Soon

Jul 02, 2009

Hello again OH family. I thought I'd drop a line or two to let you all know that I know I promised a new photo but between going back and forth to the doctor and physical therapy and trying to get ready for a yard sale it's quite hectic for me, not to mention that we will also be selling baked goods which is a fun activity for my family. We have done that several years but didn't get to do it last year because I had my surgery so this year is it and I might add that it's going to be spectacular becuase I am adding some craft items that I personally did myself. I have taken an interest in decoupage boxes becuase my imagination runs wild and then again you know what you create is only limited by your imagination. I am also going to take some photos of those but if they don't sell at the yard sale I will be putting them online for sale.

My PCP told me that I was an amazing individual when it came to this surgery but she is trying to limit me to walking just one mile a day due to the possibility of fibromyalgia and I can't seem to get that idea in my head because my lifestyle is now dedicated to being more healthy. I honestly think it's time to go see Ms. Karen Starr and sit there and tell her that I'm between a rock and a hard place and don't want to feel as though I'm sacrificiing my new, permanent lifestyle for this crappy syndrome and perhaps she can help me psychologically work through this problem. Speaking of my new lifestyle, I had an episode of hypoglycemia Tuesday morning.....56 was the magic number, until I ate a SB snack bar with a tablespoon of peanut butter on it and then it came back up to 80, all in all besides feeling tired, cranky, and achey most if not all of the time I'm doing great. My hair has also grown back out. It broke off in the third month becuase I was so dry and couldn't eat any fat at all not even reduced fat items, bow I can eat at least reduced fat cheese so I do eat it on ocassion to get the fat in, I'll also eat a table spoon of peanuts or peanut butter sometimes not often though.sometimes I eat just a half tablespoon of peanut butter as well as eating boiled eggs. I was told yesterday that my hair looked like a wig.....LOL but that's nothing new I had always been told that I guess because it's so full and I have so much of it but it looks better now than it ever has in the past to me.

I will also get those new photos taken and posted, it's a promise but I need to slow down first. I'm also going to be able to take some time from school, my PCP agreed yesterday to write the letter for a medical leave of absence, THANK GOD! I may then be able to get caught back up in life and be ready to try it again in 60 days. I will go for now, it's almost time for me to head out the door to therapy.

P.S. Hey this vanilla and chocolate Torani syrup makes a good cup of coffee......LOL

Diane
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A Long Time Coming-Update

Jun 23, 2009

Hello my OH friends, yes it is me, the long unlost Diane and none other.

Well to begin with my weight loss journey has been miraculously marvelous and I do mean that. I am about 20 pounds away from my personal goal weight. I have surpassed the goal weights of my dietician and am now working on my own. I have not been able to update and it hasn't been because I've been too busy, it's because I've been in too much pain and it's constant. It has nothing to do with my surgery, if anything thank God for the surgery because without it I would have continued, if I had lived this long, to have those good days and bad days and being severly stiff and hurting with no explanation at all except maybe the fact that I was morbidly obese and that was my problem. Now we know that's not the problem, I noticed that the more weight I lost the more I hurt and my PCP was worried, she did numerous labs and found my magnesium level low. I have been taking magnesium for that, she also did x-rays, a stress test and other labs. She found arthritis as we all knew I had. I have since then had to be sent to an orthopedic specialist and a rheumatologist. The orthopedic doctor found DJD in my hips and both knees mild, not too bad I also have several small spurs in both knees. But, here's the biggie, the rheumatologist says that unfortunately low magnesium wouldn't cause me to hurt this severely and he has prediagnosed me with fibromialgia, yes it hurts. So far all signs point to this nusciance of a syndorme. He is trying me on prednisone but that's to no avail, just as he suspected it would be. I have been hurting since February, I am tired all of the time, cranky and just plain old ill but I am so very thankful to GOD just to be able to wake up and even feel the pain that I do from day to day, so I'm not complaining just letting everyone know what's been going on with me. I still walk, although I have been slowed by the aches and pains and stiffness that occurs. I am in aquatherapy (water therapy) at least three times a week it feels so gooooood, I also take constant hot showers but the pain returns once the water is off. I am going to have to withdraw from school on medical leave until I can get some relief and get stabalized on some kind of medication, the good part is I can take up to 60 days a year with the additional option of getting another 30 days for a total of up to 90 days leave of absence.

