My Weight Loss Journey by Sheila Pinkney

[Sheila 1]

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

[MINI-Me 196]

Welcome ... Glad you found us. Sounds like you are well on your way.

[Sheila 1]

I had my Endoscopy on Friday January 14, 2011. Out of everything I have to do to prepare for my surgery, this is the one thing I was worried about. I kept warning all the nurses about my bad gag reflex, and they told me not to worry about it because I would be given a spray to numb my throat so I wouldn't feel the scope as it passed down my esophagus. I also was given something that made me sleep. A sedative or something. Well, apparently I did gag with all the prep and when I woke up my throat was hurting. I told the nurse who came to check on me, she said that is strange normally patients do not complain of sore throats. She looked at my chart and said I was retching. One thing I know about myself is when I say I have a gag reflex, people should listen.

I am now just a bit worried that the doctor was not able to complete the exam and find out what he needed to know about my GI tract. I am going to call the office tomorrow or email the nurse to see if everything went okay and my exam was successful.

One thing I was not to impressed with was the desk staff. I live 2 hours away from where my surgery is going to be and where the surgeon's office is, so my husband had to sit and wait until this test was complete and I had woken up. He was there waiting for over 4 hours. When he went to ask if I was okay and if I was recovering, they just told him to go sit back in the waiting room. They would not tell him anything and was basically rude to him. When I first got to the clinic, the nursing staff were very pleasant to me. But when I woke up, I was pretty much ignored until they one nurse came to take the IV out of my arm. She said I could get dressed and leave. She did not give me any instructions on what to do for the evening, if I could eat or drink. I was pretty woozy when I woke up and while I was getting dressed. I had to stop at the desk to see if there was any thing I need to know when for I got home, she said NO. When I walked out into the hall I almost fell over and no one cared except a male orderly who was there cleaning beds. He asked if he could help me, and I thanked him and said I just had to go down the hall way and I would hold on the railing. My husband would help the rest of the way.

Well, enough with my ranting. I am glad one more thing is out of the way and I am one step closer to my surgery date. Just waiting for the pysch eval and then hopefully I will get my date. Fingers crossed.

Sheila

[MRSKOUBiK 27]

Good luck! I hope everything goes smoothly and you have your surgery!

[Sheila 1]

Thank you MRSKOUBiK, I love your ticker. I really love being able to read and learn from people. I gives me hope and encouragement.

Sheila

[MRSKOUBiK 27]

Anytime

I love(d) reading everything too! Such inspiration!

[M2G 1,836]

Welcome from one Sheila to another!!!

I too orginially thought "lap band" but at the prodding of my husband (who is going to be sleeved soon as well) he begged me to please research the sleeve. I am forever grateful to him and his prodding, here I am sleeved almost 3 months and LOVING my sleeve!!

[Sheila 1]

I am feeling very anxious here lately. It just seems the process I have to go through takes forever. Since the provincial government is paying for my surgery, things move at a snails pace. I want to get through this part and start working towards a healthier me. I know it takes time (and I am losing now to prepare for the surgery) but Lordy is seems to be taking forever. I feel like a little kid again waiting for Christmas morning to finally get here because I wanted to tear open my presents.

I have stated before that I get this giddy excitement feeling at times where I start thinking about life after surgery and I almost start giggling to myself. I know I was smiling to myself. Such a strange feeling.

I know my turn will be here soon enough, but right, it just can't come soon enough.

(In)patiencely Waiting,

Sheila

[Sheila 1]

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