My RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

You will apologize and not let any of this anger linger...but you must take care of yourself!!!!Dehydration could lead to disaster...please .

[DangerMouse007 105]

Well, one week later, things seemed to have cooled off, and I do feel better mentally and as far as my appetite is concerned. Getting my liquids in hasn't been too much of an issue for me although I don't always make 64 ounces daily.

On the plus side, I've lost 10 pounds in the last two weeks, and now 19 in the last five. I'm still wearing some of my old 5X shirts since I still don't want to buy anything new or "used" just yet. I have to tuck them in my pants though otherwise it looks like I'm wearing a tent. To me that's just simply amazing.

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

Hang in there ...you are making progress!!!!

[DangerMouse007 105]

Oof...threw up for the first time in several weeks earlier today. I made some pot roast in the slow cooker, and I guess I didn't shred the meat up small enough and/or didn't chew very well. I could feel it getting stuck in my pouch fairly early on, and then the coughing starts. I really hate how sometimes it takes so long before the vomiting starts. The pain in the pouch must have lasted nearly an hour before I was finally able to "free up" some room by puking it out. So painful.

I added a smidge of running to my cardio regimen this past Monday...just a little bit, maybe 4 minutes worth. Actually I should call it jogging. But my legs (quads specifically) have been pure mush since then. It's been nearly 21 years since I've tried jogging like that.

There's a chance I'll be going to a tropical location south of Florida mid-April so I need to be in great Speedo shape by then. #majorsarcasm

[DangerMouse007 105]

One week later and only one more pound lost, but my clothes are definitely looser. The jeans I bought before Halloween definitely have a great deal more extra room (could almost already use them as an "after" pic like you see on TV). My belt is also on the last hole and ready to probably be replaced (or just add more holes).

Before I mentioned the loose skin under my arms, but my stomach definitely looks like it'll be a problem area as well. Probably too early to tell on my thighs and calves; at least I haven't seen any kind of squishy loose skin like in the other areas.

I talked with a gastric sleeve patient here at work last weekend. He had his surgery nearly two years ago this upcoming April; he's dropped from 475 to 160 pounds!!! Incredible! But he also had lots of plastic surgery done last summer and at the end of last year. I was asking if he self paid or was able to go through insurance, but he did self pay. I'm not sure that's something I can do in the future once my weight loss has "settled". If I did try to get an arm lift and Tummy Tuck, etc. I'll probably end up having to borrow in some way, something I can't even think about doing right now.

I find it amusing that people generally don't compliment you on weight loss. I guess they're worried you'll be offended that you even need to lose weight in the first place. However, last Sunday I had someone at work compliment me on losing some serious "L B's" as she said. Aw, shucks, thanks for noticing!

Added more running to my work out this week. I'm definitely not ready to be the endurance runner I was over 20 years ago though. Small steps...all in good time.

Edited January 21, 2016 by DangerMouse007

[DangerMouse007 105]

Added even more running to my cardio this week still mixed in with a lot of walking, and I feel really, really good afterwards. It's an odd feeling.

However, I have noticed that my appetite is now HUGE! As in I feel like I'm hungrier more often. I'm thinking maybe my body, adjusting to the larger loss in calories in my running, is starving for more?? I don't know. I do drink lots of Water after my runs. My surgeon doesn't recommend Protein shakes like most of the rest of the people on this board. He generally likes solid Proteins otherwise I probably would drink a Protein shake after my workout. I do have to fight off the urge to eat more than 3 meals per day right now, though, which could be troublesome in the future.

Edited January 28, 2016 by DangerMouse007

[DangerMouse007 105]

The weight loss really slowed down in the last week or so, but I did lose about 20 pounds between Christmas and the end of January which is something. I now wear size 48 jeans with a little room to spare. I don't normally measure myself, but when I went to buy the jeans, I had the salesman measure me. Apparently I lost about 3 inches in my neck as well going from a size 22 to a size 19? Does that make sense?

As mentioned last week, my appetite coupled with the extra weight lifting and cardio I've been doing has made me tremendously hungry. For example, I had a small dinner about an hour ago, and yet I'm super hungry craving more. It's tough to fight off since I don't want to be eating several small meals every day; just three. For Snacks, I usually stick to one 100 calorie pack of whatever: almonds, etc. but just one of those doesn't seem to be enough during the day. I try drinking my Crystal Light and Water as well, but this could be interesting going forward.

[DangerMouse007 105]

Had to make an impromptu flight across half the country yesterday, and for the first time in 10 years I didn't need a seat belt extender on the flight! I was sooo happy! I asked for one when I boarded but quickly realized I didn't need it after all! Soon Southwest won't let me do the Extra Seat Option that allows me to have an empty seat next to me. On that day, I will be happy but sad. As the flight attendant says, the last customer on the flight is never a cheerleader; they're always a linebacker! Ha ha ha!

[DangerMouse007 105]

I guess since I lost so much weight in January, it makes sense that I would be in a major stall now. Not too worried about it since I feel pretty good.

I had to fly back home to Texas last week due to a death in the family. Since the temperatures down there were way more agreeable than anything we've had up here in Upstate NY lately, I was able to get out and run Saturday morning outside at a park near my hotel.

