I Year Surgiversary!!!

Apr 05, 2009

Wow.  What an amazing year it has been!

Tomorrow is actually my anniversary, but I will be very busy tomorrow coaching my daughters little league team and taking my kids roller skating.  I can't even imagine doing any of these things last year.  Or the year before, and so on.  The DS has given me a life.  I had a life before, but I never realized just how much I was missing out on because of my weight, even though I didn't have any bad comorbidities that held me back,

I still can eat very little.  About a half of a sandwich is it.  I hated this at first, but now I love it.  I'm not so obsessed with food, so the amount doesn't bother me.  Dr. Anthone's office told me that at 1 year out, I would be able to eat about half of what I used to eat.  I would say one fourth is probably more accurate.  But anytime I'm hungry, I eat.  I don't care what time it is.  I listen to my body instead of watching the clock.  I always try to grab protein.  I don't count carbs, never have.  But I am aware of them.  I keep them low, I just never wanted to have this surgery and still have to count something.  And hold on, brace yourself, I eat fruit!  I love having a few strawberries or a slice of an apple for a snack.  Yep, I know, I'm a rebel!  But I really want to eat healthy, and I love fruit more than chocolate, so I endulge.  I take probiotics, so gas hasn't been much of an issue.  I did take a round of flagyl a few months back because I got carried away around the holidays and I couldn't get my body back into its rhythm.  The flagyl got me right back on track.

I've met some amazing people along this journey and made some great friends for life.  I can finally shop and fit in stylish clothes.  And wow, the clearance racks are really cheap on the "other" side of the store!  I never knew.  I've reconnected with friends from high school.  I always avoided seeing people from my past when I would run into them in the store.  My 20 yr reunion is coming up this summer, and we just had a mini reunion last Saturday.  It was fun seeing how people have changed.  A comment was made to me that I was the only one who had gotten smaller since high school.  AND one of the most popular guys from high school couldn't stay away from me.  lol  He wasn't near as handsome as I remembered in high school!  But it was fun having his attention!!

One not so good thing is my marriage.  I haven't pinpointed the cause yet, but I haven't ruled out that it had something to do with my DS.  Just like the studies show, if your marriage is solid to begin with, you won't have problems.  Mine wasn't so solid.  Now we are separated.  He blames my surgery.  I say we've had problems for years.  But maybe I feel good enough about myself now to realize life is too short to not be happy.  So I don't know what my future holds as far as he and I go, but I am excited about the future.  I know now that I can achieve all things.  And this is thanks to my surgery!

I still want to lose 30 or so lbs and I am still losing slowly, so I am confident that I can.  But ugh, the loose skin.  I always thought that just losing the weight would be enough, but I had a hysterectomy and hernia repair on March 2 and my dr gave me in mini tummy tuck.  I had 3 cesareans that left my stomach pretty ugly.  So she cleaned that up a little and wow, what a difference.  Now I still need a real tummy tuck, and I really want one!  But she did a nice job.

Okay, onto some pics.

Here's me and Nicolle before our surgeries:



And here's a picture of me taken a few weeks ago:



And one more from my mini reunion:



Thank you to all of you on this board!  I have learned so much from you guys.  And thank you to Dr. Anthone!!!!!!!

Preops:  Beg, borrow or steal to get this surgery!  You cannot believe how life altering it really is.
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Almost there....

Mar 21, 2009

April 4, 2008 Surgery Day     304 lbs
May 4, 2008                             274         -30 lbs
June 4, 2008                           266         -8 lbs
July 4, 2008                             250         -16 lbs
August 4, 2008                       238         -12 lbs
September 4, 2008               225         -13 lbs
October 4, 2008                     219         -6 lbs
November 4, 2008                 208          -11 lbs
December 4, 2008                203           -5 lbs
January 4, 2009                    198            -5 lbs
February 4, 2009                   196            -2 lbs
March 4, 2009                         193           -3 lbs
April 4, 2009                            184           -9 lbs
May 4, 2009                             182           -2 lbs
June 4, 2009                            180          -2 lbs
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Low Carb Pancakes

Feb 02, 2009

PIM (aka MIM Pancakes)   1/4 c flax meal 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 pkt Stevia or Splenda 1 tsp cinnamon 1 large egg 1 Teaspoon melted butter   Mix dry ingredients, add melted butter and egg.   Stir well.   Spoon into 4 pancakes in frying pan with butter or oil.   Serve with whatever low carb topping you like.   I use Walden Farms zero carb, zero calorie, pancake
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CHADS 2008 Holiday Party

Dec 11, 2008

What fun!!!  Thanks Nicolle for a wonderful time.  Here's a pic of our host straight from the 1950's:



More pics:







Can't wait for the next party!!!

