Ileana Suchta

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WOW, it seems I start all my posts with "WOW" but that is exactly what it is!  I just celebrated my 10 years post op!  I cannot believe it has been that long.  Still the best decision I ever made, besides marrying my husband and having my son!  :)   I am feeling great and have kept my weight off.  I have not been able to exercise lately due to some Achilles issues I have to have surgery for but have not gained weight due to my attention to my food intake.  This is a lifetime journey and it does not change, well for me it does not.  I still do not eat heavy fried foods, eat low fat or fat free and NO SUGAR!  Dr. Ihde put the fear of God in me when he went over what happens if you do things you should not do so I never did them.  Too scared!  Hahaha!  Guess that was a good thing because I just made it my life and it has kept me from gaining weight.  Now getting excited to have my Achilles surgeries so I can get back to running and doing all my exercising that I miss so much!  :)  You get hooked!  Do what you are supposed to do and you will succeed!  That is a promise!  Remind yourself that you are doing this for a better future and don't look back!  Well, only to see what you are NOT missing, excess weight!  :)  I wish you all the best and a great 2014!

December 24, 2008 - 5 years post op.  WOW!  It seems like forever ago and then again it feels like just yesterday.  I can not believe it has been 5 years.  Still loving life, working out 5 days a week, in the gym at 5:30AM M-F.  See pictures of myself and sometimes do not even recognize myself.  What a gift from God this was.  If you have any questions for me, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I would love to help in any way I can.  God Bless and here's to a healthy, happy new year!

WOW!  4 years!  It has been 4 years since my gastic bypass.  How time flies!  I have also completed all my plastic surgeries as well.  I am now just enjoying the new me!   I had my tummy tuck, breast lift and arms done in February/March 2006 and my inner thighs in February 2007.  I am done!  I feel like a new person but don't think it is easy.  Even 4 years out, you still have to watch what you eat, read labels and exercise.  I am 4 years out and still do not eat fried foods or sugar!  I go by the rules, big time and that is why I am successful in my journey!  Please, do it right, you will not regret it!  My doctor even uses my before and after photos in his advertising flyers and brochures!  Do you know how exciting it is to see yourself in print!  I have even done radio commercials for him!  Hey, if I can help one person change their life like I have, it is all well worth it.  Now, I will tell you that I do still have days where I look in the mirror and see my old me, but then I also have days that I look in the mirror and say WOW, that's me?  It is a great feeling to accomplish the weight loss and keep it off.  I wish you all much success and please know that I am here to help and answer any questions you may have.  I am so happy God blessed me with the opportunity to change my life and my health and I sure am not going to blow it!  God Bless you all!  Here is to another GREAT year!!!!!

10-29-03 Well, this is my first time to post. I guess I need to start at the beginning. I work for Mary Kay Inc and have quite a few friends that have had the surgery and look great! I think I was not sure if this was something for me because when I looked in the mirror, I never really saw myself as obese, just a little fat if there is such a thing. Then I would see myself in pictures and think, do I really look that big? I was not only amazed but ashamed. I've always tried to joke about my weight saying that God just needs fat people in this world and I guess he chose me to be one of them. Well, then I started thinking, why me? I started to see myself get bigger and bigger and I would look at people and ask my husband or my son if I looked that big. Sometime it was a no and I felt relieved but then sometimes it was yes and I was horrified. I knew I had to do something. I am a very healthy person with no health issues what so ever so I want to take care of my obesity before I start having problems. My friends at work are absolutely awesome. What a support! They never get tired of me asking them questions and are genuinely excited for me.
Well, my first doctor's appointment was with Dr. Ihde on October 13th. I took my husband, my son and my mom with me. I wanted to make sure they understood what I was going to go through if this surgery was for me. Dr. Ihde is awesome and so is his staff. Very kind and patient. Dr. Ihde spent his time making sure my family and I understood everything, the surgery, how it would be done and the risks. It was kind of scary for my mom but she seemed to feel better once she realized that the risks are minimized if you just do what Dr. Ihde asks of you. No problem there! Well, I am at 5 ft 6 1/2 in. and weighed in at 246 lbs. Dr. Ihde said that I should qualify for the surgery by both being 100+ lbs overweight and having a BMI of 40. Now just waiting on approval from the insurance company. The wait is the worst. I want to know YESTERDAY that I was approved.
I went to a support meeting at the hospital on October 21st. My mom went with me. She is so supportive of all of this. She is excited for me. We really had a great time and it was awesome to meet so many people that have had the surgery and not only look great but feel great too. I learned so much and look forward to my next one. I asked the girls at work to go with me to the next meeting. Two of them were patients of Dr. Ihde. He will be excited to see them.
Well, can't wait so I keep calling the insurance company and boy am I glad I did. Kim said they were not able to fax the paperwork in so they mailed it a couple of days after my appointment. I finally found out that the insurance company received my information on October 21st and they were going to forward it to a nurse for review. Can't wait to hear from them. Had my next appointment for my bloodwork and breathing test on October 27th. Called the insurance company to find out the status of my surgery and they said the Care Coordination department did not have anything. I told them they received the paperwork on October 21st and was being forwarded to a nurse and they informed me that it was probably in another area and was the wrong area. I had to have Kim call it in. I called Kim and she called it in the very same day even though she was swamped with patients that day. Thank you Kim! I called the next day and they informed me that they did get the information from Kim and it was being reviewed. Hope to know something by next week. The wait is the worst! Well, now I just wait. Hope to follow up soon with an approval. Thanks to my wonderful husband, John and my awesome son, Sean and my amazing mom, Maggie for all their love and support. I could not do this without you! I love you all with all my heart!

