Tuesday Lap-Band Update

WHat a fast week it has been.  I am learning new things everyday and some are good habits and some are habits I must stop.  Since the band has not been adjusted yet, it is still wide open and allows me to eat.  I am still finding myself eating too quickly and therefore trying to get too much food down the pipe.  This is a big no-no.  Severe pain results and it feels like a heart attack.  Believe it or not, negative reinforcement really works.  I have not had a bad reaction from eating too fast since last Thursday. 

I have been asked by everyone I know about how I am going to do at Thanksgiving.  I answer the same every time.  “I can pig out, but I know if I do the Lap Band will slap me down and hurt me with severe chest pains and a gasping for air sensation.”  One of the reasons I chose the Lap Band is because it is really hard to cheat it unless you really try hard to do it.  Plus, it is the safest gastric procedure and it is a tool I can adjust throughout my life as I need to make it work harder or easier for me.

I do get to eat about 800 calories a day.  When you eat slow and feel full it is not hard.  The problem for me comes after 11 pm. when I get the munchies and I know I am not supposed to add another 300 calories but have succummed a few times this last week.  My favorite foods are mexican (traditional) and chinese so dealing with Turkey and dressing will not be that hard for me.  I have intentionally not made food that I want so that I am not tempeted to overeat.

The best thing about the band is that bread becomes a friend instead of an enemy.  I get about 2 slices a day currently and at THanksgiving we are serving Brown and Serve Rolls,  YUCK!  Do not have to worry about eating too many of them.  Fresh, home-made yeast rolls with honeybutter, now there is a probelm waiting to happen.  2 dozen with a pound of butter and a pound of honey would disappear in a matter of moments.  I am not making home-made yeast rolls this year for that very reason.

FInally, I want to thank Dr. Wellborne and his staff, especially my favoirte Lap Band teacher, Leslie.  She has made this surgery a success so far and has helped me with questions you never think about until after you are experiencing it first hand.  If you are in Arkansas and interested in the Lap Band procedure, I more than recommend Dr. Welborne and his gracious staff.

Recall of Federal Officials Amendment to Arkansas State Constitution

http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/elections/elections_pdfs/2010_I_R.pdf

In a recent e-mail I stated that I believe there is a deep dissatisfaction with our current Federally elected officials here in the state of Arkansas.  With this, I have spent the day contacting the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners, the State Attorney General’s office and the Secretary of State’s office determining the process of a Citizens initiated Amendment to the Arkansas state Constitution.

Potential Language:

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Arkansas the right to recall any Federally elected officeholder elected by the people of the state of Arkansas.  A recall election is required within 45 days of verification of signatures equaling 10% of the votes cast in the last election of the office being recalled.  Citizens seeking the recalled office will have 15 days from the time the recall initiative if verified to place their name on the ballot for election. 
 
At the time of the recall vote, voters will vote to recall as well as vote for a new office holder if the recall initiative is successful.  A run-off election if necessary will consist of those receiving the three highest number of votes with the winner being elected to fill the remainder of the term recalled.
 
If the recall is successful, the person recalled is immediately stripped of all the authority to represent the people of the state of Arkansas and must vacate federal office space within 24 hours.

We have an opportunity to give back to the people their right to control their own destiny as citizens of the state of Arkansas.  We have an opportunity to stand up against federally elected officials and keep them working for our interest and not the interest of their political party.  We can hold their feet to the fire and keep them working for our interests.

Is this something many Arkansans would consider being part of to bring about the change we need?

Blanche Lincoln MUST Be Defeated

Blanche Lincoln has single-handedly brought the healthcare bill to the floor for debate and must suffer retaliation for her actions against the Constitution and the citizens of the state of Arkansas.  I will now do everything within my power to to see her defeated at the polls next November.

Blanche knows this bill is in violation of the Consitution of the United States and has voted to allow it on the floor of the US Senate.  Why is this action not considered TREASON agains the citizens of the United States.

Contact Blanche Lincoln

Contact Information for Blanche Lincoln.  She is SOLELY responsible for her VOTE to allow the healthcare bill to come to the floor.

