One year and a little bit later....

Aug 29, 2010

Wow.  What a year this has been.  The recovery from February has been slow, but steady.  I lost *a lot* of muscle mass after the surgery in February, and I'm still recovering from that. 

I went in for my one year surgiversary check-up last Wednesday, on the 25th.  According to the surgeon's scale, I'm officially down to 137.5 from 269.  I've lost almost as much as I weigh now, so I guess you can say I've lost one of me!  I moved in May, and I've been carrying the scale around in my trunk.  With it in the car, I haven't weighed myself since May.  It has been a nice break to not look at or think about the numbers.

I thought I had stablized at a size 10 (I started at a tight 24!), but I had to break down and buy new jeans last weekend.  My size 10s were coming off without unbuttoning.  I'm in an 8 GAP Curvy, and a 6 Old Navy Sweetheart.  I need to do my measurements.  My boyfriend took pictures, but I'm not exactly sure where my camera is at this particular moment in time.  When I find it, I intend to upload the newest photos.  I need to start a brag book like Meggie has, so that I have it at the conference in November.

My hair is starting to grow out.  I think of it as having the "fuzzies" like kittens do.  The thin bottom part of my hair looks like cotton candy when I blow dry it.  The wispy bits stick up at the top of my head.  I either pull my hair back into a pony tail or I flat iron my hair.  I just can't do anything else with it at the moment.

I can't wait to see everyone at the conference in November.  To everyone just starting this journey, good luck! It's one wild ride sometimes.  To those who are already on it or at goal--congratulations! We did it! :)

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Century club and additional surgery

Feb 22, 2010

After a very rough (non-weight loss related) February, I have finally made it to the 100 pound loss mark!  I'm just a little under 40 pounds away from goal!!

My very rough February was because I had to have emergency open abdominal surgery on February 5th.  On Monday, 2/1, I ate part of an orange at work. I went home halfway through the day with dumping syndrome. A side-effect of my RNY, and while unexpected from an orange, it happens. Last Monday night/early Tuesday morning at about 1 am, I woke up with pain between in my shoulder blades and in the right upper quadrant of my abdomen. In other words, classic location of pain from gall stones. Just one problem there, I had my gall bladder removed in October 2008 following a fun two week plus period of blockage and jaundice in Sept. 08 while in Baltimore for work. I had no other symptoms at that point on Tuesday, but I stayed home from work and called the surgeon's office. They couldn't get me in for an MRCP (MRI to detect a biliary stone) any earlier than Wednesday, the 3rd. They phoned in a prescription for darvocet, and told me to have liquids only on Tuesday, and go completely NPO on Wednesday. Bear in mind, I hadn't had anything more than water and a handful of crackers since the orange on Monday morning. I went for the MRI and blood work on Wednesday, and stopped by the doctor's office since they're in the same building, for a note to take to work for missing so much time. Instead of a note, I got told to lie down in an exam room to wait for the results. I guess I wasn't looking so hot.

The blood work came back first. My bile was double the upper limits of normal. Well, crap. Nurse says she realizes that this doesn't look good, but she can't tell me what will happen now. MRCP comes back sometime later, and Dr. Sims, my surgeon, delivered the bad news. I had a gall stone blocking my common biliary duct. Now, in a normal person, this means an outpatient operation where they stick a tube down your throat, into your stomach, into the bile duct, and retrieve the stone. But, me being me, I'm not a normal person because I've gone and altered my anatomy. I cannot be scoped. The only way to remove the stone is through surgery. Dr. Sims wanted to consult with gastroenterology (GI), but gave me permission to go home, pack a bag with some personal items, and come back to the hospital to be admitted.

