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I had surgery 10-14-02. I started at 455 and I am now 220-225. Having a great time and loving my new life! So much has changed and yet I feel very comfortable, almost normal it seems. When I look in the mirror I see the person that I always knew was inside of me. I am currently working on my masters in counseling. I want to work with pre and post op WLS patients. This surgery WILL have an impact on your life and the lives of those around you.
 Well now I'm looking into the plastic surgery thing. I went for a consult with Dr Rodgers in Rockford. He was very excited and said he would write a letter of medical need for me. He works out of 3 hospitals, 2 in rockford and at the BTC. My insurance covers the 2 rockford hospitals but NOT the BTC. He must not have been happy about that because he never wrote any letters and never returned any of my phone calls. I am looking for a new PS and have another consult in Sep. Speaking of PS. I have a couple of friends that have done very well with their weightloss and have had some PS. They look wonderful to say the least but they want to have another PS. Their friends say things like, "why you look great as it is" and stuff like that. Here is what I have been telling them to say in return. "Tell your friends to go home and take the front door off their house, then say hey, you don't really need that door do you? It's still a great looking house right?" It's easy for us to understand the need to finish this process but for people who have not gone through it..its not so clear cut.
  8-23-04. I am seeing Dr. Fenner on Sept 14th. I'm very pumped about this, well everything except the picture part but what can you do. I hear great things about this Dr and have seen some of his work. I was very impressed to say the least! Wish me luck with this one! Best wishes to you all Don

An old Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life.... He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me ... it is a terrible fight between two wolves." "One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride,superiority and ego." "The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth,compassion and faith." "This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person,too." They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied ... "The one you feed."

 There are many parts of me emerging, some of me is half formed, some parts are only hints of what is to come. other parts are full complete and present.

 10-5-04 Well I now weigh 219 lbs. I have lost 236 lbs to date. I am well below my goal of 242. I wonder if I can get to 210 or so, maybe under 200. Hmmmmm something to think about I guess. If I do or don't it doesn't matter one bit to me.

   I am currently dealing with the issues of living alone, I am taking the time to get to know who I am and what I might want out of life. it is confusing to say the least!

Ok some how my profile was deleted.. oh well  there wasn't much here anyway. I hope all is well with my friends.
This is not easy to do alone but I have no choice.

10-12-04
Despite recent set backs in my life, my impending divorce, the loss of a good core group of friends and the death of my dog I am still doing amazingly well. My most recent labs were right on target. My weight is stable about 20 lbs below my goal. I continue to do well in school but have struggled in my current class. I have a final exam tomorrow. I think I’m about to get my first B. The class itself is not hard but I have allowed myself to become distracted. It’s my own fault.
I wish you all well on your journey!!

Things continue to go well; I thank you all for the supportive emails in regards to my divorce. It is a difficult time but I am learning many things about myself. I am even stronger than I thought. I must admit though it is hard to deal with the feeling of not being wanted or needed, very hard indeed.
I start a new class tomorrow night (10-19-04) and I am looking forward to that. I did manage to ace my last final and squeak out an A in that class so that was nice.

I wish you all the best

Don
 P.S. Beware the silly season is right around the corner! Make the best of your holidays.
P.S.S Oh yeah I forgot to mention. My 2 year anniversary was 10-14-04

10-19-04
“I have always been suspicious of those who say they are turning over a new leaf, yet here I find myself, examining the leaf that has been handed to me…and wondering what is on the other side.” DRW

 

I still have a couple of unmet goals that I really want to do. I have yet to make it out to Great America and ride the rides. I'm also thinking that next year I want to fly out to Oklahoma and visit my old college during homecoming.

11-01-04
I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear
--George Eliot

 

10-11-04
I am 40 years old (hey stop laughing!)I have lived most of my life worrying about what could go wrong. I have decided that from now on I am going to live my life enjoying the things that go right!

Come join me!

10-12-04
I put some new pics on my webpage and I added a page http://www.gatorsrealm.com/wlspage.htm
Hope you like it!

 

12-07-04
Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events or other people, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

~ Groucho Marx

10-3-05

Hello friends!!

WOW!!!!! I can’t believe it has been 3 years already!!! First off let me apologize for not updating this very often but let’s face it; I didn’t lose all this weight just to sit around and blog on the minutia of life! With that in mind I’ll try not to bore you as I make what will most likely be my final entry in this log.
Life for the most part is good, School continues to go well and so far the lowest grade I have gotten in a class is a B+. For graduate school I think that’s pretty darn good. I’ll be finished soon and I have been looking into PhD programs. I’m looking at 4 different programs now.
My 17 year old son lives with me full time and we are having a great time. He works part time after school and most weekends, when he’s not working he’s probably playing his guitar or shooting pool. He goes to a different church than I do and I like the fact that he is independent and comfortable enough to do that.

One of the most important things I have learned about myself is my need to forgive people. As I no longer turn to food to crush my emotions I have had ample opportunity to investigate my feelings. These investigations lead me to see that I held on to anger and hurt way too long! The only answer was to forgive! I can’t put into words how much this has helped me but if I had to sum it up in one word that word would be FREEDOM! I was finally free not only of a prison of fat but of a prison of anger and hatred as well! Since I have been freed from these prisons I am shocked by my capacity to love, for years I thought I never had much to offer and I was so grateful for any scrap of attention that was paid to me. I finally understand that I am a good person and I deserve to be treated as such.
I have not had any plastic surgery to date. Not that I haven’t tried of course! I have been denied 3 times even though I have had TONS of documentation and letters of medical necessity for 4 doctors. This is what I hate the most, I hate the fact that I have to wear clothes at least a size to big just to hide the skin, I hate that when I work out all I can feel is the loose skin jiggling back and forth, I hate the way I look when I look in a mirror. Oh well, I’ll just keep saving my pennies and maybe someday I’ll have this taken care of!
If I can do anything for you or answer any questions you may have please feel free to contact me here or through the email address on my website.
I wish you all much success!

Peace,

Don
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."

10-14-06. Ok since today is my 4 year anniversary I’d thought I’d update this just to confirm that I am still among the living! You should know you can’t get rid of me that easily!
Ok I am finally done with my masters! I’ll be graduating in December (with honors no less) and I am very glad to be done. I still work a lot though; I leave the house at 6am and get home at 8:30pm. I’m teaching a few classes at a local college and I LOVE it. After December I’ll cut back on some of these long days. I just bought a new German Shorthaired Pointer puppy and he is an anxious as I am to get busy hunting birds. I also hope to be able to show him, as some of you may remember I use to show Standard Dachshunds and I missed having a dog in my life.
My weight fluctuates but is still staying off; I can really tell when I don’t make it to the gym though. I still haven’t had any plastic surgery, I haven’t tried in over a year but we just got new insurance at work so I’ll try again soon. Sure wish I had a rich mommy and daddy to write me a check to get this work done! LOL!

If there is anything I can do for you please let me know.

Best wishes to you all!

Don W