Washington D.C. Office
355 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510-0404
Phone: (202)224-4843
Fax: (202)228-1371

Little Rock Office
912 West Fourth Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone: (501) 375-2993 or toll free 1-800-352-9364
Fax: (501) 375-7064

Dumas Office
101 East Waterman
Dumas, AR 71693
Phone: (870)382-1023
Fax: (870)382-1026
Community Affairs Specialist: Raymond Fraizer

Jonesboro Office
Federal Building
615 South Main Street
Suite 315
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Phone: (870) 910-6896
Fax: (870)910-6898
Community Affairs Specialist: Roger Fisher

Fayetteville Office
4 South College Avenue
Suite 205
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Phone: (479) 251-1224
Fax: (479)251-1410
Community Affairs Specialist: John Hicks

Texarkana Office
Miller County Courthouse
400 Laurel Street
Suite 101
Texarkana, AR 71854
Phone: (870) 774-3106
Fax: (870) 774-7627
Community Affairs Specialist: Ed French 

Blanche Lincoln and Mark Prior

Arkansas’s Blanche Lincoln and Mark Prior have a choice to make.  First, a vote to bring the bill to the floor for debate is a vote for passage.  Second, a vote to bring this bill to the floor, is in effect a vote to make slaves the citizens of our state.  Third, a vote to bring this bill to the floor, is voting for a bill which supersedes the Constitution of the United States by violating Article 1 Section 8, the 9th Amendment, the 10th Amendment and the 14 Amendment.

Blanche and Mark, by allowing this bill to come to the floor for debate with plans to eventually voting against it makes you as big of a laughing stock as the last person who said they voted for a bill before they voted against it (John Kerry).  Remember $500,000,000,000 in Medicare CUTS are in this bill.  Senior Adults vote and vote based on their pocketbooks more than any other age group.

I promise if you vote to bring this bill to the floor that I will spend every extra dollar in my budget to make sure your vote will follow you to every speech, event and debate so that the people will know you voted to make slaves of us and that you voted to put yourselves above the Constitution of the United States.

Jimmie W, Kersh

Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas 72903

Tuesday Update Time

What a week.  I found out some new things this week about my lap band.  First, if you eat too fast or too much, your new stomack puts pressure on your diaphram and it causes hiccups.  Second, there is a point when you eat too much you feel the worst pressure in the world in your chest.  Third, when you obey the rules everything works pretty well.

Now for hte gross stuff.  You can skip this paragraph if you do not like to read about bodily functions.  I have a fatty liver, it was enlarged when I had the surgery.  This makes for bad stuff when solid waste comes out.  It is something that is cured with a diet of less calories and less fat so I am not going to have a problem with that much longer, I hope.

Ok, nasty stuff complete.  I have apparently cheated this last week.  I gained 1 pound curing the week and I think it was from the 2 times this last week I had tacos.  I bought tiny taco shells on purpose, but I apparently ate them too fast and before my stomack said full, I gobbled down two too many both days.  I physically paid the price for it with hiccups and severe stomack discomfort.

I am learning to eat slower.  I have no choice because if I eat fast and get too many bites down the esophegus too quickly before it hits the stomack, the last few bits causes severe discomfort.  My nurse told me that negative reinforcement causes compliance with eating slower and less.  Now I have to convince my brain that it is ok to slow down and savor each bite, not try to top it with another before it starts hurting.

I will be going to get my fist “fill” on Dec 7.  The fill actually tightens the lap band and limits the amount of food going down and increases the ability to feel full longer.

I have made an executive decision to do monthly pics instead of weekly pics.  There is no real change from week to week and there will be some change month to month.

Why Is Dumbing Down Accepted?

Why is the dumbing down of public education so accepted by so many?  When 4 in 10 drop out of school, that is bad, but those who stay are not much better off.  Public education seems to be about socialization and indoctrination and not classical education.  Students today can talk about politically correct agenda items, but they are clueless when it comes to reading, writing, math, science and social sciences.  Why do we have compulsory attendance when knowledge is not being imparted?  Why is it that parents with no college education can educate their own child at home and their child score dramatically higher on every aspect of standardized tests?

