With all the plateaus that one experiences in this journey I have heard that it is a very good idea to take your measurements. So, here mind are May 31, 2004. Ten days before surgery.

Weight: 387 (day of pre-ops 6-1-04)
Height: 5'6"
BMI: 62.5 (YIKES!)
Body Fat:
Feet: 13W
ring size: 12
forearm: 13"
Upper arm: 21"
Bust: 57" (not sure I measured right. Doesn't make sense my bust is smaller than my waist. but that's what I'm getting.
waist: 62"
hips: 70"
Thigh: 39"
knee:23"
Calf: 23"
Ankles: 12.5"
Wrist 9"
neck:17.5


I had my pre-op appointment today. That went well except I sat pretty much all day. Dr. Udobi just went over the basics of the surgery including the risks and what he would be doing. Then they took my blood. That was it although that took all day. I will update more when I get home fromt he hospital and am officially a loser!



6-9-04 Well, tomorrow is the BIG day. It seems like I have been counting down forever!! I am really not very nervous but anxious to get it over with. I remember coming to this board and it seeing people over a year to get surgery and I thought "why on earth would it take so long". Well, one year ago today I started this process and it took a year to get it all down with insurance requirements and surgeon's schedule and all. My surgeon is extremely busy. It take like three months to even get a consult and then you wait on insurance approval and then another three months till your surgery date. so, now I understand why it takes so long. I took the bowel prep stuff last night after work and it's still working it's magic thru my system as i update at 9:00 a.m. It's really nasty. Anyway, I will update when i am on the OTHER side.





6-25-04
Well, I am post-op now. I'm not going to lie. It hurt. I am two weeks and one day out now and the last two weeks have been rough. But, I'm starting to feel like I am glad I had this surgery. I had my post-op appt. this past tuesday and had only lost ten pounds. I was having trouble retaining water so Dr. Udobi had me on lasix to try to get rid of the water. Finally, after about a week on the medicine it started to work. My feet were soooo incredibly swollen for the first week I was home. So much it hurt and I wasn't able to walk. That problem has finally resolved itself and since Tuesday I have lost another ten pounds. So, two weeks out I have lost 20 pounds. Not too shabby if I say so myself. My hospital experience was not pleasant as you will see by looking at my reviews. The night shift was the worst and liked to not respond to the call button. No big deal if you have someone staying with you. Big deal if you don't which is my case. You are bound to your bed due to all the tubes and the compression pumps on your legs. You have to wait on them. When you push that call button and they don't answer you can't push it again until they reset it. They would go 45 minutes at a time before resetting it or asking what you wanted. This is unacceptable. Also, my morphine pump didn't work for approximately two days. I kept telling them that and they didn't believe me. finally, Dr. Udobi switched me over to percoset which I had to take by mouth. But you were lucky if you got it when you needed to. Also, Dr. Udobi wants you to walk, walk, walk and when you get that done....walk some more. Hard to do when the nurses don't want to help you get up or unhook you from the wall. I tried to be proactive and walk walk walk but they didn't make it easy. I will say that you are left with about zero dignity when you leave there. Dr. Udobi is a strong believer in suppositories and enemas so it seemed like you were constantly getting them. And then to have trouble wiping cause you hurt so bad and can't move in that position. So, of course you have to lose more dignity by calling the nurses and asking for help. No dignity left whatsoever but I don't suppose I will see any of them again so small price to pay. It sucked at the time though. Since I have been home I have been to the emergency room twice basically I think due to my own fears. Basically, due to the swelling in my legs and feet. It had me scared. but all worked out ok. So, far I feel better everyday. It is rough at first. There is absolutely no doubt about that. When I first came home I was taking my two percoset every four hours on the dot. I haven't taken any in about five days. Another thing , until I got my two drains out at two weeks post op I couldn't sleep for didly. I was only getting a couple hours a night. But now I can sleep about seven with no problem although I did get up few times to go to the bathroom. I would assume due to all the waterloading we do. Until next time............

I forgot to add that my beautiful daughter turned 7 on June 20th. I will be having a slumber party for her in about a month when I feel better. She is staying at her dad's another two weeks until I get more recuperated. I miss her so much!!!




7-24-04
Well, I decided I better update my profile. I think people actually do read this thing once in a while. I am six weeks out plus two days and I have lost 42 pounds. I have lost at least six inches in the hips and five in the waist. I am extremely happy. I have not had any complications so far. I tolerate everything I try. Of course I haven't eaten anything with high sugar or cake, cookies or anything like that. I definately feel the full sensation and feel it at about 2 oz. Usually that is chicken or something of that nature. I tolerate meat well. It was difficult to go to the bathroom so I started putting some benefiber in my last nightly drink and that has helped a lot. Constipation sucks!. Dr. Udobi wants us to take Milk of Magnesia nightly to help with constipation but I can't. It makes me throw up. It is so disgusting. So, I had to look for another alternative. Dr. U had me go back to work at four weeks part time (4 hour days). On Monday, I start back full time. We will see how my energy stays up. I would never tell anyone to have this surgery although it has been wonderful for me so far. I think it has to be an individual decision. I will tell those who ask if they have a computer. If they do, I give them this website and tell them to investigate, investigate, investigate. I could never have it on my conscious if they did it because I told them go for it and then something happened to them. Well, that is all for now. My next appointment is Sept. 2 I think.





