I'm not gonna lie . . . . 2016 ended on a shitty note. In October of that year, I had ballooned to 386 pounds and made the decision to have a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG). Much different than the "lap band" or "gastric bypass" surgery, they actually reshape the size of my stomach to about the size of your fist.
I was at my lowest point. There were days where I wouldn't even get out of bed, much less leave my apartment. My energy was at an all time low and my desire to be productive had disappeared. I was sick and tired of feeling like crap, so I made the decision to actually do something about it. I had previously tried every diet known to man, but nothing would stick. I had to face the fact that I was (and still am) an emotional eater.
Fired from a job? I'd go grab sushi to comfort myself. Got a promotion? Let's eat Italian! You pick the emotion or real life scenario and I had a food sequence built around it.
So, I started a liquid diet at the end of October, the day after my brothers wedding reception. I coined that evening my "last supper". The next day, I began drinking flavored waters that were zero calorie and ate chicken broth. I proceeded to eat those items, drink Muscle Milks and have an occasional sugar-free popsicle for something different.
Photo Credit - Public Domain / World Atlas
Two weeks later, I traveled to Piedras Negras, Mexico to have the procedure. I was told that I had already lost 20 pounds, which put me in a great frame of mind that this was the right choice for me. The final meal cutoff was 10 pm that night and some of the other patients had decided to go to the buffet next door at 8:00 pm. Since I had a prior history of complications from anaesthesia, I stopped eating/drinking at about noon that day, so I opted to stay in bed and lay low.
After my surgery, the complications I experienced were minor. Some soreness around the belly and a few stomach burning sensations. Since I had nothing in my system, I didn't need to vomit or have gas pain. The other patients were having a lot of problems. I was so glad I stayed home that night.
Anyway, the final visit from the doctor was met with "keep doing what you are doing", get "100 grams of protein in every day" and in 2 more weeks you can "graduate to soft foods." I didn't know if I could make it that long, but I was determined to do my damnedest. The next day, I flew back to my family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as opposed to flying all the way back to my permanent home in Pasadena, California. My logic was that the flight would be shorter, I could spend some quality time with family, enjoy the holidays and then fly back to California after the Rose Bowl was over.
So, I'm in Tulsa. The weather sucks. I'm pounding Muscle Milks, which I'm beginning to hate and I'm really getting cranky. "If I can just make it to the 14th day, I can start eating soft food, I murmured under my breath.
On the last day (30th) of my liquid diet, my best friend picked me up to run errands with him. Since I was on the mend, the plan was that I was going to drive his old junker car to the car crusher. He was going to follow me and then I would ride with him for the rest of the afternoon and we would reminisce, like we used to before I moved.
I spent 30 minutes trying to get the car to start and it wouldn't. This was odd because it worked fine the night before. The executive decision was to skip the crusher and move on to the other things he had to do. Next up was to take his C-PAP machine in to get serviced. While he was inside, I chose to stay in the car because I had a tummy ache.
When he came back outside, he found me slumped over and passed out. In a panic, he ran back into the store and told them to call 911 because I was having a heart attack. Me? I was out like a light and had no idea what happened.
(This is the exact spot where they began CPR and tried to revive me)
According to my friend, 4 ladies from inside the C-PAP place grabbed me out of the car and began administering CPR. The few other people that were there were praying and crying. In 4 minutes, EMSA showed up to use, what they call "The Plunger" to try and kickstart my heart (Motley Crue Reference #1).
A normal-sized person only gets 4 paddle blasts. For some reason, I was the lucky recipient of 7. The 7th zap did the trick because they whisked me away to St. Francis Hospital. Rather than type an even longer-winded rant, I'm going to condense the rest of this story into bullet-sized bits.
When they zapped me, they shredded my clothes.
I was officially dead for over 11 minutes and began to have seizures (no oxygen)
All of my identification was shredded (passport, drivers license, credit cards, etc)
In the Emergency Room, I was admitted as "John Doe - Aged 53". I was 46.
The next step was that I should be placed in an "ice suit" and put into a coma.
The doctor said I was too old and I could not have the suit.
My father and sister went to war with them until they put me in the suit to shut them up.
I was in a coma for 3 days.
The doctors told anyone that would listen the following :
a) I had a less than 1% chance of living.
b) If I did live, I would be a vegetable.
c) I would need physical and speech therapy, if I survived.
d) The chances of getting a stroke were high.
The big day arrived and they brought me back to consciousness, very doubtful that I would ever wake up.
Shockingly, I woke up, but had major short-term memory loss. They started referring to me as "Miracle Man".
I spent my first two days pissed off because I thought everyone had played an elaborate joke on me. There were people that came to the hospital from every era of my life. High School friends, College friends, Music friends, Wrestling friends, California friends, family members and neighbors.
