kamehanaokala

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Well it was a very informative experience. It was almost 2 hours long! After he did his schpeel(don't know how to spell, LOL) i pulled out my questions to ask and he had been so thorough and informative that he had already answered all my questions plus more! He said an informed patient is a happy patient. Loved it!

I thought all along that I needed a Lower Body Lift and Breast Lift with Augmentation. He said I'd do good with an extended tummy tuck instead of a LBL.

Now I'm just waiting for a Proposal from him for a price which includes the following:

Breast Lift with Mentor Saline Implants(under the muscle), Tummy Tuck-this includes muscle tightening and liposuction to the hips stomache and mons area.

This is such a crazy wonderful life! I love what doctors can do!!!

Some of you may remember me posting about an experience I had a month or so ago wjere I was in pain and ended up going to Urgent Care where the doc said I had pleurisy. He said if the feeling came back again to go to the ER as it could be something more serious. I've since had that feeling twice but didn't listen and bring my butt into the ER. Well yesterday while at work at my desk, sitting and typing...the feeling came on again. Stronger than ever. Strong enough to bring me to tears. My boss brought my car up to the Porte Cochere area and MADE me go to the doc. Even offered to drive but I told her, 'nope, i got it'. So I got to the ER at 3:30pm and was in pain.......my  right side back area of the rib cage. The pain kept coming and going, kinda like contractions. I rated it an 8 on a scale of 1-10. So the ER doc wanted to run a bunch of tests on me. I told him "fine, run 'em all..i've got great coverage". I had my Gall Bladder removed back in 2001 so I know its not gall stones. The lab tech took 4 vials of blood, another lady came in.......flung out my left boobie and stuck a bunch of wires and stickies on me and did an EKG and then another dude came and got me and we walked over to Imaging where he did some chest xrays. Blood work came back completely normal. Everything was within range. Part of that was blood taken for a pregnancy test - negative and something to check for blood clots - negative. EKG and Chest xrays were normal too. He concluded that I "pulled a muscle"..........WTF??? Pulled a muscle?!?!? Ummmm yeah......and it did it how? While sitting at my desk??? Whatever. My discharge instructions were to take 600mg of Ibuprofen 3 times a day. Ummm yeah, won't that eat up the lining of the only 15% of stomache that I have left??? And he knows I had the VSG............ugggggh! Medical care on Kauai sucks!

I need to get to the bottom of this and will go see another doc on another island. Most of the Specialists are on Oahu. So......off to Oahu I go in search of some answers. Does anyone know what kind of doc I should see?

PS-when I got home the kids were already busting fireworks........they had a blast. About 3 of my neighbors had illegal fireworks so the show in the 'hood was outstanding!!

Happy New Year to all..........

So today i'm 9 months out from my VSG surgery and at goal. I cannot begin to explain in what areas of my life have improved. Shall i just list them? I used to have chronic lower back pain in the L4-L5 region. Gone, completely gone. No sciatic nerve pain either, no numbing in my right side foot/toe area. No daily popping of vicodin. Hallelujiah! That was a hard 2 years of pain prior as it was hard to function while on pain meds and be a mom and work fulltime. I used to get depressing pain cause I thought that was how I was going to be, that was my life. I was in pain all the time and started getting depressed. Couldn't move, putting on even more weight. Ugggh! I was in a MAJOR vicious cycle and needed help pronto. This VSG saved me! I can fit in cute clothes without looking ridiculous. My shoes fit better. I wear an 8 shoe instead of an 8 1/2 wide shoe. My problem now is with the Sale and Clearance racks. There are less choices on the racks as the sizes get smaller. I am currently in mostly 6's and have even bought and wore(last night to dinner)my very first pair of 4's. DKNY.....so so so very weird. I am thinking that my body will remain a 4/6 even after doing my plastic surgery hopefully in the summer of 2008. A Lower Body Lift to get rid of my hanging apron of skin.  I feel wonderful too. I used to take a nap after work as I was always tired. Your body takes a toll lugging around all that extra weight. Now I only feel tired if I have white" carbs like chips or something. I don't like the feeling of how my body reacts to junkie foods. Tired, sluggish, just plain ole yucky feeling. I love being able to play and joke around with my kids and I know they know in their hearts that there is something different about mom that wasn't there before. Vibrance perhaps? A new found self? I can't place my thumb on it but it's there.....

