Jessyw

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It has been forever!!!!! oh my goodness lol. Hello everyone!!! I rarely come on this site anymore, its all so different! I mostly stick to the Facebook groups now-a-days. I am doing well, I am 22 now, I have had regain but I know what all the causes for that are and I am working on them. My lymphedema returned and spread to my abdomen, I went through 6 months of daily physical therapy for it which did help tone the comeback down, but also moved it up into my abdomen. I have been going through a lot of stress in life, lost my father last August and lost my job not too soon after and decided that college was more important at the moment. But overall I can't really complain. I plan on getting back on tack and losing this re-gained weight and just living this life I was given back! I hope all of you are doing well!!! And hello to all the new people! I'm Jessy :D

 It has been forever! I haven't updated or really been on OH in a very long time. Yesterday makes it 3 years since I had my DS and my life was saved. I have lost a total of 315 pounds and now currently weigh 220 pounds. It fluctuates from time to time, sometimes I get down to 210. I personally am doing well. I currently live on my own now (with my boyfriend) and I work at my local native hospital. I recently graduated high school (obesity took over my life in 9th grade and by 10th I was unable to attend thus why it took me till the age of 20 to get my diploma) and I will be starting college next month. 

Life is amazing. I could have never imagined that I would be living on my own, making my own life, living with the man I love to death and pursuing my dreams! It is a complete 360 compared to where I started in life.

Its a very weird thing because I cannot remember what it feels like to be 535 pounds, I can imagine and remember here and there but now it feels like I was never any different then what I am now. I guess I just always saw myself as how I am now even though I was 535 pounds. My mom and sisters still are amazed at how small I have gotten, my mom always points out how she can feel my bones when she hugs me, its funny. 

When I tell people of my story I get the usual "I would have never known or guessed!!! Your so small!" and that is nice. 

Living with my DS has been wonderful, but to be honest I was at a point in life where money was very hard to come by and so my vitamin intake took a back seat. I became homeless for a time period and that is when I realized how serious eating and supplementing is. I ended up blacking out from starvation/malnutrition due to my inability to get food, this resulted in me falling straight back and hitting the back of my head on a hardwood floor. Luckily my boyfriend was there because I believe I would have no started breathing/woken up if he was not. 

I had a plan to get out of my homeless situation, it was just time that was a really big factor in my process. When the right time finally came I was able to get a place of my own and have been independent ever since. 

I remember going from not being able to put on my own socks and shoes, needing my sisters to grab things for me because getting up myself was so painful, to being where I am now. Living on my own, being able to tuck my knees under my chin, being able to fit tights, leggings, skinny jeans. Being able to carry as much weight as possible and walking far distances, being able to sleep without having to worry about breaking the bed or having my breathing stop while I'm sleeping. 

Just doing my own hair was a painful slow process! My arms would get tired. I don't believe I take anything for granted now, since I know what it was like to not be able to do all of these things, and things still surprise me and make me say "Oh my goodness I would NOT have been able to do this 3 years ago!" 

Somethings about my boyfriend, we have been together for over a year now, so that means he knew me when I was still pretty "big". It was a scary thing starting out, having to explain to him my whole situation, how I can and cannot eat and having him personally see the effects if I did do something I shouldn't have done (eating damn white bread). At first I did not want to go into too much detail with him, I felt like he didn't need to know much since that wasn't "me anymore" and that he should just know the "me now". That's I was towards everyone who didn't know me before my surgery, to me all they needed to know was the me now. 

I happened to go back to my old high school which I just up and left when things were getting bad with my weight and lymphedema, and I told them what all happened and all about my surgery. They asked me if they could nominate me on my diligence on getting my education no matter what I was going through in life. Turns out the program was a scholarship award and I won. 4 years paid. Every since then I have been obtaining more scholarships with the help of my story. It has brought me very far in life. 

Currently my lymphedema is active again, my legs swell and are uncomfortable. I am undergoing daily psychical therapy to maintain it. For about 2 years after surgery my legs were seeming to go back to "normal" but sadly within these last months I noticed the hardening of my skin and the increase in size in my legs. 

