Gloria S.
7.30/07
Jul 30, 2007
I just updated my weight, my BMI went from 57.4 down to 39.5!! I'm no longer super morbidly obese or extremely obese..I'm just plain obese :)
6/21/07
Jun 21, 2007
Well, I must say I feel bad for not sitting down and posting anything since I had my surgery. I've missed out on posting a lot of things over the last few months that I'm sure would have been nice to read back on later. Well, I can at least go forward, right? The 5th of July with be my 5 month anniversary from open RNY surgery. I'm very close, within 2 or 3 pounds, of being down 100 pounds from my consult weight (1/12/07). What I've been doing is weighing on the 5th of each month at my PCP's office so I can have an official record. I did better in the beginning at not weighing all the time...now that I weigh less and my digital scale actually weighs me, it's alot easier to pop on the scale in the am when I'm getting ready.
My surgery on 2/5 went well. I was in the hospital from Monday morning until Thursday afternoon. I was kinda loopy and out of it until they took my pain pump away on Wednesday afternoon. I was doing well; went home Thursday. Things were going well it seemed. Then on Sunday afternoon, I started having pain, kind of underneath my left rib cage area, radiating into my back and shoulder. It got increasingly worse...after several hours, at the point of extreme pain, we called the Dr. and he said it was too difficult to diagnose over the phone; if I could make it til morning, wait; and if not go to the ER. My Bro-in-law kept thinking it was just really bad gas. I was so blessed, because my sister, bro-in-law, and niece were visiting me on that day. My niece Whisper drove me to the ER. They made me drink a cup of dye so they could do the scans on me...that cup of liquid might as well have been Lake Michigan at that point. I was in so much pain...drinking anything was the last thing I wanted to do! They gave me morphine I think, which helped some, but I waited over an hour and half before they finally knew what was going on. I should have typed this along time ago, so that I could remember more clearly, but what was happening was that the bottom part of my new connection was swelling extensively. Not the upper part where the new pouch is, but down below where the stomach is connected to the bowel.
My surgeon, Dr. Eibes, was sick that night, so he could not come in to the hospital. His PA, Joel, was there with me, reporting back and forth to Dr. E. Lucky me got to have an emergency second surgery! They said that if it kept swelling, it could eventually put staples and rupture something, which could become critical. So, a different surgeon came in (can you imagine my fear; 1 at having to be cut open again, and 2 that my surgeon wasn't even going to be doing it, and 3, that this other surgeon doesn't even do RNY's anymore...told me himself that he hadn't done anything to do with them for at least a year.) Well, I needed to do it, so I signed the consents, tearing up because I did NOT want to do that again...and at 1:30 am, exactly 1 week after my first surgery, I went under the knife again. To make a long story short (well, shorter, anyway :) I was ok. He went in there and made the bottom opening bigger. My concern for Dr. E. later was that could that affect or slow down my weight loss; he said no, because the stomach pouch itself is where the wieight loss is, and that is still small and unaffected, so I should be ok.
I was in the hospital a complete week the second time. Didn't get to go home until the following Sunday afternoon. Spent Valentine's Day in the good old hospital. I tell ya what, that week in there was extremely difficult. I got so wrestless and listless! The nights were so incredibly long. I could not sleep. Couldn't get comfortable. went from the bed to the chair to the bed to the chair, all night long. And those bathroom trips. I"m sure you remember having to call for help, drag the IV pole with you, go, call for help again, drag the pole back to bed, and get settled. Over and over again. I had to pee all the time from all the liquid they were putting in me. I got to the point the last few days where I just unplugged the thing myself, went to the bathroom, came back, plugged it back in, and got back in bed. I became pretty efficient at potty breaks. :) My surgeon got over being sick, and went on vacation...so he was in to see me only once after my second surgery, and yet a different doctor was in charge of my care for that second week. Nice guy. Can't even remember his name now.
