Isha F.

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I can't believe it has been a year and a half since my surgery already. 
Wow.  What a wild ride.

Well month 18 went by quickly, like summer tends to do.  My DH was
hospitilized a couple of times, so it was a crazy month, but he is on the
mend and we are moving forward.  I am posting this early as this week is
going to be insane.

For month 18 I have lost 7 pounds.  I am surprised at having that large of a
loss this far out.  And I can really see it.  It is funny that at the
beginning I couldn't hardly see 70 pounds, but now 7 makes a big difference.

I was laying on my side in bed, and I just can't believe how small I look, I
still don't recognize my own body.  I have bought several size 10's this
month, and they still look way too tiny to fit ME, but they do, and it is so
weird.  If my boobs weren't so droopy and my inner thighs so flappy, I would
be set.  Hey, we can't all be perfect, right?!?

As always I am completely amazed about my quality of eating with the DS.  I
have not felt one bit left out at any BBQ or gathering this summer, it has
been just wonderful to eat what I choose and keep losing.  What a gift this
Duodenal Switch surgery is!

I hope all of you are doing well & welcome to the new members on the board.

My loss for month 17 is...2 pounds...jaw dropping I know!

So my update for this month is as follows:

-I reached a "normal BMI" when I hit 159 pounds.  This is a great milestone
and I am happy about it.  Eating continues to be fantastic.  I get my
protien in no problems, and my supplements.  Other than that, what I eat
doesn't seem to affect my weight.  Low carb, high carb, really smart, really
stupid, I just bounce around between 159-161.  Which is okay by me.  I want
to stay away from eating junky, but summer makes it harder for me.

-I got flirted with a lot this month.  The most blatent ones were just
nas-tee guys, which totally creeped me out.  I am very visably married (nice
size rock), so what's up with that?

-In addition to the flirting I got asked twice if I was 55 or older from
people wanting to give me the senior discount (I am 32).  Nothing slaps you
back into reality like that one  You get to thinking you are looking pretty
good, and bam, you get asked if you are 23 years older than you are...and
they didn't even seem like total morons who were asking the question!

On Friday I received a very serious sit down talk from my cousin who is the
same age as me and has always been a size 2/4.  She informed me that I am a
"fanatic" in everything I do, and that she is concerned I am going to lose
too much weight.  She said with my frame (I am indeed very large boned) I
need to not lose any more weight.  She said if I did, she would be all over
me & she wanted me to be aware she is watching.  She said that what worries
her most is that she knows I do not see myself as I really am (which is
true) and that she is worried I will always see myself as plus sized (which
might be true too).  I am not sure how I feel about the conversation yet,
but I thanked her for her concern, and assured her that I was only 1 lousy
pound into being a normal BMI, and had a long way to go to be underweight. 
I also told her she could talk to me about anything that is concerning her
and I will always listen.

So that is my month in a quick recap.  I am solidly in a size 12 and some
10's fit.  I am planning to increase my exercise to get in the best shape I
can before my tummy tuck revision in December.  I also need to do better
about drinking more water.  I am trying to improve my Vitamin D level too. 
So that is what I am working on for this next month.  I wish all of you much
success on the journey we are sharing.

I had my 2 month follow up with my PS today. (Arm lift, LBL & multiple hernia repair). They removed 2 stitches that had worked themselves to the outside, one in my arm, one in my side. The arm one didn't hurt to bad, the side one hurt some. Hopefully the holes will close up quickly. As many of you know I have been unhappy about how my upper stomach turned out. I had planned on finding out at this appt exactly what my surgeon was willing to do to help me. I was concerned as to what he would say yesterday. I wanted to hear him say that he would fix this without charging me a surgeon fee. That is exactly what he said, and he said he would also have anes. waive thier fee too! So all I will have to pay is for the OR time, which will be about $1500. Due to my schedule I won't be able to do this until December, but that is fine with me. I am happy to be able to look forward to having it be done. I told him that it is upsetting to have had all this work done, and still need to wear Lipo in a box!

8 pounds lost this month.

Things are going right along over here.  Enjoying the summer with my little
chicklets and still trying to get used to my body.  I think I am pretty much
a size 12 in most things.  I started out a size 34, so I am pretty happy
about that.  My closet still contains plenty of 14's (many fit fine) and
16's & 18's.  I am puzzled as to what sizes to keep for when/if I experience
the bounce back...suggestions?

