annierose_2000

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Just one week shy of 7 months post-op, and I am officially out of the 200's. 199.7 lbs this morning, May 18th, 2011! Down 122.3 lbs. Only 6.7 lbs away from my lowest ever adult weight! Cannot believe how far I have come! That's all for now, will try to update more thoroughly here soon before the summer takes off. Love to all!

What a ride it has been since the first day of my pre-op liquid diet! Not a ride that I had much trouble with, either. Some parts were not fun, of course. But, overall, I will say that things have gone better than planned. I have officially lost 25 lbs since the first day of my pre-op liquid diet on October 15th! How thrilling it is for me to say that! :)
I have to admit, just for the record, that I did a few minor cheats on my pre-op liquid diet. Not cookies and candy or any huge portions. Just a few nibbles of nutritious food. No worse for the wear, though.
The weekend before my surgery, I was cleaning the house like a mad woman to get everything just the way I wanted it and needed it for my arrival back home post surgery. It did look quite fabulous, I must say! But, since coming back home, I haven't felt like doing much housework, and my husband is not really the homemaker type, apparently. And things around here are beginning to fall apart again. I will probably cave and get things cleaned up this weekend again. With his help, most certainly.
On Monday, October 25th, I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and was due to arrive at the hospital at 10 a.m. I didn't sleep too well the night before, but I did manage to catch a few hours of sleep anyway. I got my 4 year-old ready for pre-school and dropped him off (we just live across the street). Everything was mostly ready to go after that, and we were out the door headed for Omaha by 8:45 a.m. I remember nothing of the ride down, I was sooo nervous. Got to the hospital about 5 minutes late. They were cool, though, thankfully. Checked in and was taken back within 15 minutes. Got all the pre-op business done (gown, non-skid socks, IV, urine sample, etc.) Oh yeah, had just gotten my period on Friday night, and Monday was about the first heavy-flow day. Lovely. I made my phone calls to my mama, my brother, and my best friend. Waited, got doped up on Versed...that was fun! It felt like laying down in bed after a long night of drinking, then I fell asleep for about 20 minutes. Woke up feeling good, at about 12:30. Didn't get anymore Versed and didn't get taken back to the O.R. until 1:15 p.m. I was pretty nervous during that time of waiting. But, visiting with my family and friends on the phone, chatting with the husband, and the Euchre application on my phone kept me busy. :) When they came to take me back, I had a huge lump in my throat, and all I could think about was my son and my mom. But, I sucked it up, and gave myself a little pep talk, and said I'm ready...take me away. After getting back to the O.R., I was out within 10 minutes, and the next thing I know, I was waking up in recovery. Lots of gas pain, and couldn't keep my eyes open. Pretty normal. I wasn't totally coherent until about 8 p.m. that evening. Wow. That means I missed the first half of Dancing With The Stars, dang it! LOL...
I don't remember much of the first night, I know I got up during the night to walk and couldn't get past the door due to the nausea and dizziness. So, back to bed I went. A couple of hours after that, I went ahead and tried again and made it a little further. That was the story with the walking. Further and further each time.
Didn't have any struggles with keeping things down, except one time, I felt as though I was going to vomit, but I held it back, and was glad I did! The nurses were simply the best! Amazing women and men. Loved them. Almost didn't want to go home, they took such good care of me! :D
I advanced more and more each day with liquids and was feeling fine with that, and still am. Started with some cottage cheese on this Tuesday after my one week follow up appointment, and am doing well with this stage of the diet.
When it was time to be discharged, the nurse (my fav, Tammi) took out my Pain Buster line and my penrose drain. Pain Buster removal was fine. Drain was mildly painful, but not bad at all. Still have some drainage from that site, but it is healing nicely. No problems thus far, and am glad that I bit the bullet and went through with the surgery. Since coming home last Thursday, I have been able to walk about a 1/2 mile for five out of those seven days. Hope I can continue that...don't know as winter is upon us.  Will have to check out the free gym at the high school.
More to come soon, friends. And thank you for all of your support thus far! I am very appreciative of all your kind words! Huggins to all!

Sooooo...I'm baaaaaaack! And re-scheduled, might I add! YAHOOOOO!

Just an update to let all of you know that after considering my current circumstances, I have decided to postpone my surgery that was scheduled for tomorrow morning. It was a hard decision, but I feel it is best for right now. With my husband's current attitude issues, I don't feel it is a real good idea to go forward with it at this time. Total and complete bummer, but that's the way the weenie wiggles. Have to take life's disappointments as they come, and just keep trudging along. So now you all know what is going on here, and I want to extend my sincere thanks for all of your support thus far. Will be updating if there are any changes at all in my life. Thanks again. Hope you are all well. Keep on keepin' on. Hugs to all.

As you may have guessed by that title and by my last blog, today I was scheduled for laparoscopic RNY! My date is August 2nd, 2010-time of surgery is 11:00 a.m. I think it is beginning to sink in now. I am getting butterflies!