I head home, pack a small bag and shower, my roommate meets me at the apartment and drives me back to the hospital. I get admitted, and GI comes by for a consult as they're trying to get an IV into my nicely dehydrated veins (remember liquids to NPO?). GI says, and I agree, the stone is a primary stone. That means it's not left over from when I had my gall bladder removed and my last ERCP (the scoping procedure). It is a stone my bile ducts have formed. It's not unheard of, but it's not common, either. I joked with the anesthesiologist about being in the 2% of the population to form gall stones without a gall bladder, and he said it was less than that. GI says I have three options: 1) laparoscopic surgery where Dr. Sims cuts into my old "blind" stomach, GI inserts the scope, and they retrieve the stone, 2) open surgery to do a bypass of my biliary duct directly into my intestines which would prevent this from ever happening again, or 3) surgery through my liver into the biliary duct, with 3 being the least likely to happen or the least successful. Dr. Sims agreed, though he threw in a 4th option I can no longer remember. After much reviewing of my old medical records from the first round with gall stones and consulting with lots of other, more experienced doctors, it is determined I'm the first person in Waco to ever have to deal with this situation. No one at Waco GI has ever done an ERCP through lap surgery, and I'm the first patient Dr. Sims has seen develop a gall stone after having the gall bladder removed. The other consensus is that this is a primary stone, not one that was missed, and it WILL happen again if they don't do the open surgery with the bypass. So, surgery is scheduled for around noon on Friday. Oh, and my biliary duct was uncommonly small for one with an obstruction. It should have been dilated, but wasn't, which would complicate the surgery.

So, I had open surgery to bypass the common biliary duct on Friday, 2/5. They were not able to remove the stone. The inflammation and infection was so bad that they just had to leave it there and bypass the entire thing. They released me from the hospital on Tuesday, 2/9. Before I was released, I was advised that the cultures had come back and, if I had not started hurting when I did, I was at high risk for sepsis, so I guess it all happened in the most beneficial way possible. I went home with my parents for recovery as my mother is retired and could help me while I could not bend over or really take care of my cats. I went back to Dr. Sims to have the staples removed on 2/19, and I go back for my 6 month RNY follow up on Friday, 3/5. Six months was actually 2/17, but they were mainly concerned with the new surgery, so they didn't do lab work. Recovery is going along, but it seems slow. I'm still not back at work, and I'm very easily fatigued. I'm hoping to go back to work for half days next week.

Many of my friends don't understand that the bile duct bypass is not a result of my RNY. Even if I'd had a normal stomach, they would have discovered they'd have to do the surgery when they tried to do an ERCP because of the inflammation and infection.

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New year, but the new me started in August!

Jan 02, 2010

I had my 3 month follow-up in November.  Labs came back that everything was fine except my iron was border-line low and my thiamin (B1) was dangerously low.  And I began losing my hair. The solution to that? Eat more protein, especially meat!

I struggled, struggled, struggled with eating more. My weight hovered about the 194-192 mark. Then, beginning Wednesday, I began making a concentrated effort to ensure I ate more protein via regular foods rather than the shakes and other snacks that I'm coming to dislike so much. I'm down to 186 this morning.  It has been true all along that the more protein I eat, the more weight I lose.  So, I must be doing something right!  186 is one pound higher than my lowest weight since 2000, a time when I was working out five days a week.  I never got below a 12/14 (started at a 20, I think), and never got below 185.  I'm on the low end of a 14 now (i.e. my 14s are starting to get too big, but I'm not actually a 12 yet).  I'm going to go join a gym today, money for that was my Christmas present from my parents.  I was a 14/16 in high school, but that was over 10 years ago, so that's probably today's 10. In about 20 pounds, I'll be at my high school weight.

It is strange for me to see on my ticker that I'm less than 60 pounds away from the goal weight of 130 (not done with the doctor, but based on the upper end of the BMI scale).  More so, I think, because I'm down over 80 pounds in approximately four and a half months.  I know the weight loss slows down the closer you get to goal, but I can't help but hope that my current average fo 20 pounds a month will continue as long as I push the protein, and begin to work out.  It just seems amazing to me that I could be three or four months from goal.

As always, it's not really about the number on the scale as much as it's about being healthy. I learned in college in 2000 that muscle weighs more than fat and takes up less space.  It's why I only lost 15 pounds but dropped five clothing sizes.  I would rather weigh 150 and have it be a healthy 150 than be an unhealthy 130 or less.  However, I can already tell my back feels better. I want to be able to do more of the physical work of moving in May (roomie is getting married, I can't afford this place by myself).  I don't need or want to be a Barbie, I just want to be able to keep up with my friends, and kids and husband when I finally marry and have a family.  I want to be able to walk into a store with my sister or friends and not have to automatically assume I won't be able to fit in any of the clothes (though I don't really expect to ever be able to wear stuff from teen stores like Abercrombie and Fitch!).
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Onederland!

