Angela M.
REVISION AT LESS THAN A YEAR OUT.........??????
Apr 04, 2008
Well, I have taken all of my tests and they all came back with minor ailments. I am in good health and I have that to be thankful for.
I went to see Dr. Halmi today to discuss getting my pouch "fixed" and I actually met Dr. Tran who I am now in love with!!! I mean really in love with...he kinda cute! LOL Anyway, he and Dr. Halmi work hand in hand so what he says Dr. Halmi will say and vice versa. He went over all of my records and came to the conclusion that I need a revision. Yeah, my pouch is too big. He threw a few options at me that included having a stomaphyx, an all out revision or a lapband over my pouch (I don't want that one). Anyway, He was mostly concerned about my insurance paying for the stomaphyx/revision so I called them and was told that the code for stomaphyx is a covered procedure as long as it is medically necessary and has a prior authorization. Well, I thinks that's doable
.So, I asked him how far out he is scheduling his surgeries and he said like 6-8 weeks and that is fine with me. Also, he said that depending on the surgery type, I may be able to go home that night after he gets back the results of my barium swallow. That is great because if my surgery is considered outpatient then I don't have to pay the $300.00 inpatient fee to the hospital.
I guess that is it for now. I have to wait til I hear back from their office on the status of my insurance approval. When I hear something, will update then!
Until then, thank you for stopping by and keeping up with me.
Angela
SMALL UPDATE.......
Mar 16, 2008
03/17/2008
Well, a few weeks ago I reported that I am having some ongoing issues with constipation and I just wanted to let you know that despite the fact that I have been placed on Amitiza (a prescription drug for chronic constipation) I am still having problems. I went to see the gastroenterologist last week and was told that I will need to have an EGD and a colonoscopy done so that they can figure out what is all going on with me. I could have a hernia or I could have an ulcer or it could be both or it could be something else. We will just have to see. I have the EGD on 03/26 and I need to reschedule the colonoscopy to another date so that I can have someone there with me. Also, I went to speak with Dr. Halmi about the results of the upper GI and he told me that the radiologist mentioned in his report that my pouch is kinda big. I sorta already knew that since I eat like a man.....My appetite picked up at around 6-7 months out and that is around the time I stopped losing weight and started gaining. Anyway, he explained to me that it happens and after he gets back all of my test results we will sit down and discuss where we are going to go from there.
I will be sure to keep you posted on what is going on with me.
Thank you,
Angela
NINE MONTHS OUT.......
Mar 05, 2008
03/05/2008
Hello all! Well, time sure does fly doesn't it? I can not believe that I had WLS 9 months ago! Well I will make this short and sweet, I hired a personal trainer 2 weeks ago and as of this morning I have lost 6 lbs. Sad to say I think most of it comes from waste. I have chronic constipation and just this past Saturday I spent almost 6 hours in the ER because of it. I went today to see a new doctor to discuss all of my concerns and he ordered me to see a gastroenterologists. He also wrote me a Rx to have and upper GI series done. I go this Friday 03/07/2008 to have it done and next Thursday 03/13/2008 I go see the other specialist about the constipation.
Well yeah I have been having a great deal of issues but I am prayerful and hopeful about everything. Next week the results of my upper GI will be in and from there the new surgeon Dr. Denis J. Halmi, will make a decision as to what to do with me.
Once I get a call from his office I will update you guys on everything. Please keep me in your prayers.
Angela
AIN'T NOTHING GOING ON BUT THE RENT.......
Feb 05, 2008
02/05/2008
Hello all! Thanks for stopping by and checking me out. Like the title says, ain’t nothing going here. Seriously...... Let this be a lesson to all of you pre-ops and newbies out there....AT SOME POINT (EARLY ON) IN YOUR JOURNEY, YOU WILL LEARN THAT IF YOU DO NOTHING THEN YOU WILL LOSE NOTHING!!!!!!! I am just here to tell you this because I have found out the hard way. I know my tool works because when I do what I am supposed to do...it works just fine. But when I am lazy and sit around eating chips and sweets....well then I don't drop a pound. Now I have been fortunate in the sense that I have not gained any weight either (that is another reason I know I have an awesome tool). But I know what I need to do.
Here I am 4 months away from being a year out and I still need to lose at least 55 lbs to reach my goal weight of 170 lbs. I need to get on the ball and start living right! I know. I have become so lazy and God has been so good to me. Do ya'll remember way back in my blog where I complained about a friend of mine named "Pam"? Well anyway, Pam got me this really nice job where she works and I am so thankful to God that I am here. No more working from 6am-6:30pm on two jobs but now I have just one job and I was able to get a new car too! So life is surely getting better. I just need to workout instead of giving Gold's gym 35 bucks every month for nothing.
