Jump to content

How is Cal Blacksmith Doing?


Recommended Posts

Sorry guys for the long time no post. OB, I

did get your email this morning, thanks for caring enough to send it.

With the forced time away from the board, I have discovered that there are

other things in life than audio (though all of you here are part of my extended

family and I treasure my friends here) I have discovered cooking, yah, go figure,

I can only eat a spoon full every now and then yet I really LOVE cooking,

ironic isnt it? I am a member on several cooking and baking boards so my trips

here are not as frequent as they used to be.

Yes things are under control and the coumadin is a daily thing (for the next

4 months anyway!). I am back to work and doing all the normal things one would

expect to do. There have been no more blood clots (that I know about!) or any

other negative effects from the surgery.

I have lost a total of about 60 pounds so far but have been holding steady

at my current weight for about 3 weeks now and it is indeed frustrating. I know

it is normal for this to happen but I keep doing everything right and the scale

just stays rock solid without moving. I am having trouble getting my eyes to

"see" just how big (or is that SMALL) my portions should be. I look

at half to three quarters of a cup of food and want to take more but then when

I feel like it is time to stop eating, there is still some food left on the

plate. Eating is a sloooooow affair. I need to wait 10 minutes between bites

which means that eating a half of a sandwich will take about an hour. I can't

drink anything for a half hour before, during or after a meal (per the eating

plan given by my Doc) yet I still need to get in 2 liters (one half gallon) of

fluids per day!

I must say though that when the dust is settled, it is WELL worth having the

surgery. I feel so much better. I am able to work out on an elliptical trainer

for 40 minutes at a cardio pace (heart at 150 bpm) without hardly breaking a

sweat though I do still weigh 309#. It is the little things that make

such a difference, like being able to put your shoes and socks on without

struggling to bend over far enough to do so, like having 10 times the energy I

had before, like having my knees stop hurting, like throwing away my blood pressure

medicine (on Docs orders!) like not getting winded while walking at a fast pace

for over a half mile (the walk in from my car to my workplace) like being able

to see "Mr. happy" without a mirror or being able to use a urinal

rather than the toilet, like being able to sit in a BOOTH in a restaurant, like

being able to wear my wedding ring again, like needing to take links out of my

watch band so the watch will stay put, like punching holes in a belt to make it

small enough, like having your pants start to fall in public and needing to

hoist them back into place. I could go on but I am being honest here, life is

so much better now than it was just 3 short months ago that If I never lost

another pound, it was worth it but I am only at the beginning of this journey

and many more pounds will be shed. I look forward to the day that I can buy

clothes at a NORMAL persons store, to walking through a supermarket and not

having little kids say "LOOK MOMMY, THAT MAN'S FAT!" to getting on a

ride at an amusement park and not needing to make the safety belt as long as

possible to get it around yourself, to being a NORMAL person for the first time

in 50 years!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good for you Mr. Blacksmith........................You hang in there brother, I wish my attitude was that positive.............You Sir have always been a normal person, be proud of what you have accomplished, and never look back..................

Glad I got the right person with that e-mail wasn't sure when I sent it..........................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WAY TO GO CAL!

So glad that you are doing well.

Were making me nervous there for a while, not responding to the first message...

I bet you will continue to feel even better. Keep us informed of your progress. If it's not embarassing, consider putting in some before and after pics later on.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wayne, Congradulations on the new you!! You've done a great job with mucho courage.

I lost 50 pounds in the past year and a half. No surgery, elective surgery is off the table for me. No, I had to pick up the "habit" again. That's not good for me either.[:(] At least now I can walk a few miles without excrutiating hip and back pain. Like you, that last ten pounds don't seem to want to melt. That's my resolution this year, then I can re-quit for a while.

If it gets to the point where I need a transplant, I need to be smoke free for at least three months.

I'm making stuffed peppers, baba ghanooge and red lentle soup for dinner tonight.

Keep up the good work!

Rick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

VERY NICE!!!!

I'm confussed though....something else is out there?

