My journey copied from the old format

Mar 27, 2012

Well had my first set back this week. I haven't even seen the surgeon yet, and he just cancelled my appointment for 10/14/03. It was like taking the wind out of my sails, because I have already done three of the preop appointments and everything was moving ahead smoothly. The surgeon's nurse now tells me they are "reorganizing the program" (what ever that means) and they will not have any appointments until January. I was hoping to have surgery before the end of 2003 because I have met my out of pocket max with my insurance and they are paying stuff at 100% now.
It seems like so many people here talk about the waiting and the set backs they have. I am trying not to get too crazy about it. I could call another surgeon, but I was reading profiles from one surgeon I was thinking of trying and every single one talked about it taking months and longer to get to the point of a surgery date, that I may as well just wait for this surgeon. I'm still not really sure what I want to do. One day I think maybe I should just forget the whole thing, then I'll get up and walk and be in all this pain and think, wouldn't it be so nice to not hurt so much?
I have read so many profiles on this and some other web sites. I really give a great hooray the people who have made it through this surgery and are losing, losing, losing. They need to fell proud of themselves!
Well I just wanted to let out my frustration about the appointment.
Thanks for "listening"


2003



Hi again, It's October 30th, 2003. I now have an appointment with a different surgeon for November 4th, 2003. That's less than a week away and I just called the office Tuesday this week. It took me a few weeks to decide what to do after the other Surgeon cancelled my first appointment. The new doctor is Dr. Lesage in Racine, WI. One of the girls I work with had surgery with him in January 2003 and has lost at least 147lbs already.
I am now starting to feel hopeful again. Dr. Lesage's nurse Pam was honest in saying she can't gaurantee that I'll be able to have the surgery yet this year, but she did come out and say they'd try. So I got on the telephone to get all my preop stuff sent to the new surgeon. I have to say that the psychologist I saw called me right back and faxed me the release of information consent right away and promised to fax the evaluation on Monday. Her name is Betsy Blair and she is on Silver Sping St in Milwaukee. She seemed understanding and caring and didn't make me feel fat, etc.
It's kind of funny (wierd funny - not haha funny) that the different surgeons have some different preop stuff to be done. 1st surgeon had me see the endocrinologist and the 2nd surgeon doesn't seem interested in that. I'll probably have to have some kind of pulmonary or sleep study test now, where the 1st surgeon didn't necessarily require it. My friend tells me it's just a pulse ox, I can handle that. I don't think I have sleep apnea and I sure hope I don't. On the bright side it may be the last test I need.
I haven't been worried about the insurance coverage because there are like 6 or 7 people who work for my company who have all had the surgery done and covered. 1st doctor said I needed and upper GI, second doctor says not necessarily. Well I'll know more after Tuesday won't I?
I am looking forward to a day when I do not have pain, it's a happy thought. . .



Today is Thanksgiving Day, 11/27/03 -
Well it looks like I am a once a month updater to this profile. But I was waiting until I got a surgery date and now I have one. December 22, 2003 is my big day. Insurance was approved with no problem. Actually Dr Lesage's nurse Pam said she's never had a denial. Pam called me Tuesday with the news of my date and I must say I was very excited and happy. It's amzing all the emotions you go through. So far I have no doubts that I want to do this.
I had no hope of ever losing weight for so long and now I have so much hope of losing, it is wierd. But it feels good too. My 15 year old son Eric gets tired of hearing me talk about it sometimes though. Poor him, I always have to explain everything to him so he understands and won't have any misconceptions. I think sometimes he'd rather not know. I just can't seem to shut up though.
Before my MD appointment with the surgeon I made a list of surgery pros and cons and have pasted them here to share. I think of more pros all the time too.
Pros and Cons of Surgery
Pros

1. diabetes and all it's risks for complications will stop - don't want dialysis, amputated feet, blindness, stroke, heart attack, PVD, neuropathy. . . - done!
2. hypertension and it's risks for complications will stop.- heart attack, stroke - done!
3. arthritis pain will decrease - done!
4. personal hygiene will be able to be done without hurting myself (wiping my butt) - done!
5. wear shoes without pain in my feet
6. ride a bicycle
7. walk more than short distances without pain- done!
8. maybe won't wake up at night in pain
9. maybe decrease number of times I wake up at night to pee- done!
10. participate more in activities with Eric and his friends
11. rides at amusement parks will fit
12. movie theater seats will fit- done!
13. airplane seats and seatbelts will fit
14. seatbelt in cars will fit- done!
15. seats at schools (WCATY etc) will fit- done!
16. won't have to worry about breaking a chair if I sit on it
17. lawn chairs will fit
18. sit on floor and have no trouble getting up
19. no more dirty looks from strangers
20. better job opportunities - I have definitely lost jobs to thinner people
21. wear nicer clothes
22. wear high heels sometimes without pain
23. live longer, to see and play with my grandkids someday
24. discrimination against fat people is rampant, even in hospitals and other health care settings
25. being someone who lost the weight will give me credibility if I ever get a job where I need to do teaching about diet, etc.
26. like having my picture taken again
27. walk up and down stairs with out pain, maybe even without thinking twice like I do now, because I worry about the pain and my knees giving way.
28. be able to dance without pain
29. be able to have sex with my husband
30. be able to dive into the pool when I swim
31. not be looked at in disgust when I swim
32. small children won't say "she's fat" ( which is true, but it hurts anyway and parents do not know how to deal with it at all!)
33. fit 3 in a back seat without squishing everyone
34. have men look at me in that nice way :-)
35. did I mention sex?????? :-)
36. save money because I won't need some of my prescriptions any more - glucophage, HCTZ, avapro, mycolog - will probably still need sometimes, but less often with smaller skin folds, will probably still need the sinus medications - guaifenessin and nasonex inhaler, prevacid - heart burn and reflux may get worse according to Dr. Geenen - or it may get better according to many of the patient testimonials, vioxx - I don't think arthritis actually goes away, but maybe with less weight to carry my joints will hurt less - don't need the B/P & diabetes pills but vitamins cost more than them.
37. save money because I'll eat less at home and in restaurants- done!
38. be able to get on the ground easier to do yard work, gardening
39. maybe be able to get on the floor and really scrub them clean
40. less pain- done!
41. feel good physically
42. feel good about myself
43. walk at a normal pace. Now I walk very slowly to prevent pain.
44. be able to do yard work with out pain and needing to rest every few minutes- done!

