Check on it!
NOVEMBER 8, 2005-
I attended a WLS informational meeting. There was a post-op patient that came to
speak to us about her experience and we were able to speak to the surgeons who
are apart of the WLS program in our community as well. I was initially interested
in the Lap band and was told that this WLS would be discussed as well, but this was
mainly an informational about gastric bypass surgery. It did make me reconsider though.
So then I get to my in-laws to pick up my girls and my mother in-law shows me this
picture that my father in-law snapped of me months earlier without my knowledge.
I almost DIED.Just DIED!I mean, I didn't know I was THAT big and I guess because I
hate looking in the mirror or taking full body pictures, I never knew how big I got.
You would think I would know that I had to know because my clothes were getting tighter,
but really, I've been wearing the SAME size 24 for years. I was 180 pounds in
2000. All I remember is getting on the Depo-Provera shot (birth control) and
all hell broke loose! I gained 35 pounds in the first 3 months of 2001 and before I
knew it, I had gained 85 pounds! I stayed at 265 for a while and I was 285 when I got
pregnant with my first daughter in January 2002. I had her and then I got pregnant
again 9 months later and after I had my second daughter, I got down to 270. I was there
for a while and then basically fluctuated between 270 and 290.
NOVEMBER 16 2005-
I had my initial consult with my surgeon Dr. Mason.I never got a referral from my PCP.
I just went straight to the surgeon. Every time I discussed weight with my PCP, it's
just like uh, ok? Like he just overlooked that I wanted medical help (diet plan, pills,
something!), for my weight issue.Anyways, Dr. Mason performed gastric bypass surgery on
my mother in-law 3 months ago.He was very kind. Examined me looking for stretch marks
to show proof that I have rapidly gained and loss mass amounts of weight. I gave him my
packet of information I was required to fill out prior to the consult which consisted of
all of the diets I've ever been on. Let's see, I've taken water pills, thyroid pills,
potassium pills, metabolife, phentermine, low fat diet, high protein diet, low
carb diet, the reverse diet, exercising, weight watchers.Each diet I was pumped up, ready
to do it, and then I wouldn't see results and I'd give up, or I'd get depressed, have
me a piece of cake, or a sprite or 2, or 3, LOL, (I LOVE SPRITE) and bam, so long to any
weightlost. My next step in the process was to see a counselor for my psych eval.
NOVEMBER 21, 2005-
I had my initial consult with the counselor, Dr. Hansen, and
boy is she a hoot. I mean, she's
cheesing from ear to ear, doesn't look like she has as stress in the world!
She's a short lady, slightly overweight
and kind of hunches over. Nice lady
though. If you're in a bad mood,
she'll brighten your day for sure.
We just talked about the surgery, if I felt I was emotionally and
mentally prepared for such a thing and then we scheduled my next appointment
which was a series of true and false questions, about 500 of them!
LOL.
NOVEMBER 28, 2005-
Well this past weekend was Thanksgiving weekend. It was
"alright", nothing spectacular. You see, my mother
in-law cooks at least once or twice a week and it's
always like the movie soul food at her house on those days,
so Thanksgiving is
just an ordinary day to me, LOL.
Today I took my 500 question test at Dr. Hansen's office.
Do I ever think about killing
myself? Do I love my dad?
Do I love my mom?
Do I love me? Um, I'm not trying to be
funny, but who’s stupid enough to answer true to some
of those questions?
Knowing that's
just voluntarily signing you up for a years worth of counseling.
DECEMBER 1, 2005-
Ok, I'm off to see Dr. Hansen again to go over the results of
my 500 question test. Basically,
she doesn't feel like I'm depressed, but she feels I live a very high anxiety
type of lifestyle and would like to continue to see me for 6-8
more sessions, boo!
DECEMBER 7, 2005-
I go to see Dr. Hansen today and now she wants me to go see
Dr. Miar (a nutritionist) because she wants me to
learn healthy eating habits. Are
you kidding me? I do it anyways because she referred me.
DECEMBER 9, 2005-
I go to see Dr. Miar and he's
telling me about his bi-weekly medically supervised weight loss program.
Uh, #1, I'm already leaving work twice a
week for 2 hours to see Dr. Hansen, now yall want me
leaving for 2 more days a week to see you to learn how to eat healthy?
So I'm just a LITTLE upset!
I talk to Dr.