Some things were more difficult the second time around, and others were actually easier. Oddly enough, It didn't hurt as much to move and set up and things the second week as it did the first week. I couldn't eat as well the second week as I could the first. About the 2nd night on on the 2nd go round, about 2 or 3 in the morning, I vomited bile. Lots the first time..it kinda scared me. The doc said that was actually a good thing; meant that the connection from the bile duct down to where the food mixes with the bile was open and clear. I think I did that vomiting for about 10 days before it finally stopped. I was SO HAPPY to be home! when they finally let me out. As a sidenote, I must say that the nurses on the 6th floor at Iowa Methodist, for the most part, are wonderful at what they do. I had a couple that became my favorites. It seemed like you only had the same nurse a couple of times though, and then it would always be someone new. Good deal if you didn't particularly care for the nurse or tech, not so good if you really liked them and didn't get to have them agian. Ok. back to my ramblings.
My 6 weeks off of work went by SO FAST! I honestly couldn't believe it. My first 2 weeks were in the hospital for the most part. I was then home for 2 weeks, and then my sister Rhonda had a revision to a VBG that she had 25 years ago. Her surgery was on 3/5, exactly one month after my first one. I must say I was more nervous about her going under the knife than I was for myself. She is the most wonderful person in the whole wide world. So, I spent alot of that week at the hospital, visiting her. One more week at home, and then I went back to work, 6 weeks after my initial surgery, on 3/19/07. I did 1/2 days for the first week back, as I was actually behind schedule due to the emergency operation. It wasn't too bad. I was worried about not having enough energy to be at work, but I didn't have any major issues. Until.....Thursday morning at 4:30 am of that first full week back to work...I was awakened from sleep with an excrutiating pain in the middle of my lower back. I went to the bathroom, crawled back in bed a couple minutes, and absolutely could not stand the pain. I drove myself to the ER, because that was the only thing I could think of...I've never been to the ER in my life prior to this..so I was hesitant about going, but man that was horrible pain! Much worse than the incisional pain from surgery, by far! Long story short: they told me it was not a kidney stone, because they didn't see anything on the scan. The pain meds they gave me while I was in the ER helped.. I couldn't produce a urine sample...so they just sent me home..I went home and slept all day that Thursday. Felt better Friday, and then Saturday morning when I woke up...the same pain was back, only it was painful in the front this time, and the back. Went to my PCP's office...they fill in was worthless, and didn't have a clue...I was in tears I was hurting so bad. I left there and went back to the ER a second time; I coudn't stand the pain. Turns out I had a UTI at this point...well, I get home, and went to the bathroom. You'll never guess. I passed a kidney stone that they said I did not have. So all of my pain was from a kidney stone passing and a developing UTI. Whew! They started me on a round of antibiotics...my PCP rechecked me on Wednesday...said it should have been cleared up by then, and put me on a different antibiotic. I guess I wasn't absorbing enough of the first one.
That's a brief synopsis (aren't you glad I didn't set out to write a novel) of my first couple of month post surgery. Since that round with the ER, thankfully I haven't had any other problems. God has been so good. He gave me the strengh to make it through everything that I went through. I'm so glad I'm on the other side of those days. One thing the anethsthesiologist (sp?) said to me right before I went in the OR that second time, was that in 3 weeks, this will all be but a memory and you'll be good as new. He was right. 3 weeks after that night, I felt so much better and the pain and fear seemed like it was such a long time ago. Now, 4 1/2 months afterward...I'm just kind of in awe at the transition that has taken place. Now that I've got us up to date on the beginning, I'm hoping I'll take the time to post every now and then...I want to have a record to look back on as well.
