HEATI
I am happily married and have three boys that keep me busy with sports. I am constantly on the go with them, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I had told some people that I work with that I was going to the Dr. about gastric bypass and they told me that I was stupid and that if I would just eat right and work out I would loose all of my extra weight. I completely went off on them. I mean unless you have been overweight you should not judge us. I was always skinny and ate all the time I just never gained weight until I had my first child. I had him at an early age and my body just went nutts. I weighed 140 pounds and was 5' 11, when I had him I weighed 202. You have to understand that I gained the 60 pounds in like a little over a month. My family didn't know I was pregnant until I was 7 1/2 months. I have struggled every since I had my first child. Now I have 3 and I weigh 312 lbs. I didn't choose to be this big. I never thought I would be like this. I was always very active. I think that by us being overweight "tiny" people judge us. I can eat right and exercise but I get to that 50 lbs lost mark and I stop. That is very frustrating for me. I can't do it any longer. I have been struggling with this for 15 years. I am tired of fighting a loosing battle.
I have been waiting since February to get my surgery date and my insurance company told me in April that my date had been set for May 31st. I was so excited. I thought I am on my way to a new me. I had a few more tests to have done before that date and I had not received an approval letter from my insurance company at that point. So the week before my surgery date I called my insurance company and they informed me that me claim had been cancelled. I demanded to know why and they said that my Dr. had not gotten them all the information they needed. The lady transferred me to the care coordination deparment, where the lady had told me that it was cancelled because they had not received my height, weight and bmi from the Dr. and they had not received my 5 year medical history. I informed her that I knew for a fact that my Dr. had sent my height, weight and bmi because they sent that with the initial report. She told me that they didn't have it. I asked her about the 5 year medical history because I don't go to the Dr. unless I am really sick and I had not been to the Dr. but maybe 3 times in the past 5 years. She got to looking at my information and put me on hold she came back to the phone and told me that she hadn't forgot about me that her supervisor was looking over the claim. She then came back to the phone and told me that the company I work for does not require the 5 year medical history and it was her mistake that she cancelled the claim and she would get with my Dr.'s office immediatley and let them know.
At this point I had been on an emotional rollercoaster that I would not wish on anyone. I mean she had told me that my claim was denied and I think I swollowed my heart. Then she tells me that I am approved and it was her fault that I was denied. Then I felt like I was on top of the world. She told me that she would fax me a copy of the letter approving my surgery to me and to the Dr. and the Dr. office should be calling me but she was sure that they would have given someone else my date since they knew that the claim was cancelled previously. So I had to wait until the next day and the Dr. office called me and told me that I had a preop appointment scheduled for the 30th of May. I asked them if they knew when my surgery would be and they told me that I would find out at my appointment that they didn't have the date yet.
So, I am off to my preop appointment really happy, knowing that I am going to get my date and I can breathe a little easier. I get to the appointment and have to get on the dreaded scales and I go into the room and wait for the Dr. The nurse comes in and I ask her when my date is and she tells me that they don't have a date yet because the hospital is trying to start a Bariatric Program and they want Dr. Coleman to run it, that he has a meeting with them on the 1st of June and that I will have my date on the June 2nd or June 6th. The Dr. came in and talked to me for a while and told me that my surgery will be the week of the 12th of June. I was excited. Then he told me to loose 10 pounds before my surgery to make the surgery easier for him. I thought to myself... "Here I am obviously overweight at the Dr. to have surgery to help me loose weight and you want me to loose 10 more pounds" isn't that irronic?.. So here I am trying to loose the weight but not really having much luck, waiting to find out what day my surgery is......