Occasionally I have started to consider that I might be one of the people
the loss doesn't stop for.  I am able to eat a nice small meals & I have
treats when I want them.  The loss keeps clicking along.  I am just now at
the high end of "normal" on some BMI charts and am .2 away from it on the
one on my profile, so I am not concerned yet, but it has crossed my mind.  I
just expected to be losing slower at this point.

I am now 2 months post plastics.  My incisions are healing pretty good. 
Some days I think they look good, other days they look horrid!  Swelling has
increased for me the last couple of weeks, I am guessing because of the
added activity.  I have my follow up with the surgeon next week & we have
plenty to talk about.

I hope all is well with you my dears.  I wish I was here to post more often,
but I do check in when I can & think of you all a lot!

As of today I have lost 200 pounds!  YEAH!!!

AT GOAL 6/4/06 LESS THAN 14 MONTHS POST OP!
Well, this morning I hopped on the scale, and guess what it told me? It told
me I weigh 170 & that has been my ultimate goal all along. (It is the high
end of the "normal" range my doctor gave me for my build, height etc.) I
truly never thought I would get below 220 (my surgeons goal for me), and
then NEVER below 200, and then never to my goal! Now, at just shy of 15
months out, here I am!

I am very excited to have reached this milestone. I won't blab on and on as
I will have to do my monthly update on the 7th of June, so I will gab more
about my musings then.

What goal next? To weigh 166 and get my double centry club card for losing
200 pounds.

May 4, 2006
Tomorrow morning I go in for 7-8 hours of reconstructive surgery.  I am
having several hernias repaired, a lower body lift and my arms done.  I am
very nervous and can’t sleep.  As a mama of young ones, making decisions to
have elective surgeries is difficult for me.  Basically, I am a big chicken.
  Logically, I know I am not going to croak from this, but there always is
that possibility whenever you have surgery.  I will say I have less
apprehension than I had when I had my WLS.

It was interesting when I went to my pre-op appt during PAT part the guy
said that I am so much of a lower risk now because I am in the normal weight
range (technically I am still overweight).  So that put a different
perspective on it & comforted me a little.

I had my husband take the “nakey” (as my 3 year old says) before pictures. 
All I could think of when I looked at them was the line from Spaceballs,
“Why didn’t anyone ever tell me my butt was so big?”  Geez the pictures are
just awful!  I hope the after pictures are better.

I will go in at 6am and the doc will mark me & I should be in surgery by
7:30am.  He said I am the main event for the day, his only patient.  At
least I will get some Z’s while I am in surgery!  They said I will stay 1-2
nights in the hospital.  I will have drains from 4 days to 3 weeks.  When I
wake up I will have 6 drains (2 arms, 2 abdominal, 2 back), a catheter, pain
pump & who knows what else.  I really, really like my surgeon as a person. 
I hope I will be posting that I like him as a surgeon afterwards!

I have a high level of dread for the recovery.  It was SO hard on me after
my WLS.  Yep, I’m a whimp.  I am coming home with a pain pump, so I hope
that will make a decent difference.  I will post as soon as I am able post
op.  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  I leave this in God’s
hands now, and pray that everything goes well.  I wish the best to others
that are heading into WLS or PS.  Talk to you all after my slice and dice.

MY PLASTIC SURGERY EXPERIENCE:
This is long, probably very boring and detailed.  Get out now, while you
still can!!

I had Lower Body Lift, Brachioplasty (Arm Lift) and multiple Hernia Repair
on 5/5.  This is my journal for the first 3 weeks post op:

5/4  DH and I drove to Portland and checked into our hotel.  We did my
measurements and took my before pictures also.  I was pretty nervous, and he
said I could cancel if I wanted too.  I am always scared to do “elective”
things because of my 2 young children.

5/5  I woke up at 3:30am, and couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I just got up
and got in the shower.  My DH rose at 4 and we left by 5:15.  We arrived at
the hospital and checked in.  Shortly I was taken to the area where they do
your pre-op stuff.  I was at OHSU and it is a teaching hospital.  Which
means…you have people practicing on you to some extent, or at least that is
how I felt.  A student anesthesiologist informed me he would be starting my
IV.  I expressed my concern in this because I am a VERY difficult poke. 
They seem to think everyone says this, but within a few minutes, they are
exclaiming, “You are VERY difficult”.  Ultimately, not listening to me in
regard to letting the student practice on me resulted in many problems over
the next few days.  I had about 30 pokes for IV’s, and ended up only having
one work for the first day, and never getting another one started because he
had butchered me up so much.  Why won’t they just listen???  Yes, I am
bitter.  About 7am my surgeon came to draw on me.  That was interesting. 
Then I went upstairs where I was painted practically head to toe in iodine,
front and back.  That was lovely being naked and painted by 2 young men,
with 5 more  people watching for 10 minutes.  Then I laid myself on the
table and zonk.  I was in surgery from 8:30-5:30.  I got out of recovery and
to my room at 9pm.  I was happy to see my husband, but couldn’t stay awake. 
Surgeon told DH things went well and that they removed approx 15 pounds of
skin & fluid.  YUCK but YEAH!