Cons

1. potential surgical risks - like death, CVA, DVT, post-op wound and other infection, leaking around staples in the stomach - peritonitis, abcess, wound evisceration
2. probable surgical risk - post-op nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and dumping syndrome - I get diarrhea several days a week now anyway
3. being treated badly by the staff at the hospital because I am fat - this happens all the time, why all medical facilities don't have large size gowns I will never know
4. lose being fat as an excuse for bad things that happen
5. lose being fat as an excuse for not doing things
6. I like food - especially bad food like ice cream and fatty foods, fat gives food good flavor
7. I use food to cope with stress
8. I'll have to take vitamins - yuck, they taste bad and I have been constipated from them in the past, but with the change in diet and dumping syndrome and all I wonder if that will be an issue, vitamins aren't cheap, I take pills everyday now so that won't be an issue
9. I think I have used being fat as a way to keep men away from me, so I wouldn't be hurt by rejection, I could blame it on being fat. Being married should negate this issue. ;-p
10. probable need for surgery to remove the panniculus and other excess skin after the weight is lost - this surgery will more than likely be more painful than the laparoscopic Roux-N-Y
11. some people will look down at me for having this surgery, why can't I just eat right
12. If I die my son Eric will kill me :-)
13. when I am nauseated I usually eat something to try to decrease the nausea
Well this is a lot for one post but I will be back. hopefully in less than a month!



12/5/03 update
Hi again. I saw the pulmonary doctor yesterday and I am doing the Happy Dance because I do not have sleep apnea! Woo hoo!!
I know I am unusual for this site. But I so did not want to have sleep apnea. I have enough other co-morbidities anyway.
I did have one billing issue so far. The lab work done the day I saw the pulmonologist was billed with a diagnosis of morbid obesity. So of course the insurance denied it because the diagnosis is not a covered illness. When I called them they did confirm as long as the precert says the surgery is medically necessary they will pay it. So I call the lab billing office and tell them to rebill it with the correct diagnosis which was r/o sleep apnea (the doctor's bill was paid 100% because they coded the correct diagnosis code of sleep apnea.) They tell me they did not get the denial yet and so they can't do anything yet. It may take another week for them to get the denial. I'm like, "you mean I have to call back here in a week and wait on hold for another 1/2 hour to get this handled? You can't simply resend the bill with the correct code? She's like no. So I asked for the fax number so I could fax the EOB (explanantion of benefits)to them. She was like "well, no one has ever wanted to do that before." I did not say that's because most people don't know anything about insurance and will simply pay the bill. But the bill was for over $400.00 and there is no way I will pay it. As you might guess by now, I do have knowledge about insurance as I worked as a Utilization Review Nurse doing precerts and case management for an insurance company for 6 years. Then I worked as a computer programmer analyst for the insurance company for 2 years. Now I am an admissions nurse at a nursing home and I actually do the ICD-9 diagnosis coding. I never pay a bill when I know the insurance company is responsible for it. :-)
I actually precertified many weight loss surgeries, and was fat then, but didn't think it was an option for me. I had pretty much no hope of ever losing weight. Now I have hope and I must say it feels really good. Well that's enough of an update. I see the primary MD Monday for the presurgery assessment and the surgeon on Tuesday for the presurgery appointment. Goody I get to find out about the pre-op diet, bowel prep, labs, CXR, EKG etc. The fun simply never stops does it? Praying for everyone on this site!!!!

12/11/03 update
Hi there. I spent the last 3 days spending time with doctors and lab and x-ray technicians. About 6 hours total! That is 6 hours too much for me. LOL
I saw my primary MD - Dr. Munoz in S. Milwaukee, so he could do the preadmission history and physical. Then I saw the surgeon - Dr. Lesage for the preop exam. He explained the procedure and complications again and answered my questions. His nurse explained the preop prep and made me watch a 5 minute video on giving myself Lovenox injections. I tried to talk her out of it because I am a nurse, but she still quietly had me watch the video. She is sneaky. LOL
They did all the lab work and a chest x-ray and an EKG. So now I am ready for my 12/22/03 surgery date. Still feel pretty calm and confident about my decision to have surgery. My primary doc was excited for me. He said he can't believe the change in my attitude about weight loss. Before I wouldn't even consider trying to lose weight. He gave me some exercises to do for my heel pain and after just 2 days it has made a huge difference! Thank God too, because I have to stop taking ibuprofen and vioxx before the surgery for a whole week. That had me worried, but if this foot pain is tolerable I think I can handle the arthritis pain until after surgery. Doc Lesage said I can go back on vioxx a couple days after surgery.
I hope reading this is helpful to you in some way.
I know this website has been great encouragement for me these past few months, so thanks to everyone who posts here.
If you pray, say a prayer for me!


2004


2/21/04
It's been a while since I updated and a lot has happened, so here goes.
After the surgery I had a lot of nausea and vomiting and I was tired and weak. Then I developed redness and pain on the skin around my belly button but below the incision site. The incision healed beautifully. The surgeon put me on oral antibiotics and did a CT scan of the abdomen that showed a ventral hernia and cellulitis. (Cellulitis is an infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissue) He said he would wait about a year to fix the hernia since it looked okay and kept me on the antibiotics and I was to call him if the cellulitis didn't improve in a few days. This was Monday 1/12/04. I called and got in to see the surgeon again on the 15th because there really was no improvement. The cellulitis was painful too. I did get some lortab elixir on the 12th. He admitted me to the hospital on the 15th for IV antibiotics (I knew he would :-()

Then on 12/17/03 - Saturday when I got out of the shower I heard a gas sound coming from my belly button. I knew this was a bad thing and pulled the nurse light. By the time she got there I was leaking colon drainage from my belly button. It wasn't pretty and I was horrified. She grabbed a doctor from the hallway to look at it and he confirmed my fears. 3 hours later I was in surgery for a colon resection (they had to remove about 2 inches) and fistula and hernia repair. They called it a ventral hernia with a colon fistula. The surgeon used the same incision as the RNY even to the point of putting the staples in the same place. It's amazing I only have one incision scar! I went home 12 days after admission with a one inch sized open wound to do dressing changes on twice a day and a drain. It is now 2/21/04 and the wound is healed pretty much completely and I have to go back to work 3/1/04 (yuch).I felt much better as soon as I started on the IV antibiotics. Immediatly post-op I had the nausea and dry heaves which is much better now. About 6 days after each surgery I had a bought of diarrhea that lasted about 1 1/2 days and was awful. None since though. The surgeon thought I was leaking the drainage from one of the RNY incision sites but it was not that at all. The RNY stuff was fine, this was a totally unrelated hernia and problem. I had previously had my gallbladder removed and the hernia was at one of the incision sites from that. I was not very good with wearing the binder after the first surgery and all the vomiting probably contributed to this complication so after the second surgery I wear the binder religiously. Now that the wound is better and I don't have the nausea I have tried going without it. but if I am going to walk alot I am wearing it!