Well I finally received my surgery date. It is Friday July 14th. I was so excited.. The nurse told me that I had to loose the 10 pounds or the Dr. would not do the surgery because it is a compliance issue. I am telling you that shrink that I went to has really messed me up and told the Dr. that I didn't understand the severity of the surgery and that I can't follow directions. I can assure you and everyone else that I can. So I am off to loose 10 pounds. I am going to do the meat and cheese diet again and walk 2-3 miles a day. They also told me that I had to get off of caffeine so I am drinking water or diet caffeine free soda. I will let you know when I have lost my 10 pounds. Of course I don't own a scale because I know I am way overweight and don't have to get on one to find out. So I guess I will have to wait until I go to the Dr. on the 11th to get my surgery clearance. I mean I had wiated 2 weeks to get the date from the Dr.'s office. I called all of my family and friends. When I called my mother she said "you know what day that is don't you?" I said "yes mom that is a Friday" she said "no that was your grandmothers birthday" so I told her "that I know that I will be ok because she will be watching over me." I haven't really been nervous or scared about the whole surgery thing. I will keep you posted. :)
Well I am 4 days post op and doing fine. I can't believe I forgot to post on here about my pre-op appointment. I went to the Dr. on Tuesday the 11th for him to weight me and see if I had lost the 10 pounds that he required me to loose. I went in and was very scared. I had totally changed the way I had been eating, smaller portions not alot of carbs. I had cut out all caffeine 3 weeks prior when they told me I had to loose the weight. Which was very hard for me but thank goodness for A&W Diet Rootbeer.. I had myself addicted to that. Anyway the nurse had me get on the scale and I had lost 7.43 lbs. She said "that is great". So I went into the exam room and waited for Dr. Coleman to come in. His surgical nurse came in and went over alot of things with me and answered a few questions that I had. Then he came in and he never said anything about the weightloss. I eventually asked him about it and he said that that was good that he just really didn't want me to gain anymore weight. I was so proud of myself.
I had a group of friends plan a night out to eat that night at Catfish Cove (they have all you can eat crablegs) so we all met there for dinner. Much to my suprise I could not eat very much. And everyone that knows me knows that I love crablegs. I think I was just proud of myself and scared to gain any more weight. The next few days where great. I had alot of things floating thru my brain. Like what if something happens to me will my kids be ok? my husband? my parents? I am the kind of person that prepares myself for the worse so when it doesn't happen I am relieved. I know that sounds strange but that is me.
Back to the surgery details. I could not sleep the night before. I went to work and worked until 2 am. Got home and fell asleep at 3. I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am. We arrived at the hospital and they checked me in and I was talking to my mom, my husband and one of my best friends (who had had the surgery 3 years ago) when they called my name and took me back. That is when I got scared. Reality had just slapped me upside the face. :) The nurse got me to the back and asked me how old I was and I told her, she told me to go the bathroom and pee in the cup and leave it on the sink. I asked her why and she said I had to take a pregnancy test. I told her that I had my tubes tied almost 7 years ago and she said that they still had to do one. Well I was not pregnant and so I had to change into the gown and socks. They finally let everyone come back and one of my best friends had to leave to go to work so of course on came the tears. Then the Dr.'s came in talked to us and then I had to leave my mom and my husband. At that point I was very scared. I remember crying and praying "Please let me wake up and be ok". I don't remember them taking me out of the preop room. I remember nothing after that until I woke up in the hospital room. I don't even really remember going into the surgery room.
When they got me to the room I was in pain. They had not hooked up the morphine pump yet. I remember my husband, mother, mother in law and kids being there and my husband and boys had to leave right then because my son had a baseball game. He told me he was going to leave and I said ok. Then I was crying because I hurt and he told me to just relax and I told him I was going to hit him, he asked me why and I said because I hurt. Now I don't remember that but everyone else does. :) Dr. Coleman came to visit me and said that everything went great. That I should be up walking and feeling better around 6 that night. It was around 1 or so.