8-9-04
As of today I am two months out or eight weeks. I have lost 53 lbs and 25 inches. I am soooooooo thrilled. I cannot even describe it. I had sex last night for the first time since surgery and it was amazing. I could definately tell a huge difference in that area. For the first time in a long time, I feel hope. I have to commend and thank Dr. Udobi for giving me hope. My coworkers tell me all the time that I seem happier. And I am. I constantly have a smile on my face and I have so much more energy. Thank God for WLS.





8-28-04

Okay, so I'm not very good at updating my profile. Which I know is an annoyance because I know when I was researching Dr. Udobi I specically pored thru his patients profiles looking for anything and everything. Sigh..........I will try to do better. Right now I am just shy of three months post-op by about thirteen days but i am down 70 pounds. I am so happy and relieved that this does seem to work. You always have that self doubt that you are going to be the one it doesn't work for. Yesterday, I had a horrific day at work. Probably my worst in 8 years that I have worked there. But, it's the weekend and hopefully things will look better on Monday. I feel absolutely wonderful. People at work are starting to call me "skinny" which is VERY far from the truth. Right now no hanging skin but it is still soooooooo early in the game. I am down probably two sizes as I can fit into a 26/28. I think I started in a 30/32 if not a little bigger. You would think that with that much weight gone it would be more sizes but I have found that with plus sizes there is a lot of room in there for margin. Plus, the reality is I still weight 320 pounds. Even with all the accomplishment that is still a lot. I tolerate everything I eat. But, beware, I have not tested the waters. I don't eat sugar or anything with about 7g per serving ( like we can eat a serving anyway). I still eat about 2.5 ounces of food a sitting and that definately is enough for me. I get full rather quickly. I got some chinese take-out the other day. Now in the past this would have lasted me maybe 1.5 to 2 meals. This has lasted me seven meals so I am definately a cheap date. Well, I go and see Dr. Udobi on this Thursday 9-3-04 and I will update how that goes.





10-25-04

I receive so many emails from people who are planning on seeing or having with Dr. Udobi that it inspires me to keep my journal updated. Please feel free to email me with any questions you have. I know what it is like to wonder about things before surgery. I have made a lot of friends thru this sight and couldn't be happier! I continue to have no complications from this surgery which I am extremely thankful for. I had a tubal sterilization about 2 weeks ago cause I didn't want to have to worry about getting pregnant. I was on the pill and still had to use condoms which in my opinion sucks. Since, I didn't want any more children I just went ahead and got the tubal then I don't have to worry about any "surprises". It really takes a load off my mind. I continue to be able to eat whatever I want just in very small quantities. I still get full very quickly. At this point, I can eat a whole chicken wing. Yes the whole thing! But nothing else with it. That fills me up. Or, I could do two chicken wing sections if I am eating buffalo wings. I am fortunate that I can tolerate chicken fine. It was definately a fav of mine pre-op and it's definately a staple for me now. And it has a lot of protein!Another fav is taking a low carb tortilla (yes, they do make them. Regular tortillas are extremely high in carbs). I wouldn't do this recipe until I found the low carb ones. I put the tortilla in the oven and crisp it about half way. Then I take it out and put pizza sauce on it , some hamburger (which I boil to get the grease out. It really does work!) or some sausage, some turkey pepperoni ( this stuff is really good) and some mozzarella cheese. Then I put it back in the oven and cook till the tortilla is crisp and the cheese is melted. This is REALLY good. When I was moved to soft foods at one month I would take half a piece of bread and toast it (toasted is the only way I can tolerate bread or tortillas) Toast it, put a little pizza sauce, little hamburger, one or two turkey pepperoni, and mozz cheese. Put it in microwave till cheese is melted. This is great also. Great healthy sub for pizza. They do make low carb bread too so this is what I use. They do make low carb pizza crust but I haven't been able to find it here. Besides, I think if I made a whole pizza most of it would be wasted as it is just my daughter and myself. Sure, I could freeze it but things tend to get freezer burnt in my freezer no matter how I wrap it. Boiling the hamburger (and I would say you could do this with sausage too, never tried it) really takes the grease out. It is never greasy. I cut the tortilla pizza in fours (the tortilla is 6 inches in diameter I think. About the size of a personal pan pizza hut pizza) and I can eat a fourth for a meal. I haven't tried real pizza. I think I could probably at this point eat half a piece of real thin crust pizza just haven't tried it. Another fav of mine is taking a low carb tortilla, putting some deli thin ham in it and a piece of the higher protein cheese (The american slices you get only have two grams of protein) versus other slices which usually have 7 or 8 g of protein. I fold it and put it on my George Foreman Grill. I toast it till the tortilla is crisp. Cut it in half. I can eat half for a meal. Homemade hot pocket. These are easy and quick (my favorite) and I can take the left overs to work. I just realized that I made this entry out of my time line and it's so long that I don't want to start over guys. I am really sorry. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone! Now, the good news! I officially broke into the 200's today. Weighing in at 299.8. This makes 91 lbs since surgery 6-10-04. I am sooo excited. Sure, I know I still have an extremely long road ahead of me but it really seems doable now. God bless Dr. udobi and Weight Loss surgery and of course the insurance company! Take care! Sorry about the entry being out of time sequence!

