ObesityHelp

Mother of 3, and half mom of 3
Live near Green Forest Ar.


Start Weight 322.5 ( highest weight was 345)
1 month 295 -27.5lbs
2 month 279.5 -43
3 months 268 -54.5
4 months 259.5 -63
5 months 253 -69.5
6 months 245 -77.5
7 months 238.5 -84 lbs !
and CENTURY CLUB , From my highest personal weight of 340
current weight 9-15-05 182

10-06-06 3 years out, and maintaining at 178 to 182 (varies, Im only human


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My Dr has changed!!!!! Dr nespory will not bill medicaid for his bill, and needs the $7000.00 upfront, in full, before he will even schedule an appointment after finding this out yesterday , (****note , i was told recently that Dr Nespory , is no longer performing bariatric surgery*** 4/19/04)I called every Dr in the state, I finally got hold of Dr Amjad Ali, and he accepts medicaid , so , he will be my surgeon now.

3-21-03 just got a call from Dr Ali's office, they moved my appointment up a week , i wasnt supposed to go see him till the 4th of april , but now i will be going up to see him next FRIDAY ! , wow !, things are looking up
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4-1-03
Well, I met with the office of dr Ali on friday , I wish I had known to expect a 4 hour appointment , I had scheduled soem thigns back home, job interviews, and it would have been helpfull to know that I was going to be there all day, its a 3 hour drive for me from home ,one way, so , it was quite the ordeal , even the drive, made my kidneys ache , but thats nothing new, I hope that goes away post op, when some of the weight dissapears,
Hopefully I will be starting a new job next week, I find out for sure tommorrow , x fingers for me !
The appointment with the Dr was very frustrating, it felt much like a cattle call , audition, walk in , take wt, go sit in a room, wait, talk to someone wait some more , then another tiny "class" and then wait, then , get this , while he had all 6 pre op patients waiting, the Dr went to lunch !!!, while we all sit there waiting !!!!!!
finally over an hour and a half later, he comes back , i was in a fine fettle by then , let me tell you, i was all ready to give him a piece of my mind, when i decided, it might not be wise to bit@h at the only dr in the state that accepts my insurance ....
so I bit my tounge, i am sure he is a nice man, and for the minute and a half that i actually saw him , he seems ok, i just think the office made a huge mistake in overbooking him...
thats my rant ...
my PCP is doing my bloodwork on thursday , and scheduling the other work , so , i will have no problems with that
let you know more as it happens

5-26-03
well i had my second appointment with dr Ali on friday , i have done all the lab work they wanted, and was adamant about a surgery date, so i have a tentative date of october 6th , thats 4 months away, and 2 days after my birthday , now is it time to get nervous????

i have to call the insurance office tommorrow , and make sure all my little ducks are in a row, and will see what hppens then
x fingers and pray for me !!!

6 20-03
well , i have insurance approval , and apparently , a small error in the office, i actually have had approval since april , after my first appointment , but , it got misplaced, i have an appointment with the surgeon , next friday , the 27th , and hopefully, we will confirm my surgery date , and set up any testing they need
im excited,nervous what a ton of emotions to add in to regular life

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8/10/2003

My Surgery is scheduled for october 6th , 2003, thats 2 days after my birthday, less than 90 days away, i am beginning to get nervous, .....it seems so soon all of a sudden

8-30-03

37 days away, i have my final pre surgical appointment with dr ali on next friday , i have still been having trouble losing the weight he requested i lose before surgery, its been so hard, i bloomed up to 326, and am now down to 316, but thats still 4 lbs over what i was last appointment, im so scared my surgery might be cancelled because i havent lost the weight,

its scary to think that it mght all be pfffft, out the window just like that.... i dont know what to do ....
i feel like i should just go on a total liquid diet from now till my surgery, after all, what the heck , right, thats what i will be on post op.... the more i lose now, the less i have to lose then, right , i dont know, i know i tend to be very hard on myself, and perhaps its not fair, but, right now, i feel like a total failure , and complete loser, and i dont mean in a good way either

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9/14/03 22 days till surgury, i am getting extrememly nervous, and worried about ths surgery, I wish I were one of those people that seem to breeze through everything , but heres my big secret , i worry about things i have no "actual" control of ....

