• Username: CharTake2
  • Location: Olmsted Falls, OH, USA
  • Member Since: 1/6/2012
  • BMI: 31.1
  • Surgery date scheduled
  • Surgery Type: VSG (01/16/12)
  • Surgeon: Philip R. Schauer MD
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Goals

Become the person I have always wanted to be... Healthy, happy, energetic. FUN!!

187 People
 in progress, 
30 People
 achieved this

To reach a healthy weight of around 125 lbs.

5 People
 in progress, 
0 People
 achieved this
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Latest Surgery Support Comments

  • Comment by mds0214 on 1/16/12 3:03 am
    Good luck today with your surgery. You are going to do great and heal quickly. Someone in Texas has you in their thoughts. Michelle
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HW 237.  GW. 138
CharTake2's Blog
CharTake2's Blog


No one tells you this hurts!
on January 19, 2012 6:03 pm
 I had my sleeve done at Cle Clinic on Monday, Jan 16.  I was crying in the recovery room and cried each time they had to get me up.  I only made it a few feet before I had to turn around and go back to bed.  I used my pain pump every 10 minutes.  When they got me up the next day to go for the barium test (make sure stomach is not leaking), I cried all the way from my room to the barium xray room.  The pain was horrible.  My husband had to take off work to help me get around at home.  He has to help lift me from the bed (and I was 213 #) or from a chair.  He had to wipe my butt today because it hurt too much to get to it.  There is no vanity with this surgery!  

I have a drain that I have to keep in for 8 days.  The experience at the Cle Clinic was stellar but I wish they had some people comng in and talking to you about the pain and discomfort.  I am using Tylenol at home as I don't like Codeine.  I vomit with that.  i am doing my fluids ok and have to up my protein (Hard to get all 60 oz. in).  

No I was not hungry the 2 days in the hospital.  Would I do this again?  I'll let you know a year from from now.

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Worried about the sagging skin and surgery
on January 14, 2012 12:45 pm
 I am having surgery on Monday, Jan. 16.  Today and tomorrow I am doing the colon cleanse.  I feel weak.  I'm staying hydrated ok.  What worries me the most is one year from now - my surgery anniversary, I know I will be thinner and healthier.  But the vain part of me worries about all the sagging skin.  Darn it, I have saggy boops, belly and rolls of fat on my back.  I can't afford plastic surgery (unless I win the lottery).  How will I ever be naked in front of my husband?  Won't he be grossed out?  I just get sick to my stomach thinking about how bad I'll look.   Sucks.  I am 56 years old and yet I feel I have so many years ahead of me.  I don't want to look like a bag of skin.  Yuck.  I can see how this is depressing.  I have half a mind to cancel the surgery but would be too embarrassed to do so since all the "ducks are in the row".  
Please God give me guidance and keep mw safe during this chapter of my life.  Help me accept me all of me - with what God gave me and all the abuse I did to my own body over the years.  Maybe this is my penance.

Please keep me safe Lord.  My husband couldn't survive being a widower nor my daughter could survive without me I'm sure of it.  I have to survive and be here!
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VSG surgery Jan 16, 2016 @ Cle Clinic
on January 9, 2012 5:19 pm
 Anyone else having surgery at Cle Clinic?
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1 week before Sleeve
on January 9, 2012 4:43 pm
 Today I was 218 and in one more week, I get sleeved at Cleveland Clinic.  My heaviest was 237 lbs. after 2009 when I suffered from deep depression when both parents died 9 months apart.  I felt like I was an orphan!  I know that sounds silly but I felt alone with mom and dad.  I am married to a great man who loves me for me - big all over.  I just want to be healthier and get my life back.  I chose the sleeve because I want to eat "normal" again even if it is one year later.  Normal for me will be having protein, healthy carbs, some complex carbs (vegs, fruits) and no more "bad" stuff we have all ate.  
I'm nervous but determined that this will be the beginning of the best chapter of my life!
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My Story

 When I was 9, I was 100 lbs. At 14, 140 lbs.  I went to 116 lbs at age 16 because I ate nothing and exercised all the time.  My menses started at 9 years old.  Stress from parents breaking up.  Feeling loss and unloved.  i didn't feel secure.  My mother was not an affectionate person - I think I turned to food as a comfort.  My dad would ask me if I wanted a dessert only to tell me that I would get ugly legs like my aunt.  I've struggled with weight all my life.  I have lost weight a zillion times only to gain it all back and more.  I have done weight watchers, physician's weight loss, eDiet, etc.  I always turned back to food as a comfort.  In 2009, was the worse of my life.  My beloved father passed away from stroke in February, my grandson was born stillborn April (36 weeks gestation), and then my mother died in November.  I remember going for my annual physical in September 10, and discovered I had gained 27 lbs. in one year due to depression.  I was really out of it in 2009-2010.  I started to come out of the "fog" late 2010, and decided to start getting my life back in control.  I started to walk, eat less, eating healthier and aware of what I was eating.  Still it was a slow, slow process.  I was in a size 24 pants and being short - I looked like a tire was around me front to back.   My top weight was 237 lbs.  I lost 7 lbs. from September 2010 up until I decided to get to an informational seminar at the Cleveland Clinic late 2010.  After getting the go ahead from my manager for all the time committment for appointments, meetings, etc., I started the program.  Met with the nutritionist, attended the Get Set programs, psycholigists, all those appointments.  My highest BMI was 42 - severe obesity.  

My surgery for the Sleeve is Monday, January 16.  I'm afraid of all the changes and challenges.  I know I have to be committed to eating correctly the rest of my life.  On the other hand, I've been on this journey since late 2010 and I believe I have the determination to change my life.  

Why did I want this surgery and not another diet?  I am 56 years old and with people living longer than ever, I felt that I had many more productive years ahead of me.  My father had complications from sleep apnea, irregular heart beat, stroke.  My mother died of throat cancer (too many years of smoking).  I wanted to live the rest of my life the best I can be and healthy.  I am fortunate that I do not have diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc.  I do have mild sleep apnea, acid indegestion, arthritis, tiredness, urinary stress incontinence (had surgery already for that), skin infections from extra belly fat and under the breast, and hygiene issues.  

I had an ex husband who was a mental case.  He always put me down in so many ways (verbally, emotional, mental abusive) for so many years.  When we divorced, I felt like a chain was lifted around my neck.  I actually lost over 50 lbs. after the divorce.  Eating better, working out, taking long walks.

I met my current husband (married 12 years now) who loves me for me.   He makes me feel beautiful even when I don't feel that I am.  He loves my "tire" and all the bulges.  He is nervous about this surgery.  His late wife was also obese, short, but had heart disease and diabetes and died young at 48 due to a heart condition.   My husband loves to cook and to eat, but I have actually been good for him.  At one time (with the ex wife) was a 44 waist.  With me, he is now a health 34-36 and whenever he gains up to 4 lbs., he gets back on track.  His doctor is very impressed and because he has diabetes, he controls his A1C test results pretty well.  My husband is afraid that he won't have his "eating buddy" going out to restaurants, movies, etc.  Food was a biggie.  I am determined that we can still do the things he would like to do but I can eat the minimal bites that will sustain me instead of ruling me.  

Wish me luck for my surgery on January 16 and after!  I am nervous but hopeful this is God's plan for me.  

Thanks everyone!