Christine Bennett
Itasca, IL, USA
Post Op - BMI: 27.1
Surgery Type: RNY
Member ID: B1011232925
Contact: Click here to send a Personal Message
Surgeon: Jeffrey Rosen, M.D., F.A.C.S.


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01/2002 I may not be as grossly overweight as some others but I still have the same feelings of lack of self worth as others. I am tired of being overweight and starting a diet program and failing miserably by usually noon of the same day. I could go on and on. I am typically a very upbeat person but that is by the grace that I was given by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I still have many "thoughts" inside my head of being a "non person" because of my being morbidly obese. I also need to look into other medical/gastric problems that I am having right now. I need to talk with this new doctor I am going to see if I am a candidate for surgery.

2002 into 2003 I have had a rocky year. I was turned down by one doctor because of a gastro problem. I was very angry for a long time over the whole thing. The gastro situation has been resolved by me staying on a gluten free diet and with the medication that was prescribed. So, I decided to try again, actually it was the Holy Spirit that taped on my shoulder and said try again and trust Me, you will see.

032403 my surgery date is finally scheduled for May 7th. Yeah God!

032603 I have gone thru a lot since I first found this site early last year. I was turned down by one surgeon due to some digestive problems. In the meantime my digestive problems were brought under control with medication and a gluten free diet. I was really angry for a long time over that issue, but eventually got over it and decided to try again with another group of doctors, The Wish Center in Downers Grove, IL. I found Dr Jeff Rosen who did a very thorough background investigation into my problem and also he checked into every aspect of my past medical history. I still feel like it is dream, I can not hardly believe that real soon I will be starting a new life as a slimmer woman.

040903 well, I have not posted in awhile, have been busy with "house" things and just life in general and have been keeping generally busy so the time will go faster. I have had church activities, work, a wedding and vacation planning going on. My husband and & had a vacation planned even before my surgery date was scheduled. I have purchased all of my "come" home liquid drinks that I will need after the surgery. I already have all my pain meds and Lovanox & heparen injections that I will need after I get home from the hospital. I am still going thru with the practice diet and exercise that I had to do after my first apt with The Wish Center. I had to do an 8 week diet (practice diet) that included logging all that I ate, 3 meals a day, 3 snacks a day. Logging the 6 8oz glasses of water, taking my vitamins when required and the exercise that was to be done for the day. I at first thought the 8 week diet was nuts, it ended up teaching me the reason for making sure that you ate slowly, drank the alotted water, getting protein at each meal/snack, made me very conscious of my food. During the process I lost 6#. But do not worry, the center goes with you first weighin at your first apt. The Wish Center really has a very well rounded program. You can get support from any of the staff, has a support group and you can go into a protion of their web site that is just for current patients only, which I will always be a current patient once you start and follow thru with the surgery. During all this time my husband was going thru the paperwork process for having WLS also. He will be going thru a different group of doctors, this group is affiliated with Weight For Life. A good group of doctors, but I do not feel that the program is as well rounded. Oh well, he has benefited already with me at The Wish Center, I have been able to answer a lot of his questions.

041003 well my DH had an apt with a urologist for one of those "male" things that 55+ years olds go thru and he had told the doctor that he was going thru WLS and so was I. When I was asked to come back into the room after his procedure the doctor and I were chit chatting and he turns to me and says "well, I understand that your are going to be the guienie(sp?) pig in your family for the WLS" LOL I laughed, ya I said I will go thru it first so I can explain everything to the DH as to what to expect with his. It is nice to be able to be going thru this together. Now we both will have to deal with the "loss" of our best friend food together. We will both be in the same boat together and we won't be able to blame the other for not being able to not go to favorite restaurants together because the other person cannot eat those big volumes of food anymore. I sometimes get that now because I have to curtail my eating of gluten and I sort of get it thrown in my face that we cannot go out and enjoy a pizza together anymore because I can no longer eat it.

April 29, 2003 well, 8 more days - that sounds sureal when I think of it. I have a few more things to pull together before next Wednesday. Need to stop taking coumadin 5 full days before the surgery then I need to start the Lovenox injections and also go for a daily PT/INR blood test three days before the surgery. The one thing that I am not looking forward to is the intestinal clean out that I will have to do the day before the surgery. The tummy cramps and the burning on the bottom is not fun. I have gone thru it in the past when I have had to have a lower GI and when I had a colonoscopy last year. Well, 235# today. Will have to remember to weigh myself on the day of surgery and log that in on this site that day.

April 30, 2003 I found out this morning that my surgery will be anywhere from 9-11am next Wednesday. I have to be at the hospital at 7am to register. I just got my hair cut this afternoon and highlighted. So, I am already to go in that dept. I have my hospital bag all packed except for clean clothing that I will wear home from the hospital. I also started getting used to not wearing any of my jewelry. I took off my earrings that I always wear and my wedding and engagement rings. This all feels really strange. Just need to get a few things straightened up around the house and finish the laundry from our vacation. It is all washed, just needs to be dried. Then also a few last things put away from the suitcases and the suitcases themselves put away.

