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Old Profile on July 10, 2012 3:22 pm
6 months post-op -110
Note: If you are reading this profile from any site other than obesityhelp.com it is being used without my permission.
My surgeon is Dr. Matthew Rawlins at Rockwood Clinic in Spokane Washington.
Click here for my surgeons website
Hello, my name is Wendy and I am 36 years young.
This is where I live.
These are my very spoiled dogs.
This is my sister, Melody. She is a non-op member here at OH.
Click here to see her profile
I have been overweight all of my life. Well at least since I was 9.
My mom says it was just like I woke up one day and I was fat.
I have struggled with this time and time again and I am ready to take a big leap.
I am very interested in learning about the surgery because I need it. I do however have concerns; I suppose most people do when deciding such a big thing. I'm not afraid of the surgery because I have had many small and large surgeries since I was a kid, part of which led to myweight problem. I didn't see any others on the board in Lewiston who have had the surgery. I was hoping to find someone in my town who has done this.
There are so many things going thru my head right now (about this) I just do not know where to begin. My Dr. mentioned RNY a while back and at the time I thought it was pretty drastic but now I have been off from work for over a year now and my weight has increased drastically so it seems that drastic measures are in order.
My Paradox
I am wondering if there is anyone here who only has 1 kidney.
There are 2 ingredients that food manufacturers add to make their product taste good, sodium and fat. Well being a fat person with 1 kidney this kind of throws a monkey wrench into the works of my diet. What to choose, Low fat, which is typically high in sodium. Or low sodium, which is typically high in fat. I read labels. People look at me strange. They see that I am fat; they don’t see that I am missing one kidney. The choice is obvious to them, but they don’t know me.
They judge me by my fat.
My left kidney was removed when I was 9 due to chronic pyelonephritis. I basically lived on meds until my mom took me to a different doctor who said "its gotta go now"!! I have lived a pretty normal life with just one. My only concern facing WLS is ketosis. I know it can be hard on a kidney. I am wondering if there is anyone who has been thru it already with only one kidney. I know my morbid obesity is not helping matters and I will go thru with WLS, but I would like to talk with someone in my same situation.
you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You
adorable, but a little out there. It's alright,
you might not have it all, but there are worse
which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
06/29/2004
Well I had my psych eval done today and it went very well.
Dr. McKinnon was very nice and that helped because I was very nervous. I am proud to announce that I am normal. He is going to recommend me for surgery and report that further testing would be un-necessary and a waste of time, he said that I am well adjusted, secure, intelligent and have good support for aftercare!! I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief because I was kinda dreading the unknown and being paranoid about him not liking me, etc., etc.....
08/03/2004
Hi everyone, I have good news... First, today is my 15th wedding anniversary and second, I just called my Dr.'s office and they told me that I was approved for surgery, YEAH!!!! I am sooo excited!!!! I still have to wait for a phone call giving me scheduling instructions... did I tell you that I am really excited?!!!! I won't be waiting for that phone call, I will be calling them as soon as I get up tomorrow, I wonder if anyone is there at 5 A.M., hmmmm....... LMAO!!! I'll write more when I have a date. Oh I am sooo happy!!!!!!!
08/09/2004
Carol just called and told me that I have a date.... yeah finally!!!
Not that it has been a really long time I am just ready now!
She told me that my date is November 9th and we discussed a
few of the tests that I need to get done as soon as possible.
I need a gall bladder ultrasound, treadmill EKG, a chest x-ray and blood work.
She is sending me a package with all of the information in it but I can get going on those four big tests now if I want to.
*Note to self, call PCP first thing in the morning!!*
09/13/2004
Well, I was able to have my gall bladder ultrasound and chest x-ray done locally but the Treadmill EKG turned into a Nuclear stress EKG and had to be done at a large Cardiac Center in Spokane Wa., about a 2 hour drive from home and since it is split into 2 days I spent the night there in a hotel. This explains how the test was done:
**********
A Nuclear stress test is a test used to estimate the amount of blood reaching the heart muscle during rest and exercise, and is similar to a standard treadmill stress test, but provides the doctor with additional information by using a radioactive tracer (Cardiolite or Thallium) to evaluate coronary blood flow.
