therealleigh

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I weigh 280 now.  The last month it has been slow losing.  I still think it is because sometimes I do not get enough protein in.  I am working on that.  I want to get to 240 by October.  Doctor said I would not be able to get under 200 without plastic surgery to remove the excess skin as it is dead weight.  So when I get to 240 I will make an appointment with plastic surgeon.  Here is my before and after picture at 8 months.  From 408 to 280.

I need to be better about blogging but you get to living and doing and it doesnt happen.  Anyways, I am 7 months post op and weigh 287.5.  I am happy about that.  But my head keeps thinking I should have lost more which is sortof nuts.  I am doing water aerobics three times a week.  Tonight I am going to a Zumba class for the first time.  Going to see how I do not sure if my knees will be able to take it.  But we will see how it goes.

I can eat more food now, especially less dense foods.  I do not tolerate ground beef well, and can only eat like three small bites of steak.  I love love love shrimp, tuna and crab.  I do well with chicken that is moist.  I have had a  couple of incidents eating sugar so I stay away which I am suppose to anyways.  I really love eggface's website.  I made some of her recipes to have something sweet.  Love the Torani syrups.  Finally found a protein drink I love... Click.  I can drink it everyday for breakfast.

These next months I am doing things I have never done before.  Going horseback riding, white water rafting, going to try to walk a 5k (at least as much as I can) and going on a cruise in September.   I am loving life.  It is the best thing I ever did.  I still have head issues about food, I do not want to go back to eating badly.  So I go to TOPS every week to be accountable.  I have lost consistantly, but did have a stall during December and that broke this last two weeks with a 9 pound loss.

I will try to get some new pictures up soon.

I know I am late posting this here.  Had a couple pm's wanting to know about my surgery.  So here goes.

To me if first started the night before surgery.  Had to put clean linens on the bed, shower with the dynahex and suds all up and wait five minutes before rinsing.  Put on clean clothes went to bed.  Had to stop drinking at 10pm.  Got up the next morning, June 14th, showered again with the dynahex.  The worse thing was the five minutes standing in the shower waiting to turn water back on to rinse.  lol

Got to hospital at 6:30am and checked in.  Got called back to what I call the pre preop area.  Changed clothes, answered tons of questions, signed stuff.  Weighed in at 380.  I had lost 20 pounds on the 2 week liquid diet.  The nurse gave me two meds for nausea and the patch behind the ear.  She also gave me a shot of Lovenox to thin blood to reduce blood clots.  My hubby came back and sat with me for abut 20 minutes.  Then I was wheeled on the bed to the preop area.  Hubby followed and then went to waiting room.  In preop my surgeon came and talked to me, his assistant, the or nurse, the anesthesia guy and his three assistants.  I got iv put in and the asst anesthesia guy gave me versed.  It was 8:15am, they pushed me to the OR.  I counted there were 11 people in there.  Oh yeah I forgot I had a student nurse assigned to me who had been with me/followed me through the whole thing.   So I scooted over to the OR table and they got me situated.  Then they put the leg massagers on, moved the two LED screens close.  Then put the mask on me and next thing I knew I was in recovery and it was 9:40.  The student nurse was there and said I did great.  Then I slept.  Next thing I knew it was 10:50 and they were moving me to my room.

It was a bumpy ride.  I was in a BariBed so the door had to be taken off the room and then put back on once I was in the room.  I felt nauseous, they gave me zofran.  I also had some pain.  It was strange pain, like you could feel the blind stomach and pouch hurting in two different areas.  They gave me morphine for the pain, which also makes me feel ill.  From 11 till 3pm I did not feel too good.  But at 3pm I was allowed one ounce of water a hour.  I got up went to bathroom and felt a little better.  I walked the hall and sat up in recliner for a bit.  Then about 6 I needed something for pain.  They gave me diladid this time thank goodness and I had no pain and was able to sleep a few hours.  Got up and walked a couple more times.  Then at 12am I got another pain shot and slept till 6am.  Started walking again.  At 8 my doctor came in and said I did great and would start glucerna two ounces a hour and if I held that down during the day I would go home at 4:30pm.  I did fine with the glucerna.  Did not have to have any more pain meds.  Nurse insisted I have two hydrocodones prior to leaving the hospital for the ride.  So I did.

