dhidlebaugh
I started the journey Aug 2004 at 287. By mid september I was approved for surgery. Going through Richmond Kaiser you have to wait two months from your approval date before calling about the next appointments needed.
I got my orientation appointment for Nov 4th in Richmond. I got directions and was told it would take an hour to drive down there. Class started at 0700. I arrived and got to check in at 0702 and was told it was to late to go into class. Had to reschedule. OOPS!!!
Dec. 16th was my reschedule date for orientation and I left the house two hours early and made it to Richmond with an hour to spare. Weight was taken and recorded at 291.4
Jan. 10th was to be my nutrition class. I arranged to work from home and was called about 09:30 and told it had been canceled.
I was finally able to do the nutrition class on Jan 26th. Not really what I expected but it's done. We were able to weight in but it was not recorded. I am down to 279.
My Hubby has been very supportive of this choice and has even been willing to help me by eating some of the fat free/low fat foods I have been cooking. I also have support from my mother who went through the surgery in May of 2001 and had surgeon Dr. Baggs. And then there is my little sister who had surgery Aug. 2003.
2-8-05: I continue to slowly lose weight on the 1200 calorie "eating habit" and working out on the treadmill as much as possible. I hope to reach "goal weight" by the time I see Dr. Baggs on Mar 11. I am learning to stop eating when I feel full. Even if it means to leave food on the plate.
2-18-05: This has been a week to forget. I have had nothing but problems with my home warranty company and the repair tech. Long story and it just makes my blood boil thinking about it. Turns out I just went out and got a new washer instead of dealing with them any longer. Valentines day was nice. My dear Hubby sent me flowers and then the family went out to dinner. Nice calm night. With the stress of the home warranty company and straining my back last saturday I have not follow my eating habit very well and I am trying to get back on track. I have not weighed in to see if I gained but i do not feel like I have. In fact this morning when I got dressed I put on a pair of pants that are a little snug and today they are baggy. HURRAY for me. Hubby tells me to go buy new clothes because I appear to be swimming in my clothes. I am going to wait a little longer. I got some new pants that have draw string so that will help out.
Monday is a holiday for my company so I have set up to use my christmas present of 115 minutes at a dayspa. I am going to enjoy that. Everyone have a great weekend.
3/13/05: I met with Dr. Baggs on 3/11/05. Very nice guy. I did not have many questions for him but he did recomment attending a support group. I have eight pounds to lose before I can schedule an appointment with the case manager and another appointment with him. If I can lose that within the next month he said there might be a possiblity of having surgery by June. That would be a birthday present I would never forget. I do have to go in on Apr. 6th for an ultra sound of my heart. I guess even though I took Phen-Phen for a short period I still have to have my heart checked out. So that date is my goal for the eight pounds. I think I can do it. All gung ho now. Until next posting. :)
3/29/05: Easter weekend was very crazy. We had the whole family together for the first time in over 15 years. Nothing major happened and the 7 kids(15 to 2 years old) did have a blast together. My daughter played hard all weekend. As of 3/25/05 I only had three pounds to go before calling for my final appointment with Dr. Baggs. I was very good for Easter dinner. The only bad thing I had was the wine. It was easier to deal with everyone that way.
I have started a new adventure. I have recently become an independent Creative Memories consultant. I scrapbook all the time and so I am now going to help others get started and/or keep going. I am hoping to get this adventure off the ground soon and start booking some shows/home classes. We will see how it goes.
I am hoping by next friday to be down those three pounds. I will keep posting.
05/26/05: Ok so those last few pounds took a while. Not sure what happened but they finally came off. I went in for a weight check on 5/12/05 and I was 1.2 pounds away from goal. I went back on 5/19/05 and i was down four pounds. HURRAY for me. I then got to get my EKG. All is normal there. on 5/25/05 I met with Mary, case manager, and it went well. We went over the test and other information. I was given four different surgery dates in July and I picked the first one, July 6, 2005. Hurray.... only six weeks away. I might have been able to get a june date but I am working on a big project at work that I want to finish before I go out. Mary is suppose to call me back with my surgeon consult and pre-op appointments. Trying to get them done all in one day. We will see if that happens.
On a down note my Creative Memories isn't going so well. My sister, who sells Picture Perfect, and I held a national scrapbook day on May 7th and I think we both made maybe 100 dollars. Not sure if I can keep this going with our interested people. At least I have been able to get some creative pages done in my daughters book and the family album.
Well, everyone have a great holiday weekend. Until next time.