5/6  I woke the next morning at 6am to the group of what I called the “kid
doctors” (teaching hospital remember…these interns look about 12) who
ordered my catheter & pain pump out & said I would probably be able to go
home later.  This was a big mistake.  The nurses hounded me to pee for the
next 7 hours which never happened. Not for lack of trying mind you, I just
never could do it.  All the pressure from the nurses didn’t help.   I was in
no shape to be discharged anyway, as my real surgeon said once he made it in
to see me near the end of the day.  Surgeon ordered the catheter & pain pump
back in (having the catheter re-inserted, fun, fun).  My hands are swollen
to about 4 times their normal size.

5/7  This is the day I first had my nurse from hell.  Before I tear her
apart I want to say that I had several EXCEPTIONAL nurses.  Just fantastic. 
I had only 2 that were lacking, and this one I am planning to report.  She
was in her 2nd week as an RN, and really, my husband & I cannot recall one
thing she did to assist me.  She spent her time complaining about the
doctors, her co-workers & other patients she had.  If my husband hadn’t been
there during her entire shift, I truly do not know how I would have made it
through.  Everytime she came in my room all she did was say, “WOW your hands
are huge, I just want to take a needle and pop them.”  Comforting, thanks.

As I mentioned my IV had completely failed due to the student practicing on
me pre-op, and I refused the student who came by to start another one and
demanded someone from IV therapy.  I was told, “IV therapy can’t do anything
different than what I can do.”  I responded, “If that was true, then there
wouldn’t be a department called IV therapy.”  The lovely lady from IV
therapy came by later and took one look at what they had done to my poor
veins and said, “There is no way we will get another IV in you, unless they
do a central line in your neck.  I won’t even try.”  Thank you, God.

5/8  The 6 am kid docs came by and ordered the catheter & pain pump out
again.  (Mistake, again).  Nurses hovered all day for pee, again.  No pee,
again.  Surgeon is off this day, so kid docs come by and orders catheter in,
again. (OH MY GAWD – can you imagine how sore that area is by now??)  I ask
can’t we wait a little longer & he assures me that it will come out again in
the morning before I am discharged.  No appetite at all.

5/9  Shift change brings back nurse from hell that I had on day 2.  The same
kid doc who ordered the catheter back in last night comes by to discharge
me.  I remind him about the catheter.  He tells me that since it has been in
and out 3 times in 3 days, it has to stay in at least 48-72 hours & I will
be going home with it.  I snottily ask him why he didn’t tell me that last
night?.  He opts not to answer & instead walks out of the room.

My 2 arm drains are removed.  My husband packs up all my stuff and is ready
to head to the car.  Hell nurse promises to bring me to the curb in a
wheelchair.  DH leaves me my shoes that I am doubting will fit (even tho
they are slip on).  Hell nurse comes in and I ask for my pain med & nausea
med dose.  She says it is not due for 20 minutes.  I explain that I have a 3
hour drive ahead of me.  She says if I want it I should go to the pharmacy
to have it filled.  I reason that this would take more than an hour & that
they weren’t open yet anyway.  I tell her if she can’t give it to me 20
minutes early I will just wait the 20 minutes rather than suffer the 3 hour
drive un-medicated.  Hell nurse storms out and come back with my lousy pain
pill.  She now acts like she should receive humanitarian of the year award
for this gesture.  I ask if I could possibly get some phenegran (which they
also had been giving me) as I was concerned about nausea for the drive.  She
snottily says, “Sure you can have some, we will have to start an IV first.” 
Now she darn well knows that I haven’t been able to have an IV since 1 day
post op.  She also knows my husband has went to get & load the car & I am
sitting in a wheelchair ready to leave.  I said, “Thanks a lot.”  She
notices my shoes and says “I can’t carry these and push you, I’ll be
bouncing you off the walls.”  She proceeds to THROW them in my lap. 
(REMEMBER, I HAVE JUST HAD A LOWER BODY LIFT, MULTIPLE HERNIA REPAIR AND
BRACHIOPLASTY!)  I cringe at the pain she has caused me and turn to say,
“You better not bounce me off of any walls.”

