it go as it came as a big surprise, especially with everyone initially focused on my weight loss.  :-)

I will say expectations are hard to overcome, especially if they may be high, but I was over all pleased with the results.  It's funny, but reactions although varied from person to person, seemed to all have some commonality as well.  The initial reaction always seemed to be one of hesitant processing accompanied by a studying stare.  I'm not sure if it was more of disbelief or in some cases I wasn't meeting up with their expectations.  I will say I was handicapped by the weather and time of year.  Not only was it Winter, but I was coming from Florida to Connecticut, which probably net an equivalent temperature drop to match my weight loss!  I was forced to layer and wear heavy clothes negating some of the apparent benefits of my weight loss.  I must say that I was a bit disappointed with some of the reactions as a result.  I may have even got a comment of "that's it?" along the way.  However, any less than stellar reactions, were often followed by a more congratulatory tone, especially once I took my coat off.  I dare say that I may have been able to bask in the glory of better adulation in a warmer clime or better season.

I had some unexpected reactions as well.  For example, I got a surprise gush or two, not from how I looked so much, but seeing me actually perform some simple feat of agility, that prior to surgery would've challenged me as a monumental task, such as bending over to pick up something from the ground, climbing stairs without the accompanying huff and puff, or walking in general for that matter.  There were comments like "Oh my God, he's able to do......"  Fill in the blank.  I hadn't realized how poor my physical abilities had gotten to prior to surgery.  Seeing my progress through the eyes of others was an eye opener.  I'm very pleased with how far I've come, and appreciate all my friends and family who have supported me and gotten me to where I am now.  It's truly been a journey and not a destination, but sometimes it's nice to stop and look around and appreciate how far you've come.  Thank you all for all of your support.

I can't wait until my next trip, perhaps in the Spring, where maybe I can sport shorts instead of over coats!  It was also my first time back on a plane since surgery, and it was so nice to leave the seatbelt extender behind.  I fit comfortably into the seat despite being stuck in a middle seat.  I was amazed on the difference.  Last time I felt like I was stuffed into the seat like an over plump sausage in a narrow sausage casing.  I would have to endure the stares of fellow travelers hoping I wasn't sitting next to them and impeding on their space.  Now I felt like nothing particularly special or noteworthy on the plane; it was nice to just be one of the crowd.  Thank you to all who made this vision a reality.