After the second surgery I was on IV TPN for nutrition for healing and I did not lose any weight at all. But as of today I have lost 59lbs since I first saw the surgeon, 54 since the RNY. I will be in the 200's soon, how cool is that???



3/8/04
I'm not too good about updating this profile. I guess I just want to be able to say something exciting and positive when I am here. Actually I have not lost anything since my last post, so I am officially on a plateau. I did go to the movies and my hips weren't squished in the seat. There wasn't a whole lot of room left, but it was the cheap dollar movie with the cheap seats, not the good stadium seats that are wider. I have definitely been having the thought that I am failing and I am worrying about not losing more. I sure didn't go thru all this to lose only 57lbs. I was 307 this morning, 1 lb less than my last dietician visit a little over a week ago. I have gone back to work as of last Monday, which means my activity level is up quite a bit. So hopefully I am building muscle which we all know weighs more than the fat. I also got my period for the first time since a week before the surgery which was December. But my periods done and I still have stayed the same. I am really still eating the same or even a little less. I have tried to cut out some carbs or have fruit for my carbs and I have tried to increase my protien. My surgeon doesn't have us do protien shakes and I think they'd probably make me puke anyway. I am also kind of constipated, I think because of my period and the increased protien at the expense of eating less fruit. The fruit helps keep me regular since I can't have salad yet. The dietician says wait til about 5 months for salad and red meats. Although I do have ground beef in tomato sauce. I take small bites and chew a lot and really have not had any problem with foods yet. At least not since the second surgery. I have been talking to friends at work who had WLS and reading a lot of messages and profiles here for encouragement and that helps, but I'd sure like to see the scales go down. I have been trying to walk and doing the arm exercises with the hand weights. I am 6 weeks from the second surgery and need to increase my exercise. Walking does cause my arthritis to hurt in my knees and now a new place my left hip. I also have a heel spur that really hurts by the end of the day and ofcourse when I get up at night to go the bathroom and first thing in the morning the heel spur hurts so much I use a cane to get walking. After a while it gets better, then at night it hurts again depending on my activity level for the day. Yesterday I was so tired at 2:30pm that I took a nap, I figure it was my first day off after going back to work (full time too) so I was just catching up with my sleep when I took a nap. For 9 weeks while I was off I took a nap almost every day. My incision site is good, but my wound site keeps breaking down when ever I don't wear the binder or a dressing over it. I am afraid to do anything too strenuous until it is solidly healed. It just breaks down a tiny bit, and it needs to heal a bit more I guess.
My 15 year old son Eric was just sitting here reading a profile with me. He thought I weighed more than 336 like the woman in the profile and I was able to tell him I am now down to 307. He high fived me. I think he was impressed. he notices what I eat and if I have a lot of food on my plate he says "you won't be able to eat all of that" and he is right I don't or can't. I get full really fast. I get hungry 2-3-4-5 hours later. Sometimes I can go all day with no hunger and sometimes I am hungry all the time. Gee just like before surgery. haha Well this is really long and not funny enough to keep someone interested so I'll stop. Hopefully I'll have weight loss to report with my next update!!


3/8/04
Here I am again. I just decided to check my BMI at my present weight and it is 48.1, I am now morbidly obese and not super obese!! That is awesome! Every little encouragement helps right? Right! :-)

3/13/04
Well the plateau is broken, at least I hope so! 2 days ago I was down 1 lb and yesterday I was down 3 more lbs and today 2 1/2 more lbs, to total 6 1/2lbs lost in 3 days. Yeah. but a part of me is still afraid to be excited about it, thinking I will gain it all back, etc. Guess it goes with the WLS territory. I measured myself 3 days ago since I hadn't done that before and if I lost inches it would encourage me. I have lost a total of 20 inches including 2 inches from neck, which must be why people say they can tell I've lost weight in my neck. It's funny how as I was measuring I was so afraid the tape measure would not show any decrease in size. But it did and that made me very happy. I have been doing good with eating the right amounts and the right foods. I have been constipated (painful bowel movements) for 2 weeks and so have tried to eat fruit everyday. Finally today I had a non-painful BM. Everyone at work has been watching me and what I eat. We go out to lunch most days and I just order off the menu like anyone else, eat my small amount and take the rest home. When I think about the amount of food I used to eat compared to what I eat now I am amazed. The women I work with are all on the Southbeach diet so we are all eating mainly the same things. Except I haven't had salad yet, because the dietician says to wait until 4-5 months for that. Soon!! I actually crave salad. But get plenty to eat that's for sure. Well gotta go take my son to his band contest. Thanks for reading.


3/26/04
It's been 3 months since WLS on the 22nd and 2 months since the second surgery the 17th. I am 298lbs with my clothes on today. I had to reformat the hard drive on my computer last Saturday so I lost all my previous measurements. I'll have to remeasure this weekend and go from there. Last time I had lost 20 inches so anything between then and now will be lost. It is pretty frustrating. I lost digital camera pictures that were on the hard drive too. That's what I don't like about digital cameras. I had been at another plateau until yesterday. I pretty much stayed the same from my last post. I am hoping I stay under the 300 mark now. I am eating such a small amount I can't not lose weight. Maybe I'm still building muscle mass, I know I lost a lot while I was off work. Had lab work drawn last Thursday and it is all normal. My iron is borderline normal so they still want me to take the 2 iron pills a day. I wanted to decrease it because of the terrible constipation I've been having. It hurts to go, if I can get it out! I've been taking a stool softener for a week now too. Generic Surfak. I had my period last weekend again after only 3 weeks. First I go 3 months with no period, then in 3 weeks I get it again. At least it wasn't as heavy as the last one. I am not wearing the abdominal binder today and I feel naked without it. But it is starting to irritate the skin on my tummy. I think the wound is finally healed completely. It is wider than it was the last couple of days. I get a bit paranoid about the hernia and cellulitis returning. I guess that's normal after having to have 2 surgeries and the surgeon did say the hernia will probably come back because they didn't use mesh due to the risk of infection. I've been trying to wear as many differnet outfits as I can as they are beginning to get pretty big on me. I don't feel I need to buy new clothes yet, but hopefully soon. Although the money is an issue. The blouse I have on today is really too big, but I wore it anyway. I sat in a booth for lunch today and I fit!! I wasn't squished. Last time I sat in the same booth I was totally squished and uncomfortable. Today I was quite comfortable. Yeah me!



