Jean Judy
2-28 Hi, my name is Jean. I'm 34 years old and have been happily married to my husband, Steve, for 6 years. I have 3 sons: 2 stepsons Steve 19 and Michael 14 and then we have our little David who is 5. Like everyone on the site, I have battled with my weight all of my life. In fact when I met with the surgeon and he asked me how long I had tried to lose weight, I said "well I'm 34 so I going to say around 19 years." That's over half of my life. I did manage however to lose 80 lbs before I got married by taking Phentermine and working my tail off at the gym 7 days a week, 2 and 3 hours a day. Again, that was BEFORE I got married. After I got married, I gained 30 lbs and after my son was born, I gained the rest of my weight back. Today, I weigh more than I did before I started my diet and more than I did when I was Pregnant. Now that I'm getting older, my body is starting to fall apart. Within the past 6 months, I have had Sciatica, Pleuracy, High Cholesterol, my blood pressure is beginning to get high, and I showing signs of diabetes. It's time for a change. I have met with the psychologist, surgeon, and nutritionist. My insurance requires a 3 mth history so we will submit after April 19. Hopefully everything will get approved and maybe I will be having surgery in May. Everyone say a prayer for me that it will happen.
5/30/06 I called to check on the status of my insurance and they said I was approved at 8:30AM this morning. I called Kim and she scheduled my surgery for June 21. I was so excited and it is 2 days after my wedding anniversary. What a great gift! Kim told me to be at the office at 4PM to sign paperwork and begin my optifast classes.
5/31/06 First day on Optifast and it is not bad. I have a shake at breakfast, lunch and after dinner and 2 before bed. I have a sensible dinner of 4oz grilled chicken 1 cup of squash, and 1/2 cup of applesauce. It was not so bad.
6/01/06 Today was about the same. I did good at sticking to the diet with 5 shakes and 1 meal.
6/2/06 Today was a little tougher. My husband came home from working in Maryland and wanted to have some family over for dinner. He cooked steak and shrimp, fries, and rolls. For dessert , he wanted lemon pie. It was difficult, but I weighed my steak and shrimp, eat squash and skipped on the fries, rolls, and pie. I may have cheated a little, but it won't happen again.
6/27/06 It has been a while since my last update. We moved into our new house and then my router went down. I survived optifast(thank God) and it has been 6 days since my surgery. I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes before the surgery. I went to my first post op meeting last night thinking it was with the surgeon. That had been changed and me along with my WLS sisters Patty and Jen( love you'll) had to sit through the chef cooking a meal. It smelled delicious. We did it girls. If we can do that, we can do anything( as long as we have our water). I couldn't wait to get on the scales. I lost 7lbs preop amd 12 lbs postop. 12 LBS since Friday. I couldn't believe it. Patty and Jen lost around 20lbs each. Way to go girls! I have my first post op meeting with Michelle on Thursday and will advance to the next phase. I'm really glad to on the losing side now. Well gonna go for now. Hope to on soon.
Love to All
Jean
7/4 Well everything is going good. I'm in phase 2 and I think the hardest part are actually getting the 6 feedings in everyday. I have lost 22 lbs from 339 to 317 so far and think the best feeling since the surgery is when my husband who works out of state came home this weekend and saw me for the first time since the surgery. He said he could really tell I had lost weight. It was very encouraging and makes it all worth it. Friday I go and get my drain taken out and can't wait. It is really beginning to be a nuisance and hurt a little. Happy 4th of July to everyone and good luck to those of us who can't have the BBQ and hash.
7/19/06 Well it's been a few weeks since my last post. I'm now on pureed foods and it has been alot harder than I thought. I couldn't stomach baby food so I have been eating yogurt, tuna, and chicken salad. I have really been trying to get back into going the Y and actually made it 2 days so far. I got discouraged last week when I would weigh and it seemed as the scale wasn't moving. Then all of a sudden I weighed one day and I had lost 3 lbs. It ha been really hard getting my veg and fruit in because by the time I eat my protein, I'm full. I go for my 1 month Friday and my goal is to lose a few more lbs by then. In my dreams! I hope Dr Bour will say that I'm on track where I should be and then I think I would feel better about what I'm doing. Today is my son's 6th BD and we are taking him to Mr gaittis. It is going to be hard to watch everyone else pile on the pizza, salad, and cake when I want it so bad. But what I want more than that is to be able to buy clothes from the other side of the store, fit into the rides at amusement parks, and look good in a swimsuit and shorts. I think I can do it. To Patti and Jen: Girls we started this together and we will finish it together. Never feel like a failure, look at what all you have accomplished already. Love you girls and will see you Tuesday when we go to soft foods.
7/21/06 Well I had my 1 month checkup today and Dr Bour said I am exactly where I should be. He said you should lose 10% of your weight the first month and I have. I was so excited. Only 7 lbs to go and I will be out of the 300s forever. I went to buy some clothes for the first time last night and had to get 2 sizes smaller. WOW I was in a 26/28 and now I'm in 22/24. I could not believe it. I talked to Jen today and she had a good report too. She is exactly where she should be as well. Way to go Jen. I'm not sure about Patti, but I know how well she has been doing and I'm sure she had a good report. See you girls bright and early Tues for soft foods WOOHOO FINALLY. Until later
Love
Jean
