Arkansassy's New Journey in Life

A bit about me:  I'm a 54yo, female...was the "fat kid" in grade school, and have continued to be heavy all of my life.  As with most of us, I've tried just about every diet program out there...with lots of success.  I've lost over 100 pounds 4 or 5 times in my life, but I just can't keep it off.  My highest weight was 350.  My last, favorite, and most successful diet attempt was a low carb diet...I got down to 212.  Slowly the weight started coming back, then the last couple of years it was coming back like a freight train!  I knew I was headed back to that 350 mark (or more) if I didn't do something, and I really seriously started thinking about WLS.

I have been very fortunate to stay pretty healthy for my life...I hadn't been to a Dr in 14 years!  So, at the beginning of the year I made a Dr's appointment to see what my health issues were, start dealing with them, and start the process towards having WLS.  My main concern was that I have had some sort of "heart spell" for almost as long as I remember (jr high is when I recall having the first one).  Anytime I have talked to Dr's about it, they never took it very seriously...I think that many thought that it was anxiety.  I also have knee pain, and I'm pretty sure that I had sleep apnea.  So on to the the Dr to let the testing begin!

I had reached 284 pounds...of course that was a number that I had sworn to never see again!  My blood tests revealed that I was almost ready to enter the pre-diabetic arena, and that my cholesterol was starting to get close to needing attention...not too bad for someone in my shape, so far so good!  My blood pressure was elevated, and after a bit of monitoring I was placed on medication.  I had a large tumor on my thyroid...after an ultra sound and a biopsy, I was releived to find out it was begnin.  My chest x-ray showed a spot on my lung...a CT Scan proved it to be scarring from a past infection.  My initial EKG "read" like I had had a heart attack at some point in my life, so I was referred to a Cardiologist.  We did one chemical stress test, but my blood pressure became too elevated to finish, so we did a nuclear stress test which wouldn't raise my blood pressure as much.  It showed an abnormality in my heart, so the next step was a heart catheterization.  I have so much fat around my heart that it is restricting the blood flow (slow flow), and at times causes the heart to strain and beat rapidly (my heart spells).  Definitely serious...but, the good news is that it will reverse itself with weight loss!!!

In May, I had my first appointment at Roller Weight Loss to start the required process to have WLS.  I learned so much through this process.  I thought that it was very interesting that your insurance (requirments decided on by the insurance company and your employer), is what dictates all of the steps that you must go through to be approved for the surgery.  I found out that I was very lucky to have good insurance...I needed to go through a 3-month program (not 6) supervised by a nutritionist, there was no required amount of weight that I had to lose (just could not gain once I started), and I did not have to go through any psych counseling.  Through all of the testing that I had already had this year, I had already met my maximum out of pocket expense, so I am also telling myself that I'm getting the surgery at no cost!  Over the course of the 3 months, I worked on eating smaller portions (did a lot of Lean Cuisines for lunch) and tried to be more sensible for other meals.  I worked on, but wasn't as successful as I had hoped (and will be a problem for me) with slowing down, and chewing everything 25-30 times.  By the time I had completed my 3 month program, and was finally approved for surgery (there were some trying times there) I had lost 21 pounds!

Surgery was scheduled for Monday, October 17th, 2016.  On the morning of my surgery I weighed 255.5 pounds.

My surgery seemed to go off without a hitch, and by the end of that day I was up and walking a little, as well as trying to sip some fluids...but I kept drifting off to sleep, and wasn't getting in as much as I should.  They had me up at 5am the next morning, and told me that if I could drink "5 rounds" of my fluids, I could go home.  That started my morning of walking and sipping, walking and sipping, walking and sipping.  I made it, and was discharged about noon.  Let me back-track a little, and say just how very fortunate I was...I had no nausea, and fairly minor pain.  What did hurt like a "son of a gun" was my back and shoulders from the trapped gas...that was terrible at times, but I knew what it was and was expecting it.

The first few days post surgery, were basically filled with walking and sipping!  I was still blessed with no nausea, and little to know pain...except I was having some extreme pain in my lower back when bending/leaning.  I have spent my time doing research and reading about Gastric Bypass Surgery, what to expect, recipes, tips...any information I could find.  I have upped my walking every day...on Saturday, I walked my first mile!  My mother and sister were wanting to have a yard sale, and were really wanting to have it while my husband was available to help (he was so sweet...he took the whole first week off from work to make sure he could care for me!)...so in a moment of insanity, we scheduled it for the Saturday after my surgery!  I was so afraid that I was going to do too much, but I stayed very aware of my limits and didn't lift anything.  By this point, I had rigged up a handy little tray to carry my drinks (I used shot glasses) around in, so I was able to take my turns sitting at the table with the cash box.  At one point, I had just finished a round of my wonderful shots of elixers, when a lady picks up the tray wanting to know what it was, saying that "this is cute...how much is it"!!  I gotta admit, that Sunday we were all really tired...I only got in 1 mile walk.  Thus endeth the first week, and I'm thinking it was pretty darned successful!

I got on the scale Monday morning, and it looks like I lost 10 pounds the first week.  I say looks like cause I've got some old maybe not the most reliable scales that I'm using!  I've already ordered a few things for my new way of life:  scales, portion control plates, food scale, immersion blending stick, reflectors for walking in the dark, a couple of books, and a brown sugar substitute since I've seen some pretty interesting recipes.  So far I've been tolerating my protein drinks and haven't gotten to the point of not being able to stand them yet...on Monday, I upped my protein drink to about 3 ounces each hour and I'm also trying to get in another ounce of water as well.  My lower back pain seems to be lessening, and I've been continuing to up my walking.  On Monday I completed a 2 mile walk, and on Tuesday I did 2!!  My energy level seems to be picking up, and I'm certainly things seem to be going very smoothly right now...gotta soak this up, I know there will be tougher times ahead...but right now, I'm loving it!!