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Meet the new bear.
13 years ago
General
Anyone who has met me has seen that I am not a small man. For years I have fought with my weight and have been unsuccessful with the battle. I have decided to do something about it.
*cue montage*
Like most children, I was born… Throughout school and such I was always the “big guy”. It can be fun at times, some people say you are cuddly, you can be intimidating when you want to be, and you are forever the butt of many a joke. You learn to cope and you learn more importantly your limitations. One of the limitations that I have learned is that I need help.
I need to get healthy. I need to get more fit. I need to be more pro-active in my search for weight loss, and mostly what I realize is that I need help. So help I am getting in the form of a procedure known as Roux En Y or Bariatric Surgery.
This is a process that I started a bit over a year ago and have been working toward completing ever since. I have attended the required classes, and I have changed my habits according to the documents and classes (no more soda ever, no more fruit juice ever, no caffeine, limited alcohol). There were numerous doctor visits from internal medicine specialists and my surgeon, dietitian visits and even some visits with a psychologist to make sure that mentally I am ready for this change. Everyone I have talked to has said that I am an ideal candidate and they believe that I will be able to make this change last.
I have not talked about this here or really outside of some of my friends and family so I just felt it was time to put it all on the record.
June 5th I begin my all liquid diet in preparation for the surgery. It is 4 OptiFast 900 shakes a day which as the name suggests gives me a total of 900 calories for the entire day. This is given so that it will shrink the fat around my liver and also shrink it as well to allow the laparoscopic surgery to have as few hindrances as possible.
This procedure will create a new stomach for me that is roughly the size of an egg and it will put me on more or less a controlled starvation which allows me to lose and maintain a healthy weight. I will be on vitamin supplements for the rest of my life and it means a lot of changes to my lifestyle, everything from eating habits to even the simple act of drinking water. It is a rough road but I need to make this change.
*cue sad music*
The reason that I need to make this change was made ever so clear to me in the past 2 years. I have looked at my family history and it reads like a bit of a horror show.
Diabetes: Mother, Father, Grandfather
Liver Disease: Father, Grandfather
Heart Disease: Father Grandfather
Cancer: Mother, Grandmother
This my friends is why I need to do this. I need to stick around for all my friends, I need to be here 20, 30, even 40 years from now. If I don’t make this change… I can’t even realistically say I would make it to 5 years from now.
It is the cold hard truth. I need to do to my best to make sure that I will still be annoying you for quite a while.
I go in for my surgery July 3rd at 8:00am at Humber River Regional Hospital in Toronto. I still have to figure out where I am going to say for the week after the surgery as you have to be within an hour drive of the hospital in case of problems, but I will figure that part out soon enough. It is then 3 more weeks of recovery and really restrictive diets during the recovery phase, but I am optimistic that this will happen, this will work, and I am going to make it.
I know that this is a lot of TL;DR but I have to let people know what is happening.
I love you all.
Jason (aka prplhaze)
*cue montage*
Like most children, I was born… Throughout school and such I was always the “big guy”. It can be fun at times, some people say you are cuddly, you can be intimidating when you want to be, and you are forever the butt of many a joke. You learn to cope and you learn more importantly your limitations. One of the limitations that I have learned is that I need help.
I need to get healthy. I need to get more fit. I need to be more pro-active in my search for weight loss, and mostly what I realize is that I need help. So help I am getting in the form of a procedure known as Roux En Y or Bariatric Surgery.
This is a process that I started a bit over a year ago and have been working toward completing ever since. I have attended the required classes, and I have changed my habits according to the documents and classes (no more soda ever, no more fruit juice ever, no caffeine, limited alcohol). There were numerous doctor visits from internal medicine specialists and my surgeon, dietitian visits and even some visits with a psychologist to make sure that mentally I am ready for this change. Everyone I have talked to has said that I am an ideal candidate and they believe that I will be able to make this change last.
I have not talked about this here or really outside of some of my friends and family so I just felt it was time to put it all on the record.
June 5th I begin my all liquid diet in preparation for the surgery. It is 4 OptiFast 900 shakes a day which as the name suggests gives me a total of 900 calories for the entire day. This is given so that it will shrink the fat around my liver and also shrink it as well to allow the laparoscopic surgery to have as few hindrances as possible.
This procedure will create a new stomach for me that is roughly the size of an egg and it will put me on more or less a controlled starvation which allows me to lose and maintain a healthy weight. I will be on vitamin supplements for the rest of my life and it means a lot of changes to my lifestyle, everything from eating habits to even the simple act of drinking water. It is a rough road but I need to make this change.
*cue sad music*
The reason that I need to make this change was made ever so clear to me in the past 2 years. I have looked at my family history and it reads like a bit of a horror show.
Diabetes: Mother, Father, Grandfather
Liver Disease: Father, Grandfather
Heart Disease: Father Grandfather
Cancer: Mother, Grandmother
This my friends is why I need to do this. I need to stick around for all my friends, I need to be here 20, 30, even 40 years from now. If I don’t make this change… I can’t even realistically say I would make it to 5 years from now.
It is the cold hard truth. I need to do to my best to make sure that I will still be annoying you for quite a while.
I go in for my surgery July 3rd at 8:00am at Humber River Regional Hospital in Toronto. I still have to figure out where I am going to say for the week after the surgery as you have to be within an hour drive of the hospital in case of problems, but I will figure that part out soon enough. It is then 3 more weeks of recovery and really restrictive diets during the recovery phase, but I am optimistic that this will happen, this will work, and I am going to make it.
I know that this is a lot of TL;DR but I have to let people know what is happening.
I love you all.
Jason (aka prplhaze)
Love from your pup for always, Kodi
*hugs* We will have cake together before I start my fast yes. Just not big pieces.
- Turi
*hugs* Much love
If you ever wondered why I'm as directed yet happy go lucky as I am. I've been on the opposite side of the fence you're climbing over. All the joke around me is the fact that if I turn sideways and stick out my tongue I'd be the scaly version of a Zipper. But know this dude, I got yer back. I'll help however I can, and I know you'll be successful at this. I'm cheerin you on bud!
Rithy
I hope you get to feel that pride soon when you have yours gone as well, it is such a monumental weight off your shoulders when you can make it happen.
I am in the planning stages of possibly starting a website and video blog series documenting my weightloss and recovery. Maybe that will help to inspire others in some way.
Prp, you know love ya, Hun.Good luck...
but i think this is going to end badly.
my choice of wording just may have been sloppily chosen.
*hugs*