It is difficult to deal with but I am and will hang in there. 

This is just a rough update but at least its something haha. Overall I am doing well, could REALLY use some smaller clothes but I'm on a student budget. One day! 

-Jessy

 Hello everyone! 
O my goodness I haven't posted in a while! I am doing great and am now 11 months out from my DS. I love life and I love my life with my DS. It's by far the best weight loss surgery out there, and I stand by that claim. I'm still happy for all other wls type people but I just couldn't see myself living with anything other then the DS. 

I am down 151 pounds, weighing in at 384 pounds all they way down from my highest of 535 pounds. 

I feel great :D! 

Hope all is well with everyone. 

 Hello everyone, I just wanted to post this. I have a little cousin who has autism and they live in a rural village in Alaska and are currently trying to get a dog that will be trained to help my little cousin with his autism. They are a big loving family and do not have the money for the training and everything needed. Please take a look and even if you can't make a donation help spread the word about 4 paws service dogs. They are truly amazing.

My aunt is so loving and kind and even when things get really tough she is always so gentle and calm. She is a great mother who has raised her sons be be so kind, as kind as she. And they are just a wonderful positive family. I remember I once went to their home to go to a summer camp, and they didn't have anything on the TV but had lots of tapes of Veggie tales. Me and Logan  would get so excited to watch veggie tales and when I put in the tape and the theme song came on me and him would sing and dance to it , we loved our veggies tales together. This was before he got autism.

Now I can only imagine how hard things must get/be but with his moms help he is starting to try and talk! I would really love for him to be able to get a dog! I think it will do good for everyone. 


I just want to thank everyone ahead of time. And please read their story on the website. 

http://www.4pawsforlogan.com/index.html



-Jessy

 Hello everyone,

I am sorry that it took me so long to post my 5 month update. I am doing very well and I am very happy. I did make a post on the DS board about my 5 month update so you guys can take a look at that. I have lost a total of 102 pounds since the day of surgery and so that makes me 433 now. With my BMI going from over 90, to now 79. Life is good and I am happy.

Here is my 5 month update post, with pictures included. 

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/4082092/My-5-month-update-with-pictures/#33225244 

-Jessy

Hello everyone! Happy thanksgiving! 

I am now 4 months and 2 weeks? out. I am doing very well and loving life. I loveee my DS. I am getting in all my water but I could do a bit better with my protein so I will be going to try new protein powders soon! My gas "problems" have gotten much better (before I was having gas, even when I hadn't eaten carbs and it mostly happened at night time). So I am happy about that. I am down 88 pounds! 

There really isn't much more to say. But I am very happy at where I am right now. Thanks for reading! 

Hello everyone :D 

I know its been a bit since I lasted updated. On my exactly 3 month mark I forgot to press submit on my blog and so it never got published lol. Sorry about that. Well let me give yall a little update. I am doing very well, I am getting everything in just fine and I am feeling good. I haven't been weighed in about a month because I do not have a scale of my own. So I will have to wait till my next appointment with my PCP for that. I did have my 3 month blood work and my PCP and surgeon said that everything looked good. Except my thyroid level was a little high, which was weird because I've never had that problem before. But then we noticed that I was never tested for Vit D and that calcium and vit D can play a role in high thyroid levels.

Overall I am doing well, though it seems like my abdomen is getting bigger, which is so frustrating. I think my mind might just be playing tricks on me. I am still on water pills but I haven't seen much if a change while on them, they are these TINY little pills. One odd thing is, is some days I don't have much restriction feeling and I am not to hungry but then other days I feel soooo hungry but I have a LOT of restriction feelings. Its odd but Ive learned to take it slow and deal haha its not that bad.

I did have some gas problems and I wasn't sure what was causing it but now it seems to have gone away! But of course if I have a little of something carb-y then yes as expected it comes back. But I am glad that it doesn't happen to often. I believe that I have began to lose some of my hair but it doesn't really bother me to much.