On the happier side of life, things are sunny. I am under 180 pounds and can now wear a size 8. OMG!!!! I have never been able to wear a size 8. I wore a size 11 shoe because, like the incredible hulk, my feet had outgrown the usual tight fitting 10 and now I can comfortably wear a 9 and 9 1/2. I find myself buying large and medium size tops. I am happy to say on the intimate side I can wear a 36 C and that's just fine with me because I have always been so HUGE, but now I can buy those cute little bras that grace many store isles and not have to buy something so big it has to be put in a box and stored away on a shelf and cost me an arm and a leg. I don't know too much about the panties I was tired of buying them every month but if I had to guess I would say a size 5 these 8's fit like boxing shorts. This was a scary experience at first because it was hard to accept that I am no longer a super morbidly obese individual and I didn't need those oversized clothes anymore. I'm tickled pink. July 21st is my one year surgiversary and I can't believe it, it's been a year, time has really flown and a lot of people in our small town is simply amazed at the job GOD has done at making me a role model for this surgical procedure, even me. I do have one problem like most of us, I have the hanging excess belly skin and fat since I had a massively oversized midriff that now looks more like a set of saggy boobs. I sweat there a lot and I get irritated, sometimes I can't stand to even have clothes on my waist but I make do with it,although it is especially bothersome while walking (exercising). I could only imagine what it would feel like to walk and not start a fire in the world but now I know because my legs don't touch anywhere. My medical problems are on the back seat and my blood pressure stays in control pretty good. I am no longer taking medicine for that yessss.

As a final note I will take and post a recent photo at the end of this month for my new avatar so that you all can see the wonderful progress. I am not thrilled with the extra attention that I seem to be getting. It's the biggest turnoff since seeing my mother cook pig feet and eat them. YUCK! nauseating. I say this because if these same people couldn't accept me and give me attention when I weighed about 400 pounds why would they want to be attentive now?! So yes, I doll myself up and wear heels and cute little carpis whenever I want to or rather whenever my feet and legs feel like it and I enlighten the world to the butterfly that has emerged out of the cocoon that I was inside for so many years.

I will go for now I have been sitting here and my back is hurting as well as my wrists and my fingers will be stiffening soon.
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5 Month Update

Dec 27, 2008

Hey everybody! Well, life is just a chuggin along for me. I'm very happy with my surgery and will do it again in a heartbeat as long as I have the same surgeon and staff. I couldn't have asked for a better surgeon and staff even if I wanted to. I adore Vanderbilt.

I've lost a total of 171 pounds with 46 to go before I hit 180 pounds, being serious I'm going to go well below my dietician's lower goal, I can see that. I'm already at 226 pounds and only 5 months out, wow wonder what a whole year will bring me.

Since being gone to study I have had some doozie of days, some good, some bad but the good have outweighed the bad and then there is the one bad thing that just sticks in my head and plays itself over and over again like a scratched CD.

I will say this, everyone that says they serve God may just be talking and not serving Him to their fullest, even though they may claim to be holier than thou.

I have an ex-pastor now because of what his wife did to me in the public eye. We just happened to show up at the same place to pay a bill and I sometimes wear a before picture pin of myself, it's a great conversation starter and I get a lot of questions asked as well as compliments and those "it's so hard to believe" lines and the "you look so good" lines that make you proud of all the hard work you've done, well not from her. She tried to belittle me in the front of a lot of people and it actually backfired on her and that in turn made her even angrier.  She came in the building and just started to fussing, telling the ladies to look at me wearing that picture of myself. She even had the audacity to say that I didn't "look" that big to her, that was to her, the scales and my health were not lying. Before she was able to walk out the door good the owner of the business looked me in the eye and told me that 2 years prior she herself had the Lap-Band. I about died, so did the preacher's wife. She grabbed the door handle, turned and looked at us all and said that she thanked God for her weight and she was going to die with it. How funny this woman weighs less than 200 pounds and as long as I can remember seeing her I've always known her to be very small. GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY, LADY.
Here's the other killer that came out of her mouth, she told my mother that I would have this surgery, find a boyfriend, get married and leave......well, if God means for it to happen then so shall it be.

