Malena M.
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~~~*~~~4/4/2005~~~*~~~

Well, last Friday I met with my dietician and psychologist. The dieticians appointment went very well. I have seen her before, almost exactly 2 years ago, so she had my information on file. I have gained 17lbs since the last time I saw her, WOW! No wonder why my clothes barely fit anymore. My appointment with the psychologist was interesting. I sat in a room with a few other people and took multiple tests, I believe they are called MMPI and MMPI-2. It was a series of tests that asked you about your self, your childhood, your eating habits, your home life, your relationships and what not. That took me almost 3 hours to complete, and the doctors assistant was surprised that I had finished so fast. Hmm. The last test was 576 questions long, HOLY SMOKES! I had my follow-up appointment today, where we went over the test results. I was pleasantly surprised. Dr. Maxwell was a sweetheart. She told me that I have a warm and fuzzy personality. Awww. She also told me that part of me still wants to be a kid, boy is that true. Thats the reason why I own an atv. I have to please the kid in me some time. :-) I am getting sooo excited, even though I am sure I am a few months away from getting a surgery date. I can't wait to get on track with my new life. It will be wonderful.

~~~*~~~6/4/2005~~~*~~~

It has been a while since I have updated. I have one last weigh in scheduled for June 17th and then I am hoping to submit my request to the insurance company. I am very excited. I really need this surgery. Eight weeks ago today I was in an ATV accident and I fractured a vertebrae. Man does that hurt! I am still in a bit of pain and think that getting the weight off will help tramendously. Last week was my first time going back to Curves since my accident. I can do all of the machines except two. The leg press hurts my back as it pushes me against the seat and then the machine that you stand and the machine lays on your shoulders and you go up and down (for the life of me I cant remember the name). That puts too much strain on the back as well. But, I WILL be back to my old routine soon enough. I am not letting this injury keep me down for too much longer, I can't stand it. I will update next when I submit my paperwork.

~~~*~~~7/15/2005~~~*~~~

I am sooooooooooooooooooo excited!! My paperwork was submitted to the nurse at Aetna yesterday 7/14/05 and I was APPROVED today!! I was shaking because I am so excited. A little scared but totally ready for this life altering change. I will get my surgery date and preop test dates next week. I will post them as soon as I do. I am going to sit down tonight and think of some goals to set for myself. I have seen them on many other profiles and I think it is an awesome way to track your progress. I am going to have to make a little scrapbook of my surgery and my progress. I will keep you updated.

~~~*~~~7/18/2005~~~*~~~

I still haven't gotten my surgery date, but they told me by this Friday. I am in a wedding on Sept 3rd and want to make sure I look good in my dress, right now it doesn't fit. So, I think I might call them on Wednesday and see what the soonest is that they can get me in. I will update then.

~~~*~~~7/22/2005~~~*~~~
I GOT A DATE I GOT A DATE!!! I got a date of August 8th, 2005. That will be my rebirthday. WOW only 16 days to go!! How exciting is that...

~~~*~~~7/26/2005~~~*~~~

Today I went for my teaching day at the hospital. It was pretty interesting. I learned about what my nutrition intake should be for the rest of my life pretty much. I am just sooo excited for the day to be here. I have 12 more days to go!! I wanted to do this for myself for my birthday and I got that wish. I will be 23 on August 4th, my last birthday being morbidly obese.

