Another BigDon Weight Loss Milestone.

[BigDon]

Doodler, let me know if I cross the line and start getting girly about this...


So 2 years ago I weighed 350 pounds, a bit ponderous for a 5' 10" frame. A freakin medication I had to take "altered" my fat metabolism. Which in my opinion made it pointless to continue taking if I'm just going to have a stroke or heart attack. So the original complaint didn't kill me, does that mean the doctor wins? (A non-lethal gripe to begin with)

So today I put on a new pair of Levi's. Size 36 waist! Yay!
About two minths ago ("Minths" are just like "months" only with fatter fingers) I finally got down to the point where I could do sit ups again, and a month ago the second great "decoupling" of the Universe occured when my stomach finally seperated from my chest as a single entity.

So it may still be a while before this pony keg of mine becomes a six-pack again, but everything is proceeding in the right direction.

I'm happy about this.

Before I can take up running again I have to get something fixed. I finally found out why I went from "The fastest white man you ever saw" in my teens and twenties to "strangers approaching me and offering assistance" after a quarter mile in my thirties.

My dang stomach moved!

Without a so much as a by your leave or a is anybody using that space! Now it resides *above* my diaphragm AKA the hiatal hernia. Okay, not the whole thing, but the last endoscopic procedure said over 40 per cent of my stomach did. According to my Aunts (Mom's sisters) this is congenital on my mom's side of the family. They all went through it as are some of their children now.

Makes it very difficult to run and breathe at the same time. And its really important that those two go together well. But it did go a long way to explain why I had excelent endurance at slower paced endevours like furniture moving and weight lifting but couldn't run more than a block to save my life.

Anybody have a clue as to how much this procedure costs to correct for the uninsured? Need to know how much to save up for.

[HenrikOlsen]

I tried some google-fu for Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication but only found some fairly old prices. Look like it's in the $10.000 to $25.000 range for hospital charges and with surgical fee around $3000.

[Donnie B.]

Hey Big Don, don't you have access to decent coverage as a vet? Maybe you need to get covered first, then "discover" your condition.

[Tobin Dax]

Donnie has a point. Has anybody officially found this yet?

[BigDon]

The VA itself.

But I'm unsure how to approach them about this. Wanted to see if it was in the realm of a good moving season. It is if I work hard with a good crew. The right crew is very important in the difference between just marking time and actually making a profit in a season.

Though an important issue is the state of my esophagus. Had serious reflux for the last fifteen years, (due to the hiatal hernia I found out) and in looking for trouble they sort of seem to have found it. I saw the pictures, I didn't like them either. I've seen a lot of insides as a hobby, (I have my own disection kit*) These didn't look like good insides. Reminded me very much of dogs with stomach torsions I've seen. Post mortem of course. Took nine different samples. They are going to get back to me on this.




*I'm a master fish breeder and when a rare $500 fish kicks it you want to know why.

[BigDon]

Oh crap. Mr. Olsen, your link has officially scared the hell out of me.

It mentioned something called Barret's esophogus, then I wikied examples. My pictures looked worse. Darn.

[mugaliens]

Though an important issue is the state of my esophagus. Had serious reflux for the last fifteen years, (due to the hiatal hernia I found out) and in looking for trouble they sort of seem to have found it.

I have one, too, but "fixed" the reflux by two means. First, I eat very small meals, sipping water between bites. Second, I take prilosec, which seriously reduces acid production in the first place.

No more reflux/gerd/heartburn.

[BigDon]

Mugs, have you heard about the growing body of evidence linking proton pump inhibitors to brain damage? Thought I'd give you a heads up.

[BigDon]

Mugs, on a more constructive level, I thought why wouldn't chewing gum work as well and damn if it doesn't!

Saliva is alkaline by necessity so it won't disolve your teeth and I thought that by putting a stream of saliva down my gullet while I was refluxing would help and its doing more than that! I started doing this two weeks ago and now I'm going one or two whole days without a single reflux! Shoot! I'm going to put this in its own thread to tell other people!

[HenrikOlsen]

Oh crap. Mr. Olsen, your link has officially scared the hell out of me.

It mentioned something called Barret's esophogus, then I wikied examples. My pictures looked worse. Darn.

Glad to have helped

It looked like a good starting point with lots of search terms for continued reading.

As for the Barrett's esophogus, taking nine samples does sound like the doctors suspect it as a possibility and have done what's needed to get a clear yes/no on that diagnosis.

I noticed in some of the articles that it's an area where there quite a lot of research happenng, perhaps you can get partially funded by participating in an investigative study on long term effects of one of the treatments.

[Big Bad Boo]

Mugs, on a more constructive level, I thought why wouldn't chewing gum work as well and damn if it doesn't!

Saliva is alkaline by necessity so it won't disolve your teeth and I thought that by putting a stream of saliva down my gullet while I was refluxing would help and its doing more than that! I started doing this two weeks ago and now I'm going one or two whole days without a single reflux! Shoot! I'm going to put this in its own thread to tell other people!

Oh. That's why you're becoming a gum fiend. I need to keep track of you more diligently. You never tell me anything!


We need to talk!

[hhEb09'1]

Doodler, let me know if I cross the line and start getting girly about this...

Before I can take up running again I have to get something fixed.

Anybody have a clue as to how much this procedure costs to correct for the uninsured? Need to know how much to save up for.

Hmmm....

I used to chew gum a lot, and it was great. Stopped when Doublemint went to New Doublemint. You know what's wrong with gum/kids/people today? They're softer.

[Donnie B.]

Synchronicity, Big Don. The local PBS station (WBUR) just started running spots from a local clinic on the subject of Barret's esophagus. The risk factors they mention align with the things you described, specifically reflux.