Then Saturday night I went out to South Padre Island for a one night stay. Sunday morning I got out to the beach to watch the sunrise and get a nice run in on the beach. It was incredibly nice. I honestly don't know why I ever left Texas. Ha ha ha!

Now I'm back in Upstate NY with temperatures dipping into crazy low levels with wind chills that will make things feel all that much worse, while the rest of my family basks in mid-80's weather!

I meant to post yesterday, February 10th. That was the one year anniversary of my first consultation with my surgeon, and essentially the beginning of my weight loss journey. Unofficially I've lost 144 pounds in that year. When I go in for my six month post-op appointment in a few weeks, they'll give me the official amount I guess.

So much has changed in a year, but I'm loving it so far.

Still struggling with severe hunger after I workout though. I've written about it several times already, but it's quite the struggle to just stick to the plan and not try and "graze" all day.

Edited February 12, 2016 by DangerMouse007

[plane224 8]

Your post are inspirational. You seem to really have this. Thank you for your posts. I'm getting ready to tell my story. I'm not there yet. I am happy to have yours to read.

[DangerMouse007 105]

@@plane224 No problem. Thanks for reading.

As for the latest update, still in a stall; nothing gained, nothing lost. I went in to do my blood draw yesterday for my upcoming 6-month post-op appointment. They took SIX vials of blood! Whoa! Changes in my insurance this year pretty much guarantee I'll be paying a percentage out of pocket for that. I'm dreading that bill when it comes.

I keep thinking about those two 5K's I've signed up for in May. With just under 3 months left for one and just over 3 months on the other, will I be able to run over 3 miles at a time? At the moment, no. But we'll see how it goes from here.

I head back to Texas (and 80 degree weather) this upcoming weekend; probably my last trip down there until July I think.

[plane224 8]

I don't know if you have talked to your nutritionist about having high Protein Snacks. I eat a lot of 80 cal fit and light Greek yogurt. It has 12 grams of protein. I have found that high protein snacks can help get me through the day. I try for 3 meals and 2 snacks. Some days I don't make the 3 meals. I am working on the 75-90grams of protein.

I hope this helps

Edited February 19, 2016 by plane224

[DangerMouse007 105]

Quite the disappointment that I lost so much weight between Christmas and the end of January and absolutely no weight loss in February. So yeah, I've been in a 4 week stall at least.

Next week is my 7 month post-op appointment (should have been 6 month, but I had to push the appointment back due to scheduling concerns) so will be interested to see how I'm doing with Vitamins, etc., and even more excited to find out what my A1C is. They took six vials of blood, one more than they did at my 3 month post-op appointment. I didn't think anything changed in the tests they ordered, but they sure took enough of my blood!

[DangerMouse007 105]

Still no movement on the scale so this is easily the longest stall I've had since my surgery. I am feeling quite a bit disappointed, but I can only wait it out for now. I've still been using the Couch to 5K app, and so my cardio workout is slowly increasing along with what the app suggests.

On Monday night, I went to my first ever Bariatric Support Group that is held locally once a month. The topic for the night was about Plastic Surgery after WLS so you can imagine it was a packed room! It certainly got me to see what it was all about.

The plastic surgeon talked about insurance requirements (or lack thereof). He went through examples, and showed before and after pictures. To be honest, while I definitely have loose skin on various parts of my body, none of what I have compares to the examples he was given. Granted I still have several months or longer (and hopefully a lot more weight to lose) before I can even consider plastic surgery and will probably have lots more loose skin, but he showed some pretty extreme examples. It was a pretty informative session and gave me some things to think about.

I also had my 6-month post op appointment on Tuesday. It was actually 7 months post op since I had to push the appointment down a few weeks due to other scheduling conflicts. Everything came out fantastic with Vitamins, etc....except my A1C. It was at 7.9, worse than at the end of November. I'm very, very disappointed by that. My follow up with my endo isn't until April, but since I self regulate my own insulin with Novolog and Levemir, it's basically up to me to get that number down. I was actually hopeful it would come down since I've recently been hitting extremely low numbers meaning I probably over medicated myself, but that certainly was not reflected in my blood work.

[DangerMouse007 105]

Another week gone by and still stalled out.

I feel like my body is fighting against me. First it was the lower back issues that crept back up about 6 weeks post-op. That was thankfully mitigated by a chiropractor. Now it's my shoulder.

Back in November I had started doing more and more weight training especially for my arms and shoulders. Sometime then I felt a little pop in my right shoulder. Shortly afterwards I started feeling a little pain there. This last month the pain got much, much worse even to the point that when I would stretch my arm out or try to lift it over my head, I would get a shooting pain in my shoulder, and my arm would go numb.

I scheduled an appointment with a doctor and saw him earlier this week. I don't know how to spell or pronounce what he said the issue was, but it's basically inflammation. He gave me a steroid shot and told me to use an ice pack. If I still had issues six weeks from now, come back and see him.

I think the inability to use Advil or Ibuprofen post-op is definitely something that can not be glossed over when it comes to the gastric bypass. Both my chiropractor and this doctor both said that either could have helped, but since I had the gastric bypass I can't take either and have to rely on other methods...like an ice pack.

Anyway, hope the steroid shot and ice pack combination work. It's really aggravating to have my body just fight against me like this.