Stacy A.
Well Hello all. My name is Stacy, I am 34, and I am divorced with 3 children and a wonderful wife. Things started really coming together for me in 2005 - My personal life really came together. I was finally told that the VA will cover my WLS and all I had to was lose 10 lbs, so far I have lost 9 and they are putting me in for a surgery date and I am waiting on that now, they say it will probably be in Feb. I am scared and excited. As of today I weigh 266 lbs, I am 5'3" so that is a lot. I have several comorbitors and a bad family history so I am really looking forward to being healthy - being skinny is just a great side effect!!!!!! Well I thought I would introduce myself, I will try to keep this updated. Wish me luck!!! 2/13/2006 Well this is for real - I have my pre-op tomorrow and then my surgery is scheduled for 02/21 - I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT. So many things are going through my head. Here I was thinking that I wouldn't be having surgery until april and then they have a cancellation and I am on my way. I am kinda glad it happened so fast - less time to worry - more time to just be ready. I have been doing a lot of praying for reassurance that I am doing the right thing and I am feeling more and more at peace with my decision!!!! I know this is the right tool for me. I will post more and get some pictures on here soon. Take care to all who may read this and may GOD be with you wherever you are on your journey. 3/14/2006 Well I am three weeks out today and I am sitting in the hospital. Some of you may recall that I was complaining about nausea and dry heaving last week - well I went to the Dr on Thursday - he did blood work and stuff and said that he thought everything was normal - it was just the healing process for me but if I starting vomiting then I need to let him know. Well I live in Austin and my Dr is in Dallas (the Dallas VA) - well I was ok Fri during the day and Friday night I went to get my kids from baseball practice and I was driving down the street - felt sick to my stomach and thought I was going to dry heave again - and I threw up - I just kept throwing up - then I we finally got home - I threw up again - all during the night I was having the throwing up spells - so Sat morning I decided to go to the ER in Austin - knowing that they do Bypass surgery there - well I go in and stay all day they give me IV fluids and call the VA and want to admit me to do tests -well the short story of it is - the VA decided that it wasn’t an emergency since I was not dehydrated and that if I could get to Dallas they would admit me and run more tests but would not authorize the Austin ER to do the tests - basically they wouldn't pay for it. So off to Dallas I went - we got here on Sunday at 12 AM and was here all day - at 8 pm they decided to do a CT Scan - then in the morning they do a scope and guess what - no stricture - I have an ulcer!!!! I was not prepared for that - has this happened to anyone else? Well I have to get 2 days of IV meds and start being able to keep fluids down and then I will be able to go home. So that's where I am at. Please keep me in yours prayers. I hope to be going home tomorrow. On a little bit of a bad note - my dry told me that I can't go back to work for 3 weeks - so I will probably lose my job, but oh well - I will take it as it comes. 3/17/2006 Well - I am finally home from my ulcer ordeal - I can't believe such a tiny thing could cause so much havoc!! I am a little sad that I did not lose anything while in the hospital but they kept me on a constant IV drip so I am not surprised. Well after everything was over with the ulcer I was noticing a spot on my incision that was leaking more than normal and was even a different color and I had the dr check it out - he said it looked infected even though I was having no other symptoms of infection and would need to open me up and see what was going on. Well here I am thinking that means another trip to the OR, but he pulls a scalpel out of his pocket and does it right there - he just did two small areas and found that they were to deep or long - he said there was no infection but the areas would have to stay open and I would have to pack then twice a day until they healed. So they loaded me up with gauze - q-tips - and tape and I am packing. At least I am at home. I am not surprised about this because when I had my first c-section the incision came open and had to be packed (I had to have someone do that for me as I could not see the hole) so I have been expecting this to happen. Also - I the doctor told me I cannot drive for 3 more weeks which means I can't go back to work - I went to tell my work and they said they don't know what they can do - I am out of time off- they may have to fire me with the understanding that when I am able to come back they can re-hire me. The thing about that is I will have to pay back all the time off I have taken as it is given to you at the beginning of the year but it is really pro-rated and if you don't work the whole year you don't earn it all. I know some of you have asked me about FMLA and short-term disability - but this is a new company I am working for (not really a new job though - just someone took over the contract and we changed our badges on Jan 1) but they do not offer FMLA for one year (I know they can but they don't have to for a year and choose not to) and the people who were using FMLA at my work for various reasons lost it and are in the same boat as me - they knew last year that I