Dec 05, 2009

I made it to onderland over Thanksgiving weekend.  I'm officially down 70 pounds and six clothing sizes. I still struggle to get enough protein in, but I'm averaging a loss of about 20 pounds (and a clothing size) a month. I've lost 10 inches off of my waist alone. The further out I get, the harder it is to remember to take photos and measurements. Still, though, I see a change just about every other week. I still have no regrets. It's been 10 years since I was last below 200.
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Progress

Sep 19, 2009

So, I don't have week 4 measurements or pictures yet, but I have a good excuse.  My roomie and I were going to do it last Monday, but I came home from work and found our bedrooms had been flooded because the hot water heater in the apartment above ours had a leak.

I've decided to wait until next Monday (week 5) to do it even though, by date, Thursday was my one month surgiversary.

However, even without measurements, I can tell I'm down. People are telling me I look thinner in the face. My tightest pair of jeans now come off without unbuttoning or unzipping--straight out of the dryer. I'm going to have to go through my closet this weekend. My rule is going to have to be that if they come off without being undone and are about to fall off, they go to Dallas for the clothing exchange at the OH conference. My pounds are holding steady, but so long as my clothes continue to get looser (i.e. jeans that were loose but fit last week now have to be constantly yanked up), I don't really care what the scale says. I once had my body fat measured with calipers, and it said my lean body mass is 150 pounds, which is 20 pounds higher than my current goal weight. I'm just going to assume I'm building muscle from walking and call it good.
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Zzzzzzzzz...when do I return to normal?

Aug 22, 2009

Not quite a week out yet. I feel okay, mostly. I'm tired all of the time. Just taking a shower yesterday made me light-headed. I ended up having to rest afterwards. Pain is mostly in incisions when I laugh or move in a way that pulls them (like trying to bend over, or rolling over to get out of bed).  Other than that, my pain is in my back, from compensating for my weakened ab muscles.

I've only noticed two other problems:

1. I have no appetite. I "eat" (as in, drink my protein shakes) because I know I need to.

2. I almost always feel as though there is something stuck in my throat. I've felt that way pretty well since the barium meal for the leak test. It's not low enough to be my pouch. It's high, right at the base of my throat/upper chest area.

I haven't experienced regret exactly. I have some regret at the amount of trauma I've inflicted on my body. I don't regret the smaller stomach or limited meals. I regret the physical limitations that come with major surgery--the inability to bend over, lift, etc.  I'm only taking pain pills at night, before bed, and only to ease the pain in my back. I woke up at 3 this morning (went to bed about 10), and spent the rest of the night sleeping upright on the couch. I need an adjustment, but I can't begin to figure out how that's going to happen when putting any kind of pressure on my stomach hurts.
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Got it worked out

Jul 31, 2009

I called the insurance company first yesterday, because they opened first. They approved the bypass.  So then I called the surgeon's office to speak with the billing person. She said I was on the surgery schedule as a band patient and I needed to call the bariatric center.  I called the bariatric center, and they confirmed that I was supposed to be bypass, but I was placed on the schedule as a band patient.  They shuffled the surgeries around that are scheduled for that day. I'm still a go on August 17, 2009, I'm just a little later in the day.
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Heart attack

Jul 30, 2009

I received a letter from the surgeon's office today with paperwork about financial responsibility. They have lap band all over the paperwork, not gastric bypass. I've already paid the amount they told me, but now I'm freaking out that they submitted approval for the wrong surgery and I'm going to have to start the waiting process all over again.
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Approved!!!

Jul 14, 2009

After following up with the insurance company, they never received my info the first time Melissa submitted it.  Melissa re-submitted it on June 29. I called yesterday, July 13 to check, and I was approved!  I am scheduled for surgery on August 17, 2009.  I cannot wait until my re-birthday!
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Waiting for approval!

May 30, 2009

So much has happened!  I've had my first consult with my surgeon, Dr. Sims, and I've met with the dietician.  They submitted me for insurance approval this week!  I'm torn between wanting to shout for joy that I've made it this far and trying not to be too excited.  The insurance coordinator wasn't sure if I would need the 6 month diet or not. I called the insurance company twice and asked specifically if I would need it. I was told I wouldn't.  I'm reserving the real excitement until I know whether or not I'm going to be delayed further by needing the 6 month diet.
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About Me
Waco, TX
Location
23.0
BMI
RNY
Surgery
08/17/2009
Surgery Date
Jun 16, 2002
Member Since

Friends 13

Latest Blog 13

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