4/1/04
I had to reformat my hard drive on my computer a week ago so I am putting my second set of start measurements here as a backup. Hopefully I don't lose it all again. It is a very frustrating thing to happen because I know I have lost some inches before this and after my last measuring where I had lost a total of 20 inches. Anyway here goes.
These are new start measurements starting 4/1/04. I had lost a total of 20 inches previously 3 weeks ago. I think my hips have lost 3 more inches since then. My starting weight was 365 for my first surgeon visit. 360 for day of surgery. 3/18 weight was 305lbs at the surgeon's office.
weight 292
waist 51.5
hips 58
thigh 28.5
calf 17.5
ankle 11.25
neck 15.5
wrist 7
upper arm 19.5
lower arn 12.5
breast 51
chest 48
shoulers 53

4/3/04 This is just another version of my hernia surgery that I want to have a back-up for so I am saving it here. Not much new now, 70lbs down. I have done new measurements this week. My hips have lost 7 inches since surgery! That's the only original measurement I remember. I think I am on another plateau, only a few days so far though so maybe I will keep losing some more. Well that's all for now, nothing much new. My son is in Florida with the high school band. I am jealous and wish I was there too! haha DH is being very kind and nice while we have alone time.

04/03/04:
Hi, Sorry you are having so many problems. Sounds like they finally found out what was wrong and have fixed it at least. It will get better. I did not have the same problem, but I did have a second surgery less than a month after my open RNY. I developed redness and pain on the skin around my belly button. This was under the WLS scar, not on it at all. Not at a drain site either. I started on PO antibiotics and I went in to see the surgeon the next day. He ordered an emergency CT scan of my abdomen for that day at 6:30pm. (When he examined me he bent over my belly button and listened - you could hear the bowel sounds without a stethoscope) I had to drink some very yucky stuff for it. I managed not to puke, but it wasn't easy, I gagged on it a lot. That's because I was vomiting a lot before this day as it was. Turns out I had a hernia and cellulitis. The surgeon was there when the CT scan was done because he was afraid of a strangled hernia or a leak. We were going to wait a year to fix the hernia. But after 3 more days with no relief for the cellulitis he admitted me to the hospital for IV antibiotics. This was a Thursday. That Saturday I was drying after my shower in the hospital and I heard gas coming from my belly button. I knew this was a very bad thing and pushed the nurse light. A couple minutes later brown liquid starting coming out of my belly button. It was colon contents. I yelled for the nurse to come right away. She grabbed a doctor out of the hallway who confirmed what it was. We tried to cover it with a dressing, but it was leaking a lot. My surgeon was there within an hour and had surgery scheduled for 2 hours later already before he even saw me. He thought it was a leak from the WLS but it turns out it was a hernia from when I had my gallbladder out in the 1990's. It developed the fistula thru my body to outside my body so he did the hernia repair and had to remove 2 more inches of colon. No mesh was used because it could be contaminated with the mess there. Luckily I was already on a strong antibiotic because I had an open wound about 1 1/2 inches long in my belly button, but it never got infected. it healed after a month of wet to dry dressing changes. I was in the hospital for 12 days on TPN for IV nutrition and IV antibiotics. The TPN was over 3000 calories per day for healing, so I never lost weight in the hospital. I actually gained from the fluids, but I got the doctor to give me lasix so that the water weight was gone by discharge. It was a very scary thing to happen. Being a nurse I was having all kinds of scary ideas. The RNY stuff was just fine thru all of this and after the second surgery my nausea and vomiting has decreased greatly and I felt so much better. I had to start all over again with the clear liquid diet and I was so frustrated about that. By the time i went home I was on full liquids, but not the soft pureed diet yet. The infection and hernia must have been there a while because I felt so much better after it was repaired. I have lost 70lbs since my 12/22/03 WLS even with all of this. The surgeon used the same incision for both surgeries so I have only the one scar, he even put the staples in the same place, it's kind of amazing. He said the hernia will probably come back because he could not use mesh for the repair. I hope it waits until I get to goal so I can have the tummy tuck or panniculectomy when it is repaired again. :-) Hope this helps you feel less alone. I went back to work 6 weeks after the hernia/fistula repair and really felt better after I went back to work. I still feel pretty good but I am paranoid about the hernia coming back. Good luck. Cathy


4/12/04
Hi - Just a short update. I am 75lbs down now. That puts me at 290lbs with my clothes on! I'd love to be 80lbs gone by my 4 month anniversary, but I don't know if I can. I have some days when I want to eat all the time. Potato chips - salty things seem to be what I crave. Maybe I need salt. The fat free Pringles are pretty good and 16 = 70 calories and I usually can only eat 8 at a time, so for 35 calories, it's not too bad of a bad habit. I also sometimes snack on cashews, yummy. I love watermelon and cantelope and snack on them too. My dietician likes me to snack on the melon. I know I don't get enough protein, I try but I just can't eat that much. I found an Atkins approved chocolate milk this week. It is 2% milk and has only 10 calories more than plain skim milk and way less sugar than plain skim milk. it tastes good, I have been mixing it 1/2 and 1/2 with plain skim milk and I like it even better. It costs like $3.00 for 1/2 gallon though so I won't buy it very often. Sometimes I just crave chocolate milk though. This weekend while walking to the car after church my son and his friends were laughing because my DH was "commenting" on how I walk faster than he does now and I don't need help on the curbs anymore. I have noticed I walk faster and further without needing to rest so much. Stairs are still hard, but I can do the sidewalk curbs much easier than before surgery when I'd have someone stand by me so I could hold on. I was afraid my knees would give way and they hurt so much then. I still have knee pain, just not as much. It's a good feeling to know I can walk more with out pain though! I still haven't had to buy new clothes. I went to Catherine's this weekend and the 2X I tried on was loose, but the 1X was tight. I have nothing smaller than a 3XL, but they still look OK. I want them to be baggy and fall off, but not yet. I am looking forward to shopping, but who knows when I'll need to. Another revelation is that when I take my bra off at night there are no marks on my skin from it being too tight. Never had that before :-) Well this ended up being long instead of short so I better go. Hope someone's reading this. Thanks


4/28/04 This will be a quick update. I am only down about 4 lbs since the last update. I was down 5, then up 5 again, now down 4. Wierd. I still see a fat person when I look in the mirror, even though I know I am smaller by things I can fit in and do that I couldn't fit in or do 4 months ago. My DH is going to see the surgeon with me 5/18/04 to see if he can have surgery. It may not be possible and I'll go into details with my next update. My 15 year old son is wanting to get online now so I'll go. Thanks for reading.