God knows why He allowed me to go thru this surgery to live a longer life. I'm not going to question that and neither should she but instead she should be greatful that I am now able to live a healthier, happier, longer life. Well, she's not, in fact before having my surgery she told me not to have it done because the surgery kills people. Woman........where is your faith? To me she was letting God down in my face. I had more faith than she did and probably still do.
I had always heard that the worst hurt was from a "christian" I experienced a lot of hurt and pain when I was super morbidly obese from this same congregation. Hey, the pastor himself told me once when I got sick and couldn't eat that it was good that I couldn't eat.

God took this little, fat ducking that was made so much fun of and plucked the feathers and now He is revealing a beautiful swan and they can't stand it, these people actually wanted failure. How hypocritical of them.

It's all good though, because one of the women that heard this so called preacher's wife putting me down about wearing my before picture, went to her church that same week and pleaded my case before God for me.  I think I'll visit this church for a change, the more I think about the congregation at the little church on East Cedar Street here in Shelbyville Tennessee  the less appealing they are to me. I'm especially thinking about how they used to make fun of fat lil old me and then play church. WHAT A REAL TURN OFF.

On the lighter side of life I AM trying to work things out with a special friend but I know for a fact that I'm just not fit to be tied, not yet. But........I do enjoy his phone calls and conversation and all of the sweet things he does, like giving me roses on my birthday and a card. And, that was our first meeting but he is a sweetheart, perhaps after I get over this selfish streak..I don't know. He calls me skinny............LOL

In the educational department I am taking a little time off in between changing courses. I found out early that being a secretary is really not my cup of tea, so I am going to stay in the legal area but aim for a diploma/ Associate's degree in Justice Administration.

I will go for now and by the way I have posted another photo, it's a side by side before and after.


Hugs,
Diane

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Can You Say Twenty?!

Oct 13, 2008

Because I can......I can now say that I wear a size 20..OMG, it's been so long since I've been able to wear this size I can't remember when I last saw it, I now weigh 249 pounds and have about 69 to go until my dietician's goal weight of 180 pounds, but being realistic about my journey, there is a very big possibility of going way below their set goal. In spite of not being perfect in GOD's site I do wholeheartedly thank HIM for everything that HE's allowed me to do on this journey and throughout my whole life. I give HIM total praise. I love you LORD.
2 months and 3 weeks post op

Great Week-Personal Fitness Goal Accomplished

Sep 28, 2008

Hola everybody!!!! This has been a great week. I have exceeded my own expectations as far as my fitness goals go. This week alone I have walked over 30,000 steps. I walked last night and that made the total a bit higher. When I started walking I was only walking 1,000 steps once or twice a day and I realized that it just wasn't enough exersice to amount to anything and then when I hit that first stall that, was what made me get up off of my butt every morning at 5:00 and 5:30 and get those clothes on my stale body and hit the road. Yeah I know, but it's too early in the morning to be trying to look cute and besides I walk until I sweat. Just take one shower and make it do.

Here's the break down of my exercising steps and these are in addition to all of the other steps that are required for the activities of daily living.

Week 1:19,054 steps
Week 2:25,099 steps
Week 3:36,986 steps

Since walking the scales have been moving. I weigh once a week because it isn't in the best interest of anyone losing weight to get on them every day, once a week is good enough and I make it the same day every week, Sunday. I also drink plenty of plain water, that means no SF drink mixes. I may drink one every now and then but water is my beverage of choice.

I had 3 doctor's appointments this past week and all three of them turned out very good. My oncologist looked at my labs and was extremely satisfied, especially with my folic acid level, he said the last time he did my labs that level was just 6, not good for a woman, but now it is very high, yes, he was impressed and so was I, he also said that all of my other nutritional levels were very good and it made him happy and me too.

