jvschueler

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It is six weeks to the day that I had RNY Gastric Bypass surgery and I cannot express enough my total gratitude to Dr. Keith Kim and his team as well as the recovery nurses and Bariatric Floor nurses for all the amazing care and compassion shown to me throughout the process thus far!  Such a phenomenal group of people!  I am doing so well and can't hardly believe the changes I see DAILY!!!! It is like a new lease on my own life.....I would do it again in a heart beat should someone ever ask..."If you had it to do all over again...." 

I have lost 45 pounds since my highest weight and 24 pounds since the day of surgery.  I haven't yet done a follow up measurement set on my body but I can tell in my clothing and even my shoes that things are rapidly changing!!!!  I am so happy and really am excited with each day to see my progress...it is not an easy fix, but something that I definitely work at.  I exercise regularly'; in fact, I am on the treadmill and intermittantly running...and I mean running at an 8MPH speed!!! I haven't done that for almost 20 years.  I am so thrilled with that!  I will be taking part in several local 5K events and hopefully working my way up to do the "Princess Half Marathon" at WDW in February...that is my goal and I am working toward it! 

I will keep you all posted and for those who are on the fence about the decision, go for it....there are so many more pro's than cons and you will feel so much better so quickly.  For those frusterated by all the hoops you must jump through prior to getting scheduled, make sure you do all that has been requested as it is set up that way for a reason!  Don't worry, your day will come!!!!  The biggest piece of advice I can give is to be sure and get your head right!  If you truly have an addiction to food and do not deal with what is at the root of that addiction, you will soon seek out an alternative way to anesthetize your self from whatever you keep trying to get away from or forget!  So DO THE HARD WORK AND GET THE HELP YOU NEED BEFORE YOU HAVE SURGERY!!!!!  It will make all the difference, I promise!!!!......

God Bless!

Dear God, please be with Dr. Kim and his team for my procedure on Monday.  Guide him in all he does and bless his precious hands as they work.......in Jesus sweet name I pray....AMEN!!!

I can't believe it! 48 hours from now I will be in my room recovering......I mean truly this is so absolutely amazing to me.  I have actually done exactly what I set out to do a year ago.  I have kept the appointments, done the tests, remained compliant with the diets and nutritional supplements and have managed to keep the focus on the goal of getting to a healthier ME!  It seems almost a lifetime ago when I actually decided to do this and now that it is so close, I am beginning to get a little case of "nerves".  I have faith and believe that everything will turn out as planned and will be on the road to running a half marathon in no time, but I just can't help that little voice of fear that creeps in every now and again...."what if?".  I have to squelch it more now then ever before and just keep affirming myself that this is the right decision and that my surgeon is a very accomplished and successful bariatric practioner with several successful cases under his belt.....my husband keeps saying " he hasn't lost one, and it won't start with you".....such great support!  It is silly I am sure, but when you are really getting close, I think it is normal......Am I excited?  HECK YEAH!!! I have worked hard as I know all of you have and am soooooooooo looking forward to my 1.5oz of protein waiting for me on post - op day 3!! Lol.....It is a long yet extremely satisfying first leg of a life changing marathon and am just about to set my stride!!!!  Monday morning is the first day of the rest of my healthy life!!!!

I am scheduled for surgery Monday 7/25/11!!! My pre-op appointment is this week on Thursday and after working toward this for a year, I am now feeling like it is going sooooo fast.  I am getting very nervous and having started my all liquid diet I am physically feeling the effects...It just all seems so surreal!! I am so very excited and totally motivated to reach every goal I have set for myself.  I know and have faith in Dr. Kim and his team that all will go as planned and we will have an amazing outcome.  I am ready for the hard work and dedication it is going to take to get there and am soooo  psyched to get on the recovery side of the procedure.....I will keep you posted!!! 
Prayers and positive chi my way please!!!!

