Hello all,

I ran across this site and thought it would be a great idea for me to get some support and talk about my journey...I had my surgery on December 21st 2011...so im about 3 weeks in and starting to feel like myself again (kinda) I started the journey some time ago, my insurance required a 6 month long process before they would even consider me for the surgery...i was 222lbs in May, I freaked out a little after i signed up for the program, I guess I thought I might never eat again cause I went crazy and gained 7 lbs in June...ugg, I lost it over the next 5 months and weighed 222 again on December 1st...thats where the real story begins...I started the no fat no sugar 1000 calorie diet about the 4th of Dec not knowing if my insurance would even cover the procedure. I had been told over and over again that the two weeks prior to surgery were very important to shrink the liver to get it out of the way...so not hearing anything back from my Dr. i figured i'd probably have to wait till after the new year...well I got a call on the 14th letting me know I was approved, i was so very excited, then the bomb, if you want to do this before January we have to do it on the 22nd...what??? thats only a week away!! I had to scramble to get it together and call work but I figured what the heck...so I went to my pre op appt with my dr the next day and bomb # 2...we want to do it Monday...What??? thats crazy that 4 days from now...OK well go to the hospital and get all your pre op done...while there I found out they couldn't do it Monday but scheduled it for Wednesday...OMG they have know idea how stressed out I am...so Wednessday the 21st of December was the first day of the rest of my life.

My son came home from college for break so he was there the whole time with me, we live about 1.5 hrs from the hospital so i got him a hotel since i was in the hospital for 3 days. The first day was a breeze, i thought to myself, no way is it going to be this easy...nope. That first night i was introduced to nausia, oh noooo, i did not want to throw up, i thought it was the worst thing iv ever been through, but it wasnt...they had to take me off the pain drip i was on cause thats what was causing the nausia, they put me on a liquid pain killer which seemed to work just fine. Day two, up an walking around, this doesnt seem so bad, i actually felt "hungry" and got the broth down they gave me...that night was hard, i had a drain in my side and it felt like it was stabbing me...Friday, gona go home today, yeah I can handle this...oh by the way, they want to keep this drain in you till you get back in to see your dr...ok when will that be? well it is christmas vacation and all, prob wont be able to see your dr till Wednesday...What??? i have to drain this thing in my side for 6 days...that doesnt seem right. the day is dragging on and i notice this dull stabbing pain is all of a sudden the sharpest most painful thing I have ever felt and I'v had a baby...the nurse gives me some pain meds and I go to sleep...a bout an hour later she comes in to drain this thing and OMG it was so painful i was crying very loudly and holding my breath almost screaming, they had to call my dr who said they could take it out...what the??? it can be taken out??? then why oh why would you ever make someone go home for 6 days with it? I dont care cause the min they took that 12 inch tube out of my side the pain went away and all was good in the world. I get to go home...yeah me!

Ok Im home, the 1.5 hr drive wasnt too bad even though my 18 year old was driving lol. all is well untill that evening when i have the dreded nausia again, please God no... my poor son, he hasnt ever had to see me this way, thank god he was there though, im thowing up thinking my stomach was comming un stiched the entire time...ugg. call the on call dr. who prescribed me some anti nausia meds to help, too bad it's now the day before christmas and my pharmacy is closed and the only one open is so busy they didn't even bother to fill it...lucky for me i only had the nausia that first night, and i had a fantastic support person to help me through it.

So thats the jist of my beginings. Im 3 weeks post op as of yesterday and Im doing pretty good. I got to start thicker foods yesterday...I think the hardest part was the two weeks of broth, jello and juice...i'm trying to get all my protien in, which is hard but im figuring it out...I'm 199 lbs which is fantastic...I havent been in the 100's for 3 years...so im very happy right about now.

Im going through some emotional times, like thinking Im going to be the first person who doesnt loose weight after having major surgery, but Iv talke with some ppl who said they thought the same thing. I guess after loosing like a pound a day for two weeks to nothing in a week just gets to you sometimes...but I know it's a work in progress.

Thanks for reading my story. I'll try to keep you all updated as much a possible.

Tesse