I'm thrilled you have a new "lease on life"...cooking is a great hobby and unlike this hobby, one you can immediatly appreciate and if not, what have you lost!!!

I just discoved top shelf scotch's...I'm sure there's no harm in that!!!

Again, I'm so glad tour doing well!

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

VERY NICE!!!!

I'm confussed though....something else is out there?

I'm thrilled you have a new "lease on life"...cooking is a great hobby and unlike this hobby, one you can immediatly appreciate and if not, what have you lost!!!

I just discoved top shelf scotch's...I'm sure there's no harm in that!!!

Again, I'm so glad tour doing well!

Phil

No harm other than to the pocket book.[H]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.........I must say though that when the dust is settled, it is WELL worth having the

surgery. I feel so much better. I am able to work out on an elliptical trainer

for 40 minutes at a cardio pace (heart at 150 bpm) without hardly breaking a

sweat though I do still weigh 309#. It is the little things that make

such a difference, like being able to put your shoes and socks on without

struggling to bend over far enough to do so, like having 10 times the energy I

had before, like having my knees stop hurting, like throwing away my blood pressure

medicine (on Docs orders!) like not getting winded while walking at a fast pace

for over a half mile (the walk in from my car to my workplace) like being able

to see "Mr. happy" without a mirror or being able to use a urinal

rather than the toilet, like being able to sit in a BOOTH in a restaurant, like

being able to wear my wedding ring again, like needing to take links out of my

watch band so the watch will stay put, like punching holes in a belt to make it

small enough, like having your pants start to fall in public and needing to

hoist them back into place. I could go on but I am being honest here, life is

so much better now than it was just 3 short months ago that If I never lost

another pound, it was worth it but I am only at the beginning of this journey

and many more pounds will be shed. I look forward to the day that I can buy

clothes at a NORMAL persons store, to walking through a supermarket and not

having little kids say "LOOK MOMMY, THAT MAN'S FAT!" to getting on a

ride at an amusement park and not needing to make the safety belt as long as

possible to get it around yourself, to being a NORMAL person for the first time

in 50 years!

That was very well put. I have a friend who is quite heavy and I can see how the weight he carries limits his life. I feel bloated just from the holiday blub I put on. I can't imagine what it must be like to weigh as much as two or three people. I don't think most people understand the situation, some people just seem to have a metabolism that stores fat very efficiently. Maybe certain genetic characteristics are triggered that go back to some time when people that could store fat easily were better adapted to survive famines. I don't know, but congratulations on your success so far. Thanks for posting, it's very enlightening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Cal,

We are so glad to see you are doing better. Just be patient, you will pass that plateau and begin to lose weight again. The same thing happened with our neighbor that had this surgery. Once he started losing the weight again his moral significantly improved.

Check back in with us more often so we don't have to put an APB on out you![;)]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, life is indeed better and will be getting more so!

Again to everyone, I'm sorry it took a while to report back to all of those who were interested in what happened to me. I am getting here at least once a day on weekdays and sometimes twice but not living on the board like I did before. I have answered a few posts in the last few days but many topics I choose to skip over due to the subject being hashed out dozens of times.

I can't beleave that the "right this minute" thread is still alive and kicking! WOW, that thread has a life of it's own!

The change in eating habbits is an interesting one for me as I used to love to eat, now it is a P.I.T.A.! Just this morning I ordered a Denver omlet in the company cafiteria, no big deal, right? Well after 90 minutes of "eating" it was still only half gone and there was no way I wanted to put another bite in my mouth! I just wraped it up and put it in the fridge in our office, I will finish it tomorow. The surgery group has given me a card to carry asking restarunts to let me eat off the childs menu as I can't eat an adults portion anymore. Heck, I can only eat 1/2 a kids meal!! No carbonated drinks and watch the fat and suguar are the main rules. Eat slowly (like an hour per "meal" which is a pain in social situations as most people finish their meal in under 15 minutes I have noticed. So it is just me, plodding along, protecting my meal from being taken away to the trash for the next 45 minutes[:$]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...