lil miss amy
* The oldest enteries to the newest. So the newer stuff will be towards the bottom. *
Hello, My name is Amy and I'm 31. I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I'm so tired of being tired all the time, being embaraced of how I look, not being able to do everyday normal things like clipping my toe nails, shaving legs ect. I hate wondering if I will fit in the booth, or chairs with arms on them. I think I finaly got seriouse when my Mom and I barely fit into stadium seats at my cousins graduation this year. My Mom and I have been talking about surgery ever since then. Now we are seriouse about it. I can't wait!
My Daughter, Me (hiding), My Son And My Mom x-mas 2004
09/05/05 - Tomorrow I meet with my surgen for the 1st time. I'm getting so excited how things are moving along so fast.
09/06/05 - I met my surgen today. He seems real nice. The nurse is scheduling all the pre-op tests. There are about 7 pre-op tests, I can't re-call them all. She gave me numbers to make my own psyciatric evaluation appointment and they don't take medicare and it would be $200.00, so I have been calling around all over to try and get it cheaper. Medicare only covers 50% of it though, so either way I will have to pay more than I want to for it. On disability I can barely make it by as it is, it's hard to come up with the extra money. I also left a message for the nutricianist to call me to schedule an appointment with them too.
09/11/05 - I have a few pre-op appointments!09/13/05 - at 2:15pm/3:00pm (Endoscopy) The test where they stick a camera down your throat into your stomache... No food after midnight. They said I will need a driver, my brother Gabe said he will drive me.
09/15/05 - at 11:00am (Eccocardiogram) This testwill be for my heart, its a ultra sound of my heart.
09/20/05 - at 10:00am I have the psychiatric eval, and at the same place but at 12:00 I have the nutricianist apt.
09/21/05 - at 1:30pm (abominal Ultrasound) @ St. Clare.
09/21/05 - at 8:00pm - Sleep study, to see if I have sleep apnia (my dr wants to know before surgery.)
YAY!- ALL PRE-OP TESTS ARE DONE!
09/13/05 - I went to get my stomache looked in today (endoscopy) . It's weird because I remember them giving me drugs, but I don't remember them sticking anything in my mouth/throat ect... Next thing I know they are wheeling me out. Everything looked good. It takes two weeks for the biopsy test results though. So far everythings going good I guess.09/14/05 - I went to the outback steak house for my bithday dinner. The food was sooo good, and my aunt gave me $100.00. Tomorrow I turn 32.09/15/05 - I went to St. Clare for the eccocardiogram (an ultra sound of my heart). Two guys took the thing and pressed it around my left breast, and took pictures of my heart, it was kinda cool, but I was not very comfortable. One of the guys noticed it was my birthday and said happy birthday to me, he was the 1st to say it today and it was nice. I was saposed to have the ultrasound of my abdoman today too, but there was a scheduling mistake and so I go in again tomorrow for it. - They called and changed it to 9/21/05 instead of tomorrow.
The surgery I'm going to get...
My virtral before and after pics... hahaha!09/18/05 - I have no patients! I can not wait! I want this surgery now! Grrrr it's so agrivating that I have to wait! I'm going to guess I will get my surgery at the begining of November 2005. But it is September and I want it now!09/20/05 - I had my psych evaluation today! Yay, I'm not insane! I passed it. He was a really nice guy too, I wish he was a doctor I could see on a regular basis, instead of the one I have now. I also saw my nutricianist today too. She knows a lot about protien, of wich I know very little about so it's good she can help me with diet. I'm almost done with my pre-testing! YAY! 09/21/05 - I just got done with my abdominal ultrasound. She pushed hard, it hurt a little. Tonight is my sleep study, I go in at 8:00pm and come home in the morning or afternoon tomorrow. I think I have sleep apnia, we shall see. I got a letter from the digestive center saying I have esophageal reflux. One more fat person thing I have now is Reflux, oh well it will go away when I loose weight I think.09/22/05 - I did the sleep study. It was weird, they hook a bunch of wires up to your face, a couple on my chest and one on each leg, then the thing around my waist and chest, a thing in my nose and above my mouth to check my breathing. She woke me up in the middle of the night and put me on the c-pap machine. Then at about 7:00 am woke me up and it was all done. Mom thinks that means I have sleep apnia since thats what they did with her. I have to make a follow-up apt to find it all out though. Not sure what doctor to follow up with though, since Dr. Nyreen ordered it, but Dr. Thompson is my PCP. But that was my last pre-op test to have done! Next should be with Dr. Nyreen again and then my surgery date! YES!10/31/05 - Happy Halloween!