9-3-04

I had my 3 month check up today. Officially down 62 pounds on the doctor's scale. He was very pleased. I have to go have some blood work drawn which is standard. He said everything looked wonderful and keep up the good work. I really love my surgeon. He's the best!





10-2-04

Not feeling so hot right now. I have bronchitis. Yuch, Yuch, Yuch. On the good side I have lost 80 pounds and feel great in that area. Couldn't be more pleased. Will soon be getting out of 300.Had my labs done and they came back pretty good. My cholesterol is down to 140 from 204. That's good. Couple things were low but were just a tad under the low side. Haven't heard from Dr. Udobi on this so I guess they weren't low enough to cause concern. I am going to call on Monday though just to make sure. Anyone ever want to chat or have any questions about Dr. Udobi just drop me a line. I would be more than happy to answer your questions!





11-5-04

Well let's see ....at least I got this post in the right order. I just wanted to update a little. I made the centuryclub two days ago and went on to lose two more pounds. So, to date I have lost 102 lbs just five days shy of my five month anniversary. Feeling wonderful about that! Seen my 14 year old step-daughter whom I hadn't seen since July 20 or about a month out from surgery. She was like "OMG I can't believe that is you. you look so Awesome!!" Well, needless to say I gave that girl a big hug!!For the longest time I couldn't see the loss. I can now and I'm starting to look good! I cleaned my closet out the other day. I have this bad habit of still wearing my "fat" clothes, the 5X pants and shirts but they hang terribly. I wear them around the house and call them my "comfort clothes". The crotch hangs to my knees. They are really bad. So, I finally cleaned the closet out and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could wear 2X slacks and 3X shirts! This is great because I was getting bummed about not going down to much in clothing sizes. But this is awesome!I have a pair of 24 jeans that I have had for about 14 years now. Jeans never go out of style. I have kept them around cause occassionally I would lose weight and they would fit. And I didn't want to get rid of something that was in good shape that I would "someday" get back into. Well, I tried them on the other day. Before surgery I couldn't get them over my calfs. Now they fit in the legs, hips and butt....just not the tummy. I still got too much tummy! Probably by the time I lose the tummy they will be too big in the other areas. This was really cool with me because everytime I lost weight before I had the hardest time with the legs, hips and butt. I would always get super small in the waist and tummy but was very bottom heavy. Maybe I am finally losing in my problem areas!! What an awesome feeling. I started out wanting to lose 230 lbs.........I know need to lose 128. That itself is quite a feat.





1-15-05

I am just over my 7 month anniversary. I didn't have a six month appt as it was rescheduled for the 21st of this month which will make it a 7.5 month appt. I have now lost 128 lbs and am down to 262. I have 102 lbs to make it to my personal goal. I feel and look like a new person. I have to remember and remind myself at time that this is not a race. Things have definately slowed down after the six month mark but the important thing is the scale is going down rather than up. Even if it takes me the next 10 mths to get to goal I will get there. That is 10 lbs a month and definately doable. I have no excess skin at this point which I am very pleased about. Let's hope the last 100 lbs is as kind coming off as the first 128! I had my labs done last week and got the results last night. They look great. My iron was really low last time but this time it's right in the middle of the appropriate range. Yeah! My cholesterol is down to 140 and I believe it was 220 when I started this journey. That is amazing! But the best part is how wonderful I feel. I feel awesome. I am so thankful that this has been a smooth ride for me thus far and continue to hope that that continues. The important thing to remember is not to get frustrated when the scale is not moving. You definately have to learn patience. Last weekend I seen a friend I hadn't seen in 2.5 months. He was amazed to say the least and kept saying over and over "oh my gosh!" "i can't believe it's you!". That was a great feeling because as some of you can relate we don't always see the changes our bodies are going thru. This is a wake-up call. I don't get pics taken as often as I would like or need to. Need to get better about that! And I definately need an updated photo on my profile....again. I will write more after I see Dr. Udobi on Friday. Good luck everyone! I decided to do my measurements real quick. So far this is the inches lost stats