I didn't think that this surgery could be much more painful than the 3 c-sections that I had had but boy was I wrong. You hurt in a whole different area. I was real sore under my left breast. I guess this is where the drain tube is coming out of. Dr. Coleman was right, I felt so much better around 6. I asked the nurses if I could walk and they told me that I couldn't walk until the next day when physical therapy came.. What? I was confused. Dr. Coleman told me at my last visit to his office that it is very important to get up and walk after the surgery. I told the nurse that I needed to walk that I had surgery on my stomach not my legs I was perfectly capable of walking, she still wouldn't let me. So I just laid there.. With a really dry mouth. The next day I woke up and one of my best friends Toni (the one that had the surgery) went and told the nurse that I wanted to walk and they said no. She told them that her and her husband had both had the surgery and I am supposed to be up walking. I knew that there was no way the nurse was going to win against her, she is very adament. lol So they let her take me for a walk. Boy was I glad she was there. I was not up for arguing. Those that know me will probably be shocked to hear that. Then I wanted the cathatur out and they took it out. Dr. Coleman came to see me and he said that I was doing great and that I could start having water. 2 ounces every hour, he told me that it will probably take me the whole hour to drink it and it did, still does. He also told me that I would get to go home the next day Sunday around 4. I was ready. I walked 4 more times that day. Oh yeah my boys had baseball games on Saturday and one of them lost both games and the other son won the 15 year old district so he gets to go play in Berryville, Ar next weekend the 24th... yeah for them.
So I got to go home, I came to my mother's house because my house is so crazy. With the 2 dogs and stuff. And besides I couldn't be left alone. (so they think) I went to the bathroom and guess what life slapped me in the face again. I started my period. What a great thing. Lets just add insult to injury. Is that not funny. I will get mother nature back... :)So here I am on Tuesday morning doing great. I am still just drinking the water. I get to start on ensure tomorrow. I am starting a chewable vitamin today. I am so glad that I had this surgery. I would not change it for the world. One thing I will tell you is that I just knew that after my surgery I would be starving. I have not been hungry one time. My mother cooks her dinner and won't eat in front of me because she feels bad. I am not hungry. I am looking forward to starting the ensure just because of the vitamins and nutrients. I will keep you posted on weight loss and everything. My husband went to buy me a digital scale last night and Walmart was out. I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow.
I just wanted to say thank you to Dr. Coleman for giving me the chance to take my life back. You are a godsend. :) If you live in the Fort Smith and are thinking of having the surgery go talk to him. He is GREAT!!!!!!
July 26th
I went to the Dr. for my 2 week check up and I have lost 36 pounds... yeah for me... I was so excited when I got off of the scale I almost started crying. Sharon said that was great. I had to get some staples out and the drain tube. Oh my gosh when he took the tube out I thought my left breast was going with it. That was the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever had. Thank goodness that is over. I also asked Dr. Coleman if I can return to work and he said yes. So I go back tomorrow. I will be glad to be back at work. I am not the kind of person that can just sit at home and do nothing. I have to be on the go. I will tell you by loosing this weight it makes it alot easier to be on the go. The only thing that drives me crazy is that my mouth stays dry constantly. I am eating sugar free popsicles and ice like it is going out of style.
August 13th
My mouth is not staying as dry. I finally found a drink that helps with that it is Tropicana sugar free lemonade. It is very good and it doesn't have that terrible after taste like some drinks do. I went to the Dr. this week and I have now lost 41 pounds. I was kind of disappointed I thought I would have lost more. They said that is good. I had the rest of my staples taken out and I got the B12 shot. He told me that I was doing great and that I wouldn't have another appointment for 2 months. He did tell me that if I would eat more than 2 times a day I would loose more weight. So I have been trying to eat more meals. I asked Dr. Coleman why I still felt so tired and he said that my body is still recovering and that it should get better in the next couple of weeks.
9/25/06
It has been a while since I have gotten on here. I am now a little over 10 weeks out and have lost 64 pounds. I can't believe it. I feel so much better (health wise and about myself). I am still not able to eat some things. I have been craving vegetables. I eat a lot of squash and spinach.
10/15/06
You know we all say that after surgery we are going to update all the time and it seems as though none of us do. I am 13 weeks out and have lost 81 pounds. I feel great. I have gone from wearing a size 18/20 pant and 26/28 shirt to wearing a 14 pant and a XL shirt. I haven't been able to wear normal sized clothes in quite some time. I actually enjoy shopping for clothes now. I have found that I like shopping at resale shops more. I am changing sizes so fast that I don't want to buy new clothes. It is amazing how everthing changes, I mean my feet have even shrank a little. I didn't think that was possible. The one thing that has me kind of upset is that I am loosing my breasts. I have worn a DD since I was in the 7th grade and now I am in a D (could probably wear a C, but I refuse to) haha. I was at lunch with my husband the other day and he said "I see that you weigh less than me now" and I responded my saying "yeah, it has been a while, huh?" That was a pretty good feeling. When we met I was skinny and very active, got pregnant with our first child at a very young age and I was unable to loose the weight. It has been a struggle for me for the last 16 years. I will try to update at least once a week from here on out.