May 4, 2003 well I had to go for a PT/INR blood test today, Sunday. I am regularly on Coumadin because of prior DVT's and other reasons. I had stopped the Coumadin on Thursday of last week. Well, at about 4:30 I received a call from Dr Rosen telling me that my blood work was normal and I did not have to go for any more PT/INR's before the surgery. That is a relief because it is not fun to fill out paperwork at an Urgent Care place then wait for the blood draw, etc. Now I just need to get thru the Lovenox injections that I need to do for the next 3 days. I am starting my liquid diet one day earlier than needed. I usually do that because it seems that that there is less to "evacuate" out of the bowel. Oh, well that will just get me used to the liquid diet I will be on for the next 2 weeks after the surgery.

May 13, 2003 well this is the first day that I have felt like getting on the computer. I am officially post-op. I have had sort of a rocky road since surgery. My potassium level was low on Saturday, the day that I was to leave the hospital. I could not tolerate the oral medication that I was given. I started crying and my nurse asked what was the matter and I said that I was too sick to go home, just stick me with another iv I didn't care. He called the doctor and the doctor agreed to do that and keep me overnight. I do have problems with taking the liquid pain med, it is so yucky, but I have got in trouble a couple of times with pain and have sort of learned to take it even though I can hardly tolerate it. I never would have thought that chicken broth, milk, Boost, Crystal Light etc would taste so good. Eating food for the most part does not even appeal to me right now, though one of the neighbors was using their bbq grill tonight......welllllll that smelled good. I am having a big problem with the fluid retention from all the iv's that I had during and after the surgery. I ended up gaining 30# after the surgery. Well, til another day.


May 17, 2003 I WANT FOOD!!!!! I am so looking forward to this Wed. when the staples come out and when I am given the next stage of my diet plan. I have lost all of the water weight gain that happened to me from the ivs in the hospital. I have also dropped 10# of regular weight. I have also stopped taking the prescription pain med and have moved onto liquid extra strength Tylenol. I have gotten beyond the taste of it. I only need it for when I take a nap or go to sleep at night. Tonight will be my first night of sleeping back in bed with my husband. I had difficulty getting into it because it is so high off of the floor and it was hard for me to roll over. Yes, the yucky taste eventually goes away from your mouth. The dietician at my doctors office told me it is probabaly from being on the liquid diet. I used to brush my teeth at least 6 times a day to no avail. Well, I check back and update a little more in detail in a few days.

May 22, 2003 Well, the staples came out yesterday and steri strips were put over the wound and are to stay there for one week. I have officially lost 19# since my first apt at the Wish Center back in January of this year. I cannot believe it my bmi is now out of the morbidly obese range. I have had surgical staples taken out before but these pinched a little more than others have and a couple of them bleed also. The bleeding is probably because I just finished up with the heparin injections. The bruises on my legs are slowly starting to fade away at the injection sites. I was put on the next stage of my diet plan - quasi real food, blended foods for 4 weeks. Boy, let me tell you that 1 T of blended tuna fish and 1 T of mashed potatoes tasted so good. I cannot believe how just that little bit of food makes you so full. I was also given the stage 3 and 4 of the diet plan from the dietician. Was also given the lecture from the doctor to get out and start doing my exercising again. I ventured out today by myself for the first time. I went to Target for a small food processor, which I have to take back it does not work correctly. I then ended up at Bed, Bath and Beyond and got another one of a major brand that I should not have a problem with. I found yesterday that it is hard to get the food away from the blades in the glass jar. So, I thought that a small food processor that has the blades that lift right out would be better and easier to clean. When I got home at about noon I was so tired, I took the time to eat lunch and then told my husband that I was going to take a little nap, I woke up 2+ hours later. I am still a little dragged out. I asked the doctor to write a note for me to go back to work one week later than originally planned (I was going to go back after 2 1/2 wks off) and now I am glad that I did. I need that extra week to get my strength back. Because I know that I will have to dive head first back into work, people will be hanging around my desk wanting a little part of me for "things". I will keep posted here as to how I am doing as this next week comes and goes.

May 24, 2003 Well, the weight is steadily going down. This is due to the fact that I am only eating 1-2 tbls of blended foods at this point. I am loosing about 1-2# a day. I asked my doctor to write up that I can return to work on June 2nd, which he did. I still am really dragged out. I am always like that after major surgery. It is not that I am not getting up and doing things for myself, I am. I started driving again and I get out and run errands and I also get my exercise in that I am supposed to get done in the day. I look forward to going back to work though, I really miss the people. I guess secretly I am looking forward to seeing all their reactions to how I look. I have only told 2 of my co-workers what kind of surgery I have had done. I am not telling what surgery I had until my husband has his done. Personal reasons due to insurance coverage. I wear a uniform and I have tried it on 2 times so far and my slacks just HANG ON ME. I do not want to wear a pair that I have that are 1 size smaller because I am afraid that they will be too tight in the waist near the incision area. I have to wear a wide belt with my slacks also.

