Jim Valentine, M.D. Dr. Valentine is awesome! So is Annie, Dr. Valentine's physician assistant. And, Ricci, Valerie, Danielle, and Karen. Couldn't have made it without them. rnrn
Member Interests
Family & Friends - 3 teens, Matthew, Heather, & Joshua. All 3 are my blessings from God.
Fitness & Exercise - I try to work out lifting weights 4-6 times per week. And, I walk a lot.
Dogs - We have one dog, a sheltie. His name is Sundance Kid.
Pottery - I love working in ceramics. I have my own wheel and kiln.
Board Games & Puzzles - Love to play scrabble & other board games as well as working crosswords.
Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery. I've been overweight atleast since I was in 3rd grade. I've been made fun of, called names and discriminated against for all of those years, even while attending a "Christian" college. People can be very cruel.
Latest Surgery Support Comments
Comment by inspector-girl on 10/20/05 7:53 am
Well, it’s official!
You’re on the
losing side. The
trumpets are
blaring, the cymbals
are crashing and the
drums are drumming –
all for YOU! I hope
that all went well
for you! Your
journey will have
moments to “pause” -
Feel free to look at
my profile and see
my ups and downs and
know I’d not change
a thing with
anything I’ve
experienced.
Everything was worth
it! – I’d like to
impart some words of
wisdom for when it
does occur -
remember these wise
words whispered by
Confucius – “It does
not matter how
slowly you go so
long as you do not
stop.” Be patient.
You didn’t put it on
over night, it won’t
come off over night
(DARN IT!)…Don’t
forget to update
your profile at
least monthly and
take lots of
pictures…the
transformations will
make your jaw
drop!!! RNY 10/31/03
257/133 Good luck!
Comment by Grace loves cats on 9/25/05 11:02 pm
Best of the best on
your surgery! I
hope your recovery
goes very well too.
Remember to walk
when you can, as it
really does help.
Take good care of
yourself, and go get
healthy! Hugs,
Sending thoughts and
prayers for an
uneventful surgery.
For the steady hands
of your surgeon and
the alertness of his
team. For a
virtually pain free
recovery and a
return home with a
speedy recovery.
Here's to becoming a
BIG loser! paula
Savior, He can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save; forever, Author of Salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
I go in for my "tummy tuck" and hernia repair on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Insurance approved it and now it's really happening. Now I won't have to look like I'm pregnant anymore.
Okay. I am now 3 years post-op as of yesterday, Sept. 27, 2008.
Life is grand. I am waiting for approval from my insurance for the "tummy tuck" and a hernia repair. Hopefully they will approve within the next couple of weeks. I am getting tired of the twin hernia's I am carrying around. The request to insurance was sent out 4 weeks ago, but that is including the weekends. I guess they can take up to 30 days or so, not including weekends, so technically, they have another 10 days, give or take, or 14 days if you add in the weekend days. Ugh!!!
Same as my last post, my how time flies. There's a lot to update on.
I've had two surgeries since my last post. I woke up on March 18th to severe back pain and had my daughter drive me to the E.R. After some tests the dr. told me I had an internal hernia. I ended up having them transport me to the hospital where my bariatric surgeon was so he could do the surgery to fix things. I figured he already knew where everything was supposed and I think I have one of the best surgeons anyway. The surgery went fine, but I was still in the hospital for 8 days. The pain in my back didn't even subside for about 3 of those days. I couldn't sleep or get comfortable or anything for those days. And, everytime they tried giving me morphine for the pain, I ended up in worse pain. So, I finally told them to stop the morphine.
After 2 weeks, I tried to go back to work, but I could never seem to make it through my shift. I'd either be in pain or I'd be really light headed. I never seemed to be getting better.
Then on April 30, while at work, I almost passed out. They found someone to cover me and I went home and tried to get some sleep. Then, later on I went to my surgeon's office to get some vitamins. While there, my back began to hurt again. I didn't think too much of it until I got home and could barely stand. I called my surgeon's office and talked to his assistant, who is absolutely wonderful, and she told me to get to the E.R.
I ended up driving all the way back out there myself since my daughter was at work. Just guessing, it's probably around 15-20 miles away. Not far, unless you are in excruciating pain. By the time I got there I was sobbing and could hardly stand, let alone have to walk.
