Howdy again!

Well, I am writing this on Thursday, June 1st. It has been eight days since my banding.

Well, Sunday, 5/28/06, came and went. I awoke a bout 9am and got dressed. I felt the pain still from stiches and had diarreha bad.

I had decided to take another Immodium tablet, but this also handle the gas problem I was going through also.

I went to church and saw several people who asked how I was feeling. I expressed my concern about the pain, the diarreha, and what I was eating.

The service proceded well until the Come Forward for prayers. I went forward to Pastor Doug and asked for continual prayers and I just started to cry uncontrollable. While he was praying for me, I just heard that little voice speaking to me -- which I believed was the Holy Spirit. He said that God Loved Me and would be there for me. It was the peace in which I heard it. I want you to know that I always pray for Pastor Doug -- as I trust me as I do Pastor Walker -- that they are men I listen to because of their belief in God and how he leads us all.

After service, I went to the movies and saw The Hedge. It was a good movie, but I don't know if I would get it on DVD. That's is another story.

I went back to the hotel and spent most of the day with Shawn. We just watched tv most of the day and played on our laptops. Took my pain medicine and fell asleep.

Monday, March 29, 2006. It is memorial day. We must have slept late to about 10am. I played on the laptop some more, while Shawn watched "The Price Is Right!" My God, how Shawn does love Bob Barker. It is one of his deepest dreams to be on that show. Who knows -- he probably will be on it one of these days before Bob Barker retires.

Mostly, just rested and decided to get a new blender just for my Optifast diet packets.

Well, I did have the chololate Optifast...which was delicious....aded some cold skim milk instead of water to it.

Well, we are going back to the apt on Tuesday about 1pm. So, Shawn fell asleep and I prepared for bed.

Gosh, I am hungry, but I am afraid to get something to eat because I might get another case of diarreha. Sometimes, I still wonder if I was sure I should have gotten this lap banding.

:think

Oh wonderful, it is Tuesday and I got up early. Shawn and I went to Vic's place -- I had a small cup of grits and runny soft egg -- a little bit early for "mushy" food. It still tasted good.

We went back to the hotel and we got our stuff together. I loaded my Tracker with my clothes, my laptop, and medicines. Shawn loaded his stuff into the Ford Contour. I checked out at the office. It was a nice hotel, but I don't think I would want to spend another week at a place like this. The office isn't readily available -- it is only open 11am to7pm each day except Sunday, when it is closed.

Well, I got home, but Shawn decided to go shopping for some reason. Anyway I dropped off my stuff and went to the movies. I went to see a horror movie, but I ended up coming back home after I developed diarreha.

It was about 3pm and Shawn was home. I went to sleep for a few hours -- about 4hrs. We decided to just stay in after getting some groceries amid my thought to have an Optifast shake.

I didn't have the shake, but I did have an individual mash potatoes and it tasted good with the little gravy they put on it.

Well, I knew I would be busy on Wednesday morning into the afternoon. I woke up at 8am and got dressed to go and work out at 8:30am at Lifetime Fitness w/ Megan, my personal trainer. My God, it felt good to get there, but I felt strange.

It was about 8:20am, I saw Megan and advised I would walk for 10mins to warm up. I was a little light headed, but figured it would be ok once I got into working -- boy, was I wrong. Before we started, I asked Megan to weigh me. I weighed in at 380lbs. A loss of 9lbs per the prior week's weigh in. (I get weighed two more times with surprises!)

About 5mins into the workout, I began to get really light headed, but pushed on. After 15mins, I did something to my right shoulder, but Megan showed me how to stretch it and the pain went away.

We continued for another 15mins, as we were almost done, but I was too light headed to finish.

So, I told her that I would see her on Saturday. She knew I was going to Dr. Veninga's office to see Barb for my "one week follow-up."

It was about 9am, so I got a protein shake w/strawberries and whey protein. It tasted really good. I waited until 9:30am and left for Dr. Veninga's office.

I was stil light headed but not as bad. I guess my body was still adjusted to the lack of food it was use too. It was undergoing retraining on what it would be getting and how much.

After meeting with Barb, she weighed me. I weighed in at 374lbs. If I used the weigh-in from Trinity Medical Center's D.S..U. weigh-in of 392lbs. That would be an 18lbs loss. (Ok, I chuckled. I loss weight, but a six pound difference).

She advised me of several things, especially, I should not have been on a "clear liquid" diet for those three days out of the hosptial. I did express my concern of taking the Immodium and Gas-X tablets. She said that it is ok, but once it was cleared up not to take them. (I would notify the office anyways if I took anything or was contemplating taking for other issues).

I had to see Dr. Feinstein at 1:45pm, so I had about 2hrs plus before I saw him. I decided that since I was feeling light headed still to take a nap. So, I went home and slept good.

Shawn wasn't back yet, but I left the apartment to go to my appointment. It was strange to go back to his office as you might want to note that Dr. Feinstein was the original one who said I would have been a candidate for Gastric bypass (only this was said in 2002).

After filling out a new patient packet form(s) and paying my co-payment, I got to see Dr David Feinstein. He has changed little, but his office is now added other services -- not going into those.

He was surprised to see me, but was very nice. He had a new intern doctor in his office and was following him around -- he was in on our session -- I didn't mind this. I gave Dr Feinstein glowing adulations. He looked at my "old" medical information -- telling me my blood sugar levels of over 4 years ago. I advised him that his assistant didn't have a chance yet to do the blood tests and other pre-visit tests for the doctor.

So, he and the intern left and the assistant came back in to do the tests. My blood sugar was 155 and my blood pressure was 126/78 (both were great!!!). She weighed me at 376lbs. (that was a surprise when I told her the prior two weigh-ins).

Now, Dr Feinstein began to ask questions and was surprised when I advised I had gastric work done, but not the bypass. It was the lap banding done on 5/24/06 ... just one week ago.

I also, explained that I had weighed in and had three different results, but some average about 375lbs. I will take that weight loss of about 11lbs to 18lbs.

The doctor advised me to keep measuring my blood surgars and fax it in next Tuesday before making any adjustments in my medicines.

Well, I left his office and decided to go to the movies ... so, I went to see "Keeping up with the Einsteins." A delightful movie about the young man coming of age and how they "spend so much money" to "keep up with the jones" syndrome. It was hilarious.

Well, it was time to go home and I slept most of the day. Shawn went out for a while and I was playing on the laptop when he got home. We watched a new TV showing deal with the best game shows of the past. It was a good show. Well, I ended up going to bed.

Well, I will end this entry and begin the new one on the day it was written.

God still Loves you Ron!

Ron Sutton

Banded 5/24/06 - 392lbs.

Avg weight loss in 8days, 18lbs.