4 years post-op update (pregnancy after surgery)
I had surgery in October 2009 and since then I've lost (and kept off) 128 lbs (Starting weight was 338!). I was unable to get pregnant for 13 years. I kind of assume I had/have PCOS, but I was never officially diagnosed. But... I did get pregnant in 2011 and had my son in April 2012. Crazy! I noticed during the pregnancy I could eat a little more than I had been able to but I didn't gain much weight. Afterwards I got down to about 190 lbs. Unfortunately when I stopped nursing I gained some back and stopped around 210. I could still eat more than I could before I was pregnant. Honestly that weight gain took me awhile to even notice. (How did I notice, you ask? My underwear kept rolling down. Haha!) When i decided it was time to do something about it... I found out I'm pregnant again. This baby is due in March 2014. I'm nervous (again) and excited (again) and just wish I hadn't waited til I was over 30 to have surgery in the first place.
My food intake is still really restricted. I'm sure I'd have originally lost more weight if it weren't for the debilitating starbucks addiction. That's one thing I know I need to change. I still go for protein first, though a lot of it is in the form of vegetarian meat substitutes. I'm not a vegetarian, but my husband is. I'm just a lazy cook and don't want to make two meals.
So that's what's going on with me. I haven't been here on the boards in a long time, but I know I used to like to see long-term updates on "oldtimers" when I was a newbie or even just considering surgery. So if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Thanks for reading!
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply! Complications... right after surgery I had an infected incision. I had to have it flushed in the ER and packed with gauze for about 6 weeks before it healed on its own. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't the end of the world either. The scar looks just like the others at this point, so it didn't make a huge impact as far as that's concerned.
For the first year, probably, I would frequently miscalculate how much my stomach could hold and ended up overeating. That lead to burping up chewed up bits of food. It was uncomfortable and pretty gross. Thankfully something clicked (physically or mentally, I don't know) and I haven't had that problem for the last few years.
As for long term complications, I have frequent heartburn, reflux and occasional bouts of gastritis (which is painful!) Because of the reflux I have to make sure I don't eat for a few hours before going to bed. Otherwise, un-fun things happen in my sleep. Uck. The gastritis, fortunately, doesn't flare up often. I had some labs done recently and I had no deficiencies as far as vitamins, iron, etc.... except I was a little low on vitamin D, but my doctor said that's normal for about 90% of the pregnant women in her practice, so I wouldn't say that's a surgery-related complication.
Honestly, I just feel totally normal except I still can't eat much... thankfully! And I am at the point that I don't really even miss the volume of food I used to eat. That mental state did seem to take awhile to get to. I'd see something and think, "dammit, I want to eat it but I can't." Now, I know how much I can hold and I just try to plan accordingly.
Good luck with your surgery! I hope everything goes well and I wish you nothing but success!