10/25/06
I am still loosing weight, averaging about 1-2 pounds a day. I have started drinking Sprite Zero and it is making me a little burpy. :) I went shopping over the weekend and bought 3 bras , yes they are c's. I am not as upset as I thought I would be. I mean a c is still big, I mean I see some women that don't have any at all. I just hope I don't end up like them, I will have to buy some if that happens. I am starting to loose my hair, I do have a head full so it isn't noticable. I have ordered some chocolate protein powder to try to drink because the banana is nausiating. I am going to have to try to eat alot of chicken and stuff. I am trying to get my husband to understand that I can't eat pizza, he makes me go eat pizza with him at least twice a week. I have tried to eat it but it hurts my belly, so I eat a salad. I have been eatig alot of soup lately. I have found that Logan's has the best potato soup around and Western Siz has pretty good broccoli soup. However I got irritated the other day at Siz when I went to order a kids food bar and they would not let me get one. I showed them the card I have from my Dr. and they told me that I could order off of the kids menu or get the soup bar. Now if I could eat a hamburger or chicken strips I would order the adult version. I was mad. I didn't eat $3.00 worth of soup. Oh well I guess I can't complain to much when I was eating normal and got the food bar I got my moneys worth.. lol That was funney. I am going to my first support group meeting tomorrow night, I am excited. I can't get my sister in law to go with me. She had the surgery 3 years ago. Oh well I am ready to go and meet some new friends. Bye for now.
11/13/06
Here I am 17 weeks out ( 4 months) and I have lost 93 pounds. I am feeling better than I have in a long time. I didn't get to go to the support group meeting because of the haunted house so I am going to go this month. I have ran into poeple that I haven't seen in a long time and speak to them and they speak back but you can tell they don't know who I am and then Taylor will walk up and they say oh my gosh Heather I didn't know that was you. That is a great feeling let me tell you, but then it makes me feel bad because I was so big. I honestly feel terrible for my husband. When we got together I didn't look like that. I am 6ft tall and weighed 145 pounds and most of that weight was on the top... lol I apologized to him the other day for letting my self get that bad. He told me that he loved me when I was big and I just feel like crap that he would have to love me being that damn big. But I am over that becuase I will not ever get that way again. I am going to get off of here. I will try to post again soon. Oh yeah I have like 7 pounds to go until I reach my 100 pound mark and I ge tmy new tattoo. I have had this tattoo picked out since I go my first one, but I didn't get it. I will in about a week or so . I am excited. :)
11/25/06
Well I made it through Thanksgiving, honestly I thought it would be hard but I did good. I am sure that it helped that the family went out to eat. I weight this morning and I have 2.5 pounds to go until I reach the century mark. That is a major goal for me. I am almost 5 months out. I think I am doing really good. I had someone ask me the other day how much weight I want to loose and I told them that my goal was to loose about 160 pounds, but I don' think I will loose that much. I think that once I get to where I want to be I will be able to maintain that weight. I don't want to look sickly. I went to a support group meeitng a week ago and instead of it being a support group meeting it was a seminar for Dr. Colemand and Dr. Eckes. There was 3 of us there that had the surgery and I saw all of the people there thinking about having it and I know exactly how they feel. They where all so nice and had many questions. I hope that I could helped them with there questions that they asked me. I wish I would have done this a long time ago. Of course like I have said before I knew I was "FAT" I just didn't realize I was that damn big. I keep saying to myself that I thought my friends loved me and they not one time ever said anything to me about my weight. I guess they did love me they didn't want to hurt my feelings. I am going thru some emotional stuff right now with myself. I think that even though I have lost almost 100 pounds I still see my self as weight 300 pounds. That is really hard for me. But I hope this to shall pass.. Hopefully next week I will have lost the almost 3 pounds and I can get my tattoo. It will symbalize my new life. Bye for now.