Miar and I'm like, I know what to eat, I know how to eat,
and I know how to exercise. Just
because I'm fat doesn't mean that I don't know how to get skinny.
It's just I can't STAY skinny if I were
to ever get there. Food is an
addiction. My stomach LOVES food!
LOL. Also,
I work full-time, I am raising a 1 and 2 year old AND I'm working on my
masters. I don't have time to do
what he wants me to do. He
agreed. Unless he could give me
more hours in my day, there wasn't a way he could stick in a workout regimen for
me to abide to because SOMETHING is going to come up and interfere.
So, that was that, and I was through at
his office.
DECEMBER 12 2005-
I go back to see Dr. Hansen and she wants to know what
happened at Dr. Miar's office (do they have some type
of referral program going on or something?) It's like all of
the Dr's are trying to make as much money as they can through patients
who are trying to have WLS. I'm already sick of paying my $15
co-pay for each one of these sessions.
I explained to her what Dr.
Miar and I discussed.
She felt I really needed to learn healthy eating habits because I eat
a lot of fast food due to convenience, but then she
also agreed it's not her place to make a determination on how I eat, she's just
hear to pick at my brain, so that was that.
DECEMBER 14 AND 21, 2005-
Saw Dr. Hansen again, nothing spectacular.
Just learned how to breathe in and out
and relax. I have to breathe with
my diaphragm, not my lungs.
JANUARY 3,5,10, 2006-
Saw Dr. Hansen on these dates as well.
Learned several
relaxation techniques.
JANUARY
11, 2006-
Alright, I saw Dr. Hansen today and I'm thinking, she said
6-8 sessions, so this should be my last day.
So we're going through all of these
exercises and she's talking about things she'd really like to go through with me
"next time" and I'm like, hold up now?!
Next time?
What next time? So I
straight up asked her. How many
more sessions am I going to have to do.
What OTHER relaxation techniques can we go over because I already brought
all my biofeedback numbers really low, and now it's getting to the point that I
feel like we're making up stuff for me to do just to keep me in
counseling. So I
told her, it's starting to get repetitive; I feel
I’m ready to go on.
She said it was up to me, but she would like to have one more session.
Ok fine, ONE MORE.
JANUARY 16, 2006-
2 days before my 28th birthday and it's my last session with
Dr. Hansen. She said she's going to
send over my clearance to the surgeon but she's always going to say she feels I
need to discuss healthy eating habits with a nutritionist, yeah
yeah, ok.
JANUARY 25, 2006-
I call Dr. Mason's office to check on the status of my prior
authorization for approval for surgery.
Jamie, she's the coordinator, tells me that my letter was mistyped during
dictation. It said I weighed 2894
pounds, instead of 289. Boo!
So now I have to wait for it to get sent
back and retyped. You KNOW I'm
sick. Jamie says she should get it
back tomorrow and will send it off.
FEBRUARY 8, 2006-
Um, why do I called Jamie to find out what happened to my
letter and if they sent it off the next day like she said she would and she
hadn't even gotten the letter back from Dr. Mason's office?
So I call Dr. Mason's office and all of
a sudden Jamie has it that afternoon, but claims the insurance company is closed
and will do it in the morning. I
call the insurance company, they're open, so I get their fax number and email it
to her, but she didn't respond.
FEBRUARY 9, 2006-
I have an email from Jamie saying she faxed in my paperwork
to the insurance company, yea!
FEBRUARY 10, 2006-
I call the insurance company to verify that they have
received my paperwork. They have, and they said it will be 10 business days to
make a determination. But you KNOW
I'm going to call EVERYDAY right? LOL.
FEBRUARY 16, 2006-
I've called everyday, no determination and I find out today
that a letter was sent out to my Dr's office requesting further
information. I get home and have my
letter as well. They want
documentation of a nutritional eval.
Boo!
I went to my nutrition class for surgery today as well. It's
2 days, only once a month, for 2 hours.
If I don't do it now, I will have to wait till the 16 and 21 next month,
which means it could be May before I have my surgery.
They want you wait for your approval
before taking the s because it's not covered by insurance and costs $500,
but I just KNOW it's going to get approved so I go anyways.
Guess what?
I get there, about to write out my
check, and find out the fee is not $250, it just got changed, woo
hoo!
FEBRUARY 21, 2006-
I had my final nutrition class today, learned what portions
and what type of foods I could eat post op.
MARCH 1, 2006-
I go to see Donna Ryan, a dietitian today.