I sat in my bed in complete disbelief as they retold the story to me. I still don't believe it really happened, but it did.
December 2, 2016 is the day I croaked and lived to tell about it.
16 months later, I am still recovering and healing from the Cardiac Arrest and am disabled. I spend my days learning about cryptocurrency, driving for Postmates on occasion and listening to music. I'm on government assistance and continue to work freelance as a copywriter, dogsitter, jack-of-all-trades, master-of-nothing.
Nice to meet you.
(All pictures are mine, except for the images from Wikipedia, which are Public Domain).
Holy Crap! That's quite the ordeal... Glad you didn't listen to those Dr.'s and woke up :)
holy crap, glad to see you are still with us after that story! did the cardiac arrest have anything to do with the surgery? my best friends mom had the one where they actually staple your stomach done back when it first became a thing 20 some odd years ago. she did not have a good time with it.
Nope. I died because my Potassium and Magnesium levels went below a 2.0.
They wanted me to focus on 100 grams of protein daily, so I drank Muscle Milks.
They never emphasized that I should be drinking Gatorade's for the nutrients.
I had one on occasion, but I was so focused on hitting my 100 gram daily goal, that it wasn't my priority.
That joke was on me, eh?
Your mom had her stomach stapled, from the looks of it. That was the big thing in the 90s & 00s. Then came the Gastric Bypass. I had a newer procedure, called a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, where they totally reshaped my stomach. It was all done laproscopically, so it sounds much more intense than it was.
I'm still not mentally adjusted to this new gut. The mental game is much harder than the physical. Hopefully, your friend's mom is doing ok now. Thanks for dropping a note.
Holy crap, how could they miss an important instruction like that? When your stomach is resized down, its hard to take in all that liquid. I cant blame you for being focused on protein when what you're ingesting is such a small amount to begin with compared to what you're used to. It was my best friends mother, but I spent a lot of time at her house during that period. They accidentally stapled it too small the first time so nothing made it to her stomach, stapled it completely shut the second time and by the third time wasnt able to hold stitches because itd been opened so many times. My poor friend had to pack her moms wound every day. Thankfully, shes doing much better now. Finally. Mental is always harder than physical! Your body can do it, its your mind that has other ideas. One really small, but simple change that helped my friends mom was buying smaller plates. No joke. Loading up a huge ass plate with one chicken wing bc thats all you can fit in the adjustment period is super depressing! Anyways, I wish you lots of luck on the Steemit journey - browsing through your comments, I think you should do great. But then again, I know nothing about crypto or Steem....but I like your humor. Cant wait to meet in person at a Socal Steemit meet up some day soon xo
Yeah, I'm hoping for a proper (non-hiking) meetup sooner, rather than later. When I tried to contact the doctor, after I recovered, they refused to even consider what I was telling them. They gave great care up until after I flew back home, but once I was back in Tulsa, they wrote me off. Rather than go to war with them over changing their outpatient checklists, I opted to just go about my life, recover and focus on what I can do versus what others do to me. I'm supposed to avoid stress inducing bullshit and speaking to them ever again was a stresser, so I've moved away from it. I'm just focusing on improving my reputation score, writing decent content and figuring out the best ways to get to whale status, so I can help other people that are writing decent articles and playing fair. I was hoping to go to the convention in Las Vegas (4/13-4/15), but I won't have the $ to pay for trans there, a room, etc. Costs too much and didn't get enough notice to try to make it happen. My hope is that there will be some decent SoCal meetups and maybe a few conferences in DTLA soon. I want to continue to learn about this stuff, but I'm "ballin' on a budget" these days.
Great way to move on and concentrate on what matters most - YOU! I can relate, I was an angry NYer for far too long, always letting everyone else's negative moods make mine worse. Las Vegas is an expensive city, to boot! Are you going to the San Diego one at Starbucks this wknd?
No. As much as I want to meet errrrbody, I can't make the trek from Covina to SD. If I plan in advance, I may take the train or something. Still doing tests to figure out why I have to take more naps than a toddler. Docs won't let me drive more than a few hours at a time.
Yeah, its a pretty decent trek. I like naps, but definitely not on a train. At least not the ones from NYC! Maybe there is someone else coming from your area you could carpool with? I think theres another in LA on the 15th! Ive got another event for my pots that day, otherwise @nutinbutdatruth and I would have tried to go.
@zingali, this is bold and amazing. A really cool story, VERY well written. I wouldn't change a thing. I loved it, and with the right exposure, others will too.
I can't believe this happened to you? Only question--why did they shred your ID and passport? That doesn't make sense. Is it because you were dead?