Got home and watched tv.  I took the hydrocodone for two nights prior to bed to sleep.  Then that was it.  Stomach growled a lot.  I was still on zofran.  I took it before bed.  I still take it now every other night.  I have some nausea but am never sick, just the feeling.  Just took it easy for a week.  Then went and got a mani pedi which was nice and bought some Lindsay Phillips flip flops and went home.  My husband stayed home with me a week, then my best friend came in from out of town and stayed 4 days.  No complaints except I hated protein shakes after surgery.  Still don't like them.

Went to 10 day post visit with Dr. M and I was 374.  He said I was doing great and could start soft foods.  I was soo happy.  I had refried beans with cheese and a little salsa, tuna fish and mayo, hummus, eggbeaters with laughing cow cheese, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, and roast beef hash.  I am still on soft foods.  I see the NUT on July 15th.  Nothing has bothered me except the marinara sauce with the ricotta cheese gave me heart burn.

The only incident I have had is on Thursday June 30th.  I passed out at Walmart.  I was by myself, I had been real fatigued and suddenly felt nauseous and boom.  The manager came checked everything out and I was helped, given water etc.  Got to the car sat there a few minutes in the air conditioning.  90+ degrees that day.  Went home and had no energy.  So the next day I went to my primary doctor.  My blood pressure was very low so they cut my bp meds in half.  The next day I felt like myself.  So I have to go back to doctor every two weeks for them to keep check. She said if I kept losing I might be off the meds completely in a couple months.  I weighed 371 at the doctor.  I felt bothered because it was only three pounds in one week.  Then I realized I was being ridiculous.  Yay 3 pounds.

I start back to TOPS Monday so I will be weighed in once a week.  I took three weeks off from TOPS for the surgery.  I am the Leader.  I do not have a scale at home.  I am taking pictures once a month and measurements.  So that is where I am at now.  Will stay updated better now.  I try to get most of my protein with food.  I do love K20 protein mix.  It is only 5 grams of protein per water bottle but I get the water down better.

Sorry this was so long.  Will not wait so long to update again.  :)

Ok still have headache once and a while.  I am not getting in my 800 - 1000 calories.  I recorded everything yesterday and am getting like 600.  I drink 72 gm of protein this includes the skim milk that is 404.  It is hard to get another 400 calories in with just sf pops and jello, crystal light and broth.  I am gonna do more skim milk with my protein to bump up the calories.

I did have my preop appointment with my surgeon yesterday.  I lost 5 pounds in two days on this liquid phase.  Appointment went well.  He will be on vacation next week so he will be well rested for my surgery.  lol  He said that to me.  I really like Dr. M.

Also this liquid in liquid out, wish I had thought about that prior.  I hope it gets better in a couple days.

Started liquid diet today.  So far so good.  I am drinking Isopure Apple Melon rtd clear protein.  I need to find a powder also to use during this 2 weeks.  I have a bunch of samples of proteins but have been told to hold on to those for after surgery due to taste change. 

I stocked up on everything else, crystal light, kitchen basics low soduim broths, sf jello and sf pops.  I am glad it is summer for the popsicles.  I am going to spend time at the pool these next two weeks to help pass the time and not think about eating.  Yesterday was my last day cooking and cleaning the kitchen for two weeks.  I have two capable teenage girls and a hubby who can take care of themselves for a month.  I just felt staying away from the preparations of meals is best until after surgery.

Going to research on peoples favorite protein powders to find me something decent for the next two weeks.

After this long journey I have gotten my approval and surgery date.  June 14, 2011.  Have seen all my doctors and all agree that the RNY is my best choice.  I am very happy, excited and nervous.  Now it is finally real.  I can start preparing for preop and post op.  My liquid diet starts May 31st.  I am going to start learning to sip as I am a gulpper.   Need to chew more and slow down.  I know the month will fly by.  I am just so glad to get this done before I turned 50.  It is my present to myself.

I had been researching DS.  So many telling me you should get the DS not the RNY.

