I started on the Atkins Diet that day and was very confident I would loose the weight because my mom went on this diet and was very successful at it. She lost about 80 Lbs and now she looks wonderful. I eat things that were in very low carbohydrates such as meat. I basically became a meat only eater. I stayed away from anything white, such as bread, potato's, rice and anything else that was white...

I was working that day and got a phone call from my wife saying that Cat called. Cat, which is short for Cathy, was the surgery date coordinator and insurance person. I already knew I was approved through my insurance because my wife was approved to get it done. Anyway, I called her back from work and she tells me that my surgery date is set for October 31, 2006. I was very excited about this and immediately went and told my supervisor and everyone else I came in contact with. I was very happy that I was getting it so quickly! I called my wife, told her the news ad went back to work a happy man.

October 25, 2006 - pre-operation visit with the doctor

I went to see Dr. Terracina that day to weigh in and see how much I lost on the Atkins Diet. And to my surprise and everyone else's, I had lost about 25 Lbs! To say the least, Dr. Terracina was in complete shock. I think he thought I wouldn't do it. But I fooled him that day! Anyway, the visit went well. We talked about what will happen on the 31st and what time to be at the hospital and what to bring and blah blah blah. I thought to myself, If I can loose 25 Lbs on the Atkins Diet, why don't I just continue with it. But then I thought, No, I wont quite smoking, which was a very big issue for me to do. If I get the surgery, I wont eat everything I see because I wont be able to. So it's like killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

Well, the long awaited day had finally arrived. My wife and I woke up around 6 AM to get ready to go to the hospital. I was not allowed to put anything in my hair or skin such as gel, lotion or hair spray or wear any kind a jewelry. I thought it was a little odd but, whatever! I arrive at the hospital 2 hours ahead of schedule to prepare for the surgery. I was quite nervous at this point but I was also very anxious to get it done. But on the other hand, was having second thoughts about going through with it. But I knew if I didn't do something about my life style, I was going to die at an early age and I really didn't want to do that. I get back to the pre-operation room where the doctors come and meet with you and gets you all ready for the surgery. Dr. Terracina met with me around 11:30 AM and asked if I was ready to change my life. I said to him "Yes, what are you waiting for, roll me in!" So off I went into the surgery room. All I can remember is, it was cold as ice in there and all I had on was a very thin robe. Then I went out like a light because the anaesthesia kicked in.

I woke up and was in a waiting room. Everything was pretty blurry. All I could hear was one of the nurses singing. I looked up at her and told her " American idol your not" and fell back to sleep. I woke up in my room that I would stay in over night, and my wife and mom were there to meet me. I was kinda out of it and I wasn't really sleepy. I felt really good actually. I stayed in the bed till around 6 PM and then called the nurse to help me get out of the bed and to start walking around. I got out of bed and walked around the hospital and all the nurses could not believe I was walking 3 hours after my surgery. Once again, I fooled them. I felt good enough that night to actually go home but I couldn't because I still have the " G-Tube" in me which is the drain tube and the decafitor in still. I also had to go the next day to get X-Rays and drink the nasty drink.

I was really dreading this day. My wife told me that they make you drink this horrible drink to see if you have any leaks in your new pouch in an X-Ray. Well, I drank the drink and almost puked on the guy. It was nasty and disgusting. After that I was fine. I had no leaks and everything appeared to be OK. I got up and walked some more around the hospital till about 2 in the morning.

I was very excited to go home. I felt great and I packed everything and waiting for the discharge papers. I finally got discharged from the hospital around 2 O'clock. I was happy to get out of there. Me and hospitals don't get along to well. Anyway, I get home and I'm doing wonderful. I told my wife that it was a piece of cake and that I didn't know what she was complaining about all the time. The I get really sick about 2 days later and run a fever of about 102.3. I felt like I was going to die. I couldn't breath, eat or drink anything. Then I finally realized after going to the emergency room and talking to Dr. Terracina, I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my left lounge which almost made it collapse. I also was very vulnerable to get Pneumonia which would not have been a good thing. So I started to blow into this special thing and it cleared it right up in about 24 hours. Everything went smooth after that. I started drink my protein stuff and doing what I needed to do to start loosing weight....