Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Not a Freak Anymore

I am not a young man, but I still think of myself as young and think I look younger than my 72 years. Because of my weight loss surgery, I feel I am in better heath than I have been in many years. I still have the normal aches and pains one would expect when I do something physical hard to do. I have also lost some muscle mass while losing the weight. I can no longer depend on my ability to use my muscles to do as much as I used to a few years ago. Even with the weight I had I was always very 
strong and could just about move mountains.  

I graduated from Puyallup High School in 1960 and then went on to college and started a family. I did not see most of my high school classmates until our 10th year reunion. Looking at the group then we had survived petty well, still a good looking group. We had not lost many to death and did not know of any of our boys who were lost to the war that was going on at the time in the far East. 

In 2010 of course we had our 50th class reunion and as expected we were looking a lot older. I could hardly recognize many who were there and I am sure they could not recognize me either and I had to reintroduce myself to them many times. Of course the thin athletic boy that had lots of hair was now fat and bald so I do not blame them at all. I had tried to lose a little weight before the reunion, and had been able to get a size 48 pants on. They were tight but on. I thought I looked pretty good but of course I was fooling myself. But I was not the only one who had gained a lot of weight and lost their hair. We had also lost a few classmates to death as would be expected but really just a few. 

I had not heard from most of the classmates again from the time except for a few who were my“friends” on Facebook. I found out from one of those friends that a group of people were still meeting once a month at a Puyallup restaurant and kind of having a monthly reunion of sorts. With the prompting of one of these friends, I attended the meetings this past week at Charlies Restaurant in Puyallup. 

After loosing about 150 pounds I had to reintroduce myself again but this time I was one of the thinnest ones there. I did not have to feel embarrassed about my appearance anymore and that was great. I would just sit back and enjoy the company of my classmates without feeling like a freak Actually I think Jackie who went with me and I were the best looking couple there. Probably predigest with that statement but I did enjoy the attention. I over heard one of the guys say how good I looked now to another classmate. I don’t think he knew I could hear his comments. He told the other guy he looks great now but he used to be huge, and that was a true statement but he did not know how huge I had been as he never saw me at my hugest 

Anyway I am so thankful for the surgery and now I feel I can live a normal life and interface with old friends and family without feeling I am the biggest elephant in the room. 

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Thankful

I am so happy with how I feel most of the time these days. I have so much energy and actually look for things to do around here all the time. Jackie is amazed at how much better I am in getting things done.

But I do have a few problems that I have talked about before. I am continually having acid reflex. I have talked to my surgery team about it, and they gave me some medicines for it, but so far I still have an occasional problem. It normally happens while I am sleeping, I upchuck acid into my mouth and esophagus. It hurts like hell and most of the time I have to get out of bed to clear it. I will eat a couple of soda crackers or drink something and it seems to calm it down a little but I lose sleep over it and feel kind of weak the next day. I am going to be a little more aggressive with my doctors and see if I can find what is causing this problem.

Many of our friends, who are about our age, are having more health problems than either Jackie or I are having. Some very major problems and I sometimes feel guilty about complaining about my little problems when I have been lucky enough to not suffer any big ones myself.

Of course almost everyone these days will develop some problem they are going to work on before they finally die of something. I guess it comes down to quality of life and each day we are given to enjoy the things we do. Our health systems are good enough these days that people even with major problems are able to go on for years and still have a pretty good quality life.

Years ago many things people are living with would have meant almost immediate death of at least a pretty miserable life until they eventually died. But today medicine is advanced enough to extend our lives in better ways. And for that and the surgery I had, I am most grateful.



Monday, March 3, 2014

Phase one is done!!!!!

Boy am I tired but happy. I got the first part of our home remodel project completed and I am proud of how it turned out. We only spent about $1200 on the job and paid as we went so no credit cards were used. This is only about a third of the total project. Next is the kitchen and it is going to be a lot more money to say the least. Some new cabinets, new appliances, new floors, new paint and trim. So I am going to have to put away as much money as I can for the next few months so that I can afford the project. Jackie is still trying to decide on exactly what she wants for flooring and counter tops. That will go a long way in determining how much it is going to cost. Stay tuned.

I lost the little weight I gained over the holidays and am under my goal weight again which was 168 lbs. I had to cut my calories down quite a bit to lose the weight but now I am back on my normal schedule. If I should go up a little from time to time I intend on cutting back for a week or so to control it. The key is to weigh and measure everything very closely and to take actions if needed by cutting back for a time.

With Spring coming on I will also have to do a lot of work in my yard and home on the outside. So that coupled with my swimming that I still do 3 times a week will increase my exercise activities and burn a few more calories so my weight will probably stabilize more.


It is hard to believe but the anniversary of my RNY surgery for two years is coming up soon. Two years ago this time I weighed over 325lbs and thought I was doing good, as that was down form what I had weighed a few months before. What a difference in my life the surgery has made possible.