Well, I have not updated because nothings happend. A lady from my doctors office called me and said they were short on staff and were not scheduling surgeries for about a month because of it. Well that times almost up so I plan on calling them today and finding out whats up.
- I just called the doctors office and they said the appointment sceduler person is working on scheduling my surgery appointment and I should know when it is before the week is up. :o)11/09/05 - Yay I have my surgery scheduled for this month! November 28th!
My docotors office called today, and gave me all my appointment dates. I have to start a liquid diet 7 days before on Nove 21st! Wich means no Thanks giving day for me. Pre-op is Nov 23th at 1:15pm with dr. nyreen, then the same day i go downstairs into the hospital part to admitting for my pre-admitting and I have to take my medications in with me. Then on Nov 28th I have to be at the hospital at 9:30am and my surgery is scheduled to start at 11:30am. He said I would probably only be in the hospital for 2 nights. My post-op is scheduled for December 13th at 3:30pm. Yay! I'm so excited to finally be getting this done! The 7 day liquid diet sounds horrible though! Especialy since it will be through thanks giving, im thinking i will just stay home that night. plus our family x-mas party will be on dec 16th, wich i do believe i will be on blended food then too, wich means i might have to tell the family what i did, but i was hoping not too. oh well. I'm just glad to get the surgery scheduled finally.11/13/05 - I went to a health store today. I left feeling very confussed. I wish people would tell me what to buy, because I left with only 4 samples and feeling extreamly confussed. I know I need chewable or liquid vitamins but not sure what ones to get. Plus I need protien. gggrrrr the fustereation begins. I think I need to find a support group near by, but not owning a car makes everything difficult. Anyone reading this, please tell me what you use and what you have tried and hated. Please?11/18/05 - I feel kinda dumb for feeling this way, but I keep thinking about all the food I like so much that I might not be able to eat ever again. I feel like I'm about to loose somthing I find to be so very comforting to me. It's depressing me thinking I may never eat cheese cake again. haha Although I want to do this anyway, there are some losses to be looked at. As my kids will get candy in their x-mas stalkings, what will my stocking hold? However as much as I think I will miss sugar and possibly dairy too, I do hope that I dump from sugar. I have found from reading lots of peoples posts on this site that they can still eat sugar. Because I want to not fall into temptation as easily I hope sugar makes me feel like death. Then I will be less likey to try it again. As I type this I'm craving a chocolate chip cookie so bad that if I owned a car, I would drive to the store and buy one! But I do not have a car, and it's 12:23am so I will not get that cookie. Then there are people who can't eat grapes or bananas, I hope I can at least eat those even though they have natural sugar. I'm a complicated person I sapose.