Is there an agenda (political or social) in the dumbing down of students in public education?  It would appear that there is an underlying agenda to destroy the mental faculties of prospective brilliant students based on the continuing failure of the transmission of basic knowledge.  It appears that classic liberal education to strengthen the mind to think is no longer appropriate.  The student is no longer challenged to think but to regurgitate predigested pabulum from an ever decreasing blob of mass once called a brain.  Public education is not what it once was, it is now a pit where the least common denominator is the path of least resistance.  Now that is what I hope for for my kids, they they be educated to the least of the ability of a system that wants them to not think for themselves but they can spout the latest in PC propaganda.

A Day Late

This week has been a week of change.  I have gone from not being hungry to wanting to eat everything in the house and then back to not being too hungry.  It has also been a week weight fluctuation.  I have been as low as 291 and back up to 296 and am sitting at 294 again.

The hardest thing for me to learn this week is going off of liquids and going to soft foods.  I was getting hungry from having liquids only, they were not staying in the new stomack long enough to keep me full.  Soft foods are allowing me to be able to have food in my stomack that takes longer to digest and therefore keeps me full longer.  It is in this transition that I have learned that it is easy to get too many calories (less than 800) if I am not full.  That was the problem originally.  Nowjust grabbing a little of this and that to eat just to get a full feeling is what caused the weight gain this week as well.  Going to soft solids has allowed me to be able to stay full, really full, and is allowing me to not have to add a little extra to be full. 

I will not get my first fill of my band until December 7.  By not having the band “filled” now I am having to learn to chew, chew, chew to prepare my mind for the time to come.  I am having a strange side effect that I need to contact the Doctor and ask him if it is normal.  With high blood pressure in the past and high blood sugar from diabetes, my sex drive was almost non existent.  Over the last 8 days, something has dramatically changed, I feel 18 again in that area of my life.

Finally, my blood sugar is still a little high, averaging 160, but that is now with no meds.  My blood pressure has been 120/78 consistently over the last 8 days as well.  The band actually changes signals that it sends to the brain and it is telling the brain some good things apparently.  The Shrinking Jimmie is still a work in progress and now the progress is learning how to use the tool of the band.

I took the stomack pic so you can see where the “holes” are at and that they are healing.  THey still look bad because I had an allergic reaction to the adhesive on the bandaids and steri-strips.

First Lap Band Update November 4 2009

The pics are from before the surgery.  I plan to update pics on Fridays and Update progress on Tuesdays.

Well, here goes.  First report after Lap Band Surgery.  Easier than I thought it would be and harder than I thought it would be.  It is not hard to get full and stay full for hours.  A little liquid does a pretty good job.  I am able to go all day long on less than 250 calories and not be hungry at all.  I have been told not to go that low because I need ot be around 600 – 800 to maintain good health.

Today I had 20 oz of G2 (Gatorade2) for breakfast about 8:45.  I was full until after 1:00 pm.  At 1:30 I had a 12 Oz cup of black coffee and was full until 7:45 pm.  I was not hungry for supper, but had to get some calories so I blended 500 calories of chili with water and ate it.  I am stuffed right now 2 hours later.  I also have had 1 – 20 oz zero calorie drink mix 1 hour after supper.  Finished of the day around 700 calories and not missing food one bit.

When I began this process I weighed in over 310 pounds.  I weighed right now and I weigh 294. 

I have my first Post-Op session tomorrow.

Enjoy the ever shrinking Jimmie, I know I will.

Successful Lap Band Surgery

On Friday October 30, 2009 at 11:10, the surgeon began the process with his first incision and 2 hours later, I am in surgical recovery.  Last night was tough, my “cuts” itched and tickled all night long and I did not get much if any sleep.  I will be posting pics in a day or two when I start feeling like a human being again.  THe surgery is the easy part to get over, but I am still battling this unknown virus and right now it is keeping me tired and worn out.  Just weighed, 299 down from 305 yesterday morning.

I have already won the battle for day one!