Where to begin, well I have been battling my weight for almost 20 years now and apparently even earlier than that...but didn't realize it.  I was always physically fit and liked to dance and swim....had an athletic build, but never really thought myself to be overweight.  But, then it starts to happen, that time when your body starts growing and you keep feeding it all the things you may have enjoyed when you were younger and now can not metabolize it that way you did in the past.  Not because of some cruel twist of fate, but because you no longer are active and you actually have become more sedentary and increased the frequency that you are eating a steady diet of McCRAP!!!  So by the time you really step one foot on the scale you are already 75 pounds overweight!!! What the hell!!!  So great, now what!!!???  Well, this is what happend to me, the first time I started to battle the bulge.  I weighed the options that were available and at the time, Jenny Craig was offering the seeming answer to my prayers.  I was successful and lost all I wanted and looked amazing...then guess what!!!!! Whammo, I was blessed with our first child!  I actually started eating for two the moment the little line turned blue on my pregnancy test and used the excuse of toxemia for the over 100 pound weight gain!!!!!  I still am carrying around the residual "baby fat" from the pregnancy........that was 15 years ago!!!  I did manage to loose some of the weight but I have never gotten down below 200 ever since.  I now sit at around 300 give or take 5 pounds and am struggling to lose a pound.  In 2010 I was hospitalized from some complications involving my liver and it was found that I had fatty liver....9days in a hospital bed helps you gain clarity you never had before, it was then that I decided to begin looking seriously at bariatric surgery for assistance in my weight loss.  Later that same year, my husband, who is equally overweight, was rushed to the emergency room with Atrial Fibrillation (only 40 years old) and had to be shocked back into a normal rhythm.  Again I was more certain than ever that changes needed to be made.  I began by going to an information session with Dr. Keith Kim at Celebration Hospital in Florida.  What I learned there convinced me that I was headed in the right direction, because if I just stayed my current course, it was a matter of time until I would no longer exsist.  I have two beautiful boys and I enjoy life too much to allow my body to suffer any further damage.  I filled out the information card and gave my insurance information to the hostess at the meeting and shortly thereafter received a call from Jeanette, an amazing young lady, who deals with the insurance portion of the process.  She explained to me that my insurance does cover the surgery, but I do have to go through 6 months of doctor monitored visits with regard to weight loss and meet with the psychologist as well as the nutritionist before I would be approved for the surgery.  I began my visits that very next week.  It was June 2010.   During my 6 months, I had the pleasure of spending time with my grandmother who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and my mother who had been battling brain cancer for 20 years.  Little did I know that God had plans to take them both out of my life in the month of September; Grandma died on September 1st and my sweet mother passed on September 14th.  For the weeks prior to her passing I never left her side and she passed in the arms of all of her four children and knowing she was loved.   Needless to say, this situation had taken all I had to give and I was off course for some time...but something inside me clicked, and I knew I had to continue on my path as I did not want my children to have to endure that type of pain and loss too early in their little lives and I knew I was really ready to make the necessary changes in my life to prevent that from happening.  I began seeing the doctor again in November and have remained focused on the process like a laser beam ever since.  I have not second guessed anything and have actually sought out the support and assistance of an amazing therapist who specialized in grief and weight loss!! Talk about fitting the bill, she is wonderful and am so very happy to have her in my life.  I have gained such an awareness about myself and what it means to know my worth in my current state, so that I can love myself in my future state!  Fast forward to current day May 2011; just last week I had my physch eval for the surgery and met with a wonderful doctor, who gave me great advice for the feelings and mindset post op.  I am going to my final Doctors visit on the 16th and  my nutritionist on the 17th...after that, it is all in the hands of the surgeons office and then I will be scheduled for Laparoscopic Roux en Y Gastric Bypass Surgery.  I am so very excited and can't wait to start working on stepping out of this fat suit I have created!  I no longer need it, I no longer need to feel the shield or the protection of the extra weight!  I look forward to the future with such excitement and anticipation..........