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11-13-03 WOO-HOO!!! I AM APPROVED!!! I had my dietician appointment with Dr. Ihde yesterday and I got there early. I asked Kim, his nurse, if she had heard anything. She said that the insurance company had called on Friday the 7th asking for more information. I thought, that can not be good! I asked her if she would call for an update so I would not have to call and she had Erica call to check the status of my approval. The next thing I know, Kim is telling me they had just approved me and the approval letter was mailed yesterday. YEAH!!! I was so excited and so was my husband. He had gone to the appointment with me since he is the one that cooks and I wanted him to understand everything too. I immediately called my mom at work to tell her the great news. She was so excited! I scheduled my surgery! It is on December 22nd. What a great Christmas gift. Thanks Mom. This is my gift from my mom for Christmas! I also found out that there is another surgery scheduled before mine. I will have someone there to be my buddy. I can not wait to meet her. This will be great support too! A walking buddy! Yeah! IS DECEMBER HERE YET!!!!! Anyway, I am excited and am looking forward to a healthier future. I told my co-workers and they are so excited for me. They say they can not believe that I am as heavy as I am but I am. I guess I hide it well, according to them. I am just so glad they are very supportive. They are truly excited for me. Well, I will update you soon and please keep me in your prayers. I will truly appreciate it!!!

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12-9-03 Well, I have not posted in a while since there really was not much to say. Last week, I started having a cough. I freaked out. Oh my Gosh, I am 18 days away from surgery. I can not get sick. By Friday, I got in to see my PCP and she said my ears and lungs were clear and that it was just a cough. She gave me an antibiotic and some other medicine and said I should be fine. Well, here it is Tuesday, 13 days away from surgery and I feel much better. Well, I never felt bad, just that annoying cough. It is all better now. I am so relieved. I said I was not going to reschedule. I am set and ready for my surgery on December 22nd. It is really going by fast, especially trying to get everything done for Christmas and all. I also started getting a couple of emails from you all wishing me a speedy recovery and praying for me and that is truly appreciated. I am so blessed and feel so loved by you all. It makes me proud of myself for making this life changing decision and I am so excited. Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming!!! God Bless you all!!!

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12-18-03 Today is my last day at work. I am taking off Friday to go have my pre-op stuff done at the hospital and get ready and go to my mom's and get settled in since that is where I will be staying for about a week to a week and a half. The girls at work are celebrating my last day with a huge food day. They have brought all this food for me to have before my surgery. It was so nice of them to do this for me. They know I will not be able to have these things after surgery so they wanted me to have my fill before surgery. It is nice that they thought of me and wanted to do this for me. Boy can they cook and boy can we eat. Well, I only have four more days until my surgery and I am so excited. I am so blessed to have this opportunity and am very grateful for my doctor and his staff and the love and support of all my family and my friends. I can not wait to be a loser! That will be a good thing now. Keep your thought and prayers coming. They make me feel so good and loved and they are truly appreciated. Happy Holidays and God Bless!!!

