Sam Giangreco had three last meals: a Piccirillo's pizza, lasagna from the Hollywood Restaurant and veal from Lasca's.
His first meal after having bariatric surgery April 17 was a pill and tiny amount of water.
By having his stomach reduced to the size of a walnut, he's lost 42 pounds in the last four weeks. He's under 400 pounds and he expects to keep rolling until he's under 250 pounds.
He's always been a food lover and he's a self-described “damned good cook.” But now he wouldn't trade the enjoyment of food for the greater enjoyment of life. He is benefiting from one of the mechanisms of the gastric bypass surgery: he doesn't have the same appetite anymore.
“It's getting better by the day. It's getting zippy. It's like somebody threw something in my drink,” Giangreco, 57, said.
Three years ago, he made a decision to have the surgery by Dr. Chung Oh, which would have required a long incision in his abdomen. But his family overruled him after a “tearful discussion,” Giangreco said. He continued to gain weight, especially with winter boredom.
After attending an informational session a few months ago, he decided to undergo the less-invasive gastric bypass surgery Dr. Carl Weiss offers.
Still, he equivocated about having the surgery after entering the weight loss program in February. In moments when he was alone, he would sit and wonder if the risk of death on the operating table was worth it. He discussed the future care of his beloved dogs and his other affairs with his family. He sought the Catholic sacrament of anointing of the sick from his pastor.
“I made my peace with my maker and my family and put it in the Lord's hands and in the doctor's hands.”
But he remembered his mother's death early in her retirement. Giangreco had never had success with diets, so if he wanted a future he decided bariatric surgery was the path.
“Now that I've got it done I have energy. I can get things done,” Giangreco said.
He has dropped a neck and pant size in a month. His wife, Sheila, is glad she kept Giangreco's old clothes. He bought a PT Cruiser, a car he couldn't have driven without losing weight.
Giangreco is a well-known figure in Auburn: performing with the reunited Blue Lights last summer; working with Sheila with their Fresh Sounds DJ service, sitting on the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board after working 34 years in the district; sitting on the Auburn Planning Board; and taking a retirement job as a teacher's aide job coach in a Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES program.
He is outspoken and unabashed about his affection for Auburn Memorial Hospital. A recent speech in support of AMH at a bariatric support group meeting drew applause.
Giangreco chose Auburn Memorial Hospital to have his surgery because he felt confidence in Weiss and because he wanted to support his hometown hospital. Following his surgery, Giangreco had the intimate touch of a surgeon who called him or spoke directly to him several times right after he had the surgery, two Auburn High School graduates who helped him test out his feet after the surgery and the personalized kindness of AMH's nursing and intensive care unit staff.
He can't wait to lose more weight and see how much he has lost by this summer's Blue Lights reunion sponsored by Dr. Joseph Karpinski Sr.
But he knows that slipping back into old habits will lose the game for him. Sheila has seen him stand in front of the kitchen counter and lean into it. It's the stance he used to take when he was about to eat out of boredom. But she soon pricks his awareness about it.
Giangreco has a wife who will keep him out of the bad habits, Sheila said.
By having his stomach reduced to the size of a walnut, he's lost 42 pounds in the last four weeks. He's under 400 pounds and he expects to keep rolling until he's under 250 pounds.
He's always been a food lover and he's a self-described “damned good cook.” But now he wouldn't trade the enjoyment of food for the greater enjoyment of life. He is benefiting from one of the mechanisms of the gastric bypass surgery: he doesn't have the same appetite anymore.
“It's getting better by the day. It's getting zippy. It's like somebody threw something in my drink,” Giangreco, 57, said.
Three years ago, he made a decision to have the surgery by Dr. Chung Oh, which would have required a long incision in his abdomen. But his family overruled him after a “tearful discussion,” Giangreco said. He continued to gain weight, especially with winter boredom.
After attending an informational session a few months ago, he decided to undergo the less-invasive gastric bypass surgery Dr. Carl Weiss offers.
Still, he equivocated about having the surgery after entering the weight loss program in February. In moments when he was alone, he would sit and wonder if the risk of death on the operating table was worth it. He discussed the future care of his beloved dogs and his other affairs with his family. He sought the Catholic sacrament of anointing of the sick from his pastor.
“I made my peace with my maker and my family and put it in the Lord's hands and in the doctor's hands.”
But he remembered his mother's death early in her retirement. Giangreco had never had success with diets, so if he wanted a future he decided bariatric surgery was the path.
“Now that I've got it done I have energy. I can get things done,” Giangreco said.
He has dropped a neck and pant size in a month. His wife, Sheila, is glad she kept Giangreco's old clothes. He bought a PT Cruiser, a car he couldn't have driven without losing weight.
Giangreco is a well-known figure in Auburn: performing with the reunited Blue Lights last summer; working with Sheila with their Fresh Sounds DJ service, sitting on the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board after working 34 years in the district; sitting on the Auburn Planning Board; and taking a retirement job as a teacher's aide job coach in a Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES program.
He is outspoken and unabashed about his affection for Auburn Memorial Hospital. A recent speech in support of AMH at a bariatric support group meeting drew applause.
Giangreco chose Auburn Memorial Hospital to have his surgery because he felt confidence in Weiss and because he wanted to support his hometown hospital. Following his surgery, Giangreco had the intimate touch of a surgeon who called him or spoke directly to him several times right after he had the surgery, two Auburn High School graduates who helped him test out his feet after the surgery and the personalized kindness of AMH's nursing and intensive care unit staff.
He can't wait to lose more weight and see how much he has lost by this summer's Blue Lights reunion sponsored by Dr. Joseph Karpinski Sr.
But he knows that slipping back into old habits will lose the game for him. Sheila has seen him stand in front of the kitchen counter and lean into it. It's the stance he used to take when he was about to eat out of boredom. But she soon pricks his awareness about it.
Giangreco has a wife who will keep him out of the bad habits, Sheila said.
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michelle wrote on May 21, 2007 8:04 AM: