Briardlady

I'm giving special thanks that I have a sleeve. I think without it, I would have put on ten pounds these last two months. First, I had a litter of pups with a mother that didn't have enough milk, and thought simulating pups to pee and poop was not her job. Lots of lost sleep, lots of work. That was the easy part. A good friend called me five weeks ago from an ambulance on the way to the hospital, asking me to go get her dogs from her house. Then she dropped out of sight. I had to start calling hospitals the next day to find her, only to find it that she was in ICU on a ventilator. Had to call her son in another state, found out she'd had a massive heart attack, the phone call to me was about the last thing she said to anyone. She then had a stroke, kidney failure, liver failure, Fluid in the lungs, paralysis, dialysis.... everything that could go wrong did. She spent two weeks on the ventilator. So I'm coping with puppies and buyers in two countries, trying to visit her every couple days, helping her son deal with her house, etc, and adding her dogs to my bunch. There wasn't a stress free moment. Then after 4 1/2 weeks of hell, a day after I saw her last, she died just days after being moved to a skilled nursing facility. Alone, at 3 a.m. We had tried for weeks to get her dog in to see her (registered therapy dog, my friend visited hospitals regularly for years, her life revolved around her dogs), and she never got to see her dog again. With the paralysis, she couldn't talk, but she was in there, totally aware of what was going on. It was so hard to see her like that. Unbelievably hard. And I'm angry at her. She was morbidly obese. She saw what great success I've had with the sleeve, she has the same insurance I have where she would have had to only pay $250 for surgery, but she just wasn't ready. Her sister died several years ago following a stroke related to uncontrolled diabetes, but my friend didn't take her meds for her diabetes. Her knees were bad so she didn't exercise. I'm angry at myself, should I have pushed her much harder to look at surgery? I don't think it would have made any difference, but that thought niggles at me. And I'm afraid. I was morbidly obese for maybe thirty years. My friend didn't know she had blocked arteries. What time bombs is my body holding? Can I get my HMO to do the testing needed to check my arteries, and whatever else is needed? Watching what happened to her up close and personal just scares the hell out of me. That could have been me 135 excess pounds ago. I just needed to put all this in writing. I have been so thankful these last few weeks for my tool, it has kept me from gorging myself on my old stress friends, Hershey kisses and French fries. And it gives me hope that I won't follow my friend to an early, painful death. Her memorial service is tomorrow. I hope it really does help me with some closure, but I think that is going to take some time. Jeanne Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

I think we all have our "dunes". Mine was watching friends and family casually sit on the floor, the lawn, whatever. I knew if I tried that, I would never be able to get up, and it would be horribly embarrassing. Now I don't think twice about sitting on the floor, but give thanks each time I stand up. You will conquer your dunes, and so much more. Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

151.0 Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

I've lost 130 pounds, 15 pounds from goal. Most of my remaining fat is in my belly. I feel as if I'm walking hunched over, like a little old lady. Ok, I'm 60, but don't like to look like I'm 80. It's especially bad when I first get up. When I'm walking for exercise, I straighten up after about the first ten minutes. Has anyone else felt their posture change? I'm debating about making an appointment with my PCP, see if physical therapy would help. Any suggestions? I do get backaches, muscle aches right in the middle of the back, fairly often. I wonder if I'm hunching over to try to protect my back? If I stand against a wall, I can't touch my shoulders to the wall. I've never read about this on the forums. Thanks for any help. Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

I can't believe how foul diet coke tastes to me now, after a 2 liter a day habit for many years. There are times I remember that great feeling off it going down my throat, but the taste just sucks now. Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

156.2 no idea what my body is doing this week, but I don't like it! Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

Please add me. CW 153.2, GW 148.2. Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

154.6 so close! Sorry for the delay in posting, new puppies in the house. Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

Forgot to post! 156.0. Sent from my SM-T230NU using the BariatricPal App

157.6

I think you need to get an opinion from your surgeon, but don't make that the deciding factor. They have biases, and I think for some, the longer they have been doing this, the more they might push bypass over the sleeve. Mine told me any diabetic who choose the sleeve over the bypass was a fool. But I knew the stats, and having been a diabetic for over ten years, and being insulin dependent, I knew there was a good chance the bypass would NOT be an instant cure for my diabetes. I choose the sleeve because there is a very strong incidence of cancer in my family, and I did not want to have malabsorption issues if / when I end up on chemotherapy. With the weight loss, my A1c has dropped from 12.3 to 5.9, so I don't think I made a foolish choice. My program's own literature says the complications rate for bypass is five times greater than for the sleeve, another big factor for me.

