One Year Results/What's in a Year?

August 9, 2011

My surgiversary was August 2, 2011.  My surgery weight was 273 (I am 5'6") and now I'm down to 151.  My nurse's goal for me was 160, my goal for me was 155.   Now that I'm at 151, I want to go into my 140s to just see what that feels like! 

My surgeon was Dr. Choi at Danbury Hospital and I had an RNY.  I had Blue Shield/Blue Cross/Anthem - PPO.

My lab results were all normal, though I need to drink more water.  My cholesterol levels were better, my calcium/protein/everything else looked fine.  I no longer have to wear a C-PAP (I had a sleep study done in June) -- AMEN.  

What I *do* need to do is to continue to check in with myself regularly by doing a food diary - what I am I drinking/eating?  Is it still good, healthy?  I need to schedule excercise and try to go to bed at a decent hour.  I can eat more these days, which is fine, but I still need portion control. 

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It's hard for me to look at those "before" pictures of me that are posted on this website, but good to look at them as a reminder of where I never want to be again.  It's easier on this side of the fence... I have less fear to do things -- like see old friends, have photos taken of me, sit comfortably in a chair or an airplane, to try on clothes.   I feel less judged. 

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Last year I changed from an HMO to a PPO because I knew the HMO wouldn't cover surgery.  The process was so freaking easy and QUICK - I was accepted right away and I remember thinking - "Well, wait a minute.  Isn't this supposed to be harder?"  I remember thinking that I wasn't THAT fat, was I?  Sure, I was over 100 pounds over weight, but I didn't FEEL 100 pounds over weight!  And, well, them accepting me for surgery just made me FEEL as morbidly obese as I was.

I am thankful that I did NOT have to do the pre-surgery diet that so many have to go through.  I had to have liquids-only about 48 hours before surgery, but that's it. 

I actually enjoyed being tested for everything-under-the-sun before surgery.  They found a polyp in my colon, they found my heart was just fine, that I was B-12 anemic, that I had arthritis and I had bad sleep apnea. 

I remember right before surgery, I saw a food commercial and misted/teared, thinking about how I was going to miss food (for the record, every so often I *DO* miss ice cream, or something like a delicious, chewy warm cinnamon roll, but am THANKFUL that I can't have it because I know I'll get sick).
 
I remember being totally obsessive about coming onto OBESITYHELP.com to find out all the information I could, and being fearful that something really horribly bad was going to happen during surgery or after (it didn't). 

I remember saying "What the F**k am I doing" outloud, to my wife, as we drove into the hospital parking lot the morning of surgery, but then being totally calm at the hospital, embracing whatever was coming my way and having a positive attitude about it as something that must be done because I couldn't lose the weight myself.  I just couldn't. 

I remember, after surgery, that my roommate in the hospital had a horrible time.  I don't want to say she was whiney, but...she wouldn't get up and walk...she felt really sick and barfed.  I got sick my first day (and I am thankful that i shut my eyes when I did so, because the nurse nervously said, "that's ok, that's ok, that is just surgery remnants.").  Once I asked to be taken off of the morphine, I was fine and getting up and down those hospital halls as much as I could. 

I remember being in the hospital and taking about an hour to sip an ounce of water, and wondering if that was what my life was going to be like now (it's not - by a longshot).

I am thankful that my surgeon has me on a liquid diet for a longtime after surgery, and then the pureed diet.  I think it helped me lost a lot in the beginning, and it was encouraging to me to not get sick trying new foods and dropping off so much weight.  But I recall missing FLAVORFUL foods. 

I knew I couldn't have popcorn (why is that, by the way?), and I remember licking off the flavor of of one cheddar popcorn for a treat.  Seriously!

I charted my weight loss every Monday for at least 6 months.  Now I think I'll weigh myself every few weeks just to make sure I'm not gaining which, of course, is my biggest fear: failure.

The folks at the doctor's office reminded me that successful patients keep food diaries, excercise regularly, drink lots of water and do NOT drink water during of right after a meal.  I need to keep that in mind as I move forward.

In the end of this year, I am so thankful to have had the surgery, and am amused that it was MUCH less dramatic than what I thought it was going to be.   It's really not dramatic at all -- I am always able to eat something that's good for me, and am helping my kids make healthier food choices, too, so they don't end up like I was. 

I didn't hate my old life as a big person, I want to be clear, but there just seems to be more opportunities for a quality life at this size. 

Upward and onward.

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing. I hope to be where you are in a year.

Happy Surgiversary!!

Thank you so much for such a wonderful post.  I loved reading through your journey.  Best wishes on your continued success. 

thanks mango!