- Name: Penny J.
- Username: Penlisajac
- Location: ON, Canada
- Member Since: 5/3/2012
- BMI: 33.1
- Post Op
- Surgery Type: RNY (08/10/12)
- Surgeon: David Starr, M.D., F.A.C.S.
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Almost 5 months post surgery on January 4, 2013 5:27 pm
Well things are good. If you asked me 4 months ago I would have said "REGRET" for sure. The first month or two out was the hardest. Entering the solid food stage posed very difficult for me. Everything I tried to eat would get stuck and I would have to spend hours spitting and vomiting in order to feel relief from the pain it caused. Starting a brand new, demanding job (the job of my dreams) at a month out didn't help either. Here I was on the first day of school, vomiting in the staff bathroom. Talk about stressful. So I did what I knew was the answer to success... went back on pureed foods for another month and pray. I would introduce solids every weekend, in the comfort of my own home and I took really small bites and chewed till I couldn't chew anymore. This all seemed to work for me and even though I was starting to get sick of eating hummus and tuna on crackers day in and day out, I knew it was necessary. And in the end it was all worth it. Here I am now almost 5 months out of surgery and doing pretty good. I got on the scale today and it read 242 lbs which puts me at 92 lbs lost. How amazing is that!!!  I have the energy now to exercise every morning before work. I even asked for the Zumba Wii game for Christmas...crazy! The best part is I'm just overall starting to feel good about myself. There are still days that I struggle and eating is more of a chore than an enjoyment now, and I miss eating a bowl of cereal without it going soggy, and I would die to take a big bite into a sandwich, swallow and not have it get stuck, but in the end it's okay. I just had to change my frame of mind and I tell myself now "it is what it is." It's done and now I just have to embrace it, so that's what I do. I still have a little taste of chocolate as a treat here and there and a handful of chips (which I know is old bad habits) but I know when to stop and in order to keep my sanity, it's not going to hurt. I am only human after all. So for those of you in the regret stage, just keep your chin up... it does get better! 
Post RNY Surgery on August 19, 2012 10:06 am
I'm 8 days post-op and feeling pretty good. I'm not going to lie, the first 3-4 days were scary and I had many thoughts of "what did I do?" But I'm getting over that one day at a time. When I came out of surgery the worst pain was with my chest and upper back and I had a hard time breathing. They could barely get me to drink any of my fluids because I just didn't want to. Saturday I was able to get up out of bed a few times and walk the halls but was still hooked up to the IV because I wasn't taking much in. I had a low fever that night, which they treated and had my last dose of pain med's that night too. My IV came out the next morning and each day I was feeling better. I was discharged at 2pm and on my way home Sunday!!! Excited to see my boys and family I think I over did it and was feeling like I couldn't function any longer so off to bed for me at 8pm. Woke the next morning feeling rested but very weak. That morning was a struggle due to not eating or drinking for so long through the night and I found myself almost blacking out. It happened while I was trying to eat my breakfast and my multi-vitamin. My face started to feel hot and sweaty, my arms went numb and my eyes went dark. Scary, but my husband helped me through it with a cold cloth and positive words. We called my neighbour who is a diabetic and she came over and tested my sugar levels which made me feel at ease. It was 5.8 which is good. From then on it was constant laying in bed with people caring for me. I think I might have over done it on that Monday, sleeping for 12 hours, making my own cream of wheat, and talking on the phone for 1/2 an hour. But I jumped that hurdle and now I'm recovering very well. I'm starting to get sick of the full fluids and will be excited to venture out to the blended stage! I can NOT stand the protein shakes  and am only getting one down in a day, but I am adding lots of protein powder to all my foods so I feel like I am getting the minimum. And the liquid calcium is certainly not one of my favourites so I'll be trying the chewables next time for sure. Here's my surgery story...thanks for listening. Peace 
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Half Way Through Opti. on July 30, 2012 6:04 pm
Well I'm at the half way point on opti-fast and feeling good. The opti isn't that bad and I actually look forward to it. I'm not going to lie, of course I see what everyone else is eating and it's hard for me not to want it. But I'm staying strong and sticking to the shakes and soup. I actually have gotten to the point now where I'd rather drink the opti then have my homemade soup which I never thought would happen. It's exciting to see this changes happening... I can get my wedding rings off now that the weight is dropping!! I've only had one day bother me while on opti. I had chest pains, but I think it was from drinking the opti too fast and sitting at a desk all day, because the pains only lasted that day. And it's definitely a strain on your bladder!!! But it's all worth it. It's funny, I'm actually starting to get excited to eat the simple foods that we are to have after the surgery... cottage cheese, greek yogurt with sugar free jam, cream of wheat with a tsp of peanut butter, etc. I'm looking forward to being healthy! 
