Here's a quickie update. I seem to be able to eat a little more now. Between 4-6 oz. Carbs are EVIL! I notice if I start off with a carb fest for breakfast, the craving for more carbs comes and hits me in the face.

I now have a BMI of 22 and feel great! I didn't know life could be so fun and pain-free.

Today I went to the Chiropractors office and he admitted that when i first told him and his partner that I was going to get the VSG, they said, "don't do it" cause they were thinking complications, infections and bad stuff. These chiros are my friends so that should say it. But in reality I know Chiros don't care for PCP's and such.

Anyone out there contemplating whether or not to do it?? Just do it. You will not regret it, i promise!

WOWSERS! Can hardly believe it's been a year since my VSG. 2007 was a year of getting to a healthy BMI. I got to a Normal BMI in November 2007(8 months), thus reaching my goal of 141 pounds. I am currently weighing in daily and am in between 129-132, depending on what my intake is and what time of the month it is.

Food amount is about 5 ounces. I cannot finish an entire Yoplait yogurt yet. Getting in all of my protein is still a struggle unless I add in supplements.

My quality of life has been DRAMATICALLY improved. My first and most important reason for having WLS was to help relieve some of the back pain that I was having due to a herniated disc. I am so tearfully happy to announce that once in a while I have a twinge of pain here or there. It is so few and far in between. I can say that I am 99.99999999% healed in that area!! While it is VERY WRONG.......it is VERY TRUE that people out there in our world treat obese people different. It's such a sad thing. They are just uneducated about the whole idea of carrying all the extra weight around that it takes a toll on our bodies causing us to tire easily, thus....we are named "Fat and Lazy". I've lost 92 pounds. I can't imagine how hard that would be to carry around anymore..........that's a few more pounds than my 9 year old......or carrying around (2) 3 year olds the same size as my daughter......no wonder I was in so much pain! No sore knees, hurting ankles or being pooped out after vacuuming.

Starting weight was 221, now 129-132.

BMI was 40, now 22.

Size was tight 18's & 1X's.......now 4's and SM/MD.

I have dedicated 2008 to helping others in any way that I can.

Thank you to everyone who has been here for me thru every trial and tribulation that I needed help on or to just be hear to let me vent. You guys rock!!!

aloha,

michelle

Everything went super well. Topic of discussion was maintaining goal as I told him i'm happy with my weight. BMI is 22! He said adding good carbs into the diet will help to maintain. All is well here on the losers side where the grass is truly greener!

So I flew on over to Oahu this morning for my 2nd Plastic Surgery consultation with Dr. Marco Rizzo. I put down on my patient info sheet that I was interested in a lift with augmentation and a tummy tuck. He looks at my info and flat out says he doesn't do boob lifts. DANG! I just learned today that plastic surgeons don't do EVERYTHING. I have a list in my head of different surgeries as I've been researching since before WLS and i just automatically thought that ALL docs do ALL procedures. Just some docs do it better than others, you know? He said he could look at my tummy and quote me a price but I smiled, shook his hand and thanked him for taking the time to see me. In just told him that I would wanted to go to a surgeon who would be able to take care of me from head to toe. UGGGGHHHH! Plane rides and a car rental, cash out the door. But I bought 3 pairs of shoes today as Oahu has the biggest outdoor shopping mall in the world(in my eyes anyways). Ala Moana Shopping Center, wooooohooooo!

To all of you who are post op, shoes fit way way way better after losing a bunch-o-weight!!! I find myself buying alot more cute shoes with heels. They fit perfect and my feet don't hurt! Pre-surgery, I used to buy alot of jewelry as I couldn't spend so much cash on clothes cause nothing ever fit right. I even tried on 2 pairs of jeans today and didn't buy them as I DIDN'T HAVE TO!! Meaning, they were size 4's but one pair was a little too short and the other were super cute but the pockets on my butt looked like they were too low. Pre-surgery I would buy jeans and settle for whatever would actually button, zip and not drag on the ground. Now I can be picky cause there are soooooooo many more choices in smaller sizes. Love it!!!!