My surgery is in 10 days! ... I am very, very scared! I wish I wasn't but I really am. In 3 days I start a liquid diet, I hope I can do that. This Monday the 21st my Mom and I are going to go to a support group at St. Joe hospital at 6:45 it's on the ground floor main cafateria. I'm so scared and so nervouse thinking about the surgery i'm looking forward to meeting other people who have had or will also have a WLS too. I was never scared to have my hysterectomy but for some reason I'm surprising myself at how scared I feel about this surgery. 11/19/05 - Mom took me to vitalady today and my mom had told me for my last b-day I had that she would pay the first $100.00 towards my vitamins and protien. So she spent I think $85.00 on vitamins and protien at the vitalady place. It's a business in their home. They also have support groups there on wednsdays at 7:00pm. So we might go to one of those too. Tomorrow's my last day of eating normal...11/21/05 - I'm so hungry! My 1st day of no food and I'm wondering how can I do this? Anyway enough whining. Tonight Mom and I went to our 1st support group. My nutricianist lead it. A girl LaRae I met from this web site was there, it was weird when she said my name I was like surprised she knew my name. I suck at remembering names. We have the same surgen Nyreen and she's been having a hard time with their office too. I really liked hearing about people who had the surgery. It's comforting to know so many people are doing so good. Everyone was nice, friendly and seemed excited for me. I want to go back, next time I will be post-op!11/28/05 - Today is my surery! I'm scared, very, very scared! My Mom just got here to take me to the hospital. Wish me luck. I could use prayers too.12/03/05 - I had my surgery this last Monday. I had complications. Durging the surgery the stapler broke after he had finished my bowel part, so he had to cut me wide open and sew my stomache by hand. So I was in longer than had been expected. I have the 5 laprascopic holes, then also the long one down the middle that had to be big enough for his hand to fit in, looks like a really long zipper. I remember waking begging for pain medication crying. even 5.5 days later I still take my medication exactly every 3 hours. I do not remember being in this much pain before. It of course is better a little bit everyday. Hurts to breath and move and even lay still. I know Im a rare case, its not usualy like this for people. I can't help but be depressed, from the pain and helplessness I feel. They sent me home on Friday. I can barely drink but managed a protien drink, it took me a half hour to drink 4 ounces. I try to drink water every 15 minutes, but don't always. I can feel it go down and make my stomache swell, and it hurts. My daughter just made herself breakfast and it smells good and I wish i could taste it, but I'm definatly too afraid knowing how much it will hurt me. In the hospital they made me drink prune juice that had natural surgar in it, i had to mix the drink half water and half juice. It made me dump. I was sick, dizzy, nausous, felt high, sweaty and it lasted 2 hours, but the prune juice finally worked and i finally had a bowel movement on my last day in there. I got home yesturday. My dog Meadow is a 5 pound pomeranian and is used to sitting on my tummy, and so far 6 times i have screamed in pain while tossing her off me, poor little girl just doesn't understand. She missed me a lot. Today is saturday and since i live in a extreamly tiny apparetment, and they want me to walk a few short times a day I got my daughter to walk around the little block with me, that hurt really bad, but after im done i do feel a tiny bit better, i think that it's maybe all in my head i don't know. Anyway I'm still alive. I don't know if I lost any weight yet, I know that in the hosptial I gained 10 pounds, but I never ate so I don't know what that was all from. My cuts itch, so they must be healing. I know I might of forgotten to mention somthing, so feel free to ask me questions. 12/06/05 - 9 days post op today. I'm feeling better every day. Still very sore, but nothing compared to a few days ago. I weigh 270 now. I have a very hard time getting enough water, protien and soup in me. I'm just full all the time. I only do it because i know I'm saposed to. Today I walked to the 111th street sign to the 109th street sign back home. It's the longest i've walked so far. Yesturday on Monday my mom and I went to the support group at st. joes hospital and it was a huge group of people, and I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow I'm going to vitalady with my mom to get an other flavor of protien because I get tired of the same flavor all the time.12/09/05 - I weighed myself this morning and I'm 261 now. I was excited and called my Mom. Mom gave me the scale a while ago, and she says its off a little and says you weigh more than what a doctors scale will say. We will see on the 13th at my post-op appointment. So if you count the weight I was a week before surgery wich was 275, then I have lost 14 pounds. If you count the weight I was in the hospital right after surgery 284 then I have lost 23 pounds. I'm now 12 days post op, so thats more than one pound a day that i've lost.12/12/05 - I weigh 253 today, I've lost 22 pounds now. 15 days post op. I've been having a hard time drinking enough, because I feel nausouse a lot of the time. I wish I didn't feel sick so much. But I'm happy the weight seems to be melting off.12/29/05 - I've lost 30 pounds now! My cloths are feeling baggy! I still hate protien but drink 2 a day anyway, adding rasberries and bananas helps a lot. 01/30/06 - I have lost 41 pounds now! I got all excited this moring and made my 13 year old daughter come into my room so I could show her how loose my pants were, OMG they barely stayed on! I'm loving how my cloths are all baggy now. But I can't wear those jean anymore, so i do need to get some pants that fit me, and I don't want to waste money on jeans yet, so maybe I will wear my baggy sweats for a while longer. I had felt like I should have lost more weight, but the doctor and my nutricianist said I'm doing just fine, I complained that some people have had the surgery after me and have lost the same amount of weight as I have and they explained it's probably because they started heavier than I did, wich was true, they said the bigger ya are the faster or more ya loose in the beginning, so now I don't feel as bad. I still hate protien. I have been good lately about drinking 2 a day, there for a while I was only drinking one a day... I'm also taking iron now and I wasn't before. The hardest thing for me is the fluids... I feel like I drink all the time. But I really only get about 30 oz of fluids a day, and they want me to drink 64oz! I honestly do not see how it is possible. I try though and maybe I will soon enough. Thankfully there have been a few breaks from the rain! I love to walk outside, but I do live in the Seattle/Tacoma area and it rains here a lot. I walk my little pomeranian with me and have pratically had to drag her she doesnt walk as fast as I do, so if its nice out tomorrow I wall cary her on my chest in the dog carier thing I have. Anyways I don't hurt anymore and I feel really good. The big scar itches a lot but other than that I have had no problems. In 2.5 weeks I will be able to finally eat raw veggies! I have wanted salads for a long time now. I have not had any problems with any foods so far. No dumping, but then again I still have not had anything with sugar in it. I do go to the support meetings at st. joes hospital and I find them to be very informational, helpful and they do make me try harder for some reason after a meeting I feel all uplifted like YES I can really do this! I have been going to church again and love it, I had missed it a lot. God bless you all.02/15/06 - I have lost 46 pounds now. My Mom and I plan to start going to curves 3 times a week, starting this week! I can't wait! I go on a 20 minute walk about 5 times a week. I have been good about my vitamins and 2 protien drinks a day, but drinking enough water has been extreamly hard for me.02/21/06 - Now I have lost 49 pounds! Yay! I just got back from my 25 minute walk. Last night Mom and I worked out for 30 minutes at curves, it was so fun! I recomend it! Then we went to visit my grandma and then we went to the weight loss surgery support group. I really like the support group. I think I have only missed one. They are at St. Josephs at 6:45pm every other Monday, I suggest everyone go to a support group before and after their surgeries. I always learn somthing, and get inspired to keep going strong. 02/23/06 - YES! I've now lost 51 pounds! Wahoo! Damn this feels so good!03/16/06 - I've lost 57 pounds now. I saw Heidi my nutricianist today, she is pregnant for the first time, I'm happy for her. I have to drink 3 protiens a day now!!!! YUCK!!! Oh well, I gotta do it. My hairs falling out a little more than the norm, I have thick hair so i hope it wont be noticable, but it might. Heidi says I need to eat more, drink more water and that 3rd protien a day, but other than that I'm doing great.03/27/06 - Now I have lost 60 pounds. Just been keeping myself busy, but everythings been going pretty good. I walk almost every day. I work out at curves 3 times a week. I have been doing everything my surgeon and nutricianist have told me to do, except I should drink about 10 more ounces of water a day. So anyway I took some pictures, but I think I look worse than these ones seem to show. haha I just got lucky with these pictures, they are not as bad as I really look. haha
hahah I'm such a nerd.04/06/06 - Now I have lost 65 pounds. I've been really sick though with strep throat. I'm now on antibiotics, but it's been hard to eat and even drink my protiens. I'm finally feeling a tiny bit better today. Anyway here is the latest picture of me I have.
04/20/06 - Today at curves I got weighed and measured, and in a month a lost 11 pounds, and I think last month I had lost 10 pounds. I lost a little over 2 inches of boobs though, and they are already small as it is... I had been feeling like the weights coming off too slow, but I can be happy with 10 or 11 pounds a month. So far I have lost 67 pounds.04/26/06 - I weigh 204 now, so that means I have lost 71 pounds now! I've been working out at Curves 3 days a week for 30 min each time. I've been going for over 2 months now and I got a copy of my measurments, and later I will update this with them. I also met a nice guy named Bob, I met him last Sunday we had dinner and I like him, not sure if anything will come out of this, but I want to get to know him better. If not for love, I think he would be a great Christian friend. Well, I need to go check out my myspace now... 05/03/06 - I weigh 200 pounds now, wich means I have lost 75 pounds now! Whahoo!05/22/06 - I have now lost 80 pounds, wich means I weigh 195 (UNDER 200lbs!!!) I have some pictures...
