3 Year Surgiversary.. LONG, PICS

I cannot believe how fast time can fly sometimes- I was enjoying a great visit with family last night, walking around a shopping outlet, when I realized that yesterday was my 3 year surgiversary. I mentioned it to my hubby and he said, "oh cool", and I realized that my friends from OH were probably the only people who would appreciate the big deal it was to me to still be at goal 3 years out.  So, even though I am not on here much anymore- we will chalk it up to technology problems as of late- I wanted to come and recount my journey and celebrate with all my friends here..

I was never a heavy girl. When I was young doctors often told my mother I was too thin.  When I was in my late teens I filled out some and sat comfortably in the area my hubby likes to call "thick"- I weighed about 160 lbs or so (I am 5'5) and was quite comfortable there, although I exercised my way down to 135 to be "healthier".  Then I got pregnant. I gained about 50 lbs with my first daughter and had a very rough pregnancy and birth- I ended up having an emergency c-section.  After her birth I never lost any of the weight that I gained, and eventually I just got used to my new body. Then I got pregnant again. I gained about 55 pounds with my second daughter, and again never lost it after she was born. Eventually, by the time both my girls were starting school, I weighed around 245 lbs.  I know that 245 is not so bad as to be earth shattering, but from my perspective at the time it was bad enough for me to want to lose it badly. At this time I had high blood pressure, GERD, and sleep apnea that wasn't corrected by a previous surgical attempt.  I tried to diet it off and it didn't work, I tried to work it off and it didn't work. Finally I heard of the lap band, and decided to talk to my doctor.

We had just moved from Texas to New York and the first appointment I had with my new doctor I asked about WLS and he agreed to give a referral to the surgeon. A week later I met the surgeon and she agreed that WLS was a good option for me, but disagreed about the lap band- she didn't think the lap band was a great procedure and thought I was a good candidate for gastric bypass. Although she thought bypass was best for me she took the time to go over all the possible surgical options in depth and allowed me to overrule her and choose the sleeve. She laid out my preop requirements and I had completed all of them within about 3 weeks. I was then scheduled for surgery and had it November 6, 2008- about a month after meeting my surgeon for the first time.

The first week after surgery was HARD. I was not in any real pain to speak of, but I woke up with the most awful migraine of my life (I was told it was due to the anesthesia). The migraine led to nausea and I ended up back in the hospital dehydrated because of it. After about a week, however, these problems subsided and I have loved my sleeve ever since. I spent a week on full liquids, three weeks on soft foods, and then at a month out was cleared to eat normally- or my new normally at least.  During my preop phase and for the first six months after surgery I met with both my surgeon and a nutritionist regularly. Although I know it is not the common wisdom right now, they both clearly instructed me to eat regularly- almost the same as I had preop- just no drinking calories i.e. milkshakes and soda. I never went low carb or low fat, and never made bariatric type substitutions. I continued to cook for and eat with my family as I always had.

I reached my initial goal of 150 lbs in about 5.5 months. I then continued to lose down to about 130 in the next two months and at that point I started eating everything I could fit down, as I was not happy at that weight.  I managed to level out at 140 and still stay between 140-145 today. I have been maintaining my goal weight for over 2.5 years now. For me this has been easy. I eat every couple hours like clockwork and I never feel deprived. I love my sleeve still.

All that said, this has not been without physical challenges. After reaching goal my surgical team offered me a tummy tuck. This was a few years ago and at the time I chickened out at the last minute- my panni really was not so bad. As time went on, however, it bothered me more and more until I decided to go ahead with the tummy tuck. About three months ago I had my full tummy tuck with muscle tightening (no lipo) and I was up and moving within days. Since that time I have been diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia and pellagra (niacin deficiency). I have always taken my vitamins and minerals without fail, so the niacin problem came as a big surprise- although the iron has been an issue for me on and off since menarche. The doctor referred me to a hematologist and I am not receiving weekly iron infusions. The doctor also prescribed high dose niacin pills to correct that deficiency.  My flagging energy is beginning to return, and the hair loss I was suffering due the deficiencies has waned. I was caught off guard when the hematologist said that in his practice gastrectomy patients (WLS related or not) make up about 75% of his infusion patients- no one had told me that the sleeve would complicate my anemia issues.

