LyndaNull
Tuesday, August 7 237/145
I went for my 18 month check up today. Dr. Wilson was concerned that I had lost 11 and a half pounds since my one year check up. He said that I should still be losing like that. He was concerned that I was having problems. When I told him I was trying to lose weight by watching what I was eating and working out at Curves, he was okay with it.
Monday, July 2 237/176
Things are going really well now. I am pretty much able to eat anything I want except pasta, rice and raw vegetables. I am able to eat lettuce. I have learned to eat slower, and that has made things so much better. We went to Disneyworld for a week, and I was able to ride the rides, walk the many miles we walked each day, and even lost weight while I was there.
Monday, May 23 237 / 194
It is now 12 weeks since surgery. I have been at a plateau for the last week, but hopefully I will start losing again. I am on pretty much anything I want to eat, but Connie says that it will be a long time before I am able to eat very much. I find that my pouch fills up quickly and empties slowly. I am doing much better about chewing and eating right. I am so glad I had this surgery!
Tuesday, April 25 237/ 202
It has now been 8 weeks since I had my surgery. My loss has slowed down because of the 9 pounds of fluid I gained in the hospital, but the inches are still coming off. Connie progressed me to the pureed stage of food on Thursday, April 20. Mashed potatoes have never tasted so fantastic. My next appointment is May 2. Maybe I will progress to chewing food. My real wish is to get the G-tube taken out. Dr. Wilson wanted to leave it in until I started eating, but I am ready for it to go.
Saturday, April 15 237/209
I ended up having to go into the hospital because of dehydration. They pumped 4 bags of fluid in me before they sent me home, and I weighed 9 pounds more when I came out then when I went in. I had my scope on Thursday. It was not good. Let me back up a little. When I had my last stricture, it was just about at the time that I was supposed to be able to start eating. My mind was prepared to not eat until the one month appointment. However, after the scope was done, Dr. Wilson said no food until the next scope on April 13. My mind did not agree, and I went into a depression. On April 5, everyone in my office went out to lunch together. I didn't go, because I couldn't eat. I got really depressed and started for looking for something to put in my mouth. I found some crackers, but that didn't do the trick. Unfortunately, I found some peanuts and ate them. When I had my scope on Thursday, Dr. Wilson got really upset with me. He even woke me up before he took the tube out. He said that a peanut was blocking the hole in my pouch. He didn't even give me the chance to explain what happened. He told me that I had to stay on liquids another 2 1/2 weeks and left. I was really depressed then. I had to call Connie the next morning to make my next appointment and I told her what happened. She told me Dr. Wilson was being unreasonable. She overrode his decisision and told me to start on pudding and yogurt on Monday. Yea, Connie!
Wednesday, April 12 237/200
I am struggling to hold on until Thursday. I haven't been able to drink a drop without throwing up since noon yesterday. I am feeling so weak that I know I am getting dehydrated. I have a call in for Connie. I don't know if they will wait until tomorrow for my scope, or put me in the hospital today for an IV.
Monday, April 10 237/203
It is hard to believe that it has been 6 weeks since my surgery. Unfortunately, I have developed another stricture last Thursday. It is getting harder and harder to swallow anything. My hope is that I will be able to hang on until Thursday without getting dehydrated. That is when my next scope is scheduled. I talked to Connie today, and she thinks Dr. Wilson will let me go on the soft food diet once the scope is done. I hope that this is my last scope, but Dr. Wilson said that it is usually 8 weeks before you are out of the woods.
Thursday, March 30 237/211
I had my scope done yesterday. My hole to my pouch was almost completely closed. Dr. Wilson used a balloon to open it up. What a relief! The best thing is that he was able to look at the rest of my pouch and said that everything looked great. The bad part is that I am back on protein shakes for the next two weeks. He wants to repeat the scope on April 13 to make sure that everything is okay. He said that we would talk about eating at that time. Maybe I'll get to eat something by Easter! I do appreciate having such a perfectionist of a doctor.
Monday, March 27 237/213
Well, I had an interesting weekend. I was having trouble swallowing. By Saturday I was throwing up everything I swallowed. Mike finally convinced me to page Connie. She said that I probably had a stricture, scar tissue in the opening. She said that this is very common 3 – 4 weeks after surgery. She called Dr. Wilson, and his main concern was that I was getting dehydrated. His first instinct was to put me in the hospital for an i.v. but he decided to wait to see if I would be able to keep water down. They gave me 5 hours to see how much water I could hold down. Since I had thrown up all of the protein drink I had that morning, I was able to get enough water down. He also said that he would have to do an endoscopy to clean up the scar tissue, but he really doesn’t like to do them until at least 5 weeks. Connie called me again Sunday night to make sure I was still able to get water down. I am now back on a liquid diet, no protein drinks. I already had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, so she said to keep it. They will decide then what to do. She said I would probably have the endoscopy done on Thursday. I told her I could continue on liquids for another week or two if that is what I needed to do, but she said that Dr. Wilson will be out of town all of next week. I am not counting on eating after the procedure on Thursday. I bet he makes me wait another week to let that heal. Oh well, I told them that I was willing to do whatever it took to make this work, and I am committed.
Tuesday, March 7 237/229
I had my one week follow-up visit with Dr. Wilson today. He is very happy with my progress, but said that he is still waiting for the 2 week window to be over to be totally satisfied that I will be out of the woods as far as having a leak from my pouch. I lost 8 pounds, although I was hoping for 10. Up to this point I have been on a clear liquid diet. I went to the doctor hoping to be moved to a least a full liquid diet including cream soups, etc. Boy was I surprised when Dr. Wilson told me that I could add protein drinks, and that was all. The biggest surprise was when he told me that I would be on that diet until my next visit THREE weeks later. He reminded me how anal he is about things, and that he doesn't want to take a chance putting food in my pouch until he is 100% sure that it is healed. It won't be easy, but I know that I can do it. Maybe it will be easier when I go back to work on Monday. I'm not hungry, but my mouth sure wants something of substance in it. You don't realize how many food commercials there are on tv and how many restaurants you pass when you are on the road. I'm going to pick my grandkids up after school today, and that will help.
Friday, March 3
I had my revision surgery on Monday. When Dr. Wilson got to my stomach, he found more than he had bargined for. He knew that I would have lots of scar tissue, but he didn't know that part of the scar tissue had closed my stomach together. He worked so hard to take care of all of this. Then, when he got ready to do the RNY, he discovered that my stomach walls were much thicker than he ever imagined. He said that one trip with the staples and sutures didn't hold, and that he had to go over it again. In the end, after 8 hours of surgery, he was able to complete my revision. Dr. Wilson had anticipated me having to stay four days because of scar tissue, but it was upped to 5 days because of the length of surgery. I was pretty much out of it all day on Monday. I would wake up periodically to talk to my family, but not for long periods of time. Tuesday was MUCH better. I was up walking, but still not able to have anything to eat or drink, including ice chips. I felt better as the day went on. I had the swallow test on Wednesday, and I was able to have water and ice chips on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday evening they added broth, tea and jello to my diet. The only pain I have had is from the two tubes still in my stomach. Hopefully they will come out on my post-op visit on Tuesday, March 6. I was up walking several times a day starting on Tuesday, and I have really felt pretty good. I still take several short naps a day. I came home this afternoon, Friday, March 3. What a wonderful sight, even though everyone at the hospital was fantastic. My friend who spent the night with me the first night said that she had never seen a patient have so many doctors and nurses checking on her as I did. I hope that everyone else who has had their surgery was as successful as I was.
I had VBG surgery three years ago and I have had a staple disruption. I am scheduled for by-pass surgery on February 27.
