jessica7552
December 17, 2003. I just talked to Jan today at the clinic in Portsmouth, and she gave me my appointment for the nutrition clinic for June 17, 2004. Seems so far away, but I guess all worth the wait :) I guess I am on a waiting list of about 300 people, and it will take at least a year to have the surgery done. I don't have too many feelings of being worried about it right now, because it will be so far down the road before I have it done. I am sure things will change though, as it gets closer. Jan told me about the support group, and I would really like to go, but am scared. I am a very shy person, and not being comfortable with myself, makes it hard to do anything. We just moved here in July, and I don't really know anybody. I guess if I just got off my butt and went to a meeting I might enjoy it and maybe meet a friend :)
OK, here we are it's May 21, 2005, and I am going to my INITIAL appointment this week--on Thursday actually (May 26th 2005)!! I have been waiting 18 months for this appointment, so I am very, very excited! We also just found out we will be moving from Virginia to Hawaii by the end of the summer, so, I am hoping and praying I will be able to have the surgery done before we move...I have been waiting so patiently!! A lot has happened though...we finally had our first baby--a boy, and he just turned 6 months old today!! But, I will keep everyone posted.
September 2005....We moved to Hawaii August 20th 2005, and I got my new refferal for WLS at the beginning of September. Once I learned that the surgeons at Tripler were deployed, I chose to have a civilian surgeon. Well, there is only one surgeon on the island accepting Tricare, so I chose to go out of state, and that's when Tricare gave me 3 surgeons names in CA....I chose Dr. G. Wesley Clark.
January 2006....We are in Hawaii now!! I STILL haven't had the surgery done...it has been a LONG battle, and a LONG wait....but, I do have a date... Feb 21, 2006---YAYYYYY!!! I am flying to CA to have the surgery done, and I am as excited as can be---I am just in shock that it is finally almost "my turn"!!!! After all this time waiting! LOL, I hope it's worth it! My son is now 14 mos old, and just a ball full of energy!!!
January 23, 2006....(305 lbs) Dr. Clark's office called today and they needed to reschedule my surgery---I was all ready to be in a panick, because we booked our hotel and bought our plane tickets and everything, but, they just needed to change it by a day----sooo, no biggie...it will give us one more day to do "fun stuff" while we are visiting San Diego!!! So, now my "Big Day" is February 22nd.
March 14, 2006....I never had surgury with Dr. Clark....I don't want to discourage those scheduled with him, so I won't get into details...I just had a serious of unfortunate events. I have found a new surgeon through the help of one of my OH friends (Steffie), and it is Dr. Owens and his staff at Coastal Center for Obesity in California. They are sooooo wonderful there. I had emailed them a couple weeks back on a weekend, and they wrote back that Monday, and now, just today...MARCH 14TH, I got a surgery date for APRIL 11TH....my pre-op day is April 10th, and they are going to be doing the surgery in San Pedro, CA. Jon is still out to sea, so it is going to be up to me to change to plane tickets (we already had tickets bought from my scheduled surgery with doctor Clark), and I have to get a hotel reservation---I am really hoping there is a Military Lodge somewhat close by, so it will be a little cheaper...but, I don't mind doing it, I am just soooooo friggen excited...finally after all this time...it almost doesn't seem real!!!!! I am waiting for something to go wrong, because that is what ALWAYS has happened...but, for some reason I think this time is it....I think it is going to happen, and I am home alone with my 15 month old son Kyle--he's sleeping now, but I am just tooo excited to sleep I just want to jump around and cry and dance and just be goofy!!!!! I've even managed to lose a few pounds with the help of my psychiatrist in the past few weeks---I've lost 4 pounds!!!!
