Sheila

1. To get off all my medications 2. To no longer be considered to have diabetes 3. To have better and more sex with hubby 4. To be able to fit in a regular airplane seat and not need the extender belt 5. To be able to look in the mirror and not cry at what I see 6. To cross my legs comfortably 7. To be able to buy clothes from any store and not worry about the size 8. To have more energy to go out walking, hiking, playing with the dogs 9. To set a good example for my husband and daughter 10. To not have food control my every waking thought, but to have control over food 11. To live long enough to see my grandchildren (when I have them) grow to be adults and be happy 12. To no longer have my pannie get in the way of my lap, my clothes, cause skin breakdown underneath. (I can’t wait to get rid of this actually). This is just a small list. I am sure I will come up with more as my day draws closer. 3 weeks baby, Yeah! Sheila

I am taking 5 weeks off work. My surgeon said 2 to 3 weeks, so I opted for 3 weeks to be considered "sick time" and 2 weeks will be for vacation. I did this because I work in a busy clinic with nosy doctors and nurses, and when I am on my restrictive diet, I do not want a lot of questions and food monitoring going on. None of my co workers know I have having WLS and I want to keep it that way. So by the time I come back to work I will be on either mushies or regular food, just smaller amounts. No one will question me because I have been eating this way since November 30. Now if at my 2 week post op appt, my doctor says I can go back to work (no longer on sick time) I will maybe cut one week off and come back in 4 weeks. But I am leaving that option open until that appointment. That is my plan. Sheila

Best wishes to both HeatherH for July 4th and Wendy1974 for the 5th. Wishing a painless and speedy recovery. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences. Sheila

I was also thinking maybe we should add an email address so that people can get Best wishes while they are recovering. I know when I am not feeling well, things like that make me feel better. I will start. My email is: sheila.pinkney@shaw.ca Anyone is welcomed to email me for any reason. I am happy to discuss VSG or any topic with you. Sheila

Kath-A-Leena and Simply_KiZmet, you two are the first of the July Firecrackers to go for surgery. Good luck. Keep us updated as to how you are doing. I know the first day or so will be hard, but I pray for a smooth and easy recovery for both of you. Sheila

My fingers and toes are crossed for you to get a date in ink! Keep us updated. Sheila

I am here. Sorry I have not been more active. My husband and I own and run our own business, and things have been pretty hectic in the last few weeks. Hopefully that will slow down a tad and I can get on here more. I guess I am one of the lucky ones as I do not have any preop liquid diet to go on. I have been on a preop diet since November 30, and my surgeon said I do not need to go on a liquid diet right before surgery. I will place myself on a partial liquid diet maybe 2 days or so before surgery, but that is my doing not the surgeons. When I was told my surgery was on July 27, I thought, "Man that is so long away" but now I realize it is really only 3 1/2 weeks away now. I better get a move on and get all my supplies ready. Before you know it I will be on the operating table. As excited as I am about finally taking total control of my weight, I am just as excited to have this gallbladder removed. For the past month or more, I have been in a constant state of GB attack, some days are worse than others, but not a day goes by that I do not feel some sort of pain or gurgle from the GB. So I am looking forward to what the future holds. My first REALLY big test of Ms. Sleevie is going to be in October when I go to the Dominican Republic. It is in celebration of my 15th wedding anniversary. Going for a week of sand, sun, and relaxation. I get almost daily emails from a website called Swimsuitsforall.com which a web store for swimsuits for every shape and size of women. And I have been SOOOOO tempted to order some right now, but I am holding off because I worry that what I order NOW will be to big in October. So, I am going to wait until the end of September to order a nice suit, with some cute coverups. Can't wait. Well, that is it for now. Come on July Firecrackers, come and update us your preop preparations. Sheila

You can join, I have no problem with that. less than 4 weeks and we will all be sleeved. Yay!

Welcome to the July 27 gang. 5 weeks and we will be in the Losers Club. Yay us! Sheila

Hi fellow Canadians. I live in Calgary Alberta. I will be having my surgery on July 27 in Red Deer, AB with Dr. Lawrence Farries as my surgeon. He runs a provincially paid weight loss clinic and only accepts 200 patients a year. He is quite difficult to get in to see, but once you do, you are almost assured to have surgery. I will be having my VSG, gallbladder removed and a hernia repaired. If any one has any questions, please feel to PM me. Sheila