I saw my very own sweet little PCP, and she was amazed. She has reduced my blood pressure medicine and says if my BP readings comtinue to be low she will eventually take me off of the medicine. She was examining me and looked at my lower legs and told me that they were so small now and that she could almost see the bone.....lol Oh Dr.Tamula you're so sweet!

Last but not least, I had to go see my dermatologist, yeah my skin got a little out of whack but the surgery was well worth it. He is a very good dermie, he too is a Vanderbilt doctor. He walked in the room looked at me and looked in my file and asked me "just how much weight have you lost?". I told him and he said that I didn't look like the same person, but he also looked at my little self made button, that says, "I'm a BIG Loser", and he laughed but said that he really liked it. He to was amazed at my physical abilities now that I've lost so much weight. Speaking of my weight I have now lost 132.6 pounds. I now weigh 264 pounds....OMG. I'm trying to remember how old I was when I first saw that number, if I saw it and didn't pass it by without seeing it first. I now have 84 more pounds to lose before my dietician's goal weight for me of 180 pounds. Come on, you have got to be kidding me, I will pass that goal by.....lol

I hope I am really loved by my OH family because I'm gonna say something that may just tick some of you off, especially those of you that are in a plateau/stall right now. Get off of your butt(s) and get to moving. I don't want to be rude but I personally realized that when your body stops, it's one of two things, it's trying to play catchup or you need to go back to basics and move your body to help it burn what it needs to.

Walking is the best exercise that I know of that doesn't cost us a thing to do, besides it strenghthens our cardiovascular systems. If your body gets sluggish even though you're exercising on a daily basis that means it's time to increase distance and or resistance, find hills to walk up and down and increase your walking territory, meaning walk a little further each time. Make sure you're getting in you protein, vitamins, calcium and plenty of good old water. Now if you are limited to not being able to really do a lot of walking I understand. I myself have arthritis like most, if not all of us do and my knees crackle like the crunching of dry leaves and yes I get very stiff and I hurt but I keep going. Hey, I forgot the most important thing, meditate and talk to GOD while you're walking you'll find that He gives strength in abundance and before you know it you'll be right back home and wanting to start out all over again, like me. I do love you all and hope that I have said something to encourage somebody.

Smooches




The Wows Keep Coming

Sep 10, 2008

Well a little update on me it's been a minute since I've updated.
The first WOW is, I have officially beat myself at my own goal and it just keeps getting better. When I started walking I was able to walk only for a few minutes but I was determined to increase my distance and put some resistance in my walk to help aid in my weight loss, that's what I figured anyway and it's working. This week alone I have walked almost 10,000 steps while exercising, going up and down hills for resistance and there are still 3 days left in the week. I am so thrilled with myself. I get up early in the mornings and take a nice long walk, at least an hour, and while I'm walking I'm meditating and talking to God before I know it I'm back at home. Today I walked over 4,000 steps, just because I feel like walking and I know it's one of the best forms of exersice there is that doesn't require a paid membership. I started out going a few hundred steps and that increased to at least a thousand and from there it just kept increasing. Oh, the one thing that has helped me to walk is this cute little pedometer that a very special person gave me, it plays classical music while I'm strolling along and that is so entertaining.

The next WOW, is my aunt called my mother yesterday and told her that a friend of hers cleaned out a lot of clothes and asked if I wanted them, my mother told her of course I did because basically I'm down to nothing, we went last night and picked them up. There were 3 bags of them, I wasn't expecting to be able to wear very many things out of the bunch but to my surprise I was able to get into a marjority of these clothes. I can't believe I can comfortably get into, L, XL, and 1XL I knew I could wear a 2X, top and bottom but the smaller sizes surprised me for sure. I also tried on a couple of the last items,(24's), in my closet that I couldn't wear and OMG, I just couldn't believe it. Therefore I find that I can wear various sizes but 22/24 or 2X's fit extremely comfortable. I now have some winter clothes as well as a wealth of decent t-shirts and some leggings that I basically use for walking and sweat pants that aren't falling off of me, nor are they too tight but fit just right.

