Maureen C.
I am...
Apr 05, 2008
... a 44 year old woman that has decided it is time to start living - grabbing all the tools I have offered to me to achieve this goal. My first obstacle is my weight. That is why I am on this journey today.
I was married for 22 yrs to my perfect mate, only to lose him 5 years ago in an auto accident - I still feel a tad jipped. We were like the biggest goof balls, living a really fun life and on our way to a life long commitment, then I lose him.
Anyway...... I have 4 kids, 3 girls 1 boy - 25, 22, 20, 16 - and 4, soon to be 5, grands... I am in love with my grandchildren!! I pray that keeps growing. They play a big factor in losing weight.
I am also planning to get married within the '08 yr. My weight isn't a *HUGE* issue in my relationship. Now anyway. It took me awhile to accept that a handsome, well-built man would love me and find me attractive. But he fell in love with me when I was huge, and he believes I am beautiful as I am.
I believe he's a tad insane... He does support my WLS 100%. As far as looking good for a wedding, we are walking (ya know, since I am going to be walking everywhere now instead of driving) to the court house and having a private wedding. No issue there either.
I had been thinking about WLS for several yrs. My sister had it done 4 years ago and lost 100 lbs, easily reaching her goal, and looks fabulous. I have 5 sisters and she and I are incredibly close and the only overweight ones. When she lost the weight I felt completely abandoned and alone. That was when I began to think about WLS. It took me until last summer to do something about. So here I am!! I finally got a seat on the roller coaster and I know it is gonna be scary, but I am so excited about the ride!!
I was married for 22 yrs to my perfect mate, only to lose him 5 years ago in an auto accident - I still feel a tad jipped. We were like the biggest goof balls, living a really fun life and on our way to a life long commitment, then I lose him.
Anyway...... I have 4 kids, 3 girls 1 boy - 25, 22, 20, 16 - and 4, soon to be 5, grands... I am in love with my grandchildren!! I pray that keeps growing. They play a big factor in losing weight.
I am also planning to get married within the '08 yr. My weight isn't a *HUGE* issue in my relationship. Now anyway. It took me awhile to accept that a handsome, well-built man would love me and find me attractive. But he fell in love with me when I was huge, and he believes I am beautiful as I am.
I believe he's a tad insane... He does support my WLS 100%. As far as looking good for a wedding, we are walking (ya know, since I am going to be walking everywhere now instead of driving) to the court house and having a private wedding. No issue there either. I had been thinking about WLS for several yrs. My sister had it done 4 years ago and lost 100 lbs, easily reaching her goal, and looks fabulous. I have 5 sisters and she and I are incredibly close and the only overweight ones. When she lost the weight I felt completely abandoned and alone. That was when I began to think about WLS. It took me until last summer to do something about. So here I am!! I finally got a seat on the roller coaster and I know it is gonna be scary, but I am so excited about the ride!!
I want to see it in black & white. Or black, blue and red.
Apr 03, 2008
Began journey on:
8/29/07 - 345
9/27/07 - 336 down 9 lbs
11/15/07 - 333 down 12 lbs
1/22/08 - 325 down 20 lbs
3/20/08 - 315 down 30 lbs *Day of surgery
3/29/08 - 307 down 38 lbs
4/3/08 - 297 down 48 lbs
4/5/08 - 295 down 50 lbs
8/29/07 - 345
9/27/07 - 336 down 9 lbs
11/15/07 - 333 down 12 lbs
1/22/08 - 325 down 20 lbs
3/20/08 - 315 down 30 lbs *Day of surgery
3/29/08 - 307 down 38 lbs
4/3/08 - 297 down 48 lbs
4/5/08 - 295 down 50 lbs
Lets go
Apr 03, 2008
I was worried I wouldn't have the procedure done! I felt like something was going to stop it from happening. My fear began to grow when every anesthetist nurse and Dr tried and failed to find a vein for my IV. After 45 lovely minutes they struck gold - a very tiny, teeny vein. The anesthetist Dr said once I got the med into my veins that knock me out, they (veins) would expand and they would find a much better one. Haa haa haa!!! Wishful thinking!! Every IV stuck in me blew my veins and the meds went directly into my arms. They were feeling pretty good, but I wasn't. They put in a central line at about 3am the next am and it was like the heavens opened up and welcomed me in! Sweet pain-killers....
