beachgal2935

After just turning 53 (10/17/13), I woke the morning before Thanksgiving (11/27/13) at 7 a.m. finding myself having a stroke.  My entire right side was numb.  I was rushed to the ER at Mayo in the town where I live and spent the next 6 days in the hospital before they released me to a 10 day in-patient stroke rehab and then finally home 12/12/13.  I was recovering quite well and then while watching TV with my husband and son (1/3/14), all of the sudden my whole right side felt as if it were swollen 3 times the size of my left.  Visually it was not but I knew something wasn’t right and back to the ER I went.  As a result of where my stroke took place (Thalamus of my brain), I had developed Thalamic Pain Syndrome.  It’s a debilitating nerve condition which affects my entire right side.  I was lucky the Neurologist on call knew exactly what was wrong with me.  So many go undiagnosed for years.  Pain meds do not work for this condition so I was put on Gabapentin and eventually they added Lyrica as well.  They’re both membrane suppressants and help to quiet the chaos inside my brain.  Thanks to Mayo’s PRC (Pain Rehab Center), which I attended for 3 weeks in the Summer of 2014, I was given the tools to help manage this chronic condition and actually “live” again.   Moving forward I knew the last piece of my recovery would be to focus on weight loss.  I’ve battled obesity for the past 30+ years and all that goes along with it … type II diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain and the list goes on and on.  I’ve been on EVERY diet known to man and lost weight numerous times only for it to return.  Part of that reason was I was living with 24/7 hunger.  My hunger hormone never shut off and the satiety center of my brain never came on.  Bottom line, I got a referral to Mayo’s Bariatric team in August 2014 and began the journey to better health.  After going through their very thorough psychological, nutritional and medical protocol, eight months later I had gastric bypass surgery (4/21/15).  It’s not for everyone but it was the BEST decision for me and I don’t regret it for 1 second!  Anyone who says it’s taking the “Easy way out” has NO CLUE! I’ve also heard, “I know someone who had it and they gained all their weight back!”  As with anything, if you don’t follow the rules, you will not succeed.  All of the medications I used to take went in the trash the day of surgery, with the exception of my nerve meds, so YAY to that as well!  I’ve been given a second and now I think this is giving me a third chance at living a healthy life.  I WILL SUCCEED!!!  .