June 1, 2003 I had sort of a difficult week, I developed a pain 2-3" to the left of the bottom of the incision. The pain would get worse as the day went on, so much so that I would need to have my hand there when standing or walking. I went into the Wish Center and was examined and Dr Rincon said that I was healing as I should and he was unsure as to why I have had the pain. He ordered a CT scan which I cannot get into until June 19th. I will see if it goes away after I go back to work this next week or stays the same because I will be getting up from my desk and on my feet more than at home. I will be putting the scale AWAY starting Monday morning. It has been fun watching the numbers go down, but now I will just need to watch my clothing get bigger. I have not decided if I will weigh myself weekly or whatever time frame that I come up with. Maybe I will just FORGET that the scale exists like I did when I was heavier and did not really want to know what it said. I tried my work uniform on yesterday, Saturday and could not believe how big it was on me. Fortunately, I have 2 pairs of slacks in the next smaller size. I am sort of looking forward to the reactions of my co-workers to my weight loss. I still have not told anymore of them that I had WLS. I am still afraid that my husband will have a hard time with the co-insurance for his surgery. So, I am keeping my mouth shut on my WLS. I know that someone is going to figure it out eventually, but 'til they do my lips are sealed. My first support group meeting is this Tuesday and I am really looking forward to it. Well, 'til another time friends.

June 4, 2003 Well, went to my first support group meeting. The Wish Center has the group meetings once a month at a hotel not too far from my house, maybe about 15 miles away. Each month there is a speaker there with a specialized theme. Last night The Wish Center had their dietician there to help us learn how to read the nutritional labels on food products. Very informative, the Q & A afterwards was benificial also. I went back to work this past Monday. I made it all the way thru the day due to it being a pretty quiet day, but Tuesday I went home after a half day. I was like that at home while recovering after the surgery, I would have days that I just flew thru the day and others that I needed to take a nap at about 11 in the morning. I have been getting in my exercise almost everyday. I have only been walking and I have been getting in about 35-40 minutes. I am supposed to be up to 30-45 minutes, so I am not too far from my target time. I have a couple other activities that I am to do but my surgical area still feels a little tender. I still feel a pulling in the tummy when I just walk, so it is not time to do the exercise DVD or the stationary bike. Fortunately, I do not have to do too many things around the house other than some straightening up and laundry, I have a cleaning service and lawn service. I am itching to get out into my yard and do some of the things that I do out there. I have not added much to my food intake I am still pretty much eating only 2 tbls of each of my foods that I am supposed to be taking in at a meal. My snacks are a little less than my meals. I have had a difficult time getting my water in. It is hard while at work because I get occupied things going on there and I will forget it. Oh, well I will just have to come up with some type of scheme to get it all in.

July 27, 2003 Well, I have not posted in awhile, I apologize for that. The summer has been keeping me pretty busy, my DH and I have taken a couple of vacations, really long week-ends, one in June and one in July. I have been keeping up with my exercise and have even added more to it on almost a daily basis. I ride my bike to and from work and that is a 2 mile trip one way. Then in the evening I will ride again for another 8-10 miles in my town. I have done as much as 15 miles one Sunday. If I do not ride I will walk a minimum of 30-45 minutes and I will go about 2 miles with some of it being uphill. I have graduated onto normal foods, eating 5-6 times a day. 3 meals, 3 snacks. The one thing that I have not introduced back into my diet are nuts and seeds. I have diverticulosis in the large intestine and I have had a round of diverticulitis once and do not want to repeat that. Seeds and nuts can cause a nasty attack. So that means that for now I take the seeds out of cucumbers and tomatoes and I do not eat popcorn. If I want to eat popcorn I only eat the white part, not the hull. Down the road when I feel that my body has healed totally I will let myself have those things again. I do not want to upset the applecart so to speak and cause injury to myself on the inside. I do not want to have surgery again if something goes wrong. My DH and I just bought a DeLonghi ice cream maker. WooHoo, we have replaced the sugar with Splenda and is it wonderful. Nice little treat. I have a recipe for mango sorbet that I am anxious to try, of course made with Splenda. Be back on another day.

Aug 6, 2003 by the way, the mango sorbet is awesome. I have put my scale outside in my storage shed. It is kind of tough to get the scale out unless I go out into the garage to get the key, so out of sight out of mind, sort of. I still think about the scale. I will be able to see what my loss is real soon. Next Thursday I go in for my 3 month apt with Dr Rosen. I have a lot of questions to ask the nutritionist, exercise physiotherapist and the doctor. I have started my list for them. I have incresed my exercise and I am worried that I am doing too much in the course of a day/week and I am not getting enough calories in, thereby causing my body to go into starvation mode. So I am keeping a small log of what I eat from now until then. I feel that I have not lost much, but I have been noticing that my work clothing has really started to get big on me again, so there is something happening in the weight dept, hopefully.

August 8, 2003 I finally acted on an idea that I had a few weeks back of buying some of my in-between clothing from a resale shop. I went to 4 of them today and found about 6-8 tops, some a little small on me for now, others that fit, 3 pairs of jeans and 3 vests. I had a pleasant surprise and discovered that I had gone down another pants size, now in an 18. It is funny how one gravitates to the larger sizes, I found a pair of jeans that were a 20 and really cute and almost bought them, thinking that they fit, when actually I was swimming in them. I have to get myself out of that mindset of LARGE. One of the shops was a dump and I will not go back to it, but the others were ok for what I need them for. One of them is a consignment shop and the prices are a little higher, but it was almost like going into a fine casual clothing store only the prices were cheaper.