Medication stress testing may be done instead of exercise stress testing for people with certain conditions that may make exercise difficult (such as COPD, peripheral vascular disease, spinal cord injury, obesity, arthritis, or multiple sclerosis).
This test is performed in two phases with each phase lasting 30-60 minutes. The patient may be required to return the following day to complete the second phase.
DAY 1
First, You will be asked to sit or lie on the examining table and several small electrodes (small pads) will be placed on your chest. These electrodes are then connected to an electrocardiograph (ECG), which monitors the rhythm of your heart and you will be given a routine electrocardiogram (EKG), which takes about 5 to 10 minutes.
Then an intravenous (IV) line will be started in your arm or hand to inject a medication to stress the heart. The medication used for this may be adenosine, dipyridamole (Persantine), or dobutamine (Dobutrex). You may get a headache and feel dizzy, flushed, and nauseated from the medication, but these symptoms usually do not last long. Additional EKGs and blood pressure measurements are taken during this stress portion of the test. At the peak of stress a very small dose of a radioactive substance called a tracer is injected into a vein in your arm or hand. The tracer is not harmful to the patient or the heart. After the stress part of the test is completed, a special gamma camera will take pictures of the heart. This usually lasts 20-40 minutes. Then you will lie flat with both arms above your head, it is very important that you lie still for the time required to take these pictures. This shows how the heart works after stress.
DAY2
For the resting scan, a small amount of the radioactive tracer is injected into a vein in your arm or hand. You will lie on your back on a table with the gamma camera positioned above your chest. The camera measures the radiation given off by the radioactive tracer as it moves through your bloodstream. Again this usually lasts 20-40 minutes. You will lie flat with both arms above your head, it is very important that you lie still for the time required to take these pictures. This shows how the heart works at rest.
The camera does not produce any radiation, so you are not exposed to any additional radiation while the scan is being done.
The resting images and the stress images are compared.
**********
I should have the results in 2 weeks, I am keeping my fingers crossed that all is well. I have never had any heart issues and the only reason that Dr. wants this done on me is because of family history of obesity and heart disease.
09/15/2004
The Heart Clinic call and said my test results were normal and that is very good news.
And I just received a call from Carol and they have had a cancellation.
She asked if I would be interested in moving my surgery date up, well naturally I jumped at the chance so they bumped me up, now instead of November 9th, my date will be October 18th, how awesome is that!!!
WOOOHOOOO!!!!!
09/27/2004
Well I am having my pre-op blood work done today. My surgeon has requested CBC and CMP. My PCP tossed in Thyroid test (T4 and TSH) as well, I am not quite sure why at this point, he has checked it several times in the past. Results will be back today or tomorrow and I have to get copies to take to Spokane for my pre-op appointment on the 29th.
9/28/2004
Today is my 36th Birthday
I have to see my PCP today to discuss my blood work.
They called me last night and told me that I need to come in and see them, so I have been freaking out all night.
They have never called me about any blood work before so automatically I assume the worst possible scenario!
Well I get there and Dr. says "Well everything looks great but... your Thyroid tests are a little off"
Uh oh. They were always OK before.
He goes on to explain that he wants to start me on thyroid medication but
he wants my surgeon to decide when, now or after surgery.
**I will put my test results below**
My T4 is 0.77 and the ref. range/females is 0.77-1.61 ng/dl.
My TSH is 4.96, the ref. range/females is 0.34-4.82ulU/ml.
So actually my T4 is normal, on the lowest end
and my TSH is just slightly elevated.
It takes several days for me to realize that this is for the rest of my life.
