Lynette W.
I have always had weight issues for as long as I can remember, like most, I think my first "diet" was when I was around 9 or 10 years old. Obesity runs in my family and no matter what I tried or how many times I lost weight it would come back faster and more than I started. I have had sevre back problems for 20 years and finally had surgery on my back last year and when I went in for my pre op they had to do an upper GI because of my sevre heartburn and found that I have GURDS (acid reflux) and also a sleep study for sleep apnia. (Both caused by my obesity). Finally last Christmas an old coworker of mine came into work and I didn't recognize her, she looked Fabulous!! She told me she had had WLS and she was feeling Great and that it was the best decision in her life and she said that I should check into it. So that is what got me thinking about WLS. She also gave me this website to check out and this site has helped me more than I can express.
I had to have my 3 months with a dietian and then all my blood work and my phyc evaluation before I met with the surgeon and he could send in all my paperwork to the insurance and of course this all took time and it seemed to go on forever but when I finally got to see Dr. Monson it was June 2006 and he was a very thourgh docter, he went over all the differnt types of surgeries and the pros and cons of each one and let me choose. He answered all my questions and was very patient with everything. I was surprised when I got a call at work a week and a half after my appointment with him from Merit care, saying I was APPROVED!!! I was so excited and we set up my surgery date for July 28th!!!! I was SOOOO EXCITED !!!! This is the day after my birthday so it feels so appropriate that my "new" birthday is the day after my real birthday!
My pre-op appointment I weighed in at 242 pound at a height of 5'5" put me at a BMI of 40.3
Surgery day came pretty fast with everything you do to get ready for it. The day of my surgery I weighed in at 231. I had lost 11 pounds on the pre op diet. My surgery went perfectly and I had no complications. I was out of the Hospital in 2 days.
The first weeks went fast and I had no problems on the liquid diet. I returned to work 2 weeks after surgery and that went good. At my 2 week post op appointment I weighed 221 lbs so a loss of 10 lbs since surgery date. Doc said that was on track even though of course I thought it should of been more.
I hit a platue right after that and didn't loose anything for almost a month, then I got on here and did a post and got a lot of help and found out that my liquid diet wasn't giving me enough protien so I started eating more protien and over the weekend lost 5 lbs and 5 more through the following week. Now I make sure I get at leat 50-60 grams of protien a day along with my daily Vit. and calcum tablets. I also started off taking a new med for my acid reflux and ulcers that I took for the first 3 months and now I am off of them completely and have had NO heartburn at all. That is so wonderful because I thought I would have to take that everyday for the rest of my life.
I am now 4 months post op and I feel Terrific!! I am so happy that I was blessed to be able to have this surgery, my energy level is great, I feel better about myself, food is not the center of my life anymore. I spend more time doing things with my childern instead of sleeping all the time because I was alway so tired and wore out. I love life again and I feel Great! I still have a ways to go but I know I can reach my goal for the first time and I have my cofidience back!! I am loosing quit a bit of hair right now and that worries me but I have a lot of hair to begin with and I was told at about 3 months that is when it starts.
Today is Dec. 10, 2006 I am 175 lbs today at 4 months so I have lost 69 lbs total from my first pre op appointment. I haven't pushed my luck on any foods that I should stay away from. I haven't even been tempted or crave any of it. No candy or chocolate, rice, chips, bread, pop, caffine or anything with sugar. I did try eggs to early and some pork that must have been to dry because those are the 2 things that have made me feel any discomfort and pain.
I will try to update at least once a month with my progress, so until then Happy Holidays everyone!!!