081603 Been to a few more resale shops, now have clothing to get me thru the size 18 and some smaller sizes. It is strange to look in my closet and see unfamiliar clothing in it. Went to my 3 month post surgical apt on Thursday and had a real good office visit with the exercise therapist, nutritionist and the doctor. I dropped 5.5 pounds in the last month. I was disappointed, but the exercise therapist said that I was doing fine and that I was loosing slowly and loosing fat and not muscle. The doctor was all around pleased with my progress and also the fact that my colitis has improved and is not an issue with the bypass. The nutritionist and I touched base about the fact that I have a tendency to graze with my food and she gave me tips on how to handle that problem. And that I am not alone with the grazing problem, many other patients have it also. I hurt myself in a bicycle accident on this last Wednesday. I will update that info another time. I am too uncomfortable right now to do that. I need to get more pain meds in me and get some rest.

081903 Well, the day after I hurt myself, which was a Wednesday I went to the ER to be checked out. I would hurt to breath, bend over and roll over in bed. I had a battery of xrays taken and they came back saying that I had a chest contusion and a cervical spine sprain. I was sent home with a liq pain killer, which I would use to sleep with at night. During the day I would use liq. Tylenol. Well, I was still hurting until Tuesday. I had a previous standing apt to see my internist on Tuesday. His office girl had the radiologist's report faxed over while I was waiting to see him. He explained it to me and he was rather preturbed that they did not tell me that I had a CRACKED RIB. I said to him no wonder I was still hurting so bad. But, enough of the rib situation. He is still going to wait until I have lost more weight before taking me off of the coumadin, which I can live with. Just knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that maybe in 2-3 months I will be off of it. Now for the blood pressure med, Zebeta I have been cut down to a half of a pill until my pills run out. I will be on the Zebeta for about another 3 months. WooHoo.

090103 Well the cracked rib STILL hurts. It does not bother me as much to roll over in bed now, it does not wake me up like it used to. I believe I am still around the same weight as in my last update, but my new clothing is getting a little big on me and I am loosing inches. I will know what the loss is near the end of the month when I go for my next internist visit. I only weigh just before support group or if I need to go to the doctor. That helps with me becoming obcessed with the scale, which I presently have out in the storage shed. I still love my new bike and ride daily except for this last week-end while we were away for the week-end. I did not get much exercise in because we were on a car trip. I am going to be adding resistance exercise to my routine now that my rib has healed more. I bought some resistance bands which I was told to do by my exercise physiotheripist back at my 3 month appointment. I have been looking forward to doing them but was still in too much pain to do anything like that. The bands help with toning and gaining strength.

090203 Well, I have not started the bands yet, but will do so one day this week. I am sure that once I start I will ask myself why I did not start sooner. I calculated my inches lost today and I have dropped 40.75" since early May. I have dropped 10" in just the last 6-7 weeks. I took a real good look at myself this morning in a full length mirror and could not believe the changes in me. I had just last week noticed that my face is getting thinner again. I went to the swearing in of my new chief of police (I work for a police department) this evening and had 4 people come up to me and say that they almost did not recognize me because of the weight that I am loosing. My work does not know about the surgery. They know that I had surgery but they were only told that it was reconstructive from prior surgeries that I have had. It was reconstructive all right, wow if they only knew! Well, come the end of the month when I go to my internist I will find out what the new weight loss is, 'til then the tape measure and my clothing are my gage that I am loosing.

092803 Well, went to the doctor on Friday and I have lost another 7# that brings the total up to 56 now. I am happy with the loss as a pig is rolling in mud LOL. In one more month I will be off of 2 more drugs, Coumadin and my last blood pressure med. When those are done I will have stopped taking 4 of my 5 drugs. The last drug is for my Colitis and when I go in for my colonoscopy next year I am going to have the doctor reevaluate wheather I still need to be on so much of it or maybe I can cut it out completely. I started doing my resistance bands and was pleasantly surprised with the fact that they are helping my back feel better. I would have a back ache by about 10am everyday. Now with the bands I have chased away those pains. My husband has his RNY on this coming Tuesday. Tomorrow morning he goes in to have a Greenfield filter inserted. He had a real bad blood clot back in Jan of 2000 and because he is almost 250# over the surgeon wants the filter put in. The filter will come out a month after the surgery.

100503 Well, the big guy came home from the hospital on Friday afternoon. He is real weak and tired, common to everyone that has major surgery. He is having a lot of problems with bloating, which I have told him to get up and just walk in the house. I did not experience that because I made it a point to walk from the day of my surgery. He had to stay in the CCU for one extra day because there wasn't any beds on the surgical floor. I feel that impeeded his recovery because those nurses do not have the time to help a person to walk there are so many other real sick people that needs their attention. I am really tired because I am cleaning up after him, getting his clean clothing several times a day (he has had a couple of accidents while getting to the potty), helping him with his shower, changing his dressing, giving him his Lovenox injection, getting his liquids to drink and his water etc etc. Well, I lost 4 more pounds since last week, I thought that something was happening because my uniforms are getting huge. I keep taking them in in the waist but real soon I will have to have the department order me more slacks and smaller shirts also. Well, I am within 10# of what I weighed 24 years ago when I first was hired at the PD. Cool feeling.

