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RV-7 N159SB Brian Chesteen (Brantel)

Good Luck

Brian, good luck with the surgery, sounds like you have all the ducks marching at 100%:D

Keep us posted on how things are going.

Prayers on the way.
 
Wishing you great success!

Brian - I wish you the best with your procedure and a rapid recovery!
 
Prayers for you

Brian.
Praying for you and your family. Your trust in God will provide you with peace as you travel forward. Recover quickly because we need your valuable input here to answer questions:)
 
Looks like you've done a good bit of research & planning, Brian.
Best of luck to ya'!
 
Best of Luck and Prayers, Brian! Let us know when you are up and able again.

It is good to do these things while young (er) and able to heal and recover.
 
Brian,

Looks like you approached this surgery like you did your panel upgrade: logically, practically and deliberately. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and renewed airworthiness. :)

Pat
 
Of Course!

You KNOW we all support you here! :)
Best Of luck. Great way to satart off the New Year!

Vic
 
Looking forward to the update after the procedure, Brian!

OF COURSE you have our prayers and good wishes!!!!!!

Go get 'em!!!!!

v/r,
dr
 
Brian,

Looks like you approached this surgery like you did your panel upgrade: logically, practically and deliberately. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and renewed airworthiness. :)

Pat

+1 on what Pat said. It's not easy but for the best. Keep us posted.
 
Thanks everyone for the well wishes!

Yes, I did not enter into this decision lightly. Many months have gone into preparing and education. Given my situation, most would agree that the risk of not moving forward are worse than the risk of doing it. Everyone is different and have different issues so everyone must make up their own mind about it.

I can tell you also that even though I work for an awesome company and have awesome insurance, they have not updated their insurance benefits in over 10 years. That being said, my employer still excludes WLS on our insurance and I have had to pay all the cost upfront.

Please pray that there are no complications that would negatively impact my family financially. I purchased a self pay insurance package to help protect against the most common complications but one never knows about this stuff!

Again, thanks for your well wishes and prays and I will inform the VAF as soon as I can on how well things went!
 
Brian, After reading all your posts I don't doubt for a second you researched this procedure and made a good decision for yourself and family. Good luck on Monday and I look forward to your recovery posts! After all, while you recover you will have time to write up more interesting things!
 
Brian, Best wishes for a smooth operation and speedy recovery! My friend and RV9 Builder,Mark MS19087, taught me a new Phrase last year "We use to Live to Eat, Now we Eat to Live!" Never give up, Fight the best Fight you can! Keep your eye on the Prize! The weight will come off,you are the one that has to keep it off. I'll keep you in my prayers,God Speed buddy!
RHill
 
Surgery

Brian;

Along with the many friends you have here on the forum, I'd like to add my best wishes and add that I'll be praying for you. Speedy ricovery my friend.
 
Best wishes!

Brian,

Prayers and best wishes. And unlike some of us who build things.....may the doctor and his crew have no spare parts left over when the job is done:eek:
 
Best wishes

Best wishes for a speedy recovery and for that quality of life you so richly deserve. We'll be looking forward to your progress reports as you get your life back.
 
Yep, all is well the best I can tell. Just taking it easy and following my discharge orders.
 
Brian. How are things going for you in regards to recovery? Can you update us pls. Was thinking of you and thought to check on
 
Doing great! Had one hickup last weekend but was nothing major.

I am 5 weeks out as of this past Monday. All pain is gone, all incisions are healed. Starting into my exercise regimen.

Diet has now progressed from all liquid to pureed and soft food only. I have a couple more weeks of that then I can move to more solid protein sources.

Here is the good news....

Obviously weight loss has slowed from the 10-12lbs a week I was seeing to a more reasonable 2-4/wk. Typically people that have this surgery I had have experienced a stall around 5 weeks out. Typically this last a week or so and then it starts to come off again.

Here are the averages for my surgeon's patients based on my surgery type:

1 month out 18% Excess weight loss, for me is ~31lbs of loss, I hit ~46lbs :)
3 months out 37% Excess weight loss, for me is ~63lbs of loss
6 months out 60% Excess weight loss, for me is ~103lbs of loss
1 year out 85% Excess weight loss, for me is ~145lbs of loss

To keep this RV related, 145lbs of loss equals ~24gal of avgas, the ability to run with full baggage allowance, and we will see how much of an improvement in T/O performance!
 
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Back in the air!

Got back in the air on Saturday for the first time since January 4th which was 2 days before surgery...

All I did was bore holes in the sky and do some doughnuts while calibrating the D6 compass.

Was a little behind the airplane but still well within the safety zone and I made a decent landing!

2qvuyae.png


I am down 61 lbs in 51 days since surgery!

It was rewarding to get in the airplane and have to tighten the lap belt over 4" and the shoulder harnesses over 5"! Last time I flew, the stick hit my gut when full aft, this time I had over 1" of clearance!
 
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Good to hear!

Hi Brian,
Glad to hear your back in the air."I use to live to eat,now I eat to live"*. Changes everything.Once a week now you'll have to drill new holes in your belts,on the inside this time.Keep up the good work.
Bob:)

* quote N91RV Mark S.
 
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Congratulations on your progress. I've been wondering how you are doing. Will you still attend EAA breakfasts? ;) (Winchester is coming up this Saturday.)

Glad to see that you're back in the air. A plane as nice as yours needs to be flown. :D
 
Wow, Brantel,
61 pounds! Bet your airspeed was up a few knots, that was why you felt a little behind the airplane.
 
Glad to hear from you Brian. Keep up the good work and by Sun n Fun you should be ready for a quick trip South. Hope to see you there.
 
Flew today for the first time in two weeks...

This is what I found when I got in and hitched the straps:

This was tight 2 weeks ago!
2z7516t.jpg


Who is this guy drinking the milk shake?
2udvln8.jpg


He was replaced with this guy!
116p21i.jpg


Almost to halfway to my goal!
 
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Wow!

Brian,

I was just thinking that I hadn't seen a post from you recently and wondered how you were doing... Great to see you - and so much less of you now that you look like a new person!! That is just super! Thanks for the update!
 
Thanks all, I still have a long way to go but this is a marathon not a sprint! :p

I am as determined to win this battle with obesity as much as I was determined to build my RV and then later to rip out the panel and start over!

It has been a roller coaster of a ride the past 69 days but worth every minute of it.

Anyone that things WLS is taking the easy way out is full of it and they have no idea what they are talking about. It is just another tool (albeit a very effective one) to help one help themselves.

I am exercising like crazy now and will finish my first official 5K in a few weeks.

One of the reasons I am doing this is so that I can hopefully continue to enjoy my RV for many years to come. I want to be an example for folks in a similar situation health wise that it can be done with enough determination!

Down the road I will look to the VAF family to help hold me accountable so that I do not slip back into the old habits and reverse what I have and continue to work so hard to achieve!
 
Losing weight is like building a plane - Keep focused on the goal and chip away at it every day.
In the past 15 months I have lost, and kept off, 40 lbs. Looking better is a great benefit but feeling better is even better! I have more energy and more metal sharpness.
Congrats and stay focused.
 
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