Jennifer R.

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it wasn't a "hernia" causing the bowel obstruction. it was adhesions which are bands of scar tissue that form after abdominal surgery. The largest and the one causing the biggest problem was one from my appendix surgery in '05.. soooo my insurance should have to pay for the surgery after all! which is awesome . the other adhesion was laying over my roux limb that comes down from my pouch. they took pictures of my insides for me cuz im weird like that lol and it was cool. for the first 3 days after the surgery i felt like i had done 10,000 sit ups and my muscles were torn. i guess from blowing my abdominal cavity up so big doing the surgery.. and tossing my instestines around had to bruise them. I went to the USC game saturday night in Columbia and survived tailgaiting all day then , and went to the Clemson game last night at death valley and survived the tailgaiting and all the walking also.. soo i guess im over the surgery LOL.. now my nerves have kicked in for my plastics.. they're in 16 days! ACK almost 2 weeks away now. scaryyyy. im terrified for some reason. i wasn't scared at all for the last surgery.. they didnt even give me the "forget" versed medicine before hand since it makes me go nuts .. i was in the OR , got on the operating table, talked to katie.. and couldnt believe how SMALL the operating table is that they put obese patients on.. i dont see how the hell i stayed on that thing at 320 lbs! LOL i kept rambling on and the nurse says "you wont remember any of this later" and katie says "yes she will! shes not on versed" everyone looked at me like i was on crack then bc i was so calm. then i was talking to them they said "okay youre about to go under now" and i hear katie say "WAIT! we forgot the URUR(%&)@(*)@($@" i was like "WE FORGOT THE WAHAATTTTTT" and i was GONE.. i went to sleep like WTF did we forget?!?! LOL turns out it was the "HCG" test results.. i had to pee in a cup beforehand, and could not for the life of me pee for them so they had to draw blood and wait for the pregnancy test results, i told them i wasnt but they have to do this anyways.. so that made for laughs afterwards i woke up saying "whatd they forget?!?" i thought she had said EKG . lol i had a horrendous bruise come up on my middle incision below it.. where it had bled under the skin a few days after surgery.. i showed dr bour and he said "dont worry theyre about to cut all that off anyways" GEEE thanks for freaking me out worse there doc! haha. but hes right.. katie said that was the incision dr bour closed ;) haha
Some have asked about my dad.. he is doing great! he has lost about 200 lbs from his heighest known weight.. about 170-180 of that since surgery i think. November will be his 1 yr anniversary im happy for him. he looks smaller than i ever remember him being. Ive had some weight gain issues going on. from stress i guess i gained like 8 lbs i dunno how accurate it is since i am retaining fluids right now but still it freaks me out. i started drinking my protein shakes again today to try to keep me off the bad carbs and get me back on track and raise my protein before plastics. Dr Bour said to increase by 20 gms a day.. Well thats about all of my update for now.. will try to write more often. hope everyone is doing well! 
jen

katie just called from dr bours and i do have an internal hernia..  and they CANT fix it at the same time as my tummy tuck.. and my insurance wont pay for the hernia repair!!!  since its a complication of WLS that they didnt cover.. and katie said there is no dancing around it they will deny it. UGH WTF they will pay for a tummy tuck but not a hernia repair!?!?!? These people are nuts. They wanted to schedule me for this wed for surgery but i was like omg im leaving in the morning for florida!!! UGH So they said the 20th is the first available now, shes going to check and make sure they cant fit me in earlier and call me back. She said i definately need it sooner than later , and especially before the tummy tuck of course so they wouldnt mess up the new tummy. blah. im so upset.. this is going to cost thousands of dollars.. more than a tummy tuck im sure. lesson learned: no one is invinsible to complications.  on a lighter note.. i haven't smoked in a week! im done with cigarettes now.. although i could really use one right now UGHHH Dang bs hernias!

 so .. Cigarettes are the DEVIL!!!! the ONLY Thing keeping me partially 'sane right now is the thought of the flat stomach in 7 weeks i think it is.. I haven't smoked since I found out that I was approved for surgery. The other times I quit smoking (twice for pregnancy's and nursing, and once for Gastric bypass) I have always quit cold turkey. I put them down and im DONE. Granted usually 10-18 mths later I am smoking again, but thats how I quit. Its a stressful few days for sure. Then once I get past 2 weeks I am usually okay. Its just I Am PMS'ing right now on top of quitting smoking cold turkey and I could chew anyone out right now. ANYONE.. Lil ole women at the grocery store , move out of my way!!! lol I have been chewing sugar free gum like there is no tomorrow. my jaws are sore from chewing so hard! I'm sure I can look back at this and laugh soon. .I just wish soon would hurry up!!!   Im still in utter shock that I was approved for plastics. I feel like it's a dream and i need to pinch myself to wake up lol. now im SCARED of the PAIN!!!! aghhhh lol!