3rd PS consultation will be on 2/8...................i'll update more after that one.

Well it was a very informative experience. It was almost 2 hours long! After he did his schpeel(don't know how to spell, LOL) i pulled out my questions to ask and he had been so thorough and informative that he had already answered all my questions plus more! He said an informed patient is a happy patient. Loved it!

I thought all along that I needed a Lower Body Lift and Breast Lift with Augmentation. He said I'd do good with an extended tummy tuck instead of a LBL.

Now I'm just waiting for a Proposal from him for a price which includes the following:

Breast Lift with Mentor Saline Implants(under the muscle), Tummy Tuck-this includes muscle tightening and liposuction to the hips stomache and mons area.

This is such a crazy wonderful life! I love what doctors can do!!!

Here's how the day went........flashed my membership card on my way into Costco, did shopping with the DH and DD and did the whole taste this-n-that bit, washed it down with a sample shot of Muscle Milk chocolate(yummo). Got to the checkout, paid and asked for my membership card back. The cashier was all confused and said, "wait, this isn't your card", I said with a BIG OLE SILLY smile "yes it is". And she said "WOW, it doesn't even look like you".......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........that totally made my day. On my way out, i asked at the customer service desk to update my card as it didn't look like me anymore and I asked to keep the old one. The lady there said, "WOW and the card is dated 9/2006 so you lost all that weight in a little over a year". I left it at that but actually lost all the weight in 8 months!! WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO for my VSG tool. I luv it! So there I went, walking out the door, all the while feeling so giddy inside. LOL......

Then onto WalMart....I headed for the girls room as soon as we got into the store and so did my husband. He walked right past me while I was looking at something. He then stopped ahead of me and was kind of looking around. Then realized it was me that he actually just walked past me. He laughed and said, "okay hun, you gotta gain some weight cause I didn't recognize you". Then my DH and I ran into his old buddy. They were doing the chit chat thing and he asked how old our daughter was now, made some small talk and the guys kept chatting so my DD and I waltzed away to look at some DVD's. We circled back around to find out if my DH was ready to go and his friend was laughing at me. He said to my DH that he finally realized it was still me, just smaller but had thought that my DH and I divorced and he was with a younger, hotter chick...........

Today I felt good inside and out. It was a smiley kind of day................thanks for listening to my brags. (okay, i'm still smiling, LOL)

Some of you may remember me posting about an experience I had a month or so ago wjere I was in pain and ended up going to Urgent Care where the doc said I had pleurisy. He said if the feeling came back again to go to the ER as it could be something more serious. I've since had that feeling twice but didn't listen and bring my butt into the ER. Well yesterday while at work at my desk, sitting and typing...the feeling came on again. Stronger than ever. Strong enough to bring me to tears. My boss brought my car up to the Porte Cochere area and MADE me go to the doc. Even offered to drive but I told her, 'nope, i got it'. So I got to the ER at 3:30pm and was in pain.......my  right side back area of the rib cage. The pain kept coming and going, kinda like contractions. I rated it an 8 on a scale of 1-10. So the ER doc wanted to run a bunch of tests on me. I told him "fine, run 'em all..i've got great coverage". I had my Gall Bladder removed back in 2001 so I know its not gall stones. The lab tech took 4 vials of blood, another lady came in.......flung out my left boobie and stuck a bunch of wires and stickies on me and did an EKG and then another dude came and got me and we walked over to Imaging where he did some chest xrays. Blood work came back completely normal. Everything was within range. Part of that was blood taken for a pregnancy test - negative and something to check for blood clots - negative. EKG and Chest xrays were normal too. He concluded that I "pulled a muscle"..........WTF??? Pulled a muscle?!?!? Ummmm yeah......and it did it how? While sitting at my desk??? Whatever. My discharge instructions were to take 600mg of Ibuprofen 3 times a day. Ummm yeah, won't that eat up the lining of the only 15% of stomache that I have left??? And he knows I had the VSG............ugggggh! Medical care on Kauai sucks!

