naked_obesity

Insurance is in..

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 09:58:20 GMT

Yesterday I received the phone call telling me that my insurance has approved my case and I would be getting my surgery within the next 2-3 weeks. Ok, now I am scared. Time to step up my life and really start preparing. Eating correctly. Drinking correctly, Exercising correctly. You know the drill. Not that I am doing all that bad right now but I need to stop slipping every few weeks and having that 1-2 cokes on the weekend. Or bringing home that dessert once a week. I need to focus on eating more often and not drinking with my meals then drinking between meals, etc. I did this perfectly for awhile and start slipping a few weeks back which seems so easy right now. Once I have the surgery it will not be as easy but I know it is possible and I do not want to slip at all.

I have given up coke and other sode for months now but I have that craving every now and then and fill it with a drink like Red Bull. It is just as bad as coke I am sure but it comes in those little cans so its not like I can slip and get a 32oz Red Bull at every drive thru I pass. They even have the sugar free one which is great as well.

Its 6am and I work at 8am, with my extra time this morning I think I will go off to the gym. Later.

Updates... gotta get moving...

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:25:53 GMT

I have finished my 6 months of medical monthly visits for the insurance people. This has done nothing for me to be honest other than teaching me about why I am fat. You know the teachings of how I got here, what I do wrong, how to fix it going forward, etc. These are the same things I think about on a regular basis anyway but the insurance wants those 6 months of visits for their records.

Something else the insurance company wants is a 10 year weight history and documents proving how fat I was at each stage of these 10 years. That is a funny one for me really. I have been lying about my weight now on doctor visits for the entire 10 years except those few times I was skinny during those 10 years. Ok I am big guy skinny or fat, no matter how you look at it. At 6’3 and skinny I come in around 270lbs which most offices I go to have scales that handle up to 250lbs so I have been lying since day one. When I weight in at 350 I tell them 270, when I weight in at 400 I tell them 270. It does not matter right but I feel better when I say it because I do not get those looks. I do not think I have had to stand on a scale in a doctor’s office more then 3 times in the past 10 years since they can never handle my real weight anyway.

Ok so I am done with my 6 months. I have seen the doctors for all my tests and I have seen my surgeon to get his authorization for the surgery. Now my paperwork has been shipped off to the insurance company so they can say YES or NO, and then gives me the list of what I need to kiss on them in order to get my surgery.

This part sucks because it is a waiting game and it could be 6 weeks before I hear anything at all.

I will keep everything up to date as much as possible from here on out. I want to buy an elliptical for the house and start using it daily. Not a hard core work out but just start some 10 minute quick sessions here and there and work my way up to a bigger workout. My foot is still bothering me and I need to get my legs back into shape because if I don’t do it now I will be in serious trouble after my surgery. Did you know they make you walk about the same day as your surgery; OUCH. I would rather get myself into a routine now and then when I am in pain after my surgery it would not be as bad as having to deal with that GOD I HAVE NEVER USED MY LEGS BEFORE PAIN as well as the pain from the surgery.

Anyway, more to come…

Busy week...

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:12:54 GMT

Its been an interesting week. The new job is great. The pay is better and I finally get paid for all that OT I am always working.

Tomorrow I finish my 6 months of medical viists and can move onto the next stage of this trip. I now need to visit the doctor and get a bunch of tests done. I hope they will use my old sleep study tests and not require me to do another one. The old one is at least a year old so I fear they will be sending me for a new sleep study. After I finish my medical visits I will see the surgeon and they will submit my paperwork for approval for the surgery.

My fear here begins with my new job, the time off needed for this operation and the fact that I am not covered yet by FMLA. The new job does have a Personal Time policy which goes into effect 90 days after your first day so come Nov 1st I will be covered. This works out well since my short term disability does not kick in until Nov 1st as well. We shall see what happens as I get closer to the real date.... which is unknown currently.

More later..

Stress and Jobs

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:12:13 GMT

Lately I have been very stressed out about life in general.

I have been at my job for almost 3 years and working for a complete ass if you ask me. I have been mislead about raises and promotions and have still given my all to this job just the same. I recently had a review and was trashed in this review by my boss, but nothing in the review had to do with my current job performance of the past year. I have been a project manager on a big project for my company which has been a success and ended on time even with tons of set-backs during the project. Along with the success of this project I have also been given big kudos during the project by the vendors and other managers I work with. Then I show up for my review and get trashed by a boss I have not really worked for at all this past year due to this project. He does not talk about all of my accomplishments this past year, and throws a ton of crap at me from well over a year ago. Well, for the first time since I started at this company I started responding to job offer emails and phone calls. I end up with three offers and this is where my stress begins.

All three offers are for at least 7k more than I am making at my current job. One is out of town and would require a big move; let’s call this one “TOWN”. One is for a local company doing exactly what I am doing now and not really much of a move forward other than the money; let’s call this one “SAME”. The last one is for a local company and a move forward as it is a 100% project manager position; let’s call this one “BETTER”.

