ObesityHelp

I am a 23 yr old woman that has struggled with weight off and on, but more so in the past 3 years than ever. I have a daughter that is 3.5 years old and means the world to me. I want to be able to be healthier for her and myself. I am engaged to a wonderful man (on most days anyway...lol...) and he is supportive of this opportunity as well. I loving hanging out with friends, bowling, scrapbooking, going dancing as well as doing things with my daughter like going to the park, zoo, swimming ect. I just can't wait until I have more energy to keep up with her! I have been looking into this for over a year and finally felt ready.

Many people ask so I figured I would include it, I have BCBS of MN and they approved me the first time it was submitted and it took them about 10 business day.



A few people have asked me to update my profile about everything that happened to me...so here it is:

March 28, 2006: I had lap RNY surgery with Dr. Benn at Fairview Southdale Hospital. Everything went fine, surgery took a little longer than expected, other than that things went well. Ice chips only tonight until the upper GI (swallow test) in the morning to make sure I have no leaks! I was up walking a few times, thank goodness for the morphine!

March 29, 2006: Had my upper GI this morning and passed! No leaks for me! Started clear liquids and was up walking a lot today. Still in some pain.

March 30, 2006: Went home today! Was pretty exhausted but glad to be home. Thanks to everybody for all of their support!

March 31, 2006: Things are going ok, I made dinner for the family and sipped on my strained cream of chicken....that was kind of hard for me. Much harder than I expected.

April 4, 2006: One of the safety procedures that Fairveiw Southdale does is leave your JP drain in for one week after surgery just in case....well this saved my life. Today, 6 days post-op (I was looking forward to getting my drain out tomorrow) I looked at my JP drain and the drainage looked like the smoothie I had just been drinking. I thought to myself, "this can't be," so I tried drinking some red SF Kool-Aid and sure enough moments later the drainage became red. I freaked out, and couldn't really decide if I had a "true leak" or not (what I was thinking I have no idea). I tried calling my surgeons office and got the voicemail so I tried the nurses line same thing. So I called my angel, THANKS A MILLION CHRISTINE FOR ALL YOUR HELP!! I told her what was going on and she asked if I was able to drive to FSH, because the clinic would be closing in 30 minutes, I took her advice and drove there. I called them on constant redial the whole way there and finally someone answered and said they would stay until I made it there even if it wasn't until they after they closed. I got there, Cindy the PA looked at my drain and sure enough she figured it was a leak. She ordered an upper GI and CT scan. I went down and had the upper GI and sure enough I had a small pin hole leak. They admitted me to the hospital.

April 6, 2006: I have NPO (nothing by mouth including NO ICE CHIPS) since I was admitted. Dr. Benn has been on vacation so his partner Dr. Pierce has seen me everyday as well as Donna from the Clinic. They are great they are taking good care of me. Today they told me since the leak is so small they thinkit might heal on its own as long as I don't eat or drink a think so it can be completely at rest. So they are going to put a PICC line in me (a cathader that runs from your main vessel in your arm to the area right outside your heart). They have to do this so they can start me on TPN (total parental nutrition "nutrition in a bag") and lipids (fats). If they try and run this mix in your regular vains through a regular IV your veins will collapse. This whole process scared the crap outta me!

April 8, 2006: I was feeling very down today for 2 reasons 1.) I have been gaining weight....I talked to Donna from the clinic about this and she said it is normal from all the fluids and basically mainlining fats to your body. 2.) I was supposed to go home today and start Home Health Care to do TPN from home, but found out that I have blood clots in my arm from the PICC line. They had to start me on Lovenox and Coumadin (blood thinners) and I can't go home until my blood is thinned enough to be considered theraputic, so the clots won't cause a problem. Also, they moved my PICC line to my other arm now.

April 11, 2006: Finally my blood is theraputic and I get to go home and start home TPN. The nurse for Fairview Home Infusion came out and taught me how to use all the fancy stuff and do it all my self so I can be self sufficient.

April 18, 2006: The leak still hasn't healed itself so Dr. Benn wants to do surgery tomorrow. I have to go in to the hospital tonight to have the coumadin reversed. They gave me lots of vitamin K and 2 plasma transfusions. I should be ready for surgery tomorrow.

April 19, 2006: Dr. Benn did surgery again today. I took longer than expected because they had trouble finding the leak. But now I am all patched up and ready to go. This time I have 2 drain tubes and by far more pain than the first time. Dr. said that was expected. BTW, I love all the people from Fairview Weight Loss clinic they have all been so good to me, when I was home they called me everyday to make sure I was ok, and when I was in they came and visited everyday. Also, all the nurses on the 3rd floor I got to know really well and they were all great to me as well! Special thanks to them. Also, special thanks to Christine and Mary for coming to visit me today. I was pretty out of it, but thank you! And Christine....thanks for feeding me my ice...lol...I do remember that. My mouth was SO dry I could hardly speak more than 4 words! Also I would like to thank everyone on this board for being SO supportive and sending me so many well wishes and answering my questions...it has been SO helpful.

