Jenn_F
7/14/06 Hell-o, I'm 50 years old this year and have now struggled with my weight since the age of 16. My bmi says that I am "super morbidly obese" and have been for about 8 to 9 years. The 10 years previous, I was just "morbidly obese". Before that just "plain obese" for a long time. Thankfully, everything is coming together right now making it possible for me to have this wonderful surgery by Dr. Heap and with God's help, get me down to a healthy weight. I've been thinking about having some sort of gastric surgery for over 10 years. Fear of possible physical complications or financial consequences has kept me from it. I found out about Dr. Heap and his surgery through this website. It was in the reading of his discription of his version of a vertical gastroplasty with banding and especially the testimonials of the happy, healthy recipients of this surgery that helped give me the courage to take the steps necessary to get something done. It is also evident that God is opening doors at this time for this to happen. My insurance does not cover anything at all weight related, so I will be self pay. My surgery is scheduled for August 30th, 2006. My husband was not always supportive of me having a gastric weight loss surgery. He was aquainted with a few people who had a different kind of surgery and were not doing very well so thought that is how it would be for me. I think Dr. Heap's surgery is a good, relatively safe, tool to help me loose down to a healthy weight. My husband is now very supportive. I am an R.N. working in a hospital and have 3 daughters, ages 22, 20, and 17. As large as I am, mobility is a real issure and has been for a long time. I regret the years that my daughters have had a Mom that has been very limited in her ability to live an active life. But I am starting to let myself get really excited about how our lives can be better, fuller, in the future. (Near future) Yeah, God! More later as I figure this whole web thing out. Thanks for reading.
August 3, 2006. My surgery date has been moved up to August 25th. Just 22 days now! My days off from work are secured and I am starting to get organized and prepared. There are other things going on at the same time, like my youngest daughter starting college. So lots to do.
August 31, 2006. I had surgery on the 25th. Recovery has been pretty much by-the-book so far. I am at home now. Slept well in my own bed all noc but can't lay high on either side yet, too much pressure on the innards! So slept mainly on my back. I was down 9#'s at my appt. with Dr. Heap yesterday. He pulled the drain line, took out the staples but left the sutures and pulled my subclavian IV. He thought all was going well. My WLS sisters have been very suppirtive through this! I haven't figured out yet how to add captions to the pics so the one of me with the puppy was in early august 2006. The family pic was taken before Christmas 2005. That is my husband, daughters and our pets at the time.
September 29th, 2006. I just checked my weight loss perdicition graph and I am right on with that as well as my bmi which had dropped to 48 which is a new classification. I've been feeling like my weight loss has been slow but checking these things out make me think differently about it. I'm down 30#'s now.
November 6th, 2006. I'm now 10 weeks post-op. Down 42#'s Feeling good. No problems. Not really exercising yet though. Need to get that going soon.
February 25th, 2007. Down 70#'s. 6 months post-op. Measured for the first time since before surgery. Neck<2". Bust< 5". Waist<6". Hips<7", just to name a few areas. I wore 4x tops and pants at work before surgery and wear 2x now. My jean size was 28 (with the button popped off). Now I'm in size 24 with darts taken in at the waist. I just bought some new size 22 slacks that fit perfectly. Hey, I also turned 51 this month. (years old) Here's to the next 50 years being different and greater than the first 50!
March 28th, 2007. Down 75 #'s. 7months post-op. Hope to borrow or buy a new bicycle this coming week-end. Haven't been riding in years, but need to get some exercise in.
June 1st, 2007. Down 86 #'s. Little more than 9 months post-op. I did buy the bicycle but have only ridden it once. We could talk about baby steps but this is ridiculous! Need to get moving more! To end with a postive note, my bmi is either 38.9 or 40.1 now depending on which inch I enter. (I'm 5'41/2" tall) so don't know if I'm suppose to round up or down when calculating my bmi. At any rate, I'm just about to move from being "extremely obese" to being just "obese"! I started off in the "super morbid obese" category, so this is something to make note of. I will need to lose about 60 more pounds to move into the just "overwieght" category.
8/26/08. Happy 2 year anniversary to me! I have lost 125 #'s now. I've been under 200#'s for several months now. My
weight is hovering around 195#'s. I would still like to lose down to at least 180#'s and execise regularly. That is my focus
for right now. More later. I'll try to add a new pic soon.
