LinzeeRae
4 1/2 months!
Jun 01, 2010
So things are going really great! I'm at 4 1/2 months and I'm down 85lbs! This is the most incredible thing EVER! I mean, yeah, it gets frustrating sometimes... I just wanna eat a big ol burger and some fries with loads of ketchup.... but, the craving passes pretty quickly and I come back down to Earth! It's really hard to get ALL my protein in, but my hair kinda is thinning so I've been sure to drink my shakes! I like the EAS Advantage ones. I've never really been a chocolate person and they all taste so sweet to me, but the vanilla ones are easiest for me to drink.
SO! This is what I'm most excited to share! My girlfriend is getting married August 7th and asked me to be her maid of honor, I'm so excited! And we've already picked out the dress and everything and I'm going to get fitted for it soon... it's been like months and months of planning and I can't believe it's already just two months away! ANYWHO! Her Bridal shower is this Sunday and I went looking for dresses last week to wear to it! Long story short, I bought this cute sundress and it is a size...drumroll please.... 16 OMG!! I have not been a size 16 since I was 16 years old! Do you guys have any idea how insane this is to me?! The last pair of jeans I bought before my surgery were a size 26!!! So it's very, very incredible for me to put on a 16 and have it fit and look good... just so amazing!
I'm afraid now that I can walk in a store and just buy a dress that I'm going to develop a shopping addiction! lol Well, that is all I have for now! I just wanted to share my amazing experience with you guys!!
I hope everyone is doing just GREAT!!!!! Keep in touch :)
LINDSAY!
2 Months...
Mar 16, 2010
So, Sunday made two months since my RNY. It's been great overall. I have some jeans from high school that I can fit into again, which is wonderful! My dress pants and stuff for work are super baggy, which isn't necessarily great. My feeling right now is that it doesn't really do me much good to have lost around 50 pounds if the clothes I'm wearing look like a potato sack... I'm not the most patient person, so being in between being able to buy new sizes and waiting until I lose enough weight is a little harder than I thought it would be. People tell me I'm looking great and they can tell such a huge difference already... I can tell definitely because my clothes fit looser and I can see a difference in my stomach. A lot of people say they can tell in my face. It's nice to have the compliments, but sometimes it gets awkward or frustrating.... I don't know if it's just me or what. Like, I don't want people to feel obligated to tell me I look good or anything. I feel like I'm in school and showing my parents my report card or something... like everytime anyone looks at me, they are judging me... giving me their approval or something.
I don't know if any of that makes sense. Maybe it's just my paranoia I mean, I am so grateful that people have nice things to say, but I'm still the same person. We can still have a conversation about something other than my weight loss. Ya know? It's great to know that so many people are interested and "rooting" for you I guess, but .... I don't know ... it gets to be too much. Yes, I had weight loss surgery. The point is for me to lose a whole bunch of weight. Thank you for noticing. End of story. Maybe I'm being obnoxious, idk...
ANYWAYS! I eat just about whatever I want... I don't think I'm supposed to be eating things like raw nuts or raw veggies yet, but I do. I eat a bunch of salad, too. Tonight I had a grilled chicken oriental salad from Applebees for dinner. I like getting a salad from there cuz I can order a "half salad". So I ate half of the half salad and then a few hours later, I ate the other half....I work around food all the time so I have to have something to munch on and peanuts have become my new best friend! lol I eat a LOT of sushi! I love love love sushi and I just get them to make me things that don't have rice like crab naruto... or even things that do have rice, they can sometimes make it with rice paper instead. My favorite thing is a Rock'N'Roll and this little place around the corner knows exactly what I want already when I come in lol - edamame and rock'n'roll with rice paper, no rice. Edamame is great, too! Such a high protein snack! I stay away from carbs at all costs!! No rice, pasta, potatoes, breads. I haven't been drinking many protein drinks at all these days, which I know is bad! I don't want my hair to fall out!! I wish there was some type of protein tablet I could take.... anyone know of anything? I just get so sick of protein powder, I need to find some new stuff to drink. It all tastes gross to me. OH! And it's CRAWFISH season!!!! Thank heavens!! I've eaten boiled crawfish like three times in the past few weeks!! I can eat about 20 of them! KICKASS!! WOOO
Also, things make me queezy SO MUCH easier now! Like things used to not gross me out at all but now It seems like since my stomach is physically different, my mental 'stomach' has changed too! lol! Like gross smells, they kinda make my stomach flip flop... I have a feeling that in time I'll get over that because its starting to already get better...
