bwilliams04a

My weight loss journey started about 2 years ago. My original plan was to have the lap band, I thought I would have more control over my weight loss with this option. I have been heavy for most of my life and I did not want to weigh the 135 lbs. my Dr. says I should weigh, I want to be comfortable with myself. After I went to the mandatory conference before my consult I realized that Gastric Bypass was a better fit for the amount of weight that I wanted to loose. I did discuss my fears of losing too much weight with my Dr. and he reassured me that I will eventually have some control. I didn’t talk about it much with my family until it was close to my first appointment time. My daughter was against it and she refused to even talk about it, my husband was willing to support whatever I wanted. My daughter decided to come with me to the conference and my first appointment and thankfully she changed her mind, she never realized what a health risk being overweight really was. The night before my surgery was the worst emotionally; my husband and my daughter finally voiced their fears. My daughter came to me that night crying and begging me not to do it, she was afraid that it wasn’t safe enough and that something was going to happen to me. I gave her some reassurance and told her it would be fine, now I started to worry myself. My husband also started to get emotional; he came to me every hour all night long saying you know you can back out anytime you want to no one will judge you. The closer it got the more he said it. The morning of my surgery while I sat in the pre-op room with the IV in my arm he looked at me with tears flowing and asked if I was sure that this is what I wanted to do, he told me that he didn’t know how he could raise our two children without me if anything happened to me, he again told me that I didn’t have to do it. As I sat there I second guessed myself 1,000 times, I had done all of the research, spent hours reading everything that I could find and I was finally ready, there was no reason to second guess myself I was going to be fine. I had my surgery on May 21, 2013 @ Faxton St Lukes Hospital. My surgeon was Dr. Dalencourt, he works with Dr. Graber. After surgery I was placed in a semi private room and I was extremely uncomfortable there were a lot of people visiting my roommate and they had to walk past my bed every time they came in or out of the room and there was a man who kept pulling back the curtain looking into my side of the room. The staff was able to get me into a private room after a few hours and it was much more comfortable. I was not in a lot of pain, I tolerated walking well, I tolerated fluids well. The Gastric Bypass coordinator continually checked on me and offered her support and the nursing staff was very good with giving me my meds on time. The day after surgery I started to become very uncomfortable, my back was bothering me and I felt stiff after being in the bed all night long. I took my pain meds every four hours for most of that day. I was out of bed and walking by 4am which also helped. On my third day my back was still bothering me but not as much so Tylenol was all I needed. I waited to be discharged all day on my third day, I was becoming very restless and was worried that the Dr. would forget to come to the floor being that I was his only patient scheduled for discharge that day. Finally at 7pm he came to discharge me. I was aggravated that he had me sitting there all day until he completed all of his surgery and went back to his office before discharging me so I told him exactly how I felt. He explained to me that he gave me that extra time because I was so uncomfortable the day before he didn’t want to come in early because if I was still uncomfortable he would have made me stay another night. He was trying to give me time to feel better, so I apologized. I have been home now for 5 days. I was a little tender for the first couple days and I had to lay with a pillow between my legs at night, it somehow helped support my stomach when I layed on my side. I was only taking in about five cups of liquid a day and I was supposed to take in between 6 and 8 cups so I decided to stop drinking the diluted apple juice and drink more crystal light, I figured it wasn’t as heavy and I could get more in. I became shaky, I felt as if my blood sugar was too low so I drank the apple juice and the feeling went away. I tried to not drink the apple juice again the next day and the same thing happened. The last two days I had a really hard time with Acid reflux, it felt like I had a hard mass in the base of my throat and my neck felt tight and uncomfortable every time I swallowed and it was difficult for me to drink any fluids. The Dr. had me come in and I was given a script for Prevacid (which needs a prior authorization for most insurance and takes a couple days to clear) I was told to stop drinking the diluted apple juice and choose a different juice. She told me to stop taking the Vit B12 tablet and switch to a solutab. The discomfort continued throughout the night, I drank a cup of lactaid milk (which is really good you have to try it) and that helped a lot. I woke up this morning with very little tightness in my throat and I am tolerating the new juice well and I had no signs of low blood sugar. This evening I have to say is the first time I feel normal, I have a little energy, no abdominal tenderness, and no tightness in my throat. My biggest dislike of the surgery had to be the fact that I felt hungry after the surgery. I was not expecting that. I assumed that my hunger would be gone post op. I had to learn that my brain was making me think I was hungry not my stomach. I am still struggling with that, It’s hard not eating. I have not taken in anything solid in12 days. And yes I am counting. My first taste of real food will be on Friday and I can’t wait. My post op days have been hard on my family because my husband doesn’t want to cook anything in the house because he thinks it’s disrespectful because I can’t eat. I tried to explain to him that we have a 19 year old and a 5 year old that still have to eat something other than fast food. My husband has lost 10 lbs. because he only eats at night. After a couple arguments he finally cooked dinner tonight and I sat at the table with them; I ate my soup broth with a spoon and they had hot dogs and fries (better than nothing I guess). It is definitely a work in progress. This is more than a life style change for me it is now a life style change for my whole family.

Well it has been two months since my surgery and I have lost 60 lbs so far. I had a problem with what they called "acid reflux" it felt like I had something stuck in my throat all the time. They put me on prilosec 20mg then upped the dosage to 40mg and it still didnt help. I was only getting in about 3 cups of water a day and i was so thirsty. One day I happen to forget the prilosec in the morning and felt great all day then i skipped it to see what would happened and after about a week now I have had no problems. I need to call the Dr tomorrow to let them know I stopped it. Other then that I feel great!!!! I can eat anything, I of course try to keep it low fat and stay away from any junk food or fried foods, I usually drink water with the enhancer liquids. I stated exercising a couple weeks ago so I ride the recumbant bike for 20 min 3x a week and do some stuff for my arms and abd muscles everyother day. I wouldnt change my decision to do the surgery for anything in the world!!!

I feel the same way, food is around me 24/7, I can not exscape it so no sense in trying I have to just adapt