Bariatric Surgery Done

I had my Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) done on June 23, 2014 at St. Luke's Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. My surgeon is Dr. Daniel Fang from Bridges Center. I started out at 352 pounds with comorbidities (Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and hypothyroidism) with BMI of 49 at 32 years old.  I was taking a lot of medications a day and 2 different kinds of insulin to control my blood sugar levels which was still out of control .

Two weeks before the surgery I had to go on a liquid diet to reduce the size of the liver for a safe operation.  For the diet, I had to take 4 8oz protein shakes a day (I used the shakes from Bariatric Advantage) and clear liquids like Powerade Zero, Crystal Light lemonade, broth and a lot of water. But prior to my 2-week liquid diet, I invited all my family to my last supper where we had a full blown Italian dinner around 8pm where we had rigatoni, sausage and meatballs, parmesan cheese on the top, bread and butter, DIET soda, regular and honey glazed ham and of course dessert.

The last supper with my family

Eating the pasta

Later that night around 11pm I had my last breakfast with my wife and kids and my brother Abe. We had pancakes, bacon and sausage.

The last breakfast

And the 2-week long liquid diet starts which I stuck to perfectly LOL. I was not very happy about the whole liquid diet thing but seeing a difference in my sugar levels made me proud of myself.

Me and my protein shake

See the big difference? Sugar levels on my birthday in April and the night before surgery

The day of surgery finally came. At the pre-op I weighed in at 329 pounds, got all prepped and got to see my family before the procedure.

Waiting for surgery

My brothers John and Abe were there (with their wives)

 With my wife Jewel who is very supportive of me every step of the way

The gastric sleeve surgery lasted a little over an hour (according to my wife who patiently waited in the waiting room) and then I spent another hour in recovery room. I finally got transferred into a private room and got to see my family there. 

This is a pic my wife took the first time she saw me after surgery

Selfie after surgery

When I woke up I had a very dry mouth from not drinking anything the night before, I was allowed to get sips of water and chew on ice chips. I got to walk 4 hours after surgery and my first dinner was 1/2 oz of apple juice, 1/2 oz of jello and an ounce of Italian ice which I did not finish. Pain was not too bad just felt like a good punch in the stomach. I got to spend a night at the hospital and was able to go home the next day. My breakfast the next day was 1oz diet pudding and 1oz cream of wheat, which I did not finish (very strange).

My breakfast on Day 2

My kids Joseph and Juliana(pictured) and my sisters Theresa and Mary visited me at the hospital

It's been 4 days since my surgery and I am weighing in at 318, I have lost 11 pounds. I'm on a full liquid diet for 3 weeks while I'm healing and then will be on soft/mushy food for another 4 weeks. I do some walking around the house for physical activity and I take 2 protein shakes a day. 

I will try to update weekly about my weight lost journey and hope I will be an encouragement. I want to say thank you to all that prayed and are still praying for me. Also I want to thank Pastor Wissert and his wife for coming by and visiting, not even sure what we talked about for 2 hours being on Morphine.

Joe