My story is much like many of people who have suffered with obesity all of their life. I was always the chubby or big girl growing up. Sprung to almost 6' tall in high school and grew to 6' tall into my 20s. Met a guy straight out of high school, got married had five great kids (I have a set of twins, now 10 and a set of triplets, now 7) and he left me about six years ago, we divorced which was a blessing thank goodness. But in the midst of this my weight fluctuated up and down due to various extreme diets and exercise plans but I could never stick to them it was unrealistic and I always re-gained and then some. So here i am today.
Today I am at a place where my weight has balloned to 320 pounds (omg I said it!) and a bmi of 43. I wear a size 24 (and is tight but I refuse to go buy more clothes) and a 3x size shirt. My height masks much of my weight but I feel it each and every day. I'm always tired, my joints, back and feet hurt a lot but i pop an advil and go on for my kids. I want so badly to be an active part of their lives and my own. I am tired of being a bystander in my own life and am truly ready for this journey.
My first consult appointment for RNY is on December 9th! Wish me luck in getting approved (hopefully quickly) with my insurance.
12/10/09
Well I couldn't go to my consult yesterday because of a huge snow storm we had so I've rescheduled it for the 30th. Come hell or high water I'm gonna be there!
12/30/09
I had my appointment today and it was great! I have soooo many tests that have to be done before i can even meet with the surgeon. I have to give up my coffee and diet soda(which I am totally addicted to) and i have to lose 5% of my body weight before they'll do surgery. They are really strict about the weight loss and the doctor even said to me that they weigh you the day of surgery and if it's within 2 lbs of the # they want, they'll cancel surgery. So, I've got my work cut out for me but I'm on board!
1/1/10
Happy New Year! This is going to be MY year! I have a massive headache from caffiene withdrawls and the diet sucks but other than that, things are moving along smoothly. I started a food diary to show the nutritionist when I meet with her on 1/13. So much is happening so fast! I have the meeting with her on the 13, my sleep study is scheduled for the 15th, and on the 19th I have 4 appointments (my barium swallow (ick), echo cardiogram, meet with the cardiologist, and meet with the nut doctor). I guess its good to get everything all done quickly and get it into the insurance company for approval which, I'm told, should not be a problem. Crossing fingers!!!! I am so ready for this and have taken measures to train myself with eating and some other tips the PA gave me (one thing she said that sticks with me is visualize the Staples "Easy" button only it says "Pause" and press that, in your mind anyway, before you put anything in your mouth). Well here's hoping that the new year finds everyone happy and healthy in both mind and body.
1/15/10
Had my first sleep study (hopefully last). Should be called the non-sleep study. The technician hooked me all up to an eeg with wires and probes on my face and on my scalp, legs, and a set of nasal prongs in my nose. Then they're like "ok sleep' The technician didn't really have a lot to tell me other than I snore and had leg movement but they would have to review the test to see how many times i stopped breathing.
1/19/10
Well today was a whirlwind of tests and appointments at St. Elizabeth's hospital. I was there beginning at 8:30 am and finished at around 3:30 pm (just in time for rush hour! yeah) I had a barium swallow (which as you might imagine was just disgusting, I almost threw up twice), an echo cardiogram, met with the cardiologist and then met with the psychiatrist. The good news is that i'm cleared, health wise, for surgery and I just need to get a letter from both my phsychiatrist and therapist saying that they think I can handle the surgery mentally. After that I'm allset. My next appointment is on 1/27 with the PA Martha Healy and I think after that I can make my appointment with the surgeon. I still have 3 support group meetings to go to but I'm doing that in February.
4/28/10
So ALOT has happened! I had my RNY surgery on 4/21 and I'm officially a week postop today. Things got away from me and I didn't ever have time to post updates on my profile. Anyways, I came through surgery on the 21st and was in a LOT of pain in recovery. It took a while to get it under control (and several different medications) but once they did I was better. I spent the first night in an ICU step-down room because of my cpap and was still in so much pain. It was mostly on my left side port which is where the most work is done during surgery. The surgeon had someone come in and give me numbing injections around the site so i could get a good nights sleep. I came home on Saturday (surgery was wed.) and was given percocet pills to take for pain that i had to crush and mix with something. That was the worst because I would gag and once threw up and let me tell you -you don't want to puke on a new pouch it hurts-ALOT! I was finally given a script for liquid percocet which made things so much better and today on day 7 I finally feel like I'm turning a corner and its not as painful. Sore still, but not as much pain.