Other than that, I've been just going to school and literally working my ass off! Three jobs will definitely keep you SUPER busy! I'm looking forward to no classes an only ONE job over the summer! I'm actually EXCITED about summer! I'll be able to buy a size in a bathing suit that I probably haven't been able to buy since jr. high lol! Work is so busy right now I haven't had a chance to start a normal routine at the gym, but starting at the very beginning of april I will have to sit down with a calendar and figure up a detailed schedule! I've been doing this 20 minute walking thing on tv every evening when I get home, it's awesome! You walk 1 mile in 20 minutes and work a ton more muscles than you would just walking around the block, it's great.
I've been avoiding scales. I go for my 3 month follow-up on April 12th and I'll weigh then... I don't want to know what the exact number is, that's not really important to me... I wanna see pants sizes changing!
I hope everyone is doing great and had a great weekend celebrating St. Paddys Day! I'll try to update more regularly!!
3 weeks post-op
Feb 04, 2010
So, today is exactly three weeks since my RNY! I saw my surgeon and nutritionist on Monday (Feb 1st) for my two week follow-up! They both said that everything seems to be going just great. As of my weigh-in on Monday I have lost 17 pounds since surgery on 01-14-10, but a total of 37 pounds overall! I was at 300.5! I was really hoping to see a 2 at the beginning of the number, but I guess that's a pretty good number! Dr. Wooldridge seemed really impressed with my progress and level of activity and all, though he did encourage me to remember not to overdo it for the next few weeks, not to lift too much or be too hard on myself. I was telling him that I'm SO ready to be able to go to the gym and do some good exercises to help my weight loss along and to minimize my excess skin problem, but he said we'd talk about that on my next visit and to continue to increase my walking right now. I explained what I've been eating to my nutritionist and she said that I was absolutely on the right track..... That being said, I stuffed myself full of shrimp one day last week and threw up like I've never thrown up before! Some friends were boiling shrimp on Saturday night so I thought, "Hey! that's mushy and FULL of protein, what the hell!" Well, I'm sure that had I only eaten maybe three shrimp (they were large gulf shrimp) I would have been just fine, but they were SOOO good! I think I ate five.... and about ten minutes later, they came right back up! So, I definitely found my pouch's limit
.... That's why it is SOOO important to eat very slowly, especially in the beginning! Just ONE more bite might be all it takes for your pouch to get pissy and send everything in reverse! I never got a nauseated feeling though, just this really tight stabbing pain in my chest for a few minutes and then it was time to head to the bathroom!
Anyways, just thought I'd share for all my friends that haven't gotten to this point yet! For future reference! lol
But besides that little episode, everything is GREAT! No nausea, no reflux, nothing! 
I go back to the doctor on Lundi Gras (02-15-10) for my one month follow-up..... this mardi gras is going to be quite different with no booze for me!!! Then there's St. Patrick's Day just another month away after that! ahhhhh! Parade season will just NOT be the same this year!
Oh yeah, and GEAUX SAINTS! WHO DAT!!??
10 Days Post-Op!!
Jan 24, 2010
My surgery was last Thursday 01-14-10 and I was supposed to stay in the hospital two nights and come home Saturday. Well my O2 Saturation was getting pretty low at some points because it was so painful to take deep breaths so Dr. Wooldridge ended up keeping me an extra night to monitor that. So surgery went great, no complications at all and I got to come home Sunday afternoon! I was grateful he ended up keeping me an extra night because I really didn't feel like I was ready to be back at home. . .however, staying at Ochsner an additional night was probably not the lesser of the two evils! My doctor, all the residents/interns/etc. were wonderful... but some of my nurses were absolutely awful... From the minute I got into pre-op the morning of my surgery all I heard was how overcrowded the hospital was that day and blah blah and it made for some serious, serious ineptness on Ochsner's part! If I didn't have my mom there with me 24/7 I don't think I would have made it out the hospital quite as well as I did... I think she even had to change my linens once or twice because they never did! Ridiculous....
