Three Month DS Surgiversary! (long)
My apologies if this seems to ramble a little as I'm on pain meds at the moment...
So, let me first start with a giant thank you to everyone who has been in touch over these past two weeks checking in on me after my double jaw surgery. Your kindness has been much appreciated. For those of you who don't know, I had planned double jaw surgery two weeks ago as a part of my orthodontic treatment, but surgery ended up being much more extensive than had been planned. Surgery was needed on my chin due to more extensive surgery on my bottom jaw being necessary and due to difficulty with the nerves in my jaw I have extensive facial freezing, which should be temporary but causes a lot of drooling at the moment. I suffered significant blood loss, and I've been having a rough recovery these past couple of weeks including being on a fluids only diet for the past two weeks, and still have two more weeks of fluids to go. I also learned that a separate surgery on my nose is going to be necessary to repair my 'very deviated' septum that posed some problems during this surgery but couldn't be touched due to the swelling. I'll probably do the rhinoplasty around January when my braces come off. I'm thinking of something like Penelope Cruz or Dianna Agron - thoughts? Pain and misery pretty much describe me right now, just indulge me :)
For those of you that have contacted me for info on the DS, thank you for your patience. I would never purposely not respond, so if I've missed a message or you haven't heard back from me (especially in the past two weeks), please get in touch again. I am THRILLED to see so many people being approved for DS here in Ontario!
I had my DS surgery on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 with the incredible Dr. Dennis Hong at St. Jo's Hamilton. I had been referred to TWH in November 2010 and was assessed at TWH before being referred to Dr. Hong to discuss the DS. Despite not meeting typical DS requirements, I was approved - I stress this as there is hope for people who want the DS but fear that they don't meet the 'requirements'. Please contact me for info if you are interested.
Surgery took 5 hours and 45 minutes. I had one small complication of a small intestinal bleed during surgery, which is not terribly uncommon and was quickly controlled. My gallbladder was removed during the procedure as well. I had no bowel sounds or movement for 2 days post-op which is a bit long, but not terribly concerning. By Friday evening I was passing gas and had a BM. Getting enough fluids while in hospital was very difficult for me. I found everything to be sickeningly sweet. Bless the nurse who went out of her way to get me some broth! Let me say that the nursing staff on the GI unit were incredible.
I was discharged on Sunday after 4 nights in hospital. 3 nights is more typical after DS, but since it took over 48 hours for my bowels to get moving again, I stayed the extra day. I left hospital with one drain left in my abdomen that I had to empty at home myself. A lovely home-care nurse came to check on me twice during my first week at home. My pain was bad but manageable with the percocets I had been prescribed. The worst part was the nausea. Unrelenting, gut-churning, constant nausea. I am so thankful that I never vomited. After getting my drain removed at a week post-op, Dr. Hong cleared me to start taking my Prevacid (PPI) twice a day and also prescribed a strong anti-nausea med (Zofran). I did not find the Zofran helpful, but by taking the Prevacid twice a day it slowly started to get better over the next couple of weeks and by 3 weeks post-op I was having it only rarely.
At my 1 month follow-up appointment it was discovered that I had low Vitamin A and zinc since before surgery and that my potassium was running a bit low since surgery. This caused my oral surgeon to delay my jaw surgery for a few weeks to have a longer opportunity to recover from my DS and get my electrolytes balanced again. My family doc has been monitoring my levels and they are again fine, except for the Vitamin A. I have had a hard time finding an appropriate vitamin A supplement in Canada - everything I've found here is either in oil/gelcap form or is from a vegetable source, both of these are poorly absorbed in a DSer (and RNYers for that matter). I was able to stem the drop in my A, but not get it to recover at all. I finally ordered the Biotech Dry Vitamin A from Vitalady.com and believe that dosing these at 50,000IU daily (with my dietician's blessing), plus the extra 15,000IU in my bariatric multi-vit should finally do the trick. I haven't been able to take it for 2 weeks, but should still get an idea if there has been any improvement when I get blood work done again in 2 weeks. As for supplements, I take them 4 times a day and it just becomes a routine. I find I quickly tired of chewables and am now switching over to capsules for most things. If you have questions about my regimen, please feel free to contact me. I'll post more about this after I get my 3 month lab results. I expect my iron, which had been fine, may be low after this most recent surgery, I guess we'll see.