Things are going good family wise when it comes to me with my wls and everything, my dad is always excited to ask me how much Ive lost and all that. Sadly he has been submitted to a hospital in St. Louise by Kentucky because he has severe MS and he developed a deep infection in his leg that won't heal. He was in the hospital for when it first appeared but now since it wont heal he must go back and get a skin graft. Recently I started using facebook and I was able to get in touch with all my older sisters who plan on going down and visiting my dad in march or April of this coming year, I haven't seen my dad in 5 years because of money and also his and my health. But I am most definitely looking forward to visiting him this year! And getting to finally meet my dad's side of the family, and I am glad that they will get to see me at a healthier weight.

I have before pictures and current pictures and all that, but my mom doesn't want me to post them because she is a afraid of what people would say and do . So I probably wont be posting them any time soon. Maybe when I get a bit smaller she might let me. haha its weird how shes kind of ashamed and I really don't mind. haha.

Most of my family is accepting of my surgery, and others think it was a waste of money. We all know how some people can be , The other day when I saw my grandma for the first time since a couple days before surgery, the first thing she yelled was "YOU'VE GOTTEN FATTER?!?!?!" in front of a large group of people, at the store. -sigh- that wasn't so great but I know shes a bit   so I just proceeded to tell her "No I have lost about 70 pounds......" and she said "O, well hm.". Haha talk about a bit of a Debbie downer. (SNL)

Well thats about all for now. Thanks for reading everyone! I hope everyone is doing well! 

Hello everyone!
I am sorry that it has been so long since I posted a blog update. I am doing great and had my labs come back. Everything seems fine (my PCP and surgeon say they are).

I am doing great and feeling better and better everyday. I got a new pair of clothes (Don't want to buy to much, because I am still loosing weight) and I am feeling more confident. I have always been confident but when I was at my highest right before I was getting ready to go to Brazil my confident was going down the drain. That was a scary part of my life, I always tell my friends that the last thing they needed was to be their own worst enemy but then there I was becoming afraid of what people would say to and about me. But I am glad I still never "beat" myself up emotionally. I knew that wouldn't help anything. I just became  more held back and not wanting to socialize because it was becoming physically and emotionally painful.

I am still getting more confident as the days go by and I am started to remember why I shouldn't let peoples dirty looks and words get me down. So things have gotten better. But when I did go through that I felt sorry for people how feel like that all the time......I couldn't live with that hurt.......I was never a person who let peoples words or stares hurt me but when I did for once in my life, O boy was it hard.

I am so grateful for my DS and not once regretted it. I take my vitamins everyday and I drink my water and eat my protein. I must admit I struggle with giving in to carbs from time to time but its nothing to bad and I try my best to do better next time. 

I've been helping my sisters start eating better, they know that what is good for me is most likely not to good for them (such as bacon and what not) and they are ok with that and for once are listening to what I suggest for them to try since I am the one who looks at all the nutrition facts on EVERYTHING lol. And I even got my sisters slowed down on soda! Almost to the point of them choosing water over a soda! Yay! Lol. 

They play out a lot more too. My poor 11 year old sister seems to be going through what I went through. Where I was a very active child and ate pretty good and did diets and everything at such a young age but still packed on the pounds   everything we try doesn't seem to help her keep off weight......I know and feel her pain......she is quite tall for her age but she weighs maybe more them 250 pounds and is about 5'3 or 5'4 :/ She tries so hard to be really active and shes become my nutrition buddy but she still cant loose any weight.....-sigh- I don't know what to do. I don't want her to ever get to where I was! But her body just keeps holding on to all the weight......

I hope shes not like me and that she grows out of this, and becomes healthy and happier. I know she tries so hard....but people don't believe she does and she gets frustrated and hurt......Its hard.

Well I'm not to sure what else to say, but overall I am OK. Just living life. Hope everyone is doing good! 

-Jessy

Hello everyone,
-sigh- Everything with me health wise is going good, I am still retaining a lot of water and so it doesn't even seem like I am loosing weight. I know that this will pass so I am not to worried about it. Ever since coming home from Brazil we are having darn money troubles, my mom spent all her money on me for my surgery and now I feel like I should pay her back (she cant work because she is disabled).....and I really would love to get a job but still being the size that I am it is very difficult.