It was really quick and fast because we
really just went over the same stuff I went over in the class I paid $250
for. She sent my
eval over to Dr. Mason's office the same day.
MARCH 6, 2006-
Dr. Mason signs off on my nutritional
eval.
MARCH 7, 2006-
Jamie faxes the eval to Anthem Blue
Cross Blue Shield. I should get a
determination in 2 business days.
MARCH 9, 2006-
I have been approved!
I repeat, I have been approved!
I call Dr. Mason's office for my final
pre-op visit. It is scheduled for
April 4, 2006 and I've given a tentative surgery date of April 6,
2006.
MARCH 11, 2006-
Surgery date has been changed to April 10th.
Well, that is the week before Easter and
I have a coworker off on the 10th as well as one off on the 14th, so I don't
want to cause any conflict at work because we already have a girl on our 4
person team who has been out on STD for 4 months!
So I tell Tonya, Dr. Mason's nurse to
make it the 17th of April and I'll just take 2 weeks off from work,
shoot!
MARCH 16, 2006-
I went and had my gallbladder ultrasound, upper GI (almost
barfed on the table), and pulmonary function test today.
APRIL 4, 2006-
I went in for my final pre-op visit.
I was given samples of protein shakes
and sugar free candies. I was weighed, still weigh 289, same as I did during my
initial consult (which was a shock, I had gotten up to 302, Lord HAVE
Mercy!)
APRIL 6, 2006-
I went to the hospital to pre-register.
I had to have a CBC, UA and EKG
done. I chose to have a private
room, which is an extra $25 a night.
My fee for the surgery is $250, and my insurance covers the
rest.
APRIL 16, 2006-
ok, it's the day before my surgery, and It's also Easter Sunday
We have an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and I made a broccolli salad
We also had other kinds of fingure foods, sandwhiches, veggies with dip,
fruit salad, etc. Well for some reason, I must have been nervous because I
really didn't eat anything. I know it was hot as HECK that day! LMAO!
One of my best friend's made it in from out of town. We went to Walmart to pick
up a few items, pick up my nauseau patch for behind my ear and then we were off
to drop my 2 year old off with her cousin who would be keeping her while I was
in the hospital. My 3 year old stayed with her grandmother. Well, my friend was
kind of hungry, I guess I was, LOL, and so we went to Taco Cabana for my "last supper."
Now, I ordered the sour cream chicken enchiladas with double rice, no beans. By the
time we got home, I had an hour to eat. Nothing by mouth after midnight right?
well, my rice was dry and nasty, there WERE beans and then I had something extra
with my sour cream sauce on my children enchiladas. UGH! After that it was time
to drink the stuff to clean out my system. I had a hard time drinking all of it
because it was sooooooo nasty. It tasted like straight salt! I took a bath when I
was done and the stuff didn't kick in till about 5am that morning. Too bad I couldn't
sleep at all that night. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am. Everything went by
so fast. I went to my pre-op room, they got my IV in, and the last thing I remember
was the anethesiologist telling me that they were eventually going to give me some
good stuff and they told my friend were the surgery waiting room was and that was
that. I woke up and I thought I was still waiting to go to the OR. Uh, why were
they already done? LMAO! Thank God I was alive, hahaha! I went back to sleep and I don't
even remember being brought to my room. I woke up around 1pm when my mother-in-law got
there. We went walking and then I slept for the rest of the day until one of my
sister in law's came to visit around 7pm and I went walking with her
I slept pretty much off and on for the rest of the night.
April 19, 2006
My morphine pump was taken today. I really didn't think it was working cause
Cause I didn't need it much, but boy was I in pain that day! LOL. I still
walked though. Like they say, can't nobody take my pride, can't nobody hold
me down, oh no, I got to keep on movin'! Plus. I had to check my email, shoot!
April 21, 2006
I was discharged at about 3pm, woo hoo! I was put on the pureed diet to go home.
I had already had eggs, applesauce and jello and cream of wheat while in the hospital.
Well I was a little sad and depressed today for some reason. I'm having hard time
eating anything and I hate all the flavored waters I used to love, even propel! I hate
water by itself, so man am I screwed! I'm having horrible gas and indigestion and i'm
nauseaus. I'm not going to lie. I did ask myself today, what in the world have I done?!!
And talk about diarhea, TMI, but am I peeing or pooping? ugh!
