skhosh

I have been fighting my weight, really ever since I was a kid. I have always been the big sister, the bigger friend, the largest daughter. I have been on every diet known to man, and none really worked long term. I have two teenage boys and an amazing husband, who totally supported my decision to take drastic measures. I have always been someone who has worked out, about 5 days a week, so it wasn't exercise. And I have always made good choices in foods, but my issue is that I never really felt full. So, being hungry never really led to any success for me. For me, the only way that I was going to get to be healthy was to do something drastic and permanent. I don't want to diet anymore, I just want to eat healthy, not think about food, and live. So, in October 2012, I was working and ran into one of the nurses at one of the hospitals that I call on, and she looked amazing. Like me, she too had struggled for years. I asked her what she did, and she said she had the Vertical Sleeve, and loved it. Being that I was going to turn 50 in December and had been fat the first 50 years of my life, the back 50 years were going to be healthy. So, some girlfriends and I, all went to some info sessions from various places. One of my dearest friends, decided that she wanted to do it with me. So, both she and I began our journey. We chose to go through The Ohio State University, and went to all their meetings, met with the nutritionists, the psychologists, and finally got the insurance approval for surgery. My dear friend and I arranged our surgeries back to back, with Dr. Bradley Needleman on June 19, 2013. My surgery was at 7am and hers was at 9am. We shared a hospital room, and had a great experience with the nurses, had many friends and family visit. It is great to go through this with a dear friend. We are each others support through this post op phase. Currently, we are 1 week post surgery and doing better. Sick of protein shakes, but being that we are now in phase 2, able to have purred food with protein. I am still sore, and had I not tried sleeping on my side tonight, I would be less sore. ( dumb move). But every day is better. We see Dr. Needleman again next week, July 2nd, for our 2 week post-op visit. For me, it's kind of great to get full on so little now. I am having to learn to drink more slowly, etc. The recovery is a bit more than I had anticipated, in regards to a lot of gurgling, which has finally slowed down, but was really loud. No longer on pain meds, as I can tolerate some pain ( about a 2, without meds) and am now not loopy. Even my husband and boys said that I seemed to be getting back to myself, which is great. Slowly but surely, it is getting better every day. Now, I have to figure out when I will be able to sleep on my side again, without causing pain. That might be a trial and error thing, but everyday is a new day in the journey to better health.