5/2/04 Hi again. I am still 286 lbs. Can't seem to break this little plateau. But I joined the YMCA Friday and yesterday my DH and I went there and I walked the treadmill for 11 minutes and burned 99 calories! Then I did 2 or 3 sets on about 9 machines there. Today we are going and I'll do all that and swim too. I love to swim, so I am looking forward to going. DH does not love it there, after about 15 minutes he's like "Can we leave now" and I was like not yet! Then 5 minutes later he's like "can we leave now" and I was like not yet! I hope he isn't that way again today. I asked my son to come today and he's like "no, it's a waste of time" and ofcourse I'm like, no it's not. Oh well, it's a free membership for May from my job. Then I can get June, July and August for free for doing the Lighthouse run/walk (that's one of those charity walks) So I am set for 4 months. If they end up not going when September comes around I can get a single membership instead of a family membership and pay less money for it. I joined the Racine YMCA because it's thru work and I work for Racine County. I am going to the Cudahy one mostly because I live 5 minutes from it and I live 30-40 minutes from the Racine one. The Racine membership for family costs $44 a month and the Cudahy one costs $84 a month. The Racine facility is actually bigger and has an indoor track and the Cudahy one does not have a track. Why the difference in cost?? Who knows. I know I'll pay the less money and use both facilities anyways.
My DH is goiong to see the surgeon for a consult for possibly having WLS. I don't know if he can because he has had a million hernia surgeries including a huge paraesophageal hernia surgery in 1998 where they put in a feeding tube to hold his stomach down so it would cause adhesions to his abdominal wall so his stomach won't go up into his chest again. He has no diaphragm after that surgery, they simply had no time to fix it. He has about 5 huge hernias now. So I don't know if Dr Lesage will want to mess with such a complicated case. Maybe he'll find it a challenge and be excited to do it? We'll see soon enough. I am glad DH is trying with going to the gym and seeing the surgeon. He is 6' 2" and 303lbs so he doesn't have as much to lose as I did, but it's all in his abdomen and his panniculus is huge. His arms and legs are really skinny. I would love for him to lose 100lbs and then have surgery to fix the hernias and remove the panniculus. It would be a miracle. He has to wear an abdominal binder everyday because of those hernias.
Well on the good news front. I mowed the lawn this week and did the whole job without having to rest even once until I was done. Last year all I could do was once around the yard, then I had to stop and rest like 10 minutes. I was very excited about the whole thing. Bought a shirt size 2X yesterday, had a $10 coupon for Penney's, got an $11.99 shirt. Good deal and a smaller size. Woo hoo! My mom says she bought me a present, a 2X night gown. She's been very supportive of surgery etc. She will mail it to me soon. She's in NY and I am in Wisconsin. Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading!



5/12/04 It's me again. I finally broke the plateau. I guess I didn't break it, but it broke. I was down to 275 this morning, a full 3-4lbs less than yesterday and only 2 days after I finally got to 285. And I got my period today too! Very wierd. I am happy though. I hope tomorrow it doesn't all come back. I want to say I lost 90lbs. I want to say I only have 10lbs to go to reach the century club. I want to say I hit the century club. I bought some new pants at fashion bug in a size 18-20 and they fit! Amazing. I can't wear that size at Catherine's yet. Or Lane Bryant. Probably nothing else at Fashion Bug either. Still need a 2XL in shirts. It's sad that I lost so much weight and I am still fat. I am trying to find a swimsuit and well it is just scary how I look in them. I've been to the YMCA 5 times so far and walked too. So at least 3 days a week I have done actual exercise. I feel good about that. I had my last 9th grade catechism tonight. 15 15 year olds! They are very good at talking!!! It is very hectic teaching 9th graders about God that's for sure. I do like the kids though. It is fun to spend time with them. DH filled out his papers for his consult with Dr Lesage next week. He is starting to have second thoughts about surgery saying "It may not be for me" I just want him to lose weight and get that panni removed. Maybe I am selfish I don't know. As big as I am/was it shouldn't bother me, but I can't stand his huge abdomen. Sex is impossible and frankly I'd rather not deal with trying. He has no clue I feel this way, the man that he is - as long as he gets off he doesn't care. Well enough complaining. This update is long enough. Pray the weight stays off!


5/13/05 new measurements - I had lost total 20 inches before 4/1/04, but lost the original measurements so it could be just a little more, but probably not much. My original hip measurement was 65.
4/1/04 5/13/04
weight 292 274
waist 51.5 48.5
hips 58 57.5
thigh 28.5 27
calf 17.5 18
ankle 11.25 10.5
neck 15.5 15.25
wrist 7 7
upper arm 19.5 18.5
lower arm 12.5 11.75
breast 51 48.5
chest 48 43
shoulders 53 51


5/24/04 Well it's 5 months and 2 days since surgery. I weighed 272lbs with clothes on today. I am pretty happy with this month's weight loss. DH had 5 messages related to scheduling his preop tests. He reacted exactly as I knew he would. He had a hissy fit "I can't keep missing all that work for those tests!" or something like that (he was actually stomping round the house!). I simply said "Then don't have WLS. You need the preop tests to have the surgery." Then I went out and bought a new dress for next Saturday. I was excited because I went to Boston store and a size 20 fit and that's the size I got!!! Unbelievable. I don't believe it and it's in my closet! My son will be in a Quincenetta (don't know if that's spelled right) and he will wear a tuxedo and dance the waltz and the girls will be wearing beautiful gowns. There will be a church ceremony for the birthday girl and then dinner and dancing. I am looking forward to a night out and to see the kids looking so good. It's been like 2 years since I bought a new evening type dress and that was a size 30. Anyway back to DH, I am worried about him and the possibility of WLS. I so want him to lose weight and get his hernias fixed, but I don't know if he will be able or willing to make the life changes necessary for this drastic step. He did call the nurse and ask her to call him at his work to reschedule tests when he feels he can do them. He wants to do it all his way and with WLS there are a lot of things you don't have control over. Well if you are reading this say a little prayer about the whole thing for me. Thanks. That's it for now. Bye til next time!