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1-5-04 I am back. I spend the first 2 weeks of recovery with my mom and she does not have a computer so this is my first time to post since my surgery on Monday, December 22nd. All went great. I went into surgery on Monday and they put me in a room that late afternoon. I was not in a lot of pain like I thought I would be in and did not even use my pain button all that night. Lap versus open is so much easier. I am very grateful I was able to have my surgery lap but the GAS!!! Oh my godness, I was so excited that I did not need pain medicine until about 5:00am on Tuesday morning after my walk, the gas kicked in. I thought I was going to die. That was worse than the entire surgery put together. The pain was horrible and of course the pain medicine did nothing for it. I just kept asking for some gas medicine but they could not give me anything since I was going to be having my leak test soon. Well, all I could do was burp and that was not enough. When I went down for my X-rays, they technician said she could see my gas bubbles in the X-ray and she said there was a lot of them. Oh great! By the time I got back to my room, they were able to give me something (watered down) which did not really help a whole lot. The pain was so bad that it made my blood pressure to up very high and I have never had a problem with blood pressure. Dr. Ihde knew it was due to my pain and went ahead and let me go home. I was glad. When I got home on Tuesday night, December 23rd, I started taking my gas medicine staight up, no water here. By Christmas Eve, I was able to get rid of everything that was clogging me up and causing my gas. What a wonderful Christmas gift. I felt great. I was getting out of the house by Saturday just to get out. You can only look at four walls for so long and if I had to walk, why not a store. Thankfully, my surgery and recovery has been uneventful and I am very grateful for that. My mom brought me back home this Saturday, January 3rd. I am doing remarkable great! I had my 2 week check up with Dr. Ihde on Friday, January 2nd and am already 26lbs lighter. I was so amazed and excited. Here is to being a loser!!! I will keep you posted on my recovery and keep those prayers coming. They are truly appreciated. God Bless you all!!!

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2-1-04 Well, it has been a while since I have posted. Things were going great and on my third week post-op, I was able to start on my pureed foods. That Monday went great but after I ate on Tuesday, I got a really bad heart burn that would not go away. It was still there at the end of the day so I called Dr. Ihde and he suggested I go to emergency since I was not able to eat or drink that entire day. Well, they admitted me into the hospital and ran lots of tests and CT Scans to find that I had a kink in my intestine. Not all my food was going through so that is why I had the heartburn. Everything was backing up. I was admitted on Tuesday night, January 13th and was told on Thursday that I was going to need surgery to fix the kink. Dr. Ihde did the surgery on Friday, January 16th. Luckily he was able to do this surgery by lap too but that gave me four new holes to go with the five I had from my first surgery. Well, it has been two weeks and I am doing really good. I am now on solid foods and keeping everything down okay. No more back ups. I am down about 40 lbs. and can not believe it. I have my next check up with Dr. Ihde on Tuesday, February 3rd. I think he will keep me out for about another week or two since I am all good from my first surgery but now recovering from my second one. I am just very glad it was a minor complication. All is good and here I come, to the losing side. Keep me in your prayers as they are always very much appeciated. Take care and God Bless!!!

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2-23-04 Well, I returned to work on 2-16-04 and feel great. People are amazed at my weight loss. I have had about three people pass me not knowing it was me. It is really nice. About a week before I went back to work, my mother and I went through my closet and tried to pick out what would fit for now. We put the clothes I could wear now in one closet and the other clothes that I could use in about a month or so in another closet. Well two weeks later, just this weekend, my mom came back over and we pulled the clothes out again and guess what? They all fit. I could not believe it. The are size 16. I was in a size 22-24 in December before my surgery. I have been very blessed. I am almost at a 50 lbs loss. I was 250 lbs before surgery and I am now at about 2 to 3 lbs short of 200. I will celebrate when that scale falls below 200!!! Thanks to you all again for your good thoughts and prayers. As always, they are truly appreciated. God Bless you all!!!

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3-3-04 Well, it has been a while since I posted. I am doing great and am really getting excited. I am starting to see the change. My first goal was of course to get to the 50 lbs weight loss and also get under the dreaded 200 lbs mark. Well, Sunday I weighed myself and hit both goals. I weighed in at 199 lbs and have lost 51 lbs. As of last night, I have dropped another pound. I am now at 198. I am so blessed! Thank you once again for all your support and thoughts and prayers. As I have always said, they are truly appreciated. God Bless you all!!!

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5-25-04 Wow, I did not realize it has been almost 3 months since I have posted. Well, everything has been absolutely awesome. I am 5 months post op and am down 85 lbs and down to a size 10. What a blessing. I am only 30 lbs away from goal and only 15 lbs away from being in the NORMAL weight range. How awesome is that? I don't ever remember being in the normal range. Another exciting thing is that I started a WLS support group meeting. We meet two times a month in the glass dining room of The Mary Kay Building, here in Addison, Tx. If you are looking for a fun and informative support group meeting, please come join us. We would love to have you join us. My family has been so supportive and so surprise at my progress. A big thing is that I can feel and see my collar bone and I can cross my legs and have them fall next to each other and they do not go numb. What a big deal that is. I find myself constantly crossing my legs. I can even walk into a room without my legs rubbing together warning everyone of my presence. I know most of you can relate to that and if you can't, just wait until it happens to you. How exciting. I went to the WLS convention that was put on by OH and we had a blast. How informative too. Found a lot of info for my meetings and great protein ideas. I think everyone should go to these conventions. It was great seeing everyone's success stories. How motivating! Well, I will try to post more often. I will definately let you know when I get into the Century Club and when I hit goal. I thank you all for your continued support and prayers. They are truly appreciated. God Bless you all!!!

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7-29-04 Well, it has been two months since I have posted. I am happy to let you know that I am now officially part of the Century Club. I have now lost 100 lbs and am now considered in the normal weight range for my height. How exciting is that? I am doing and feeling great! I am so blessed! I am now at 150 lbs and wearing size 8s & 10s. I never imagined this would be possible and wow does it feel great! I have so much energy, working out 5 days a week and ready to take on the world. I wish all of this for you as well. Thank you again for all your support and encouragement. You are truly appreciated. God Bless you all!!!!

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10-13-04 Wow, I did not realize I have not posted in so long. Well, it has almost been 3 months since I have posted and I am doing awesome! I am so happy! Well, I am down to 145 lbs and have been there since my 8 months post op. I have also been able to maintain for the last 1 1/2 months which is great. How amazing is that? I thought it would take longer but I have been nothing but faithful in what I am suppose to do and what my doctor asked of me. If you do that, you will be very successful. I am now in sizes 6 and 8 and can not believe it. I can actually walk in a department store and find really cute clothes I can wear. I do not have as much of a skin issue like I thought I would but am going to go see a plastic surgeon for a consultation at the end of this month. I am hoping he says to just keep exercising (that is key, you MUST exercise) and that will be all I have to do but I do not think that will be the case. I hope I just need skin removal without muscle tightening. That will be great. Now, for the breast, I do not think there is any hope there. I will have to have that done but no big hurry. My main goal was to get the weight off and become healthier and I have done that. The rest, if it even happens, will just be icing on the cake (sugar-free, of course). This has been the best thing in the world and my family and I are so very happy I had the surgery. If you are in doubt, I urge you to attend support group meetings. They are helpful and can answer a lot of questions and concerns you may have. I started a support group in Addison, Texas and we all really enjoy having the support and the different things we share with each other. I encourage you to attend one. They are great! Also, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I do not mind. I am here to help if I can. I wish you all much success in your weight loss and may God continue to bless you all.

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12-8-04 Wow! Can not believe I am almost 1 year post op. I have lost 108 lbs, which is 100% of my excess weight and I did it all in 8 months. I have maintained for the last 3 1/2 months. This is amazing. I still look in the mirror and can not believe it is me. Life is awesome! I love working out which is the key to success! Please know that I am here if you have any questions. I would love to help you in any way possible if you need me. I know there are tough times, especially when it comes to protein but know it is all worth it. I would not change a thing. I love my support group. They are an awesome and very successful group. Please feel free to come and join us. Again, let me know if there is anything I can help you with. God Bless you all and as always, your prayers are always appreciated.

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12-29-04 Well, I had my 1 year check up on Monday and Dr Ihde said I am at my goal weight - 139 lbs which is a total weight loss of 111 lbs. I am so blessed! I just sent my picutres in for the photo gallery and I hope they post it on my profile. I cried when they gave me my before and after pictures. I could not believe that I ever looked that big and what a difference. I showed the pictures to my co-workers and all I hear that day was WOW and OH MY GOSH! And that is an understatment. Well, now I am training. I want to run a 3K by February and a 5K by May and would like to consider having plastic surgery, tummy tuck and breast lift for my birthday in June. This is my goal for the first 6 months of 2005! Please continue to keep me in your prayers. As you know they are always appreciated. Remember, I have a support group and if you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me! I am always here to help in any way I can. God Bless you all!!!