So, I was in hospital for 5 days, felling pretty crappy - fevers, rapid heart beat, couldn't pee (I can honestly say, before then, I had never asked to be cathed before. I begged to be I was in such pain.) and being put through every test imaginable. Yippie skippie.... Finally found an infection deep in my stomach. As soon as I was treated for it I finally felt so good!! Then after 2 days at home, I ended back in again. Another infection tunneled from the first one. But today I've been home 4 days and I'm ready to do this full heartedly. I went to Dr yesterday and I'm losing 1lb / day. Not too shabby. I'll take it!
I need to praise Dr Lederer & his "team" (from HCMC in Mpls) for the most intense care I've ever had. Someone was always checking on me, going with me to have xrays and CT's done (I had a shit load of them!), putting up with my whining. Always smiling and sympathetic. (Wish I had felt better - I would have enjoyed it much more.) I had a CT scan at like 2am and had to drink barium, which I was also throwing up, and couldn't hold onto the basin and the table at the same time, so my DR stood next to me holding the basin while I was puking into it.... He also had a convention to go to in Arizona a few days after my surgery. The man called from the airport, then called from his hotel "over looking the Grand Canyon". A professional with a dash of personalization (normalcy?) mixed in.
But today I can look back and I realize it wasn't as traumatic as I had initially thought it was. The process to find the problem was a major pain in the ass, but the man is very thorough and I'll take that over having much worse problems later, any day.
I am losing a lb a day, I lost 10 while on the tasty pre-op liquid diet, so have lost a total 44lbs since I started the journey in Aug.
Ya know, during the crappiness of recovery, I never, ever regretted having the surgery. I was thanking God that the problems came after the surgery. That couldn't be taken away from me now that it was over with. It's sort of sad how drastic I've had to take things to lose weight. I wonder if being fat was accepted more if I would have gone through this. Am I doing this to please myself or others? I feel ugly because I see other people's reactions towards me. I just want to be "normal" and blend in, unnoticed. That is what I hope will happen.
So, I was in hospital for 5 days, felling pretty crappy - fevers, rapid heart beat, couldn't pee (I can honestly say, before then, I had never asked to be cathed before. I begged to be I was in such pain.) and being put through every test imaginable. Yippie skippie.... Finally found an infection deep in my stomach. As soon as I was treated for it I finally felt so good!! Then after 2 days at home, I ended back in again. Another infection tunneled from the first one. But today I've been home 4 days and I'm ready to do this full heartedly. I went to Dr yesterday and I'm losing 1lb / day. Not too shabby. I'll take it!
I need to praise Dr Lederer & his "team" (from HCMC in Mpls) for the most intense care I've ever had. Someone was always checking on me, going with me to have xrays and CT's done (I had a shit load of them!), putting up with my whining. Always smiling and sympathetic. (Wish I had felt better - I would have enjoyed it much more.) I had a CT scan at like 2am and had to drink barium, which I was also throwing up, and couldn't hold onto the basin and the table at the same time, so my DR stood next to me holding the basin while I was puking into it.... He also had a convention to go to in Arizona a few days after my surgery. The man called from the airport, then called from his hotel "over looking the Grand Canyon". A professional with a dash of personalization (normalcy?) mixed in.
But today I can look back and I realize it wasn't as traumatic as I had initially thought it was. The process to find the problem was a major pain in the ass, but the man is very thorough and I'll take that over having much worse problems later, any day.
I am losing a lb a day, I lost 10 while on the tasty pre-op liquid diet, so have lost a total 44lbs since I started the journey in Aug.
Ya know, during the crappiness of recovery, I never, ever regretted having the surgery. I was thanking God that the problems came after the surgery. That couldn't be taken away from me now that it was over with. It's sort of sad how drastic I've had to take things to lose weight. I wonder if being fat was accepted more if I would have gone through this. Am I doing this to please myself or others? I feel ugly because I see other people's reactions towards me. I just want to be "normal" and blend in, unnoticed. That is what I hope will happen.
