Sarah's Journey
posted on 10/17/06 8:39 am
10/27/2005 - Consult With Surgeon
11/15/2005 - packet mailed to insurance
11/18/2005 - request from ins for length of bypass and surgery date.
11/29/2005 - surgeon's office called ins. with date and length.
12/05/2005 - received approval letter in the mail and faxed it to Heather.
12/05/2005 - surgeon's office called and said they could not get me in before
Jan. 1, I was devastated as I had told the office on Nov 18, that Anthem Blue
Access plans were dropping WLS coverage after Jan. 1, 2006. Called the office
manager at Dr. Cacucci's and left a message of how upset I was with the office,
because they knew on Nov 18, that all they needed was length of bypass and date,
and they waited until Nov. 29, to call it to Anthem. She called back 2 hours
later and said they would fit me in, and Heather would call today.
12/05/2005 - 2 pm Heather called pre-op testing will be on 12/07/05, nutrition
class on 12/08/05, SURGERY ON 12/14/2005 at 11:30 am
6 1/2 weeks from first visit to surgery. I am shocked but really excited. I have prayed that if this is what God
wants he will open the doors for me, and he certainly has.
12/07/2005 - Pre-op test done. Went quickly, and easy, no big deal. St.
Vincent's does this all the time, everyone was super nice and super organized,
in at 8:15am out by 10:45am. Blood work (7 vials) Chest X-ray, upper GI, Gall
bladder, Liver, Pancreas, and Kidney Ultasound. Pulmonary Function test, taught
to use incentive spirometry, met with pre-op nurse, and out the door. Tomorrow
is nutrition class.
POST -OP
12/31/2005
-22 pounds
2 1/2 weeks post-op and all is well. Had to have IV's on Thursday because I was
a tad dehydrated, but it was quick and easy and I'm feeling great, down 22
pounds since surgery. having a little trouble getting in all my protein. get
the runs with the supplement St. V's prescribes, so I will start looking for
something different, tried ISOPUR and its tastes bad to me, while others like,
shows how different we all are. Had an emotional crash on the 19th, everything just happened so fast, and
when your in St. V's everyone is so supportive and excited for you there. Then I
was home and hurting and tired and the house was a mess and the reality of this
huge decision hit. I wondered why they put you on Lexapro, now I know. I'm
feeling fine now and it only lasted for one day. Family and friends are all
being supportive, and I am really looking forward to this new year.
1/23/06
Down 27 pounds
Had my 6 week check today down 27 pounds. I was a little upset with this, but
Dr. Cacucci said, " If you lost 27 pounds every 6 weeks, by 6 months you will
have lost over 100 pounds, and that's crazy its not gonna happen", because I
started at a lower BMI. She was really happy how things were going for me. I
am starting to try new foods, and some things don't go as well as others. I get
nauseated and have a lot of pain waiting for it to "go through". This is
definately a learning experience.
2/17/06
Down 40 pounds
Sorry it's taken so long to update, I've been around on the board but forgot
about this. 2 months out and down 40 pounds. Feeling much better. Weeks 4
through 6 were very hard for me. At 4 weeks I could start to eat more solids
and I tried everything I was allowed. Big Mistake!! Terrible nausea, sitting
for hours waiting for it to go away. I have tried to throw up but I can't, just
get the foamies. So week 7, I went back to the basics and tried to eat slowly.
I found out it wasn't the new foods as much as the way I was eating them. Note
to self must slow down, eating slowly works, I don't get sick. There are a few
things that I can't eat right now, sour cream makes me run straight to the
bathroom, and mexican food, which is usually my favorite I can't do at all. I
also still want the old foods I love, a big mac sounds great, but by the time
you chewed it enough to get it down the taste would be gone. I've come to
realize that maybe eating something very quickly was a "high" to me, and now I can't. Therefore eating a big mac would be "no fun". All in all I'm so glad I
did this, I can see the changes happening, need to get busy exercising. Going
to Florida the end of March, and hope to be down 50 pounds by then.
3/13/2006
Down 47 pounds
I will be 3 months out tomorrow. I had my 3 month follow-up on Friday. I am
down 47 pounds, and my doctor thinks that's great. I am finally getting my
energy back, the doctor says it is important to get all my fluids in, that it
will help with the energy issues. I also have been having problems with nausea
and vomiting foamy stuff, but the doc. thinks I'm just eating too fast. It only
happens at night so that is probably right on. 2 weeks till florida so I want
to lose 3 pounds before then, it should be no problem. Goal for this month is
to work on eating slowly.
