5/24/06 - I am 58 years old - married for 41 years (July 2nd) and have three children and 11 grandchildren. I have been overweight for almost all of my life. Even when I was at a good weight I have always seen myself as overweight. In 1979 I started weight watchers at 216 pounds and lost down to 143. I don't know why but the pounds came back and then some! My highest weight was 266. That's when I decided I needed this surgery. I have been researching it for about two years and finally have decided to go for it :-) My date is June 20th.

I chose Dr Oh because he is part of the St Francis Hospital Center for Excellence. He has done many bariatric surgeries and has a fantastic record. I have been confused and worried because his nutrition regimen is very strict and resembles the RNY type of diet but I just finished the hospital's orientation and I now understand his concerns. If we follow his rules and do not allow our pouch to get stretched out too soon, we are not able to consume enough food to provide adequate nutrition. That is why the supplements. I now understand that after four months he will evaluate the lab work and adjust the supplements accordingly. I again feel very comfortable with my choice and am anxiously awaiting my date.

06/13/06 - Well today I started the pre-surgery clear liquid diet. This week will be hard but I know it will be worth it. By this time next week I will have my band! I can hardly wait. Since my first visit to Dr. Oh I have lost 11 pounds. I now weigh 229. I am trying very hard to do everything he asks me to do. Also I have been reading on the lapband.com web site about many people who have lost more than 100 pounds with the band. I am determined to be one of them! :-)

6/19/06 - This is the 7th and last day of my pre-surgery liquid diet. I have not cheated once - I promised Dr Oh I wouldn't because he is concerned about my "fatty liver". I hope it has shrunk enough! This morning I weighed 218 lbs on my scale - down another 11 lbs in the last 7 days.

I am getting anxious to have the surgery over with. I find myself going around the house making sure everything is picked up and clean and doing all of my ironing - :-) yes! I said "ironing" I am one of the rare ones who actually enjoys ironing. But after 7 days of clear liquids and protein only - it was hard! Today my dh and I went for a hike that was pretty steep. It was on South Tiger Mountain for those of you familiar with the Seattle area. This was my first actual hike since having surgery on my knee and it was wonderful! No pain going up OR down!!! I also noticed that I could do it easier with the weight loss I have had so far.

I also started putting away my size 24 clothes - I am now in size 20! People are starting to notice the weight loss and even I can now see it - especially how my clothes fit.

Well I have to go to work - I will let you know how the surgery goes when I get home.

6/22/06 - My surgery went just fine. I had very little pain and was up, dressed and ready to go home at 6:30 a.m. the next morning! Of course it was just my luck that I was low on phosphorous and they spent four hours delivering it to me via IV so I didn't get to leave until noon. Oh well. I went straight from the hospital to my office for three hours and then home to play with my miniature dachshund and then finally to nap!

By the way, I weighed in the day of surgery at 218 lbs. Thats -32 lbs before I even had the surgery!

6/23/06 3:30 a.m. - Well I am unable to sleep because I am miserable. I have really come down from the surgery high! I don't hurt particularly but I have had a miserable day of constant nausea. I tried to drink a V8 this morning and threw the last of it up. Did I drink too fast? Did I not wait long enough and overfill my pouch? I don't know! Then it took all day to get down 11 ounces of diluted apple juice. I did a little better with 10 more ounces of water and got 8 of them down before bedtime. But now it is 3:30 a.m. and I am hungry and thirsty and feel an uncomfortable tightness in my chest. I am up walking ariound and trying to drink 10 more ounces of water. I hope this gets better soon!

6/24/06 Hi all - I think I figured out what my problem was. I am sure I drank it too fast. I tried it again yesterday SLOWLY and it was just fine. But my husband bought me some chicken noodle soup and we strained it and I drank the broth and it was delicious. I think I will stick to things like that for awhile.

By the way, my doctor insists that we drink 64 ozs of pure water a day and he says NO coffee/NO tea/NO milk/and (of course) NO sugar.

I did not have any nausea yesterday and walked a mile with my husband and little dog and drank almost all of my water and felt much better.