6/27/05: Wow time is flying by. only a week and half until surgery day. I am excited. I hope I have finished all my pre-op appointments. I spent all day in Richamond on 6/16/05. My case manager did call about one appointment but I was told by Dr. Baggs I did not need it so she is checking on it. I just need to continue to lose weight.
well, i will probably not post again until after surgery so until then everyone have a great 4th of July.
7/1/05: WOW only 5 days left to go until I will be on the losing side. I am excited. I have not gotten nervous yet. I am not sure if that is good or bad. I think I will go with the good. this weekend I will spend getting ready, food, clothes and cleaning house. Would hate to come home to a dirty house. I will miss my daughter though. She is going to go spend some time with her Granma starting the 5th. I have one more appointment to do on the 5th so I am hoping that helps make the days go by fast. I wanted to thank those who have sent encouraging messages to me. }|{
7/8/05: Two days Post OP. HURRAY. I am on the losing side. the surgery went well. I got in to the OR a little early and was in recovery and waking up roughly two and half hours later. I am not in much pain. every now and then I have pressure but it passes. My hospital stay was good but I did get tired of laying in bed. My nurses were all great with the exception of my last day shift nurse. she needs a refreshers course on how to treat WLS patients. My husband had to get on her about my dose of pain meds. I was getting ready to be discharged and had asked for them 5 minutes to 2pm. he finally went and found her again shortly after 2:20. I knew I needed to get them in my system before the drive home and it takes them 20 miutes to take affect. Needless to say I left the hospital at roughly 2:40. The drive home wasn't to bad. The first night tryin to find a comfortable position in our bed was rough but I did get sleep. Today I have taken many walks and DH has taken all but one with me. I even made it around the block on our last walk. And I felt great to pass my first gas bubble.
I never bought a scale so I am not sure how much I gained in fluids but I might adventure out tomorrow to get one. And my daughter will be home tomorrow. She has been with DH's mother and then my sister for last night and tonight. I have not seen her since tuesday night. I can't wait.
Thank you everyone that sent messages. I appricate them and I think of everyone on their jounery. Until next time.
7/24/05: Well, just a little over two weeks post op and I am down 18 pounds(58 pounds since 12/27/04). Not bad. I am on stage 3 diet and doing great with it. my only problem is the drinking still. some days it's good and does not bother me others I have to go back to the ice chips or popsicles. I have been told this is a normal feeling. My sister tells me it will get better. She had the surgery almost two years ago.
It was great because Thursday at my two weeks check up Dr. Baggs released me to use the pool. Just in time too, we have had some 100 degree weather around here. UGH! I get to go back to work in three days. And I will go back to a team that is short one person. My manager called me last week and said he was leaving the company. I am not sure if they will replace him or just eliminate the position. I am kind of hoping to have the position eliminated. Today I get to find my 3 year old daughter a new bed. She said she is ready to get out of her daybed and into a big bed like mine. She has the crib that converted to daybed. I guess its about time. She can almost stretch out and reach both ends with her hands and feet.
Well, I must go eat some breakfast. Most of the time I am not hungry but I know I have to eat. Everyone have a great day.
8/4/05: Well, I am a month out and I have lost 25 pounds. I am able to sleep now and my exercise program is getting easier. I don't get as tired as quick as two weeks ago. I am able to pretty much ate anything on the list for stage III so that is good. I found a Minute Maid Light mango tropical drink that is really good and does not leave a funny after taste in the mouth, like Crystal light does. It is totally weird how the weight lost starts on top and moves down slowly. I have gone down two top sizes but stayed the same for pants. I head out next saturday for Colorado Springs for work but I do get to see an old girlfriend so that will be nice. I have heard that when you fly you get dehydrated really quick. Not like I already can't drink enough. That will be a challenge for me along with not having a kitchen to fix my small meals in.
well, until next time.
8/11/05: The last two days have been horrible. I am not sure what was the matter but YUCK! My feeling on it is a reaction to the pill I started monday night. Tuesday at work I was ghost white and very week, I could barely eat anything. I had to go back to pureed foods. I was sent home early that day. Wednesday I went ahead and stayed home and felt a little better but still very weak and on pureed foods. I did not take the pill last night and today I feel much better. I was able to eat a cracker with a little bit of cheese and egg on it. But that was about it. I will suck on ice chips the rest of the morning.
As of this morning I am down 31 pounds and five weeks out. No to shabby. Only 87 more pounds left on my goal. I decided to set a mini goal of 22 more pounds by Sept. 28, 12 weeks out. that will put my under the 200 mark. I figured once I go to the next stage of eating the weight lose might slow down some. I also found that I can drink water with just a splash of lemon juice in it.