101803 Well still taking care of my DH. He was supposed to have his Greenfield filter removed on Wednesday and they could not take it out because it was full of debris, clots that were forming. So, the filter was doing what it was supposed to catch clots. He is on an agressive blood thinning therapy right now. Injections of Lovenox twice a day and Coumadin. They say that he probably has a tendency to develope clots easily and will be on a low dose of a blood thinner for the rest of his life. He needs to go to a hemotologist next week. He had a bad blood clot in January of 2000 which landed him in the hospital for 10 days and off of his feet 2 months. This is a dangerous thing and he is following the doctor's orders as he should. I am doing ok, little tired but still loosing weight, I am down another 2 pounds. I am getting ready to go to Germany with my church for a conference on November 1st. I will be in Nurenberg for about 9 days. I go with the ministry team every year to minister to the German church leaders. Europe is so dead of religion and is very sad, only about 1% of the European people attend any church. War (WW 1 & 2) is so horrible. Well, I found a winter coat for myself at a resale shop, so I am set with coats for the fall, winter and spring. I have been able to up my water consumption to 80 oz a day. I could not believe that when I added it up. Having water in my hands also helps me to not graze with other foods. Because I am really strict with the 30 minute rule of drinking and eating. Well, I have out of country(literally) company coming on Sunday and I need to get some things done in the house. We have a guest coming from England to stay with us for the week.

102903 Well, I leave for Germany on Saturday afternoon. I am more calm about my protein intake. I have decided to take peanut butter, protein powder with a shaker and power bars with me. These should not take up much space in my suitcase or add too much weight. German foods have a tendancy to be real greasy and they really do not believe in sugar free. So, I guess if I want a SF treat I will have to take that with also. Oh well.

112503 Well, got back from Germany and had a great time there. I did well with my protein intake. I took all of the protein items that I listed in my last post and I did just fine. I was also able to get the right amount of protein at my meal times also. I even managed to loose weight over there. I did not get sick over there like I did last year, but I came down with a cold after I got home but that is not a problem. Well, getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. I look forward to the turkey and trimmings. I just have to get my husband to stop eating so fast. He keeps having a problem with vomiting because of the fact that he wolfs down his food. We just had a German couple stay at our house for a week and they leave today, so sad, they are a great couple a lot of fun.

I finally had to order new uniforms for work, the ones I have now are like tents on me. I cannot take them in anymore. The scale is not moving for me right now so I must be loosing inches. I joined the local park district's fitness center. They have a large number of quality, well maintained machines. For right now I am using the treadmill and I walk 2 miles in 45 minutes. There are tvs on the wall above the machines and all you need to do is tune your fm radio to the frequency that they post and you can listen to it also. Pretty cool. They also have all the rest of the machines you would expect, stationary bikes, rowing machines, ellipticals, steppers etc. Plus I am going to take advantage of the walking track that is above the basketball courts.

112903 Forgot to mention the good news of the fact that I am off ALL medications that I was taking preop. My last that I stopped was my med for my microscopic colitis. My gastro doctor said that since I was not having any problems with a flare up of the colitis I could stop it. I am only taking my supplements and a daily low dose aspirin daily. This is the first time that I have not had to taken any drugs since 1991. This is such a fantastic feeling.

010404 Wow I have not updated since the end of November. Well, here goes - I have not lost much weight since I have updated last, but I have not gained any over the holidays either. I joined Weight Watchers back almost 4 weeks ago. I joined because they are a good sound program and I need the structure that they provide. I would like to loose the majority of my last 38# that I have to loose before my 1 year surgery anniversery on May 7th. I have only lost 4 tenths of a pound since joining but I am loosing inches on the tape measure. I think that I have lost about 2 inches total in various areas of the body. That is reassuring. I am hot on the exercise issue, probably too much so because I have not increased my calorie intake. I have found that I am eating too many carbs with the holidays being here. I need to cut out the caffine that I seemed to have let slip back into my diet. I am still enjoying the fact that I do not have any real hunger yet. From what I understand that could last 'til as far out as my 2 year anniversery. But, 'til then I am enjoying the fact that I am not a slave to hunger. I have recently bought some clothing at REAL stores, not the big ladies stores or areas of say like Target, Sears or Penney's. It is so fun. It is so neat to find styles that compliment me. And I so much love being able to tuck my shirt into my pants and wearing a belt. I bought myself a new swimsuit just recently. Man even though it fits in most places, I have saggy butt in it. I am going to have to take in the crotch area because it just hangs on me in the area. LOL I never thought that I would ever say that my clothing would hang on me it always was so tight and uncomfortable. I am trying to incorporate into my exercise routine my elastic bands. I think that I have found the answer to it by doing them on Mon, Wed and Fri in addition to going to the fitness center the rest of the week. I am getting a little bored with the treadmill so I have started using the different programs on the treadmill. Now I have decided to venture out and use some of the other machines at the fitness center like the elipticles or stairclimbers. Now, I have to get my husband there so he can utilize his membership. He has started doing some exercise by walking at Sam's club. It is such a big store and is great for the early post op to just get out and see something and get a little exercise.