~~~*~~~08/03/05~~~*~~~
Well, today I had all of my preop testing. I had to be at St Lukes at 10:30 am, fasting. I fell asleep so early last night that I didn't really eat dinner, man did that suck! So I showed up at 10:10 am and didn't leave until 2:50pm!!! I gave a urine specimen, blood donation from the bend of my air, tried to give blood from my left wrist (no luck aftering poking and moving the needle!), so she went to the right wrist and aftering poking and moving a lot more there she finally got blood and now my wrist is freaking bruised!, I had an EKG, some breating test, an ultrasound, chest xrays and an upper GI. Boy were those freaking fun, NOT! It all went really fast until I got to the Xray area. I got my ultrasound of my gallbladder really fast but then I waited in this little dressing room that looked like a bathroom stall for over an hour and a half. Thankfully my Moms good friend, my 2nd Mom, bought me a birthday present that I could bring with me. My 23rd birthday is tomorrow but we had a BBQ last weekend so I could eat good food and not have to worry about it. She got me Carnie Wilson's 2 books that she has out, Gut Feelings and Im Still Hungry. They are awesome books if you are looking for something to read. I don't really like to read unless it's really super interesting. But I can't put this book (Gut Feelings, its the 1st one) down. Only 4 more days for surgery!!!! I am sooo excited, yet so scared. I know that this is what I definitely want to do but it is so hard because you never know what could happen. So please keep me in your prayers. Soon I will be on the losing side!

~~~*~~~8/7/2005~~~*~~~

Well, tomorrow is the big day and let me tell you I am excited. Although, I have had a pretty rough day today, well not until this afternoon. I had to do the bowel prep, drinking phospho-soda (3oz) and man does my ass hurt!!! I hope I never have to do this again because it sucks. Anyways, I just wanted to put up some pictures of me before surgery so there is something to compare to....so here they are.... I will see you all on the losing side!!!

Oh, and this is what the numbnut nurse did to my wrist when she was checking my blood gases....man does it freaking hurt!!

~~~*~~~8/10/05~~~*~~~

I AM HOME!!!! Wow was that the easiest surgery ever! Although I have never had any other surgeries besides my wisdom teeth. I got in the operating room a little after 10am and was in my room at about 1pm. It was funny because my family thought I would be totally out of it when I get upstairs but I saw them in the waiting room and started waving to them. :-) They were pretty disappointed that I wasn't loopy, I think they wanted to have fun listening to me talk. About the surgery....I don't remember anything from the time they strapped my arms to the operating table until the time I was waking up in the recovery room and I heard the nurse telling me to stop moving sooo much because I kept flashing my boobs to everyone. LOL Ooops. After that I was pretty alert. My family and friends were there by my bedside for a few hours that night and then I fell asleep. I did have a roommate a few hours later, her name was Kara. She was very cool. They put her in the room with me since we were so much alike. She is only 2 years older than I am and we got along really well. I enjoyed her company. It is great too that we dont live too far from each other so we can keep in touch through our journey. The first night in the hospital we were woke up every so often and had our vitals checked and were given pain meds. I had the the machine hooked up to my IV so I could give myself morphine but I didnt like that stuff. It did nothing for me. So I got other pain meds instead. Tuesday I did a lot of walking and had a few more visitors and just hung out and watched some tv. They did my leak test, and man am I grateful that they xray table can go to a standing up position so I didnt have to crawl up on it. That would not have happened!!!! Then I came home Wednesday (today). Things are great, just a little tired. I will keep everyone updated.

~~~*~~~08/18/05~~~*~~~

Today I had my first follow-up appointment. I am now 10 days post op and I have lost a total of 20lbs. That is just amazing. I am now allowed to start on soft/pureed foods. That is good because full liquids gets boring quite fast!! This hasn't been easy so far. I can't tell you how many times I think about real food and a good steak. Also, driving past fast food restaurants makes me crave what they have to offer. Yet, I contain myself and stick to plan. Hopefully some of these cravings go away soon.