Now, what people really want to know... the weight loss. Before optifast I weighed 235 pounds. Today I weigh 170 pounds. I lost 15 pounds on optifast, so I've lost 65 pounds in total and 50 since surgery 3 months ago. My liquid diet these past 2 weeks since jaw surgery has sped up the loss with 15 pounds being in the last 2 weeks alone. I find the loss speeds up some weeks and slows down during others. I lose 5 pounds one week and then only 1-2 the next - this is normal and doesn't freak me out. I weight only once per week and am yet to see a stall, I always lose at least 1 pound every week and know that I'm following the DS rules and that the weight loss will happen. I am thrilled with my weight loss so far. I haven't set a specific goal weight, but for my height, 135 would put me at the top of the healthy BMI range.
How do I feel? Fantastic (other than having two broken jaws at the moment). I have more energy, sleep less and am adjusting well to my new diet. I live on meat and cheese and dairy. I look forward to adding in some salad and nuts once my jaws are healed. Since surgery I find I cannot tolerate wheat or rice at all, they cause me gas/digestive pain. A bit of potato/sweet potato is ok though and has been a saviour these past two weeks when trying to puree different foods to eat. I watch my carbs very closely, keeping them under 50g/day and the ones I get come from dairy, tofu, vegetables and fruit yogurt. I eat full-fat everything to avoid carbs. There is no meat I can't tolerate, though moist is better and more enjoyable. Some of my favourites since surgery have been butter chicken, ageda****ofu, and any ground meat. I find I'm more sensitive to sweetness and spice. I can handle a little sugar as long as it is with or after protein (teriyaki sauce and some NSA chocolate mousse come to mind as things I've tried without any problems). Fluids can still be a challenge but just takes mindfulness to get in. Water was hard right after surgery, but I have no problems downing a cup now.
TMI warning - for those of you interested in bathroom issues (as there are always rumours with the DS) here is a little info. The first couple of weeks post-op when I was on fluids resulted in some loose and watery stools, some burning sensations and some terrible smells, but this was temporary and now things are quite normal again. I tend to go once everyday (less since being back on fluids only for jaw surgery) and while I find the smell different, it is not particularly worse. I have less gas now than I did before surgery (probably due to cutting out wheat), though I do sometimes find I have gas pain and depending on what I've eaten it can be smelly, but not always. I've had one episode of urgent and painful diarrhea which was last week and I believe was the result of being on two different antibiotics after jaw surgery to treat a UTI and not related to my DS. None of this has been a dramatic change since surgery. My IBS symptoms seem to have stayed the same (that is, well controlled), even though I have recently stopped taking my IBS medication (haven't been able to take it since jaw surgery). I'm going to keep an eye on this and see how it goes as I wanted to be able to stop taking this medication eventually anyway, this is just sooner than I expected and could have an impact in my migraines as well.
At only 3 months out I already regard the DS as one of the best decisions of my life.
So, let me first start with a giant thank you to everyone who has been in touch over these past two weeks checking in on me after my double jaw surgery. Your kindness has been much appreciated. For those of you who don't know, I had planned double jaw surgery two weeks ago as a part of my orthodontic treatment, but surgery ended up being much more extensive than had been planned. Surgery was needed on my chin due to more extensive surgery on my bottom jaw being necessary and due to difficulty with the nerves in my jaw I have extensive facial freezing, which should be temporary but causes a lot of drooling at the moment. I suffered significant blood loss, and I've been having a rough recovery these past couple of weeks including being on a fluids only diet for the past two weeks, and still have two more weeks of fluids to go. I also learned that a separate surgery on my nose is going to be necessary to repair my 'very deviated' septum that posed some problems during this surgery but couldn't be touched due to the swelling. I'll probably do the rhinoplasty around January when my braces come off. I'm thinking of something like Penelope Cruz or Dianna Agron - thoughts? Pain and misery pretty much describe me right now, just indulge me :)
For those of you that have contacted me for info on the DS, thank you for your patience. I would never purposely not respond, so if I've missed a message or you haven't heard back from me (especially in the past two weeks), please get in touch again. I am THRILLED to see so many people being approved for DS here in Ontario!
I had my DS surgery on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 with the incredible Dr. Dennis Hong at St. Jo's Hamilton. I had been referred to TWH in November 2010 and was assessed at TWH before being referred to Dr. Hong to discuss the DS. Despite not meeting typical DS requirements, I was approved - I stress this as there is hope for people who want the DS but fear that they don't meet the 'requirements'. Please contact me for info if you are interested.