8 Months and FINALLY made the Century Club

Dec 08, 2008

I should have posted this when Renee made it for me, but here it is........my Century Club Card.  Yay me!!!!!




Thank you so  much Renee for making it.

Now with a little Zumba and some weight lifting, I hope to make it to Onederland before the New Year.  Happy Holidays and thank you DS!!

Amazing Progress Photos

Dec 07, 2008

I don't want to call these "befores and afters" because neither of us is done losing weight.  But I just had to post these to show what 8-9 months can do after the duodenal switch.  Just look at these girls:




And now look at these two hotties:



Dayum, Nicolle, I don't know who's prettier!!!  ;)  Look at us shrinking!

6 month follow up visit with Dr. Anthone and STALL BUSTED!!

Oct 22, 2008

I flew out to Omaha last week for my 6 month follow up appointment with Dr. Anthone.  It went great!

I was greeted at the airport by Deborah (Drifter).  It was so sweet of her to meet me there! We took a lovely horse and buggy ride around old Omaha.  It was such a nice night. 

The next day I finally got to meet my angel, Michelle (delano1972).  We went to our appointments and shopped allllllll day!  Thanks Michelle for letting me hang out with you and your family!

I'm sorry to say I never got a picture with Deborah, but I did manage to remember to take one with Michelle:




Now about my appointment... I do have the start of a hernia.  I was happy to hear it because I know at the end of this journey I am going to need a tummy tuck.  Well, it turns out my insurance does pay for tummy tucks, so I guess I want to take back this hernia.  Do you think Dr. Anthone will let me return it??  lol  Anyway, all of my labs are good.  My potassium came back up since my 3 month labs.  For some reason, they didn't send my protein results with the labs.  Weird.  But Dr. Anthone said he could tell by looking at my face that I wasn't low.  I have been drinking a lot of shakes, so it would surprise me if it was low.

Now about my dreaded stall.  He and his PA and nurse all assured me I wasn't done losing.  The PA told me I would get under 200 lbs.  Huh?  I hope to get much lower than that.  My body was stubborn before surgery.  I could never lose weight on diets, only maintain.  So I decided to come home and do everything I can to get this body to start losing again.  I researched the archives on duodenalswitch.com and found a lady that described what her surgeon recommended to break a stall.  3 days of protein shakes and water.  Doesn't sound like fun.  But I guess it worked for her.  Then she did one day a month like this just to keep the weight loss going.  She said she never stalled after that.  Well, I have been doing this the last 2 days, only I eat some protein, too.  But no carbs.  And I am happy to report that I HAVE FINALLY LOST WEIGHT!!!!  I'm almost afraid to celebrate because I peed so much the last 2 days that it's probably all water weight, but I'll take it anyway!  It's just nice to see the scale go down again.

I've also started walking, running and lifting my dumbbells.  So I now know I am doing everything I can to lose this weight in my window.  I am not one of those that barely watches what they eat and they just keep losing and losing.  I am one of the people that has to fight for every ounce.  But I am confident that with the DS I will be able to do it.

Thanks for all of you who called the wambulance while I cried about my stall.  lol 


Interesting Study

Oct 14, 2008

Are we paying waaaay too much attention to common channel length? 

Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2008 May-Jun;4(3):404-6; discussion 406-7. Epub 2007 Dec 11

Maintenance of weight loss in patients with body mass index >60 kg/m2: importance of length of small bowel bypassed.

Hamoui N, Anthone GJ, Kaufman HS, Crookes PF.
Department of Surgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, 1510 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.

BACKGROUND: It is commonly believed that weight loss after biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch is inversely related to the length of the alimentary limb and the common channel. However, the effect of the biliopancreatic limb length (BPL) on weight loss has received little attention.