I recently had a checkup with my primary doctor (he is monitoring me closely due to the niacin issue) and he relayed to me that he has recently had a large percentage of his bypass patients return to him with significant regain and demand another surgical option.  I reminded him that I didn't have a bypass and he remarked that was probably for the best- and I can't help but agree. I look and feel great, and although I am in my 30s and my girls are now 8 and 10, I often get flirted with by much younger men and told that I look to be in my low 20s- I take that as a testament to my health and new lifestyle.

One other thing I want to talk about- I recently gave up artificial sweeteners.  I drink a lot of coffee and tea, and since my one rule from my team was not to drink all my calories, for some time I had been sweetening them with Equal (aspartame).  When I started having issues with my deficiencies I was looking for understanding of possible reasons why considering all the supplementing I had been doing. In this research I came across information about artificial sweeteners that scared me into cutting them completely out of my diet, and the diet of my entire family.  I urge any of you who use fake sugars on a regular basis to really look up what it is you are ingesting and the possible ramifications on your health...

Anyway, on the pics.. Here are some before and afters of my journey...

BEFORE:
 

   

AFTER:
  
 

 

 

Congratulations on your success.

Several friends and co-workers who had the RYN have had serious issues with vitamin and iron deficiencies. Malabsorption with the RYN causes you to lose more than weight, you also lose important nutrients in what you eat.

Hope your niacin and iron problems are quickly resolved.

Continued success,
George

Thanks for the post. I'm scheduled in January and still very apprehensive about doing it.
Its posts like yours that give me confidence in my decision.
Thanks,
Rhonda

WOW.

Inspirational !!!! Just WOW.

I will just add that I have NEVER been able to digest artificial sweetners. They go right through me. And FAST. It's not pretty, and it's not fun.

I have managed to do my weight loss with the sleeve with ZERO artificial sweetners -- not easy -- no isopure, no protein shakes, none of it. I used unflavored protein at the very first, put it in homemade strong broth. I DO eat more surgars than most here, because of the limitations, but keep to low fat, strictly. I eat lo fat yogurts/ or no fat if I can find no fat with no artificial sweetners. I use a tiny bit of honey or low sugar fruit spread to sweeten.

Congratulations on your wonderful accomplishment !

Thanks and congrats to you for doing it without resorting to chemical sweeteners! I thought I had been helping myself with protein bars and shakes, but I really believe I am better off without them. I have not gained any weight since adding real sugar back to my diet, and I am confident it was the right decision.

girl you look  awesome!!! and I see you did Celeste Giuliano Photography!! I plan on doing that on my 1 yr post-op!! how was it??  and congrats on your success!

I did use Celeste and the experience was wonderful! I plan on doing pin ups pics one more time when I visit MN this winter- although Celeste was winderful the first set of pics I had done in St Paul were MUCH cheaper- enough so that I could pay for the flight up there and the pics and still save over going back to Celeste!

Congrats on your success and thanks for going through your journey!  You are such an inspiration!!
Laura

You look so beautiful!

I completely agree with you on the artificial sweeteners. I did a research paper a few years ago for a Master program and I swore after doing the research that my kids would never even have a piece of sugarfree gum. I found a research study done by Duke Univ. They fed suger to lab rats and artificial sweeteners to lab rats and the rats that ate the artificial sweeteners were up to 3 times more hungry and overweight than the rats that ate just sugar.

Besides all of the cancer and other diseases the artificial sweeteners cause, they are up to and sometimes over 1000 times sweeter than sugar which changes our pallet and cause us to require more to be satisfied.

The sad thing is, even regular soda, gum, etc have artificial sweeteners in them. Companies feel the pressure to compete with sugar free products, at least in sweetness, and they can't get to that level of sweetness without using artifical sweeteners.

That said, I am drinking sugar free protein drinks right now, but I hope to be off them as soon as my Sleeve can handle my daily protein requirement without the shakes. Unfortunately, even the unflavored shakes have some artificial sweeteners in them.

Congrats on you amazing success.

Yes, I can't believe that I was ingesting MASSIVE amounts of chemicals that essentially partially turned to formaldyhyde in my body! I secretly wonder if that is part of the reason for my deficiencies and what was diagnosed as ADHD... I have been reading the labels for everything I buy and looking up the labels for those that don't have them. My hubby thinks I went off the deep end! LOL