Sheila_E
I am Sheila. I am 40 years old, I will be 41 in March. I am currently 361 lbs with a BMI of 53.3, this is the heaviest I have ever weighed. I am not happy about this at all. I know I have to have a change in my life. I will not make 50 if I don't take charge of my life. I am a single mom. I have a wonderful son that is 11. He likes hockey. He is my life! I know I have the same story as most of you. I have tried everything as far as dieting. I have been on Weight Watchers 3 times, Atkins countless times, low fat, Slim Fast, LA Weight Loss, you name it I have tried it! My goal is to be thin. I don't have to be skinny, I just want to be healthier and thinner. 2006 2/20/06-I have called and made my appt at Dr. Currie's office to start everything. I have an appointment for 3/3/06 to start the paperwork and get things rolling. They told me to contact my insurance and find out if they cover the surgery. ************************************************** 2/21/06-I contacted the the insurance and they said they will cover the surgery and that since it is inpatient that all I have to pay so much per day for the stay in the hospital. I said wonderful. ************************************************** 2/25/06-I decided that since I have read about all of these other insurance things that I will call my insurance again to make sure I have what they said right. I called them and they wanted the coding numbers. I told them I didn't have them and the lady from the insurance told me she would call and get it for me and call me back. (you know how that is sometimes they don't call back for days) Well she called me back in 15 minutes and gave me the number for the coding and said that as long as I was morbidly obese I should be covered. I assured her I was. LOL She also told me the same as the other lady that they will cover everything for an inpatient stay and I would only have to cover $ a day for the stay. I was shocked. Now waiting for 3/3/06. 3/3/06-Well I had my meeting. I think it went very well. I filled out the paperwork to have my medical record sent from my old PCP here. The lady that I met with told me that my insurance usually approves anyone over a cetrain BMI and that unless they have changed their plan in the last couple weeks or so then I shouldn't have any problem being approved. I have started my food diary that I must do for 4 days. I have documented everything I have eaten for today. ************************************************** 3/4/06-Well last night I read all the material that they sent home with me. It was 25 pages. I also filled out all of the paperwork. I had all of that taken care of by 2am this morning. I was up at 7:15am and was at the lab to have my bloodwork drawn by 7:45am. I asked when my lab work would be ready. She said that afternoon. That they would fax the results to the Dr office. I told her would like to get a copy of the results just to have for my records. She said that was fine, but they closed at noon and I could pick up the results on Monday. I hear of other people that the paperwork is misplaced and all. I want to have a copy to send in Monday when I take back all of the other paperwork. Not in a hurry am I? LOL I am keeping the records for my food diary and being truthful. ************************************************** 3/6/06-Well it is a beautiful Monday morning. I picked up my test results from my blood work. Updated my food diary for this morning. I am going to hand deliver everything this afternoon, that way I know it got there. All I need are my medical records from my old PCP to be faxed up here. I bet you can't tell I am excited! :) Well I contacted my old PCP this afernoon, they said they had my chart pulled and would copy it and send it in the mail. I just wonder sometimes, haven't they ever heard of the fax machine? LOL it is coming from TN to PA. Oh my ************************************************** 3/7/06-Well I didn't get the papers delivered yesterday so I took them this afternoon. I gave them right to the lady. I asked if the PCP records were faxed. She said no she didn't have them yet and for me to call them and see if they will fax them. I did and they said they had mailed them yesterday. I said alright. The lady at Dr. Currie's office said that since she knows from the conversation that the records are on their way she would schedule my appt with Dr. Wieger. I have my appt with Dr. Wieger for 9:15 on 3/14/06. Now it is the sit and wait game again. ************************************************** 3/13/06-Tonight is my first WLS support group meeting. I am so excited! I am ready to get the show on the road. Tomorrow morning I have my appt with Dr. Wieger, that makes me alittle nervous. Not bad nervous, just the kind that you say, "My goodness it is really going to happen." I am really getting to do this, something that I have wanted for so long. It is one step at a time, and in the last 1 1/2 weeks I am almost running to get this going. LOL ************************************************** 3/14/06-Things are moving along! I went the the WLS meeting last night. I met some wonderful people there. The speaker was a lady 10 post-op and had lost ALOT of weight. She was so nice. I went for my meeting today with Dr. Weiger. He was so nice and answered all of my questions! I only had a few and he had an answer as soon