She proceeds to push me rather quickly out of the ward.  Once we got to the
hallway near the elevators she starts to push my wheelchair like my 3 year
old pushes her empty stroller in the back yard.  She was whipping me around,
swerving, driving fast, and she even crashed me into the side of the
elevator.  I told her that she was making me sick.  This just fueled her
more.  When she got outside she pushed faster & swerved more. I told her, “I
am going to throw up”.  She then started to freak out saying, “What the h&*#
am I supposed to do now?n S&*t!  S&*t!”  I said, “You need to stop moving so
I can throw up”.  She finally stopped, and I threw up quite a bit.”  She was
behind me pacing & swearing at me.  This was TOTALLY her fault.  Then she
starts swearing & saying, “Where the h$%# is your husband.  He seemed like
such a supportive guy, where is he now?”  I was too busy barfing to respond.
   She continues to curse me out for throwing up.  When my DH pulled up he
saw me and instantly said, “What the heck is going on here?”  I just glared
at her, and she got away from us as quickly as she could.  I was still so
motion sick from what she had done to me that about a mile down the road he
had to pull over as I had almost filled the entire barf bucket we had in the
car.

5/10  Happy to be home.  Taking meds regularly.  Bothered by the catheter &
drains.  Sleeping a lot.

5/11 Went to my PCP today (whom I adore)  He removed the catheter.  He was
intrigued by my scars.  He noted 2 areas of concern on my incision lines,
but did not feel they were infected. Within 5 mintues of being home from
PCP, was able to pee on my own.  Yeah!

5/12  Surgeons office had directed that I could have drains removed once
they were under 30cc’s in 24 hours.  Made appt with PCP.  I had 2 drains at
23 cc’s.  PCP refused to remove them & said he thought they needed to be
under 8 cc’s.  I knew I was right, but he felt strongly about it  2 of the
drains were causing me A LOT of pain.  He prescribed a numbing cream that
helped.  Upon returning home I contacted my surgeon to get it in writing
that they wanted those 2 drains removed.  Today I am finally back to my
starting weight.

5/15 I got the 2 drains removed, finally.  This was very painful.  Doc said
one was at least 12 inches long.  No appetite.  Mom & DH pushing food &
fluids.

5/17  Pcp removed 1 more drain.  Said it was at least 18 inches long.   Felt
like a bloody intestine was being yanked out of me.  We are still watching
the spot that opened on my back & in my right arm pit.  The one on my back
was ¼ inch open, now it is ¾ of an inch.  DH accidentally yanked on
remaining drain while undressing me.  Severe pain.  Out of state company
arrived.

5/18  Made drive to beach house & walked in grocery store for about 15
minutes.  WOW this wiped me out.  While visiting with out of state company I
noticed that my crotch region got wet.  I ran to the bathroom and was
shocked to see what I thought was urine pouring out of me and I had no
sensation that I was peeing at all!!  This made me spaz out.  All I needed
now was to become incontinent.   Called PCP, he called in meds for a urinary
tract infection.  He says I probably got it because of them taking the
catheter in and out so many times.  Still no appetite.  Mom is still forcing
me to eat.

5/19  Very bad day.  Probably the worst since I got out of the hospital. 
The majority of my family went to the outlet malls about an hour away with
no cell phone.  They left me behind with my 89 year old grandmother & my 2
kids.  She doesn’t drive, but does fine keeping the kids alive.   In the
morning I realized that it wasn’t urine coming out of me, it was yellow
fluid from around my final drain that was coming out of my crotch.  At first
I felt stupid, but really, when you see light yellow fluid pouring out of
your vagina…you think pee.  It was pure fluke that I saw a drip on the drain
tube and decided to investigate further.

So I called the surgeons office and was told to go to the ER.  I have no way
to get there.  Family returned from shopping 6 hours later.  I was very
emotionally distraught.   I was still having a lot of trouble eating and
drinking.  When my mom came home I had a total meltdown wanting to leave
immediately for the ER.  She insisted that I had to calm down.  She quizzed
me about what I had eaten all day and I finally confessed that I had eaten
nothing.  She absolutely forced me to eat.  I cried the whole time and
begged to just go to the hospital.  I finally got a protein drink down and
we went to ER.  The doc agreed to remove drain. (Praise the Lord)  The nurse
came in to remove it did not seem terribly sure about what she was doing,
and didn’t answer some direct questions I was asking her. (My PCP had told
us there were balloons holding them in, and she didn’t know what that meant
and this concerned me).  She did just fine, in spite of my concern.  This
removal was the most painful of all, but I am so happy it is gone.  They
also irrigated and re-bandaged my two concerning wounds.  So at 2 weeks post
op I am now drain free.  I spent the last 2 days not wearing my garment
because of the leaking, so I am extremely swollen now.  I have been putting
neosporin on my arm pit a my PCP recommended.  My anchor cut scar on my
stomach is healing great.  My left arm still looks really bad to me.