I can hardly type right now i am in such shock. total.. shock! 
As most of you know insurance does not cover WLS of any kind in our policy.. no matter what.. 
They also have an exlusion for plastics..
Well I went for a consult a couple weeks ago, and they were gonna submit my tummy tuck to insurance.. and they just called and they freaking APPROVED ME!!!!! O M G!!!!!! I cannot believe this! I was already prepared to be denied, but figured id try for the heck of it.. or else i wouldnt be getting plastics because i am BROKE.. and O M G They approved me and a 1 night hospital stay! I cant believe it. They lady said it was probably bc of the amount of weight i lost and my personal issues.. but still! My insurance usually STINKS!!! theyre going to submit my breast lift/aug now.. im totally freaking out.. they even gave me a date for Sept 20th!!! I have now quit smoking as of an hour ago.. LOL LORD HELP ME.. i have to find some sugar free blow pops! now im about to go have my CT Scan to check for hernias .. maybe they can do it all the same time if i have any. Im so gonna ask my doc for a copy of my letter so that yall can use the wording, because they have done a miracle.  
thank God i am approved! now i know how it feels to be so excited when approved for gastric bypass!!!

So yea i feel like a fatty right now. stress eating .. but im sure its "good" right now bc im not losing weight .. which is what my doctor wanted. but im afraid i will GAIN weight bc of all this JUNK ive been eating. I am suprised i can eat well now, last week i had a stomach virus and didnt eat at all for a whole day then for the next 4 days everytime i ate i would get SO nauseous that i would try to throw up but couldnt. I was very concerned. now i am eating myself out of house and home it seems like! I will stop now. sigh.. 

So anyways i went to my plastics consult on monday! With Dr. Suber in Greenville. He was super nice. spent like an hour talking to me. then i had to de-clothe.. and i mean EVERYTHING! I was in the buck.. he said i would greatly benefit from the tummy tuck and that i needed a breast LIFT not just an implant .. which i hadnt planned on a lift so that kinda sucks. And he doesnt want to do them together so it will be the tummy and lift at one time, and 2 mths later put in the implant .. i hate surgery so i am going to argue this one out with him i think. hahah. i dont want HUGE boobs just normal sized ones again. he said my rear and backs of my thighs are too bad to do the beltectomy or whatever its called when they cut you ALL around the body to do a lift at the same time as the tummy tuck.. He said he wouldnt get as good as results if we did the butt and thigh lift in the back seperately. which i could see his point after he pointed out how my skin sags really bad on the back side portion of my thighs that i hadnt even noticed until now! i see how they make their money .lol But we have submitted the tummy to insurance.. and considering my insurance doesnt even pay for WLS then i doubt they will approve it. once they find out they will call me with the self pay amount. Which im sure will be very pricey. considering all that needs to be done. If i could just have the boobies and tummy i think i would be happy for now. Although the rear would be nice too.. yeah i think im addicted to plastics and i havent even had them yet! maybe i should see a therapist.. hahah. im addicted to food, plastics, cigarettes, (which i have to quit for 2 mths prior to plastics!) .. fun times .. so thats whats been going on in the life of me lately. I havent had much time to get on here just been busy and working and what not. Dealing with stress. Im going to florida Aug 7-12 for the Miss America Teen pageant that my niece and daughter are princesses for Miss SC Teen.. so that should be a nice get away .. 

thanks for all of the nice PM's i get about my blogs.. i really forget that people actually read this thing ;) i look back and blush at some things i have written haha. i try to write everyone back quickly so bare with me if it takes a couple of days. i need to get some 1 yr post op underwear pics on here. it hasnt changed *MUCH* Since the 9 mths pics.. but i guess it probably has since ive lost about 25 lbs since then i think. i dunno. i got some cute new panties so ill have to rock those in the pics.. HAH.. *wink* im a dork. Everyones talking about doing a 5k soon.. and i would like to. i just dont know if my body wants to. lol. it seems out of wack or something. I was talking to Patti about it the other day. it seems like my body is malnourished like an anorexic person is. although i EAT its like i dont absorb the good stuff i need and my body is WEAK very weak. i get tired easily now. I had more energy at 320 lbs than i do now at 160ish.. crazy i know. do i regret surgery? No. ask me in a year. if my body keeps going downhill like it is i might. I went to a bday party in columbia last saturday and i sat down in the floor bc there were no seats and i didnt feel like standing for 3 hours. Well the thought went through my head "I wonder if theyll notice if i lay down?" LOL! That told me i have a problem! I shouldnt be that weak and tired. i am taking my vitamins. they are my only hope to feeling "normal" right now. but im lacking in something. i feel like im dieing at times. Which is really weird. like if i just layed still and let my body rest it would stop. yea i think i need psychological help. LOL but it feels like that sometimes. i would call my doc but i found out that he is in australia right now teaching *what was he thinking leaving us like that! lol*  im going to get off the junk food totally. and start back my protein shakes . see if that helps. if it doesnt then im going to call them. its not normal to feel like a 400 lbs person when im not. Other than that everything is great. so i think i wrote a long enough book this time. Until next time!!! 
ciao

