Joyceisready
Moving Ahead
Feb 04, 2009
Tomorrow I will be home from hosp one week. As of this morning, I was down a total of 26.5 lbs., 12 of which are post surgery. I am feeling very hopeful and having very little discomfort except a slight occasional pain in left side where major instruments went in. Still on liquids including shakes. Will see surgeon again on Tuesday, Feb, 10th for follow-up. Hoping for permission to get more active and possibly to progress to pureed food. I am filled with an attitude of gratitude and truly feel I have embarked upon a new journey after an almost continuous struggle with obesity during my adult years. Thank you, OH Friends, for being there for me and for sharing of yourselves!!!
1 comment
Hello!!! My Roux En Y is behind me, and I am home from hospital
Jan 29, 2009
I am happy to have the surgery done and to be home again! I went in Monday, Jan 26th for surgery with Dr. Scherrer at Travis AFB, California.All went well, and I am home today, Thursday, Jan 29th. I have to do one more day on a restricted liquid diet, and then I will be able to have the protein drinks. Thank you for the messages. I will write again soon.
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Moving Closer to Surgery {I hope!!!}
May 09, 2008
A little more than a month ago I went to the information seminar for those who want to have bariatric surgery at Travis Air Force Base. Since then I have been pretty busy taking care of most of the things the surgeon asked me to have done. Those included having blood drawn twice, having an EKG, coordinating with my endocrinologist, seeing the nutrionist to discuss the stages of the diet following the RNY, having the psych eval. and having a sleep study. I still have the gallbladder ultrasound and the upper GI scope left. By June 5th I will have had these two remaining tests, and the nurse in charge says that the surgeon should give me an idea of when to expect surgery by then.
At the information seminar he said that the average wait was six months. Now I am hoping that with all of the tests behind me, perhaps I will not have to wait that long. I guess it is time for me to get some before pictures posted here!
I had cataract surgery almost a month ago, and the ophthmalogist wanted me to wait a while before trying to get active. As I have back problems that require surgery after I have healed from the bariatric surgery, I want to get back into the pool and walk and do water aerobics now.
Even though I have had all of these tests, surgery does not really seem to be a real idea to me yet. I think it would seem more real if I had a friend or acquaintance here whom I saw regularly, who was dropping weight every time I saw her!
At the information seminar he said that the average wait was six months. Now I am hoping that with all of the tests behind me, perhaps I will not have to wait that long. I guess it is time for me to get some before pictures posted here!
I had cataract surgery almost a month ago, and the ophthmalogist wanted me to wait a while before trying to get active. As I have back problems that require surgery after I have healed from the bariatric surgery, I want to get back into the pool and walk and do water aerobics now.
Even though I have had all of these tests, surgery does not really seem to be a real idea to me yet. I think it would seem more real if I had a friend or acquaintance here whom I saw regularly, who was dropping weight every time I saw her!
Finally the Information Seminar
Apr 06, 2008
Is it fair to do a blog first before telling my whole story? I have not been able to figure out how to set up a website and have it be as eyecatching as many I have seen here, but I need to start somewhere. I have been sending individual e-mails to some members and am glad to have made some friends here. I look forward to making more.
Tomorrow I am finally going to an Information Seminar at the Bariatric Surgery Clinic at Travis Air Force Base. I say finally because it was last October that an orothopedic surgeon told me that if I could find a way to lose a significant amount of weight very quickly, I might be able to avoid a major back surgery in which rods would be inserted down both sides of my spine to stop to progression of adult-onset scoliosis. I asked if he were suggesting bariatric surgery, and he replied, "That would be an excellent solution if you would consider it."
I am the type of person who has difficulty giving herself permission sometimes. Having been below goal with Weight Watchers about 20 years ago, I had continued to tell myself that I knew how to diet and could lose the weight. But the reality was I could not stick to a diet more than a few days, and my weight kept spiraling upward.
My problem because worse as a knee injury at work necessitated surgery and a painful recovery, and I became more sedantary to avoid pain. My guess is that some of you who might read this have been caught up in the same cycles.
Anyway, I needed a doctor to suggest the surgery indirectly before I could allow myself to think about it as not only a viable solution to my weight problem but as the best possible one. I am sure I will know more tomorrow after the seminar, but why am I thinking that day?
First, I know that the rapid weight loss is extremely important because of my back, but it is also important for other health reasons. I have become increasingly out-of-breath with exertion as I have put on weight. When I weighed 250 lbs. but was still teaching full-time and crossing a large high school campus several times per day, I rarely got out of breath. Now that I am retired and have put on 25 - 30 more lbs., I knock my own breath out just bending over my own stomach to tie my shoes. That is a very sad admission to have to make, but I think that being anything other than totally honest will keep me obese and unhealthy. Even walking down the hospitals halls to appointments makes me out of breath, and I sometimes have to find a chair, sit down, and rest on the way.