METHODS: A total of 1001 patients after biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch (209 men and 792 women, mean age 42 +/- 10 yr, mean body mass index [BMI] 52 +/- 9 kg/m(2)) were divided into 2 groups according to the ratio of the BPL to the total small bowel length (SBL): a BPL < or =45% of the SBL versus a BPL >45% of the SBL. The nutritional parameters and percentage of excess weight loss were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: In patients with a BMI of < or =60 kg/m(2), the percentage of excess weight loss at 1 year postoperatively was 66.8% for those with a BPL < or =45% of the SBL and 69.3% for those with a BPL >45% of the SBL (P = NS). At 2 years, the corresponding percentages were 73.7% and 79.5% (P = NS) and, at 3 years, were 73.4% and 75.2% (P = NS). In patients with a BMI >60 kg/m(2), the corresponding percentages of excess weight loss was 56.8% versus 61.4% (P = .07) at 1 year, 62.2% versus 77.5% (P = .04) at 2 years, and 59.8% versus 77.5% at 3 years (P = .05).

CONCLUSION: The results of our study have shown that amount of weight lost after biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch is directly related to the proportion of small bowel bypassed in patients with a BMI >60 kg/m(2). Also, the effect increased with the duration of follow-up. In less heavy patients, the BPL/SBL ratio had a minimal effect on long-term weight loss and a more pronounced effect on nutritional parameters.

PMID: 18065296 [PubMed - in process


It looks like weight loss is more related to the biliopancreatic limb length being at least 40% of the small bowel length.  Hmmm.....


A long term study comparing surgeries

Sep 08, 2008

This is amazing!  It's what we DSers have been trying to say all along.  Why go with a surgery that only gives you a small chance of keeping your weight off in the long run?  It just makes sense to have the DS.

Here is a link: 
http://www.aace.com/pub/pdf/guidelines/Bariatric.pdf

Here is what the article says:

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS,

THE OBESITY SOCIETY, AND AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR

METABOLIC & BARIATRIC SURGERY MEDICAL GUIDELINES

FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE FOR THE PERIOPERATIVE

NUTRITIONAL, METABOLIC, AND NONSURGICAL SUPPORT OF

THE BARIATRIC SURGERY PATIENT

 

Reported Weight Loss as Percentage

of Excess Body Weight After Bariatric Surgery



.......................................................................Follow-up period (y)

Procedure.......................................................1-2        3-6        7-10 

Vertical banded gastroplasty.....................  50-72   25-65    

Gastric banding............................................ 29-87   45-72   14-60 

Sleeve gastrectomy....................................   33-58    66            

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass...........................  48-85   53-77   25-68 

Banded Roux-en-Y gastric bypass............  73-80   66-78    60-70 

Long-limb Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.........  53-74  55-74      

Biliopancreatic diversion ± DS...................  65-83   62-81   60-80   
 


Holey Moley... Protein Ice Cream is da BOMB!!!

Jul 15, 2008

Okay, so I've seen a few of our RNY friends talk about making their protein shakes in an ice cream maker.  I just had to give it a try. 

I found a shake I really like.... its a vanilla ice cream flavored shake.  Usually when I make it, I throw in a few strawberries or raspberries for a little flavor.  Its really yummy, but because I make it in a blender, it comes with a lot of air.  I really can't even finish half (darned 50 cc tummy!). 

So today I went out and spent $15 on an ice cream maker at WalMart.  I decided I wanted to try and make my favorite ice cream flavor- butter pecan.  Here's what I did:

2 scoops vanilla ice cream protein powder
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 T SF Caramel Syrup (found in coffee department)

I blended this in my blender, then added some chopped pecans.

I threw it in the ice cream maker and let it do its thing.  Man-o-man is it goooood!!!

Ya'll gotta try this!  Eggface has an idea for mint chocolate chip ice cream on her blog (made with peppermint extract and SF Andes Mints) ... this is going to be my next concoction.  After that I'm gonna try chocolate peanut butter. 

This ice cream would be good even for a new post op!  You will feel like you are cheating the whole time you are eating it.  But you're not.  So eat your protein, ladies and gents!!

About Me
IN
Location
37.8
BMI
DS
Surgery
04/04/2008
Surgery Date
Mar 28, 2007
Member Since

Friends 99

Latest Blog 28
CHADS 2008 Holiday Party
8 Months and FINALLY made the Century Club
Amazing Progress Photos
6 month follow up visit with Dr. Anthone and STALL BUSTED!!
Interesting Study
A long term study comparing surgeries
Holey Moley... Protein Ice Cream is da BOMB!!!

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