I had my one year appt Friday and it was great! I was at 168 and found out I have passed my doctors goal of 174! So i was excited. I set my own goal of 165 long time ago so I am 3 lbs from that. Dr bour said that I need to quit losing weight now. he said if I get below 160 I need to call them and add even more calories to my diet to counter the weightloss. which seems CRAZY to me that a dr is telling me to not lose weight. .for 25 years theyve said "you need to lose weight, decrease calories" and now its the opposite. i told him how i wasnt really TRYING hard to lose the weight it just kept coming off and he was worried and looked at my labs again, but they were all great and normal so we will have to watch it. He said I looked good at my size now and if i lost another 10-15 lbs i would start looking sick bc of my height i would be too skinny. In light of all this being said i was in a state of shock and forgot to ask about plastics. oh well.. i just want some boobies again .. LOL i miss filling out my bras! ive gone from a 46D to a 36B/some C .. To celebrate me and rachel went down to the beach friday night and had a great time ;) then on to charleston to see the other friends! great times..

 Today is my 1 year surgiversary!!!! 
It's hard to believe that it has been a year since having surgery. This time last year I was whining and complaining about not being able to have any ice or anything in my dry mouth! LOL It was SO worth it. This morning I weighed 172, which makes me almost 150 lbs lighter than what I was a year ago! I am almost "half of my old self" ! LOL Looking back I think I have spent the last year doing the best I could do and Am very proud of myself. There were rocky moments but I think they made me stronger and the person I am today. For anyone thinking about having the surgery GO FOR IT. I would do it 100 times over to feel this great today. Well, I would of done One thing differently. I would of taken my vitamins like i was supposed to after surgery. I went 5 mths without them and almost killed myself in the process. ALWAYS Take your vitamins we are not invincible like i thought I was. Best wishes to everyone! Hope your first year was/is as incredible as mine!!!

So I set some goals at the beginning of this journey, alot of which have been met!  And since my 1 yr surgiversary is coming up.. i thought i would share. Some recent ones that I didn't post about were...
I did a cartwheel and a round-off at my daughters tumbling class!  yes it was humerous.. and i felt muscles i hadnt felt in YEARS!!! LOL  I never thought I would be able to do a cartwheel again bc of my weight.. and I did it! It had been over 15 yrs since I had done one.. 
I reached my "Normal" BMI weight range!!! (i posted it below ,but i felt like doing it again lol)
I wore a bikini!
I danced in a recital in front of tons of people!
I get "checked out" and hit on by guys.. HA! lol.. this one is still weird for me.
I can run and play with my kids without being out of breath! 
I went and made pictures with my girls in the "all white" outfits tonight and i didnt look like a cow about to birth! lol.. they were actually "CUTE" 
Im able to go into any store i want to and buy anything i want.. (good for the wardrobe, BAD for the bank account! lol) 
I went to Disney World and out walked everyone they couldnt keep up!
I FIT in the rides at Disney world without having to suck in every ounce i could or worry if i would fit
My kids are proud of me and tell me Im beautiful
The list could go on.. but thats all for now!! ill add more later! its been a great year!

ok.. so I have a "NORMAL" BMI now?!?!?!  probably for the first time in my life since I was 5! lol.. Im at 173 as of this morning.. Which will probably fluctuate around 3 lbs or so like usual. But it was the first time I have ever seen 173 on the scale ! Now if I can get rid of these last 8 lbs Ill be at "GOAL" .. crazy! I still think in my head "im 150 lbs overweight" but im not even overweight now! CRAZY

itsy bitsy.. teeny weeny.. pink and purple tiny bikini!  
Never would of thought I would actually go swimming in a 2 piece bikini!!! Now granted.. i doubt i would be strutting down the beach with it on unless my skin keeps shrinking up better, its not BAD looking, but not REAL GOOD either..  but none the less.. i own a real bikini.. too weird! and was very comfortable! i might wear it at kassidys birthday party cookout..  we shall see! Its crazy my 1 year surgiversary is in 10 days!!! i wont have reached my goal by then of 165.. since i have about 10 lbs to lose to get there.. but hey, im not stressing it. I havent been "trying" to lose those 10 lbs so i think i should start trying again and then if i dont lose it i will worry! lol