~~~*~~~8/22/05~~~*~~~

Today was my first day back to work. It was actually kind of nice. I was getting a little bored being at home. I also went back to the gym today. I haven't been to curves for a while since I was healing from my back injury. I did really well, there is only 1 machine that I have to take it easy on. I have also discovered that I hit my first plateau. Thats kinda sad but I have heard a lot of people complaining about them after the first few weeks. So, I am not too worried. I will get through it soon! Till next time....

~~~*~~~8/25/05~~~*~~~

I am still experiencing my first plateau. I hope this goes away soon!! I had my first dumping experience today too. Never again will I eat chili off of a coney from Sonic. Man oh man I didnt feel very good afterwards. I didnt throw up but I got soooo dizzy and I got really tired. I would much rather that than throwing up! I also discovered Nectar. I bought the Crystal Sky (blue) and it is pretty good. It is definitely tolerable. I was getting tired of the milk and the vanilla flavored protein powder, nasty! Hopefully this stuff will help me get over my plateau.

~~~*~~~9/7/05~~~*~~~

Today was a good day, all except for this dang cold I have. I have a pretty bad ear ache and my sinuses are bugging me! Other than that it was good, I got to lay at home most of the day. I am 1.2 lbs away from 300 and man I can't wait!! I have been losing approx 1 lb a day, not too bad. Atleast I am losing something. I am still having issues with getting all of my nutrients in, but I am definitely trying. It was really hard on Saturday because my little brother got married and I was the maid of honor. I was so busy that I didn't have time to eat and the food at the wedding was not proper things for me to be eating. Other than that all is well. I have my next doctors appointment on the 29th and I am hoping to lose another 10-15 lbs by then. Wish me luck!!

~~~*~~~9/9/05~~~*~~~

IT'S OFFICIAL! I am finally at 299 lbs!!!!!! How exciting is that? I have not been under 300 in over probably 3 years. I am very stoked. Now lets see how fast I can get to 250lbs. I would really love to be about 275 when I have my doctors appointment on September 29th. I have learned though with even a 31lb weight lose you get sagging skin. I had the worst boil/sore on the back of my leg right underneath my ghetto bootie! Man did it freaking hurt every time I sat down. It was just my day that I sat wrong and I had blood all over my baby blue pants, so needless to say I am not wearing dark blue pants :-) Any who. I hope all is going well for everyone and I will talk at you later. HASTA

~~~*~~~9/22/05~~~*~~~

Wow I have been terrible. I always said that I would update my profile often because I love reading other peoples profiles. I have just been so tired lately and a little preoccupied. I am down to 292lbs, only 5 lbs away from where I was when I got married 3.5 years ago. That is exciting. Too bad I have to wait for the inches to catch up to me because I would love to wear those clothes again. I have a doctors appt coming up soon, I was hoping I could be at 285 before the appt, that would mean a loss of 45lbs in less than 2 months. We will see though. I am still struggling with my protein and still have some issues eating too fast, but I am trying to take care of those. I have a new friend that recommended Nectar Carribean Cooler with milk and it is pretty damn good. I had a glass of that this morning. Maybe there is a light at the end of the protein trouble tunnel. Other than that nothing is new. Just waiting for dunes season to get here. Oh and I am going on my first trip since my surgery. My brother has decided to get married in Vegas before him and his soon-to-be wife move to Iowa. I am very excited for that!! I can't wait to blow some money!!!!

~~~*~~~10/11/05~~~*~~~

Well, not much has changed here. I am sitting at about 285lbs which gives me a loss of 45lbs in 2 short months. I feel good but get tired pretty fast. I have the hardest time waking up in the mornings. This is probably because I forget to take my vitamins. This past weekend I participated in the Susan G Komen Walk for a Cure. I was so proud of myself, I walked the entire 5k! I won't lie, when I saw the route for the 1 mile walk I was determined to go that way but my sister in law kept me going!! It took a little over an hour to finish, but we still did it!

