iowa_missie74

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So, I am not sure, but I may have experienced dumping syndrome. I had 3 bites of a sandwich, only one slice of bread, it was open-faced. Anyway, it had chicken, bacon, mayo, tomato and cheese...all of which I have eaten before. After 3 bites I immediately had terrible back pain and was super nauseaus, heaving and just felt soooo sick. It went away after about 15 minutes. I wouldn't think this was dumping syndrome but sounds like it must have been. Whatever it was, it sucked and I never want to experience it again!!

Got up early today and got things ready for potato soup. I am really looking forward to tasting it and having a bit. It bums me out a little that I can't even stomach eating a potato chunk or mashed potatoes, but it's such a good thing for me, because before this surgery, I could have lived on potatoes of any kind. I loved them! Here's the recipe I used.

6 med potatoes, one celery stalk, one carrot, half of a large onion, 1tsp parsley, half of a pound of bacon (I snuck in turkey bacon and bet no one will know) and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the bacon til crisp then add it, along with everything else to the crock pot. Cook til veggies are tender. 5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low. An hour before serving, add 1/2 cup of butter (or substitute) and one can of evaporated milk.

Enjoy!

Yay! The scale finally moved! Since I was 2 weeks post op, the scale said 242...finally after 2 more weeks it said 240. That was on Monday. Now finally today it says 236. Definitely made me happy. Had a good day overall. Went out for lunch with a friend and felt horrible, I literally ate 2 bites of my food. I just couldn't take another bite. It's weird because some days I feel like I can eat more than others. I suppose it's the way things go. I don't care tho. I will take any number on the scale as long as it's lower than the time before :)

Did a lot this morning. Cleaned kitchen and washed dishes, did some laundry, changed the guinea pig's bedding. Went shopping with my friend Julie. Took a nap :) Didn't do any exercising today except for walking while shopping. I guess I did walk a few times, but not enough to count as anything. I did something today I will never ever do again. I ate a small handful of cool ranch doritos. I didn't get dumping syndrome, but they definitely don't want to digest. Feel like they are up to my throat and it's causing me the worst back pain. Lesson learned.

My name is Missie. My entire life I have been overweight. According to all of the doctor's charts, obese. As I was growing up, I got bigger and bigger. When I was 20, I had my oldest daughter, Paige. I was in the 170's before and after having her. She was born prematurely and I put on more and more weight, sitting at her bedside from 7am-5pm every day for 3 months. She came home on a cpap machine, so of course I didn't want to take her anywhere or do anything myself because I didn't want anything to happen to her or for her to get sick. My weight went up to 230. I had my 2nd daughter when I was 30. She had no health issues, but I still treated her as I did Paige. I wouldn't go anywhere or do anything for fear that Taneisha would get sick. When I got pregnant with her I weighed 256 and pretty much stayed at that weight. I know now that not exercising or doing anything was just an excuse. Not because of my daughters, but because of myself. I was lazy. I did go back to work after I had Taneisha and my weight went up to 294. We would have different contests to see who could lose weight, but afterwards, I'd gain the weight back. I tried Weight Watchers and just about every diet I read about. I even took Metabolife once and did lose 50 pounds, only to gain it back and then some.
In 2009 my best friend Becki began seriously looking into gastric bypass. In August of 2010 she had her surgery. She was 293 pounds. As time went on and she got smaller and healthier, I started thinking that maybe this was something I should look into. So I did. I went to my family doctor and then made a call the the Center for Bariatric Surgery (CBS) in Davenport, Ia. I didn't have to take the education class because I had already attended one in Des Moines, supporting my friend Becki. I had also attended a support group meeting beforehand.
My insurance required me to have 6 months of documented weight loss attempts through my doctor and then through CBS I had to visit with a dietician, psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, pharmacist, nurses and finally my surgeon. Every single one of these people are awesome and you can tell they really want to help people reach a healthy weight and lifestyle.
Finally September 26, 2011 I had surgery! I was so excited. My boyfriend, mom and brother were there with me. Unfortunately they had to leave right when I was out of the operating room, but I was so tired, it didn't matter. I was in the hospital for 2 days. Surgery on Monday, discharded on Wednesday morning. I was able to shower the day after surgery, was up walking constantly and couldn't wait to go home and start my journey. I felt like life was just starting to happen for me.
When I got home things went pretty smoothly. I had liquid Vicodin to take, but hated it. I stopped taking it a week after I got home and discovered that it really was helping with pain control. I started taking Tramadol and it did pretty much the same thing. When I came home from the hospital, my meds were cut dramatically.
I was no longer on any meds for diabetes. I didn't have to take insulin or the carb blocker, Victoza. I was no longer on pills for high blood pressure, or a fluid pill. The only thing I had to continue taking was my anti-depressant and my Tramadol for pain with Fibromyalgia. I am hoping this gets better with more weight loss.
I had my 2 week appointment and had lost 18 pounds. I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be with that, tho I am not sure why. Now today, I am 4 weeks out and have only lost 2 more pounds. I called and talked to the dietician and nurse because I was worried about this. The nurse advised me to look at how my clothes were fitting, which, I have dropped 2 sizes, shirts are longer, pants are longer...etc. The dietician told me as long as I am doing everything the wa y I am supposed to, the weight will eventually catch up. My body has to adjust to the changes it's gone through. Today, I am down 20 pounds, have been walking and doing more. After my appointment next week with the physical therapist and I can exercise more, I will be starting an exercise routine at the local Y. I am going to try to blog every day...just about my day. Here is how today's been so far.
I woke up, took Taneisha to school and then came home. Cleaned a little bit then showered. Before taking T to school, I took all of my vitamins. Right now I am taking a daily vitamin, calcium, B12 and iron. After I showered I had half of a yogurt for breakfast and went for a short walk. Today hasn't been hard, somedays seem more difficult than others because of different cravings I might have. Yesterday I wanted something sweet and salty. Usually if I want something sweet, I eat a yogurt and for something salty, a sliced tomato with salt. That didn't seem to work yesterday, but today the cravings are gone. Thankfully :)