Work, Weight, and Whatever
Again, I have been terrible at posting here on a regular basis. I started to write something the other night but I could not come up with anything to write about, or at least anything I felt was appropriate to say in public. That's the way life goes I guess.
Work has been really busy lately. We have been working on this huge project that was started in 2004. To me, it is a pain in the ass. My boss calls it "welfare for lawyers". This is a FCC (read Federal Govt) mandated thing and it is being paid for by Sprint (Nextel) wireless. I won't bore anyone with the details unless they really want to know. In a nutshell, it involves reprogramming a bunch of police, fire, and ems radios. From 2004 until the middle of this year, the whole project was just an exercise in killing trees and other administrative tasks. The last month or so we have finally started actually doing the work and it has been a pain. The contract project manager is... well... let's just say i wind up having to hold his hand on almost everything he does. When I don't hold his hand, stuff gets screwed up. I am ready for it to be over. Unfortunately, it will be at least December before it happens. At least I am off every Friday except for three from now until the end of the year and several more days in addition.
Weight... hmmm... OK. I can say that I am doing pretty good on working toward my goal set by the doctor. My goal for the six months of nutritionist supervised diet and weight loss was 30 to 35 pounds. At three months in, I have lost 24 pounds and have dropped a pants size. In fact, I might be able to even fit into a smaller size but I haven't tried yet. It is not where I want to be but it makes me happier to know that I have at least lost some weight.
As I progress through this journey I have elected to take, I still question myself as to which surgery to have. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Maybe I am worrying about it too much. Maybe I am asking myself to many "what if's". Whatever it is, it continues to be a subject of much thought. Basically, it is like this: There are two procedures I am considering. One is the Roux en-Y which is the "gold standard", medically speaking, of surgical weight loss procedures. When most people say "gastric bypass" this is what they mean. The other is the Sleeve gastrectomy. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, both medically proven and those perceived by me. I'm not going to go into all of the details here. Google can provide mountains of info for either procedure.
Here are the things that I can't seem to get past for theRoux en-Y: It is more invasive than the Sleeve procedure; they rearrange some of your insides. With the gastric bypass there is an impact on the way vitamins and minerals are absorbed and you must take supplements to stay healthy. Part of the small intestine where food and minerals are absorbed is bypassed. There is also "dumping syndrome". The surgeon looks at is a reminder to eat right. If you don't, there are bad consequences. On the plus side of the issue, patients that have this procedure tends to have the greatest amount of weight loss and if something goes wrong or there is a medical need, the procedure can be reversed.
The sleeve gastrectomy is a less invasive procedure since they don't rearrange your insides. There is also less chance of malnourishment because food takes the normal path and is absorbed normally. There is no dumping syndrome, or at least there is less chance of it. Weight loss is accomplished by reducing the amount of food by reducing the size of the stomach. The stomach size is also reduced with the gastric bypass but in a different way. With the sleeve gatrectomy, about 75% of the stomach is removed. This essentially leaves a smaller, tube shaped stomach. The downside is that it is not reversible. My family doctor really frowned on this one point. Weight loss in patients with either procedure is similar although gastric bypass patients usually lose more weight. I still have a few months to ponder these points and will continue to do so.
As for everything else in life... some things are good and some are not so good. Corey is finally over all of the knee stuff and the cold/flu crap he had. He has gotten to play in several of the last football games and says (my fingers are crossed) that he may get to start in the game Friday night against Priceville. Of course, there are no guarantees but thinks that because of how practice has gone that he has a good shot at it. I hope so, for him. Other things in life are not so peachy. I think if I can just get through the holiday season things will get better.
Enough for now. Time to go read and look at techie stuff.
Good night.
Work has been really busy lately. We have been working on this huge project that was started in 2004. To me, it is a pain in the ass. My boss calls it "welfare for lawyers". This is a FCC (read Federal Govt) mandated thing and it is being paid for by Sprint (Nextel) wireless. I won't bore anyone with the details unless they really want to know. In a nutshell, it involves reprogramming a bunch of police, fire, and ems radios. From 2004 until the middle of this year, the whole project was just an exercise in killing trees and other administrative tasks. The last month or so we have finally started actually doing the work and it has been a pain. The contract project manager is... well... let's just say i wind up having to hold his hand on almost everything he does. When I don't hold his hand, stuff gets screwed up. I am ready for it to be over. Unfortunately, it will be at least December before it happens. At least I am off every Friday except for three from now until the end of the year and several more days in addition.
Weight... hmmm... OK. I can say that I am doing pretty good on working toward my goal set by the doctor. My goal for the six months of nutritionist supervised diet and weight loss was 30 to 35 pounds. At three months in, I have lost 24 pounds and have dropped a pants size. In fact, I might be able to even fit into a smaller size but I haven't tried yet. It is not where I want to be but it makes me happier to know that I have at least lost some weight.
As I progress through this journey I have elected to take, I still question myself as to which surgery to have. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Maybe I am worrying about it too much. Maybe I am asking myself to many "what if's". Whatever it is, it continues to be a subject of much thought. Basically, it is like this: There are two procedures I am considering. One is the Roux en-Y which is the "gold standard", medically speaking, of surgical weight loss procedures. When most people say "gastric bypass" this is what they mean. The other is the Sleeve gastrectomy. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, both medically proven and those perceived by me. I'm not going to go into all of the details here. Google can provide mountains of info for either procedure.
Here are the things that I can't seem to get past for theRoux en-Y: It is more invasive than the Sleeve procedure; they rearrange some of your insides. With the gastric bypass there is an impact on the way vitamins and minerals are absorbed and you must take supplements to stay healthy. Part of the small intestine where food and minerals are absorbed is bypassed. There is also "dumping syndrome". The surgeon looks at is a reminder to eat right. If you don't, there are bad consequences. On the plus side of the issue, patients that have this procedure tends to have the greatest amount of weight loss and if something goes wrong or there is a medical need, the procedure can be reversed.
The sleeve gastrectomy is a less invasive procedure since they don't rearrange your insides. There is also less chance of malnourishment because food takes the normal path and is absorbed normally. There is no dumping syndrome, or at least there is less chance of it. Weight loss is accomplished by reducing the amount of food by reducing the size of the stomach. The stomach size is also reduced with the gastric bypass but in a different way. With the sleeve gatrectomy, about 75% of the stomach is removed. This essentially leaves a smaller, tube shaped stomach. The downside is that it is not reversible. My family doctor really frowned on this one point. Weight loss in patients with either procedure is similar although gastric bypass patients usually lose more weight. I still have a few months to ponder these points and will continue to do so.
As for everything else in life... some things are good and some are not so good. Corey is finally over all of the knee stuff and the cold/flu crap he had. He has gotten to play in several of the last football games and says (my fingers are crossed) that he may get to start in the game Friday night against Priceville. Of course, there are no guarantees but thinks that because of how practice has gone that he has a good shot at it. I hope so, for him. Other things in life are not so peachy. I think if I can just get through the holiday season things will get better.
Enough for now. Time to go read and look at techie stuff.
Good night.
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