11/30/06
It is hard to believe that November is over, this year hos flown by so fast. I got on the scale today and I gained a 1 1/2 pounds, I was devistated. But then I went to the bathroom and I had started, mother nature decided to come visit after just 2 weeks. I had not been having a problem with this in like 4 months but today I felt so bad. I had cramps like I used to have and nothing would help, what do you take? I mean my Dr. had always told me to take ibuprofin it helps with cramps and makes the flow lighter, but guess what... we can't take them. Tylenol wasn't even helping. I hate it. This is the worst I have felt since before my surgery. I guess enought complaining....... I am sure then when I am done I will have lost that weight plus a couple of pounds, at least that is my goal.
I am coaching a basketball team at the boys and girls club, it is a 5th and 6th grade girls team. My niece is coaching with me and we are having a blast. Monday night we had practice and I told the girls that we had the gym to our selves and we where going to play full court. Then I realized that we where short 2 girls so my niece and I had to play with them. I ran up and down that court the whole time. We did it a couple of times and I turned around and one of my girls was sitting on the court, I told her to get up and she told me that she was tired. I looked at her and said and I quote "Sweetheart if I can do this, you can do this! Now get up or you are going to owe me some laps" She got up and I thought to myself, man I haven't ran like this in a long time. It felt great, I wasn't short of breath or anything. I was so proud of myself. I think I drove my husband crazy later that night because I must have told him a thousand times that we played full court basketball.. But you know that is a major accomplishment for me. I haven't done that in years.
Well I guess that is all for now. I will try to update soon. I know that I am not going to be down 100 pounds by in the morning, but I am cool with that.. 98 pounds in less than 5 months is great..
12/13/06
Well It has been a while since I hve been on here. I have lost 100.8 pounds 5 1/2 months out. I feel great. I up loaded some new pics just a little bit ago. Basketball is going great with the exception of a few girls not paying attention, but I have 3 boys of my own so I know how that goes. lol I only have around 50 pounds to go. I signed up for a gym membership today so I get to start there on Monday. I get off of work at 4 so my plan is to go there everyday after work. I signed the whole family up so they can go with me. I don't see that happening but I guess wishful thinking is good...
1/7/07
I didn't realize it has been this long since I updated,, I am sorry for that. I am 6 months out and have lost 109 pounds. My weight loss has slowed down, I knew it would I just didn't think it would this soon. I haven't had time to go to the gym so my son and I are going to start going tomorrow. I am also going to start drinking protein shakes faithfully. My loving husband bought me a smoothie machine for Christmas and I am going to start making protein smoothies with it. I have some friends (or should I say what I thought where my friends) that talk about me to other people and say that I have changed and they dont' know what is up with me anymore. I wish they would come and talk to me about it and not other people. I have not changed, I think they have changed. I have a very busy life with the boys and my basketball team. I am constantly on the go. I just want everyone to know that is going to have the surgery or that just did, when this happens to you don't think that it is you because it is not. I think that sometimes our so called friends get jealous of us and our accomplishments so they all assume that it is us that has changed. I ask my husband alot if I have changed and he says well you are looking like the person that I met along time ago, I laugh and tell him no like my personality and he assures me that I have not changed. I am still the same old me. I am still funny and bitchy.. lol
I have met some really nice people thru this website. I met Amy and I am so happy to call her a friend. I have not met her in person yet, but I will really soon. She lives here and is using the same surgeon that I did. Amy, I want you to know that I am so happy for you and proud to call you a friend. :) I have also become friends with Carla that I went to school with and I am also very proud of her and glad to call her a friend, she also used Dr. Coleman and lives here. I am thinking we need to all 3 get together. It is nice to have people you can talk to about what your body is going thru or will go thru. I am so lucky to have a sister in law that had the surgery 3 years ago that can help me when I have problems.