I decided that I better start posting, because one of these days my pictures will be on the before and afters. I hate that when I see a cool before and after and I go to read about that person's journey, and they haven't typed a thing! That's really frustrating to me...so when my pictures go up, I don't want to disappoint you :)
One "wow" moment I had last week: At work I ordered avon once from the avon lady...since then she had always stopped in and left a book for me to look at. well, I hadn't seen her for a long time...and when she popped in my cube she said :oh, you're somebody else, aren't you. " She didn't even recognize that it was me!! That tells you one of two things: she either never really paid attention to my face before, or I've gone through quite a change over the last few months. Anyway, that made me feel really good, and I wanted to write that down before I forget. I'm going to end my post for tonight. Will write more soon! Glo'
My surgery on 2/5 went well. I was in the hospital from Monday morning until Thursday afternoon. I was kinda loopy and out of it until they took my pain pump away on Wednesday afternoon. I was doing well; went home Thursday. Things were going well it seemed. Then on Sunday afternoon, I started having pain, kind of underneath my left rib cage area, radiating into my back and shoulder. It got increasingly worse...after several hours, at the point of extreme pain, we called the Dr. and he said it was too difficult to diagnose over the phone; if I could make it til morning, wait; and if not go to the ER. My Bro-in-law kept thinking it was just really bad gas. I was so blessed, because my sister, bro-in-law, and niece were visiting me on that day. My niece Whisper drove me to the ER. They made me drink a cup of dye so they could do the scans on me...that cup of liquid might as well have been Lake Michigan at that point. I was in so much pain...drinking anything was the last thing I wanted to do! They gave me morphine I think, which helped some, but I waited over an hour and half before they finally knew what was going on. I should have typed this along time ago, so that I could remember more clearly, but what was happening was that the bottom part of my new connection was swelling extensively. Not the upper part where the new pouch is, but down below where the stomach is connected to the bowel.
My surgeon, Dr. Eibes, was sick that night, so he could not come in to the hospital. His PA, Joel, was there with me, reporting back and forth to Dr. E. Lucky me got to have an emergency second surgery! They said that if it kept swelling, it could eventually put staples and rupture something, which could become critical. So, a different surgeon came in (can you imagine my fear; 1 at having to be cut open again, and 2 that my surgeon wasn't even going to be doing it, and 3, that this other surgeon doesn't even do RNY's anymore...told me himself that he hadn't done anything to do with them for at least a year.) Well, I needed to do it, so I signed the consents, tearing up because I did NOT want to do that again...and at 1:30 am, exactly 1 week after my first surgery, I went under the knife again. To make a long story short (well, shorter, anyway :) I was ok. He went in there and made the bottom opening bigger. My concern for Dr. E. later was that could that affect or slow down my weight loss; he said no, because the stomach pouch itself is where the wieight loss is, and that is still small and unaffected, so I should be ok.
I was in the hospital a complete week the second time. Didn't get to go home until the following Sunday afternoon. Spent Valentine's Day in the good old hospital. I tell ya what, that week in there was extremely difficult. I got so wrestless and listless! The nights were so incredibly long. I could not sleep. Couldn't get comfortable. went from the bed to the chair to the bed to the chair, all night long. And those bathroom trips. I"m sure you remember having to call for help, drag the IV pole with you, go, call for help again, drag the pole back to bed, and get settled. Over and over again. I had to pee all the time from all the liquid they were putting in me. I got to the point the last few days where I just unplugged the thing myself, went to the bathroom, came back, plugged it back in, and got back in bed. I became pretty efficient at potty breaks. :) My surgeon got over being sick, and went on vacation...so he was in to see me only once after my second surgery, and yet a different doctor was in charge of my care for that second week. Nice guy. Can't even remember his name now.
Some things were more difficult the second time around, and others were actually easier. Oddly enough, It didn't hurt as much to move and set up and things the second week as it did the first week. I couldn't eat as well the second week as I could the first. About the 2nd night on on the 2nd go round, about 2 or 3 in the morning, I vomited bile. Lots the first time..it kinda scared me. The doc said that was actually a good thing; meant that the connection from the bile duct down to where the food mixes with the bile was open and clear. I think I did that vomiting for about 10 days before it finally stopped. I was SO HAPPY to be home! when they finally let me out. As a sidenote, I must say that the nurses on the 6th floor at Iowa Methodist, for the most part, are wonderful at what they do. I had a couple that became my favorites. It seemed like you only had the same nurse a couple of times though, and then it would always be someone new. Good deal if you didn't particularly care for the nurse or tech, not so good if you really liked them and didn't get to have them agian. Ok. back to my ramblings.