Secondly, I have found, especially in the last year, that my appetite seems to know no limits. I read the results of a study recently that cells within the stomach lining somehow are responsible for producing this appetite. I am not sure I could find the exact article again, but the gist of the article was that dieters are often unsuccessful because as their stomachs have stretched larger, they have more of those cells emitting whatever enzyme or hormone defeats them at dieting. Bariatric surgery patients, in contrast, having a much smaller stomach, did not struggle with this horrendous appetite. The part about dieting seemed to describe exactly what derailed me every time I attempted to diet. I think I may have so many of those cells now that my only hope may be to eliminate them.
I do need to have a back surgery other than the one mentioned. My L-4/L-5 discs are herniated, and there is also a cyst between them pushing on my spinal cord causing a great deal of pain. At this point, the amount of time I can walk or stand without pain is very short. Even though I need this surgery, I believe that that time interval will probably be lengthened without all the weight. After I have lost some of the weight, I will be having that surgery.
Although I was always an extrovert, my pain, exhaustion and embarrassment over my weight have begun turning me into a stay-at-home. I live in a community with many activities and facilities, yet I am becoming increasingly content just to stay home. Having just turned 60 in December, I find this alarming. I know that this surgery can reverse this tendancy much faster than just dieting can do as well.
How do I feel today? Nervous! I am afraid I will be told that I have too many health issues to qualify for this surgery. I know that this is probably not a rational fear as people who weigh more have had the surgery, but that is where my head is at this very moment, so it helped me to pay this website a visit and pour out some thoughts and feelings.
Thanks for being there and for paying me a visit!
Tomorrow I am finally going to an Information Seminar at the Bariatric Surgery Clinic at Travis Air Force Base. I say finally because it was last October that an orothopedic surgeon told me that if I could find a way to lose a significant amount of weight very quickly, I might be able to avoid a major back surgery in which rods would be inserted down both sides of my spine to stop to progression of adult-onset scoliosis. I asked if he were suggesting bariatric surgery, and he replied, "That would be an excellent solution if you would consider it."
I am the type of person who has difficulty giving herself permission sometimes. Having been below goal with Weight Watchers about 20 years ago, I had continued to tell myself that I knew how to diet and could lose the weight. But the reality was I could not stick to a diet more than a few days, and my weight kept spiraling upward.
My problem because worse as a knee injury at work necessitated surgery and a painful recovery, and I became more sedantary to avoid pain. My guess is that some of you who might read this have been caught up in the same cycles.
Anyway, I needed a doctor to suggest the surgery indirectly before I could allow myself to think about it as not only a viable solution to my weight problem but as the best possible one. I am sure I will know more tomorrow after the seminar, but why am I thinking that day?
First, I know that the rapid weight loss is extremely important because of my back, but it is also important for other health reasons. I have become increasingly out-of-breath with exertion as I have put on weight. When I weighed 250 lbs. but was still teaching full-time and crossing a large high school campus several times per day, I rarely got out of breath. Now that I am retired and have put on 25 - 30 more lbs., I knock my own breath out just bending over my own stomach to tie my shoes. That is a very sad admission to have to make, but I think that being anything other than totally honest will keep me obese and unhealthy. Even walking down the hospitals halls to appointments makes me out of breath, and I sometimes have to find a chair, sit down, and rest on the way.
Secondly, I have found, especially in the last year, that my appetite seems to know no limits. I read the results of a study recently that cells within the stomach lining somehow are responsible for producing this appetite. I am not sure I could find the exact article again, but the gist of the article was that dieters are often unsuccessful because as their stomachs have stretched larger, they have more of those cells emitting whatever enzyme or hormone defeats them at dieting. Bariatric surgery patients, in contrast, having a much smaller stomach, did not struggle with this horrendous appetite. The part about dieting seemed to describe exactly what derailed me every time I attempted to diet. I think I may have so many of those cells now that my only hope may be to eliminate them.
I do need to have a back surgery other than the one mentioned. My L-4/L-5 discs are herniated, and there is also a cyst between them pushing on my spinal cord causing a great deal of pain. At this point, the amount of time I can walk or stand without pain is very short. Even though I need this surgery, I believe that that time interval will probably be lengthened without all the weight. After I have lost some of the weight, I will be having that surgery.
Although I was always an extrovert, my pain, exhaustion and embarrassment over my weight have begun turning me into a stay-at-home. I live in a community with many activities and facilities, yet I am becoming increasingly content just to stay home. Having just turned 60 in December, I find this alarming. I know that this surgery can reverse this tendancy much faster than just dieting can do as well.
How do I feel today? Nervous! I am afraid I will be told that I have too many health issues to qualify for this surgery. I know that this is probably not a rational fear as people who weigh more have had the surgery, but that is where my head is at this very moment, so it helped me to pay this website a visit and pour out some thoughts and feelings.
Thanks for being there and for paying me a visit!
About Me
Rio Vista, CA
Location
42.1
BMI
Dec 13, 2007
Member Since