5/23  I had my 2 week check up with the surgeon.  I voiced my concerns to
him about the following things:

My upper abdomen still being large after having the anchor incision.  He
said he did as much as he could, but with the amount of work I was having
done, he would  have compromised my blood supply if he would have done
anymore.  I felt okay with this answer.  He agreed more work would probably
need to be done in the future.

The softball growing out of my right thigh.  This was a lovely seroma, that
he drained.  Gross.  He tightly wrapped it and said it may need to be
drained again.

The puckering on the incisions on my arms.  He explained that these had to
be tightened so much that they always look like that, and that my skin would
loosen and they would flatten out.

Loss of my curves.  He explained again that things were pulled as tight as
possible, and when the skin loosened I would have my waist back.

Compression garment.  He feels that it serves no purpose after the first 2
weeks.  He said no studies show it helps after that point, but if I want to
wear it go ahead.  He said the first couple of days it is useful in bleeding
issues, and the first 2 weeks useful in healing & swelling.  That being
said, I am still wearing my garment because I am not sure if I agree with
him or not.

My third week I mostly just rested, watched TV, read and recouped.  I was
happy it was pretty uneventful.  I am off of my pain meds except for at
night and occasionally during the day, then I take ½  of a ½.  I am
anxiously looking forward to feeling like myself again.  I think the
incisions for my LBL look beautiful and that he did a wonderful job.   The
arms still look pretty scary to me, but I will be patient and wait for them
to flatten out.  I still cannot imagine wearing jeans or tight fitting
items.  I am most comfortable in jogging suits.  As of today 5/28 I have
lost 13 pounds since I was pre-op.  My appetite is starting to return, but I
am still eating much smaller portions that I was pre-op.

Well, if you made it to this point, you are just as obsessed about plastic
surgery as I am.  I hope my journal of the first 3 weeks post plastics will
help someone out there.  If you have specific questions, I would be happy to
help, just go ahead and shoot me an e-mail.

Things I am so happy I bought/did before my plastic surgery:

This is probably the best thing I bought:  Foam Wedge pillow from ebay.  I
did a search for “Foam Wedge Pillow” and found this company: 
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Foam-Guys  I bought the one for $18.99 w/ free
shipping.  This seemed like a good deal compared to the ones specifically
geared toward plastic surgery healing.  They always seem to have them
listed.

Pillows & a barf bucket for your ride home.

A Sweats Capri style outfit with zip up jacket w/ pockets and drawstring
waist (the pockets are good for holding drains, and the zip up helps you get
in and out easier, the drawstring waist will grow and shrink with your
swelling)
A decent size bed side table for all your crap
Kleenex
A water bottle you like
Carmex
Colace stool softner
Ducolax suppositories
Lots of  pillows
Shea Butter Huggies Baby wipes for washing up face etc, sponge bath type
use)
Cottonelle wipes for bathroom visit washing up (found in the TP section)
Shoe String to hang your drains from while you shower
Saftey Pins (for drains again)
Benedryl  & Sarna Lotion (I am SO itchy)
Misc pads, tapes and bandages
Plenty of maxi pads (my period started right away & the come in handy for
various other leaks, ugh)
Eucerin lotion (my skin is dry – not surgical areas, this is for other skin)
Mouthwash – for that nas-tee breath!

Ask for your prescriptions at your pre-op appt & get them filled ahead of
time so you don’t have to worry about it when you get out of the hospital. 
I also highly recommend asking for a prescription for Lidocaine & Priolcaine
Cream. (this is one cream, it just has 2 names) This numbs skin.  My drain
sites got very painful, long before they were ready to be removed, this
cream saved me.  If you don’t want to ask ahead of time, perhaps keep the
name handy in case you need it.  I also highly recommend getting 2
compression garments.  These get SO gross.  You have to wash and hang dry it
and you will need to have one on in the meantime.  I wash mine every evening
and hang it dry to wear after my morning shower.  I can’t imagine doing this
with only one.