Well, I best go for now.
8/31/05: Well, I forgot to weigh my self this morning after my shower. last night when I stepped on it after work I was down to 214. That is 37 pounds down. Coolio. Had my 6 weeks group class last week. It was ok. they really got on to us about NO MORE "soft calories". There are some mornings where if I look or smell food I get neaous so i was eating Dannon light and fit yogurt, a whole 30 calories. I was told NO MORE of that. I use to be able to eat the same thing two nights in a row or more and now I can't. If I have it one day I can't have it again for at least a week. Oh well. Well I have my next 12 week appointment on oct 11. so we will see if I make my goal of being under 200.
9/19/05: Well, last thursday when I weighted myself I was down to 206 (down 45/85). Not to shabby. I am wanting to lose at least another 10 to 15 pounds in the next month. My DH and I are heading to Hawaii for a very late Honeymoon, 15 years late. I got feed up one day at work and decided I needed a real vacation. I have my mother flying down to watch my daughter, they don't see each other much so we thought it would be a great opporunity.
Last week I did not make it to the gym. I had a sick daughter and my DH had to have some teeth pulled so he couldn't watch our daughter due to pain meds. Today I am heading over to the gym and will spend a hour working out and then an hour at the pool working on my tan. It should be nice.
Not much more happening here. I can finally drink plain water but now I have a problem with drinking/eating anything with artifical sweeters. I will talk to Dr. Baggs about that next month.
Everyone have a great week. dh
11/02/05: Well, it has been a while since I last posted. I am down a total of 105 pounds since January, that gives me a lose of 65 pounds since surgery. I am pleased with this. I reached my 100 pound mark the day we left for Hawaii. The vacation was awesome. I could have stayed longer but I was missing my daughter. Did a ton of walking and laying on the beach. Eating was a challenge as me and my husband have two different tastes so some days I paid way to much for the amount I got to eat.
I had my three month check up back in October and it went well. I did start taking the pill form of calcuim and back on my pre-natal vitamins. They have everything that I need. I still have a problem eating some types of beef but other then that I am good. It's funny because I see a few post op people that are over a year or more out and I see them eating things that are totally suppose to be off limits and to them it's no big deal. And then you hear them complain about gaining weight. What are you to say to them, STOP EATING WHAT YOUR NOT SUPPOSE TO HAVE! Or just let them figure it out for themselves. It is helping me to remember not to do that ever.
I have read how some ladies are starting to get attention from guys and they are not ready for it. It has also started for me and some days it feels great but other days it feels totally weird. I guess I am still not use to the fact that I have lost so much weight and inches. something that will happen with time I guess.
Halloween was good. I had stopped to get candy to pass out and thought I would try some sugarfree candy. I had half a piece and it was just to sweet for me. So I guess that can be a good thing.
Until next time.
12/8/05: Thanksgiving was not hard to get through. We stayed home and I was able to cook a small meal for the three of us. A small turkey breast, mash potatos, and green bean and bacon. I have found that if I use fat free cream cheese in the mash potatos the are just as creamy as if using butter and milk.
I am down to 173. So my weight lose has slowed down but at least I am still losing. This morning I was able to get into my size 14 pants. It felt great doing so.
I had slacked on going to the gym but I am back going pretty much every day. I just love sitting in the steam room after working out. I have been doing a lot of ab work. I hope it will pay off. Every time I go somewhere I haven't been in a while and the doctor or someone see's me they have to do a double take. Then they tell me they did not recongize me. I have had a lot of people at work as me what my secret is. I am ok with telling them that I have had surgery. They are just amazed at the results. Some have even told me they are going to their doctor to talk about the surgery. I wish them luck. It was the best thing I have done for myself. I tease my husband now because I pretty much weigh less them him and that hasn't been the case for close to 13 years. He thinks it is great.
Right now I am trying to fight off a sinus infection. I got it one day into being in Las Vegas for a week on business. Not my best visit to Vegas. I was on meds for 10 days after I got back, and three days after finishing them I had another infection. So now I am on stronger meds. I just hope they work.
Well, I best go. I hope everyone has a great Christmas.
1/11/06: Happy New Years to everyone. Christmas and size 14 came and is now gone. As of this morning I was down 131.8 pounds in the last year. I feel great and people tell me I look great. There are still some days where I feel overweight but just something I have to work through. My coworker keeps telling me my clothes are to big again. I was in size 14 for like two weeks. The weight might have slowed down but with going to the gym as much as I do the inches are just falling off. I am close to fitting into a size 10. Wow, I have not seen that size in just under 17 years.