6/4/04 Hi again. I am down by 95lbs at this time. I still have hernias that kind of bug me. I lost a total of 17lbs for my May 28 dietician visit. I was happy with that. It has slowed a bit the last week or so. I may have started losing again as I am now in the 260's - 269 for 2 days. Yeah for me. Only 4 lbs to go to get to the century club. The dietician has me losing over 100lbs as she has my weight on discharge from the hospital listed. I was like 271 with all the water weight gained from my IV's. But I am not going to feel like 100 is gone til I get to 265. I started at 365 on my first surgeon visit. Soon, very soon. LOL
DH finally made some of his preop appointments for July 2nd. he has 4 appts that day. He still has 2 more to make. He said something that kind of bothered me though. He said "I am only doing this for you. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be doing this." I told him I do not want him to have WLS for me. It should be for him, because he wants to have better health. I told hiim I don't want him to resent me some day if he has complications or because he misses his food, etc. I think people who are successful with their WLS are motivated by personal reasons, they do it for themselves, not the other people in their lives. So say a prayer about this issue for me and I'd welcome any advice about it too. Haven't been to the YMCA in a week, but have walked a couple of days and the pool opened Memorial day and I swam for over an hour that day. It was cold, but it's a heated pool. It was very cold when I got out though! Hopefully we'll get to the Y this weekend. My DH has surprised me by saying "Let's go to the Y" or going for a walk with me. That is nice. He doesn't like swimming thugh, so I am on my own for that, although my son's friends like swimming and will go with me. :-) My son thinks it's boring unless there's like a bunch of kids to go swimming. I got pictures from the Quincenyetta and they are being developed on a disk so hopefullu I can post some before and after pics soon. I am anxious to compare my before and after pics. Is there really that much difference. People call me skinny, but I still see a fat person. My BMI is like 42.7, so soon I'll move to a lower obese category and will be at a point where I won't qualify for WLS, how cool is that! I tried measuring the other day and everything was pretty much the same. :-( Oh well, I have so much less pain everyday that I am very happy I had WLS. Thank you God, please help me persevere to reach my goal and maintain!! Amen. :-) Bye for now, sorry this was a long post. Be good and e-mail me anytime.


6/14/04 Went to mt PCP today. He is so excited about my weight loss. It is funny and even fun. I am finally a member of the century club by my scale. For days in a row it has shown 265lbs. Yeah for me!
Had hip xrays done today. I remembered to tell the doc about my left sided hip pain. It's probably some arthritis, but now we'll have reference xrays in case it gets really bad. He also gave me a prescription for some Miralax to try to help my constipation. The first day and I already forgot to take it. It's the stuff you put in 8 oz of liquid and drink up. Yuch yuch and yuch some more. I really need to try it though, because I have been suffering greatly with constipation. Maybe I only need it when I have my period. We'll see if I can even tolerate drinking it.
I got an e-mail saying my pictures have been added to my profuile and I will have a picture when I post too. I haven't seen them on the profile yet because I am doing this update first. :-) I still can't believe the change, I still can't believe I have lost 100lbs. It is amazing, it is a miracle. I thank God for this and pray I can lose 100 more lbs. Yes I am halfway to my original goal. How cool is that? Thanks for reading!



4/1/04 5/13/04 6/23/04
weight 292 274 -18 265 -9
waist 51.5 48.5 -3 47.5 -1
hips 58 57.5 -.5 55.5 -1
thigh 28.5 27 -1.5 26 -1
calf 17.5 18 +.5 17.5 -0.5
ankle 11.25 10.5 -.75 10 -0.5
neck 15.5 15.25 -.25 15 -0.25
wrist 7 7 same 7 same
upper arm 19.5 18.5 -1 18 -0.5
lower arn 12.5 11.75 -.75 11.5 -0.25
breast 51 48.5 -2.5 47 -1.5
chest 48 43 -5 43 same
shoulers 53 51 -2 50 -1
__________________________________________
17.25 in lost 7.5 in lost
+20 +37.5
____ _____
37.5 total lost 45 total lost




6/23/04 I did measurements this morning, see below. I have lost 45 inches so far. Sometimes I feel bad because when I read other profiles they lose so many inches after only 30 or 40 lbs. I had to lose 100lbs to get this far. I am on another plateau. Hopefully a short one. It kind of keeps me on track as I buckle down with fewer carbs and more protein. So far I have had good results with the Miralax. I decided I will take it with my morning milk because I always forget at night. Bought a new swimsuit last week. really needed to, the old size 30's were definitely too big. I got a size 22, it fits perfectly and even gives me cleavage. All the larger sizes were funny because I couldn't fill the boob area of the suits at all. I was pretty happy with a 22 and it's really pretty, black with white flowers. Got it at JC Penney, couldn't have gooten a swimsuit there last year. :-) I used my McDonald's pedometer yesterday and I walked 5 miles total. I was very happy about that. I only took one extra 1/2 mile walk to do that much. Some days at work aren't that good for walking, but then I'll have to take an extra walk. We are going to the Mall of America tomorrow with my friend Lorraine. She hasn't seen me yet and is excited about the changes I have made. I am looking forward to time off work. Only 2 days, but no work anyways! Gotta go get ready for work. Thanks for reading.



7/2/04 Hi there. I saw the dietician this morning. I was 264 on her scale. It's 2lbs more than mine. It means I lost 9lbs since my last visit with her. I have been pretty much plateaued for a while now. I know it's only a few weeks, but I worry anyway. The dietician said I am doing great, so I should go by that. But like everyone else I am so afraid of being a failure at this. I still want and need to lose 100 more lbs. I do feel so much better now than I did before surgery. I can walk and move with out pain. I went to The Mall of America last week and walked 7 miles in one day there and I didn't even get tired. Could not have done that last year. Tomorrow I am going to Summerfest (an awesome music festival in Milwaukee) and I'll be walking a lot there and I am not even worried about it. I haven't gone to Summerfest in 6 years because it would just be too much, too tiring and painful. I started putting some clothes in a pile to get rid of. They are beginning to simply be too big for me to wear. Last week I had on an old pair of pants and I had to keep pulling them up, it was great and annoying at the same time. So they will go on the pile when they get washed. My son is at Lawrence University for 3 weeks and I miss him. :-( He doesn't miss me though. He is so very happy there. That is good. DH went for his first pre-op tests today. This morning was the CT scan of the abdomen and then the lung doctor and probably labs and schedule the sleep study and later the dietician visit. The psych doctor cancelled and he hasn't rescheduled it yet. I hope he behaves at the psych consult, he can be, hmm, how to put this gently, a big pain sometimes. Stubborn, opinionated well you get the picture. I don't want him to alienate the psychiatrist, you need that approval for the surgery. He still needs to make an appointment for an UGI, a second psych consult and the follow up with the surgeon. He hates all this stuff so I hope he doesn't drag it out forever. I guess I just want him on the losing side. I watched that true story show on MTV last night. It was pretty good. I just wish the boy didn't keep saying how he won't try to change his eating habits before WLS because the WLS will do it for him. It makes me wonder how commited he is. I cried when the one girl got the modeling job and the other girl got her surgery. She is on the losing side, yeah for her. Well DH is here and we are going to lunch. See ya later!


7/4/04 Uggh, I just wrote a bunch of stuff and accidently hit something that erased it all!! How frustrating is that!? Oh well I won't rewrite it all. Just frustrated over girl stuff, periods that come too soon. clothes too big (which I guess should be a good thing) but it gets frustrating. That's all. I can't afford to go out and buy new stuff that will just get too big again soon. Then I worry that I will never get too small for the 2X's I am now wearing. other people seem to go down in size for clothes so fast and I am so slow. And weight loss seems slow now too. Okay I am done whining for now. No guarantees I won't whine again later though.


