one year today!!

Today is the one year anniversary of my gastric bypass surgery. At my heaviest I was 291lbs. I started at CWM(the Center for Weight Management and Baristric Surgery) at 261lbs. Today I weighed in at 152lbs. I started at a snug size 22 and am now in a 4 or 6 (misses). It still doesn't seem "real" to me somehow.
It has not been an easy journey. Anyone who says that gastric bypass is the "easy" way out, has not done their homework! After having your innards rearranged you have to be very careful to follow all of the rules. You need to learn and execute proper nutrition and hydration. That means planning, weighing, measuring, taking all your supplements(vitamins,calcium etc.) The surgery adjusts your plumbing but they don't touch your brain. The reasons that I got so obese didn't go away just because I can't physically stuff myself anymore. I still have the compulsion to binge and/or make poor food choices. I'm working on it. I certainly don't want to have gone through all of this to regain the weight and end up where I started. My poor body can't handle the poundage.

Aside from the gastric bypass, it's been a rough year. First, during the bypass the surgeon found a 6inch cyst on my one remaining ovary(and attached to my bladder) so I had to have 2 surgeries the first day. Then after going home from the hospital I got really ill. Fever of 103, couldn't drink or pee, horrible pain and bloating. So... back to the hospital for another surgery to fix an internal hernia. Since I had 3 surgeries in 4 days, I had been on massive IV fluids and unable to move around much, I ended up in intensive care with congestive heart failure for a few days. Then... since I had been on so many antibiotics I developed colitis. The first few weeks were pretty miserable. While recovering from all that "stuff", I had been having quite a bit of pain in my right shoulder. It finally got to the point where I couldn't hold onto anything and couldn't raise my arm.... So... More surgery. I had 2 bone spurs, 2 tears in the labrum(cartelege),2 calcium deposits and 2 tears in the rotator cuff(the biceps tendon was hanging by a thread). The surgery went fine but the recovery was painful and required a few months of physical therapy. Just as i was finishing up with PT for the shoulder I started having some abdomilal pain and constant nausea... gallstones! Yup you got it... another surgery. That one was pretty easy though. My bariatric surgeon did it laproscopically and I really felt fine in just a few days. It's a good thing it was easy because 3 weeks after that I was scheduled for spine surgery. I had levels C-4,5,6,7 fused with bone grafts (discs removed) 8 screws and a titanium plate. Recovery is going very well. I'm now just waiting for my spine surgeon to release me so I can have my left knee replaced...

It would have been nice to have had a year to just consentrate on the weight loss and dealing with my food issues. But that's not MY life.

My mom is not doing well, but thank goodness my sister is taking great care of her (thanks Deb,you're the BEST!!)

I guess this sounds like a giant complaint. It's actually NOT. Although It's been a physically and emotionally demanding year, I have to say that I am really very grateful for the things that I have been able to have repaired and the fact that during this time I have managed to lose 109lbs. I am SOOO thankful for the support of everyone at the CWM and my fabulous kids and hubby. My poor hubby didn't know he was going to have to be a full time nurse!

so... there's my update..... aren't you sorry you asked ;-)

treadin'

OK so I had my 6 week post op check up with my spine surgeon. The X-rays of my new neck look pretty cool. There's a 1X4" plate held in by 8 screws. One of the levels that he tried to fix was too far gone (the vertebra had fused together over the collapsed disc)so he was only able to get two of the discs out and replace them with bone grafts. It is all healing nicely. He did a really nice job with the incicion. The scar is already barely noticeable.

I was hoping he would release me to have my knee replacement, but he wants me to wait another six weeks. So I figure that if I have to wait anyway I may as well try to work on my stamina. I figure the better shape I'm in going into surgery, the easier the recovery will be. Right? Right!

So... I started on the treadmill last night. I haven't really tried it since losing weight... because of all the surgeries and basically all my "stuff". It went pretty well. I managed to do a quarter mile at 2 1/2 mph. I know it doesn't sound like much. But for me that's HUGE. As long as my knees cooperate I'll try to do a few minutes every day.