I am 32 years old, have been struggling with my weight since the 8th grade.  I lost a lot when I joined the navy, but three high risk pregnancies later, I am at my all time high.  I have contemplated WLS for a few years and have become overwhelmingly interested in the lap band.  The doctor I am seeing specializes in laproscopic RNY and said if I want to get banded he can send me to another doctor in another city.  I'm scared that my insurance company may not approve such a request. I just know that I want what is safe and still lets me lead a somewhat normal life!  I can't wait to be able to run along the beach with my kids, or ride the amusement park rides, OR.. sit comfortably in an airplane w/out my thigh touching the person next to me!  Anywho, thats me... I can't wait to be a hottie again! 

09/11/06 ~ Decided today after spending my weekend reading all the journals and message boards that I am going to ask for the Laproscopic RNY.  (Ofcourse after making that decision on my own, I found out from another patient w/ the same insurance that my insurance company does not do the lap-band... so I guess THAT is that...LOL)  I contacted my Dr.'s office and they are putting through the request, so here we go.  I got the approval for WLS consult immediately, lets see what they say about surgery!  WISH ME LUCK!

09/27/06 ~ It didn't take long!  I showed up on the 22nd for my psych eval and walked into the office when Liz was opening up!  In part of her morning ritual after turning on all the lights, she walked into the office, fidgeted with the phones and picked up the papers off the fax machine.  What would JUST HAPPEN to be ON TOP???  MY APPROVAL!  OMG OMG OMG!  LOL  I started tearing up (as Im sure many of us do when we get our approval...LOL  a long wait for something we want so badly...)  So... I go through my psych eval, it took about 45 minutes, lots of questions about my past, my present and my future...  When we were done, Dr. Gat gave Liz the thumbs up and Liz says "How does October 9th sound".... Im sorry... was she talking to me?  "Liz thats like two weeks from now" and she says "yea i know" and I started laughing nervously and WE BOOKED IT!  So not only did I get my psych eval out of the way... I GOT MY APPROVAL AND MY SURGERY DATE!  Can you believe it???  I sure can't!

9/29/06 ~ Had my last class lastnight.  Liz went over what we are to expect the day of and the days following the surgery.  I truly am scared that he will have to revert to open, I pray they dont!  We took a group photo lastnight, all of us in our class!  One of the ladies got her date for 11/13, the girl who sat next to me, Kitty, we are waiting for her approval, and really hoping she can get in on the same day as me!  Kinda like the buddy program.  I'm starting to get a little scared.  Wondering if I will have all the complications.  Wondering how I will tolerate the liquid vitamins... lots of things going through my head right now... but I wanted to take a minute and post my measurements.  It will be interesting to see where I turn out week by week, you know!?  I know I've lost 10.5 pounds on my pre-diet and that met my doctors criteria.  My weight today is 225 (up from 224 yesterday...)  So here goes:
BUST ~ 49.5
WAIST ~ 44.5
BUTT ~ 53.5
HIPS ~ 54
THIGH ~ 33.0  (I remember my waist being this big, in HS...)
UPPER ARM ~ 15
that will do it for me today, I will drop in from time to time and update!  I wish you well on YOUR journey!

Here is our group photo, I hope to get another one of these in a year!  All of us will have our surgeries with Dr. John Yadegar.  WE ARE SO LUCKY!  Him and LIz hve been SO great!

10/5/06 ~ Well just days away from my surgery date!  I have my instructions for my bowel prep  (YAY).. Saturday I start my clear liquid diet, although I will be allowed to have milk and yogurt on saturday (help me to get my protein in!) but on Sunday its all clear liquids!  (Thank GOD for sugar free popsicles from Schwans and my strawberry/orange/banana crystal light!)  I start one of two bottles of Magnesium Citrate at 8am on Sunday and finish by dinnertime-ish... nothing to eat or drink after midnight... Im getting excited, and nervous at the same time!  My mom fly's in on Saturday around noon!  What a GREAT help she will be. 

What to expect during your pre-op at the hospital.  After you have seen the doctor and he makes sure all his p's and q's are in order, you go to the hospital so they can do one last tox screen (i think..) a blood draw for blood typing (just in case you need a transfusion) and they get you into the computer and "reserve" your room for your surgery.  Once they draw your blood you have to wear your bracelet all the time!  It's so they can match you up... if you show back up to the hospital w/out it, they have to start over and push your surgery back!  IM NOT LOSING MINE!!!! 

Now what to take to the hospital... I know to take chapstick as I wont have anything the day of surgery... I will take my fuzzy slippers and my fave pair of comfy pajamas... (not expensive, duh they're plus size...LOL  jsut pants and a tank top!) to walk the halls in... Its hard to believe that by this time next week I will already be home from the hospital!  Well that does it for me, I look forward to reading up on all of you!