7/12/04 Hi. Just thought I should update because I've been sick for a week now. Started with a high fever and then diarrhea. Some dry heaves. Fever's better but the diarrhea isn't. Weight was 252 with clothes this morning though. hopefully I won't gain it all back once I feel better. I am tired of being sick that's for sure. A whole week of summer wasted. Summer is too short as it is. I'm praying I am better tomorrow. thanks


7/24/04 Hi again. I am updating because I did measurements today. I lost 3.5 more inches since last time which was 1 month ago. Not very much, but at least it went down. I am down to 251lbs as of yesterday which is 14lbs since last month's measure day. maybe measuring monthly isn't a good idea? Oh well. I am wearing shorts today. haven't done that in like 8 years. They were in my drawer so I figured I'd try then on. They fit good. But I feel wierd, it's been a long time since I've worn shorts. I cleaned out my closets for a rummage sale today. I don't have many clothes left at all. probably not even 2 weeks worth of outfits now. I simply purged everything a 3X/26 or larger. I am now wearing clothes that are 2X, 24, 22, even 1 size 20 dress and some 18/20 pants from fashion bug(they stretch). Can't wait to be a 1X. Then I will buy some new things. I do have 2 coupons for the Avenue for 40% to use this week and will buy a pants ans shirt outfit. It will be fun to try things on that fit. I only have like 4 pair of pants in the right size. I am selling everything at the rummage for a dollar. If it doesn't sell it goes to the Salvation Army. Sigh. There are a lot of clothes. I also have many clothes set aside for my sister, but I have to mail them to her and I mailed the first package yesterday and it cost $11.00 for a small box. So I will send a little each week. I will give a few outfits to a resident at the SNF where I work and I gave about a dozen dresses to a friend last weekend. She only wears dresses and my Sister doesn't wear dresses so it worked out good. It felt good to give them to my friend because she doesn't have a lot of money right now. I do feel bad for these friends because this surgery has been such a miracle for me. My friend would like to have it I think, but she has no insurance right now. I would never push this surgery on anyone. it is life changing and can be dangerous in the short-term. In the long term I feel it's a blessing and am grateful i had it done. This has been a good month of losing because I had that diarrhea for 8 days I had dropped 10lbs in a week, gained 5 back, but have steadily lost the 5 lbs since. 1 more pound and I'll be 250 which is the weight on my driver's license. and i can move that wieght thingee on the scale down 1 more notch. At 251 my BMI is now 39.3 which means I no longer qualify for WLS and I am down one category in the obesity too! Yeah for me!! I started at 365lbs and a BMI of 57. Well I gotta go do some work for this rummage sale. I never did one before and know I am totally unprepared for it.


7/28/04 Hi there. What a day!! Very hectic work day. Got an admission ( I am the admissions nurse at a nursing home) with no notice. I knew he was coming, but the social worker at the hospital forgot to call me with his time of arrival. So here I am giving a tour and in comes the new resident. I hadn't even let the nurses know he was coming, his chart wasn't ready, the room wasn't ready!! It ended up working out okay, but man I hate the stress. The new resident was a really nice guy so that helps too.
Went shopping for a new outfit after work. I wanted to spend time with my son tonight and went home and his friends were over so I ask if they want to go to the mall. They said yes. We all went and made like 10 stops on the way there and back and listened to loud punk rock in the car, it was fun. That's not even the best part though. I had 2 40% off coupons for the Avenue so I dropped the boys off at the mall and went across the street to the Avenue. I am losing 115lbs at this point so I don't really know what size to get. My last new outfit from Lane Bryant was a size 24 so I figure I'll try the next size down. At the Avenue that is a 20-22 or a 22-24. So I pick up those 2 sizes plus the 18-20 in shirts and a 18, 20, 22 & 24 pants in 2 different styles. The strech jeans fit in a 20 but way too form fitting. They were white and kind of see thru so I ditched them. The 18 strech didn't get up the thighs. So I try the 24 black cotton button/zip pants. They seem to fit good and I tried the cotton top in 22 (too tight) 24 fits okay, a little big on top (I have no boobs now). Ditch that idea. I try the knit top next in a 18-20. It looks good but I am still skeptical so I go out of the dressing room in the 24 pants and 18-20 top and ask the clerk "Does this fit okay?" And she's like "no, not really" And I'm like "OH no it's to tight" Then she says "It's really too big on you" I'm like "You are kidding! You just said that to make a sale!" So I go in the dressing room and look at myself and I can see what she means, it was a little big, especially in the boobs (again the shrinking place, ughh!) So I go and get the 22 pants and 14-16 top and try them on and lo and behold they fit. I verified it with the clerks and they said it looked okay. Unbelieveable!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I bought them, total cost $22.00. I love coupons. So I picked up the boys and told them my story and they were very cool about it. I was walking on air. I haven't worn a 14/16 anything since the 1980's. This surgery is a miracle that's for sure. Thank you God for it!!



8/7/04 Hi again. Thought I'd update this morning. Saw the dietician Friday and was 252 on her scale. I was 251 on mine that morning. I lost 12 lbs since my last visit with her. Since my insurance is being pissy about paying for the dietician I'm not going back to her for 2 months now. Really nothing has changed with my eating habits and she is pretty much just listening to me talk about my WLS journey ups and downs. Kind like a counselor. Maybe I should start seeing a shrink, insurance would pay for that. I am happy I lost the 12 lbs, it must have been right after I saw her last because according to this profile, my weight hasn't changed since 7/12/04 at all. So for almost a month now my weight has gone up and down the same 2-3lbs over and over again. I got to 249 twice and was so excited to be below 250 then the next day it was back to 252 both times. Ugh! Frustrating. I try not to worry about not losing anymore, but I think we all do. I went to Kohls dept store Friday and tried on clothes that were on clearance. I fit in a size 18 dress, but this darn hernia literally made me look pregnant, like by 8 months! I didn't buy it even though it was only $10.00. I didn't like anything enough to buy it, but felt good because some of the stuff fit okay. I really need to do something about this hernia. It looks awful, especially at the end of the day. In the morning it isn't so bad, but after I eat it gets huge. It's right under my breasts and above the belly button so a panty girdle won't help. I'd appreciate any ideas. I don't want surgery until I reach goal so I can do the excess skin at the same time. Maybe I'll post a question on the message board. The hernia does hurt some part of every day, but I'm hoping to wait til I reach goal. I am just finishing my period and am hoping for some more weight loss this week. Wish me luck. Bye Bye Til next time :-)