April 21, 2006: I went home today!! I am now considered a "normal bariatric patient." That was pretty exciting news. I am on liquids again which is so weird because I had nothing in my mouth for SO long. I am officially off TPN thnak goodness. That stuff makes you smell like TPN no matter how hard you scrub in the shower! Plus that was all I could taste on my teeth and in my mouth....it was gross!

April 24, 2006: Today was the first time I weighed myself since the secnd visit in the hospital I was getting so discouraged because I was GAINING weight. So today I am almost a month out (1st surgery) but also only 5 days post-op (2nd surgery) and I am down 19 lbs. At first I was upset by that, but then I realized that isn't so bad since for the past month I have only not been on TPN for about 10-12 days. I will take it....I just hope to keep loosing! More good news, no more signs of a leak so hopefully I will get my two drains out on wednesday! That's all for now!

April 26, 2006: I went in to see Dr. Benn because he wanted to check and make sure everything was ok. All is great and I can proceed to be a "normal Bariatric patient." He also pulled out my 2 JP drains. That was the oddest feeling I have ever had. The first on that was in the area of my pouch felt like he was ripping my pouch out...it didn't really hurt...ok maybe a little, but more than anything it was just a very ODD feeling. I survived and everything is fine now, and after almost 1 month I have nothing attached to me anymore! It feels great! More good news....I weighed in today on the "offical" scale.....221, that is down 25 lbs....HOORAY!

April 28, 2006: Everyday seems to get better and better. I can't wait to be cleared for soft foods! I am getting SO tired of liquids, plus I am having a hard time getting enough protein in. I can't drink another protein shake....they taste so horrible to me now. I am feeling good though and have plenty of energy. I am going back to work on Monday and that will be nice because I am getting SO bored being at home!

May 2, 2006: I started back to work yesterday. I am SO busy there. It helps to get my water in though! I am down 30 lbs and tomorrow I get to start on soft foods! HOORAY! Other than that nothing to big and exciting. I have been a little emotional lately but people have reassured me that will happen. I feel like I could bite someone's head off some days.

Anyway....more later....maybe tomorrow when I can start softs!

May 23, 2006: OK...I haven't updated in a long time. I moved to softs that aqws ok, but the best was when I could graduate to SOLIDS! I am doing ok with solids, I have vomited a few times from eating too fast. Making sure I stick to my scheduke of stopping drinking 30 min before and after has been hard. It gets better everyday though. I am still not getting over 64 ounces of liquid in everyday....I need to work harder on that. I am in a plateau now. I haven't lost weight only inches for about a week and a half. I have however lost 2 dress sizes. I took a picture of myself last Friday, and compared it to pre-op pics....that helped A LOT!! I could really notice the difference after the pics. For anybody pre-op reading this, the only thing I can tell you is the first month is HARD. Everything is SO different and it is so hard to "relearn" yourself. Plus there are so many emotions going on...it is just really hard....but the GOOD news....it gets better every day. Every day I notice something that gets a little better. I can walk futher, feel better, can drink/eat better...every day something. It is hard but worth it. I sent in to have new pictures posted, because someone I met from OH (MJ), said I REALLY need a new one!! More to come.....hopefully sooner rather than later!

June 20, 2006: It is official I have hit ONEDERLAND!! I have lost 47lbs. I feels wonderful. I can't believe I used to carry around all that extra weight. I can actually fit into a size 14 and lage tops. I am amazed. I have been having a problem with meat, however. It seems to be everytime I try it (especially chicken) I get very sick. I am getting through it though. This tool is wonderful and I have no regrets even though I had a very rough start. I also have gotten really bad acne from the hormonal imbalance. I don't remmeber it being this bad even when I was going through puberty!! Oh well, this too will pass. I also notice I am more irritable than "normal". I think it has to do withthe hormones though. Other than that I am doing great. I am already almost half way to goal. Only 61 more pounds until goal, and I am only 2 months out. I know it will slow down a lot in the months to come, but either way I'll take it!














MONTHLY WEIGHT LOSS

I am going to use the date of my second surgery to keep it consistant


Pre-op (4/19/06): 246
5/19/06: 216 -30lbs
6/19/06: 199 -17lbs total -47lbs
7/19/06: 186 -13lbs total -60lbs
8/19/06: 178 -8lbs total -68lbs
9/19/06:
10/19/06: 166 total -80lbs
11/19/06:
12/19/06




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