April 23, 2006
Well, EVERYTHING I said yesterday was NOT today, LOL. I mean i feel sooooo much better!
I was able to eat some baked chicken and rice today, so it's on and poppin now!
I also had watermelon, and bananas
April 25, 2005
Today is my parent's 28th wedding annivesary. I also had my follow-up appt today.
I am down 11 pounds, woo hoo! I am allowed to return to work on Monday, May 1.
May 5, 2005
Today is a good day so far. I had an egg with cheese
and some picante sauce for breakfast, which is good because
I have a hard time eating breakfast. I also have some
watermelon for a snack. I have midterms this week,
so this weekend is going to suck because I'll be stuck doing
midterms. I also have my neices 1st birthday party to attend
as well. I am down 18 pounds so far!
June 7, 2006
I haven't had much time to update lately. I just got over a
plateau that lasted for 3 weeks. I'm down 36 pounds in 7
weeks. I've been walking, TRYING to get 10,000 steps in
a day and I've been able to eat ALOT more which I'm
happy about. I don't feel deprived. I don't crave sweets nor
carbs. Yes me, the 1/2 filipina girl is actually surviving without
RICE and BREAD. I CAN eat them with no problems but I
don't really care for them, it's too time consuming trying to
get bread down, but I do sometimes have a LITTLE to help
meat go down. I do have problems getting meat by itself down,
I have thrown up for the past 3 weeks every evening. I
think I'm just eating too fast. I go back to the Dr. for a check
up on the 11th of July. I'll have to put a new pic up soon
July 17, 2006
Well, I can't believe it, but it's been 3 months since I've had
my surgery. I am down 50 pounds (Thank you Jesus!). I
think I can work out a little harder, so that will be my goal for
this month. Also my 10 year HS reunion is next year in L.A.
and I've GOT to try to get down atleast to what I was in HS (I
was still a big girl then, but like a mini big girl, LOL!). I had
my bloodwork checked last week and they said everything
looked great, which is good since I stopped taking my
multivitamins because my hair and nails were growing too
fast. I'm starting to like how I look now. I find myself
putting makeup on more and caring about how I look before
I walk out the door, so that's a good thing. I'm getting TONS
of compliments from co-workers, friends and loved-ones and
I appreciate it all. I've got atleast 75 pounds more to go. But
it's better to have lost 50, than gained 50. I STILL can't
believe how much weight I had gained. And to think, in 2000,
I was 180 pounds. Until next time!
August 17, 2006
Ok, it's been 4 months now. MAN time flies by. I have added
my pictures below. Weightloss is slow but steady. I get the
slower the better, so I'm good to go. I'm now 235 pounds
and have a good 65 pounds to go until my goal. I may
change my mind once I get there, but I don' t know, we'll
see. I'm not having problems eating anymore, although I
don't care too much to eat. I'm trying the whole eat more
lose more concept and it seems to be working. I've been
using my eliptical machine and my treadmill so maybe this
month I can lose 15+ pounds, rather than the 10 I seem to
be losing. I still don't eat bread, pasta, rice, or sweet stuff.
I still dump off of sweats and really greasy stuff. But aside
from that, I have no complications.
September 17,2006
I usually blog on my anniversay date but I missed this late because I'm a little disappointed in my weightloss. So Until next month!
October 17, 2006
Still disappointed in my weightloss. I've gone through alot this past month. My 3 year old turned 4, I found out my company is laying off the majority of it's employees because they are outsourcing and moving everything to Washington State. I was laid off, then weeks later found out that someone else was leaving who was not being laid off so I was reofferred my position back. I have been working out like crazy but feel like I'm dragging through my days. I think I have an underactive thyroid but I don't see my doc until November 1st to find out. My blood pressure is no longer high. It was 122/178 today. I'm not really losing much. I fluctuate between 220 and 230 so Lord KNOWS what's going on with that! Aside from that, I'm going to keep on keeping on! Until next time!
