GAlakelady

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Been a while since I've been to this site.  But I'm down 91 pounds (229) and a happy camper.  My entire story and videos are on YouTube.    I've added some photos.

5-26-09   Time flys!  After the ER episode and new drugs my heart rate was about 44 beats per minute and I felt like I was totally drained.  Then my feet and ankles swelled up.  I stopped taking the meds and went back and took my old water pill blood pressure pill.  Voila...swelling gone.  I had gained the 10 pounds I lost before surgery and it took 15 days to get the water weight off.  I was pretty discouraged.  Then after the water pills, I dropped 11 pounds in 2 days.  The weight has continued to come off since.  I am now down 35 pounds.  My blood pressure is good and my heart rate is now around 60 beats per minute.  My PCP doc said I did the right thing.   I feel really good.

I find I can eat anything I want now but in small quanitites.  I still have to be conscious of the size of my bites, how quickly I eat them and chewing them enough.  I keep reverting back to my old habits and then it sits in my esophogus like it's waiting it's turn to get in.
My eyes are bigger than my stomach too and I'm making my husband fat by giving him my left overs.

People are starting to notice the weight loss and commenting.  I think you can tell in the face pictures taken from my YouTube sight http://www.youtube.com/user/WeightNoLonger

Bottom line.  I'm doing great but I need to exercise more.

Thought I'd give you a bit more info about the ER visit...
The day of surgery after I was taken to my room I was very dizzy and my eyes would not focus as they felt like they were spinning like a slot machine.  I couldn't stay awake and had zero energy.  What I found out later was during the surgery and after my heart rate and blood pressure was low.  I have atrial fibrillation ("a-fib" =irregular heart beat) that is controlled with medications.  If I miss my meds the rythum goes crazy and the rate jumps to 140+ beats per minute.  This is dangerous cuz it can create blood clots in the heart.  also, many times the blood pressure will raise and that can create a stroke.  Luckily my meds keep me normal.  However my heart rate has been running between 44 - 48/ minute.  That is slow.  It should be over 60/minute.  I went to my cardiologist and he adjusted my meds.  My rate is still slow so I don't know what they will do next.  I think it is making me tired and difficult to exert myself for brisk walks as walking kicks my ass if there is a slight incline.  I will be seeing my regular doctor in about 2 weeks.

Anyway...after I got home from surgery Wednesday evening about 6:30 everything was fine.  The next day I put some clothes away, took a short walk with the dogs, emptied the dishwasher and relaxed.  At 3pm I went into a-fib with a fast heart rate and had to go to the emergency room.  I was there for 5 hours and they didn't really want to give me anything since I had just had the surgery.  Normally they would give you a blood thinner.  They did give me something to slow the rate down but it didn't go into normal sinus rythum.  They sent me home with a new medication.  When I woke up the next day it was back to a normal beat but it was slow again.  So we'll see where this goes over time.  Sure hope I won't need a pace maker.

I don't think the bariatric surgery persay had anything to do with the a-fib attack, however, I was off my meds for a short time and the stress from the anestesia and surgery probably just pissed my heart off.

I feel great.  Only my large incision still hurts a little if I really twist or press on it hard.  I am eating soft protein like eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, turkey, veggie burgers, fish, tuna, FF refried beans and LF yogurt.  I still drink protein drinks from time to time.  I make sure I get about 70 - 80 grams of protein a day.  I am learning how my stomach reacts.  I can eat about 4 - 6 oz of food a meal. Nothing has disagreed with me yet.  I chew and chew and chew and then have to wait in between swallows to determine if I need to stop.  I ate too much one night and felt nauseous.  I can take my pills with no problems and normal size swallows of liquids is easy.  I am getting about 750-800 calories a day.  I do get hunger pangs that are really mild if about 6 hours go by without eating a meal.  I find that it is important to only eat the three meals.  If I eat a little here and there, I get too many calories so I want to get into the 3 meals a day only routine.  The hunger pangs I get are very mild and if I can't eat for a couple of hours it's no big deal.  In the past, I would feel miserable and like I'm starving such that I'd go to a fast food place and get a burger and fries and then eat dinner an hour later.   Not anymore.

My energy level is pretty good and I basically feel like I've never had the surgery.  I went to a party last weekend and had 3 chicken wings.  After peeling the skin off it took me about 15 minutes to eat them.  I was very satisfied with that while others stuffed themselves with 100's of calories. 