I called Weight Loss Management to schedule my pre-op bariatric class-that will be on July 22nd at 3:30-and I called my PCP to schedule my pre-op testing, and I guess from the sounds of things they have never done a nicotine screening before, so the receptionist told me that I would more than likely have to have that done elsewhere . I guess it could be worse...

My mom and 3 year-old son went along to the consult. My mom was very impressed with Dr. White (as was I-he has a very charming personality), and I am sure that my son thought he was a pretty cool guy, too. My son was wearing an Iowa State jersey, and Dr. White was trying to sway him to become a Nebraska fan by teaching him to say, "Go Big Red!" Uggghhhh...I cringe upon typing that!  I told the gal doing the scheduling that I was going to have to wear some Nebraska apparel on the day of surgery as a good luck charm...haha. On second thought, I don't think I need luck that badly! Hehehe...

Well, hopefully my nicotine screening date gets figured out yet this week. Take care all...will continue to update...thank you for being a friend!

~Deanne

I just can't believe it's actually happening...that I am thisclose to being able to have this surgery!

I am a little apprehensive, however. It's not failure that I'm real worried about (of course, it is in the back of my mind), it's complications and such. I keep telling myself that I would not have gotten this far if it was not meant to be. Just keep thinking positive...happy thoughts, happy thoughts.

I think I may have gained a little bit this month  I hope that Dr. White is not a scolder --- my OB-GYN is, and when she was scolding me after diagnosing me with insulin resistance in March of 2009, for some reason, I just couldn't appreciate the lecture that I was receiving from this cute, little (like 5'4", 110 lbs.) blond about what obesity could do to me and that if I didn't start losing soon, I was gonna have diabetes before I knew it. I guess I was in denial at that point in my life...and I have never been one to take criticism too well anyway. Especially not in that particular situation. When this surgery is over and I am feeling real high on life (don't know when that happens-can't wait for it though ), I'm going to make an appointment to see her just so I can watch her jaw drop. LOL! That's a good mini-goal to work toward, I think.

So, I will TRY to blog tomorrow night after everything is settled down here and update about my surgery date and any other exciting news I find out. Until then my darlings...

Good Night ~

Deanne   

Yesterday was my 28th birthday as well as my mom's birthday! It was a very nice day. We had a really good lunch together. I am her youngest child, her only girl (3 older brothers), and I was born on her birthday. Pretty special, if I do say so myself!

I told the nurse navigator that I spoke with on Friday that I was going to give them a call yesterday to see if they had a "birthday gift" for me! I did, but by that time, they must have all gone home for the day, darn it!

So, this morning I had a voicemail on my phone from them, and they asked that I give them a call. I did, and the nurse navigator answered the phone. I told her who I was, and she told me that she was very excited to tell me that "YOU ARE APPROVED!!!" Wow! Great news! She said, "and by the way, Happy Belated Birthday!" I didn't expect that I would hear anything this soon! I was actually approved on my birthday, so it took Aetna only 6 days to decide! Way to go, guys!

So, my appointment with the surgeon for my initial consult will be on Tuesday, July 6th, @ 10:15 a.m. That is the day after my 7th wedding anniversary. So much happening, so fast. I really don't think it has hit me yet, because I'm feeling pretty laid back about it still. That is not too common for me in exciting new circumstances, either! I just can't believe it is really happening! That phone call was definitely a huge relief, though!

Thanks to all who sent prayers and well wishes my way! It is certainly appreciated! First goal was to get an approval...CHECK!!!

More to come soon!

Hello friends! I hope this note finds you all very well and enjoying the start of this glorious summer!

I never thought that June would get here, but it did! And, I am sooo very happy to say that...for more reasons than the obvious! We had an extremely nasty winter weather-wise with four VERY major winter storms-blizzards or ice storms-(two in December, one in January, and one in February, and almost zero lukewarm days)!  Monday, the 14th was my final pre-surgical group meeting...seems like I was just on the phone with Aetna finding out that my husband's plan covered bariatric surgery! I should be more patient, because I know that time does fly!

So, with that said, paperwork should be ready to submit, right? Right! Well, I am VERY excited to report that I called Weight Management this afternoon and spoke with one of the nurse navigators there, and she said that my paperwork has been submitted, Aetna has received it, and they are currently in the process of assigning a nurse to my case!  Can you say wow?! That was super fast, I think! And, they told all of us on Monday to give them a couple of weeks at least to get everyone's records submitted and what not. I am very impressed, and I made sure to tell the nurse navigator that. Thank goodness for them and the all of the hard work that they do behind the scenes.

So...wish me luck! Hopefully the next time that I blog, the heading reads "APPROVED"! Send me all the prayers and good luck  that you can to get me through this process! Because one of my biggest fears is denial. What a nerve-wracking ordeal! 

Here's to wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin'!  

Best ~ Deanne