Ok, I gotta go, but if you feel it in your heart, please pray for me that I get motivated to start working out.....thank you so much and I pray that God blesses you all on your journey!
Angela
NEW YEAR, NEW ANGELA.........!!!!!
Jan 01, 2008
01/01/2008
Wow, that felt weird to type.....2008. It is a new year ya'll!! And I am so thankful to God that I am here to see it. For the most part I am very healthy, I have tons of energy, I can walk straight without a limp and I am just sooooo very hopeful right now. I think I can actually say that I am happy. How neat is that? I feel good about myself and I love that.
Let’s see, I don't think I have lost any weight this past month to speak of but that is ok because I know I did NOTHING to lose any weight. I did lose but I also gained so I think I am somewhere between a whole lotta nothing and a very small portion of something. But there is hope! I have hope and I am soooo very excited about that. I won't go into all of my goals and all of the things I have done to ensure I meet my goal weight of 170 by June 5th of this year. To be honest, for me getting to 170 lbs is not my actual goal. My goal is to get to where I am happy with what I see when I look in the mirror. I feel that will be once I get into a size 14 and even more so when I get into a size 12. Right now, I am still in a size 18 so when I get into a size 12 then I will feel like I have met my goal weight.
When I go back to work on Monday Jan. 7th, I am going to put in my two weeks notice on my second job because I just can not do it anymore. Now don't get me wrong, yesterday I woke up (on payday) and was blessed enough to be able to pay ALL of my bills and still have a few hundred bucks left over to play around with. That is a first for me and I really like it but at the same time, my son is not doing so well with me working so much and neither am I. I eat crap all day and I have no time to exercise, which is really driving me crazy. This is how my days have been going.......wake up at 4am to be gone by 5am to get to work by 6am.....at 9am I leave the first job and go down the street to the second....stay there till 4 and go back to the other job till 6:30pm....get home at around 7:15 (if I don't stop anywhere) to try and cook/eat look at the computer for a minute and get my son showered and into bed no later than 9pm....all so we can get up in the morning and do the same crap all over again.....so needless to say, we have both been acting out and throwing tantrums all over the place. This has to stop. I have an interview with a law firm on Thursday so we shall see what happens from there......
last night I was invited to a get together being thrown by my sons coach Brian. The same one who invited us over for thanksgiving. I had a nice time. It was just adults and I was able to be silly and laugh and have a few drinks which I tolerated pretty well. I left a little before 2 so I could go and pick up my son from my friend Jennifer’s house. He was still awake running around not ready to go home. Jennifer finally called Dr. Moazzez yesterday to schedule her first consult with him. She hopes to have her surgery by the middle of March. I think she will be able to have it done by then. What's funny is she is the person who first mentioned having the RNY to me and I looked at her like she was crazy and here I am the one who had it first! Life can be so funny......
I am glad I was able to be grown last night. I was too cute cuz I never get to dress up and I did not take any full body pics but I have the memories......
Anyway, I think that is about it. I will put up a list of my goals for 2008 as soon as I can get them out of my head. I just want to thank EVERYONE for reading and keeping up with my blog and sending me kind notes and words of encouragement. I really need it all and I appreciate it all.
God bless everyone to get to where He wants us all to be, not just this year but throughout our lifetimes.......
Take care,
Angela
SIX MONTHS OUT......
Dec 06, 2007
12/06/2007
Well, as of yesterday I am 6 months out. I am still down 62 lbs. My ability to eat is still fine. I actually feel like I have more restriction like I did at the very beginning. I did some shopping this past weekend and I think that even the 2x sweaters I bought are too big. I was afraid to get them in 1x because I did not know how long it would take for them to fit the way I want them too but I am now thinking that maybe I should have gotten them in the 1x. I bought all of my pants in 18w and they all fit just fine.
I started working a second job this week so I will be extremely tired from now on. I work all day long from 6am-6:30pm. I have to do it if I want my son and I to have any kind of life. I still have most of my evenings off and my weekends too so it is not so bad. The thing is I know that I will not be able to do any quality consistent exercising so I will just have to see how everything goes.
Well, that is about it. Today is a snow day so I am here at home enjoying the day off.
HALF WAY THERE......
Nov 21, 2007
11/22/2007
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!