011204 woohoo!! the scale is moving again. Since joining Weight Watchers (WW) I have now offically lost 5.2#. The scale was stuck for 1+ months, but I was loosing inches so I was not too discouraged.

020704 Woohoo!!the scale is moving again. I had not really been loosing much since joining WW. I would go up 1 or 2 pounds then come back down. But since the 4th of this month I have dropped 3#. I only have 30# to go 'til I get to my goal of 130. During this up and down period I started weight training and I also had increased my protein and water big time. So, some of the weight fluctuation probably was from the increased use of new muscle. I have been taking advantage of new areas of my health club; I have been using the indoor walking track and have been going to the pool to water walk. Boy, the water walking takes a lot out of you, I come home a little beat after that. But, while at the pool I take advantage of the hot tub, that feels so good afterwards. I have really been doing a lot of different things to make my exercise not feel like work. The inside track, the pool and doing Walk Away the Pounds DVD and a WW workout DVD. Doing this makes a big difference with the boredom that can set in. Well, we have a cruise booked for our 30th wedding anniversary. We leave in late April from Seattle to Hawaii then back to Seattle. We are really looking forward to it. I am already thinking of ways that I will be able to keep up with my exercise and still loose weight while on it.

020804 Down another pound since yesterday. It is good to see the scale numbers moving again.

030304 down another 3 pounds.

032804 I have been loosing more inches than pounds lately, but the weight is slowly going down also. I have lost 15# since I joined WW back after Christmas. My husband and I have been taking advantage of our fitness center's pool. I go and do water exercises about 3 times a week. The rest of the time I walk or just recently I pulled my bike out and rode it. The weather is starting to get real nice in the Chgo area. The grass is almost totally green, which means that the lawn service bills will start rolling in again. I was just thinking today that I have not been at 155# since about 28 years ago which was about 2 years after we were married. Yes, we have been married 30 years this May 11th. We are going on a cruise to Hawaii in mid April for 18 days. We are really looking forward to it. I am looking forward to the large amount of time that I can exercise in the morning without needing to get ready for work and then laying in the sun to soak it up. My husband has been able to copy my Walk Away The Pounds DVD's to Cd's and I can do them with my headset on. You do not really need a TV to do these DVD's you just need to listen to the voice cues that the leader gives. There are only 4 basic moves so they are real easy.

April 13, 2004 Well, I let the ole carb monster creep back into my life and I paid the price with it by not loosing any weight. I have laid off of it and upped the protein again and have gone down a couple more pounds. Great feeling to see the scales creeping towards the 90's of weight lost.

April 14, 2004 Down 1 more pound. I looked the "carb monster" square in the eye recently and told it to get out of my life. By doing that and upping my protein and water I have started the downward journey again of getting to my goal. I guess that I said all this in yesterday's update. With me not eating the carbs it is a lot easier than I thought it would be. Oh, sure I still look at the junk and want it, but I will allow myself some of that later on down the road when I am closer to my goal of 130#. Right now I have only 23 more to go. I really would like to loose approximately 5# more before my 1 year post op appointment that I have scheduled on May 14th. You probably wonder how I am going to do that with us going on a cruise and all that good food that you can have 24hrs a day. Well, I booked our room in an area of the ship so we HAVE TO WALK TO JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING that we want to do. Our room is down a couple of decks and in the bow of the ship. Most of the activities are in the back of the ship or aft. I had an ulterior motive when I booked the cruise, to get exercise and have a good time also doing it.

041804 Well, I will not be able to get on my pc now before we leave on the cruise, I just have too much to do btwn now and Tuesday. I was down another 5# at WW. I hit my 10%. I really feel that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. My goal is only 21# more. I see that as do able and foresee that my goal may be acceivable by the end of summer. I love the fact that the nice weather is here now and I can get out and walk or ride my street bike. I cannot believe how much I have missed both of those activities. Waling on a track or treadmill is basically boring even though I have worship music to listen to or can watch tv while on the treadmill.

052304 Well, we have been back for 2 weeks from the cruise. The time away was great. We had a lot of good food. Did not gain anything mainly because we walked and climbed a lot of stairs. For those of you that have been on a cruise you know that you can either take the elevator or climb the stairs to all of the public decks from your cabin, we choose to climb the stairs. Got burned a couple days from Hawaii but not too bad. Saw a lot of things that we had not seen before on the tours that we took. And had some great sushi and boy was it cheap. It was about 1/2 the price of a meal that we would have had here in the Chgo area. We are already planning the next cruise in 2005. We have not decided whether we are going to go back to Hawaii or go thru the Panama Canal again. We want to fly in and out of the same port because the airfare is cheaper when you do that. Well, I go in for my 1 yr follow up on Monday. I should have gone in earlier in the month but we were still on our cruise on the 7th, then the doctor's office changed my appointment on me. I would have liked to have lost more weight, but I got lazy with my exercise, I have lost 90# so far. Oh, well now is a great time to get back in the swing of things with summer here and the weather being good for outside activity.