So I came home to my mom's house Sunday to recooperate. I was in pretty serious pain up until Tuesday. Since they puff up your abdomen with air during the surgery, the gas pains afterwards were pretty awful. When I would lay flat down in the bed to sleep it felt like all the air gurggled it's way up to my chest and felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest! So I discovered it was easier (and still is for right now) to sleep on the couch propped up against the arm so that I don't have to lie flat on my back. The gas pains are gone now. I'd say Wednesday evening/night I started feeling pretty good. Then I felt even better Thursday so I came home to my house. Friday morning was my first day of classes (only taking two classes this semester since I didn't wanna overdo it with surgery and everything else going on!) I got around campus pretty good, I've been walking everyday as much as I can and it is definitely helping with my recovery, I can tell. For a few days I was walking kinda hunched over which made my back start hurting lol so I had to make myself start walking as straight up as possible and now I feel like my posture is totally back to normal. I guess I had to walk that way for a while because with my big ol' tummy hanging, it pulled my incisions, too... I think.
So today I am sitting at work. It's the first day in 10 days I have put on real clothes (something without an elastic waistband) and makeup! I feel totally normal! lol But I'm so grateful that things with surgery went so well and that I am already feeling so great! I'd say I'm about 90% back to normal. Still some soreness in my stomach and very occassional gas pain, it's hard to remember I can't stoop or strain or anything like that but soon enough that will all pass!
I go to see Dr. Wooldridge and the dietician for my 2 week follow-up on Monday, February 1st! I'm anxious to see how much I've lost! The last solid food I ate was cabbage and black eyed peas on New Year's Day! I cannot WAIT until Thursday when I can start on my mushies!!!!! Yogurt, beans, cheese... LOOK OUT! lol
Anywho, just wanted to update everyone and let you know I got all your e-mails and well wishes and thanks so much for the thoughts and prayers! I'm truly blessed to have gone through my first week or so without any problems! I'm looking forward to what the next few weeks have in store!
Surgery Day!!!
Jan 13, 2010
I'm up ... not that I've actually slept! I've got to be in New Orleans at 5am, surgery is scheduled for 7am! So that means leaving the house a little before 4am...blah! I'm nervous...not scared...but nervous!
I just pray and have been praying that all this goes incredibly perfect! I've never had major surgery or anything like that before so this is a bit nerve wracking! 
But, in the same breath, I can tell you that I am SO excited! This is going to be such an awesome tool that is going to allow me to physically be the person I want to be! I'm off to finish packing and getting ready to hit the road!!! WISH ME LUCK!! 4 More Days. . . .
Jan 10, 2010
My dad is not very excited about my decision to have this surgery, along with several other family members. They say I'm too young to have such a major surgery like this and what if it has negative effects the rest of my body long-term and what if i get too malnourished and what if this and what if that.... I know that it's all out of concern for my well-being, I get that.... But it's hard to try and explain to them exactly how I feel. I've never been skinny, small, thin, petite, UNDERweight.... For 22 years I've been fat and I've had to cope with that and figure out a way to make it work for me and I think I've done a darn good job... but I've had enough. I don't want to end up like my older relatives with Diabetes and breast cancer and heart attacks and strokes and all the other awful things that you're at a 500% higher risk for by being obese. I'M DONE! This is the decision I've made, I fully believe that this is going to be the best tool for weight loss that I can get and I plan to take full advantage of it! It's going to be an incredible adjustment, but it's already started. As I sit and type this I'm in the middle of my 9th day of this NO FOOD, liquid diet! I have never, ever had this much control over absolutely NOT eating and there have been several times over the past 9days that I've considered, "Hell, if I can do this, I don't need the surgery - I can do it on my own!" But I know that this motivation won't last long and I would not only fall off the health wagon but also gain more weight as I seem to do after every diet program I attempt!
So! All that being said, I'm SO ready for my surgery date to be here! Better yet, I'm ready for the day AFTER my surgery to be here so it's done and over and I can start the healing process ASAP! I'm soooo excited! And getting really nervous!!!
JANUARY 14TH!!!
Jan 02, 2010
So I just wrote this incredibly long blog and when I went to post it everything froze and it deleted.... BOOO!!!
I HAVE A SURGERY DATE!!!!!!!