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1st Day of Opti...mmmmm! on July 20, 2012 5:02 pm
So I have completed my first day of opti-fast. That means the countdown is on! 3 weeks minus one day to go till surgery. Opti wasn't that bad I thought. The third shake was the worst for some reason. I'm just trying different mixtures with crystal light, mio, splenda etc. to make it taste good enough to go down. It's funny how your brain works, while at work and serving the children food (I work at a daycare) I say to myself I'll just have a piece of cheese or I'll save that tangerine until later and then I remember I can't eat those things!!! It's just an automatic reflex. Weird!
Also, I found out yesterday when I went for my pre-op that my heart condition is called Bigeminy. It's been about 10 years, 2 ecg's, 2 holter's, 1 echo and still living with this funny feeling in my heart. When finally I had an ecg at pre-op and a nurse who was wonderful was able to explain it all to me. It's not serious and some of it's causes are overeating, anxiety and caffeine. I've already cut out caffeine two months ago, so hopefully it will disappear over time and with the weight loss. (Just need to work on the anxiety).
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Sleep Study! on July 17, 2012 10:26 am
Wow! That was a really terrible sleep last night! Sorry to anyone out there that has to still do a sleep study. Be prepared not to sleep... even though they told me I slept 79% of the time, it felt like I slept 10%. Glad that is over and done with. I guess I have mild sleep apnea through most of my sleep and severe sleep apnea during REM sleep. He wants to put me on a machine. He's more concerned about the extra heart beats they recorded. So I see my family doctor this afternoon and he's going to send up some more info to Dr. Glazer.
One more appointment left...pre-screening on Thursday.
Good afternoon... I'm going to bed now! LOL
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My Story
As a child I was a "stick." I was always very tall for my age, but never over weight. Weight hasn't always been an issue for me. I first remember tracking my weight when I was in grade 11. I think I weighed about 158 lbs then and thinking it was time to diet because I was too big. If I knew then what my weight is now, I'm sure I would have been thrilled at 158 lbs. So I'm on my way to college a couple of years later, and it's time for me to take control of my own life. No more Mum to make me meals and choose healthy choices for our household dinners. And with a pocket full of OSAP money to pay my tuition. Of course there's always money allotted to buy food and rather buying groceries and making my own healthy meals (what teenager wants to do that?) I would visit the local Harvey's restaurant in the college or buy a box of crackers and p.b.& j to make cracker sandwiches for dinner. My weight gain was slow and steady from that point on. The second year of college was worse. My roommate was an obese girl who was under 20 years old and her cooking and eating habits rubbed off on me even more. So college was definitely the beginning of my poor food choices in life. A few years later I met the man that became my husband. At that time we both lived at home with our parents and so for us to be able to spend private time together we chose to rent hotel rooms on the weekends and spend our time out of town and eating out. My husband went through the death of his mother and we moved in together. Enjoying the newness of living together and getting into a serious relationship all got too comfortable for us and we began to grow together. My husband, of course, had an easier time managing his weight than me. I would say that from the time of being 17 in grade 11 until 27 and getting married I gained about 100 lbs. So now I'm up to 258 lbs and getting pregnant with my first son. I gained 30 lbs with my first pregnancy which wasn't too bad and I was able to lose most of that immediately afterward. But with our still continued poor eating habits, not only were we getting further into debt by eating out, but I was continuing to gain weight. When I became pregnant with my second son I was 270 lbs and with this pregnancy I reached over the 300 lb mark for sure, even though I wasn't keeping track (too depressing), I just knew. My body was really starting to struggle. My breathing was heavy, my knees were sore and weak, not to mention the bottom of my feet. The foot pain was terrible. But it still didn't encourage me to do anything about it. Instead of being "comfortable" with my husband, I became down on myself and depressed with my life. My weight is an enormous burden in my life now. I'm 328 lbs and I feel lost.... confused... and stressed out with the thought of losing 10 lbs yet alone 170 lbs just to make me at a healthy size. I have tried different options with weight loss, and have I given it my all?... probably not because it's just so damn hard. I love food! My family loves food! And you need food to live, so yes, it's the absolute hardest thing for me to do and succeed. This is now where I'm at. In the middle of having appointments with my Bariatric team and "weighing" out the pros and con's of having the surgery.
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