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Friday is my one year anniversary and it has been a wild ride.  I am now 133 pounds and feeling great.  Having this surgery was the one of the best decisions I've ever made.  I love my sleeve and look forward to the next years.

Today was another milestone.  I am now 139 lbs., only 2 pounds from normal weight.  I cannot believe how much better I feel.  I am going to see the surgeon next week to find out if I can get my final surgery.  I never thought a year ago that I would be where I'm at.  I am so thankful to be here and to be healthier.

My Aunt Nancy had her surgery on Wednesday and it was so neat to be there with her.  It was nice to be on the other side of the bed.  I am so excited for her and can't wait for her to see the changes that will be coming her way.  She is going to be on the ride of her life and I can't wait to be there with her. 

My daughter is over 100 pounds down sincer her surgery in Sep. and she looks so good.  I'm so proud of how she is rocking her sleeve.  She has always been a beautiful person but I know she feels so much better now.

Well this week, I hit 145.  I was pretty excited.  I've decided to continue losing down to around 135.  This will put me in the "normal" weight catagory and I think I will feel good at that weight.  It has been a rough road but I'm finally getting through it.  Now I just need to work on tightening everything up!!

Today is a wonderful day.  I do not have to have my hernia's repaired for another 6 months to a year and I finally got my PICC line removed.  Six month's of taking showers with saran wrap are all over - yippeeeee.  I am eating a little better but still fighting nausea.  I am down 48 pounds down and feeling pretty good. 

Talk about a ride, that is an understatement.  I wish I would've journaled more, but frankly I just either didn't have time or was too sick to care.  My surgery has been a roller-coaster ride but hopefully, I am finished with that and on my way to a normal, non-eventful life. 

I never really felt good after surgery.  I kept having terrible nausea and pain in my left shoulder.  I ended up in the ER 4 times because I kept getting dehydrated.  During the first of those ER visits they checked me for a leak but nothing ever showed up.  So I kept trudging alone hoping I would eventually get over it.  No such luck... I ended up getting laid off of my job on Sep. 5 which devastated me.  I had missed some work and had only been there 7 months, so I often wonder if that contributed to my lay-off.  But God knows what he's doing because a week later I was having heart tests and by the following weekend I was in the ER yet another time.  This time they found a leak.  I was devastated.  Had I been working when all of this unfolded, I would have stressed out to the max.  Dr. B insisted that I had to come to OK, so I had to leave the Wichita ER and have my friend drive me 2 1/2 hours to Edmond.  I was pretty sick so it was not a fun ride.  He placed me on fluids and TPN (nutrition) and antibiotics and decided to send me to Mercy to see if they could aspirate the abscess that had now formed in my abdomen with a CT.  That proved to be a failure so we drove me back to FBH and re-admitted me.  That Monday, Dr. B took me back to surgery to place a drain tube in my belly to try to drain the abscess.  I ended up staying there about 10 days and that started my new journey of not eating and drinking.

I went back to see Dr. on Oct. 2nd and he moved the drain tube out a bit and I went back home.  On Oct. 8th, the drain tube fell out while I was taking a shower and freaked me out.  He decided not to do anything about it but unfortunately on Oct. 11th, I developed a super high fever and had to be taken back to the Wichita ER.  I was put directly into the ICU as I had developed Enteroccocus which is a bad bug to get.  I felt pretty lousy and slept a lot but finally after about 4 days, I was moved to a regular floor where I stayed another 7 days.  Still on TPN and not eating and drinking, I was sent home to continue IV meds for another week or so.

Nov. 6th, I went in to get a test to see if my leak had closed yet and it wasn't.  I had started running a low-grade fever earlier that week and my doc decided to do some cultures and they grew a new bug Bacillus.  He made me go back into the hospital on Nov. 7th where I stayed for another 11 days. Finally, my leak closed on Nov. 11th and I was able to start drinking again.  The eating was and still is pretty slow but I was so happy to be able to eat again.  I came home and did another couple of weeks of IV antibiotics and tried to acclimate to eating again.

Once again, I started feeling lousy again, running low-grade fevers so they did cultures again and the Bacillus had grown back.  They let me stay home that weekend taking IV meds but when I went to see the doctor on Dec 9th my temp was 102.3 and once again, I was admitted to the hospital.  This time they added some additional meds and I stayed there a week.  I'm home now taking two IV meds and should be off of them Monday, Jan. 5th, but time will tell.  I have to have another round of blood cultures next Friday and we will have to see if it comes back.  I hope not because I really need to get better and go find a job.  Plus to make matters more complicated, I have 2 hernias that I didn't realize I had that need to be fixed and I can't do that either until I get these infections cleared up.

People ask me if I regret my decision.  Some days, yes... but I know these bad days will pass and I am down 41 pounds, so that is worth the hassle.

What a ride it has been so far!!  My surgery went well, in fact very well.  I am home and trying to get through my liquid stage (yuk).  I am ready to start eating again.  I started feeling lousy on Monday and the doctor told me to add some diluted Gatorade. Yesterday, I had to go to the ER and get fluids because I got so weak.  Today I feel better, but definitely counting down the days till Mushies - 4 Days!!  I've lost 12 pounds so far which is very cool.  I can't wait until I lose more. 

Only 11 days till my surgery!!!!!!

I am getting so excited.  I've been researching proteins and reading through all of the OK boards to learn all I can to be as prepared as I can.  I had hoped to be a little thinner but of course my darned body isn't cooperating with me.  Up, down, up, down... it can't make up its mind.  My pre-op is Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to it.  I have to take my husband with me.  It was a last-minute requirement of Dr. Broussard.  I wasn't sure what to think of that but with my history of cancer and a few other obstacles, I guess he wants to make sure that everyone is on the same page.  It is going to be a heck of a week that week becasue my husband is having major back surgery on July 15th and my surgery is 2 1/2 hours away on Thursday.  We will manage though.  My daughter will be with me and my son with his dad.  It is definitely going to be a trip.  I will update this in a couple of days.