My 6 weeks off of work went by SO FAST! I honestly couldn't believe it. My first 2 weeks were in the hospital for the most part. I was then home for 2 weeks, and then my sister Rhonda had a revision to a VBG that she had 25 years ago. Her surgery was on 3/5, exactly one month after my first one. I must say I was more nervous about her going under the knife than I was for myself. She is the most wonderful person in the whole wide world. So, I spent alot of that week at the hospital, visiting her. One more week at home, and then I went back to work, 6 weeks after my initial surgery, on 3/19/07. I did 1/2 days for the first week back, as I was actually behind schedule due to the emergency operation. It wasn't too bad. I was worried about not having enough energy to be at work, but I didn't have any major issues. Until.....Thursday morning at 4:30 am of that first full week back to work...I was awakened from sleep with an excrutiating pain in the middle of my lower back. I went to the bathroom, crawled back in bed a couple minutes, and absolutely could not stand the pain. I drove myself to the ER, because that was the only thing I could think of...I've never been to the ER in my life prior to this..so I was hesitant about going, but man that was horrible pain! Much worse than the incisional pain from surgery, by far! Long story short: they told me it was not a kidney stone, because they didn't see anything on the scan. The pain meds they gave me while I was in the ER helped.. I couldn't produce a urine sample...so they just sent me home..I went home and slept all day that Thursday. Felt better Friday, and then Saturday morning when I woke up...the same pain was back, only it was painful in the front this time, and the back. Went to my PCP's office...they fill in was worthless, and didn't have a clue...I was in tears I was hurting so bad. I left there and went back to the ER a second time; I coudn't stand the pain. Turns out I had a UTI at this point...well, I get home, and went to the bathroom. You'll never guess. I passed a kidney stone that they said I did not have. So all of my pain was from a kidney stone passing and a developing UTI. Whew! They started me on a round of antibiotics...my PCP rechecked me on Wednesday...said it should have been cleared up by then, and put me on a different antibiotic. I guess I wasn't absorbing enough of the first one.
That's a brief synopsis (aren't you glad I didn't set out to write a novel) of my first couple of month post surgery. Since that round with the ER, thankfully I haven't had any other problems. God has been so good. He gave me the strengh to make it through everything that I went through. I'm so glad I'm on the other side of those days. One thing the anethsthesiologist (sp?) said to me right before I went in the OR that second time, was that in 3 weeks, this will all be but a memory and you'll be good as new. He was right. 3 weeks after that night, I felt so much better and the pain and fear seemed like it was such a long time ago. Now, 4 1/2 months afterward...I'm just kind of in awe at the transition that has taken place. Now that I've got us up to date on the beginning, I'm hoping I'll take the time to post every now and then...I want to have a record to look back on as well.
I decided that I better start posting, because one of these days my pictures will be on the before and afters. I hate that when I see a cool before and after and I go to read about that person's journey, and they haven't typed a thing! That's really frustrating to me...so when my pictures go up, I don't want to disappoint you :)
One "wow" moment I had last week: At work I ordered avon once from the avon lady...since then she had always stopped in and left a book for me to look at. well, I hadn't seen her for a long time...and when she popped in my cube she said :oh, you're somebody else, aren't you. " She didn't even recognize that it was me!! That tells you one of two things: she either never really paid attention to my face before, or I've gone through quite a change over the last few months. Anyway, that made me feel really good, and I wanted to write that down before I forget. I'm going to end my post for tonight. Will write more soon! Glo'
2/4/07
Feb 04, 2007
Tomorrow's the big day! I've been so busy lately, trying to get my caseload at work completely caught up, figuring out my new businesss...I'm now an official Aloette Cosmetics beauty consultant ...go figure., and all the preparations that need to be made to be out of sorts for a while...I can't believe how quickly time has gone by! Church was awesome today....the message was for me specifically. God is so good! (All the time! ) Well, I better get off of here and get to bed. Still have some things I need to finish up. See ya on the losing side! He must increase and I must decrease!