Hi. We should exchange email address so we can keep up with each others progress. Mine is sheila.pinkney@shaw.ca Luckily I do not have to do any pre-op dieting like the liquid diet. I have been doing nothing but pre-op dieting since November 30 and I have lost more than the required 10% and I am still following the 1 cup of food 3 times a day. Although I do cheat now and then. My surgeon said that changing to this diet from the very beginning helps to train you to prepare for life post surgery. Anyway, hang in there, our day will be here before we know it. Sheila

HI everyone, Sheila here. I am having my sleeve done on July 27, here in Canada. Dr. Lawrence Farries is my surgeon. I am so excited and ready for this surgery. Not only will I be sleeved, but I will have my gallbladder removed as well as a hernia repair. I am getting a 3 for 1 deal. The next 6 weeks will be exciting. Sheila

WooHoo!!! What a hot chick you are!!! You look absolutely fabulous. Keep up the great work! Sheila

I was wondering if anyone discovered they had a hiatal hernia during the process of your pre-surgery work up? I was told I had one, and that it would be corrected during my surgery. I was just wondering if it added time to the surgery and recovery period? Sheila

Hi. I have a couple of really comfort sweaters, and I am going to turn them into pillows for the family room. And for some of my other cotton clothes, I am not sure, maybe make one of those twist rugs out of it. Where you make stripes of cloth, and them twist it into long ropes, then make oval rugs and stitch it all together. Just as a reminder to myself I am never going to be heavy enough to be able to do that with my clothes again. Sheila

I have gotten so much inspiration from reading everyone's posts and comments. I have decided to start my own accountability section as well. I will following in the footsteps of Chance and give my stats as well. Here are the measurements I took this morning. Neck: 15 1/2 inches Wrist: 6 inches Forearm: 10 inches Upper arm: 14 inches Bust: 53 inches Ribcage: 46 inches Waist: 50 inches Hips: 59 inches (My spare tire I carry around just in case it comes in handy, I really want to throw it away) Thighs: 27 inches Calves: 18 1/2 inches Ankles: 10 inches My weight this morning is : 266 Weight at first consult: 291 Total amount lost: 25 pounds :dance:Doing the happy dance!!!

It is time for my Saturday weigh in. I have been at the same weight for almost 2 weeks now, and I was certain I had gained weight. Yesterday I felt like I had ate way to much, I was so full. I guess my great news from the surgeon`s office helped to spurr on my weight loss. I also took my measurements again. I have them written side by side as comparison. MEASUREMENTS: Jan 22, 2011:---------------------March 5, 2011:---------------------IN. lost: Neck: 15 1/2 inches------------Neck: 15 inches-------------------.5 inches Wrist: 6 inches------------------Wrist: 6 inches--------------------0 Forearm: 10 inches------------Forearm: 9.2 inches--------------.8 inches Upper arm: 14 inches---------Upper arm: 14 inches-----------0 Bust: 53 inches-----------------Bust: 51------------------------------2 inches Ribcage: 46 inches------------Ribcage: 42-------------------------4 inches Waist: 50 inches----------------Waist: 46.5 inches----------------3.5 inches Hips: 59 inche-------------------Hips: 56 inches--------------------3 inches Thighs: 27 inches--------------Thighs: 25 inches-----------------2 inches Calves: 18 1/2 inches---------Calves: 17---------------------------1.5 inches Ankles: 10 inches--------------Ankle: 9 inches---------------------1 inches ---------- Total inches lost 18.3 inches :Banane01: :Banane01: :Banane01: :Banane01: Current weight: 255 Weight lost : 2 pounds Highest weight loss: 47 pounds Since 1st appt: 36 pounds I feel really good about how things are going. I just have to keep it up because the way I look at it is all the weight I lose now will be weight I do not have to worry about losing after surgery.Thank you for the great support you have given me since joining. Sheila

I have my psych evaluation on Wednesday. Everything went extremely well. My main questions was ``Am I am good candidate for surgery`` and he told me that there was nothing that indicated I should not have surgery, and he was putting that in the consult report to my surgeon. YAY, one less worry I have to worry about. Today I had my follow up with my surgeon. I had lost an additional 2kgs since my last appt which is around 5 pounds. So all together I have ``officially`` lost 14kgs and 30 pounds. That is on the scale in the doctors office, my scale at home says I have lost about 35 pounds. So it depends on which one you want to go by, I like my scale better! My surgeon told me today that he was ``very impressed`` with how well I have done with sticking to the diet of 1 cup 3 times a day and very pleased with how much weight I have lost. He encouraged me to keep doing going. Here in Canada, you have to put in a request for a surgery date, so he did that and also put me on a short notice list. I have to attend a preadmission clinic appt on April 5th and after I do that, I will be free for my surgery whenever the date comes up. So just one last step and I will be able to join everyone on the losers bench. I am very proud of myself for sticking with it even when I got discouraged and able to lose as much as I have. I have a wonderful husband who goes with me to all my appointments, he is my rock. I love him :001_tt1: and so happy he is so supportive of this whole thing. I know I could not get through this without him. Well, that is my update. I am very excited. :party4: Sheila