Surgery took 5 hours and 45 minutes. I had one small complication of a small intestinal bleed during surgery, which is not terribly uncommon and was quickly controlled. My gallbladder was removed during the procedure as well. I had no bowel sounds or movement for 2 days post-op which is a bit long, but not terribly concerning. By Friday evening I was passing gas and had a BM. Getting enough fluids while in hospital was very difficult for me. I found everything to be sickeningly sweet. Bless the nurse who went out of her way to get me some broth! Let me say that the nursing staff on the GI unit were incredible.
I was discharged on Sunday after 4 nights in hospital. 3 nights is more typical after DS, but since it took over 48 hours for my bowels to get moving again, I stayed the extra day. I left hospital with one drain left in my abdomen that I had to empty at home myself. A lovely home-care nurse came to check on me twice during my first week at home. My pain was bad but manageable with the percocets I had been prescribed. The worst part was the nausea. Unrelenting, gut-churning, constant nausea. I am so thankful that I never vomited. After getting my drain removed at a week post-op, Dr. Hong cleared me to start taking my Prevacid (PPI) twice a day and also prescribed a strong anti-nausea med (Zofran). I did not find the Zofran helpful, but by taking the Prevacid twice a day it slowly started to get better over the next couple of weeks and by 3 weeks post-op I was having it only rarely.
At my 1 month follow-up appointment it was discovered that I had low Vitamin A and zinc since before surgery and that my potassium was running a bit low since surgery. This caused my oral surgeon to delay my jaw surgery for a few weeks to have a longer opportunity to recover from my DS and get my electrolytes balanced again. My family doc has been monitoring my levels and they are again fine, except for the Vitamin A. I have had a hard time finding an appropriate vitamin A supplement in Canada - everything I've found here is either in oil/gelcap form or is from a vegetable source, both of these are poorly absorbed in a DSer (and RNYers for that matter). I was able to stem the drop in my A, but not get it to recover at all. I finally ordered the Biotech Dry Vitamin A from Vitalady.com and believe that dosing these at 50,000IU daily (with my dietician's blessing), plus the extra 15,000IU in my bariatric multi-vit should finally do the trick. I haven't been able to take it for 2 weeks, but should still get an idea if there has been any improvement when I get blood work done again in 2 weeks. As for supplements, I take them 4 times a day and it just becomes a routine. I find I quickly tired of chewables and am now switching over to capsules for most things. If you have questions about my regimen, please feel free to contact me. I'll post more about this after I get my 3 month lab results. I expect my iron, which had been fine, may be low after this most recent surgery, I guess we'll see.
Now, what people really want to know... the weight loss. Before optifast I weighed 235 pounds. Today I weigh 170 pounds. I lost 15 pounds on optifast, so I've lost 65 pounds in total and 50 since surgery 3 months ago. My liquid diet these past 2 weeks since jaw surgery has sped up the loss with 15 pounds being in the last 2 weeks alone. I find the loss speeds up some weeks and slows down during others. I lose 5 pounds one week and then only 1-2 the next - this is normal and doesn't freak me out. I weight only once per week and am yet to see a stall, I always lose at least 1 pound every week and know that I'm following the DS rules and that the weight loss will happen. I am thrilled with my weight loss so far. I haven't set a specific goal weight, but for my height, 135 would put me at the top of the healthy BMI range.
How do I feel? Fantastic (other than having two broken jaws at the moment). I have more energy, sleep less and am adjusting well to my new diet. I live on meat and cheese and dairy. I look forward to adding in some salad and nuts once my jaws are healed. Since surgery I find I cannot tolerate wheat or rice at all, they cause me gas/digestive pain. A bit of potato/sweet potato is ok though and has been a saviour these past two weeks when trying to puree different foods to eat. I watch my carbs very closely, keeping them under 50g/day and the ones I get come from dairy, tofu, vegetables and fruit yogurt. I eat full-fat everything to avoid carbs. There is no meat I can't tolerate, though moist is better and more enjoyable. Some of my favourites since surgery have been butter chicken, ageda****ofu, and any ground meat. I find I'm more sensitive to sweetness and spice. I can handle a little sugar as long as it is with or after protein (teriyaki sauce and some NSA chocolate mousse come to mind as things I've tried without any problems). Fluids can still be a challenge but just takes mindfulness to get in. Water was hard right after surgery, but I have no problems downing a cup now.