as I asked my question. There was no waiting and letting him think about it. I don't know what I expected to happen at the meeting, but it went so smooth. Oh yes did I mention I lost 3 pounds since the first meeting on 3/3/06. He approved me to go to the next step. I have an appointment with Dr. Currie at 8:15 on 3/24/06. Then he will send things in for the insurance. Not bad considering I called to make my first appointment on 2/20/06. Only a month. Things are good! ************************************************** Well today is 3/20/06- I get to see my PCP for my physical on Weds and Dr Currie my surgeon on Friday. I am so excited and I have to admit I do have butterflies. Not that bad sinking feeling. Just that little flutter you get from the excitement! Counting down is really something. I am sure once I get this week over with things will fly, atleast I have my fingers crossed that they will. Then next it will be the insurnace, dum de dum dum....I hear alot of people that have to sit and wait at that point. I am just crossing my finger and praying very hard that I am approved without the long long wait. We shall see. You just have to wait for your time and then what happens happens. I am sure I will be approved from what the insurance company has said on the phone, but there is always that little feeling of doubt. Now it is waiting time! But of course you don't want to rush into a thing like this. I know it is a time that you sit and think, am I doing the right thing? "HECK YES I AM" I know this is right of me. I know I will have no regrets! ************************************************** 3/21/06- it is 3:45pm and I just got a call form my PCP office to remind me about my appointment with them in the morning at 8:20 am for my physical. She said, "I just want to remind you." I was like, "oh yes I do remember." I thought to myself, I wouldn't miss this for the world. In the mean time I am just sitting here waiting and waiting. Wish me lucky for the next step! ************************************************** 3/22/06-Well I had my physical this morning and everything went great. She said there is no reason for me not to have surgery. Dr Larson said that when I see Dr Currie on Friday and get the paperwork that she will sign it and it will be a done deal. The only thing that kind of startled me was at Dr Larson's office the nurse that took my height (which I want to say he was so nice and polite) told me I was 5'-9" tall. I have been 5'-10" since I was 15 years old and I just turned 41 last Saturday. My thoughts were, "Am I shrinking in height and just getting wider?" hhhhmmmm something to think about! LOL Now it is the waiting game again. Now hurry up Friday!!! ************************************************** 3/24/06-I must say today has been a very good day for me. I had my appt with Dr Currie. It went very well. We are now sending the paperwork in for the insurance. I just hope Independence Blue Cross will hurry and give me my "YES"! Then it will be on to the next step with the EGD and the gallbladder test. I had something really kind of funny happen to me today after I was already on my Dr office high with all the good news there. My career is a Drafter, I draw highways and bridges on the computer. I went back to school at age 35 and got my degrees in Mechanical and Architectural drafting. I worked very hard to get my degrees being a single mom. Well I work in a world of men. I went on an interview in August in Chattanooga Tn. I had drove almost 4 hours to the interview. I did very well at it. I had all the education and everything they wanted and even had 3 months experience in what they wanted. This was on a Weds. Well it was a toss up between me and another man. The man that did the interview told me I would hear from him by that Friday morning. Also if I didn't I could call him. Well it came and went. So like 4:45 on Friday afternoon I called and he told me that I didn't get the position because, "they wanted a man for this position" NO JOKE!!!! Well the thing was, he didn't have the training in the programs that I had. I had everything, the only thing was he had been working similar products for like 15 years. They wanted a "man". Well this man that did the interview back then called me right after I left the Dr office today, I hadn't even gotten back to work yet from my appt. and asked me if I was interested in that position. I told him I work in PA and I draw highways and bridges for the state. I think he could have crapped!!! He didn't say anything at first. He was like, "oh I take it you aren't interested!" I would never ever think of doing business with a person like that. OH MY I am glad I vented. I just was very proud of myself for how well I have done just since that interview. I have a lot better job and I wouldn't be doing the things I am with having my surgery! :) ************************************************** 3/27/06-It is Monday morning and I called the WLC to see how things were going and I had a few questions for Shanna. Well I asked her how long it would take to hear from the insurance. She said "Well I was going to call them today and see if I could fax the info to them", she said some insurances want it mailed to them, but she thought mine would let you fax them. I thought (well my appt was Friday morning at 8:15 and this is 9:50 Monday