~~~*~~~10/18/05~~~*~~~
I have officially lost 50lbs!!! I also started at the gym today. I joined LA Fitness, which is an improvement because normally those gyms scare me. I had a good time. I only walked on the treadmill for 30min. I have to work up the courage to work out on the machines in front of everyone! ANyways, not much else going on.

~~~*~~~11/07/05~~~*~~~

Well tomorrow is my 3 month anniversary and I am still going strong. I have lost 60lbs as of this morning and I feel great. I started back at the gym last week, still can't do much because of my back but I am atleast trying. I dont really have many problems with anything except that I don't get all of my protein in and I forget to take my vitamins a lot. Opps. Anyways, here are new pictures of me:

~~~*~~~12/10/05~~~*~~~
My how time flies! Things are going great with me. I am currently at 255lbs and holding. That is okay though, my skin needs to play a little catch-up. I haven't really had any problems, besides eating a few things that didn't agree with me. My hair is also still falling out a bit, but the lady that cut my hair said I have nothing to worry about. She said its normal to lose well over 100 or even 300 hairs a day and I don't think I even lose that much so I will stop stressing now! I have updated some pictures so you can really look at the difference that 4 months makes. Enjoy!

~~~*~~~01/09/06~~~*~~~

I am officially 5 months and 1 day out of surgery. This morning I hit a milestone , 90lbs lost and only 90 more to go. I AM HALF WAY THERE and I feel great! I have recently started going back to the gym and I feel really good. I had been getting a little sluggish and tired but that gym does wonders. I saw my surgeons assistant last week for my 5 month checkup and blood work. Everything was perfect. My cholesterol has gone down soooo much! When I had my cholesterol checked before surgery it was at 208, now I am around 100. Other than that nothing else has been going on.

UPDATED PICS!!!

~~~*~~~02/08/06~~~*~~~

I am officially 6 months post-op as of today. Let me just say that this 6 months has gone by soooo flipping fast. As of this morning I weighed in at 230 lbs which means I have 1 pound to go before I become a century club member. I am hoping this will happen super soon. I haven't been exercising as much as I need to be but mostly because my back is still bothering me. I did however go to step aerobics the other night and hiking on Sunday. The hike was great and my friend and I are going to keep that up every week. The step aerobics is a different story. It was a class for beginners but yet I was the only beginner in there. I was so uncoordinated, and we all wonder why I don't dance. I was pretty lost the entire class but I stepped on the scale the next morning and had lost 2lbs. So I will definitely try to keep that up, once my shins stop hurting. Here is one updated picture of me. I will put more on once my husband and I get a chance to take my 6 month pics.

~~~*~~~03/06/06~~~*~~~

Well I am 2 days early but I wanted to have my pictures taken in clothes that actually fit! I am running out of clothes super fast now. I had a bunch of clothes saved up from when I was this size before but now I am wasting away and they are getting too big, but I am okay with that. I am not sure how much I have lost so far but I will know tomorrow when I weight myself. So here are some pictures.....

~~~*~~~04/08/06~~~*~~~
As of today I am 8 months post-op. I see a change in myself daily. Although this has been a very rough journey I do not regret having my surgery at all. A lot of people post questions regarding regret and if you would do it again. I find that those people probably shouldn't be thinking about the surgery if they are rethinking it that much. I had my doubts but they were way overwelmed by the thought of me being healthy and happy with myself. As of today I have lost 126lbs. I am wearing 14/16s and even some of those are getting rather large on me. Soon I will be out shopping for new clothes!
Here are new pictures taken a few minutes ago...

~~~*~~~04/18/06~~~*~~~
I DID IT! I DID IT! I REALLY REALLY DID IT! I finally made it below 200. I had been sitting at 202lbs for a week or so. But I am happy to report that the last few days I have been at under 200lbs, and I am NEVER going back up there! I started working out again, man it feels great. I jogged last night for 20 minutes straight and felt like I could keep going. I haven't had this much energy in a long time. Then I did the rowing machine. My arms are what I would call nasty, so I am trying to get them toned up a bit so I can get my arms and boobs done by the end of the year. That is my goal! Other than that not much has been going on. Well, actually lots. I have been seperated from my husband for about 2 months now. It is really sad but I am much happier. I have been seeing a psychiatrist and I really enjoy having someone to talk to. When you lose the ability to eat when you get angry or upset or sad then it becomes hard to deal with every day life. I have learned that when I was mad or sad I would just eat. That is how I got to where I was. Now I just have to learn how to deal with my emotions in other ways. One way is working out. That is how I deal with my every day stress, and it helps, a lot! I will continue to see my psychiatrist for now because I do think he has helped me a lot.
As a side note, a girl that I met on here just got approved for her surgery. WAY TO GO HOLLY! I am so excited for you. I will be here for you no matter what you need.
TAKE CARE EVERYONE!

