new here and 1 year POp
Hi
I just found this site, and wonder now why I never ever looked for support before this.
I had VB surgery Nov 1st 2012. I live in California and used Kaiser HMO. South San Francisco Kaiser was wonderful. We got the insurance because I met someone who had used them and knew they covered the surgery and had a extensive bariatric program. We got coverage on June 1, 2012, I had my first appointment with my new primary care on June 2nd. I brought with me my records and a letter from my previous internist who wanted me to have the surgery and stated her recommendation in the letter. I weighed 335 at that appointment.
The new primary care listened to me and read the letter and gave me a going over and agreed that I was super obese with high BP, pre diabetic, and severe arthritis in several joints and right then put me in the bariatric program by making my first appointment in their office for the following week. On June 8th I went to my first appointment and entered the program. It was a group orientation meeting with about 30 of us. We learned about the program, about all the different people we would need to meet with, the pre-op diet, we got a check list of goals that had to be met, by the next appointment. Meeting the goals was how they weeded out who was ready for surgery and or not. I was also taken off ALL pain meds at this time, because I had been on vicadin and percocet for pain for a couple of years at that point, and while not abusing them, my body did have a tolerance for them. In order for the anesthetic and morphene to work after surgery, I had to be off them for several months before. This for me was the hardest part, because I was in alot of constant pain and I had to go back to being in my wheel chair because I could no longer walk on my knee.
There were many goals that had to be met before you ever met with the surgeon. It was at the first surgeon meeting that he looked at all the goals met, what weight you had already lost while in the program and what weight you needed to be on the morning of surgery. I met him on Aug 1st 2012, I was at 317 and he gave me a Nov 1st date and wanted me under 310 but as close to 305 as possible. His main concerns for me was my ability to walk and move my legs after surgery so that I would not develop blood clots. I had had surgery before and knew that because of my asthma, it would be triggered by the breathing tube and that I would need repertory care after and possibly a extra day in the hospital to make sure my breathing was stable. He said that he was going to give me blood thinners to make sure about the blood clots and that I would need to stay an extra day anyway.
I will say that the anticipation and anxiety that I went through was pretty severe for me for that month waiting for the day. I was determined to do it, but I was intensely scared. I was in therapy the whole time I was in the program, and we had built a picture for my mind to go to when I got scared. I pictured myself as a warrior, dressed like Xena and looking strong and hot. I actually went into a online game called Guild Wars where you can create avatars of warrior women to play in the game, but I made one that became the picture in my mind. This avatar became the representation of all my strength, determination, power over my fear. I printed out photo's of her and hung them around the house, so that I could keep the warrior me focused, and keep the fear at bay. To keep the fear small, we called it the ****roach. There was no way my warrior self was going to be beaten by a small bug that could be stepped on. And yes I did alot of things that kept me distracted from thinking about the day, lots of netflicks, books, music, genealogy. Played alot with my teen boys, the things they wanted to do, so I learned playstation 3 with my younger and watched anime with my older.
The day came and had to be there at 8am surgery wasnt till 1pm. Some hurry up and wait, but I was calm. I weighed in at 307 and was good to go. My surgeon had done 1823 bariatric surgeries with no loses, so I had faith in him. I woke up that I remember in my room about a couple hours after. I had been awake before but don't remember. I will say yes I had pain but being able to push the button was nice. They did get me up to walk that first evening, alot of that day is very fuzzy. The next day, I was up to walk several times, and slept alot, that night I let the pain get away from me by trying to not use the morphene too soon. Stupid. The third day I felt much better could walk much further, was still staying that night and did go home on the 4th day. I stayed on the pain meds they gave me for about 5 more days, more for my knee so I could walk around then for my stomach.
It took along time after I finished the liquid diet to figure out how my new stomach worked. I didnt feel hunger or fullness for several months. I will say I threw up alot those first months. I tried each new food, some worked some didnt and up it came. The only good part about all the throwing up is there was no acid with it anymore so things tasted the same going down as they did coming up. Finding a protein that would stay down was challenging. Birds would not stay down in any form, chicken, turkey, duck, ground up, baked, sauteed it all came up for almost the whole year. Only recently has it started staying down. 96% lean ground beef was for along time the only meat I could eat. I could keep scrambled egg down after 4 months, I miss my spicey seasonings it just hurts. I still use the protein shakes when getting enough protein is a problem. The other problem I had was staying hydrated, drinking enough water so I didnt have orange pee. I found that for some reason having sugar free popsicles was the best way for me to get enough liquid in. In the evening or on hot days, I need 4 popsicles to keep my pee clear. This is my first winter after losing and I am drinking alot of hot decaf to stay warm. I am always cold now, I have to wear a jacket or sweater with the house at 70. Even in the summer I was wearing a jacket in the house.
So today I am at 245. My year weight was 263. I have had plateaus of time where I did not lose anything for several weeks. BUT they were at weights that I had spent long times at going up. My first was at 278 for 3 weeks. I thought I was going to lose my mind that I stopped there. But I had been 275-280 for over 5 years. My nutriionist at Kaiser said that your body is always striving for equilibrium. It wants to find a place to settle and stay, so as we lose our body likes it when we get to a place we were at for along time and it gets stuck there. That the times we get stuck is time to do a new activity, or ramp up the intensity of what activity we are doing to get the metabolism a boost to push the body out of that old groove.
I still need a new knee, but I now have much less pain when I walk and non of the constant ache. I am still on 2 BP meds but alot less dose. And i still take an anti anxiety med, but that's it. I am off the 10 other meds I was on. I was in size 30 womens and 4x mens before and now am wearing size 24 pants and 1x shirts. I Know I still have another 100 pounds to lose to get to my surgeons goal for me of 140. I am the point now where I feel able to be more physical and do more serious weight training. I have started getting serious back pain and spazming from my boobs hanging more and still being heavy. The first skin surgery I will get is a boob reduction and I am hoping I can get that in the spring.
I would be interested in talking to anyone who has done a breast reduction after losing their weight.
will go now i've rambled long enough.....
KFL