ONE MORE DAY!!
Mar 18, 2008
ONE MORE DAY!!
Will it happen??
Mar 15, 2008
Seriously! Will this ever happen?? Feels like I've been on this liquid diet for months (it's been a little over 2 weeks)! Time is beginning to back up and I'm going to be stuck here forever... I'm craving oranges. My son loves them so we always have them and they smell SO good and I can't have any!! 
And forget about sleeping. That's not happening. I just lay there thinking about this. I think about this ALL! OF! THE! TIME! and it is driving me insane! 
Ok... I feel better now.. (happy dance!) 
And forget about sleeping. That's not happening. I just lay there thinking about this. I think about this ALL! OF! THE! TIME! and it is driving me insane! Ok... I feel better now.. (happy dance!) WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN
Mar 11, 2008
Only 9 more days. I don't know if I can do it. The waiting, I mean. I have nothing left to clean. I don't know what to do with myself, so I sit here, reading all of these profile's and nearly hyperventilate at the prospect of losing so much weight so quickly! That just makes me more nervous!
I had my first appointment at HCMC with Christine on Aug 29,2007. At her request, I changed the way I ate - stopped grazing, stopped drinking anything sweet, 3 meals a day, write everything down. WOW! Write everything down... The first few days I didn't change the way I ate, but I did write everything down. I had NO clue how badly I was eating. Forever I always thought I was fat because of some medical defect. "It couldn't be because I over ate!" Every night I'd think, "I didn't eat breakfast, had a handful of raisins around 11am, ham sandwich at 3pm and a bowl of cereal at 9pm. Not too shabby, Maureen!". Haa haa... I just crack myself up!! I'd forget about the 4 slices of toast about an hour AFTER I got up (by then I didn't consider it a real meal anymore), the left over roast beef in the fridge from last night that I had been picking at all day. Or the dozen cookies I absent minded-ly snacked on. Or the 15 glasses of lemonade throughout the day. Every available sample at Sam's Club. My granddaughters unfinished french fries, an ice cream bar... you get the picture. So I began to write it down and discovered, I had single handedly created a monster! So I followed Christine's advice and when I went back a month later to see her, I had lost 8 lbs. I was getting excited! I was going to do what I had to do to achieve my goal. It wasn't the first time I had been determined like this. I had lost weight - a lot of weight - before. But this time, I would have extra support - gastric bypass surgery. If I did the work again - eating right and exercise - and the surgery could help me keep it off, maybe I could do this!
I had my first appointment at HCMC with Christine on Aug 29,2007. At her request, I changed the way I ate - stopped grazing, stopped drinking anything sweet, 3 meals a day, write everything down. WOW! Write everything down... The first few days I didn't change the way I ate, but I did write everything down. I had NO clue how badly I was eating. Forever I always thought I was fat because of some medical defect. "It couldn't be because I over ate!" Every night I'd think, "I didn't eat breakfast, had a handful of raisins around 11am, ham sandwich at 3pm and a bowl of cereal at 9pm. Not too shabby, Maureen!". Haa haa... I just crack myself up!! I'd forget about the 4 slices of toast about an hour AFTER I got up (by then I didn't consider it a real meal anymore), the left over roast beef in the fridge from last night that I had been picking at all day. Or the dozen cookies I absent minded-ly snacked on. Or the 15 glasses of lemonade throughout the day. Every available sample at Sam's Club. My granddaughters unfinished french fries, an ice cream bar... you get the picture. So I began to write it down and discovered, I had single handedly created a monster! So I followed Christine's advice and when I went back a month later to see her, I had lost 8 lbs. I was getting excited! I was going to do what I had to do to achieve my goal. It wasn't the first time I had been determined like this. I had lost weight - a lot of weight - before. But this time, I would have extra support - gastric bypass surgery. If I did the work again - eating right and exercise - and the surgery could help me keep it off, maybe I could do this!