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1-14-05 Oh my goodness! They posted my pictures and the first one looks just as bad on-line as it does in front of me. I am so excited to be at my goal weight and can not wait for those of you not there yet to experience it. It is just an awesome feeling of accomplishment. We are truly blessed by the wonderful doctors giving us another chance at life. I know I thank my doctor all the time. Please be sure to let your doctor know how much you appreciate him/her. Yes, you are doing all the work now but without them, we would not of had the opportunity to start a new thinner and healthier life. THANKS DR IHDE!!! Well, don't forget that if you are in my area, I have a support group. I would love to have you join us. As always, your prayers are always appreciated and God Bless you all!!!

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4-11-05 WOW, how time flies! It has been almost 3 months since I have posted. Hope all is well with everyone. I am excited to say I have maintained my weight for 6 months now. Trying to save up for plastic surgery now. If it happens, it happens, and if it does not, that is okay too. I feel awesome and I am healthy and that is what is important! I am happy to say I just celebrated one year of facilitating our support group and we had a celebration party and it was great to see everyone's progress. Everyone is looking great! I am so proud of my group and they are proud of themselves and each other as they should be. Anyway, all is well and as always, keep the prayers of wellness coming my way because they are always appreciated. God Bless you all!

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4-21-06 WOW it has been ONE year since I posted! How time flies! Well, my update is this! I worked part time to save up for my plastic surgery and I am VERY happy to say that I have had my tummy tuck, my breast lift (no implants), and my arms done. All I have left to do is my inner thighs if I decide to have them done at the end of the year. Everything has gone great and I am so very pleased! My family is going to Poland this summer. We are going to go visit my in-laws that have not seen me since BEFORE my gastric so all they remember is me being 250 lbs. All they have seen are headshots, no full body pictures. Can not wait to see their reaction to the new me! They know I had WLS and my plastic surgery but have not seen me. I am counting down the days for this trip. I am so excited! We also just celebrated 2 years of facilitating our support group. I have the best looking group of LOSERS you have ever seen! I am so very proud of them all. Wishing you all much love and many prayers. Keep them coming my way too! They are truly appreciated! God Bless you all!!!

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12-27-06 WOW!!! I can not believe it has been 3 years since my gastric surgery! Time sure has flown by! I have had 3 of my 4 plastic surgeries. I have had my tummy tuck, my breast lift (no implants) and my arms done. I am waiting for my surgery to be scheduled for my inner thighs. We are hoping by February, then I will be done! WooHoo! As you can imagine, my life has changed for the better. I work out at least 5 days a week and LOVING IT!!! Live is GREAT! I love going to the mall with my 16 year old son and people think I am his girlfriend and not his mom. It is too funny! The best part is not having to go to the Women's Plus size section of the store anymore. Jrs is now my stop! I would have NEVER thought this would have been possible. I also found out the other day that the hospital where my gastric surgeon is at put my before and after photos in the newspaper to promote gastric surgery. I felt honor that they wanted to use my photos. My doctor is also using my photos to promote his practice. Hey, if I can help one person decide to make this life changing decision and change their life for the better like I have, then it is all worth it! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions! I am here to help anyone that needs some suggestions or feedback. This may not be for everyone but please do not let people discourage you. I have found that those that do are those that have no clue about gastric. Do you research and do not hesitiate to ask questions! It is your right. Well, I will keep you posted on my last upcoming inner thigh surgery! Keep those prayers coming and they are truly appreciated! God Bless you all and here is to another GREAT new year!!!!!

Photos

245 lbs I went to 250 lbs by surgery date two months later. Never realized how big I had gotten.

139 lbs At my goal weight and feeling great!

Hospital Reviews

(Lancaster, TX) - Medical Center of Lancaster
Surgeon Info:
Surgeon: Glenn M. Ihde, M.D.
My family and I really like him. His office staff is really nice and helpful. He stresses aftercare really important. He went over the risks of surgery and how I can reduce the risks.
Insurer Info:
United Healthcare, Select Plus POS
The doctor's office did all the work. They said they could not fax the paperwork so they mailed it in. I called and they told me they had the paperwork and was forwarding it on to a nurse for review. I later found out that it went to a wrong area and that the information had to be called in and not mailed in. They had to call the Care Coordination Dept at (866) 823-1807. The doctor's office then called in the information and once they did that, I was approved in 2 1/2 weeks. I think it would not have taken as long if we had know to call in the beginning. That is why I am giving this information. Not sure if all United Healthcare is the same but if this help someone get approved faster, that would be great!