was going to have surgery this year and said they would work with me but couldn't make any promises - but seemed optimistic yesterday. I am not holding my breathe as this company has not proven to care about the people to much so far - they have to send the request to corporate and I have a feeling they will say to bad. If that happens I will collect unemployement and look for another job. I am not sure I want to work for a company that doesn't really care about its people anyway. The simple thing would be to just give me FMLA. I can't afford to be without a job but I also can't afford to worry about this all the time either - I need to concentrate on me and getting better. God will take care of everything and it will turn out the way it is suppose to - I have complete faith in that!!!! Well sorry for another long post from me - I hope everyone is dong well - I pray for the people I read about on hear daily and hope to be able to meet and get to know y’all better. Until next time--- 3/21/2006 Well it has been one month today since they cut me open - rearranged my insides and made me into a loser. I have had a hard time with the ulcer and going back to the hospital for 6 days and then my incision coming open, but............... I have lost 31 lbs and over 20 inches - I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an awesome tool this is, I thank god for it everyday. I was having my doubts when I was back in the hospital about whether I did the right thing but how can argue with these results?? What a great day today is. Thanks to all here for the support, you guys are awesome!!!!!!!!!!! 5/20/2006 I know - I know i am not good at keeping this thing updated. Well since my last update I have been in the hospital AGAIN - i was in for 12 days in April - I was throwing everything up - dry heaving when nothing was there and they couldn't find anything mechanically wrong with me. My Dr. said that maybe my stomach was just not adapting to the surgery - he did some research and found a medicine that had been proven to work for 2 women in Brazil - we tried it for 6 weeks and it worked. Now I am down 72 lbs!!!! Yeh for me, just think if I was exercising and getting in my protien and water how much I could be down. I am still weak at times - but I am working on it and will try to start doing the right thing. In this time I also was fired from my job - but oh well - after the summer I will be looking for a job - I hope to find something quickly - I am really bored staying home. July 2006 I went to my first support group meeting last night and it was great. The group is just starting in Austin and I met some really nice ladies - I have been hoping for this for a while as I do not know anyone personally that has had WLS so I don't have anyone to talk to that understands completely what I am going through. I have been going into the chat on OH though and have met some great people there - they are so honest and funny I love it. Well that is all for now - I will try to keep this thing updated and even get some pics on here but no promises. Oct 16, 2006 Ok Ok - I said no promises. Some things have been giong on - lets see I have lost 86 lbs and an amazing 82 inches!!!!! I could not believe it when we did measurements. Is that awesome or what? I say it is so awesome!! Well I did have a real pretty profile for a little bit until OH decided the change the way the profiles are done and now I am back to a plain ole profile - oh well I did try to transfer it but it wouldn't transfer so I had to freakin copy and paste everything which I was not to happy about, but since I was doing all that I decided to update this thing at the same time. Well I am still out of a job - I have had some interviews but so far no luck - I am not sure how much longer I can go on this way - but when I am not having a pity party I do know that everything does happen for a reason and I will get the job I am suppose to have and all will be well. It is hard to remember that all the time though since Terry lost her job last week as well - so if you are the praying type please say a prayer for us that everything comes together soon, if you aren't just think good thoughts for us!!! Well that is it for now. Take care and good luck to you in your journey!!! Also to all my friends in the chatroom I love you all - you make this journey well worth it - I don't know what I would have done without yall. Of course to the people in the chatroom that are not friends - really, why are you reading this??? To my local support group - you guys rock thank you so much!! So, until next time......... June 20, 2007
Yes I know it has been a very long time!!! i have come a long way, I passed my 1 year mark, made it into the century club but still have not reached my goal. I am ok with that though I just have 7 lbs to go and I know I will get there. I am sure I would have already reached it if I was into exercising, but I just can't get into it at all. But I am still losing and feeling better and better all the time.
My personal life has taken a change, I am now single and living alone except when the kids are there. This is only the second time in 36 years I have lived alone and this time I am very ok with it and I am doing pretty good. Money is an issue but I can't think of a time in my life when it wasn't. I work for the State - Texas Department of Public Safety. I love the department I work in it just isn't enough money, but oh well it is something huh. Well that is all for now. Good luck to all in thier journey!!!!