10/07/2004
A wonderful woman has volunteered to be my Angel. Please visit Shelley Gingrich's Profile
01/21/2005
Yesterday was my 3-month follow up visit with my surgeon, he is pleased with my progress and my labs were all good. I have lost 78.6 lbs.
02/20/2005
I need to update when I can, but until then this is my most recent photo.
My Pre-Op Photo.
I asked my nutritionist for it because I didn't have one.
me 7 days post op
me 14 days post op
me 22 days post op -31 lbs.
me 30 days post op -37 lbs.
6 months post-op -110
3-23-2006
WOW it has been over a year since I have updated anything. It has been a great year; I am wearing loose fitting size 16 jeans and l/xl shirts. I was at Kmart today and grabbed a pair of pants size 14 on clearance for $4.00, got them home and tried them on and they fit great. I weigh 183 and fluctuate about 5 pounds. I try not to let it bother me but sometimes it really does. My weight loss has pretty much stalled; I do think that when the weather warms up I may start to lose (hoping!!) again. I will be more active then.
Right now I am doing aerobics at a local gym 3 times a week, one hour each class. Each class is 15 – 20 minutes of floor aerobics, 15 – 20 minutes of step aerobics, 10 minutes of strength training using hand weights and finally about 10 minutes of abs. I try to go in at least 2 more time to do a walk/jog on the treadmill for at least a mile and some more strength training using the weight machines.
I have been really faithful about going to the gym, I started going about 5 weeks post-op and have gone at least twice a week since then. At first I was doing water aerobics. I started that in November 2004 and did that twice a week until about July 2005, at that point I was too cold in the water to last the whole hour so I gave it up for floor aerobics.
I have lost approximately 175 pounds and I do have some skin issues but not nearly what I thought I might have and I attribute that to all of the exercise that I have done.
I eat pretty much normal, not too much bothers me. I avoid high fats and bread and sugar, other than that I eat what I like, protein first of course!!
My hair is trashed; I have it cut about shoulder length. I have what I like to refer to as an “undercoat” LOL, which is a whole head of new growth that is hopefully healthy. I will be much happier when it is all one length and a lot fuller all over. I went to a salon for a cut and perm last month and the salon manager wouldn’t do a perm because my hair is too thin in too many spots. I can deal with lousy hair; it is a small price to pay for having my health back.
Well I think this is enough for now, I will try to update more often…
TTFN
Wendy
Future Update
Future Update
Future Update
I will no longer worry about yesterday.
It is in the past and the past will never change.
Only I can change by choosing to do so.
I will no longer worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow will always be there, waiting for me to make the most of it.
But I cannot make the most of tomorrow without first making the most of today.
I will look in the mirror and I will see a person worthy of my respect and admiration.
This capable person looking back at me is someone I enjoy
spending time with and someone I would like to get to know better.
I will cherish each moment of my life.
I value this gift bestowed upon me in this world and I will unselfishly share this gift with others.
I will use this gift to enhance the lives of others.
I will take a moment to step off the beaten path and to revel in the mysteries I encounter.
I will face challenges with courage and determination.
I will overcome what barriers there may be which hinder my quest for growth and self-improvement.
I will take life one day at a time, one step at a time.
Discouragement will not be allowed to taint my positive self-image, my desire to succeed or my capacity to love.
I walk with renewed faith in human kindness.
Regardless of what has gone before, I believe there is hope for a brighter and better future.
I will open my mind and my heart.
I will welcome new experiences.
I will meet new people.
I will not expect perfection from myself nor anyone else...perfection does not exist in an imperfect world.
But I will applaud the attempt to overcome human foibles.
I am responsible for my own happiness and I will do things that make me happy.
I will admire the beautiful wonders of nature,
listen to my favorite music, pet a kitten or puppy, and soak in a bubble bath.
Pleasure can be found in the most simple of gestures.
I will learn something new; I will try something different; I will savor all the various flavors life has to offer.
I will change what I can and the rest I will let go.
I will strive to become the best me I can possibly be.
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