They got me right in to the E.R. and on an I.V. with pain medicine. Soon, Annie, my surgeon's assistant came in and said I was going to be admitted and that they were going to have to do an open exploratory surgery to find out what was going on. So they did. The next day was the surgery and they found that I'd had adhesions wrapped around my intestines, cutting off the blood supply to my bowels. Yuck! Anyways, they cut the adhesions out and that's that. I spent 6 days in the hospital that time. I'm feeling about 95 percent back to normal.
In between the two surgeries, some other things in my life changed. I gave up my manager position at work because I was unable to concentrate on work and thus was not doing them, nor I, any bit of good. Since I wasn't able to work full time I was going to lose my insurance through work. So in order to qualify for medicaid, I had them cut down my hours to no more than 14 per week. Otherwise, I make too much money to qualify. But, I have to have health insurance and I'm too afraid to go without it.
Eventually, I'll go back to full time hours, but it takes 3 or 4 months of working full time to even qualify for benefits again. Either that, I'll try to find a job where there is no wait time for benefits to take effect. I think the school district is like that and then I wouldn't even have to pay any premiums out of my checks. ;-)
One of the gals I work with got really ticked off at me for all the time I was missing at work during that time. While I could understand that she was frustrated with always having to cover my shift, it also made me feel bad because I knew it wasn't my fault. Before the first surgery, I had only missed one or two days of work in a year and a half. I felt as though I was always dependable and then, all of a sudden I wasn't. I knew it wasn't like me to always be calling in sick and trying to get out of work, but she began to treat me coldly.
So, now that I am feeling better and nearly 100% back to normal, I am still uncomfortable around her. She is now the manager, which she is doing a great job of. When I first gave up my position as manager, I told the store manager that I would only give it up if this gal would agree to take over, because I knew she would be great at it. And she is, however, ever since she treated me the way she did, I just am uncomfortable with her.
Plus, I've seen the way she treats other people when she doen't like them and have heard what she say's about them. I learned many years ago that I'll probably be treated the same way by someone who treats other people like that.
I suppose I should just grow up and get over it. That would be the ideal thing to do :-) We'll see.
Oh, before my first surgery, I was only about 2 week away from having my excess skin removed on my stomach. Well, obviously that was delayed. :-( After my kids and I get back from our So. Cal. vacation, I'm going to try to get that process going again. I pray that it will happen and that God will protect me through it all.
Wow! A lot of time has gone by since I last posted. I am now down to 158-160. Depends on the day and time. I had gotten down to 161 like around last June or so and then gained a few back, hovering around 167-172. It's taken me this long to break that plateau.
Things are going good. I am still working as a Barista/Manager at a local coffee shop. I do love it!
My kids are growing up on me. Matthew turned 18, Heather is 17 and Joshua is pretty darn close to being 16. I'm really not looking forward to them all being grown up and gone. I was just thinking about how much I miss them wanting to go everywhere with me. Now, I'm lucky to get them to go anywhere with me. Heather and I do go out occasionally to a movie at the dollar theatre or out to dinner. That is nice. I think we should do it once a week. Maybe every Friday night. :-)
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I guess I've been busy, or distracted by life.
Since I last posted, I've received a promotion at work to cafe manager. It's really not a "cafe", but rather a coffee shop in a book store. I do love it there, and if anyone has kept up on my "ramblings" then they'd know how much I love my coffee. ;-)
My weight has been bouncing around between 161 and 170. It very rarely stays the same for 2 days in a row. Mostly though, it lingers around the 165-168 mark. I can't wait till it's down into the 150's. Especially the low 150's.
I still wear a size 12, although I can fit into 10's. The reason I haven't downsized is because of money, or a lack there of. But hopefully soon, once I start seeing more money on my paychecks, and after I dig myself out of the financial pit I have dug for myself, then maybe I'll go buy some smaller sizes. At the 2nd hand stores of course. I very rarely buy new, mostly because of the fact that I seem to be able to find practically new things at the 2nd hand store for a fraction of the cost. Especially if it's basic style jeans. Now, that doesn't mean I won't splurge on new if something jumps off the rack and attacks me as I'm innocently walking past.
Anyways, this month is my two year anniversary. On the 27th to be precise. I can hardly believe it's been 2 years. I've said this many times before, but I have to say it again, time flies by sooooooo....... fast.
Since I've last posted, two of my kids have had birthdays. My oldest, Matthew, turned 18. Then 6 days later, my daughter, Heather, turned 17. Joshua isn't far behind. He'll be 16 in February.
Well, it's late, and I have to be up early. I hope all is going well for everyone.