morning) Oh well, good things come to those who wait. Something great must be going to happen to me then. LOL She did say that most of the time you hear back in a matter of days with my insurance. I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying very hard about it. It is so hard for everyone with the wait and see game. And the time marches on and on and on! Oh yes, there was a great article in the People Magazine about Etta James having RNY. It was very good to read! It is in the 4/3/06 edition. ************************************************** 3/28/06-Ok so curiosity killed the cat. I had to call the insurance company today just to see if they got it yet. It was killing me. They said, "NO." Well that was like 9:30am. So at 1:30pm I called the WLC and spoke with Shanna. I asked very nicely if she had gotten everything turned in to make sure there wasn't any problems. Well she said, "I didn't get it sent in yet. We are waiting for the dictation from the lady that does that." That the lady that does the dictation has not completed the dictation from Dr Weiger from the 15th of March yet and they have to have that to confirm to the insurance company that I need the surgery. She said that most people don't book the appointments as close as I happened to have gotten between Dr Weiger and Dr Currie. It just lucked up that when I came out that day from Dr Weiger that the lady at the desk said she could get me in 10 days later with Dr Currie. Shanna said they are trying to go through the tapes now and find mine so she is hoping to get it sent to the insurance company today. I told her I didn't mean to rush them, but I just am excited about all of this and I just want to get through the insurance process before something happens and it changes, that would be my luck. Now it is the sit and wait and pray very hard. ************************************************** 3/31/06-I was approved! I got the call at 3:30pm and Dr Currie's office said I was approved by the insurance! It all seems like a sit and wait dream. LOL I know this past week seems like the worst. Heck I think this was worse then sitting and wait for me to go into labor with my son 11 years ago. LOL I think the "will they approve me" was getting the best of me. I have had a head cold this week and between being sick and waiting for them to say yes or no my mind is tired. I have an appointment on 4/12/06 for my EGD at 10:30am I have to be there at 9:30 to get signed in. 4/1/06-I hardly slept last night. I was up until 5:30 this morning and my son was up at 7:15. So for about 2 hours sleep I did well. I just think it was the excitement of being approved. All of the thoughts and use to be worries are over. Now I have new things to think about. The next steps! Well I was called into work today. I work for a highway design company and we usually don't do weekends. Well this was really unexpected. I got 5 ½ hours OT today. That will be good for when I am off for surgery. ************************************************** 4/3/06-It is Monday. I worked another 5 hours yesterday. Well that was alittle over 10 hours OT, not bad at all. But I am tired and I have a bad tooth ache. I will have to have it pulled Friday. Just what I need now. I had an engineering meeting and most of the people there are men, like 95%. Since I am new to the area I don't know many people at all. Now I get to meet strange married men at an engineers meeting. Life is sometimes strange isn't it. LOL As I was sitting listening to the speaker (he was alittle boring talking about pavement) my mind was wondering about everything. I know these men think of me as that heavyset single lady that likes to laugh and talk. I sat there and wondered after this surgery since our group meets once a month how the men will notice. Will they say anything? How will they treat me after I lose the weight. I go to the meetings with 2 men from the office, we meet there. Last night was the 2nd one of these I have been to. But I had been to another state meeting a month ago and did meet 2 men there. But last night I sat at the monthly dinner with one man I work with and 2 men from the state meeting. The other men at the table were very nice. But it made me think, "How will they treat me after I have loss the weight?" "Will the men treat me different?" "Will some of the men that didn't speak to me talk to me in a year and be different?" I realize I work in a "MAN'S" world, BUT since I have moved up to PA things are so different then in the south about letting women in the engineering field. Hmmmmmm ************************************************** 4/4/06-Today was a wonderful day, I got my approval let in the mail from the insurance company. Independence Blue Cross is wonderful! I am just so happy! I bet you can't tell! ************************************************** 4/5/06-I received my information for the WLC today. I have to turn it into my PCP. Now I have to have my EKG, chest x-ray and blood work, oh yes and my gall bladder ultrasound. I am not sure if I can call and get that done or if the PCP office will do that. I will find out in the morning. Dr Currie's office did call me wanting the address for my PCP they had the wrong address. I did ask how long will it take now to have surgery because I need it to be after the 23rd of May so my parents will drive up to take care of my