4/14/2006
Down 61 pounds
4 months out today and I'm in onderland!!!!!! I can not believe it. I am so
happy I had this surgery done. Things are going well, went to Florida and bought a new bathing suit. Walked a lot on the beach and did
great with that, before my back would have been killing me. My 3 year old told
me I was pretty and my 11 year old said my hair looked better since I was
skinnier, and even better than losing weight my 8 year old accepted Christ as
her Savior this week at school. Her teacher called me on Wednesday and said
that after chapel, the class talked about the meaning of Easter, and she asked
if their was anyone that wanted to ask Jesus into their heart and Paige did.
They prayed and cried together, how amazing is this. I love that my children
can go to a christian school and talk about God and pray there. My husband has
a new job and is loving it. He has had a rough few months. We found out
December 7, the day of pre-op testing that his mom's cancer had spread to her
brain and there was nothing more they could do. They gave her 2 weeks to 2
months, and she died 6 weeks later. It's been very hard on him, he was the
youngest and the closest to her. He seems to be doing better now, and I hope every day will
get easier. She was an amazing woman and a great friend to me. I have had no
problems since my surgery. I have had a really bad sinus infection for about 2
weeks and the drainage can make me nauseated( fills up my pouch). I found out
today I have thrush, so I'm off antibotics and taking a losenge 5X a day for the
next 14 days. I have never had thrush, I wonder if it has something to do with
my nutrition level. I do have problems getting in all my fluid, if I don't
drink enough then my energy is zapped and I need to sleep, if I sleep I don't
drink, it's just keeps cycling downward then. If I feel real tired, I know I
need to get busy drinking. Until next month.......
05/14/2006
Down 68 pounds
The weight loss really slowed this month very frustrating, I only lost seven
pounds. I need to stop weighing myself all the time, maybe just once a week,
yeah right! I seem to stay the same for a couple weeks then lose 3 or 4 pounds in a day or two then back to staying the same. Food wise this month
has been better. I have only been nauseated a few times. When I eat too fast.
My husband bought me a new pair of jeans for Mother's Day. They were a size 16
woo-hoo. I noticed today that I am starting to lose some hair. Most people I
talked to say that it happened to them at about 3 months out. So I thought I
would be one of the lucky ones. Oh well, I am going to up my protein and see
how it goes. People are starting to notice that I am losing. My goal for this
month is to exercise more, need to make the time for it, and drink more water.
Until next month.....
06/12/06 6 months
-75 pounds
Had my 6 month follow up with Dr. C. on Friday. I have still been having
problems with heart burn like symptoms. She thinks it could be an ulcer, so
she put me on prevacid and carafate. If I still have the symptoms after 2
weeks, she wants to do a scope. I saw Marilyn the dietician before my appt.
with Dr. C. Marilyn is great. She explained what I need to do now eating wise. She said at 6 months
wls patients start to get their appetite back. She said if I start to get
hungry, that I shouldn't try to wait till the next meal, but have a snack high
in protein and fiber. She also told me to eat my first meal of the day with-in
1 hour of waking up. This gets your metabolism up and running first thing in
the morning. After my appts. were done in Indy I went and had a "girl's
weekend" with a good friend of mine in Cincinnati . She just moved there, so we
basically drove around and looked at houses, and went to the spa. I left the
kids home with the hubby. One thing I've noticed recently is that my hubby has
been very "ouchie" with me. I thought it was because he is still grieving the
loss of his mom, in January. But I think he is having trouble with me losing
weight. He acts like he thinks I am going to leave him. He told my friend in
Cinci, that I have changed. Well I have. I 'm feeling great, I've lost 75 pounds, I have more confidence, and I don't feel invisible. My hubby was totally
supportive of the surgery, but now that everyone is noticing that I'm losing, he
hasn't said a word to me about it. He even started a fight with me on the phone
while I was away. I would never leave him. I love him, The #1 reason I did
this, was so I would be able to feel good and do things with my family. I am a
very strong christian. My family is the most important thing to me other than
God. I guess I need to be a little more loving and reassuring to him. I have
read of this happening to other people after they had surgery, but I will not
let it happen to us.