195 pounds - (34.5 BMI) (6 months post op) (Size 18 - 1x) (60 lbs to loose)
Me and my dog Meadow, and just an other of me. 06/11/06 - I have now lost 85 pounds! WHOA that's a lot of fat gone now! I also finally told my favorite aunt that I had the gastric bi-pass. (I kept that secret for about 7.5 months) She lives in the Tri-cities by my other relatives that I have not told yet, but I trust her not to tell anyone. I'm planning on telling them, I think... But just not yet. We'll just have to see. It's a big secret, but I'm not sure I want my whole family talking about it. Wich they would talk about it, a lot and to everyone, and its kinda embaracing and I don't wish to be the main topic if you know what I mean. I love my family, they're awesome, and they love me too, but they talk an awful lot and I just prefer it not be about how Amy lost all that weight.... Yah know? So now I weigh 190, and maybe I'll do a new picture when I'm down to 185, so pray I loose 5 more pounds extra fast! hahahaha06/21/06 - I weigh 187 now! I think that means I have now lost 88 pounds! Wow, some anorexic people actually weight 88 pounds, and some little teenagers weigh 88 pounds! That's a lot! I still look fat though, but less big. hahaha I'm not as swollen for sure. I wear size 16 jeans, and XL shirts and XL pajamas and I'm so much happier! I'm looking forward to size 12, because a lot of normal sized people seem to be size 12, and I will be very excited to be in that catagory. It's hard to imagine that 7 months ago I was wearing 4x/3x sizes. I put on the purple t-shirt that I wore in the fat 275 picture of me at the bottom of this page, and it felt like I had a big tent on, and the shirt goes almost to my knees. It's simply amazing and I give all thanks to my lord, he has helped me more than anyone will ever know. Thank you Jesus, I realy needed this, and I'm glad you agreed and have helped me and kept me safe and healthy through it all. Without God I am nothing, alone and lost. I'm happy and thankful. Thank you for loving me so much Lord.07/07/06 - I'm at 183 pounds now. It's comming off really slow now. I was hoping to be in a size 12 by my birthday wich is September 15th... Do you think I can do it or am I wishing for too much too fast? Thats about 2 months from now, and I'm in a size 16 right now... I think I will have to work hard at it to do it.... Pray for me please, I would be sooooo thrilled to be a size 12! That would be a awesome birthday presant to myself. Anyways I took a picture of me yesturday so here ya go.
July 6, 2006
And I have these pictures from a trip to Seattle last week... 
I love this picture of me and Andrea haha we had so much fun
Me on the Pike Place Market Pig
Yes I did need help getting on it - hahaha
8 more pounds and I will have lost a whole 100 pounds!!! I can't even hardly believe that!!!!!!!!! WOW07/10/06 - I weigh 179 now! That's just amazing to me! WaHoo! I've been very active lately. I've been walking a lot. Going to the lake and swimming a lot. I'm tan, well all the parts of my body that I allow to see the sun are tan anyways... I have used more sunscreen this year than I have since I was in my early 20's... I'm hardly ever home anymore. I just want to get out and go everywhere and do everything I can now. I have so much energy and excitment for life that I can't remember ever even having! Is God awesome or is he awesome!?!? 
Wow 44 more pounds to reach my goal!!!! I'm getting so close! I'm sure I will need to do somthing about all my loose skin though... Looks like I'll need my tummy done for sure, and maybe my upper under arms areas, inner upper leggs and a boob lift or somthing...but I'd probably just get the tummy done, but I think its about $5,000.00 just for the tummy, but I want it more than I want a car, so maybe someday... But damn I'm feeling great I love this! And when I lose 4 more pounds I will have lost a whole 100 pounds! WHOA some people weigh 100 pounds, it will be like losing a whole person off my body! I'm amazed!07/26/06 - I've lost 100 pounds now! Where's my 100 pounds lost gold card? Anyone know how I get one? But Yay! 100 POUNDS! I don't think I can even lift 100 pounds! That's awesome, thank you Lord!08/09/06 - I weigh 171 now. I think that means I've lost 104 pounds. I'm almost out of size 16 pants and heading towards size 14's! I need more cloths, badly, but can't afford to buy any yet, so I'm trying to get all I can out of what I have. I've even been sewing a few things. The hardest for me is I need a new bra, and have no idea my size now and probably should get fitted, but in a few months I'll be down hopefuly more than 10 pounds and so I might not wear it long. I always have worn my shirts bigger. But I think most XL shirts fit me how I like and even a few larges. I went to wild waves for my daughters 14th birthday last Saturday and I had so much fun, I went on lots of rides and lots of water slides, I felt almost like a kid again that day. What was great to me was at the end of the day I still wanted to keep on going! With so much weight off and maybe the fact I work out regularly now I do have so much more energy than before the surgery.10/05/06 -Sorry I haven't updated as much. I have been very, very busy. I sorta kinda have a LIFE now! Praise the lord! I wegh 151, my BMI is 26.7 and I feel great! I'm even dating again!
