Heather S.

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I can't believe how well things are going! Sometime I have to almost pinch myself, I just can't believe this is me. Today I'm 346, down 73 since surgery 82 days ago!!! All my clothes are way too big now. Which even though it means money spent on clothes, it is super exciting! Today I actually wore a size 24 swimsuit to my water aerobics class!! My pre-op swimsuit was a tight 34!! I have so much more energy now and my self confidence is rising every day! I have rediscovered how much fun it is to go out with my friends dancing! And I can keep up and not feel like a huge pig trying to dance! lol I only wish I had had this surgery years ago!! It's changing my life so much for the better!!!

2 months post op and doing great! I've lost 54 lbs, and a total of 53 inches over my whole body! My BMI is down about 17 points and I'm feeling great! I love all the little things I can do now, like not use a seat belt extender and fit in most chairs without having to squeeze my butt in or fear of breaking them. I have more energy then I did (although my knees and back are hurting more because I'm moving more) and I'm sleeping better. The thing I'm struggling with the most is getting enough protein. I need to find some unflavored whey protein powder to help boost my protein intake. I'm tired of my shakes, and I'm tired of eating only soft proteins. I get to add veggies to my diet on Aug 16th, and I can't wait. I'm also having quite a bit of constipation, and have to take stool softeners and miralax and still struggle. I've been trying to increase my fluid intake, but the more I drink the less I can eat. It's difficult but manageable. I figure I'll get the swing of things eventually. I'm going to the beach with my family for my birthday (aug 7th) and I can't wait. I've lost 95 lbs since the last time I saw my dad and brother, and hope they notice a change! :-) For the first time, I can look at pictures and see a change myself. It's so exciting!! 

Wow I can't believe how the time flies! 47 days since surgery and I've lost 46 lbs!! I've also lost almost 40 inches from all over my body!! It's hard for me to believe, sometimes I feel like I'm not losing at all, and then something will happen, like last night driving to the drive-in theater with my daughter and I noticed how far my stomach is now from the steering wheel (when right before surgery it was touching it!). I also no longer need my seat belt extender!! Such a great feeling!! I am able to walk farther without being out of breath or hurting. It's the most amazing feeling! I did have a rough patch about a week and a half ago. My weight loss stalled a bit (which from what I hear is normal but annoying!) and I was feeling a bit frustrated. But today when I weighed at my doctors I lost 6 lbs in a week! Whoo hoo! I've started back at my water aerobics, which is so much fun, and my swim suit is way too big now. It's a size 34, I bought a new one that fits (a bit tight, and I'm waiting till next week to start wearing it) that's a size 26. 4 sizes down!! I'm so happy with how things are going, and I haven't felt this healthy in a very very long time! 

Hope everyone has had a Happy 4th of July! My daughter, some friends of mine, and I went to a local fireworks show. They had venders selling food and things like glow sticks for the kids. In previous years I would park the car, set up our chairs and not move till the show was over. This year after setting up our chairs, I asked Jordyn (my daughter) if she wanted to walk around with me, and I think I surprised her. We walked all around looking at things, and we each got a shaved ice treat (they had sugar free flavors!!), then walked back to where we had set things up. It was nice to move around and look at things and I really felt like I earned the treat of my shaved ice. My knees are hurting now, but it was so worth it. 

And once I got back home, I tried on a pair of stretch jean capris a friend gave me. They are size 26 (which I haven't fit into in FOREVER) and I was sure they wouldn't fit yet, but I wanted to see how much I'd have to lose to fit into them. Well, to my shock and surprise, they fit!!! I can get them up and buttoned and zipped and everything!! They're still too tight to wear in public, especially around my knees and thighs, but it fits!! I'm so happy! I was looking at my one month pictures, and honestly I don't see a difference from before surgery to now, but fitting in smaller clothes really makes it hit home that I am losing. Happy Dance!! 

 One month post-op already!! 33 lbs gone!! This month has both flied by and crept like a turtle! LOL Recovery from surgery wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, but it took much longer to heal than I thought it would. I'm just impatient. I'm feeling pretty much back to normal now. I was given the OK to start swimming this week, and it's been so hot I'm thankful for that! I'm going to start back up with water aerobics next Wednesday (classes are mon, wed, fri, and my daughter has her last softball game on Monday) I can't wait! I love those classes, in the water my joints don't hurt and I can actually move. I've been walking in the mornings, just half a mile, but even though it is easier than it used to be (my asthma has been great lately so I can breathe when I walk!) I've found that my knees and back are hurting more in the evenings after walking and moving all day then they used to. I'm hoping they'll hurt less and less the more weight I take off. I'm super excited to see what this next week will bring, I wanted to get down to 360 lbs by July 28th (my daughter's birthday), that's how much I weighed when I gave birth to her almost 12 years ago.  I think it's possible, I weigh 386 now, so that's 26 lbs in 25 days and I've been averaging over a pound lost a day...Well I'll just be happy to loose anything. 