I started on famotidine, did nothing. Went to prilosec, worked better, but not great. Protonix worked, but at a very high dose. Currently on Prevacid, which is working at a lower dose. I was so glad I had read that hunger could be caused by acid, those hunger pangs were making my life miserable!

It took me years to recognize that it wasn't normal that I couldn't identify people. I hate it when tv shows have two blondes, or two actors with similar faces or haircuts. I always have to ask, is that the same person in the last scene? Is that the mother or the daughter? How about going on a date in high school and not recognizing the guy the next day? Or living across the street from the same people for ten years, but being afraid to say hi because it might be a visiting friend, not the neighbor? Running into your sister at the mall, and not recognizing her? It's very isolating socially. In my perfect universe, everyone would wear a nametag. Weird thing is, at a dog show, I can recognize a dog 50 yards away. I look at silhouettes, carriage, movement, no faces involved!

So glad it's not just me. The little monsters were actually handing out thin mint samples! I bought a box, opened it at the table, took out five cookies, and gave the rest back. The mom thought I was crazy, until I told her I'd lost 125 pounds and wasn't going to eat a whole box of cookies. Then I got a hug! Paid $1 a cookie, but they were so good.

On a practical note: For your hunger issue, are you on a ppi to control stomach acid? I had to try two before I found one that worked, and once that kicked in, the hunger pangs went away. I had never had acid issues before, getting it under control made a huge difference.

158.8 thanks Sarah Congratulations!

Finally made it home. 159.4 and the week included a retirement party. I'm happy!

Please add me too. Starting weight 162.0, goal weight 154. Thanks.

162.0 sorry I'm late, internet issues. Didn't quite make it, but pleased with my progress. I'll be back for the next one. Thanks.

Could you explain this a little more? I have a fitbit, what is the challenge?

163.4. Oh well.

I've lost 121 pounds, maybe 40% of my weight, so it is definitely noticeable. I inspect facilities, so see some people annually year after year. They know me. I recently did two large zoos, both of which I've been going to for almost thirty years. I usually work with men for the actual driving / walking around, but a lot of the keepers know me too, and are always very friendly. At both zoos, not one single man commented on my weight loss AT ALL. Not a word about how I looked, about how well I was able to keep up, nada, nothing. OTOH, just about every female keeper I know gave me compliments, asked how I did it, etc. Male keepers looked surprised when they saw me, but no comments. I guess we've reached the point in society where men are afraid to say anything in a work situation? I was actually a little annoyed, not at the lack of compliments, but at the clear difference between the men and the women. At the dog shows, comments are evenly divided, but that's not work. With my co-workers (who I see rarely), no one has been afraid to talk about my weight loss. It just seemed weird.

I logged religiously, but have found it harder to do now. For example, yesterday I was out of the house at 4am for a two hour drive. Too early for breakfast, but wanted something solid, so I got a McDonald's bacon egg cheeses biscuit. I ate 1/4 of the biscuit, half a slice of bacon, about half the egg, and most of the cheese. How do I accurately log that? And being inaccurate would drive me nuts. This morning I had three leftover shrimp from an el pollo shrimp taco. None of the tortilla, but a little if the poblano sauce. And before I get jumped on, I don't do fast food on a regular basis, but had unexpectedly long days, made careful choices, and limited my amounts. Again, how do I log that? I'm going to be more successful if I let myself have a variety of foods, but the logging apps all seem to want you to have a defined portion of a defined food.

Bought a nice pair of size 12p pants, and wore them showing three dogs this weekend. Along with setting up crates and grooming tables, loading and unloading the van, exercising dogs, etc. Still had a ton of energy at the end of the day. A year ago, I watched my co owner show my girl, and one trip to the van wore me out. Yeah!

If you have a chance during an open season, look at Kaiser! I started out with FEHB Blue Shield of California. They were agreeable, I went thru a six month "supervised weight loss and informational" course that meet once a month, it was a joke. I would have been having surgery in January, and my cost would have been around $3500 in all the copays (no deductible). When open season rolled around in November, my premium was going to go up 30%. Uh uh. Switched to Kaiser, my premium was less than I had been paying, got into the options program for 12 weeks of classes that actually prepared me for surgery and success, and paid $250 for my surgery. Follow-up care has been great. So glad I switched, Kaiser is so proactive about health care. It's a bit assembly line, but they have their system for bariatric surgery down pat, no surprises, full support.