Jennifer D.

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It has now been 4 years since my rebirth!  What an amazing journey it has been.  And I still say that I would have the surgery again and again and again.  I have gone from a large un athletic woman to a small very athletic runner!  Endurance running is my gig!  Good luck to all of you who are trying to decide if surgery is for you, and to those who are struggling with post op decision making!  The surgery is only a tool.  I lost all my weight and it is hard work EVERY day to keep it off.  Protein shakes are still my primary source of nutrition and I expect that to be the case for the rest of my life.  My surgein told me, Jennifer...I can fix your body, but not your brain.  I didn't know what he meant when he said that to me over 4 years ago.  I do now.  We can GET skinny just by having hte surgery, but we cannot STAY skinny without getting healthy too!

Well I wondered if I had jinxed myself by purchasing a size 10 bathing suit and capris.  NOT HARDLY, I never even got to wear them, I shrunk so fast I missed that size!  I am not a size 4 with the occasional 2 thrown in.  Never in my life have I been this small!

I can hardly believe that a year has gone by.  I have been terrible about updating this blog!  I started my journey as double the person I am currently.  I am so glad that I made the choice to be thin.  I finally feel that I look as beautiful on the outside as I feel on the inside.  Lets not forget that I FEEL so good too! 

My 1 year surgiversary is coming on Aug. 14th.  This year has flown by!  My surgery and recovery went off without a hitch except for being overdosed on my antidepressant.  To anyone that is going to have this surgery and takes an antidepressant med please make sure to talk to your doctor about dosing and how the surgery could effect you.  I became very ill after surgery as a result of the meds. I am not going to get into all of hte details but if anyone is having problems I would be glad to talk about my experience.  Aside from the med issue my recovery was ideal.  I did have a hernia show its little head oin December so I had to deal with that until schoo got out (I am a teacher and can't take time off fur surgery in the middle of hte year). 

I had surgery to fix the hernia June 25, 2008 and my insurance company appproved a tummy tuck as well!  So not only did hte alien baby (thats what we called the hernia) get fixed I also got a brand new flat non droopy belly!  I am now six weeks out from that surgery and with the exception of little stitches that keep popping through my incision I am doing extremely well there too!

THis has been one awesome ride and wow is it worth it. 

I will try to do a better job of updating this thing, but no promises!

I can hardly bellieve that it is finally  here.  I will be on the losers bench and finally have help to get the weight off..  It feels surreal at the moment.  I can not wait to wake in the morning and nothave my back hurt.  I think that will be a huge WOW moment for me. 

Went shopping last night and got some small clothes for next summer.  A size10 bathing suit and a size 10 pair of capris.  They were so cheap I couldn't pass them up!  I hope to be there (near that size) next summer!

I met with Mary Kay today and she went over all of my pre and post op instructions, gave me my prescriptions, answered any questions I had and snet me on mmy way!  I then went to the dietition meeting and she went over the posst op diet, and the reason we eat the way we do after surgery .  Now I just have to hurry up and wait!  UNTIL TUESDAY AUG. 14

I went and saw Dr. Scholten and had my upper GI, don't recall any discomfort and was ferfectly happy to be out while they did it!  Everyone was wonderful!  Now all I have to do is go for my final weigh in and dietition appointment on monday and then wait for surgery on the 14th!  YEHAW

I went to the PCP's office this morning to get my surgery clearance.  They did a chest x-ray, labs, and an ekg.  Everything looks good so far.  I am down 5 lbs and have my upper gi tomorrow at 9 am.  Hopefullky everything will be good with that and all I will have to do is be ready for surgery on the 14th!

I just got off the phone with the insurance person from my sergeons office and she has set up a 10:00 phone consultation with Dr. Scholten's nurse Mary Kay.  TOMORROW!  At that time I will schedule all of my preop appointments as well as my SURGERY date.  She said that I do not have to lose any weight before the surgery, but not to gain any, and to have my calendar ready to get scheduled.  I make the call at 10 am.  I am so excited right now!

I went to meet with Dr. Scholten today and he said that all there is to do now is wait for hte insurance to approve.  I have MESSA and i guess it only takes them a week.  I hope they are quick about it.  I really want to have surgery before I go back to school. Amazingly I weighed 10lbs less on teh dr.s scale than I do on mine at home.  But WHEW, I just barely made my insrance requirement of a BMI of 40.  Not that I am gald to be at 40 in general but I would have been devistated if it was under 40 because I would be excluded from having the surgery then.  Keep your fingers crossed for a quick approval.!