I've lost a total of 85 pounds.I was a "lightweight" when I started out. To all you newbies out there, it's amazing what this surgery can do for you. I'm so glad I chose this over the lapband. No fills to fool with which was my main concern. I wanted this weight loss to be totally permanent and non-reversible. I wanted to be healthy FOREVER and EVER! Well here I am, on maintenance and living my VSG life to the fullest.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and thank you all for being here for me whenever I had questions, concerns and just needed a quick pick me up laugh. OH is the bomb!

aloha,

michelle

Words cannot express how thrilled I am right now that I had this life changing VSG surgery 6 months ago. These past 6 months just flew right by as my days and nights were not consumed by my body aches and pains, especially my back. I get out and do so much more nowadays. I feel alive. I am sooooo happy with everything. My health seems to be great! I feel great, when i look at pictures, it's weird....is that really me? That person has a neck and nice looking collar bones.

To anyone considering and researching the VSG....you will be totally thrilled with your decision if you chose to go this route. The negative side? You will go thru all your favorite clothes that you've been hanging onto for years knowing that you'll one day wear them again and it'll go by sooooo fast, it'll sadden you. LOL

There are too many people here to personally thank that has brought so much to me since I first started researching WLS at the end of 2006. But I want you all to know that you are a VERY BIG PART of my life.

I'm so bad at updating....so here goes. Tomorrow marks 10 weeks post op. So far, so good. No complaints and no regrets whatsoever. As of this morning i've lost 38 pounds for good. I journeled for the first time today on my food intake. I realize that writing things down puts it in perspective. For example, I thought I wasn't getting in enough protein. Wrong! For the time of evening it is, i'm right on target. I also thought I .was okay on carbs. Soooo wrong. Too many! The only thing i'm struggling with are EXCERCISE and WATER INTAKE. 

Food-food-food.....boy have I changed my view a few times on FOOD in the last couple of weeks. It's my friend, it's my enemy, I hate it for making me grouchy and happy all in one sitting. I love the taste of food but get frustrated at what little amounts I can tolerate. I was never an emotional eater but rather for taste. With every bite was a sound of "MMMMMMMMmmmmMMMMmmmmm" coming from me. Now it's just a spoonful if I want to taste everything in front of me. I ALWAYS follow the "protein first" rule. I went to Morro Bay two weekends ago for my step-fathers funeral. I was surrounded by my closest family. You  know how that goes with food. Family, food, food, food and more food. So the cool uncle of the group(everybodys got one of those cool uncles)decides he's going to order up from the butcher.....$300 worth of King crab legs split(easy to eat). My mom makes garlic bread(the good kind that only moms can make). I get my chops ready all day long.......and all I can manage to get down is 1/2 of a crab leg(that was pushing it), 3 olives from the rice dish and 1 bite of moms yummy bread(as a treat). Talk about being freakin' pissed cause I wanted more crab!!!  But that's all I could handle. So then I decided instead of watching everyone else go at it with the crab and butter, I played "server" and tried to stuff everyone. I kept serving til they started saying no. 

Update on my chronic back pain.....I've only gone to the chiropractor once, and that was for a mean menstrual  hormonal headache that wouldn't go away. One day I over did it with cleaning and had to lie down for a few but I was okay later. My feet don't hurt, my hips don't hurt and I can more so much more now. My energy is back full force too.

All in all, life is wonderful! I am so pleased with my choice to have the surgery. No regrets!!!

I'm 10 days out of surgery and would like to share my experience with all of you.......
 
I flew out to SF on March 25th Sunday and checked into the Cathedral Hill Hotel late around 11pm. I didn't really have a chance to think what I'd like for my 'last supper' as it  was so late at night. I ended up walking across the street to Tommy's Joynt. What a place! I think they had every kind of meat imaginable and veggies. Just down right 'plates' of food. Nothing fancy. I ended up eating baked beans and a roll. Oh well......so much for chowder in a bread bowl as I was dreaming of. Next day is Monday...Today I start on liquids for 24 hours......did some bloodwork at CMPC as I took my labs in Hawaii 17 days prior to surgery instead of 14 days prior. Oh well again. Then I headed on over to Dr. Cirangles office for an 11am preop visit. Everyone was extremely nice in his office. This is the second time meeting Dr. C and he is so laid back and easy to talk to.  I called Janet Conklin, another OH member who is scheduled for her surgery right before mine. She's in the same hotel, just a few doors down. So i go on over to meet her and her family. What a nice bunch of people. So down to earth, so real. Janet's boys are the same age as our boys. Her friend Sheree that came with her openly answered any questions that I had regarding her RNY surgery that she had done a few years ago. And what her eating habits were like now, etc. So I got to meet my sleeve sister. You can see pics of us to the left. 