March 28, 2006...I'm getting really anxious and nervous about surgery and flying!!! I want my husband to come home too!!! I'll get to see him for a few hours before we get on the plane to head to California...we have an overnight flight there, and once we get there, we have a couple hours before a day of pre-op appointments--really only 2, but they are in 2 separate cities--one in Orange with the surgeon, and the other in San Pedro at the hospital. I have gotten most things done except the packing...the sirline tickets are changed from before, the hotel is reserved, the rental car is reserved, the dog kennel is reserved, the dog has a vet appointmel for his shots and health certificate before being kenneled, I found someone to check on the cat a couple times, I got my blood work done--I'm picking up the reults tomorrow....I feel like a mad woman on the loose---but, things are getting done!!!! Really, I think now all I have to do is pack, and I always wait til the last minute because it saves me from forgetting anything...if I find things I need I'll set them aside...I suppose I could get Jon's things together since he's not here. I really do miss him soooooo much. I was doing really well knocking some weight off before surgery---as of March 22nd, I was down to 294, from 305...11 pounds down in a month...but now I am in these nightly binge attacks that I have no clue where they are coming from...I am not even hungry either...I will get up at out bed anywhere from 10pm to after midnight and go downstairs and eat anything like a bowl of cereal or something and just stand there in the kitchen and eat it just because--it's so stupid. I guess maybe it's because I feel like I have to get this last little bit of food in me before surgery because I hardly eat during the day, or maybe it's nerves because I'm nervous about the surgery and about missing my husband--who knows!!! I am getting excited though!!! 11 days til we fly out AND 13 days till surgery---YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! the countdown is on!!!!!!!
May 1, 2006...OK, it's been a while since I have updated! I had my surgery done April 11th by Dr. Owen's at The Little Company of Mary San Pedro Hospital in California. My starting weight according to their scale was 301, with a BMI of 47.1. My surgery was done on a Tuesday morning at 9:30, and I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday, April 13th. I was extremely nervous going into surgery, and the anesthesiologist gave me some meds to sedate me before they actually put me to sleep----this helped tremendously!!! After surgery I kept asking myself why I had been so worked up!!! It was nothing what I had expected it to be. My pain was controlled with a PCA pump with Dilauded for the first night, and then I went to Lortab Elixer the next day...I also had a Q-Ball with Marcaine in it that went inside through the drain site, and that worked out great. The hospital was OK...I only had a problem with one nurse who tried to force me to take a whole Lortab pill---she never bothered to read the doctors orders. Now....here I am, 20 days post-op, and I am down 26 pounds (well as of Sat, April 29th), and my BMI has dropped 4 points!!! I rushed into starting with soft food, and I am finding A LOT of things that don't agree with me...when people say it is all trial and error--they aren't lying!!! My worst experience was Saturday night when my husband took me out for dinner...I ordered a side dish of meatballs, and they didn't agree with me---I thought I would have been fine because I've had meatballs before....they ended up coming back up after eating maybe a 1/4 of one....I ended up having to leave my husband and son at the table while I went out and sat in the car. I do OK with sugar free popsicles, some soups, and tonight I tried meatloaf and went slow and it stayed down---it's been my first meal in 3 days that has stayed down!!!!!!! I am slowly getting energy back--some days seem better than others. That's all I can think of for now!!
May 15, 2006.....
