ObesityHelp

I am 45 years old, married to a great guy for 19 yrs. I have three sons, Michael & wife Melissa, Donnie & wife Missy, Eric & wife Patty, one daughter Rachel & husband Travis, a 4 yr old grand daughter Katie to whom I am very partial, and a 1 1/2 yr old grandson Austin, whom I would like to see more of. I have been over weight since having my son at at 17, and I am definitely looking forward to my new life this wls is going to let me be begin. It will be great to be able to walk without my knees aching. June 25 will be here in no time flat. I am not worried about the surgery. I just hope I have my house cleaning done before its surgery time!!


6/12/03 Well, my surgery date is slowly arriving. I am not nervous but I am getting quite anxious. I had refresher CPR yesterday and with having to get on my knees to save that dummy I can barely move around today. I am no closer at getting my house thoroughly cleaned before surgery than I was the 1st day I posted at this sight.

I would like to go ahead and starting taking some kind of supplemental protein. I am all open for suggestions.

My pre-op testing is June 17. I will be glad when June 25 arrives.

6/14/03 Two more days until my pre-op workup, and only 11 days until surgery!!! I am trying to get some thorough house cleaning done, but I think I have tackled more than I can possibly finish.

6/17/03 Pre-OP testing day. Well, this has been one very long exhausting day. 3 hours of sleep last night, up at 4:30am this morning. Left at 5:30 for Lexington, and arrived at Samaritan Hospital at 7:15. Got registered, then EKG and labs. Next is chest xray (no ultrasound of gallbladder as I don't have one), and it is now 9am, with pulmonary testing scheduled for 12noon. Wow, I'm lucky and they can do PFT's a little earlier than scheduled. Before my PFT's they do the arterial blood gas (ABG), she blew the left artery, had a big ol' goose egg pop up and I thought it was never going to quit hurting, honestly I don't think the person has done very many of these. She had on gloves large enough to fit 2 people, and I myself have drawn 100's of ABG's and I know you need your gloves to fit, so that you can properly feel the pulse and know where to insert the needle, so needless to say, I put my finger on my pulse for the second attempt and told her where to insert the needle, and wah lah right on the money. After that I'm off to see internal medicine specialist Dr. Beiting. He was super nice, thorough, great personality. Now I get to jump into vehicle head up the street (I got lost) for my psych evaluation. They didn't have me scheduled for today, but took me immediately in anyway. 344 questions later, then a 1 1/2 hour talk with Dr. Steger. He was super, very informative and direct, seemed genuinely concerned for us patients. By now it is 4:30pm and I head back home to Maysville. Got home around 6 and immediately took a nap. It's 11:30pm now and I have been sitting here thinking of everything I still have to do before my surgery 6/25. At least pre-op testing is out of the way, and the next trip to Lexington will be for the surgery. *one good thing about today, I have been doing the Atkins diet and I weighed in at 223#*

June 20, 2003
Well its Friday, and I am 5 days away from surgery. I am beginning to get everything caught up at home. Carpet cleaners came today, so I only worked 1/2 day. Due to the damp carpet, we are camped out in 1 room of the house.
I love to fish, so I told my husband I wanted to go fishing once more before my surgery, so we are going over in Ohio fishing early in the morning.

I have started gathering up broths, popsicles, etc. for the up coming month.

For those reading this please keep me in your prayers.

JUNE 21, 2003
Had a nice relaxing day today with my hubby. We left early this am, stopped and ate breakfast and then headed to a pay fishing lake in Ohio. We were there until 8:30pm and didn't catch a fish. We saw a total of 5 very small catfish caught. But it was a beautiful day so it was worth it all in the end.

Now it is off to bed, so that I will be able to get up and get to church on time in the am.

JUNE 22, 2003
Made it to church this am, and it was a wonderful service. We went and ate at the buffet at a local steak house. (close to eating my last regular meal before surgery).

This afternoon my son Michael and his wife and our 2 wonderful grand dogs came for a visit. They live almost 2 hours aways so we don't get to visit often. I wanted to be able to talk to Michael about getting saved and I was able to do that. I told him that if something out of the ordinary happens when I have my surgery and I don't come back to this life, that I know I will be in heaven with my Jesus, and I will be visiting with my mom his granny, but the most important thing is for me to know is that I eventually will get to see him in heaven also. We shared a few tears and extra long hugs when he left. Michael was against me having the surgery and still isn't 100% won over. Michael is my only son, Donnie and Eric are my step-sons, but I have been their stepmom for 19 years so I feel as if they are my children, and they are very special to me.

Well, it is almost 2am, and I have to go in to the office in the am, so I had better get to bed. Two more days and then surgery!!!!


July 3, 2003 (8 Days Post-op)

Well, here I am 8 days post-op. I have not been nauseated the 1st time. I am living on popsicles, broth, apple juice, gatorade, jello & water.

At Samaritan Hospital they said I really shocked them by wanting to get up and walk. But as I have stressed before I have already had 8 prior surgeries so I knew what to expect and and what was to be expected of me. My surgery went great, and I got to stay in recovery several hours longer than usual, because ICU didn't have a bed for me. So I finally made it to ICU around 6pm. I was up that night and walked around the unit. Thursday morning came and I was given my grape popsicle and if I ate 1/2 of it and did okay that I would go up to a regular room. It went down, I did great so out came my NG tubing (up nose into stomach), then my catheter and finally I was wheeled up to 4th floor to my new room.

The care I received in ICU was great. I had a male nurse Wednesday night in ICU and I could have received no better care than he provided. He also had a great sense of personality.

After going to my regular room on Thursday, I had a male aid whom also was just super. However my nurse was Judy, and she was 100% worthless. Respiratory came and gave me my breathing treatments and their staff was also super. My respiratory therapist that day was Cindy and she did more for me during the whole day than my nurse did in 5 min. RN JUDY just acted like she had more important things to do than patient care. Judy told me she would be my nurse again on Friday, (but she was WRONG). On Friday I had to do breakfast and then again lunch and then I was discharged around 3:30pm.

It was a pretty long ride home. We got behind a 3lane wide slow moving vehicle so there wasn't much we could do but poke along behind everyone else.

I have not weighed since surgery, because Dr. Bolar asked me not too. I promised I wouldn't and my hubby hid the scales. He tells me he can tell I am loosing weight because I am loosing my jaws!!!!! Well, I guess it has to start somewhere.

I am definitely tired of being homebound. Hubby has taken me for a couple rides, and hopefully I will get out longer this weekend. My sister and neice came from Louisville on Sunday to stay with me for the week and they will be leaving Friday morning. There were greatly needed and appreciated.

I go back to Dr. Bolar on July 8 and will then again update my profile.

JULY 8, 2003--Went back for my 2 week post-op. I have lost 17# in 13 days. My liquid diet was increased to full liquids, and in 5 days I start on pureed food. I go back for another check up in 10 days, and then I get to start on regular food.
I had fudgesicles, cream of tomato soup, I pureed me some oatmeal w/milk and splenda and that was just great. I got my 39 staples out and now instead have a lot of steri-strips. I am also going to go back to work on July 14 which is only 3wks post-op, but I am feeling great, and I can try just working a few hours a day, so to keep myself sane and to get out of the house I am definitely going to give it a try and see how it goes. I can always leave and come home if it is just too much. I am only going to weigh once a week, so I will post again on July 15.