27 days since surgery and I'm down 29 lbs!! I'm so excited! I was cleared to go swimming this week, and went last Sunday. My swimsuit (which used to be snug on me) was falling off!! I had to sew the sides in a couple inches on either side to hold up my boobs. (not so excited about that, as my stomach disappears, they hang lower and lower! I'm putting a boob job on my 'to do' list!) I'm down at least a size or two in pants and two sizes in shirts already! I don't think I need my seat belt extender anymore, I just use it out of habit.

I wish I could say I still had all the energy I had a couple weeks ago, I have been feeling pretty drained lately. My doctor says this is normal, that it hasn't even been a month since I had surgery, if I get tired just rest. I think it's because I'm low in some vitamin or minerals. My doctor had me wait until my first post-op appointment to start taking vitamins, so I just recently started taking a complete adult chewable multi-vitamin, and I've been taking vitamin B for the past two weeks. I still have a list of 5 other vitamins I'm supposed to start taking, I just need to find them in chewable versions that I can afford. 

 Iron is one of those, I've been anemic in the past and my fatigue kinda feels like that, so it's first on my list to try and find. I'm dreading taking it though, because of it's constipating effects. I've never had a problem in that area till now. I'm taking a stool softener twice a day, and since I started on 'real' food last week I've been having a real problem. I don't like not having a movement every other day, I feel bloated and uncomfortable. I've tried forcing myself to drink more water and it doesn't seem to help. Ugh. 

Food. That's starting to be an issue. I can't wait till I can start adding some vegetables to my diet. Soft proteins only for the next 7 weeks or so. And after only one week I'm tired of them. I need to find some recipes and ideas for 'soft proteins' to make them more palatable. I desperately want to dice up and saute some onion and add it to my beans for a little crunch. For the first time since surgery I've been tempted to cheat (I won't, but I really thought about it!) I want some bread!! I heard someone mention going to Subway at my daughters softball game last night and almost started drooling. If I could have lettuce then I could make a lettuce wrap and it'd be almost like a sandwich...sigh. I will eventually. Right now I'm trying to keep track of all the progress I've been making and remind myself that it's all worth so much more than some craving I happen to be having. It's just hard sometimes.  

Hello! It's Day 18 and today is the first day I'm allowed to eat 'real' food! I've been super excited for this day to come. The past week has been a slow torture...the shakes were filling but not satisfying. I wanted something I could chew and swallow. Yesterday I made up some meals for me, some are in the freezer some are in the fridge. I did this at the suggestion of one of the ladies at the bariatric surgery support group I attend at my local hospital.

I bought some small tupperware like containers, each hold half a cup (4 oz so at first each container will have 2 or more 'meals' for me to eat). I bought and baked salmon and Alaskan pollock, they were conveniently pre packaged in 4 oz fillets, which made measuring easy. Each 4 oz container of fish has about 20 g of protein, the salmon has about 235 calories each and the pollock 90. I also boiled some chicken breasts (10 boneless/skinless chicken tenderloins-20 oz) and (because I've been craving the cheesy chicken enchiladas I used to make) then chopped/shredded it until it was almost the consistency of baby food then added 1/2 cup green enchilada sauce (50 calories and only a few carbs) and 1 cup of ricotta cheese. It made 6-4oz containers and each container has about 22 g protein and 120 calories. 

Today for breakfast I had a scrambled egg. Well, almost a scrambled egg, really about 2/3 of a scrambled egg. I couldn't eat the rest, I was full!! I used a baby spoon (again at the suggestion of the lady from my meeting) so that I would take small bites, and chewed each little piece of egg very well. It tasted SO GOOD! But just like when I first started drinking after surgery, I could feel each little bit going down and into my stomach. When I took too big of a bite, I could feel it, and when I reached the full point, it wasn't like being 'full' before surgery where even if I was full I could keep eating if I wanted too. No, this new 'full' felt like I couldn't bring myself to lift the spoon to my mouth one more time. I suppose that's a good thing. So far in this journey I haven't thrown up, and I'd prefer not to start now, especially for a silly reason like forcing myself to eat past my full comfort level. 