Today I showered, did my hair, got dressed and the sun is shining so I am planning on having a great day!

6/27/06 - Yesterday was my 1 week post-op appt. with Dr. Oh. I weighed in at 214.7 lbs. I have lost about 15 lbs in 2 weeks due to being on a liquid diet. The week after the surgery I was not allowed to drink protein shakes and that was the hardest! But now I can start the protein so life is better. I actually would have been able to sleep all night long except my little dog got me up at 3:30 a.m. to do the three "P's" - you know - poo, pee and PLAY! But I got back to sleep pretty quick and didn't wake up again until 7 a.m. What a refreshing change!!!

I worked most of today and walked a mile. The incisions are starting to heal and itch and the steri strips are loosening. I still have quite a bit of gas in my left shoulder at times but other than that things get better every day.

7/3/06 Yesterday was mine and my husband's 41st wedding anniversary. Instead of going out for a fancy meal (I am still on liquids) we went for a short hike in the mountains. It was a beautiful warm sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest and I enjoyed being out in the woods and watching our dog (Riley) play in the shallows of the lake. I am feeling stronger every day and the bandages are off. Now to work on softening the scars.

My husband helped me go through my closet because I have gone from a size 24 to a size 18 in the last 2 months. We bagged up all my bigger clothes and that left me with very little to wear! He insisted that I go ahead and buy some new jeans and blouses and I can't believe what a difference it makes in how I feel to be wearing 18's and having pants that fit. He told me it made me look like I had instantly dropped 30 - 40 lbs! What a sweetie!!!

07/10/06 - Well this weekend we went camping and took a 6 1/2 mile hike. We climbed about 1400 feet to a beautiful meadow. I was VERY SLOW but I made it. I had the most problems with the knee I had surgery on in April to fix a torn meniscus. What a disappointment to have pain after going through all that. But I will keep hiking! The weather was beautiful and it felt good to be out doing something strenuous.

07/18/06 - Yesterday I had my first fill. The doctor put in 2.2 cc's. I did not do as he requested and sit in the waiting room and drink 3 glasses of water before leaving. I was SORRY! I could not even swallow my saliva and the pain was awful. After throwing up a number of times I finally went back in and he removed some of the fill. I do not know what I ended up with. But you can bet I sat there and drank the 3 glasses of water before leaving THAT time. I have had a lot of trouble getting anything down - pain and some throwing up still. But it did ease up later this morning. I guess that's what is meant by "morning tightness". I am so glad to have restriction that I will put up with this and work with it in order to successfully lose weight. I weighed in at 209 by the way. I am still on liquids until tomorrow. It will be good to try to eat something I can chew!

8/10/2006 - Well Monday I will see the surgeon and get a 2nd fill. I had great restriction for the 1st 3 weeks but this last week it has been much easier to eat! I am not eating a LOT but lots more than the 1st three weeks. I weigh 184 on my scales and I weigh about 10 lbs more on the doctor's scales so that should make me about 194 on Monday - we shall see!

I started back to Curves last week and am continuing to walk at least two miles 3 - 4 times per week. I am waiting to feel "more energetic" but instead I am just sore from the exercise! :-)

8/21/06 - I got my 2nd fill a week ago and I definitely have good restriction! I am so excited because I went to buy new jeans since my others were falling off of me and I don't need to shop in the Womens (Plus) department any more!!!! I can wear a 16 Petite! I am blown away.

10/19/06 - I can't believe it has been two months since I updated my profile! I come here and read and read and didn't think once about updating.

I am now wearing size 14P pants and size 16 or Large blouses for the most part. However today I went shopping and was shocked to find out that I could wear size 12 and 14 blouses!!! It all depends on the label but it is nice to have some size 12's in my closet!

