Thursday, June 22, 2006

My Wednesday with BUBBA

My Wednesday with BUBBA

Wednesday June 21, 2006

After 7 months and after losing over 100 pounds, I FINALLY got to actually see BUBBA in person yesterday.

I KNEW that he has lost over 100 pounds.
I KNEW that he has shrunken.
I KNEW that he would look different.

But still.............

Bubba got to my house a bit before I did. My god daughter, Erica, and my soon to be sponsor-her Mom Kim were already there and let him in.
When I walked in, I could not see him. He was hiding around the corner.

He came out and had a GRAND ENTRANCE.

I was STUNNED. SHOCKED. AMAZED. And I knew it was coming. WOW.

I simply could not speak for a minute. All I could do was stammer and say "WOW". He said my jaw dropped and I stood there stunned. WOW.

We hugged, AND I COULD GET MY ARMS ALL THE WAY AROUND HIM.

But besides the size, he WAS SMILING SO MUCH. I finally figured it out, HE IS SMILING MORE and THERE IS LESS OF HIM. So, THE SMILE TO BUBBA RATIO HAS PROBABLY DOUBLED. Having lost nearly 1/3 of himself, he has doubled the size of his smile. AMAZING.


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Our lunch at Walt's BBQ

The four of us went to my favorite local BBQ place for lunch. I usually get the sampler platter and it has 4 small ribs, and three small sandwiches (the size of White Castles) with two sides and a pile of fries. I've never been able to finish that myself in one sitting, so I figured we would split it. I joked that this would be two or three meals in the future. Bubba said "Nope, that would be FOUR or FIVE".

Amazingly Erica ate more than Bubba. Erica never eats that much.

I'm still working on not drinking while eating. Where I used to drink 2 or 3 glasses of iced tea, I had just one half. Bubba noted that if I put an extra shot of BBQ sauce on my meat, that it goes down a bit easier and then "You don't need to wash it down". I tried it, and it got a bit messy, and I ended up using a fork to finish my sandwich off. Since I love BBQ, he noted that the pulled pork is great in that it has lots of protein in it, and if you fix it right, it is so soft, it basically melts and falls to pieces. So, again I see a food that I love that I will get to have in the future.

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Bubba and Miss Cutie Pie

After lunch we went to run some errands, as I had asked Bubba to show me in the grocery store some of the new things he eats. We've talked lots about them over the last months, but actually walking up and down the aisles would be a great learning tool.

But first we got to the SCALE discussion. One of Bubba's rituals is to weigh himself early in the morning at his doctor's office. Well, being on the road for his bike touring company, all he has been able to weigh himself on was a "Put a quarter in and get your weight and fortune" scale as well as my crappy bathroom scale that gave him three different weights.

So.......I CALLED MISS CUTIE PIE and asked her if we could use hers. We turned around and 15 minutes later were in Dr. Curry's new offices and Bubba was shoeless and on the scale. Per Miss Cutie Pie, he is now 5 pounds and 0.4 on the BMI Scale away from no longer being OBESE.

Miss Cutie Pie's boss, Dr. Curry was in, and he and Bubba chatted for a half hour about the LapBand. Scars were viewed, and tales exchanged. The receptionist, Miss Charity, kept trying to shoe me out as the Deaconess vs.. Dr. Curry lawsuit somehow is now to prevent Deaconess patients from walking in his new door. I pointed out that BUBBA WAS CONSULTING WITH DR C, and I was just his navigator. I must say that their chat was interesting. But I won't go into details here.

We got our farewell hugs from Miss Cutie Pie and headed to the giant evil Wal-Mart Grocery store in search of Walden Farms dressing.
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The Evil Corporate Empire of Wal-Mart

Our trip to the evil corporate empire of Wal-Mart was a hoot.

In the old days, we were in the 95th percentile of size of Wal-Mart customers (which translates into 99th percentile of the regular US population)

Besides getting the usual stuff - diet beverages- Bubba showed me two items we had not discussed before- a dip he makes and a apple and gouda stuffed grilling sausage that weighs 3 ounces and has only 100 calories. I bought some of the sausage for the future and froze them when I got home. We made the dip when we got home.

BUBBA's BLACK BEAN DIP

One can Black Beans
Two containers of diced onions and red peppers (in the pre made salad department- weighs probably 2 ounces each)

Simply add them all together in a disposable Tupperware, and for less than 100 calories, you have a dozen or more servings. The chips you use will have more calories than the dip!

After a bit of food shopping, Bubba wanted to check for a pair of pants. he has TWO that fit now, both size 40. (he was a 54 in November) All he could find was the same two colors he already had. There were lots of 42s, lots of 38s, but only a few 40s. Apparently folks jump from 38 straight to 42.

Well, this is where the story gets funny. The Wal-Mart Sales lady he was asking for 40s from dropped something. He bent over to pick it up and she made a big "WHEW!" kind of sigh. "Whew" as in "wow you look cute.". Of course Bubba picks up on this and they start chatting. She then decides he is 47 years old and a has UPS driver legs. I ask him for his car keys. he asks "WHY?" "Well as YOUR HEAD IS SWELLING, IT AIN'T GONNA FIT IN THE TRUCK, SO I'll DRIVE AND YOU RIDE IN THE BACK!". We all laughed and Bubba got a hug from the Wal-Mart Lady.

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Our dinner with the School Marm-


The School Marm is a patient of Dr. Curry's, we met in 2002 and I did not know she got a LapBand until a few weeks ago when I saw her email in another email. Our menu: "I am going to have chicken breasts, a salad with salad bronzer and some fresh fruit. I think that about covers it, unless you think of something else that sounds good."

We had Bubba's Black Bean dip for an appetizer, and we even put some of it on the chicken breasts as sort of a salsa. Quite yummy.

Bubba, of course, now has another good friend now- The School Marm. They showed scars, felt ports, and told LapBand stories for hours. We went for a walk after dinner, viewed the lovely valley across the street from her and then went for a swim where The School Marm arranged for us all to go for a swim where a bat attacked me, a pool pump attacked me and a frog attacked me. (I'm seeing a trend here).

For dessert, the School Marm made us Protein shakes that tasted like Nestlé's Quik and we had a few cookies. Ok, Bubba had ONE cookie and I had four.

As the evening ended, the School Marm's mother came over and told me where the School Marm was conceived and then conducted a job interview with me as I dripped on the floor after getting out of the pool.

All in all it was a nice evening.

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So, there you have it.
Bubba- over 100 pounds down. And LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF HIS NEW LIFE.

Someday soon, I hope that will be me.




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