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September 20th , 16 days till surgery

Something I posted on the message board, when someone else was reconsidering her dec. to have surgery , I wanted to share with others !

on occasion I come up with soemthing truly brilliant, and here was my brilliance yesterdaY,

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If you have already come to terms with the 40% complication rate, then you're ready ,
If you have worked and got the pre testing done, then youre ready,
If you have had appointment after appointment, then youre ready
If you have researched all the protein needs , and diffrent vitamins,
and know you will be eating nothin but mush for a month after surgury,
If you have made the commitment to changing your health , and your life,
then you know this is a commitment to your self , to your heart and soul !
And then my friend you are READY ! ,

Before we make anything like an important decision , we get jitters, and this is good,
it prevents foolish choices, and scares off the weak ,
HONEY, you're not weak , you're strong, You can pull through this to the other side! ,You will be healthy and you will be happy and you will be reborn into this new version of yourself !

you can do it , god bless you for making this decision, its not an easy one to make !
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post op, was in the hospital for 2 1/2 days , total
went pretty much uneventfull, the nursing staff, wow i had a "vicki" everyone should have a "vicki of thier own , if the hospital doesnt provide one ! go hire one, she was wonderfull, from letting me rinse and brush my teeth the first night , to helpingme with a sponge bath the second morning, and finally , finagling a full shower for me , always had a smile and a laugh , just wonderfull, i cant say enough about this woman !
she is AWESOME !!
i was discharged on wednesday night, the 4 hour drive home was very very painfull! the drain tube hurts like crazy, i have to drive back up there on friday , pulling my son out of school to ride with me , and keep me awake, its a 3 plus hour drive
burping a lot it hurts like crazy, do not underestiamte the power of GAS !!!!!!
awfull!!!!!!
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drain pull was uneventfull, most of my steri strips are off, it still aches where the drain was, but its getting better, tired an awfull lot , and achey, im babying myself a bit, and recovering, when i feel up to speed then i will worry about activity, dr on friday said , if you cant sip without burping, use a straw ! , funny, after they had said before NO STRAW !, the doc on friday said, well its better to use a straw than to not get enough liquid ! FUNNY ! but it still hurts to laugh , the tugging pulling pain on my side near the incision near my belly button is annoying ,but everyone keeps saying it wil get better
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11-13-2003
sorry for the delays, i have jsut been soo busy healing and really self centered , kind of like towards the end of pregnancy, andyou can think of nothing but the baby, well, in this case the " baby" has been my new tummy,
had maybe 5 episodes of dumping, 4 were from the actigall, this stuff has become the bane , of my recovery, thank goodness we dont have to take this for very long !!!
i hate it , even this mornign it started making me sick, but i took my compazine
im on normal food, i think if you look around you hear enough complaining about the soft pureed food stage , so im not gonna do it here, yes its kind of yechy, but it doesnt last long, anyone want some baby food, i bought some and i never ate any of it , i just stuck with beans and soft foods i made at home
the only thing i kind of miss now is vegetables, yo know crunchy ones, i just havent had the nerve to eat any yet,
i am probobly messing up with protien , i dont take it but once a day , for 30 grams of protien , then i get about 40 from food , so , 70 or so grams a day , it seems ok , vitamins, chewables still taste nasty ! , i dont like them , but i take them , again , no big deal , ok , the numbers at 1 month

the day of surgery i weighed in at 322 lbs
as of monday morning , using my pcp 's scale i was 287
down 34 lbs !!!!!!! in one month !!!!!!!!
I still run the ozarks group , and am fairly active in the october 2003 buddies group over on yahoo , for october surgeries,
thats my main support right now
i did go to one post op group from dr Ali's , on his orders, but it wasnt that valuable for me , since no one there was really where i was, it was ok to meet people though , so , that part was ok , of course , for me , meeting people is like a sport :D
i love meeting new people !
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#### 12-06-2003 #####
Well here i am 2 months out , and i am down 44 lbs, i love this, i finally went shopping for some smaller sized clothes, i loved hitting the clearance racks ! since i am only gonna wear it for a couple of months i know its ok to have cheaper clothing , so to walmart it was !
down to size 22-24 top, still in 26 on the bottom , but thats due to the very large apron i have , its shrinking , but not as fast as the top , which is ok,i know it will all come sooner or later
i am just so happy to be out of the 300's , and now even out of the 280's!
this mornings weigh in at my personal physicians office was 278!!! thats just so fantastic!
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*****1-10-2004***