I do not know how much I weigh because I have been traveling with my DH for the last month. He just retired and I gave him a present of a class at a woodworking school in Berea, Kentucky so we took our truck/trailer and dog and headed East! We visited Bryce Canyon where we did a beautiful five mile hike and then the Grand Canyon where we only hiked about two miles because we did not want to leave Riley too long in the car. Then on to Zion but had to leave before the hike because I had left my purse in a store outside the park. Fortunately they had it and all was well! Then we spent a night in Kodachrome Basin at the State Park and took a total of about 4 - 5 miles of hikes and then on to Capitol Reef National Park. We took a wonderful 3 1/2 mile hike there. Our next stop was a state park just outside of Canyonlands National Park. We drove a very steep and difficult road just for the experience of it and did several short hikes to viewpoints. We also visited Arches National Park and took several longer hikes - 4 miles or so to different arches. That was wonderful! Then it started raining (it is October after all :-) ) and we basically drove to Albuquerque New Mexico and just shopped there and in Santa Fe. We LOVED Santa Fe shopping :-) ! After leaving New Mexico we drove through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and finally arrived at our destination of Berea Kentucky. This is a quaint little town with a lot of arts and crafts stores and I have had a lot of fun shopping while Larry is in school.

All of the above to explain why I don't know what I weigh but my clothes I brought with me are getting too loose so I have been having fun shopping for smaller sizes :-)

11/07/06 - I had my checkup with Dr Oh yesterday and I had lost 11 lbs while on vacation. That makes a total of 61 lbls lost just since my first visit to Dr Oh in May! He was very happy with my progress. I told him about my physical with my PCP which was on Novermber 1st. ALL of my numbers were perfect! My heart rate was 72 (it's NEVER been that low!) my blood pressure was 118/80, my fasting blood glucose was 93, my cholesterol was 183 with all of the components within normal range. The amazing thing is that my "good" cholesterol was UP within normal range. This surgery has been a real blessing healthwise. I am beginning to have so much more energy. When I come home from work I find myself unable to sit for long periods of time - I need to be up and active. That has never been my way! 

I also had an incredible experience. I was shopping at Fred Meyer and passed a sales rack of normal size jeans. I looked and found some size 14 short and I just threw two pair into my basket as I was in too big of a hurry to try them on. When I got home I tried on a pair and it fit perfectly! I cannot remember the last time I was able to choose something off a sales rack and have it fit perfectly. I am so happy that I have this band.

12/18/06 - I had a wonderful experience this weekend - I felt like my size 14 jeans were getting too loose so while in Fred Meyer I picked up a pair of size 12 jeans. They look small to someone who was used to wearing size 26! Anyway I tried them on when I got home expecting them to be a little snug but they zipped right up! SIZE 12!!! My goal with getting the lapband was to be able to wear size 12 again and I have finally reached that goal. Of course I am not satisfied and want to lose another 25 lbs to reach my "ideal" weight but at least I have reached one of my major goals within six months of getting the band. Now I need to update my profile with a new picture. I still see myself as the person below on the right (I NEVER really saw myself as the person below on the left!!!). Maybe putting a current picture up will help me see the difference.

10/08/08 - Time really flies by when you are having a good time! I have just spent the last 18 months living and working in Northern California and hiking every weekend in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It has been fantastic! I now weigh 160 lbls and feel more fit and healthy than I have ever felt in my life. I do not take any medication - just the vitamins and mineral supplements and protein that Dr Oh prescribed for me when I had my lapband surgery over two years ago. I still drink at least 64 ounces of pure water every day and now that we are back "home" I have added the daily trip to Curves and the daily 3 mile walk with my little dog back into my routine. My DH and I hope to continue the hiking but the weather in the Pacific Northwest is not so sunny and dry as Northern California. We will go when we can. We also took up snowshoeing in the winter while we were there and will do as much of that as we can this winter in the Pacific Northwest. I have not reached my "ideal" weight and my primary care physician says that goal is unrealistic and not healthy for my age. She likes me just where I am at 160 lbs which I have maintained for over a year. I would still like to lose another 10 lbs but if it doesn't happen I am happy - and healthy! This was the best thing I ever did for myself and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Photos
 

252 Doing what I dream of doing more of - hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest!

218 Taken the night before surgery - 6/19/06