So I got a call from my surgeon's nurse at Ochsner the day before Christmas Eve saying that there was a problem with the EKG I had way back in November and they wanted to schedule a stress test to make sure that there was no big problem that caused the gaps and bumps that showed up in the EKG. So, we scheduled a stress test for 12-31-09. Christmas came and went and it was definitely a great Christmas. So I was just waiting for New Year's Eve to go have my stress test when I got a call on Tuesday 12-29-09. It was from a lady with Ochsner I'd never spoken with before, Deanna. But she quickly became my absolute favorite person on the entire planet! When she said the words "we received your surgery approval from Aetna" I absolutely could not speak! I was so excited! And I still am! I just assumed there would be so many more hoops to jump through for the insurance company. I've read so many people's stories on here about having to resubmit paperwork two and three times before finally getting approved, I just assumed I would have the same problems. I can't believe that the first time was all it took!
So, I had my stress test and Monday (1-4-09) I'll be able to confirm with the doctor that everything was fine with the stress test and that everything is on schedule! BY THE WAY: if you ever have to have a chemical stress test, be prepared! the last 15 minutes or so were very intense! I hope I never have to do that again!
So, my surgeon requires that two weeks preop I be on a liquid diet. Strictly clear liquids and my protein shakes... blah! Technically I was supposed to start my liquid diet yesterday (New Year's Day)! BUT there was NO WAY I was going to start the year with some bad gris gris because I didn't start the year with my black eyed peas and cabbage! 
{and pork chops and cornbread hehehe}... But I was a good girl and didn't drink at all New Year's Eve, so I figured it'd be okay lol!
So, I started out the morning with my first protein shake! It's not so bad... I'm a little hungry, but when I get off of work I'm going to get some skim milk, broth, sugar free popsicles, crystal light, etc. The first few days will probably be kinda difficult and maybe a little miserable, but I'm sure I'll get used to it! I don't really have a choice, do I?!
Okay.....so.....whew! I can't believe in 12 days I'll be having my RNY!!! 
Waiting to hear. . . .
Dec 19, 2009
shocking, I know! Anways, back to the real reason I'm writing this!! My Dr.'s nurse submitted my paperwork this past week after I met with the dietician. Now, one of two things is going to happen. Best case scenario: we hear back from the insurance company next week, get approved and schedule a date ASAP and get to have my surgery before classes start next semester! Worst case scenario: I hear back from insurance and get denied. The only reason I would be denied is because I've been told that sometimes Aetna is quite strict about waiting the 90 days to be approved. So, if they go that way then we will have to resubmit my papers January 11th (which is my 90 day mark) and then wait for approval. So, if that happens then I will not be able to have my surgery until after classes end this coming semester... which REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sucks! I'm praying harder than I've ever prayed for anything that I get my approval and can schedule my surgery soon! My ideal date would be 01-04-2010. It's the earliest I could do it next year - that gives me an entire 15 days before school starts back up! It would be perfect. . . maybe I'm living in LA LA LAND. . . but I'm hopeful! Maybe I should find out who is reviewing my chart at Aetna and send them a Christmas ham or something. . . or have Johnny No Thumbs pay him/her a visit lol! I joke, I joke. Okay, gonna stop rambling now. . . back to work! I hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL and SAFE Christmas holiday!!! Jesus is the reason for the season!
Tests and Thanksgiving
Nov 26, 2009
I have my third and final dietician's appointment on 12-15-2009 and that is when they will submit all of my papers to Aetna! Hopefully they'll approve me quickly and I'll get a surgery date SOON!!! I'm a little nervous because the case worker with Aetna says they are usually very strict about the 90 days thing (my 90 days isn't until 01-11-10) and you aren't supposed to submit the paperwork until THAT day! But I really want to have it done before then so that I'll be back on my feet before classes start next semester! Although, the nurse and dietician have both told me that as long as they see that you've done everything just right (dr appts, lost some weight, food/exercise journals, etc) then they really don't care about the exact number of days. I hope they are right. I'd hate to have to appeal, but the nurse also said that's not really an involved process. If I can't get a surgery date before next semester starts, I'll have to wait until the summer and I am SO ready for it to happen NOW! Especially since my birthday is late July and to have lost between 75 and 100 pounds by my birthday would be AMAZING!!!! So, we'll see.... I had started walking but I'm definitely going to have to amp that up after what I've eaten the past two days!!! I'm hoping to lose about 15 more pounds before surgery! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!