Neck -2.5 in
Wrist -1.5 in
Upper Thigh -11 in
Upper Thigh -11 in
Calf -3 in
Calf -3 in
Knee -4 in
Knee -4 in
ankle -1.5 in
ankle -1.5 in
waist -20 in
feet 12 -1 size and no longer wide
ring size 9.5 from 12
forearm -2 in
forearm -2 in
upper arm -6 in
upper arm -6 in
bust -14 in
Hips -14 in
For a grand total of 107 inches lost in 7.5 months!!




1-23-05
I had my six month appt Friday the 21st. Actually it was a 6 month check-up 1.5 months late because my six month appt was cancelled. So.....it was really a 7.5 month appt. I have lost 129 lbs which Dr. Udobi said I was right on track and he's sure I can get to 160 which is my goal. Said, he's pretty sure I will need a tummy tuck........and I thought my skin was doing so great really. I really have no excess right now but I still have a 100 lbs I need/want to lose. My labs were great. A suggestion to all ....I had my labs done at my local hospital and they were to fax the results which they said they did. They either didn't fax the results or they hadn't been filed in my chart yet. I had taken a copy with me which Dr. Udobi was very grateful for so he was able to review them. They made a copy of them and returned my copy to me. You should get a copy of your labwork everytime you have it done anyway and keep it in a binder. That way you can compare the results from the previous set you had done. Anyway, just a suggestion you might want to take a copy of your labwork with you. I know I will everytime. Dr. Udobi was NOT happy that I had went back to smoking and let me know it. I deserve that though. I continue to have absolutely no complications. I eat three to 4 3 or 4 oz meals a day. I struggle with protein and I don't do protein supplements. Somedays it doesn't seem like the weight will come off quick enough but you have to be patient. We certainly didn't get overweight overnight. Patience! Patience! Patience! That's one of the hardest things you will learn to struggle with. I go back to Dr. Udobi July 22. Hopefully, I will be down to 200 then. That is 60 lbs so we will see and that is sticking with the 10 lb a month theory.





3-6-05
Today's my birthday! Happy 32nd birthday to me! This year life is so much better and I actually went out and celebrated. I never do that. Had a wonderful time spent with friends. I lost two pounds this week......7 last week. This makes my total loss at 146 lbs since 6-10-04. I started at 390 and currently weight in at 244. That goal of 160 is getting closer and closer! I am sitting here in my size 20 jeans and feeling grand. Funny how a size 20 jeans puts me in a good mood. I understand some people having the surgery started in this size but you know what? That doesn't matter to me. I started at 390 and couldn't even fit in a 32 jean so yes a 20 FOR ME is awesome! Still have no issues really. My blood pressue consistently seems a little high everytime it is checked so need to keep an eye on that.........weird since I never had high pressure when I weighed almost 400 lbs. My brother is looking into have the surgery and I am really excited for him. He probably weighs about 600 lbs and this surgery could save his life. His PCP is sending him to my same surgeon for a consult. ...Dr. Udobi........which is weird because we have different pcp's in totally different towns but his PCP says he only sends patients to KU for this.......and Dr. Udobi is the only surgeon at KU who does gastric bypass so i'm guessing that means he will be seing Dr.Udobi which I am very glad about. Dr. Udobi is an extremely competent and caring surgeon and I know that my brother will be in the best hands. Since he weighs 600 lbs he is high risk and I trust Dr.Udobi. Well, till next time.........! Shawna

P>S> I ordered some power protein cookies from bariaticeating.com.........these are awesome. You warm them up in the microwave....yumm....yumm...yumm. The best part is they have 27 g of protein....I can only eat half of one at a time though. They are big and filling. They are expensive. I think it's 24.95 for 12 or something like that.........but I found some on ebay......I know ebay? Who would have thought? I got 30 of them for $28.00. That was 20.00 for the cookies and 8.00 shipping. Compared to the other place I had been getting them. On ebay I paid .66 a cookie versus 2.08 a cookie. Huge difference. The other place would have been 62.40 just for the cookies not including shipping and I got them for 20.00. And I love bariatriceating.com and I mean no disrespect........I just love a good bargain better! Take care! Shawna



4-3-05
I have been on a plateau for about the last month and it has been driving me insane. So I decided to take my measurements:

Waist 41" -21 inches
Feet 12 -1 size
Ring 9 - 3 sizes
Forearm 11 -2 inches
Forearm 11 -2 inches
Upper arm 14 inches -7 inches
Upper arm 14 inches -7 inches
Thigh 27 inches -12 inches
Thigh