June 14, 2004 Happy Flag Day, boy the news coverage of Reagan's death and funeral have been awesome this past week. He was a great man, husband, president and christian man. I still am struggling with my last 20#. I have upped my exercise and have been doing weight strengthening exercises also. I know that there are changes going on because I have had to buy smaller bras and my uniform slacks are getting bigger. As I am working my way into smaller clothing I have noticed that my skin is not shrinking and I have hanging skin in ucky places. I know that I will need some plastic surgeries eventually. The skin on my upper thighs is sagging and flopping around. I probably will have a breast reduction when the time comes also. I have been so tired of big boobs, I want them hacked off LOL! And the skin on the belly is not shrinking back and that will need some tweeking also. I have not really started researching any of it yet because there is plenty of time for that. I do have what my surgeon referred to a weakness in the wall of my abdomin. It has bothered me for years and I had complained to Dr Kane Jr about it a couple of years ago and he blew me off on it. I really want to include getting that fixed at the same time that I have PS and also to wait 'til I have more sick time banked at work. More later on in July.

July 15, 2004 I finally got my butt in gear and have upped my exercise. I have been weight strengthening btwn 3-4 times a week or usually every other day. Sometimes I do 2 sets of 10 reps or if I have a time crunch that day just one set of 10 resp. I have upped the intensity of my walking and have also started doing a couple evenings of intense biking for at least 30-45 minutes. sometimes my knees hurt too much the next day after biking so the next day I will just do a leisurely 30 minute ride. My DH and I will ride together. I have been so proud of him he has been going out during the day and biking mid-day. During this time of more exercise I have upped my protein and my weight is dropping again, I have lost the extra 5# I kept playing with for the last 3 months.

November 12, 2004 Haven't been here in a while, I have been on site but not in my profile to update. The latest news is that I am scheduled for my lower body lift on Jan. 28th 2005. I have to have my body lift in two stages because of the thin skin that I have on my belly. In '93 I had a scar revision and hernia repair that left me with no belly button and very thin skin across the belly area. The PS cannot do a traditional abdominalplasty on me, so hence the lower lift then the upper. The lower lift will be circumfrential, meaning going all the way around. I will be going with Dr Hornik at the WISH Center. It will entail a 23 hour hospital stay then 2-4 weeks off of work. He hopes to be able to pull a lot of the excess skin up from the thighs and then down from the hip area to give me a more contoured look. The weight keeps flucuating 5-7#, which is normal.

Dec 17, 2004 weight went down again, probably short lived because I have a nasty cold. I am getting more and more excited about my upcoming PS on January 28th. I am really looking forward to the results that will await me when it is done. I have an appt with my internist on Jan 5th to have some labs and an EKG done then on the 13th I have my preop with the surgeon for all the picture taking (yuck) etc.

Jan/Feb 2005 I had a set back in my journey for my PS. I have developed an overactive thyroid and the thyroid had to be medically killed off with something called radioactive iodine (RAI). I had that last Friday, Feb 4th and my thyroid hormone levels seem to be coming down because I am seeing a lessening of my symptoms. I started going into heart failure from not having my Grave's disease treated and need to be on a whole mess of medications, Toporol-XL, Ambien, generic Xanax and two water pills. The PS will eventually happen I just do not know when nor do I care at this point I just want the nasty symptoms of the Grave's to lessen or go away. I had gained a little weight (7-10#) back in the fall and when I started to loose it again I was real happy, but I did not know that the weight loss was from a disease. I actually now feel too thin, I am boney and they stick out even below my excess skin. I do not feel comfortable in my own skin. I will gain a little weight once I become hypothyroid but that will be ok. Bye for now until I know more.

Feb 12, 2005 The RAI is still doing its magic, I have less episodes of tremors in my hands and the feeling of being jittery. I just hope that I do not go completely hypo thyroid before my next apt with my internist. I do not want to be tired all the time as can happen with hypo. The weight is still coming down, I dropped 2# more since the last time I updated a couple of days ago. That puts me in the "normal or ideal" range for my height and weight I did not think that I would ever see that happen. I know it will be short lived because the hypo thyroid will make me gain a little, my internist thinks about 10#, I can live with that as long as I am healthy. For right now it is fun to be at the weight I was when I got married 30+ years ago.

Feb 14, 2005 Happy St Valentine's Day. I already got my roses on Friday and they are beautiful. Coral, pinks, Yellows, Whites, oranges. Just wonderful. I do not like red roses they turn black and the beauty is gone at least with these colors they stay some sort of the origninal color. My weight is still going down. The fantastic part of this weight loss is that my BMI is in the ideal range, WOOHOO. I bought ketosticks yesterday and it shows that I am burning fat still, so the plastic surgeon was wrong there is still fat on me. I have not been this size since just before my wedding in '74.