Food I had on hand that I am glad I did:
Low Carb Slim Fasts (20 grams of protein in one)
Campbell’s soup at hand
Lean Pockets ULTRAs (25 grams of protein in one)
Thin sliced lunch meats and cheese
Plenty of bottled water

This month has been a whirlwind as I gear up for plastics.  I apologise for
my absence on this board, but I have been researching my guts out about what
I am going to be doing as far as plastics go.  I have been more active on
the plastics OH board.  In addition, this month I have had some emotional
issues in dealing with other people regarding my weight loss.  I will write
up a seperate post about that when I have time to put it all in writing.  My
loss is definitely slowing, but I am happy it is still going.
April 2006 - The BEST compliment so far:
After all my complaining about people refusing to discuss anything with me
other than my weight, I just wanted to post this upbuilding story.

I ran into someone that I hadn't seen since high school.  He was the little
brother of one of my friends.  I would never have recognized him on my own,
if my mom hadn't said, "Did you see Alan?"

As we visited, I told him "I am so glad you came by to say HI because I
wouldn't have recognized you, you were a little boy the last time I saw
you."  He snickered and said, "That's funny Isha, you look exactly the same
as you did at your high school graduation party.  You haven't changed a
bit."  OH if ONLY he knew how MUCH I have changed.  In a way, it is
beautiful that he doesn't.

And that my friends, made my month.

I had my first plastic surgeon appt on Tuesday.  My mom went with me.  Of
course, I am a psycho freak so I had been harassing him via e-mail with
questions for months while I not-so-patiently waited for my appointment.

I really liked him.  He talked to me for a while before I had to get nek-ed.
  That put me at ease.  I hate the whole, “Nice to meet you, here’s my
crotch” thing.  He took my medical history, and asked me what things were
bothering me skin-wise, and to start with what was bothering me the most and
go from there.  I had about 5 pages of questions.  Poor guy.  He answered
most before we ran out of time.  I was in there with him about an hour and a
half though.

So he had me take the gown off and he looked at each part of me real close. 
He didn’t grab and yank at me like I thought he would.  He was gentle and
kind.  He had me lay down, and felt my stomach in that position and had me
do some ½ sit ups and felt my stomach that way too.  He said I have at least
one hernia, probably more.

We talked about which surgeries to combine, and which to do first.  We
discussed my rashes etc, and what insurance would most likely cover. Then he
took the dreaded “before” pictures.  Overall, it really went a ton better
than I had expected.

He said that silicone implants are not an option available to me.  The
pricing on the breast lift/aug were almost twice as much as I was quoted on
the phone, so I have to find out which pricing was correct.

He understood my apprehension about having a thigh lift in the future, and
even admitted it is the surgery that provides the least satisfying results. 
So it is on the back burner for now, even though I desperately need it.  I
will need to save for it anyway.

I was very concerned that he would think it was a bad idea for me to have
these surgeries before I was at goal.  He was not concerned at all.  He felt
that what more I might or might not lose would not be a problem.  When I
asked how many pounds he thinks he will remove he said, “A lot less than you
are probably thinking”.  I said, “Less than 10 pounds?”  He said, “No, that
is a pretty good estimate.”  So we shall see on that one.  He said they
weigh it and take pictures of it during surgery.  Gross, but good to know.

The first operations I will be having will be a Lower Body Lift and my Arms.
  My date will be most likely the end of April or the first of May.  My out
of pocket expense will be $12,000 which I will have to pay 2 weeks prior to
surgery.  I am excited and nervous.

March 20, 2006  1 Year Check-up
I had my 1 year check up.  I wasn’t looking forward to it very much because
my surgeon has retired, so I was meeting “the new guy”.  Yes there was a lot
of grumbling involved LOL.

So I liked him.  He does indeed do the DS (which was my biggest hang up,
that he was going to be a RNY guy, and clueless about my surgery).  I asked
what his opinion was of the DS and he said, “It is a wonderful surgery for
the right patient, but the patient has to be well educated about the surgery
and the required follow up, and willing to do it all.  You are obviously one
of the perfect candidates”.   Pretty good answer eh?

Their computers were down, so we couldn’t talk about my labs, so he said he
would call me soon.  I know my D is still a bit low, and my liver count a
hair high, but nothing alarming.

Upon his exam of me he said that I have a hernia.  Of course because I am a
mental freak, now it is hurting me LOL.  It will be fixed during my
Plastics.   I am going to do a separate post about that as that appointment
was the next day.

170 pounds in a year.  That is nothing to sniff at.