8/20/04 I should have updated Tuesday because I saw the surgeon that day. My head was swimming after that because he wants to fix my hernia now. I was relieved about it at first but am having some second thoughts because he doesn't want to do the panni at the same time. I really hate the 2 hernias though and want them gone. I am also afraid of getting them fixed and then they come back. That would be so awful. Then there is missing another 3-4 weeks of work. Is there some limit to how much you can miss in a year or is it each episode? So much to think about. Anyway we are looking at an October 18th surgery date so we'll see what happens. My waist will be a lot smaller with the hernias fixed. I have a large one at my incision and a smaller one in my belly button. My poor belly button is totally disfigured. It's where the first hernia was. We knew it would come back because he couldn't use mesh to fix it good due to the risk of infection with the last surgery I had. I had poop leaking all over and was so lucky I never had an infection or peritonitis from it. I was 247lbs on his scale and he is pleased with my progress so far. I am pleased too. Yesterday I was 242lbs, hopefully I'll still be that today. Off topic my finances are in hell and I am very stressed. May be filing bankruptcy. I feel like such a failure. Why can't I seem to make ends meet? There is always something to pay for. I hate money. Any advice on all this stuff is welcome. Thanks.



9/5/04 Well it's late so this will be a short update. I am staying at 241 this week. I haven't weighed in 2 days, which is wierd. I usually wiegh everyday. The plateaus get frustrating though. Tomorrow is labor day and I am happy to have an extra day off. Friday when I left work I had a full house. yeah for me. (I am the admissions nurse for a nursing home. So a full house is a really good thing.) Had a nice time at my friend's house today, barbecue and all. I ate a lot though. Luckily I didn't eat before I went there a 2pm. I spent the morning cleaning my son's room. What a nightmare. How can a 15 year old be so slobby? I am almost done and hopefully will get it finished tomorrow. My mom is coming from NY in 2 weeks and she sleeps in his room, so it needs to be clean before then. I did pay a lawyer a retainer to file bankruptcy. Now I have to pay the rest and do a bunch of paperwork before he will actually file it. And none too soon because I was served court papers from a credit card company yesterday. I am sick about the whole thing. My stomach or esophagus is giving pain for it all too. I think I may be getting an ulcer. But I don't want to tell the surgeon because I'll have to stop taking vioxx and I am afraid of the arthritis pain if I do that. I am having my hernias repaired October 18th and have to stop the vioxx 1 week before the surgery, so if I do okay then I will consider stopping or at least cutting the dose down on the vioxx. Wish me luck.


9/9/04 Just wanted to note that I am wearing a size large short sleeved sweater today! No X's in the size! Yeah me! It's a hand me down that my mom sent. She also sent some pants and a blouse and a jacket in a size 16 that probably won't fit yet, but I will try them tomorrow anyway. And weekly til they fit. :-) I tried on my son's size 44 denim jean shorts this week and they fit. I was excited about that too. The 42's only have about an inch before they will fit. He doesn't want me wearing his clothes though. haha. I was 237lbs today too, so I was happy to be losing again. My plateaus usually last about 2 weeks. I go with 5lb goals and when I reach the goal of 5lbs less I am happy. It makes for many small successes. I need all I can get. I am still working on bankruptcy and still having stomach/chest pains, but it is less today. I did stop taking the vioxx for 4 days, but yesterday I was hurting so much I did take it last night and this morning. I feel much better today and my stomach is no worse either. I'm taking the omeprazole twice a day again. Hopefully it's helping. I think it's my esophagus causing the pain, I do have Barret's esophagus. The gastroenterologist's office should be calling soon to do a yearly EGD. They called in April to schedule it but the WLS surgeon said to wait for 6 months. They would rather I never had it done, but with this pain I probably should do it and just tell them to be careful with my tiny pouch. It would be nice to be reassured everything with the pouch and stoma are good too. Some days I can eat a lot and some days I get full fast. Today is a get full day, I ate 1/2 bag chips snack and was full. I can often eat the whole bag. Before WLS I would eat 2 or more little bags. I eat 3 meals a day of about 1/2 - 1 cup of food. I try to do high protien but sometimes do eat the chips. I think I crave the salt. I used to eat a lot of salt on my food and now not so much and I think my body misses it. My mom is coming to visit on the 18th and I have 2 weeks off work to spend with her. I am looking forward to that. DH took one week off too. We will stay home, but do have an overnight to a casino in Indiana planned (got a free night there and free $20 gambling money - otherwise I couldn't afford it right now.) We'll probably do some day trips too. My mom loves to gamble and there are casinos within 2-3 hours in every direction around here and one right in Milwaukee. She saves so she can indulge and I do like $20 each time. This year I have to be very frugal about the whole thing though. We do a lot of shopping when she's here and I am looking forward to being able to keep up with her this year. Last year I had to stop and rest all the time, it was an eye opener when your mom is in better shape than you are. Thank God for this surgery. Well this is long so I will go for now. Thanks for reading.




9/15/04
Well I got my period again! It is early again. About a week. I hate it. Before surgery I thought maybe I was starting menopause cause I'd skip periods or be late. Now it is on time or early. Yuck! Poor me. LOL I am still 237 today. But with my period I guess I'd be starting a plateau. Hopefully a short one :-). I wanted to comment on something that worries me. I read on the message board and Q&A here at OH many times about how some people regain weight after reaching goal or even before it. I try not to let it bother me, but it worries me all the same. I pray that I don't regain and that I reach my goal. I still have at least 70lbs to go to get to 165. To be a normal weight for my height I think I need to be 159. That is 78 more lbs to lose. It seems so impossible. Even at 237 I am so much better off than I was before and my BMI is below 40 now I think too. So I don't qualify for surgery although there are many who are around my weight who have WLS. One last thing for today's update. I saw Dr Lesage this week when I was making rounds at the hospital. He said he got my DH's upper GI back and that his stomach is up inside his chest again. Dr Lesage seemed very surprised by this. I was not, that is what happened before. Today DH spoke to Dr L's nurse and she said his insides are more outside than inside. That means his hernias are huge, which did not surprise me either. I already knew that. It sounds like they want to do surgery sooner than we planned, which is fine with me. Dr L is getting married and having a honeymoon and his partner - co-surgeon Dr Ryder is also having a vacation, then they want to operate. DH is now a nervous wreck and scared. He says they are talking 2 surgeries. I'm hoping the WLS will be a part of the first one and not ruled out because of these other issues. The surgeons will only do one surgery that day, DH's procedure will be very long and complicated. They are young doctors and I figure it will be like an adventure for them to work on a complicated case like this o

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