I am so thankful for the wonderful people here on obesityhelp, thanks to some wonderful people I was able to get my vitamins, and that means so much to me. I know things are tough for a lot of people and I hate complaining but just lately its been on my mind a lot and I needed a place to let it out.

My friends are busy with school and things and I don't think they want to hear about things that would bring them down haha. I'm glad I have a place to vent :) My mom has been going to the doctor a lot lately and she is having a lot of leg troubles but like always her doctor tells her that there is nothing he can do, -sigh- its hard to see her in so much pain.
 
Also my dad has a infection in his legs (which he cannot use because of his MS) they keep saying that there is a possibility that he might need to get his leg amputated . I am very thankful that I am doing well and in good shape but in other areas of life this year is just not my year. I can't wait till I am able to get a job and all that, and drive! . And hopefully I will be able to go and visit my dad soon!


I know some of you wonderful ladies have my cell phone number but I'm gonna be shutting it off soon. But you can always reach me here on OH.

I just wanted to give a short update on me, I am doing well  so no worries.

Thanks for reading .

Hello everyone :D 
Well I am doing ok, hit a couple bumps in the road. First off I met with my PCP and had my stitches removed and everything is healing up nicely. I have been taking it a Little extra easy without my stitches in don't want anything to happen. I have been getting in my protein and water without a problem. I drink around  70-100 oz of water a day. I don't really try and drink that much, I just do it without thinking lol and when I go and add up how much I have drinking I am surprised lol because before surgery I wasn't that great with drinking water. Now I loveee water! I choose it over apple juice! (I use to LOVEEE apple juice!! o man). I haven't started my vitamins yet because we didn't have the money for them after paying for Brazil and surgery and everything. But my dad is going to help me out with some money for the vitamins. I do go to a native hospital here in Anchorage (since I am native American I get free care) and they were telling me that I could get my vitamins for free from there so were gonna look into that.

Even though I am drinking so much water I am not really urinating that much. I told my PCP about it and so he ran blood tests to make sure my kidneys are working good (I also gained 14 pounds!!!!! we think its water, since we don't understand where all the water I am drinking is going since I am not peeing it out.) So we are trying to figure all that out. It is frustrating but I am dealing with it. The results from my blood work showed that my kidneys are fine (thank goodness!) but since that is ruled out we don't know what else could be to blame. So now my PCP wants me to being in my food log to see what I am eating (he thinks a "change in diet" is doing it. But the only change really is I have cut out most carbs and sugar.)

I also now have a dietitian working with me and my PCP and she knows NOTHING about the DS. I wasn't expecting  her to but I did expect her to want to learn but she doesn't really. Its like I can tell her about the DS and just when I think she is finally understanding she says "so its basically the same thing as the RNY." and I say "NO!! IT IS NOT" gahhhh. She wont understand that I don't have to worry about fat and that my main priority is protein and water and to eat very low carb and low sugar. But she keeps saying "but all that fat that you are eating it going to go to your heart and clog your artery's" and I say "No it is not. I have malabsorption! I will only absorb 20% fats and all the rest passes through NOT being absorbed." But she just doesn't want to accept that. Then she will tell my mother that I am not supposed to eat fat and that I need to cut down on the meat I am eating..........AND to make things worse my mom agrees. -sigh- so every time I eat I hear my mom say "your not supposed to be eating fat!!!! Your eating to much meat!!!!" GAH! She says "They are the doctors, THEY are the professionals you CANNOT go against what they say!!!!" and I tell her that they are wrong, and then it gets ugly.
 
Now I have an appointment coming up where I have to bring my food log, they are going to see how much fat I eat and how much meat and I know they are gonna get on my case and tell me that its not healthy. All because they aren't remembering that I don't have what they do. Man. I'm just gonna deal and go in there and show them and if they freak I will stick to what I know and tell them all about the DS and maybe then they will understand that what I have is a whole different thing then the darn RNY.