TMI warning - for those of you interested in bathroom issues (as there are always rumours with the DS) here is a little info. The first couple of weeks post-op when I was on fluids resulted in some loose and watery stools, some burning sensations and some terrible smells, but this was temporary and now things are quite normal again. I tend to go once everyday (less since being back on fluids only for jaw surgery) and while I find the smell different, it is not particularly worse. I have less gas now than I did before surgery (probably due to cutting out wheat), though I do sometimes find I have gas pain and depending on what I've eaten it can be smelly, but not always. I've had one episode of urgent and painful diarrhea which was last week and I believe was the result of being on two different antibiotics after jaw surgery to treat a UTI and not related to my DS. None of this has been a dramatic change since surgery. My IBS symptoms seem to have stayed the same (that is, well controlled), even though I have recently stopped taking my IBS medication (haven't been able to take it since jaw surgery). I'm going to keep an eye on this and see how it goes as I wanted to be able to stop taking this medication eventually anyway, this is just sooner than I expected and could have an impact in my migraines as well.
At only 3 months out I already regard the DS as one of the best decisions of my life.
I had OHIP approved Duodenal Switch surgery with Dr. Dennis Hong at St. Joseph's Hamilton on March 7th, 2012. Want more information on the DS in Ontario? Send me a private message!
Thank you so much Judy. I wonder if Hamilton had any idea what was going to hit them after they approved me for the DS - I understand 6 people who have been approved for DS were getting their own nutrition class there this week!
I had OHIP approved Duodenal Switch surgery with Dr. Dennis Hong at St. Joseph's Hamilton on March 7th, 2012. Want more information on the DS in Ontario? Send me a private message!
Pat thanks so much for the update. I was very concerned for the longest time because we hadn't heard from you.
Congratulations on getting your DS. You worked so hard to make that happen for yourself.
Above all though I just want to take a second to let you know how much you where missed on the board. I'm sure I can speak from many on here when I say that we appreciate you!!
I really hope you are not in to much pain so I'm going to sending you positive healing thoughts and vibes...
Feel better soon
Ann
Congratulations on getting your DS. You worked so hard to make that happen for yourself.
Above all though I just want to take a second to let you know how much you where missed on the board. I'm sure I can speak from many on here when I say that we appreciate you!!
I really hope you are not in to much pain so I'm going to sending you positive healing thoughts and vibes...
Feel better soon
Ann
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
Surgery July 22, 2011 Starting weight 270 128 lbs lost Today's weight 142 lbs Ann 
Ann, thank you so much for your kind words. I know I've been a controversial figure by times, so it means so much to me to hear that I was missed and that I'm valued here.
I posted just briefly about 3 weeks ago to say that it has been a hard spring. In between my two surgeries I had to make family/friend emergency trips to both the East and West Coasts and my beloved cat died suddenly as well. It's been an emotionally as well as physically demanding and difficult time. I'm looking forward to my life getting a bit of balance back to it once I'm healed from my jaw surgery and I'm planning a nice trip away for two weeks in September to give myself a needed break as well.
I posted just briefly about 3 weeks ago to say that it has been a hard spring. In between my two surgeries I had to make family/friend emergency trips to both the East and West Coasts and my beloved cat died suddenly as well. It's been an emotionally as well as physically demanding and difficult time. I'm looking forward to my life getting a bit of balance back to it once I'm healed from my jaw surgery and I'm planning a nice trip away for two weeks in September to give myself a needed break as well.
I had OHIP approved Duodenal Switch surgery with Dr. Dennis Hong at St. Joseph's Hamilton on March 7th, 2012. Want more information on the DS in Ontario? Send me a private message!
Hey Trish....a little controversy is OK....lol...
Sounds like you are doing well and have everything under control....I knew you would
Glad you are keeping right on top of your labs....so important for the rest of your life....I keep a file of all my labs...pre to post surgery....and compare all my levels...
Its easier to avoid a deficiency then to recover from one....I know you will do well
Thanks - I've started a similar system on a spreadsheet. Like you say, it's really important to track so we can see 'trends' before deficiencies develop and it is muh easier to prevent than fix for sure!
I had OHIP approved Duodenal Switch surgery with Dr. Dennis Hong at St. Joseph's Hamilton on March 7th, 2012. Want more information on the DS in Ontario? Send me a private message!
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