06/29/06
-81 pounds
In my last post I talked about issues with my DH. I have figured out that he is
right, I have changed. Things that used to upset me or stress me, or even make
me happy, I took care of my emotional self by eating. Well guess what? I can't
do that now. So when I'm happy, sad, stressed out, it all seems to just spill
out of my mouth now. I have to look for another outlet. Maybe I should just go walk or
something. I told my hubby this and of course got no response. I know that in
the past nagging him or confronting him with things never worked, so I just shut
up and ate. Now I don't. I'm so glad I have realized this and can now start to
make changes that are good for our family, and marriage. Now that I tell him
how I feel, I think it scares the crap out of him, it also puts him in the
position to choose change or not. Hopefully this will end up making us
stronger. As for my ulcer, I am still having so heartburn type symptoms even
after the carafate, so I guess its off to scopeland. I've heard the drugs for a
scope are great. I can't wait! LOL
Until next time......
07/19/06
- 84 pounds
Well my 7 month anniversary has come and gone. Things are going well. I had a
scope on July 12, they thought I had an ulcer, I don't. Dr. C. thinks I may
have acid production from my old stomach. She put me on prevacid. She said everything looked great. The scope was a piece of cake. I don't
remember a thing. My mom said I asked her 7 times if I had an ulcer, and I kept
telling the nurses they should sell the good drugs on E- Bay. Things with the
DH are going better, we seem to be communicating better. Food wise, things are
going pretty good. I don't tolerate high carb foods very well. Can only have a
few bites of pasta. My appetite is coming back a little, I have to concentrate
now on right choices. I still have to work at eating slowly.
Until next month......
8/14/2006
-93 pounds
I had a good weight loss this month. I have increased my calories so maybe that
is it. Things are going pretty well food wise. I only got sick once this
month, it was sugar free chocolate pudding on a graham cracker crust. The crust
must have been too much. I am still working on increasing my protein.
Emotionally I think things are better, I am finding ways to alleviate my stress,
hard when I just always ate it away. I do feel a little run down so I think I might call the surgeon and have some blood
work done. My energy just seems so low right now. Next week the girls start
school and my step daughter comes home from her mom's on Wednesday to start
school. Summers are hard with her gone we all miss her terribly. The hubby is
doing good, we went to the brickyard last week, It was great. Life just seems
to chugg along with me hanging on. I hope this month I can finish the summer by
getting more active with my kids, I hate that they see me sleep alot, I just
seem to be exhausted all the time.
08/18/06
- 96 pounds
Ok I know its been only a few days since I updated but I needed to tell this not
so funny story, this is what I get for doing things on my own. WARNING this may
be TMI. I have been having a problem with constipation for about a month. I
have tried everything, drinking more, getting more fiber, MOM and then the nurse
at Dr. C's told me to try 1/2 a bottle of Mag citrate. nothing worked, so in my
infinate wisdom I decided that If I could make myself dump, that would work. Now I
have only dumped once, at least I thought I had, I just had bad diarrhea.
Anyhoo, I ate a real cookie and then followed it 15 minutes later with some
milk, (milk doesn't sit real well with me). Big mistake, I mean huge. I really
100% dumped. I started to get the worst nausea of my life and then proceeded to
wretch, getting nothing up but the foamies, then I got super hot, started
sweating, very lightheaded, and the worst cramps of my life. I layed on the
bathroom floor for about and hour, getting up occasionaly to try to throw up.
Well finally the diarrhea hit, and the cramps were the worst for the next hour
as I sat there on the pot. well needless to say, I am no longer constipated,
but this happened Wednesday night and its now Friday and I'm still a little
queasy. I will never do that again. Stupid idea and I sure paid the price, my
advice would be never ever try this. On a brighter note, I am really starting
to lose fast again. It seemed to be very slow at 5-6 months and now has picked up. Hope
it continues. I've lost 3 pounds since the 14th. Could have been my whole
dumping fiasco though. Had blood work done and everything is normal. B-12,
protein, and Iron are great. So maybe my exhaustion is in my head. I will work
on it.
09/11/06
-100
O.K. did you see that weight, -100 pounds today. whoo-hoo
Remembering 9/11 today. 5 years ago today, I was driving my then 3 year
daughter Paige to pre-school, and listened to it on the radio. I didn't know if
I should leave her at school or not. This year I was driving my now 3 year old
daughter, Jadyn to the same pre-school for her first day. I wasn't sure if I
wanted to leave her their today just because my baby is starting school. I am
praying for the families, and for our nation today.
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