I am still receiving great support from DH and family memebers. I have been able to tell a few people what "my secret" is and talk to them about it and they open up and state they are looking into it. Still the best thing I have done for my self.
I go in on the 19th for my 6 month post op class. I hope it is better then the 5 month post op class.
Until next posting. Happy losing...
3/6/06: It has been a while since I last updated. As of this morning I am down to 149.4 pounds. Giving me a total lose of
143 pounds since starting this process. I am wearing a size 8/10 and I feel GREAT! I have about two inches of new hair growth. I went in yesterday and cut about five inches off and the gal cutting my hair said that about half of my hair was lost and is coming back in. I was so happy. I use to hate my thick hair but once you start losing it you want it back. I want to lose about another 10 pounds and see how I feel. I still go to the gym three to five days a week. My daughter started preschool across the freeway from my work and she loves to go to the gym with me. She wants to go everyday so that should help me out and keep in line with going to the gym. One thing I am finding that I can't get use to is with the smaller size shirts the shorter they are. I feel like my belly is showing and I am not comfortable with that. But I have become addicted to shopping. I even got my first pair of strappy sandles with 3 inche heels. WOW! that was a first. I love them.
Happy losing to everyone. Until next time.
3/23/06: Well, it has only been three weeks since I posted and I have been able to get off the platue I was on and started losing again. I am down to 143 so I have three pounds to go until my goal weight. I might try for 135, I am not sure yet. I have people stopping me all the time and ask how I did it. If I am comfortable telling them about the surgery I will, if not I tell them hard work and smaller portions. My DH still wants me to print up business cards with the needed information about the surgery on them and pass them out. I know that each person is different and for me I won't listen to it until I was ready to make the change. It's hard for him to understand that with being skinny his whole life. But it is great to be smaller then him now and I figured it out, I have not weighted this little since the 8th/9th grade. CRAZY GOOD!
This last week I did suffer a really bad headache. I thought I needed a back adjustment but found out that I had not drank enough water/fluid. Once I got enough water into my system and slept all day, I was good. I don't want to do that again.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
8/1/06: It has been a while since I posted. Not much has been happening. In May we spent a week at Disneyland for my DD 4th birhtday. She loved it and continues to ask when we are going back. June was pretty uneventful. I had another birthday but nothing special there. At the end of the month we bought a brand new sport boat. It's a beauty. 20.6 feet long and will hold 9 people. DH loves taking it up to the lake and playing. I still have to get comfortable driving.
July 4th DH and I ran a race to help stamp out hunger in our area. I was able to finish a 5K in 38 minutes and 32 seconds. DH did the 10K in just over an hour.
I think I have hit my maintanence weight of 138. I am ok with that weight. I have several people tell me I am too skinny and that I could gain 10 pounds or so. Not heard of. Have worked to hard to lose this weight why would I want to gain it. I can wear anything from a size 4 to an 8. It depends on the label. And I have found that I LOVE to shop now. i still need to get into the habit of trying things on first but that will come with time, I hope.
I have a new picture to post so I will try to get that done soon. I am starting to research plastic surgeons. If anyone has recommendations in the Sacramento area please let me know.
10/5/06: It has been a while since I posted and truely a lot has happened.
A few days after my last post I had been having some pretty bad dizzy spells and so I emailed my PCP, who was gone for the next few days. I spoke with a few friends and family that had the surgery as well and asked them if they had these same type of dizzy spells. Well, they hadn't. so the next morning I decided to take a PG test. To my surprise it came back positive bright and clear.... OH MY GOSH!!! and when I say surprise I mean it. When I went in for a dating ultra sound I found out that I was 2 months PG and with twins... OH MY GOSH!!! but they were showing up at different sizes so they wanted me to come back in two weeks. When I went back in we found out that one twin(the smallest one two weeks prior) had stopped developed and had re-absorbed into my system. So we are pregnant with a single baby and are due March 24th. I am hoping to have the baby a week earlier because we are having a c-section again. When I found out I had a struggle with the whole gaining weight thing but once I got use to being PG I am thinking about it this way, the weight is not me but the baby. I have been pretty good with the weight gain so far, only 6 pounds. I think for 15.5 wks the six pounds is pretty good. And I don't fit into any of my clothes. I had to go out last night and get maternity clothes. But this pregnancy has been great. Only symptons I have had are some headaches and being tired. No morning sickness like with my daughter five years ago. And I have been called a "cute pregant lady"... With daughter I was just FAT!
That is my exciting unexpected news. So ladies Please be careful in taking your pills. I was on 9wks cycles and that is why it took us so long before we found out.