When I do start to eat, I find it is important to measure the food and put it on the plate to not over eat.  my eyes are still larger than my stomach and I want to keep going.  For example, I made a container of tuna salad.  When I measure 4 oz out, it is just enough.  But when i just eat out of the container waiting for my stomach to say "stop", I go too far and then feel uncomfortable.   I recommend you measure everything and don't rely only on your stomach.  This is part of the "larger eye" syndrome.  :)  Thank goodness my stomach is small such that I can't eat more even if I wanted to.  I love my sleeve!

The only part that is bothering me is the weight is coming off so slowly.  It took 2 weeks to lose the fluids I gained while in the hospital from the IV's.  I started at 322 at the pre-op diet and lost 10 pounds before surgery.  When I returned home from the hospital I gained the 10 pounds back.  I was told it would take 10 pounds to lose it.  It took all of those days to lose it.  Now I've only lost 1 more pound in 2 weeks.  I think I need to start exercising some more and just give my body some time to react.  I'm not too worried about it cuz know it's got to come off.  So far I'm a very happy camper and glad I chose the "sleeve".

See videos of my journey at www.youtube.com/user/weightnolonger

My experience at the hospital was wonderful.  All the nurses, technicians, doctors, etc. were wonderful.  If I had any pain, no problem...more drugs.  Dr. Richard is fantastic and truly cares about his patients.  A couple hours after my surgery I was dizzy and felt like my eyeballs were spinning like a slot machine.  My blood pressure and heart rate were low.  I broke out into a sweat and just went to sleep.  Shortly after I was fine.  Probably a reaction to the anesthesia.

I didn't get to walk until 5am the next morning due to the above.  I had a pain pump but only used it about 5 times.  The next day I was given breakfast, lunch and dinner.  All were the same...a popsicle (ummm), chicken broth, beverage and lime jello.  I was able to get most of it in over an hour or so each. 

My stomach made a lot of gurgling sounds.  I had a leak test the next day and had to take 3 swallows of some nasty tasting stuff (but not as bad as Ouzo).  The doctor came to see me before I left and they removed my catheter.

The next day at home I cleaned up a little around the house and felt good.  My stomach felt like I had done a lot of crunches.  The only areas that hurt were where the incisions were.  Unfortunately, I ended up in the ER at 3pm due to my heart going into atrial fibrillation (fast irregular rate).  I take meds for it but that didn't help.  I hadn't had an episode like that in years.  I was there for 5 hours and it never went back into sinus rhythm.  They gave me some meds to slow it down and some pills to take at home.  I went to bed and woke up in regular rythym.  My heart rate is now slower than it should be.  I see the cardiologist in 2 days.  I see my bariatric surgeon for my first check tomorrow.

My energy level has been pretty good.  My stomach makes a lot of gurgling noises every time I swallow until today.  I can always see a lot of changes each morning after I wake up.  I don't know why my stomach is so quiet today and I'm able to drink much faster too.  I have been on a liquid diet since I got out of the hospital.  I hope to start soft proteins and beans after my visit with the doc.

One thing I did not expect was a 9 pound weight gain when I got home.  I had lost 10 pounds on my 2-week liquid diet, so I was bummed.  Found out later that many people gain a lot of weight from the surgery due to the fluids they give you.  I am finally back to surgery weight today and am in ketosis.  So I'm hoping to see some weight drop off soon.

Bottom line, the surgery went very well and the healing of it very good.  I felt like I could have driven within 3-4 days after the surgery but I'm following doctors orders not to.  I've been taking walks.  I work from my computer and felt like I could do that within 3-4 days as well.  I feel almost completely normal as of today.

See videos of my hospital stay and others at www.youtube.com/user/weighnolonger

I'm getting very excited about my surgery on Tuesday.  I've been doing the strange per-op diet and having a hard time of it.  I've lost weight, but thought it would have been much more.  It's been so long to finally be able to have the surgery and jumping through so many hoops that I keep thinking something is going to happen that I won't be able to have the surgery.  I just want to get it done and overwith and start on my new journey to a healthier life.  See my journey through all my videos on www.youtube.com/user/WeightNoLonger.

Well my relationship with food is about to change.  My friend, my comforter, my procrastination buddy, my boredom filler, my tv pal, my rewarder, my emotional soother, my celebrater, my pat on the backer, my car passenger, my special occasion companion... my waiting on life comrade, my enemy, my health deteriator, my exercise deterent, my excuses are about to disappear.   I am a portion control addict.  I love to eat a lot of food at one sitting and I eat it very fast.  The "sleeve" will help that, but I have a lot of head hunger which will remain.  I can't imagine what that will be like.

I have waiting a long time get my surgery date due to run arounds with BCBS.  But we are on now.  I start the pre-op diet in 5 days.

I have studied this site and so appreciate all the information on here.  So, I'm joining too in pursuit of a better life.  My goal is to get the "Sleeve" and to get healthy.