Well welcome to the new year !!!!

if youre from southern mo/northern ar. you probobly will be hearing from me or my groups co-manager LaShonda

we had a great holiday party in january for the group , its great to meet people face to face , and see how much weight they have lost, its just amazing the transformations i see, and its wonderfull to start seeing some of them in me
lets see...
i now where 18/20 in shirt
and am down to 24 in the pants, but thats cause i have such a huge apron, im really concerned about that shrinking, but i know it will with time
but since thats the part of my body i guage my appearance by , its hard to not be disgusted with it not shrinking faster

interesting thing happened, i had these awesome calf high boots, the kind with the strtchy top , so they fit well... i have now lost too much weight to wear them , i tried to wear them last night, and was forever bending over to tug them back up as they slid down my calves, i have always had a lolipop figure ...
i look like a big ball on a stick , i have as my future sister and law said "little tiny bird legs" she is a size 18 , but has thicker calves, so she cant wear the boots, so if anyone needs a nice pair of calf high black boots, size 10 1/2 let me know ...
this goes back to shoes, i threw a pair of my favorite summer clogs out, they are simply too big , who qwould have thought that i had lost enough weight in my feet !
even the black shoes i wear all the time ( loafers) i have to toss them , my feet drown in them without thick socks, i guess im lucky its winter ....

lets see, current weight is 263.5 1 more pound to 60 gone forever !
i lost 4 pounds the first week of the month while i was moving , wow, lots of work !!!!

struggling with carbs , but managing ok .

yes , still no food intolerances, except venison, havent tried beef
sick of eating meat all the time.... it gets old pretty darn fast .....
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4-19-04
Well here is april
i currently weight 245, which is 75 lbs gone, i am very happy with this constant downward trend!
I get Frustrated when i compare myself to others who lose a lot faster, but I constantly remind myself that the speed of the loss doesnt matter, the consistency does !!!
HUGS !!!
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5-10-04
WELCOME TO MAY !!!!
i am seven months post op now, and down 84 lbs , and still losing, i am in size 18 tops and bottoms, and some of them are getting loose, i have a lot more confidence as the looming goal approaches, i cant wait to get under 200, i know its gonna take a couple more months, but im still pleased with my progress
5-10 lbs a month is good ! which means by august i should be under 200, if all goes well 14 lbs and i will have lost a 100 lbs from my surgery weight, and when i broke 240 ,i had lost 100 lbs from my highest weight , this has been life changing to say the least, i feel so much more confident to put myself out there to help people
its an awesome thing , i tell you !
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Wow, i havent updated in a while, sorry all
09-15-05
i am currently 182, my daughter is now a month and a half old , shes a gorgeous baby !!!!!
im nursing her, so still my food intake is higher than many other post ops, because i need to keep it up for nursing
yes nursing is possible, just like pregnancy is possible, you just have to watch your nutrition LIKE A HAWK!!!!
take vitamins fuel with good foods only
and eat a bit extra, when i got pregnant i was at 218 , during pregnancy i lost down to 198 , but had a

healthy pregancy ~healthy home birth~ and a beautiful healthy baby girl
my support group is in stasis, we have all moved away from needing the regular meetings and constant reassurances, and just now occasionally email each other, i see this as a good and healthy thing , now its nearly 2 years since my surgery and i know what to do food wise and vitamin wise, that doesnt mean i always do it, im not any kind of paragon of virtue, but i do try to take care of things, i take my vitamins and try to eat right , though im not perfect