son and I for those couple days. She told me that as soon as we get these test done then we can schedule anytime after that. Now it is time to get this part of the journey out of the way! ************************************************** 4/6/06-I called the closest hospital to set up all the test. She said the gall bladder ultrasound was the only thing that has to have an appt and they don't do those at there place. She said the other stuff could be done on a walk in thing so I could run by Saturday morning and get the things done. They are open 7-noon, I will do that then. I called to set up the appt for the gall bladder ultrasound, she said they could get me in tomorrow morning at 8:15. I didn't think I would get in that fast. I am shocked. ************************************************** 4/7/06-Well I got there at 8am for my GB ultrasound. The lady said I could have everything done right there and they could get me in for all of it. I thought shoot why not! At 8:10am the first lady called my name then I had the ultrasound, then off to the chest x-ray. Then I got to put my top back on...LOL I know just the thoughts of it. Then on to blood work and then the EKG. I was in my car leaving the parking lot at 8:40am. I have never been finished that quick at a hospital in all of my life. I do have to say, when I was walking out of the area that all of these things are done, it was packed with people. Thank goodness I had an early appt. ************************************************** 4/9/06-It is Sunday morning and I am at work. I could have worked OT this weekend. They told me as I was leaving Friday I could work all I wanted. I was so sick yesterday with a migraine. I woke up 4am and I was deathly ill with it. I must say it was one of the worse ones I have ever had. I spent all day in bed and finally at 3 in the afternoon I moved to the living room sofa. So I missed OT for yesterday. I got here at 7am this morning. I still have alittle head ache but nothing as bad as yesterday. I am very excited that things are moving so fast with my weight loss journey. I have a weight loss support meeting tomorrow night in Harrisburg. Then I have the EGD on Weds morning. We will see how that goes. Keeping my fingers crossed and praying very hard. :) ************************************************** 4/10/06-Tonight I went to the WLS meeting. It was really a good meeting. The speaker was the Dr that will put me under for surgery. He was great! I felt really good after hearing him speak. Oh yes 2 days until my EGD. ************************************************** 4/12/06-Well today was the day. I went into work at 7:30 left at 9 and went for my EGD and it went wonderful. I have two small ulcers in the bottom, but everything is great. So I ahve to take some meds and it will fix it right up. I felt so good I went back to work at 12:30. I have a desk job so it isn't that bad. I came through really well. I called my PCP and wanted to make sure that they had faxed over my paperwork for the go ahead for surgery. Well they told me that they needed the copy of all the test that were done last Friday. The EKG, blood work, gall bladder ultra sound and the x-ray. Well since the orders were from Dr Weiger at the WLC that is were the results were sent. So now Dr Weiger is going to fax them to the PCP and then the PCP will send back the paper with the OK. Now I am in the sit and wait mode! ************************************************** 4/13/06-I was called by my PCP and told that they hadn't received my EKG from the week before. So I called the WLC to find out if they had gotten it. They said no also. Well by the time I found this out it was almost 5pm and no one answered at the place I had it taken. ************************************************** 4/14/06-I called at 7:45am and they sent the EKG right over to both places. By 9:30am my PCP had sent everything over for her approval and saying I am fine for surgery. YES!!! But the WLC was closed for Good Friday. Oh well it is only a weekend. ************************************************** 4/17/06-I got the call form the WLC and they made me my appointment with the Nutritionist. It is for 4/25/06 at 2:30 in the afternoon. I did ask what will be the next step. She said that I will have to talk to Shanna about the insurance and she will have to call and see if there are any deductibles that have to be met. I do not have meet a deductible with my insurance. Once that is taken care of with her my surgery date will be set and then one more appointment with Dr Currie and then the surgery and my NEW LIFE will begin. Now it is the waiting game again! ************************************************** 4/21/06-Still waiting for Tuesday. I know once Tuesday is over things will move fast. I am ready! ************************************************** 4/24/06-It is Monday. It is a good day. I just can't wait until tomorrow when I get to see the nutritionist. My next step in the process. I am very excited! Not much longer until I start my new life. :) ************************************************** 4/25/06-Well today is finally here. I went for my appointment with the nutritionist today and I think it went very well. I learned a lot. I asked a lot. When we were finished Dr Weiger came in and talked to me. He told me I would be getting a call from Shanna to