September 6, 2008
WOW, I have not blogged in THE LONGEST time! I think it's because I don't have time because I'm too busy with my OCD with diet, excercise, weight loss/gain. I mean this is RIDICULOUS! Here I am, 20 pounds heavier than my lowest weight, which wasn't even my goal! Now, I can say that maybe 10 pounds of it is muscle because I can still wear the same size clothes, but they just don't look as good as they did at 165, lol! So about 10 pounds of that 20, MUST be fat! There is one thing I can say about wearing a size 24/26. I could gain 15 pounds, and noone would barely notice and my clothes would still fit. Now, I can wer a pants size 12, some dresses in a 10 and I eat, get so bloated that my clothes are cutting off my circulation! I gain 5 pounds and people are making comments about my face being fuller. It's crazy! I refuse to by any clothes so my only resolution is to lose the weight. The thing is, I've had a gym membership since I had my RNY back in April 2006. I do go to the gym. Now I have definitely been more diligent about going in the past but once I started working 6 days back to back of 14 hour shifts, It was hard to get in the gym or get enough sleep. I'm now back to a schedule that will allow me time to workout and sleep and I'm still struggling with this weight! I don't get it! I mean I eat less than 1500 calories a day, sometimes less and I burn off 500 in the gym, yet NO weightloss?! I did take hoodia a month or so ago and lost 15 pounds in less than 2 weeks. That's one thing about me, I put it no quick but I can lose it quick also. This time, it just doesn't seem to be working (the losing quick part that is!). I get scared that one day I'm going to see a 9 after that one, but you know, i felt the same way at 170 something about an 8 showing up after that 1. Now if I start out with a 2##, ok, I'm starving, that's it!!! LOL. I KNOW I can do this. I mean I LOVE to workout but I'm just experiencing so many issues right now that prevent me from working out like I want. #1, I have NO energy! I'm literally drained and fatigued all of the time to where I feel like I'm lugging around a 400 pound body! I have problems with my blood sugar to where I have passed out in public or fall into a "diabetic coma" waking up an hour later wondering what day it is, what time it is and what the heck was I doing before I passed out?! That is NOT cool with the 4 and 5 year old that I'm raising by myself! I'm going to try this 5 day pouch test and look over the wagon diet plan and we'll see what happens. I did weight watchers for a few days and it seemed to be working, but to be honest, I don't have time to count points. It's easier for me to just count calories. I was thinking of just doing low carb, just meat and veggie and add in some fruit since I'm having reactional hypoglycemia problems and we'll see what happens.
So anyways! Wish me luck! I've had some tuna and a lean cuisine and a bagel (needed major carbs, blood sugar gets into the teens-thirties!!). I'm drinking my crystal light (always have) and let's see, I have 6 more hours at work? So I'll probably have another lean cuisine and maybe a piece of fruit for a late afternoon snack and try to hit the gym this evening. If I reblog, I'm doing well, if not, then know i'm probably laying in my bed wondering what the heck is wrong with me and am I destined to be a big girl for life? LOL!
September 10, 2008-
I went to the Dr. yesterday and they did a glucose/insulin/c-peptide test. I woke up and at 7:38 my blood sugar level was 90. So it was fine. Basically I had to fast and show up first thing in the morning and drink this big cup of EXTRA sugary kool-aid type of drink. It was SOOOO sweet and I dump!!! They took my blood before the drink, then I lied down for 30 minutes, they took my blood again, lied down for another 30 minutes, took my blood again, got to leave for an hour, checked my blood sugar it was 92, returned to get blood drawn again. Now, at this point, I was on the verge of passing out. I was sweating, heart was racing, I was jittery, I just wasn't going to make it but I couldn't eat!! I got back to the Dr.'s office and asked them to hurry and take my blood sugar because I was about to pass out!! They took the last vile of blood and I took 4 pieces of candy and devoured them!! I got to my car, checked my blood sugar and it was 42.
I should get some of my results back today if not tomorrow. My Dr. suggested that I try the anti-inflammatory diet. So I went to the grocery store and bought the things that were on that list and I will try to follow James H's wagon plan diet also. I also started taking a centrum multivitamin/mineral supplement, calcium with magnesium and zinc and a b complex supplement and I've noticed that I'm not hungry anymore. Don't know if that has anything to do with the lack of hunger but it's the only thing I've changed up. As far as fatigue, I'm not AS fatigued but I'll give it a couple of weeks before I can see if there is a difference.
I'll fill you in when I hear something else!
March 29,2010 
Today I stepped on the scale to find that I am half the woman I used to be :). My highest weight ever was 302 pounds. I stepped on the scale to see I was 151 pounds. I feel like I truly accomplished something because I BUSTED my hump to not only maintain for a good 2 years after surgery but to pick up and go back to the basics towards the end of last year and get back on track after gaining 15 pounds to lose almost another 40. I AM amazing! Atleast I have to tell myself that, he he!
