Welcome back to my blog. It has been an interesting time to say the least. Those of you who have read my previous post will remember the chest pain issue. Well , it is still rearing its ugly head. It is still there it comes and goes and after a endoscopy, we still have no idea what is causing it, or how to alleviate the symptoms.
Living with constant chest pain is....hard. It is almost impossible for me to enjoy this new me, while this is going on. But I try. I still go through my work, but I can say I get irritated more easily, and have to make a concerted effort to not take it out on my job or my wife. Thankfully I have been successful in this regard. The newest part is that the pain now stabs right through me into the area just under my left shoulder blade.
From what I can find it even has a name, Notalgia Paresthetica, which basically is described as an burning pain with an itch that is deep beneath the surface. It is associated with spinel issues, Which since I know I have a herniated disc in at least one spot, is very possible. Also spinal issues run in my family. My older sister has MS, and my mother had major spinal stenosis and spine issues.
So what's the treatment, well its not diagnosed yet, but there really may not be. But we shall find out more soon. One drug that is used is Gabapentin, which I used to take prior to surgery for nerve pain in my legs. I still have some, but there is a huge risk. You see Gabapentin is known to cause weight gain in patients. Let's face it, I am not going back to that way of life.
So we do what we can, and I live with pain, sometimes it is pretty bad. But hey, everyone has something right? So what else is new.
Well what is new is I surpassed the 140 pound lost mark. Yes I weighed in today at 221 pounds, which is 141 pounds down in 5 months 3 weeks. This really makes me happy. You may also note that the weight loss has slowed down. Well that's expected. Its easier to stall now, and they are more like mini stalls. So I will go a few days like 3 to 4 with no weight loss, then go two or three days where I will lose like half a pound a day.
I know you are thinking well Steve what else is happening? Well I had my 6 month ( although a few weeks early) meeting with my surgeon and Nutritionist. My surgeon was very happy, in his words " ...You are way ahead of the curve, and you look great." Well I will take that for sure. I have a new nutritionist. He was very helpful. We discussed eating breakfast and I mentioned how I tend to have the same thing every day, but get tired of it.
I won't eat even good things like oatmeal or whole grains because I am really doing well without carbs and I am not ready to take in many more carbs, even if they are so called "good" carbs. The answer I recovered was interesting. The Nutritionist, said ," why not have a steak for breakfast?"
Basically he was advocating dinner for breakfast. Hamburger patties with an egg on top, or a piece of steak, ( I am not exactly ready for steak yet but soon perhaps). So we shall see. Although I don't have time on a workday to cook like that, but who knows.
So off of food, and on to a funny thing happened on the way to.. Well on the way to getting dressed. I had purchased some shorts in my new size a mens large. This morning however I pulled out one of these new pairs and holding them up realized they looked a bit on the small side. I remarked about this to my wife who agreed. I checked the inside tag and it said, xl. Uh oh! I must've bought the wrong size. So my wife grabbed the tags I had cut off and she said to me, " well these are a boys xl." A boys? Oh well I must've just bought based on the hanger.
Now for a joke I tried them on.. and they fit! Ha! That really blew my mind. Not only did they fit, I wore them to work, and like them. This may not be too weird to some, but to me, it was a mind blowing event. So what else. Well I went to see my primary care physician who hadn't seen me since the surgery. Well the staff who I had been seeing on a regular basis for over 10 years, didn't know who I was.
My doctor didn't even know who I was. That was funny. When he checked me over and we discussed the chest pain issue, he mentioned that I would definitely need to have surgery to remove the "panny" area. Also known as the apron, its what used to be my belly. Now I have promised to be blunt in this blog, so I will not hold back. He mentioned I would need a tummy tuck, and yes surgery on my chest to remove the remains of my man boobs.
Sorry If I made you throw up a little there. It is not the picture I am sure you wanted to see in your mind. This is an issue for a lot of weight loss surgery patients. As you get older your skin loses collagen and elastin. These are the proteins that tighten up skin. Once you start losing them and lose weight, you get loose skin. While it is a small price to pay physically, it is a large price to pay financially. That is going to be an issue that is a tough one to face. Many patients go to Mexico and have their surgery done there. I can say that is not for me. So when the time comes, well we will have to worry about that then. Until then I'll live with the sagginess and unflattering chest ha ha.
So on that note, I will leave you until the next post. Hopefully soon when I pass the next huge goal, of 150 pounds lost. See you then. As always below is the cartoon for this post.
Love you all.