schedule my surgery. He told me that from the time she calls it would be in about 2 weeks. I then told him I couldn't do it in 2 weeks, that my family has to come from TN to take care of my son and help me and it would have to be the end of May or beginning of June. He told me that it was no problem. He said, "easier to move it back then move it up." He does have a point. To me the hardest part was getting to this point. Like my mother said (please don't tell her I am quoting her. you know how it is) LOL "It is all down hill from here." :) ************************************************** 4/28/06-I just want to say, I am at work and my son called. I looked at the clock when the phone rang. It was 4pm and it was my son. I thought what could be wrong. Well he said, "Shanna for the Dr office called and wants you to call her right back to schedule surgery!" He was so happy when he told me. I called back and the lady that answered put me on hold. I was so excited. The music that was play was "BAD TO THE BONE" I thought how funny. So I listened to the entire song before she came on the line. She said she was calling to schedule my surgery and I told her I couldn't have it until the end of May because I didn't have anyone to take care of my son. She said that is fine. She said, "YOUR SURGERY DAY IS MAY 30TH" I am so excited. Well my boss came out of his office and when I hung up and said, "Ok when is the day?" I told him. He said, "shoot I am going to be on vacation that week. I won't be here for it." I thought, I didn't think I needed him to be there for me...but oh well at least he cares!!!!!! He is a great boss. I have never had anyone as good or as nice as him! I am almost there. Not much longer now!!! 5/2/06-Well it is May and I just realized I have 4 weeks until surgery. I think I felt a butterfly. I went yesterday afternoon to the WLC and bought the vitamins and the trial assortment of the protein things. This should get me started after the surgery. I think I am ready. ************************************************** 5/3/06-Today was a day. I had a very emotional day. I was marking a calendar with all the things that have to be done this month. My son plays hockey, so it was practices and games. Then also the hockey team is having a car wash and a dinner thing AND selling subs and sandwiches. What more can they do in 1 month. Also I have to go to Philly Friday for an all day class with my boss. I have an engineers Banquet the following week. Then my son brings home a note from school and the 5th grade graduation is June 2nd the day I hope to be coming home from the hospital. Also his class field trip is June 5th and has to be at the school at 6:15 in the morning. It is all alittle overwhelming. I must admit I cried a lot. Then I called my Mom and told her about everything. She said don't worry we will make DAD do all the running with my son. LOL Here my poor Dad just retired April 23 from driving a truck for over 38 years and now he is doing the Granddad shuffle with my son. LOL I can smile about it now, but it wasn't to funny that day. ************************************************** 5/9/06-Last night I went to WLS meeting. It was a really good meeting. The speaker was a WL person and his name was Dennis. He was great. In 14 months he has lost 188 pounds and he spoke of his journey. He made us laugh! He game me a lot of ideas for after I have my surgery. He was a straight shooter and you could tell by the way he spoke. He pulled no punches and told it like he sees it. That was good. I have 21 days and counting. 3 weeks from today I will be on the losing side. I can hardly wait. I did meet a lady at the meeting last night that will be having her surgery on the Friday after me. It was good to see someone else that will be there around the same time as me. I did see one of the first persons I met when I joined the WL support in February, her name is Mary. She is so nice! She has lost 72 pounds since January 20th. I think that is wonderful. I hope that I am that successful. ************************************************** 5/10/06-It is now 10:45am. I was having a great morning, I was only going to work ½ a day today and go home and do my spring house cleaning and get things ready for when I have surgery in 20 days. I was in a vary good mood. I live in PA now. But I have lived in TN for 32 years. I have made some very strong bonds there. I want to explain, I waitresses for 12 years. I knew about everyone in the small town that I lived in. I worked for Shoney's restaurant for like 5 years total. 