I can't believe August is almost half over. Where does time go? My oldest son, Matthew, is going to be 18 in just 13 more days. It is hard for me to fathom that idea. I'm sure things won't change too much except that he'll be sure to let me know that is indeed 18 and can do what he wants. I remember doing that to my mom. I do pray though that God gets a good strong hold on Matthew and never lets go.
Then in 19 days, Heather, my darling daughter, will turn 17. Aaaaggghh.......
Joshua has until February for his birthday, and then he'll be 16. Double on the Aaaaggghh.....................
Lord, please keep my children in your sight and never let them go.
So, other than that, I'm right now waiting on the time to change the temp. on my kiln. I just put in a "glaze" load a few hours ago. I changed the temp. to medium an hour ago. 1 more hour before I change it to high. Then about 1-2 more hours and it'll shut itself off. I won't be able to open it though until tomorrow. It's always so much fun to open the kiln to a freshly glazed load of ceramics. I do so love it. Now if I'd just get busy enough with it so that I could build up enough inventory to start participating in local art fairs and farmer's markets.
The scales at the YMCA said 163 today. A new all time low. As I said the last time, my weight will bounce around, up and down for a while and then I lose a couple extra. So after the last time, when the scales said 165, my weight did indeed bounce around from the 165 back up to 167, then 169, then back down to the 167, then 166, and so on. Yesterday it finally got back down to the 165 and then today, 163. My soul cries out THANK YOU, JESUS!
Only 9 more lbs. to lose and I'll no longer be classified as overweight, according to the BMI index.
So, Heather's and my insurance (car) was supposed to be approx. 210.00 for this month, due to changes made when she got her car.
Well, then her car broke down and is too much money for us to get it fixed. So, I went to the insurance last week to change the insurance again and they said starting at the end of Aug. the payments would be approx. 40.00, but that the payment for the end of July would be the 210.00.
So, I had to borrow money from Joshua to cover half that, because normally the insurance was supposed to be just over 100.00 (the 210.00 was an unusual thing).
Anyways, Heather and I expected the 210 to come out of her acct. on the 27th of July, and the money was there, thanks to Joshua coming to the rescue.
However, today, the 30th of July, we got a notice from the insurance that the amount coming out of Heather's acct. was just going to be the 40.00. Well, I thought it was in referrence to the Aug. 27th payment, but it was for July.
I did have Heather check her acct. and it was true. The only thing taken out was the 40.00. So, that is about 170.00 we saved. Yeah!!!!!!! God is good and He does provide.
Okay, where do I begin? I am now almost 2 years post op. Very glad I was blessed to be able to have the surgery and that I had the surgeon that I did. I've lost, not counting the bouncing around pounds, 179 lbs. By the "bouncing around pounds" I mean the ups and downs that I experience, weight wise, that consist of approx. 5 lbs. Now I'm almost confusing myself. :-)
So, I started off at 342 lbs. at surgery, and now, as of the other day, I was at 163. But then, last night I was 166. However, I am still going by the 163, because lately, whenever I reach a new low weight, I tend to bounce back up a couple lbs. here, and down a lb. there and back up, and back down and so forth. Then, after a couple of weeks of that I'll be at a new all time low, and so on and so forth, etc........
Well, I started out at 342, as I'd said earlier. I've always been overweight, ever since I can remember. Actually, I think I was pretty much a normal weight in 1st and 2nd grade. But 3rd grade, I remember, was the beginning of my life of being overweight and made fun of. It's a sad thing that people get made fun of for any reason at all. I wish that it wouldn't happen. So many lives are destroyed just for someone elses sheer pleasure.
Anyways, such is the way it was. I've never had much self confidence, and in some ways, I still don't. But, I know I feel better and it's such joy to be able to do things I couldn't before. I don't have any problem going out in public now as I'm not afraid of being judged for my appearance. And that is a good feeling. I love being able to fit in jeans and not having to worry about splitting them at any point or having them wear out between the legs. Oh, how I always hated that.
I do have some jiggly skin, which my kids love to tease me about, but, I'd much rather have that than look the way I did before. So, I don't mind it.
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A new all time low. As I said the last time, my weight will bounce around, up and down for a while and then I lose a couple extra. So after the last time, when the scales said 165, my weight did indeed bounce around from the 165 back up to 167, then 169, then back down to the 167, then 166, and so on. Yesterday it finally got back down to the 165 and then today, 163. My soul cries out THANK YOU, JESUS! 
