christine G.

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  I am 4 months out and down a total of 81 pounds!!!  I feel the best I have in a long time!  My body feels great! I have tons of energy!  My overall outlook on life is great!  This is the best thing I have ever done! 

  I am officially in a stall, it's been about 3 weeks and the scale moves up a few then moves down a few but cannot seem to get past the 240's.  It's horrible what your mind does while your stuck....Did this work for me?.....Is this it?  My husband has been awesome, I asked him, what if this is it and he says that if that's it then I'm 60 pounds healthier.  What a sweetheart!  Anyway, hopefully it will kick in again soon.  I'm hangin' in there! 

  About the middle of February I started to have trouble getting things to go through my pouch.  At first I hoped it was just the things I was eating but it kept happening...that stuck feeling...I would let it work it's way through for at least an hour but then ended up throwing it up.  After about a week of some good and some really bad days I called the surgeons office.  They suggested I either do a swallow study or go right in for an Upper GI.  I went the swallow study route hoping that it was nothing.  Unfortunately, it was a stricture.  They sent the orders to the Endoscopy Center with a list of preferred docs, which of course I couldn't get in with any of them right away, so I chose the one who could do it the soonest, considering I was back on liquid diet since it was the only thing that went down.
  I went to my Upper GI on a Thursday afternoon, I can remember the whole procedure.  It wasn't too bad even though being conscience through it.  After they brought me to recovery and I started to have really bad pain in my shoulder and abdomen.  They hurry and discharged me and sent me and my husband to the nearest E.R., Which was Unity, thankfully! 
  They did an x-ray and found air in my chest cavity and abdomen, which meant they had punctured my pouch.  I was so disappointed.  I have become so protective of my little pouch.  Luckily, Dr. Baker was there and he decided to do surgery.  I was in my room by 11:00p.m. on Thursday night.  He had told me that he could probably do the surgery laporscopically but it would be better to open me up.  I knew that I would much rather recover from the one incision than to recover from that and laporscopic surgery also. 
  I had great pain control in the hospital.  The nurses were great and everyone took great care of me.  I had a pic line inserted and was pumped full of good stuff and antibiotics.  I felt like a new person when I left there on Sunday. 
  I'm glad to report that it appears that my stricture is gone, for now.  Hopefully it will not return or I will be one scared momma.  I think my kids and husband are ready for me to start feeling better.  I am too.
 

Hopefully two and a half days left of the full liquid diet.  The only thing that really goes down easy is cream of wheat.  I think because it really is pretty tasteless, I just put a sprinkle of sweet and low and we are good to go.  I never thought I would be so excited  to have cottage cheese!  I'm feeling pretty good.  Not a lot of pain.  I can sneeze and cough and it feels okay.  My biggest struggle is to get the liquid in.  I did really good today afte struggleing the last two days.  Hopefully I can keep up with it now.   I need some different tastes soon!  Had a serious revelation today...Food is not love....For years my family has expressed affection through food, any kind of food.  I realized today that my kids are being set up to fail the same way I was...sadly.  Grandma's come to visit and what do they bring, cookies, candy and treats.  It's actually pretty sick.  Hopefully I can stew over this and actually gain some real perspective now that I am being forced to view food differently.  This is going to be a wild ride!

Every day I think of things that I can't wait to do!  I think of things that I never really knew that I wanted to do but am now looking forward to doing in the future.  So excited.

  I can't believe that my last post was way back in August.  A lot has changed since then.  I finally had surgery on January 6th, 2010.  It was a quick road through the holidays and I actually did really well continuing my weight loss through the dreaded holiday feasts.  I think having Strep throat twice actually helped  during those six weeks.  All total I lost 16 pounds before surgery.  I was a  little worried but it all worked out. 
  I was a complete mess the couple days before surgery, lots of crying, not bad crying but happy, nervous crying.  I cried pretty much all through the pre op prep and my meeting with Dr. Pierce and the whole team.  I kissed my husband and told him I would see him soon, and I did.  I have been pretty sore and today has been my best day I have had to try to get in all my liquids and some protein and even food.  Cream of wheat has been great to me the last three days.  I'm hoping I can continue to enjoy it.  I haven't ventured into soups yet, just haven't had the craving and honestly a little scared.  So far everything I have had works.  I'm not looking forward to finding the one thing that doesn't work.  I have not vomited once and would like to keep it that way.  I have had some tummy spasming, doesn't really hurt just uncomfortable, I have slightly altered the temp of my drinks and so far it has gotten better.  I look forward to mash potatoes and eggs and cottage cheese. 
   I can't wait until Tuesday and I can have my drain taken out. yipee.  I'm looking forward to the healing and being able to get back to normal and watching the weight come off.  I'm so Thankful.

  I am a 31 year old, married, mother of 3.  My kids are 4,3 and 1.  They keep me very busy.  I have battled my weight pretty much my whole life.  The earliest weight story of me is at 4 years old when I told the neighbor lady I was on a pizza diet to loose weight.  I have always known that I have had food issues.  I use the food as treats or rewards or find other excuses for the crap that I eat.  I'm tired of it.  My daughter is following in my footsteps at 4 years old.  Fortunately at this point she does not have a weight problem but I know if I continue on the path she will follow right behind me and I REALLY don't want to see her suffer the same experiences I have had in my life. 
  I have dieted numerous times without much success of sustaining the weight loss.  I was 170lbs. when I met my husband almost ten years ago, was 220lbs when we got married and continued to gain weight with each pregnancy.  I gained 60 with my first, loosing 40.  40 with my second, loosing 30 and finally gained 30 with my third and lost 25.  Now here I am trying to diet and excercise and not budging.
  My physician had asked me if I had ever considered having surgery about 5 years ago, I told her at that time that I didn't think I ever would but I would reconsider after having kids and hopefully by that time they would have the surgery nearly perfected.  About 4 months ago, I was at a bridal shower for a cousin and there were about 6 people there who had either had the surgery or were in the process of getting approved.  A couple days after I had seen some pictures of myself from Christmas and was absolutely horrified.  I don't feel as big as I am.  That's when my journey started.  I discussed it with my husband before I did anything and he was very nervous but completely supportive, saying if it would make me happy and healthy then he supported my decision.  I did alot of research before making my appointment with my regular doc to discuss my options.  She recommended Fairview Southdale surgeons and staff and so I called and went to the informational session on June 17th and had my first appointment with the clinic the following week. 
  My insurance requires a six month doctor assisted weight loss before I  would qualify for surgery.  I am almost 1/2 through that.  I have a ten pound weight loss to complete in the six months but my biggest obstacle will be to quit smoking.  I am currently dealing with that then I will focus on the ten pounds.  I figure the ten pounds will be the easiest since it's nothing for me to fluctuate 7 pounds during the month.
  So that's where I'm at right now.  We will see how this progresses.  I am very excited but also am very guarded as I have three small children and a wonderful husband who need me.  I am still considering my other options at this point but it looks like surgery is going to be the road for me.