I need to get to the bottom of this and will go see another doc on another island. Most of the Specialists are on Oahu. So......off to Oahu I go in search of some answers. Does anyone know what kind of doc I should see?

PS-when I got home the kids were already busting fireworks........they had a blast. About 3 of my neighbors had illegal fireworks so the show in the 'hood was outstanding!!

Happy New Year to all..........

So today i'm 9 months out from my VSG surgery and at goal. I cannot begin to explain in what areas of my life have improved. Shall i just list them? I used to have chronic lower back pain in the L4-L5 region. Gone, completely gone. No sciatic nerve pain either, no numbing in my right side foot/toe area. No daily popping of vicodin. Hallelujiah! That was a hard 2 years of pain prior as it was hard to function while on pain meds and be a mom and work fulltime. I used to get depressing pain cause I thought that was how I was going to be, that was my life. I was in pain all the time and started getting depressed. Couldn't move, putting on even more weight. Ugggh! I was in a MAJOR vicious cycle and needed help pronto. This VSG saved me! I can fit in cute clothes without looking ridiculous. My shoes fit better. I wear an 8 shoe instead of an 8 1/2 wide shoe. My problem now is with the Sale and Clearance racks. There are less choices on the racks as the sizes get smaller. I am currently in mostly 6's and have even bought and wore(last night to dinner)my very first pair of 4's. DKNY.....so so so very weird. I am thinking that my body will remain a 4/6 even after doing my plastic surgery hopefully in the summer of 2008. A Lower Body Lift to get rid of my hanging apron of skin. I see my husband "checking me out" once in a while. That's a nice feeling. I feel wonderful too. I used to take a nap after work as I was always tired. Your body takes a toll lugging around all that extra weight. Now I only feel tired if I have white" carbs like chips or something. I don't like the feeling of how my body reacts to junkie foods. Tired, sluggish, just plain ole yucky feeling. I love being able to play and joke around with my kids and I know they know in their hearts that there is something different about mom that wasn't there before. Vibrance perhaps? A new found self? I can't place my thumb on it but it's there.....

I've lost a total of 85 pounds.I was a "lightweight" when I started out. To all you newbies out there, it's amazing what this surgery can do for you. I'm so glad I chose this over the lapband. No fills to fool with which was my main concern. I wanted this weight loss to be totally permanent and non-reversible. I wanted to be healthy FOREVER and EVER! Well here I am, on maintenance and living my VSG life to the fullest.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and thank you all for being here for me whenever I had questions, concerns and just needed a quick pick me up laugh. OH is the bomb!

aloha,

michelle

So i took the plunge and made a consultation appointment to see a plastic surgeon. Woooohoooo! I really want to get rid of this "roll" but am scared outta my mind of going under, again.....and then having to deal with pain. I am such a big wuss. What prompted me to do so at 7 months out is that (1)my DH and I do a mini vacation once a year, just the 2 of us....(2)my 1st cousin is a PS in Pasadena (3)there are tons of good deals out there for Hawaii to mainland flights for travel between Jan-March if you book it by 11/8. Soooooooo Feb. 8th is my Consult in Pasadena!!! I already emailed my WLS doc and he said he just wants his patients to be at goal for a few months before they get all cut up. I'm 3 pounds away from having a NORMAL BMI and 8 pounds away from my personal goal of 135 pounds. I am almost there.

Recap:

Consultation for LBL, BL/BA and Brachioplasty on Feb. 8th in Pasadena(along with a mini vacation). Feb 6th-11th, 2008

Surgery probably in June 2008 for the LBL.

Surgery 6 months later or so for the BL/BA & Brachioplasty.

My days and nights and thoughts have been consumed by all this Plastic stuff and what it entails. I just want my size 8 pants to fit better and my boobs to be back on my chest so I can feel as girly as my inner self feels.