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My goodness I didn't realize it had been soooooo long since I posted something on here! I guess I should begin with an update of sorts....It is now January 2011 and to date I have lost 110 pounds. I'm weighing in at 107 pounds! I wasn't even this small in the Army! I was hit with another nasty stomach bug very similar to the one that I had in December 2008 this past October. Only this time instead of having everything going out "the end", this time around I couldn't stop throwing up! Hubby finally had to take me to the Dr to get a shot to stop me from getting sick and dehydrated....It wasn't much fun! It seems that post Roux En Y I seem to get hit with a BAD stomach bug at least once a year now. Not sure if this is to be expected or even if it's normal, but oh well--it is what it is, I guess...
   It is a DAILY struggle to get in enough fluids and protein and anymore I find myself coming up WAY short. I don't know why this is such a struggle for me?? I had been drinking the ready-made Atkins protein shakes for quite some time and they seemed to help boost my daily protein intake, but honestly I'm really getting tired of them! I'm a HUGE fan of the Bolthouse Farms mocha-cappachino drinks that Save-A-Lot carries in their dairy section. I've also seen them at both WalMart and Sam's club so I know they're out there...hopefully I won't tired of them any time soon because I'm quickly running out of palate pleasing protein shake options. ARGH!
   Currently I'm wearing clothes that range in size from 0-2. That in and of itself still amazes me. Before I had this surgery, I could envision myself wearing a size 10/12 and thought that would have been great (which at the time I actually WAS those sizes, it was!). I no more ever expected to end up being this "small"! I get accused from time to time of looking like I'm on the brink of becoming "anorexic". For anyone who truly knows me, that is an obviously absurd accusation! I STILL (& prolly ALWAYS will...) LOVE, LOVE, LOVE food! An anorexic person I definitely AM NOT! I guess most people don't really understand the mechanics of the roux en y surgical procedure and the malabsorption factor that it creates. I DO eat, most of the time I STILL eat things that I know I probably shouldn't, and 99% of the time, I pay dearly for doing so! My new stomach pouch seems to be able to hold roughly 4 ounces of food at this point. If I eat too quickly or if I ignore the little voice in my head that says "Stop eating now...you're full....", oh boy how I suffer! I will normally either wind up throwing up the entire contents of my stomach or spend several hours in misery with a terribly sick tummy! I must say though, I've only had two really bad dumping episodes post surgery. The first was caused from swallowing a mouthful of orange juice....I was told that the first time I ever experienced a true dumping episode I would know it because I'd feel as though I were dying. That is 100 percent a true statement! The episode lasted roughly an hour and I was absolutely miserable every second of that hour! The second episode hit me shortly after I ate a taco from Taco Bell....I was sick with severe dumping symptoms for almost 24 hours after that! It was pure misery!! Needless to say, I no longer drink orange juice or eat anything from Taco Bell!
   I've hit several weight loss plateaus in the last 28 months, some much longer than others, and every time I get it set in my head that I'm finished losing weight, another few pounds always seem to melt away. At this stage of the game, I'm no longer actively trying to lose weight. My doctor gave me a weight loss goal to get down to 120 pounds, and I had my own personal goal to weigh in at 115 pounds. Obviously I've passed by both of those goals at this point, however I'm no longer trying to lose even one additional pound. In my mind, I'm content with my weight as long as it remains under 115 pounds. I've always worried that at some point I would start gaining the weight back, so as long as I'm maintaining a weight that stays under my target of 115 pounds, I'm good. There for a while my daughter and I could share clothes with each other because we were wearing the same sizes. THAT was such a good feeling! Now, I wear a smaller size than she does, and while I don't have a problem with that, she does, for obvious reasons. My girl wears a size 5/6 and is 5'3", so she is weight and height proportional for her build. She looks good and hopefully will never have to worry about excess weight the way her mother has for so many years.
   Now that I'm pretty much finished losing the weight and as my body transits into the "maintenance" phase of this weight loss journey, I find that more often than not my thoughts drift towards plastic surgery....I have been lucky in that my skin has retained some of its elasticity but when a person is as big as I was for as long as I was, things never completely go back to the way they were pre-weight gain. That being said, if I had a fairy God-Mother with a magic wand, or even a genie in a magic lamp, I'd ask for 'assistance' with the following areas of my body....I desperately need a tummy tuck and a chest lift. I could also use some lipo-suction in both my thighs and upper arms. Throw in a little botox to chase away the developing wrinkles and crow's feet on my face, and I'd be (or at least feel like) good as new!!
    The past two years have had their share of ups and downs, and sometimes I've even caught myself questioning my decision to go forward with the roux en y surgery. But then I take a look at my three beautiful children and my amazing husband and realize that for the first time in ages, I can actually keep up with the kids and chase them around the playground instead of just sitting and watching them from a nearby park bench....I can take long walks now hand in hand with my husband and actually keep up with him, and not feel like death after the first 1/4 mile.....This has truly been a life changing transformation....My journey through the last 28 months has taught me SO much about myself and has not only given me my health back, but has also given me a whole new outlook on life and on love, but it has also taught me that I really can do anything that I set my mind to.......