Besides counting the days till I could eat, I've been trying to get out and move more. This has always been a challenge for me, I have arthritis in my knees and a bad back, and walking has been super hard. Before surgery I'd have to ride in a scooter at the stores just to get my shopping done. Since surgery I've only used the scooters twice, and that was because I'd been walking so much at other stores that my stomach hurt! Last week I started walking in the morning with a friend (I hate mornings, but once its hot outside I don't want to go walking, so mornings it is!) We've started with 2 laps around the track and I only have to sit and rest once. A half mile! We're going to slowly increase it and hopefully I'll be able to walk faster eventually (right now a 10 minute lap has me huffing and puffing and sweating horribly). My friend Amy is great, she could walk faster but stays with me. 

I weighed last Thursday (6/18/15) and was down to 403!! That's 16 lbs in 2 weeks!! I can't believe it! At my doctors appointment last Monday my doctor took me off of my metformin (diabetes medication) because my blood sugars have been awesome since surgery! She also took me off my blood pressure medicine and my cholesterol medicine and one of my antidepressants. I hadn't taken any of my meds since surgery (surgeon expected me to swallow my pills whole, without crushing them! No way was THAT happening!!) So she switched the ones I still have to take to chewable, sublinqual, or liquid unless they were tiny pills I could swallow. I might have to start the cholesterol med again if it's high after we redo my blood work, but for now she's not worried about it. My blood pressure has been awesome. I was hoping the surgery would help with my blood sugars, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden, or that my blood pressure would instantly be fine right after surgery too! I still have some pain in that same spot now and then if I walk to far or try to do something I shouldn't yet, like lift heavy things, but I would have this surgery again in a heartbeat! It's helped me out so much already, I really feel like this is my second chance at life. 

I have my first post-op appointment with my surgeon tomorrow, so i hope he's pleased with my progress. I also can't wait to see what the scale says, I'm hopeful that I'll be under 400 lbs, if I am, it'll be the first time I've been under that in 6 years! I'll be sure to post an update after I see him. :-) 

Hello!! Day 8 post-op and doing much better! Pain is down, still hurting in one spot to the right of my belly button in between two of my incision sites. It's not terrible, and the pain medicine my surgeon sent me home with helps (and I'm not having to use as much or as often) It's a burning pain mostly and when I try and bend too far over or twist I get sharp pain in that spot. I'm told that things are so much better after day 10, so I'm impatiently waiting. I've been able to move and walk more without too much pain, but am slow moving. Today I cleaned out my pantry and linen closets, cleaned (with help from my mom and daughter), vacuumed, swept, moped, and went to my daughter's softball game. So I'm feeling pretty accomplished! I'm able to drink more and more each day; premier protein shakes and water with various flavors of crystal lite. The protein shakes do not taste as good to me as the flavored water, so I have to force myself to drink them, but I'm getting about 2 shakes a day which is 60 g protein. I'm shooting for 3 shakes a day, 90 g protein, but haven't managed it yet. I haven't weighed since my surgery day (I don't have a scale that goes high enough to weigh me) so I think I'm going to my doctors tomorrow morning to weigh. I'm hoping I've lost some. I think it's far enough since my surgery date that all the fluids they pumped me with are gone.  

Yay! Post-Op and home! I was released from the hospital yesterday and got home about 3:30pm...but lets start at the beginning. 

Surgery was Thursday 6/4/15 at 11:30 am. I got to the hospital about 9:30, got checked in and was brought back to a small room and instructed to go to the bathroom and then take everything off and put on a gown. After making sure my behind was covered I had to wait for about 30 minutes before a nurse came back to weigh me (419! Guess the 2-week liquid diet worked, down 20 lbs!) and then put in my iv. After that the anesthesiologist came in and told me what he was going to do, that I'd be receiving general anesthesia and I signed paperwork that showed he gave me that info. So. Much. Paperwork! lol I was given something in my IV to make me loopy and I was rolled out and down the hall to the operating room. I remember seeing quite a few people and they were all busy working on me, putting massaging things on my legs to help circulation, a cap on my head to cover my hair, and then nothing.

I woke up in recovery about 2 hours later completely drowsy and slightly confused. It took quite awhile before I was thinking right, but I wasn't in any pain. I stayed in recovery for about 45 minutes until they were sure I was stable and coming out of the anesthesia then I was rolled into my room...I was lucky and got a room to myself, room 203. That first day was a blur of vitals and blood sugar being taken, pain medicine being given, and sleep. I was given dilantin in my IV and it would make me super sleepy. I would stay awake for maybe an hour then be back to sleep. I was NPO at this time (nothing by mouth) and was given a mint flavored mouth spray for my dry mouth and throat. It helped a bit. My throat was so sore and I had a cough from being intubated. My stomach was sore but not nearly a much as I thought it would be. 