My latest pictures...
My 15 year old son and lil 33 year old me!
My 14 year old daughter and I
Me and my friend from Jr high
re-united after 16 years
My 33rd Birthday!
This rose was from my grandma Jerry's funeral...
My daughter and I
In my great grandmas old house.
Look at me now, can you tell I was 275 pounds once?10/09/06 - Well, I'm on a plateau. I work out often, walk often, eat right, drink my protiens, vitamins and I'm still 151. But this BMI info I'll post below made me feel better. Plus I can feel I'm losing inches from how my cloths and body feels.
Height: 5 feet 3 inches
Weight: 151 pounds
You have a BMI of 26.7.
This shows that you are moderately overweight.
Your BMI is not high enough to qualify you for bariatric surgery.
The table below shows value ranges and what they mean.
Range Meaning
less than 18.5 Underweight
18.5 - 24.9 Normal
25.0 - 29.9 Overweight - Me now
30.0 - 39.9 Obese
40.0 - 50 Extremely Obese - Me then
over 50 Super Obese
The BMI Formula:
(Weight in kilograms)
(Height in meters)2
That's pretty cool huh, my BMI started at 48.7 and now its 26.7! I'm almost what they consider normal!11/28/06 - It's been one year today since my surgery. I have lost 141 pounds and now I weigh 134 pounds. I wear a size 4 jeans and medium tops. I'm so much happier now, I'm very thankful that I was able to have this surgery, I wish I would have done it sooner. Oh and now my BMI is NORMAL!!!
Januray 15, 2007 - Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life's so busy now... I now weigh 121 pounds and my BMI is now 21.4!!! I haven't actualy been even trying to lose weight this last month, but I've been sick a lot, flu then broncitis and so I've had no appatite and the pounds kinda just melted off, bad way I know... Even though I've been sick I still work out. Curves 3 to 4 days a week, it's fun, quick and easy. I workout for health, to maintain and for muscle tone, but not to lose weight, I'm actualy ok with my weight now, I just have some loose extra skin issues, no more butt and no more breasts. I'd rather look and feel great with my cloths on and look and feel embaraced naked verses looking fat and feeling terrible with or without cloths on... haha I would know... Trust me...
Here's a picture taken today.
March 19, 2007 - I now weigh 110 pounds. My BMI is 19.5. I feel like I'm eating all the time. Little amounts but more than 4 times a day for sure. My bad thing is I only drink about 1 protien shake a day and I'm saposed to drink 3 a day! So I'll work on that, but it's hard for me since I hate protien and when its time to drink one, I pick things like eating steak or cheese instead, so I need to stop that and drink more protien. I might weigh so little now from losing muscle and that would not be good at all. Plus my hair is still real thin. I wear jeans size 2. Most shirts I get in small or medium. Anyway, I think I looked better at 125 pounds and so I have actualy been trying to gain weight, but just seem to keep losing it. Odd how the table turned huh?
Oh people ask me about this all the time and so check out this link, it will show you all I need done: http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/plasticsurgery/plasticsurgery-procedures.html#BodyContour
04/17/07 - Today I weighed 112 pounds, so happy to not be losing weight at least. I have been under a huge amount of stress. Finacial, but mostly things to do with my kids. Happy the weathers warming up, more trips to the parks and more walks in the sun and SWIMMING! Wish I looked good in normal t-shirts and normal shorts, or better yet a swim suit! Loose skin = long shorts and longish sleeves...