Well, I won't say I'm back to feeling 100% again, but I'm finally able to hold very small amounts of things down....a half an ounce of skim milk, water, that's about the extent of my ability to handle fluids at this point....My new stomach feels like it has gotten MUCH smaller since I've been sick--not sure what that's all about....I can eat ice chips ALL day long and it doesn't bother me a bit--I've tried drinking my protein shakes, and I can't seem to get them down yet. Again--don't know what that's about because I was fine with them before this stomach bug hit me....?? I know I need MUCH MORE protein than I'm getting right now--I'm still so weak--have been able to stand up for longer periods of time today, but it has been a rough road to recovery so far. Never in my adult life have I ever been this sick for this long! My PCP is going to re-check my lycene (sp?) levels to make sure that my liver and pancreas are ok--I know I'll feel better when I get good news from those tests!
   I've lost a total of 32 pounds since my gbp surgery Nov 11Th---I lost 10 pounds easily while I was in the throws of the stomach bug---uck--not fun AT ALL! I'm SO ready to feel "normal" again--and to be healthy so that I can once again focus on getting back on track......I'm hoping that day will be soon!

So far this whole experience has been rough....I honestly thought that at 33 years old, my "complications" would be minimal! I've REALLY struggled with cravings--I think I've been mourning the loss of the "old" me and all the foods that I had to leave at the operating room door. I finally got over that, and then got sucker punched with a horrible stomach flu. In the last week, I've been to the hospital twice and kept overnight once for "observation". I was so dehydrated that they had a very hard time getting an IV line started on me, and when they finally did, my vein(s) kept blowing. Also another side effect from the dehydration was that my liver stopped functioning as it should. It's been rough!! A few days ago I started feeling better, only to start the whole process over again yesterday. The hospital diagnosed me with viral gastroenteritis which can last up to 10 days with a "healthy" person, but since it seems my immune system has been compromised because of the surgery, who knows how long this will last. I've been praying like crazy that it will just go away and so far this afternoon has been a little better. My middle son has his Christmas play tonight and I really don't want to miss it.......

Well, I had my RNY Gastric Bypass surgery November 14Th, 2008. I had NO IDEA it was going to be as uncomfortable as it was.....I woke up in the recovery room with 5 one-inch long incisions and one additional incision about an inch long as well where my "jp folley" drainage tube was. After surgery I was only supposed to be in the recovery room for an hour, maybe two max. It turned out that the hospital didn't have an open room for me, so I was left in the recovery room for the better part of 8 hours, flat on my back. I've got back issues anyway, so being flat on it for that long without being able to turn on my side was torture!! Also, I take pain meds for the back issue and have done so for 10 months now....once out of surgery, the recovery room team (and then my nurses on the floor I was finally sent to...) kept 'under medicating' me--only giving me a 1/3rd of the dose of pain medication I would get on a daily basis in the 'real world'. That part was hard, but once I was finally assigned a room and allowed to get somewhat settled in, I began to feel a little better. I was up and walking within 24 hours of my surgery and I think that helped a lot! I was blessed to be able to have my husband stay with me in my room the entire time I was in the hospital, so he helped me a great deal by getting me up and helping me walk the 'lap' that was the 6Th floor surgical recovery floor....He's an amazing man and I'm so blessed to have such a supportive person in my life!!My surgery was on Friday, and I was discharged on Sunday, so I spent roughly 48 hours in the hospital. (Can I just say that I HATE hospitals??!) The worst part about getting discharged was when they removed the 'j.p. folley drain'. I'm not going to go into detail with this except to say that it felt like they were pulling my intestines out of my stomach--it was AWFUL!!!! The drive back home was a little rough--I had a pillow behind me supporting my lower back and one covering my very sore stomach--we live about an hour and a half from Johns Hopkins, and it was one of the longest car rides I think I've ever been on!! I was SO GLAD to finally see my house!!!
   So here I sit, typing away on hubby's laptop 5 days after having my roux en y gastric bypass surgery....knowing now what I didn't know then, I'm torn as to whether or not I'd still have gone thru with the surgery...I don't do well with pain, and I have to say that the last 5 days have been filled with plenty of it. I know it is a means to an end and I'm sure a month from now my opinion will change, drastically. I'm still on a liquid diet--my mainstays right now are orange sherbet, low-fat yo-plait yogurt, tiny amounts of skim milk, mashed potatoes, and chicken broth. I'm still only able to 'eat' about 60CC's at any one time.....My surgical incisions are healing nicely--they're still sore, but definitely much more tolerable, and so far I've lost 9.6 pounds! That is remarkable for me, even though I'm sure most of what I've lost so far is only fluid, but hey--at least I didn't gain it!!

***I just wanted to add that I saw my PCP doc today for follow up from my surgery....my blood pressure is now 98/80!! Up till this point it has been somewhere in the range of 130/100!! My doc took me off BOTH medications I had been on to control my b.p.--I am amazed and overjoyed at how quickly my medical 'issues' are being corrected--it has only been 5 days since I had surgery!! Woo-Hoo!!***