~~~*~~~5/9/2006~~~*~~~

Well, I made it another month. I am officially 9 months out of surgery and feeling better and better every day! I have lost a total of 135lbs and have been on a plateau for about 2 weeks now. Although, I am okay with that. It gives your skin some time to shrink a little. Other than that not much going on here. I have been spending a lot of time on the lake and river lately and have gotten quite the tan from it. It's great!

Here are my latest photos...

~~~*~~~6/11/2006~~~*~~~
I am officially 10 months out of surgery and feeling great. My BMI now falls into the "overweight" Category. I don't know that I have ever been in that category before! I have lost 144lbs as of my anniversay and have about 25 lbs to go until goal. I am really hoping that I can make it there before my 1 year anniversary. That might be a little tough considering that I am going to be going in for back surgery within the next 2 months. Hopefully I can get the majority of it off before then.

~~~*~~~7/11/2006~~~*~~~

Wow, I am a little over due for updating. Things have been going good. I had a very long plateau but that was okay. I am currently at 178lbs, which means a loss of 151lbs in about 11 months. I had my "one year" check up last week and everything is great. All of my blood work came back normal and the doc said I was doing fantastic. I now only have to see him once a year for 5 years. Not bad. Not much else going on. I was going to physical therapy for my back (I have 2 compression fractures that are about 15 months old) and that was just making my back worse. So my therapist was supposed to call my surgeon because he refuses to do physical therapy on me until I have back surgery. I will hopefully be scheduling that next week. I could use the 8 week break from work!!
My Mom was approved for surgery and right now has a surgery date of next Thursday the 20th of July. However, she went in yesterday for her pre-op testing and learned she has a heart murmur. They are going to do a few more things and then let her know if she will be cleared for surgery or not. I hope she is.

~~~*~~~8/09/2006~~~*~~~
I HIT MY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! YIIPPEEEE!!! Well, I did it. And it went by sooo fast! My one year anniversary was yesterday, the 8th of August. I am sitting at 174 lbs. I have been to 172.5 but you know it always fluctuates. The past year has been a fun ride. So much has happened and I have experienced a lot. I would have to say that it has not all been easy. I was very depressed for a while there, put on anti depressants for that. I did stop taking them though because they made my palms sweaty and me shakey. My doctor is going to try something different after I have my back surgery. That was scheduled for August 7th but didn't happen for a few reasons. So as of right now it is scheduled for August 28th. We will see what happens with that.

My Mom had her gastric bypass surgery on July 20th. She is doing fantastic. Her stomach has been hurting a little but that is because she carried something she shouldn't have touched. She is using some heat right now to calm that muscle down. So far she has lost about 20lbs in 3 weeks. I am so happy for her and cannot wait until she can complete her transformation.

As far as plastics go I do not think I am going to get anything done right now. I am for sure going to get a boob job done. My boobs have disappeared and sag a bit. My arms could use some work but I am going to work out at the gym as hard as possible after my back surgery and try to get those looking good. If that doesnt work then I will look into surgery. My best friends aunt works for a good plastic surgeon here in the valley so at least I have a good place picked out. I just have to decide what I want to do.

Here are some updated pictures, all taken on the same day. I just wasn't sure what outfit to wear because I use these pictures in my scrapbook I made :)

Newest Picture - October 2, 2006 - Size 10/12

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