So at my gallbladder post op visit, I asked Dr. Melkonian a hundred questions about the DS and RNY.  Since I had been going for wls for so long, I learned more, had more questions.  He talked to me for like 45 minutes. Explained the differences, the percentage differences, the complications of both etc.  He said I do not do the DS, but Dr. Vollinger does here in Charlotte.  If I would like to do the DS he would send me over to Dr. V.  He told me about my surgery, that they wished they could have performed the RNY while doing the gallbladder but of course he did not have insurance approval.  He said he poked around while he was in there and everything looked great, and my wls surgery would be a breeze.  Also he was not worried about me meeting the 60 BMI.  My BMI is 61.  I really like Dr. Melkonian. He is straight to the point.  I like that.

I thought about this, discussed with my husband, did more reading on the internet.  I am going to have the RNY with Dr. M.  Both surgeries are tools.  If you use the tool and do what you are suppose to, it works.  I like the idea he has already been in there.  I have experience with him from the gallbladder surgery.  All this comforted me.  I lost my fear of anesthesia.  I have never been this excited about the wls surgery.  I am really excited and ready.  I feel some of the reason I was lackadaisical about it was I was not ready.  I am now.

I saw my NUT.  She talked to me about the preop diet, post op, vitamins, etc.  I have to get bloodwork updated and then the paperwork will be sent to insurance for approval.  I am not sure how long it will take for approval.  I know they will approve it.  So I assume I will be having surgery sometime this summer.

I know some of my TOPS pals will not like the fact of the surgery.  They want me to do it myself.  I am 49. If it has not worked on my own by now, I need different help.  I had joined a new local DS group, they will probably kick me out.  I like them a lot.  But the DS is not what I want.  There are two or three RNY support groups here in Charlotte, but they do not seem very active.  Strange in such a big town.  Raleigh area has more wls support, ten times more, than Charlotte does.

Reading up on vitamins and protein.  Getting samples.  My gyn is the one who started me on this journey.  He is great.  My health is what matters, losing the weight will reduce my chance of a recurrence of Breast Cancer.  I will not have to be on progesterone so I do not get uterine cancer.  I will also be around for more grand-kids.

I am changing my mind about having the RNY and going for the DS.  I had emergency gallbladder surgery two weeks ago.  Dr. was able to do it laproscopically.   So that was very encouraging for me.  The doctor that did the surgery is the same doctor I am going to for wls.  I have post op visit tomorrow.  I am going to talk to him about the DS.  I know he does not do them.  But I still want to hear what he has to say.  Then after that I am going to start the process with Dr. Sudan at Duke. 

It still amazes me as large as this city is, why there are not more DS doctors/patients.  Even with the RNY I could only find two support groups.  Just think that is odd.

Been a while since I posted.  I got sortof down about the surgery when it was going to be June before I got it.  We were going to be going out of town and having to move.  Well we are still moving but the trip out of town is off.  I only have 6 more pounds to lose to meet the requirements of my surgeon. 

My loss has been slow but that is because I think my head was just not into it from being disappointed.  I see the nutritionist the 19th.  Maybe I will have lost the 6 pounds by then.

At this time I am busy packing up everything in our house to move to our new home on the 27th.  It is amazing how much stuff you can acquire in 8 years.  I havent even started on the garage.  Hmmm does packing count as exercise? :)

Well I have to get to 394 before they will send in my insurance stuff. I have to be at 59 BMI.  So I have 19 pounds to lose to get there.  Of course I gained 1 pound over Thanksgiving but I am back on track.  I have already lost 26 pounds, but for some reason the 19 pounds seems much harder or longer, guess its just wanting to have insurance stuff sent in.  My next NUT appointment is Dec 11th.  I want to lose 6 pounds by then I figure that is not an over the top goal.  Hopefully I can be at least 400 or 399 by New Years.  I am still following WW.  I have thought about doing the liquid diet to get it off faster.  Then I think I might be rushing it where this is teaching me portion and correct foods.  Plus I do not think my hubby would like for me to be cranky over Christmas.  LOL Once this rain leaves us I am going to walk 30 minutes everyday to help the loss on.