I talked to my cousin, the tailor, this morning and we tried and finally figured out about the sizes I used to wear, we determined that I was at least in 4 and 5x's. I must admit the 28's had gotten too tight and very uncomfortable and I couldn't get into some of them, without ripping the zippers out of them. I used to dread trying to look for something to wear, especially on Sunday morning, but no more......YAHOO!!!!!

A little advice for the journey, as tempting as it is, DON'T live on the scales, live out of your clothes, we will loose inches as well as pounds one may not be as dramatic and as the other but just know that if you're doing everything you're supposed to, you will loose and remember no burn, no earn.


Love you all!
Ciao for now



Back To School

Aug 26, 2008

I have officially enrolled in school. It's an online school but this is a good one. How do I know because they are Title IV financial aid eligible, yes they are government funded. I have applied for my FASA and they also gave me a link to apply for another federal loan program. I already know that I have the Federal Pell Grant. I just had to transfer the funds by putting in the new school code so all I'm waiting on is the financial aid officer to call me Thursday and we discuss my financial aid. I'm hoping and believing that everything will turn out fine and I will be able to start school soon. I can't believe it. Oh, I will be studying for my diploma as a legal secretary. I can complete it in less than a year. Oh a new life and a new career, I just don't believe it. This is almost like a fairy tale, but which one?! I have to give all of the thanks to my GOD. He is so wonderful! I'm very happy and content at the moment but when school starts for me I might be a scatter brain but then again maybe not.

A Little Help For My Friends

Aug 26, 2008

Hi everybody! I thought I'd share a few tips that I've learned on my journey. There may be some of you that are at your wits end about what to eat, well, I'm just 4 weeks out but I can share some of what I've tried that worked for me and let me tell you I'm very sensitive now that I've had this surgery.

There may be some of you that want to go out to eat those tasty beans from Taco Bell or that delicious chili from Wendy's, well, I have a tasty tip for making your own beans.

I bought some Old El Paso fat free refried beans and with those I mixed a teaspoon of taco sauce and some reduced fat cheddar cheese and popped that in the microwave and that satisfied me to a tee. 

Now about that chili, I'll have to get back to you about that one when I make a good concoction. Of course I will always share my tips and tricks with you all.

First Postop Nutritional Appointment

Aug 25, 2008

Hello,everybody

I had my first nutritional postop appointment today and it went very well, I think. I've lost 32 pounds in my first month and I feel great. I am able to wear everything in my closet now. I'm also able to wear my New Balance that I could hardly wear a year or so ago, they are so comfortable.

I can no longer eat dairy products without the aid of Lactaid. I was slightly lactose intolerant before surgery and now I am extremely lactose intolerant, but I can live with it, if I don't eat it. We discussed ways of me trying to get in calcium fortified foods such as yogurt, cheese, and milk, so she suggested soy milk.....hmmmm makes me wonder, but I will have to try it for myself.

I am now in the soft foods stage and that's okay but I still can't get in much food without it making me sick so I stop eating at the moment I feel the illness coming on. I'm taking in about 35 grams of protein and need to get in more but hey, eating isn't what it used to be. I'd rather drink something now than eat. Sounds childish, I know......but it is what it is.

I have healed up very well and feeling good and still giving praise to my GOD for bringing me this far


That Was Then, Look At Me Now

Aug 13, 2008

These are my comparison photos

This is me at 396.6 pounds

This Is Then


This is me now at 293 pounds.
This Is Me Now




About Me
shelbyville, TN
Location
25.7
BMI
RNY
Surgery
07/21/2008
Surgery Date
Dec 22, 2006
Member Since

Friends 74

Latest Blog 36
Can You Say Twenty?!
Great Week-Personal Fitness Goal Accomplished
The Wows Keep Coming
Back To School
A Little Help For My Friends
First Postop Nutritional Appointment
That Was Then, Look At Me Now

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