ObesityHelp

I am a 55 yr old RN. I have had problems with weight for most of my life. I am tied of failingatdiets & now I am having problems with my hips, feel lousy all the time. I am exploring surgery & hope to meet with Dr Drinkwater soon. I ahve sent in my information for his review & will talk to Jenn at his office next week regarding attending a group session, gettingan eval appointment with the Dr.
I am a wife & mother of a 20 yr old daughter. I would like to be able to go places & do things with my family again without being self consious about my wt.

7/20/04 I sent my pperwork to Jen at Dr Drinkwater's. I will attend a support group Thursday eve & see Dr Drinkwater Friday afternoon. Wow! I know there is a way to go but at least the jouney has begun. Some facilities it can be over 1 yr before you even see a surgeon.

7/27/04 I attended an information session Thursday & saw Dr Drinkwater Friday. He was very informative & said I am a good candidate for surgery. I am so glad. I have a nutrition appointment 8/6. Best of all my insurance pays for it if my PCP auths it, which they will do. I feel like I am beginning to actually have a chance athaving the surgery!

8/9/04 I met with the Nutritionist last Friday. I have to lose 20 lb before my surgery, 10 lb before they will set up further assessments, psych etc. I am concerned because I have such a hard time losing weight becasue I can't exercise. I lost 20 lb last year but it took 8 months. I don't want to wait that long! I am going shopping tomorrow & get all the basics & start the whole process. Good bye fast food & I guess I'll be trying to spend some time in my kitchen now. I'll see Jayne, the nutritionist again at the beginning of Sept & see how it goes. I hope I can lose at least 4-5 lb by then so she can see I'm serious. I'd love it to be more but don't want to set myself up to fail! I also go to my 1st support group Wed evening. I'm taking my sister with me so she can see what this is all about. She is being very supportive. I really love having this site to visit & have learned a lot about the good, bad, ugly & sometimes very funny things that can happen post op.


8/23/04 Am doing my food diary, trying to monitopr portions & eating lower fat & sugar foods. I go to the next support group on Wednesday & hope it goes well. The 1st group was a little disorganized & lots of people talked in small groups instead of listening so that was hard. I'm going to take my daughter to the meeting this time. She needs to understand this whole process & I hope this will help. She just thought I'd be able to eat what I want after surgery. I hope this will help her get the whole picture so I can count on her & also so she tries to change her eating patterns now & hopefully avoids this path if she can. She has lost some wt over the last year or so & that makes me proud.

8/27/04 I went tothe support group Wednesday evening 8/25. Most of the people who speak are very interesting. I was concerned for 1 lady who had surgey a week ago & the day she got home started eating eggs. Why have the surgery & then sabotage yourself on the 1st day home? I am excited about the fact that Barbara Thompson wil lbe coming to Nashua to speak 11/4. I've ordered her book so I can try to get an autograph. I am starting to lose a little wt now. I am not surewhat the difference in scales is from the hospital to home but I've lost a couple of lb anyway. People I work with say it shows. I hope I am beginning to get started anyway, I want to get my workup DONE! I go to the Nutritionist 9/3.

9/19/04 I met with Jayne 9/3. I was pleased to lose 5 lb& seh told me if I can lose another 5 lb I can start my workup. Why am I finding so hard to eat correctly now. I knmow part of it is that my family eats more junk than I would like to see in the house. I am seeing my pattern of eating to soothe my emotions lately. I just so badly need to do this as soon as possible. I am in so much pain that sometimes I can't even get to my desk at work from the parking lot without almost collapsing. I have set some goals for the week to do more journaling & eat properly etc & focus more on my food diary. Right now a total of 20 lb seems overwhelming & I can't stand it! Well, guess I'll stop whining now! Hopefully I'll be more on a positive track next time.

11/3 Boy has it been awhile since I posted! Too busy at work these days. I have had 2 more nutrition visits since I posted & both were with a new RD named Liz. She is really positive & eager to help. Yesterday she was as excited as I was when I got on the scale & I lost 5.8 lb in the last 3 wks. I need to lose 4.2 more lb before surgery. I also had my psych eval & it went well. Liz told me that they gave me a positive recomendation for surgery. I have to start the skills group in later Nov & that runs 4 Thursdays. I am hoping for more of my workup & surgery in Jan or early Feb at this point if all goes well. I have been stressed for a while now, getting eager, scared, whatever, about the surgery & just want to get it over with. Next wk our support group is a 2 hr speaking engagement from Barbara Thompson so I have convinced my husband to go with me & it will help him unbderstand more about what he is facing inhelping me when I get home after surgery.

11/8/04 I start my Skills group 11/18. I am so excited because that means I'll also be starting to get any workup done as well. January is looking realistic at this point. I need to do a Living Will & DPOA for health care & write letters to my family. I am so looking forward to Barbara Thompson tomorrow as well. I hope I can get my book autographed!

12/10/04 I got my date & am so happy about it. I will be a loser on 12/28. I had my preop testing done. All my labs were fine & I have stones in my gall bladder so they can remove that. I am so bleesed to have a surgeon & his team that make sure we are well prepared. I have lost 16 lb & will meet with the nutritionist about my preop diet etc in a week or so. I'll post more as I know it.


12/14/04 I had my preop nutrition visit yesterday. I lost 7 lb in last 2 wks so am at 22 lb down, have met my MD's goal of 20 lb. I have to start clear liquids on Christmas day. I guess I better have a great Christmas eve meal! I know this will be hard but I must do it. I spoke to Jen about the insurance approval & she expects it will be done by the end of the week. She'll keep me posted.
I'm not quite sure what to do with all my anxiety. It is hard to focus on anything but getting things ready for my surgery.