10/11/06 ~ IM ALIVE!  I made it with no complications (except monday night when the nurse wouldnt let me out of bed, and i thought i was going to DIE from the gas pains...)  The surgery went very well, we were able to do it laproscopically so no huge incision.  he said he removed adhesions while he was in there.  I was up walking hours after surgery.. I had a few post surgery complications.  They filled me up with fluids via IV and because the nurses kept disconnecting my iv so i could walk and what not and having to flush it every time they connected it, they ruptured my vein so (even today.. ) my hand is filled w/ fluid.  Each day after surgery things got easier and easier, by today (two days after sugery) i was walking A LOT, even walking outside to get some fresh air!!!!  The day of surgery you could have nothing by mouth so i used a wet sponge stick to moisten my lips... my nose got scabbed over from the oxygen mask which is mandatory for the first 24 hours after surgery.  I made it out alive!  I still cant get in all the protein drinks they want me to get in... just 30 cc's of drink completely fill me up for hours!!!  I am posting these pix, sorry if you are offended by them, but I wanted you to be aware of what it's going to be like.  the pic of my underarm is just showing that i was turned into a pin cushion especially after my veins kept rupturing!  On my tummy, any bruising you see that isnt bandaged or steri-stripped is from the hepi shots they come in and give to thin out the blood in the stomach!  those arent painful, if you've ever had insulin injections, this is very similar.  I will post more in a couple days or so when I feel up to it!  Good luck to you on your journey!

10/12/06 ~ Okay so I feel a little better today and wanted to share my hospital experience.  I arrived at the hospital at 6am, was taken immediately to pre-op where I changed into my very fashionable hospital gown!  I went through the whole questionnaire, they matched my arm bands to everything!  Then they brought me the TED hose... they are like super tight thigh highs with holes in the toes.  they go VERY well with the hospital gown!  LMAO  (it reminded me a lot of fitting into a pair of queen size panty hose..LOL)  they bunch behind the knees too... YAY.. so once I was comfortably dressed they started my IV (informing me that the second IV would be started after I went under)  Liz came in and asked me if I had any second thoughts, i told her i was scared but that i was good... no questions, just 'lets get it over with"... my doctor was caught in traffic and running about 30 minutes late but i was okay with that.  he didnt want them taking me to the operating room til he saw me.. i thought that was very cool of him.  When the doctor got there he came straight to see me, gave me a hug and told me he was excited for me and he would see me in the operating room!  they immediately wheeled me to the operating room which was VERY VERY cold... but once the scooted me onto the operating table they adorned me with warm blankets ant that made it allll better!  LOL  then they strapped me to the table (the table is lifted 45 degrees for this procedure) and the doctor patted my leg and said "see you on the other side" and just as he said that the feeling of "woohoo" came over me... I turned my head and looked at the anesthesiologist and said "you sneaky devil you"  hahahaha and thats all i remember until i woke up in the recovery in an exuberant amount of pain but they fixed that right away, I dont remember much about recovery except that i kept asking for a cold wash cloth and the woman was getting frustrated with me cuz i kept asking her to make it cold again.  (its how i cope after surgery)  then i went to my room!  I got to see my husband and then i went right back to sleep for an hour or so...

Monday night was horrific for me cuz i had a bad nurse, my day nurse was GREAT but it all went to hell immediately after the shift change!  They didnt change the bandage around my drain, they didnt empty my drain and when i woke up screaming in pain cuz of the gas all the nurse did was come in and hit my pain button. (which i had already done btw) so i got MYSELF out of bed and walked it off... she kept telling me "you will be able to get up once the pain goes away" and i kept telling her"the pain wont go away until I walk!"  when she saw me up, she looked surprised and i told her "yes im up no thanks to you" and walked the hall THREE times!  The rest of my stay went great, walked a lot, didnt get a shower cuz they had no showers... but other than that it went great.  I could drink all they wanted me to drink cuz i got too full!  i "ate" as much as i could, watching all the people around me have eggs and sausage and applesauce and juice and toast KILLED me, but i made it ... LOL  The doc came at about two wednesday afternoon and pulled out my drain tube... BTW that does NOT hurt, it is very uncomfortable, just remember to exhale while he pulls!!!!  I felt mine unwind...LOL  but i walked out of the hospital instead of riding, i was very proud of that!

Now I spend my days trying to stuff in 80g's of protein and 64oz of water... ITS KILLING ME.

I wish you all the best on your journey..