When I got hired on permanent at my job in December I had to go get blood work and a bunch of tests done, I got a letter in the mail the end of December telling me that I need to go to a Dr. soon because I am severely anemic. I kind of freaked out for a minute and called my sister in law and she told me to start taking Iron pills. I called the Dr.'s office and still to this date have not heard back from them. I went to Walmart and bought some Iron pills and now I am not as tired and my hair is not falling out as bad. I mean I have a head full of hair and it wasn't noticable by looking at my hair but you could tell by looking at my shirt. Someone was constantly pulling hair off of my shirt. lol I have quit taking flinstone vitamins and I am taking a women's complete vitamin and some folic acid. Thanks to my sister in law, she is such a big help to me and all of my questions and problems. Which I hope I can be that person that can help Carla and Amy, we all need someone or people we can talk to. I guess that is all for now. I feel like I have been rambling on for hours. I know I haven't but I guess I have alot on my mind right now.
I will update again soon... :)
1/21/07
I weighed Friday and I finally weigh under 200.. 198 wooohooo... I have now lost 114 pounds. I am suprised I didn't wake everyone in my house up.. I was so happy.. I have really been struggling with this 3 to 4 pounds... I started drinking protein shakes alot.. My sister in law ordered me that unjury unflavored and it is good. You can't taste it. I put low fat milk, sugar free nesquick, ice and unjury in the smoothie machine and it is excellent. I got so upset at work Friday, I have a friend that I work with that is going to make an appointment with Dr. Coleman for the surgery and we where talking about it and this lady told her that she didn't need to have the surgery she jsut needed to diet and exercise, that the surgery is a waste of money. She knows people that have had it and they have gained all the weight back. I was so mad I was biting my lip... Then Terri told her that I had it and done and I told her that having the surgery is not the easy way out and if she was ever over weight and hand to battle over half her life with her weight she might understand. People really piss me off.. They think that by us being overweight all we do is eat and set on our rearends... I know that some people do that but you should not steroe type "FAT" people. I gte so upset about this stuff..
Then I tried to donate blood at work Friday and they wouldn't take it because I was one point low on my iron. I told them in the beginning that I was anemic and they said they could test it. I was glad to know that I was only one point low. I have been talking those adult completes, folic acid and an iron pill. They must be working. My hair is not coming out now. I know that everyone goes thru that stage but it is scary. Even if you have a headfull of hair like I do. I had to go buy some winter shirts the other day because it is finally getting cold here and I had no long sleeved shirts that fit. I tried on a size 12 jeans and they fit. Can you believe that. I used to wear like anywehre from 18-22. My son and I haven't started the gym yet, we have been so busy. I am going to see if he will go with me today. If he won't I guess I will go by myself. I am going to have to just do it. I will write again soon.
4/17/07
Wow, I didn't realize it had been this long since I have been on here. I have lost a little over 130 pounds, and feeling great. I have a friend that I work with that had surgery Friday the 13th and she is having alot of pain. I really think she is having gas pains, she also has a really low tolerance for pain, she was mad at me when they gave her the heparrin shot (or how ever you spell that ). But she will be ok, I know she will. I am going to have to get my lazy but up and start working out. I just honestly have no time. It seems like if I am not at work I am running one of the boys somewhere. But I am going to make a vow right here and now that by next week I will be at the gym at least everyother day. Amy and I are going to start walking together tomorrow night, she is already walking by herself and I am just going to have to make time and do it. Let me tell you about Amy she is doing so good, I am so proud of her, more than words can say. I guess I am going to go now I need to run and check on Terri. I will try to update again in the next couple of days.
5/21/07
Well it has been 10 months and I am doing great, I have lost 143 pounds. I told someone that the other day and she said that is more than I weight. That is depressing but it is ok, I am healthier now. I am feeling great, I am still having problems with my period. I went to the Dr. and because my iron is so low he put me on the depo shot, which I had my tubes tied so I don't need it for birth control. He told me that I am going to have to have a hystorectomy (or however you spell it) eventually that I can't take the shot forever. I am just trying to put it off, the next major surgery I am going to have is a tummy tuck.... in a year and a half.. I can't wait... Amy is doing great, she looks so beautiful (not that she wasn't before), I am so proud of her. Teri went to the Dr. today and she has lost 24 pounds I think is what she said. She is going to struggle a little bit at first, she liked to eat way to much.. But I am proud of her for doing good.... :) I have to get off of here and go to a baseball game,, I will try to post new pics soon...