2 ½ one time and about the same about a couple years later. I had some regular customers that I waited on them 5 days a week. I had some that only came in when I was working. You know how it is you get your favorites. With working mornings we had the coffee table. They drank coffee and might order toast or something, not big tippers, but they were the older men and I enjoyed waiting on them. Heck this was like 20 years ago when I first started waiting on them. All the men were nice to me and I respected them and they respected me. I treated them the same as a person that would have left me a $50 tip for a piece of pie, even though I knew that with 8 of them I might make $2.50 or $3. It didn't matter to me. They were all nice and I liked them all, and if I said can you hold on a minute I am a little busy they didn't get all upset. I waited on them most of the time and it didn't bother me. There was one man that I just fell for. I thought the world of him. He was the nicest and sweetest man I had ever met. His wife had passed away when his children were young and had remarried one time and the woman ended up being very mean to them and he caught her. He had children almost old enough to be my parents. But he had my heart. I had his, they use to tease me that he was my boyfriend and they would call me his girlfriend. He was a true gentleman! Never a hair out of place and always dressed just so. He only came in when I was working and would only sit in my section. Even when I changed restaurants he would some and see me. You have to understand he was double my age. I haven't seen in about 3 years and I knew he was having problems. He was living with his daughter. I still get updates from some of the other men that I use to wait on that have remained in contact with the family. Well in the mornings I always read the online link to the newspaper back home and this morning he passed away. I feel my heart has broken. All I have done is cry for the last hour. I have been up set when people in my life have passed away, but I have never had this effect before. I know I have been upset when I have broke up with people or called off a wedding or two, but I have never felt the emotions that I have right now. I feel as if my heart is broken. ************************************************** 5/15/06-Well I have 2 weeks until my big day. The time is flying by. It won't be long now. ************************************************** 5/16/06-Oh my goodness! It is 2 weeks from today. Oh my stomach just flipped and flipped! I think it has really set in that this is really happening to me! I am really going to have this done. I can't believe that I am going to be so fortunate to have this. ************************************************** 5/23/06-8AM I got a call from my Mother, she usually does not call me that early and I knew something was wrong. She called to tell me that my Aunt had a heart attack at 3am and was in the hospital and they didn't know anything else. Well she had to have 2 stints put in the right side and are not sure how bad the left side of her heart is. It has been an awful day! I am very close to my Aunt and she needs so many prayers. She is my Godmother and we are really close. When I decided to have my WLS, I told my sister, then my Mom and Dad and then I told my brother. The only other person I told was my Aunt and she promised that she wouldn't tell until I was ready to say something. I had been around my cousins and everything and didn't say one thing about surgery to any of them. I didn't tell anyone about it until after I had my EGD and was in the last phase of getting my surgery date. All that time she never told anyone, not even my Uncle. LOL My Mothers younger sister is married to my Father's younger brother. So we are double related. We are very very close! My poor Uncle is beside himself with having her sick. I feel so sorry for him. ************************************************** 5/25/06-Well it is only 5 days away. I ONLY HAVE 5 MORE DAYS UNTIL SURGERY!!! Oh my goodness!!! I have so much to do and so little time to do it. I have my sister coming to town for the weekend and she will be leaving Monday and my Mom and Dad will be here Monday afternoon. Then surgery will be Tuesday. I got a call yesterday afternoon to do my pre-registration for Tuesday. Now that is all taken care of. One less thing to worry about. I have noticed for the last 3 weeks I have been having some emotional ups and downs. Like I am fine one minute and then about ready to cry the next. All I can figure is it is my nerves with all of the future a head of me. Today is June 16th- I know I have alot of catching up! May 29th the day before surgery I went out for my last supper. My parents had driven in from Tn and we went to the Olive Garden. I had the "The tour of Italy". I figured it was alittle of everything and that would be a good way to get a taste of everything. It was great! Then I knew I couldn't have anything after midnight so about 9:30 pm I had bought some chocolate milk and I made myself a large glass of chocolate milk and drank it. It was great also. I had my surgery on May 30th. Everything went wonderfully. Dr Currie did a great job and said everything was "picture perfect." The only problem I had was the pain that I felt in the center under my ribs. When they took the drainage tub out the pain went away. It was a gas bubble and once they took the tub out my pain went away. Other then that I had the typical pain in my left side that everyone talks about. The pain wasn't bad for me. But everyone's pain level is different. Also I didn't expect them to go in and do all the work that they must do and not have some sort of discomfort. I was released on June 2nd, the same day my friend Taryn went in for surgery (please pray for her she has been very sick, she is back in the hospital now). I went for my checkup with Dr Currie on June 9th and was realeased to go back to work. I felt really good. I had lost 26 pounds at that point. He also told me that I could go on soft foods. On June 12th I weighed myself because we had a WL meeting and I was down a total of 29 pounds in 13 