Also, sorry to see you are not getting the traffic you deserve. This introduceyourself post should be a little more popular, but it appears they have gone down of late. Either way, I'll be sure to promote and follow you. I think you have the right stuff. Just keep plugging away, day after day. Let me know if you'd like me to check out a post or offer tips any time. I'm always around!
Also, a lot of users are doing bid-bots. Here's a link to the basics: https://steembottracker.com/
I don't usually do these, but you can give them a try as they do produce some results.
Welcome to Steemit @zingali!
I wish you much success and hope you find Steemit to be as rewarding and informative as I have.
Here are some links you might find useful.
Your stats on SteemNow
Your stats on SteemWorld
Your stats on SteemD
How to use Minnow Booster
How does Steemit actually work?
Introbot is hosted and managed with donations from @byColeman to help make your journey on Steemit be truly rewarding. Your feedback is always welcome so that we may improve this welcome message.
Oh yea, I have upvoted you and followed you. Many blessings from @introbot & @bycoleman
Thanks @introbot
welcome to steemit... wow what a story... its amazing that you are alive today to share with us what happened. 11 minutes.. that's a long time... it's nice to meet you and i hope you enjoy your journey here on steemit :)
Thanks MK. I hope I enjoy it too. Hoping the spammers and plagiarists don't grind me down. I like to learn and meet new people, so I'm hopeful I'll learn a few new things along the way. Thanks for the kindness.
Woah @zingali i think its very brave of you to share your story of what you've been going through and I'm glad you're doing better now. I've also had my own share of medical scares so I can definitely relate but I'm very happy for you and i hope you have full and speedy recovery soon!
It's been 16 months so far and the biggest issue has been my brain writing checks that my body can't cash. From the neck up, I'm ready to work 60 hours a week. The rest of my body says "Nope. Take a nap!" I can't stay awake more than 5 hours at a time and it's driving me crazy. Still doing lots of tests/meds to figure out the issues. But I'm 115 lbs lighter and in good spirits. Eager for this steemit thing to grow.
That's rough...hopefully it's all up hill from here. They're still not able to identify all the issues you're having though?
Nah. I've got Anemia, Low T, Ridiculous amounts of Prolactin. All sortsa bs going on. The end result is I can stay awake for maybe 5 hours at a time and then I have to take a nap. Hard to get a job when you have 4 doctors appointments every month and on over 10 meds. I'm hoping to write a ton of stuff on Steemit and maybe earn some SBD, along the way. love to meet some folks in person, one day. Thinking about going to that Steemit conference in Vegas in a few weeks.
Dang I'm rooting for you man. Really hope you get better soon. I was looking at that steemit conference too but don't think I'll be able to make it. Please let me know how it goes if you do decide to go!
I'll be writing articles galore, if I do get to go. I think it would be cool to meet some of the people. Just trying to coordinate a ride and place to stay.
Hey there Resurrected Soul, I'm Oatmeal Joey Arnold, and your experience is amazing and I have heard of other amazing stories and have experienced a lot in my life. Were your identification cards and documents shredded by accident or did doctors or others do that?
Your new nickname is "The Notorious OJA".
I don't carry a wallet, so all of the items were loose in my jeans pocket. It was an honest mistake, but my short-term memory loss and lack of proof of who I was made life challenging those first 3 months, after the hospital visit. I lost all of my identification, forgot all passwords to my laptop and phone.
Total nightmare, but I was alive, at least. Total fluke about the cards getting shred.
Hehe yeah, I'm OJA. And life is notorious. Thanks for the nickname. Life is short and precious.
Wow. What a story. Hearing this confirms something that I learned first hand recently, that it's true that it can take a major tragedy or close call to get a lot of stuff straightened out in your life. Goes to show how stubborn we can be. Glad you're around to share that.
Hello dearie, steemit is the place for you.
Join steem schools where there are talented story writers and 5,000 steemians.
https://discord.gg/pqWrzBn
You will be thought about the use of tags and how to attract the right audience.
The school helped me, it can be of help to you too.
No thanks. I spent an hour on their discord page, went to one of their "radio live" sessions and proceeded to listen to a dozen people glow about how awesome "steemschools" is, yet not one damn person could give me any tips on how to write better. It was just a giant "rah rah" session of people upvoting each others posts and gaming the system. There's zero nutritional value in what I heard. I've already wasted my time with them and won't be back, but I do appreciate your unsolicited request. Thanks, anyway.
So sorry about that sir.
What is your name on discord?
I'll want to personally attend to you.
What is your biggest regret in life so far?
a) That I've believed the negative thoughts in my head for 30 years (I can't, I won't, I shouldn't, I'm not).
b) That I've spent most of my adult life "sweating the small stuff" and paying too much attention to shit that doesn't matter.
c) Talking to robots on #steemit