10/20/06 ~ Well I was losing weight at THREE pounds a day, now I am lucky to put down a half a pound.  I don't know why I have stopped losing all of a sudden.  I have been very hungry, still am not cleared for food yet but i did have a few licks off the spoon of egg salad, it was YUMMY and my pouch didnt seem to mind either.  I have felt dehydrated the last couple days so I have been drinking more water v/s protein... now im starving so will try to put away more protein today...  This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I really want to see this weight dissappear... SOON.  My two week post op appt is on Wednesday the 25th, I hope he has good news for me!  Well not a lot going on right now, so I will close this.  Until next time....

10/21/06 ~ I've lost two pounds since yesterday, down to 206.  I think I have become lactose intolerant, which depresses me cuz I love milk!  I just notice how sick i feel after drinking my shakes now... PLEASE GOD DONT LET ME BE LACTOSE INTOLOERANT!!!!  I took my measurements again today, last time was on September 29th, so ABOUT a month has gone by, just 12 days post op and here are my NEW measurements:

BUST: 45" (over boobs) = -4"
WAIST: 41.5" = -3"
BUTT: 53.5" = -4.5"
HIPS: 51.5" = -2.5"
THIGHS: 32" = -1"
UPPER ARM: 14.5" = -.5"

TOTAL INCHES LOST SINCE 9/29/06 - 15.5"

I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER KNOWING THAT!!!  AAAHHHH!  :)

11/17/06 ~ Since October 21st I have only lost 7 pounds.  It's very very frustrating because I really want sweets and what not... but truthfully, the smell of cake and icecream makes me ill, so i just simply say "no thank you".... speaking of no thank-yous, I have gone back to work.  Well every day there is some form of sugarry concoction making its way around, and every day my co worker offers me something, wether it be chips, sodas, donuts... and I always tell him "no thank you, I cant have that, it will make me sick" and I sip my decaf coffee and snack on peanut butter on crackers... or fruit.  I have this overwhelming insatiable craving for orange juice lately... its horrible, i drink some every day, throughout the day, i crave it like i crave my water!  LOL  

I started back on my estrogen this past Tuesday.  My mood swings were out of control!  Havent really had a problem w/ hot flashes yet, seems im ALWAYS FREEZING...LOL  but other than that im basking in the fact that im in a size 16 jeans now... and sadly they are now comfortable fresh out of the dryer!  LOL  I took my measurements again tonight, THANK YOU JEN for reminding me... so here we go!

Bust:  44" = -1"
Waist: 40" = -1.5"
Butt: 49" = -4.5"
Hips: 49.5" = -2"
Thighs: 29" = -3"
Upper Arm: 14.5" = No Change

So thats a total of 12 inches lost.  I know I would lose A LOT more if I would work out.  My schedule will permit one hour a day three times a week starting the week after thanksgiving.  Thanks to the Air Force, I get those times of paid leave to become a healthy "well oiled machine"  LMAO  but regardless, if they offer it Im taking it, just waiting for my supervisor to get back from leave!  Its really hard to get exercise in for me right now because i get up at 0430 in the morning, get the kids and me and the dogs taken care of, leave my house by 615ish to get the kids to daycare, then to work by 655.  Then I get one hour lunch and am off in time to get the kids and watch the sun set, come home, clean up, cook dinner, bathe kids, get ready for bed and get some sleep before the alarm goes off at 430 again!  So please dont yell at me for not exercising!  :)

I am signing off now so I can go get the kids ready for bed!  then im crashing too!  Y'all take care! 

1/9/07 ~ Well its about that time again, time to take my measurements!!  I have not hit any more plateaus, usually I will stay at a weight for about 3 maybe 4 days and start losing again.  I am a "scale-aholic" LOL, I weight every day.  I dont get upset too bad if I dont lose (I used to) but now I just get very happy if I do lose!  Sometimes I go back UP a pound, that freaks me out, but I think its just my body adjusting to the increase in workouts, etc.  and working out is showing in my measurements!  I cant  believe the difference!  Im posting my original measurements again, and THEN my current measurements...  I am so happy right now I could bust!  My 3 month follow up is tomorrow so I will post a blog about it! 

THEN: 9/2006

BUST ~ 49.5
WAIST ~ 44.5
BUTT ~ 53.5
HIPS ~ 54
THIGH ~ 33.0  (I remember my waist being this big, in HS...)
UPPER ARM ~ 15

NOW:  1/2007

BUST ~ 41.5 (over the boobs)
WAIST ~ 37.0
BUTT ~ 46"
HIPS ~ 45"
THIGH ~ 26.5"
UPPER ARM ~ 13.5

THE DIFFERENCES:

BUST = -8.0"
WAIST = -7.5"
BUTT = -7.5"
HIPS = -9"
THIGH = -6.5"
UPPER ARM = -1.5"
A TOTAL LOSS OF 40 INCHES!!!!  YEP FORTY INCHES.