Right off the bat I called the insurance companies because getting my surgery has been very important to me over the last 6+ months. The “BETTER” jobs insurance tells me that they do not cover the surgery for any reason so I have to put that job out of my head. The “SAME” jobs insurance tells me that it is covered which then presents the next issue. With my old job I have been gearing up for the surgery. I have done my 6 months of medical visits to qualify for the surgery and was getting ready to step up to the next level which is planning for the actual date. With the “OLD” job I am covered by FLMA and short term disability. With the new jobs I will need to wait one year to be covered by FLMA and short term does not kick in for 3 months which means if I get it done before FLMA I take the chance of losing my job. In my talks with the new “BETTER” company I bring up that the medical is the only issue holding me back. They talk and bring up that fact that I could keep my old insurance via COBRA which I had not thought about. In these talks I mention the surgery I want and my possible new boss tells me his wife had the surgery almost 2 years ago. We talk about the time off issue for the surgery and he tells me as long as we plan it out it should be ok.

So my stress continues. Which job should I take and why? Which will be better for me in the long run? There is more but I have posted enough for now.

Life, Love, and the extra pounds

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:11:00 GMT

My life is good: It's been two months since I started this Blog and yet I have only posted once to date. Today I hope to change this poor trend of mine and start posting my daily ranting.

Background on me: I am married to a ZenBot and happy. I have a monster of a daughter with her that just turned 2. I also have a step-bunny-daughter that just turned 11. I work in IT for a large company and go to school full time working on a degree in programming. My current BMI is 51.1 and I am not happy about this at all! See below -

The Truth of me:

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My Current Thoughts: Three months ago I started having serious thoughts about Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. I have always had those easy out thoughts; sure, but when my second doctor brought up the surgery as a means to losing weight and getting my life back in order, I had to take pause and give this option a serious investigation. This is not an easy road for me nor an easy out as some would say. The post-surgery diet sucks along with all of the possible side effects, but my fears of dying young, of not even being able to chase my 2 year old down the beach, and always waking up in pain, etc, is worse.

My insurance company demands I spend 6 months under a doctors care to lose weight before they will sign off on the surgery. The simple fact that I have been talking to my doctors about my weight for years as my weight goes up and down does not matter. The simple fact is they are out to prevent us large boned people from getting the surgery and make us jump through hoops to get it. Six months of doctor’s visits only to talk about diets, exercise, BMI’s, and my new goals. There is also a format to this madness and if you miss a month or the format is done incorrectly, you need to start from scratch again and do another 6 months. I am currently in my 4th month and starting my pre-surgery tests and procedures. Once my 6 months are completed they look at my doctor’s reports, review, and then grant or deny me the right to get the surgery. I am one of the lucky ones who only need 6 months of these visits. Some of the insurance companies require you to do 18 months of time before they will even review your request and again, 15 months in and you miss a visit, you would need to start over again. I am hoping my process goes smoothly as I have read some horrible insurance stories about having to fight for the right to get this surgery. We shall see.

The Near Future: I need to start eating and exercising now before my surgery just to get my body into shape for the post-surgery work I will be required to do. I have foot problems due to a tendon injury and need to get to a point where I can walk the night of the surgery for 15 minutes even in all of the pain. I need to get my body acclimated to not having the Coke and crap I shovel into my mouth daily. I need to get my cardio up for my coming work outs and get myself acclimated to moving more, not being that couch and computer spud that I am currently. Life needs to move forward and I need to prepare myself for my post-surgery lifestyle.

My family and I signed up for a gym membership back in December of last year and I went daily for awhile. I was very excited for this new possibility in my life, working out and feeling better about myself, and dived right in 200%. I ended up hurting my foot within two weeks and in the end stopped going at all. Swimming I love because my foot never hurts when I swim but the gym did not have a pool so I went and hit the treadmill walking for about 30 minutes and then tried the other tools of the gym as well but nothing serious. I did not have the will-power to really give it my all but I did try. We just cancelled the gym membership a few weeks ago but I am paid for the next two months so maybe I will find the motivation to get there and do what I need to do to make my post-surgery life easier on myself now.

Ok, that is all for now, I am baking a chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake with my step-daughter (she is baking it really), and I need to get back just to make sure we do not burn the house down.

Give me another can of Coke please!

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:04:27 GMT

Piecing it all together, one can of Coke at a time. I am fat, ok obese; we shouldn’t start this out with a lie. I am 400 pounds of fat; a wee BMI of 51 at 6’4 (maybe 6’2 since it seems my fat is dragging me down) and life is good in that not out there running 10 miles a day sort of way. Let me start by telling you I am healthy, mostly, and that which has gone wrong with me is due to my poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and horrible will power around food when stress, anger, or any non-funny emotion is running wild.

My weight has been up and down my entire life, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but almost always something to be working on. I claim the Atkins way of dieting and have had good success in the past. On December 1 st, 2001 I kicked off my last good diet run and went from 450lbs down to 309lbs by April 1 st, 2002. After I was down to 350lbs I started scuba diving on a weekly basis and found great joy in an active life. Shortly after this I met my wife, fell madly in love, and she soon became pregnant with my amazing daughter which is one of the reasons I am starting this site. The nine months of pregnancy was rough and the first six months after even more so. I soon started gaining it back and here we are now in 2006 and I am once again at that 400lb mark looking at my options once again.

So here I sit putting together a site to chronicle my choices in the coming months. Let us begin… Jan 06'