DownunderDennis
Well I'm a 65 y o drycleaner living in Townsville, Qld, Australia & I have been married to a beautiful girl called Cynthia for 36 years. We have 2 offspring, Kimeon who is 33 years old, lives with us at home, handsome as all get out, severely intellectually disabled, great temperament, epileptic & a great source of fun in our lives.
Joella, his sister, & husband Mark have just finished jobs in Moscow & may visit us soon.
As I am only 5' 6" and have this bulbous stomach I really look like a statue of Buddha. Actually I have the exact same shape my father had except he was taller & could carry it better.
I have diabetes II, sleep apnoea & use a CPAP, a BMI of 42.3, cholesterol & BP are under control with meds. I have the early symptoms of glaucoma & I'm losing the feeling in the soles of my feet. Forever sleepy.
My surgery is on for the 24 January, 17 days after my 65th birthday & my fasting starts 3 days after my birthday (good management!). For my birthday I don't know if I'll have a 2" thick rare steak or a feed of lobsters. Ah, what the heck...I'll have both!
16 Jan 2007
Well, I'm 7 days into the fast & according to my electronic scales I've lost 7 kg (thats quite a few lbs). I never did really trust those scales, though!
I do an hour of gym every night. This morning I had the runs but I'm ok now.
I dream of food a lot, though. Weird dreams!
19 Jan 2007
The trick with the Optifast is to add a quarter to a half level teaspoon of Keens Curry Powder. Makes all the difference.
My daughter comes to visit tomorrow & I am so sorry I can't take her out to tea, or even have a drink with her.
I still have the runs every morning.
See the doctor on Monday & then surgery Wednesday. Then the fun & games start!
29 Jan 2007
Back home! Feeling a bit bruised but otherwise not too bad. Lot of head hunger. Sipping continuously, can't wait to get off liquid only diet. Even mush sounds good!
Getting waves of nausea & some pain but it passes. Haven't tried the Painstop med yet. Rather silly of me. Tired but can only lie on my back, everything else hurts. Believe I rate a lower catagory now that my BMI is 38. I think I am now 'extremely obese' rather than 'morbidly obese'. I won't be impressed until I qualify for 'a bit underfed' or whatever it's called.
Joella & Mark are helping out in the shop, they are a godsend.
It seems Kim played up when I was in hospital. Can understand it though, first his sister & her husband take the limelight & then his dad goes missing. The sad thing is that nothing can be explained to him. Anyway, now I'm home he is as happy as Larry. Sneaks up behind me & cuddles me.
19 Feb 2007
Sorry for the delay in checking in but I have been really tied up. It has taken a while but I seem to have found my new stomach capacity..eg for breakfast only 1 egg, not 2. When I get 'hungry' (probably more 'head hunger' than real hunger) I eat to my new capacity, but there isn't the same satisfaction as before, just a packed feeling. At first there was a feeling of discomfort & a little pain when I ate something solid but that has passed.
This 'head hunger' side of it is very significant. I have memories of tastes of various meals, but now the experience of having a small portion of those meals is entirely different to the memory. So I have to make new mental associations.
Another thing is that I have only lost 12 kgs and I seem to have plateaued. Of course it's been less than 1 month since the VSG, (& I haven't done much excercise), but I have been quite sleepy during the day.
I passed a little bit of blood on a couple of occasions but that seems to have fixed itself.
Will keep you posted.
7 May 2007
Sorry for not keeping my profile up to date but I have had some mixed results & mixed feelings about them.
Firstly I have not lost any more weight, still 105 kg, & that's disappointing. I don't have feelings of hunger exactly just a strong feeling of nausea when my mini-tummy is empty (which is about every 2-3 hours). So I have a snack!
It works out that I am eating nearly as much as before but in many small snacks. After surgery I have not resumed my exercise & I must do something about that.
I don't immediately know if I have eaten too much at the time because the after-effects of eating too much don't occur immediately. So if I do eat too much a little while later I'm in major discomfort, even pain. But that's just a matter of learning what my new capacity is. I guess my eyes are bigger than my stomach.
Lots of gas, but we won't dwell on that.
Blood sugar readings are in the 5 -7 range.
These days I like to eat soft foods like fish more than the very dense foods like steak & chops.
I would be happy with everything IF I was to lose lots more weight. Perhaps it will happen if I do some exercise. Cynthia is so supportive, she's a grand gal!
Ciao everybody, & don't let my story discourage anybody. Others seem to be getting the results.
Bye for now