2/9/05 It's been a while but I've been busy! I had surgery 12/28/04. I am recovering & trying to move a little more every day. My recovery in the hospital was uneventful. I have had a hard time tolerating protein drinks but that is over now! I saw my nutritionist today for my 2nd follow up since surgery. I am almost able to tolerate 3 oz of protein at each meal. I need to be having denser protein now like chicken breast instead of cottage cheese or ground meat. I can have a little fat free mayo now too. I'm so looking forward to veggies but not til the middle of March. My surgeon moves us slowly but I guess that helps prevent problems so I'll do my best to comply. My total wt loss since surgery is 23.5 lb & total since I started the program last August is 48.5 lb. The best part is that when I lose another 16 lb I'll weigh less than my husband since we got married!
I returned to work yesterday. TIRED isn't the word. I guess I need to be kind to myself & take my time adjusting!
I have to say that my husband has been a great supporter & has driven me to appointments, fixed me meals, made my drinks & just asked how I was for all these weeks. He is so wonderful. More later.

3/14/05 Well today was my check with dietary. I was so pleased. I've lost a total of 59.6 lb & weight was 258.1. She was upset with some of the veggies I've eaten but since I tolerated them was told not to worry. Wasn't supposed to eat raw veggies but Dr D just told me to try things slowly. I was told I can try some fruits now but the risk is that I may dump. I think I'll wait til my day off to try that.

I am so frustrated with my hip pain & how it restricts my mobility. I have made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to replace my Right hip & hope that will go well. I will discuss my labs with Dr D in 10 days to be sure I am not anemic or anything & hope taht will allow me to proceed. Then I can exercise better after that so I don't waste this great opportunity.

I am having a hard time getting back into the work routine. My pain makes it hard. I am so far behind in things I need to get done. I hope I can manage it. More another day.

5/29/05 Well, Not much has changed since I wrote last. Wt is coming off slowly because I can't exercise d/t my hip. I am at about 235 now. It is hard to read the scale I use, my good one broke. I try to use only my nutrion scale or Surgeon's but don't see them for some time now.

I saw the ortho surgeon in April &he won't do surgery til I lose another 20-30 lb. I see him 6/22 for another eval. Have had to start using a walker to get around d/t pain & I hate it. I tried a Duragesic patch but it made me so ill after 3 wks I had to stop it. I had horrible dry heaves thatscared me & wasn't able to eat or drink properly. I'm just getting back to eating better but fluids are still hard to get in. I am taking Percocet for pain but I can only tolerate it at night so have missed lots of work d/t the pain. This is so discouraging because I want to get exercising & take advantage of this honeymoon time with the pouch & feel like i am losing a great opportunity. The depression from the pain is bad. Thank God I have a supportive husband. I just want to be able to do things with him again.


8/20/05
Well, a lot has changed for me since I wrote last! I lost 25 lb & saw the ortho in June. He then told me to lose 30 more lb & I told him I was no longer able to work or function so he agreed to do surgery & I had my r hip replaced on 7/11. I am now back to work part time & am doing a lot of work in therapy. I never thought I'd enjoy exercise but I am beginning to now that my pain is better. I am able to do exercises with a few breaks for almost 30 min with my therapist & am starting to ride a recumbent bike for short periods. I look forward to strting to take walks with my husband soon. I hope it will jumpstart my wt loss which is very slow!

I also find I am starting to get hungry & have eaten for reasons I shouldn't a few times. At least I am aware & am trying to stop it before I am out of control. I see Dr Drinkwater at the end of August for my belated 6 month check & will try to get to a support group after that as I was unable to attend since surgery due to my hip.

9/1/05 A big day today! I saw Dr Drinkwater & I have lost 100 lb since I 1st saw him a little over 1 yr ago. He expects I can get another 30-45 lb off before I finish, especially now that I can get some exercise.

I also went shopping lst week & bought clothes in sizes I can't remember wearing for over 25 yrs! I got a 14-16 top that my 21 yr old is jealous of! That was definitely an AHA moment. Things are finally looking up for me & I love it!

12/8/05 I haven't updated for a while. I have to say that I feel things are slowing down for me. My wt loss is now very slow but Ido it in bursts. I am more actiove now but also much hungrier. I have had some issues with mysweet tooth rearing it's ugly head but am doingfairly well. I have tried to increase my fluid intake & my protein & that has helped. I hope to get under 200 lb before I see Dr Drinkwater in Jan but that may be hard.

I am so sad that Dr Drinkwater is closing his program. I have to find a surgeon to follow me now & that is hard. It will take some work. I hope to get the surgeon at Elliot to take me on at Dartmouth Hitchcock so I can have the benefit of the full program & support group there.

I am so looking forward to the holiday. I am over 100 lb lighter than last year & am so relieved because I can finally say I feel better than I have in YEARS. My hip has healed well & if I can make myself get to the gym it will be stronger yet.
12/24/05
1 yr ago I was eatinmg my lst meal. Today I am getting ready to enjoy the holiday & know that I am over 100 lb lighter than last year. That is the best gift Icould get. I did most of my own shopping &ran around the mall without much difficulty this year & it was fun to enjoy shopping again. I see Liz my dietitan next week on 12/28 & it will be my final visit as the surgeon is closing the preactice. I am hoping not to gain wt over the holiday as that has been a struggle. Food tastes good again & I am working hard not to get carried away. Sometime my opouch gives me fair warning, sometimes I can get away with it &that is not necessarily a good thing. I'll update after I see the surgeon n early Ja.