June 3, 2005 Well, it is almost the week-end and the beginning of my birthday weekend. I took Monday off so I could just "lounge" around and do what I want. Dave & I are going down to Navy Pier weather permitting on Sunday and are going to rent some bikes to ride along the lake front, have been really looking forward to that. Other than that there has been some exciting things going on with us. We both are scheduled for our plastic surgery. Dave goes first on July 11th and is having his hernia repaired and having a panni to remove the excess skin. I am having a belt lipectomy done on Aug 6th. We are both going to the same doctor. I had an apt with Dr Madry on Wednesday and liked him. I do not want to "shop" around for someone to do my surgery. I have been to one other before I was DXd with Grave's. So, I had a small comparison and I like Dr Madry better. I have to go to Water Tower Place in downtown for my surgery, but they are arranging for us to be picked up in a limo. I am just worried about pain management afterwards at home. But, many many people go right home after my surgery and do fine. So, we are both excited about this summer.

July 20, 2005 Dave's surgery is all over and he is recovering at home now. He spent 4 days in the hospital and all went well and the PS removed 16-19#s of excess skin. He has dropped 19.6# since the morning of his surgery. Other than the discomfort and the usual problems with being PO he is doing well. I just got back from my internist and had more blood work because my thyroid levels took a turn in the wrong direction and I am now on Synthroid to keep the levels stable. It is still a go for my surgery on Aug 6th and I am really looking forward to the end results, not the pain that goes with a surgery.

August 13, 2005 Dave had some complications with his surgery and ended up back in the hospital several days after being discharged with internal bleeding from an ulcer in his stoma. That situation has been rectified and he is recovering as he should. I am PO on my PS by 7 days. I had it exactly 7 days ago today on August 6th. All went well except I had a hematoma break open and I bleed through my dressing, binder, clothing, towel onto my recliner. It was a lot of blood but it cleared up several hours later and my recovery is progressing as it should be. I have a lot of discharge into my drain, well over 100cc a day. I cannot take a shower until I have the drain out, but the way I feel right now I really do not want to get in the shower. I would rather have the drain stay in with it draining properly than to have to be reopened after developing a seroma under the skin. I am still on prescription pain meds and I think that I will be able to stop taking them when Monday rolls around and switch to extra strength Tylenol. I cannot drive until I am off of the narcotics. Other than being real itchy under the binder I feel real good. My shape is fantastic and I think that I will probably will be able to wear a conservative 2 piece swim suit next year, that is exciting. I have never worn a 2 piece ever!

051206 I have my second PS tomorrow morning at 7:30am, yes a Saturday. I am having a medial thigh lift after the doctor does liposuction then I am having a breast lift with NO augmentation. I do not want to have to deal with implants when I go for mammos and then to have them replaced down the road.

061006 Well my latest PS went really good. I was not in too much pain. I ended up black and blue from my mid calf to my butt cheeks from the lipo. I can see now that I will need some more lipo near the butt cheek area, but that will need to be done in a year or so; I need to heal first. There are also some bat wings near the side under the arms that need to be snipped off. The doctor wants my swelling to go down first before he revises the area. There also is a small redundant piece of skin near the left groin that needs to be snipped off also. The thigh lift is really starting to look great also,; there still is a lot of swelling there also. The doctor said he took out 3800 cc of fat which equals 1 gallon of liquid. I am still loosing weight slowly and am down 5# from the weight that I was the day of surgery. The healing had moved along rather slowly at first then it was pretty rapid at about the two week mark. I went back to work for 1/2 days right after Memorial Day. The 1/2 days were one of the smartest things that I did. I have even gone back to running on my regular schedule. My new girls look fantastic. I can go braless if I want to. I received some money for my b-day that I am going to spend on some new tops for the summer. Plus I do not have any capri pants and I also need some new bras. I can make it stretch if I am wise with the $$. There also is a good resale shop that I might find some capris at; I will have to go look. The best part about this whole expensive process if that the two bikini swim suits that I bought back in December now fit! I have never worn a 2 piece in my whole adult life, I was always too self conscious of my body even when I was somewhat thin.


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Product Reviews
  • Boost - Boost Hi Protein
  • Kashi - Kashi GoLean shake
  • Shaklee - Shaklee Vitamins, etc.

    Member Interests:
  • Cats - my cat Megan
  • Needlework, Knitting & Crocheting
  • Gardening & Horticulture - working in the yard
  • Christianity - volunteering at my church
  • Road Trips - travel

    Click here to see interests of other ObesityHelp members.

    Surgeon Info:
    Surgeon: Jeffrey Rosen, M.D., F.A.C.S.
    Dr Rosen puts you right at ease from the minute that you meet him. He explains everything to you in simple terms and there isn't a question that is stupid to him. The Wish Center's staff are all fantastic, helpful to the 'enth degree. The all are there to help you succeed in your goal to get thin. They will answer questions until you are blue in the face. Check The Wish Center's web site for all of the information regarding their program. Their web site is www.wishcenter.org They have a complete well rounded approach to your pre and post op care. I can honestly say that I do not have a negative thing to say about this group of doctors.
    Insurer Info:
    BCBS of IL & Cigna POS
    I did not have to do any of the handling of my insurance paperwork. The Wish Center takes care of all that for you. I did call and touch base with my insurance to make sure that I still have gastric bypass coverage.
  • About Me
    Western 'Burbs Chgo, IL
    Location
    26.4
    BMI
    RNY
    Surgery
    05/07/2003
    Surgery Date
    Jan 16, 2002
    Member Since

    Friends 2

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