That night I was finally awake enough to get up and walk some in my room. All I can say about that is gravity is a bit*h! Standing up was hard enough, and once my stomach and incision spots were hanging it HURT! But after standing and shuffling around a bit, I got used to the pull and it became tolerable. I was able to walk back and forth in my room about 15 times before getting back in bed. It wasn't until I was back in bed for about 10 minutes that my stomach started hurting even more. Time for more pain medicine and bed. 

The next day (Friday) I got the catheter out and was able to sit up in a recliner they had. I put on my own clothes and was able to wash up with disposable wash cloths they had. It felt great! I walked around my hospital floor with the IV pole in tow and stayed awake all day. I also had my swallow test about 11:00 am. They took me back to radiology and the table tilted up right so I didn't have to try and step up and hop on it, I just stepped on it, leaned back and it laid me down. Pretty neat. I had to swallow this stuff that was thick and tasted HORRIBLE, and then got to watch as it went down my esophagus and into my new 'banana' shaped stomach, then into my small intestines. No leaks, so as soon as I was back to my room and my surgeon got the results and gave the ok, I was able to start drinking room temperature clear liquids. I started with water, and was only able to drink 1-2 oz each hour. I've never been so aware of my stomach. Every sip hit my stomach like a rock, no matter how small. I felt slightly nauseous but not bad. I was hoping to go home that night, but my blood sugars kept dropping every time they took them so they wanted to watch that another night. I was disappointed, I wanted to go home and my daughter missed me. Around 11 pm my blood sugar was down to 84 (which is lower than it's been for a LONG time) and I was feeling shaky and sick and confused I was hurting and didn't know what I wanted. They gave me an ounce of regular jello to bring my sugars up just enough to be ok. It worked, and I eventually fell asleep. 

Saturday I slept as late I could, since it was the second night of nurses waking me up every 4-6 hours for vitals, blood sugars, more IV liquids or Tylenol.  I was hurting even more (I was told days 2 and 3 were the worst for pain...) and they switched me from IV pain meds to pills. Not crushed, whole. They were small pills, but still felt like a rock being dropped into my stomach every time I'd take them. But they told me I'd have to get used to it if I was going to go home. I was given room temperature jello and broth for both breakfast and lunch. It wasn't very good at all, and I still couldn't drink more than 2 oz an hour without feeling very uncomfortable.  I got to go home at 3:30 though, and was able to relax a bit.

Today is day 4. I still hurt, walking is painful due to gravity, but I think it's a bit better. Maybe. I hold my stomach when I walk to try and keep the pain down. Today I started drinking protein shakes, which seem to go down ok, but the most I can drink is 2-3 oz an hour, and thats pushing it. My 11 ounce premier protein shake took me about 5 hours to finish. I hope I'm able to drink a bit more or faster soon, because I other wise I don't know how I'll be getting all the water and protein my doctor wants me to have in a day in. I'm supposed to be drinking at least 60 grams of protein (2 shakes) a day plus lots of water. It's 8:30 pm and I've managed 1 shake and about 8 oz of water.  I'm hopeful that each day the pain will get less and less and I'll be able to drink more and more. It's a big adjustment. I'm pretty much spending all day sipping on something. But I don't regret it. It WILL be worth it!  

Well, my surgery that was supposed to happen on Feb 16th, 2015 didn't happen. My pre-op blood work came back showing an elevated number of white blood cells, so they postponed it in case I had an infection. It turned out that it was elevated due to the prednisone my primary doctor gave me because my asthma was acting up and she wanted it under control for surgery.  

And THEN I found out that the hospital committee that reviews and approves potential surgeries said that they couldn't do surgery on me because my BMI was too high....THATS WHY I'M HAVING WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY!!!! They wanted me to get my BMI down to 65 or lower before having surgery...I had to lose 50 lbs!! If I could drop 50 pounds easily I wouldn't be needing surgery, I'd lose the weight on my own! 

My doctor advocated for me, and after seeing a cardiologist and getting conformation that my heart is OK and that surgery wouldn't put too much of a strain on it, the committee approved my surgery and I got a new surgery date.   June 4th, TOMORROW!!! 

I haven't done well on the 2-week pre-op liquid diet my doctor requires. Well, haven't done well in the since that I have cheated about 6 times. Not all day cheats, but yes I ate food 6 different times. I've been good the past several days, and today is just clear liquids (no protein shakes) and nothing after midnight. Since I started the liquid diet on 5/20/15 I've lost 19lbs!! I'm hoping to weigh again before I go in for surgery, and I'll be taking 'before' pictures and measurements. 

I'm not too nervous about the actual surgery, I trust my surgeon and I've been waiting so darn long (feels like my whole life) for this that I'm ready to just have it done with and be working towards a healthier me.