1/16/07
Jan 16, 2007
So, where did I leave off? Last Tuesday I faxed in my approval letter to Dr. E's office before lunch and called them in the afternoon. I was told that the 'team approval' still needed to be done, and they would call me when that was completed. So, last Thursday they called to say I could schedule my appointment to come in and take the H-Pylori test and shcedule my date...so I picked the very next day. Last Friday I got my date, I am having surgery on 2/5/07!! I can't believe it's all happening so quickly. ( I never thought something could seem to take forever, yet go by so quickly, all at the same time.) I had the doctor sign my FMLA papers and turned them in...so now I'm just trying to get my caseload all nice, neat and caught up before I leave.
1/8/07
Jan 08, 2007
I'm Approved.....I'm a-p-p-r-o-v-e-d, I'm Apppro--oooooo-oooooved!!
A nurse called me from Wellmark this morning before lunch and asked me if I'd gotten my letter; I said no and she said, "oh, I just love telling people the good news, you're approved" How exciting! It was very hard not to scream right there in my office building! :) She was a very nice lady, we talked about several things a good 10 minutes before we got off the phone. I called my surgeon's office; they have to have the approval in writing before they will schedule my pre-surgery appointment with Dr. Eibes.....so, I tried my best to concentrate the rest of the afternoon! When I got home from work, the approval letter was in the mail, so, guess who is faxing their letter to the surgeon's office if they don't call me by lunchtime tomorrow.....you guessed it.
This happened much faster than I imagined it would. I called Wellmark last Thursday (1/4) and asked if they had received my packet, and was told it had been faxed in on Wed, 1/3. (Go Katie!)
She said I could call by Monday (today) and find out which reviewer my case had been assigned to. And then today I got the letter! The best I can figure, it was approved within a day of being received! I almost can't believe it. I'm so thankful that the Lord has brought me to this point....I should rephrase that...I'm so thankful He has accompanied me to this point....(He's not the one who ate themself to the point of being so out of control).
I can tell He's with me. I haven't had any pop to drink since the New Year began, and I haven't had one caffeine withdrawal headache, not one. Nor have I even desired to drink any, and I know that is a gift that comes from Him. He is, and has always been, so good to me. Undeserved blessing (grace) and deserved consequence that is withheld (mercy) are two of the Lord's characteristics that I am so grateful for!
A nurse called me from Wellmark this morning before lunch and asked me if I'd gotten my letter; I said no and she said, "oh, I just love telling people the good news, you're approved" How exciting! It was very hard not to scream right there in my office building! :) She was a very nice lady, we talked about several things a good 10 minutes before we got off the phone. I called my surgeon's office; they have to have the approval in writing before they will schedule my pre-surgery appointment with Dr. Eibes.....so, I tried my best to concentrate the rest of the afternoon! When I got home from work, the approval letter was in the mail, so, guess who is faxing their letter to the surgeon's office if they don't call me by lunchtime tomorrow.....you guessed it.
This happened much faster than I imagined it would. I called Wellmark last Thursday (1/4) and asked if they had received my packet, and was told it had been faxed in on Wed, 1/3. (Go Katie!)
She said I could call by Monday (today) and find out which reviewer my case had been assigned to. And then today I got the letter! The best I can figure, it was approved within a day of being received! I almost can't believe it. I'm so thankful that the Lord has brought me to this point....I should rephrase that...I'm so thankful He has accompanied me to this point....(He's not the one who ate themself to the point of being so out of control).
I can tell He's with me. I haven't had any pop to drink since the New Year began, and I haven't had one caffeine withdrawal headache, not one. Nor have I even desired to drink any, and I know that is a gift that comes from Him. He is, and has always been, so good to me. Undeserved blessing (grace) and deserved consequence that is withheld (mercy) are two of the Lord's characteristics that I am so grateful for!
1/2/07
Jan 02, 2007
The new year if FIANLLY here! All my info has been at the surgeon's office for a couple weeks now...it should be submitted to the insurance company for approval sometime this week.......I've been waiting for this day for so long, I can't hardly believe it's here!