My name is Sheila Pinkney. I was born and raised in Lawton, OK. When I was 30, I moved to Canada to marry my husband. I have been here every since. I have been married for 14 years now. I have one daughter who is now 24 years old. Doesn't seem possible. I have been overweight my entire adult life. Every since I was pregnant and gave birth I have been overweight. I have gone through depression been on antidepression medication, I am no longer depressed but I do have to fight every day to keep myself from falling down that dark road again. So far I am winning the battle. When I was 36 I was diagnosed with Endometrial Cancer (uterine cancer) and had to have a total hysterectomy (everything removed, ovaries, tubes, uterus and cervix) which threw me into very early menopause. The only good thing about it is I no longer have to worry about "Aunt Flo" every month. About 4 years ago I began hearing about a new weight loss surgery that was non-evasive totally reverable and helped with weight problems. Lapband. I started to look into it and decided I wanted to proceed with the surgery. I found out about a program my province provided to offer the LapBand to the citizen and would be 100% paid for, you had to be referred by a doctor and start jumping through their hoops. Therefore, I went through classes, I went to physicologist, I went through dietians and neutritionist, only to find out the province had discontinued the program after I was all done. I was heart broken. I didn't allow it to stop me however, I started to look into other avenues. I found a weight loss doctor in where I live, and I went to see her. Her services mainly consisted of offering a food dietary plan which cost a lot of money. But she did inform me about a doctor in my province who offered to do weight loss surgeries but was very hard to get into his program. She offered to referr my to him and then it was a wait and see game. My referral was accepted, my first visit was on November 30, 2010. I went to that visit 100 % convinced the Lapband was what I wanted. After all the research I had done and classes I had gone to, I was prepared to have the Lapband. At that visit, he presented a video that discribed the 3 options his clinic provided with all the risks and pros and cons of each surgery. After seeing that video and talking to my surgeon afterwards, I decided the Lapband was not for me. I felt strongly that I should have the Gastric Sleeve. Well, I spoke to the nurses and the doctor, was sent home on a "training diet" to prove not only to the clinic but to myself I would be able to follow the diet after surgery. My "training diet" consists of 1 cup of food 3 times a day. No bad foods go into the cup, the only things I can drink are: Water, decaffinated tea or coffee, and skim milk. Well, I do not drink coffee, and I only drink iced tea, and I just can't drink milk as a drink. So water it was. I drink only water and sometimes I add lemon in it. Since November 30, 2010 I have lost 20 pounds on this new diet. My second clinic visit they were very pleased with my progress. They scheduled my Endoscopy and my referral to have a pyschiatric evaluation. Once those two are cleared, I will receive my surgery date. I am very excited. I look forward to hearing from you all and sharing in your journey to become healthy. Sheila

http://www.swimsuitsforall.com This website has swimsuits for all sizes and shapes. If you join their site, they send you tons of coupons to get half off, 75 % off through out the year. I have bought a swimsuit from them and it is a good quality suit, I have also bought covers ups as well. When I lose more weight, I am going to buy my suits from them for my two week trip to the Dominican Republic in October. I can't wait. Sheila

Sorry I didn't update last week. :embaressed_smile: Really I have no excuse, just that I was lazy and missed it. :noidea: But here I am this week and I am proud to say that I have lost an additional 3 pounds. :cheer2: I am down to now 257 pounds. I decided to start counting from my highest weight because this is all weight I had to lose prior to my surgery and with that in mind, I have lost a total of 45 pounds. If you count from when I went to my surgeon's office for the first time, I have lost 34 pounds. Either way is great. In addition to that, I have had to buy some new pants, the ones I have been wearing for the past couple of years were falling off literally. I found out I had gone down 4 pants sizes and 2 sizes in tops. I know my rambling up top is a little hard to follow, here is a much more clear update: Weight lost in the past 2 weeks: 3 pounds :sigh: Highest weight loss: 45 pounds Since 1st appt: 34 pounds :sign46: down 4 pants sizes :sign46: down 2 top sizes :sigh: So even though I missed last week, I am very proud and happy with my continued progress. Sheila