I started this journey weighing 317 lbs. I lost 23 lbs prior to surgery which put me at 294 lbs the day of and now today I am 232 lbs wearing a size 18W. All I can say is Thank you Jesus!!! I feel so much better. I walk without any problems. I even dance with my kids in the classroom everyday. My only problem is because I still have a cyst in my femur, it hurts when I roll over in my sleep and I still can not sleep on my left side. But other than that, I eat what I want (which is not always a good thing) my food digests just fine. I get in all of my protein and vitamins (still working on the water) and as far as exercising is concerned....well......It's getting better
I won't be cooking anything today because at about 5:30 yesterday evening, we received two invitations to dinner today. So we will just go to those places. One of the calls came from one of my son’s football coaches.....not that one, but another one that we have become very close to. He invited us to his parent’s house last year and I just thought he was being nice because we have no family here but he convinced me yesterday that he considers us family and I think that is just great.
Well, I hope everyone has much to be thankful for. I know I do! Enjoy your day and whatever time you have off!!
Angela
LIFE.....
Nov 17, 2007
11/17/2007
I remember reading I am sure hundreds of profiles on here prior to my surgery and on just about everyone they all read the same thing...."I can not see my weight loss". I remember thinking "are these people crazy? How could they not see the weight they have lost?" Well, my friends, I am now those people. Am I crazy? Well, I don't claim to be but I sure don't see my weight loss. Well, I see it in my neck and I can see it in comparison photos but I when I look at myself in the mirror (both naked and clothed) I can not see it. I put on a pair of slacks tonight that are a size 18 (not sure if they are women’s sizes or regular because the tag does not say) and they fit kinda nice. I stood there thinking if there was something wrong with them because they actually fit me. It really bugs me out a little. I look at my stomach and I just feel like I have such a long way to go. Like I know I need to lose at least another 40 lbs of belly fat alone. I don't know what to do about this. Today my eating was really bad. I did pretty good all week I even did 3 work outs which is a first. But today was bad. I will do better tomorrow.
Before I had WLS I never did a whole lot of dating and I was almost sure that by this stage I would be ready to hit the ground running. Well, I am here to report that I am not even remotely interested. When I see men staring at me I roll my eyes or look away and when I am confronted with a compliment, I respond to it with an explanation.......
. Ya'll please 
. I saw him today and I had convinced myself that I would say hi to him but right when I was going up to him someone called him away.......I know, I'm pathetic. Ahhhh.....I probably won't see him again till next summer when practice starts again so we will see or maybe we won't...I may just lay back in the cut with a crush....that's a trip....
ALMOST FORGOT.......
Nov 09, 2007
In my last post I forgot to mention that on Oct 28, I turned 34. I did not do anything special at all. Went to a football game and babysat some kids. I did not have any birthday cake nor did I whip up a peach cobbler for myself to enjoy. I just had some homemade soup and was thankful for how far I have come. I can not wait to see where God is going to allow my life to go this time next year.......
GETTING IT TOGETHER.........
Nov 05, 2007
Well, lets see here.....I have had a pretty good past few weeks. I am increasing my water and protein intake. I have actually started working out and I have been maintaining my vitamin regime. It's been going good. I ended up losing 11 lbs this past month and I am happy with that considering I only lost 1 lb last month. I have come to the conclusion that I will eventually get to my goal of weighing and maintaining between 164-170 lbs. I know I will. I am finally getting my eating problems under control and accepting responsibility for what I eat. The funny thing is....I still don't eat a lot (I know that sounds crazy, but I know post-ops who still consume a lot of food). I just prefer to eat junk, which is the exact same thing I did before surgery. It was never about the amount of food I ate, it was the crap I ate and that I never worked out. The great thing that this surgery has done for me is not allow me to enjoy eating the junk that I crave. When I eat chips I get weak and sick to my stomach. When I eat a sweet dessert, it makes me feel like someone is kicking me in my stomach. It is strange......the only thing that makes me feel better is when I drink a protein shake so I am forced to eat right. That is always a good thing.
This past month I took a serious liking to salads and tuna. I have spent so much on lettuce and tuna that it is crazy. I am getting better and I am feeling better because of it. I am too thankful to my God for that.
Well, I really don't have a great deal to report. I will post some updated photos when my little photographer gets home from hanging out with his friends. When I weighed in this morning my home scale read 238 but the one at work read 236 so I am just gonna be safe and say I am 237. I am still in a size 20 but I figure if I do what I am supposed to do this month I should be in a size 18 in a few weeks and close to a 16 by the new year. I will continue to pray about that and see where God takes me.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words and needed support.
Angela