I was diagnosed with a stricture on Tuesday May 9, 2006 after having a scope done by the GI doc. I was I guess really uncomfortable with the procedure even under IV sedation so he decided to try to fix it in the OR. So, on Wednesday May 10th, I went for my first of what my doctor thinks will be many operations. Things seemed OK at first, and now I am fighting this battle again with trying to keep things down. I go in for my second "stretching" on Tuesday May 16th, so I am really looking forward to that!! I am really worn down and have zero energy left. I spent 10 days in the hospital for an infection (not involving anything from WLS) that I was unable to keep the antibiotics down, so I had to be on IV antibiotics....that is when they decided to do the scope---for a few days I endured them being flat out assholes to me, thinking I was lying about not being able to keep pills or anything down. Once the results came back they were much better to me. They ran tests and all my levels were low, especially the protein. I am having a hard time getting it in, the only things that seem to be agreeing are water and sugar free popsicles. LOL, I know things will get better---they have to!!!!! I just want some energy back....I have all I can do to stand up and walk around right now. My husband has to stand behind me going up the stairs and sometimes give me a push to get going because I have gotten so weak. Otherwise, I had an AWESOME Mother's Day!!! My hubby and lil guy got me a 1 carat diamond ring, 2 pairs of diamond hoop earings, a jewelry armoire, a dozen long stem roses, and a windchime!!!!!!! I definitely got spoiled this year.....I'm sure subsequent years aren't going to compare!!!!!!! I'm just waiting patiently for Tuesday to come...I'm really hoping it will make things better for me :)
May16, 2006....I saw my GI doctor today....I thought I was going to have another dilation of my stricture done, but it was just a follow-up appointment. He explained more to my husband and I about what was going on. He said it was going to take a lot of surgeries over the course of the next 2 to 4 months to fix this. I go to the OR on Thursday (May 18th) for my second dilation and am already nervous!!! I am so miserable it bothers me....I have no energy and feel so weak, and I am assuming it is from not being able to keep anything down, except maybe a little water at times. My doctor said today that even when he does the dilation it can shrink back, which is why it is going to take so many surgeries. He has to do each one in the OR because when I had the initial scope done last Tuesday I almost stopped breathing. He also told me about a girl who was going through the same thing this year who had her stricture fully dilated to 15mm and then 3 months later it closed up and she had to have a revision. I hope and pray that doesn't happen to me. It makes me thankful for the little bit of weight I am slowly losing just in case it does happen. On the brighter side of things, my husband should be getting off his boat this week, and put on Humanitarian Duty for appx the next year---that type of duty can only last for a year, but it is so he can help me get through these surgeries and get back to having my health back. He was supposed to deploy this week for a short amount of time, and then in June for at least 6 months. So, the people he works with now are giving him a real hard time, and in turn it is making me feel guilty in a way that I can't do things for myself....he's happy to be leaving the command he is at though so hearing him say that makes me feel better. Ohhhh, I got on the scale today at the same day surgery clinic and I was down to 269----that's down 32 pounds from starting!!!!!! And now my BMI is 42.1---- down 5 points Yayyyy!! Of course it wasn't my scale at home, but I didn't care, it said I was smaller and that's all that mattered!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, that's all for now!!
Friday, June 2, 2006....Well, I am 7 1/2 weeks post-op, and down to 249...I've lost 52 pounds already! OMG, my BMI has gone down to 39.0!!!!!!! I'll admit it hasn't been easy at all for me with the stricture. I still have no energy and am having a hard time eating. All this week I have been nauseas like crazy and haven't really gotten anything in. Yesterday I managed to eat a couple sf popsicles. This morning when I tried it was a disaster! I am finally seeing the nutritionist today!! I saw a couple different ones when I was an inpatient, but now I finally have an outpatient appt. I am a little nervous just because I am sooooo malnourished and I am affraid of what is in store for me. I have my next stricture dilation next friday, the 9th. My husband's boat's command are being a**holes....they are making him go on deployment for 6 months, fully knowing what is going on with me. He tried to go on humanitarian duty to help me through this and his command denied it, they said he could go on deployment or get discharged from the Navy. I am so worked up about it. I'm not sure if I will be able to continue with the dilations once he's gone. He is leaving the second full week of June, so it is right after my next dilation. Oh well.
August 4, 2006...I was at a standstill with weightloss for appx 4 weeks, and FINALLY this week the weight started coming off again! I am now down to 229....that's a total loss os 72 pounds! My BMI has gone down to 35.8!!!! I am in NH for the summer and am doing really well--I haven't had any problems with the stricture returning. I fly back to Hawaii on August 15th.
October 28, 2006...WOW..it's been a while! I have finally made it to the century club! Yesterday morning I was at 189!!! My BMI is now 29.6...making me moderately overweight! It's amazing how different I feel. I thought I had another stricture coming, and I had an EGD done on Wednesday (Oct 25th) and everything looked fine he said. He thinks my nausea and vomiting is probably coming from a medication. I am able to eat, just at times the N/V gets the best of me! Sometimes I scare myself with my nighttime snacking...I really need to find something to keep me busy! My weight loss has slowed down quite a bit...but, it still seems to be coming off! My skin is driving me nuts...I am pretty self conscious about it....it's very loose kind of all over!