days. I was shocked! I know it is the begining and the weight comes off fast for some people at first and then it just slows to a crawl. The way I look at it is any weight loss is better then putting it on! Oh yes, about the morning of surgery, before that day and right up until they were taking back for surgery I cried all the time. The least little thing made me cry. I could choke up at a second and the tears would start rolling down my face. When they were taking me to surgery my parents were with me and my Mother couldn't say anything and the tears were right there, my Father looked at me and smiled but had to look away, (he is the typical man, no tears or look away quick so you wont tear up) and I was all choked up we knew things would be so much better after the surgery. When I came out of surgery and was in my room my parents were there and Dad had went and gotten my son. When they came in the room, my son came in followed by Mom and Dad. Everyone including the nurses talked about I had color in my face and I had a strong voice, I know alot of people are so weak and pale. But that wasn't me. Sounds just like me to prove everyone wrong. LOL I was allowed to have my cell phone. Well that evening one of my Aunts called and she was shocked that I answered my phone and how strong I was, she thought maybe something went wrong and I didn't even have surgery. LOL Oh yes, as of this morning I am down to 326.4. I have lost 34.6 pounds since surgery. Not bad for being out of surgery 17 days. That makes my BMI 48.1. Not bad at all! 8/9/06-I know it has been a while. I have been feeling great pretty much of the time. There has been a lot going on. An update, it has been 10 weeks since surgery and I have lost 76 pounds. The weight loss is slowing some, but that is fine as long as it keeps coming off. My family (Mom, Dad and son) didn't see me for 6 weeks. They were shocked. If I had a choice I would do this again in a heart beat. ************************************************ 8/31/06-I know I know I haven't updated in a while. Please forgive me. I have had a very busy couple weeks. I have had a lot of trips in the past 6 weeks. 3 trips to Baltimore and a trip to Rochester NY so I have been busy. Then after all the trips and I thought things were settling down, it started back up. I have met someone. I have met a very caring man. I was straight forward from the first time we talked and told him about my new surgery and that I have a new life because of it. He said wonderful. Since we have met, he is always asking if I have eaten and what I have eaten and have I taken my vitiamins. Kevin (Mr Wonderful) said this mornining he doesn't want me to get sick from not eating or eating the wrong things. He asked for a list of things so that he knows what I can and can't eat. He told me he wanted to learn everything he can about my new lifestye and he wants to be part of it. I told him that I will give him a list of the things I have made copies of so he can see. He is truly Wonderful! I also told Kevin that I would give him the link to this wonderful website so he can see all the people besides me that have had the same life change things. I also told him I would give him the link for my profile. My life is wonderful! In 13 weeks I have had my surgery and lost 92 pounds. I have found my soulmate! Life is good....no life is GREAT!!!! 10/23/06-I know I haven't updated in a good while. I have had a lot going on. I am getting married! Kevin popped the question on October 6th. We went out to diner at this wonderful Italian restaurant. A friend of his owns it. It is called Mama D's. When they brought the menus I was like what can I have and it was a little panic when I was looking at the menu. I haven't had bread or pasta since my surgery. I take that back, the other week I had 2 bites of lasagna and I did ok. But I didn't want to get sick because he had invited his sister, brother-in-law, niece, his mother and my son do diner, and I didnt't want anyone to see me sick, so I ordered a grilled chicken and ceasar salad. Needless to say a couple bites and I was full. We were having a good time talking and all, it was time for them to bring deserts and I really wanted a bite of a canoli, really bad. But while we were waiting I had talked myself out of having one. When the girl brought the desert tray there was the canoli cake and lots of other things and I wouldn't hardly look at the tray. Well everyone kept saying, "don't you want desert? Get some desert!" The waitress the tray kind of high and there was this one desert that was kind of big and I couldn't see the closed box. LOL Kevin was sitting there and said, "Honey look good at the tray and see if there is ANYTHING YOU WANT FROM THIS TRAY." I looked at him and said, " I don't want anything I might get sick." He said, "Well I think you might want this." He got the box and went down on one knee. He then said, "I have looked for someone like you all of my life and I have finally found you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you spend the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me?" I said, "Yes!" We hugged and then he whispered, "I guess I should open the box and show you the ring now!" Well the entire restaurant was standing and applauding. People I didn't know were crying. My new in-laws to be were crying. It was wonderful!
