8 1/2 months post surgery

Sep 30, 2010

Well it's been 8 1/2 months since my RNY and all the doubts I had before have vanished and I feel like a new person.  I have lost a grand total (to date) of 93# with a tough 37# to go to make goal.  I had my 8 month check earlier in the month and all the dietician could say is "keep up the good work".  I didn't get to see my surgeon just the PA and so that was different for me.  I'm hoping to see my surgeon for my year checkup.  She told me to shoot for 20# between now and then and we discussed my goal -- she said my goal was a good one but if I was to get within 10# of it and felt comfortable that would be fine with them also.  Bittersweet moment the other night when I realized I weigh less than my daughter now as she has been gaining as I have been losing.  It made me feel good but I feel for her and she is the type that you can't say anything to or she will flip -- so I let it go! 

I can go out to eat with confidence and know that I can make the right choices.  I can feed my family and make the right choices for myself.  It's so true that you start eating to live instead of living to eat.  I'm not going to say I've never made a bad choice but I do it rarely and I know how to handle it.

A big shout out to all weight loss surgery participants -- and a huge "you're so wrong" to those who say we took the easy way out.  It's hard work but it's so worth it.   : )

Have a great day all!
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My WLS Experience

Apr 20, 2010

After my 6 months Doctor assisted weight loss the process moved really fast for me.  My information was submitted on a Monday and I had an approval letter in my hand by Friday of the same week.  I was soooo excited and looking forward to what I felt would be a beginning of a new life for me.  Having been overweight and a yo-yo dieter all my life I had finally gotten to an age where the diets just kept getting harder and harder and my weight had blossomed to closed to 300# -- my knees were shot I have a have degenerative disc disease which will  hopefully be relieved at least somewhat by my loss of weight.  The letter was received in December and I had surgery on January 13, 2010.  I have to give big kudos to my PCP who was able to schedule all my pre-op testing in my hometown since they were unable to get me in before surgery in Carmel. 

We  went to Carmel the day before surgery to be at the all day dietician class.  This happened to be my DHs birthday and I had planned to take him to a birthday dinner that would couple with my "last dinner" -- I was lucky to not have to participate in a pre-op liquid diet.  I did, however, find out that day that I was on a special diet that day.  Soooo I took my DH out just as I promised and while he dined on steak with the trimmings I had a Sprite lol.  We went to the grocery after where I bought some italian ice and had two of those before bed. 

We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. as scheduled and I was promptly called to be prepped. I walked, with confidence, to the operating room.

I woke in a moderate amount of pain -- the nurses (well most of them lol) were great and took very good care of me.  I think they could use more nurses/pt ratio though because you didn't want to wait until you were in too much pain to wait because it often took 20-30 minutes for your nurse if she was with another patient but other times she was right in.    I was up walking the halls as soon as I felt stable on my feet and I kept "trying" to go to the bathroom with no luck.  By 7:00 p.m. my nurse finally decided to catheterize me because I was in so much pain and could not urinate on my own.  She collected an entire bag of urine and I felt a great deal of relief -- after this I was able to urinate on my own.  I experienced a great deal of nausea in the hospital and probably requested more nausea medicine than pain medicine.  In fact the day I was going home I was in terrible shape with nausea and they gave me every med they could and none helped.  I was released that day and finally slept on the way home after not sleeping in the hospital more than a few nod offs.  My nausea remained, got better, and came back frequently after getting home.  I would either have a great day or a bad day - no in betweens.

After two weeks I went back to work and that turned out to be the best medicine for me because after that there was no more nausea.  Work gave me a purpose.  I have to say that the first 4 weeks were the most challenging for me strength wise -- I questioned my decision so many times in the first few weeks -- I just knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life.  Once I reached the "real" food stage things started to get better.  I started working out and that made me feel better  but also is hard on my knees.   Plus I came down suddenly with a severe case of vertigo -- several tests later I have to wait for a balance test on May 6.  I hope they find an answer and fix it soon because I certainly can't avoid right turns forever lolol.

Right now I'm just over 3 months out and have only lost 49# which makes me a relatively slow loser -- I can't help but to compare myself to  others and I see some losing more than me and have only been post-op for a month or less.  Everything in me knows I shouldn't compare but it's just human nature to think "am I a failure?".  I am not a failure and I know  that I am not -- I have dropped two pant sizes and I'm getting all kinds of compliments.  Compliments are hard for me--they are not what I am used to so they are rather embarrassing and empowering all at the same time.  I will be discussing  this with my psychologist at our next appt.  I'm so used to trying not to attract attention that it's weirding me out getting it and I really don't know how to react.  I'm gracious but embarrassed or feel unworthy.  

more later..............
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About Me
IN
Location
24.0
BMI
RNY
Surgery
01/13/2010
Surgery Date
Jan 18, 2010
Member Since

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