Tuesday....theeeee day! I show up at CMPC at 10am as planned, i change into my gown, get weighed and the nurse cannot get the IV started as I haven't had anything to drink now since last midnight. I'm already dehydrated! But she finally gets it started, yes! So 12noon rolls around which is MY TIME. And it passes.....and then I was informed that they were running behind. They came and got me around 2:40pm, had me pee one last time and gave me a warm blanket wrapped around me and we walked all the way to the OR. They seat me in a little area across the hall and I answer a bunch of questions from another nurse, i meet the anaestheseologist and another nurse who is actually in the OR assisting. Dr. C walks in and says we'll start in 20 minutes and he asks how I'm feeling. It was a feeling I've never felt before....fear, anxiousness, massive headache from caffeine withdrawal, excitement.......all wrapped up into one big ball of i dunno what.......LOL So they have me walk into the OR and lay down on the table. Weird feeling to just lay there and electively say, "okie dokie doc, cut me and take out my tummy". So i tell the anaes. dude that I'm totally nervous and he mumbles something under his breath about Milk of Magnesia. So i laugh and say, hey i took that last night to clean out. He says, "no, let me give you some Milk of Amnesia".....then all of a sudden.........BUZZZZZ.......i felt this buzzing in my head and i felt totally happy to be there.......i remember not being able to stop talking....like a chatter bug. Then, a males voice in my ear saying "take a deep breath Michelle". I was in recovery! I was done......................I had my banana. I was on my way to a healthier life. Then the uncontrollable shakes started and they gave me Demerol. Ahhhhhh.....relief! I was there for what seemed like 45 minutes and then they wheeled me into my room. I was on the 4th floor but can't remember what number. I had the roommate from hell. I never saw her but heard her the entire time. Oh gawd she wouldn't shut up. She was on her cell, she was on her room phone, she was complaining to the docs, the nurses and even her physical therapist. She had knee replacement surgery. She was afraid that she would become addicted to the Morphine button......LOL. They got me up and walking a few hours after and oh gosh, the agony and pukey feeling. I came back to the room and barfed. Nothing there but dry heaves. I get released the next afternoon and am happy to be able to sleep in my hotel bed versus listening to that lady.....uggghhh!!

I stayed in the hotel room for 3 days straight afterwards, thank goodness my room had a lanai so i could get fresh air that way. I was so tired and nauseated. Getting in the liquids for the first 4 days was weird. I could only do baby tiny sips. I felt 'backed up' and full. Probably full of gas!! By Saturday which was day 4 post op, i was ready for shopping!
 
Next day was Sunday---flying back home day----
 I decided to take a taxi to Union Square and walk and do more shopping. I loved it! I loved feeling the sun on my face and seeing a 7 storey Macy's..........ahhhhhhh. I forgot to mention that my sister had flown up on Thursday and was with me from Thu-Sun. So my sister and I.......there with me to share my life changing experience.  Then cab-it back to the hotel where the car is parked and to the airport we go. I have to tell my sister goodbye on the Air Train as she lives in San Diego.  The flight--i stayed up the whole time to watch two movies. I only felt extremely gasey which wasn't bad, i got up three times to relieve myself and that was that. I sipped on my protein drink and asked for a cup of ice. As the ice melted, i sipped. 

All in all it was a wonderful experience. Everyone we encountered was helpful and kind. From the shuttle drivers to the hotel to the hospital to the ladies at Dr. Cirangles office, everyone rocked!!!

In less than an hour, the shuttle will be picking me up to go to CPMC. I have this weird sense of calmness about the whole thing. I dunno, maybe it's lack of sugar and carbs....been on the liquid diet thing since yesterday morning and haven't had any coffee to wake my butt up. Maybe i'm tired cause I couldn't sleep. I dunno. But I am ready to go. 

I met Janet Conklin last night, my sleeve sister, also staying at the same hotel just a few doors down. So we'll be walking the hospital halls AND the hotel halls together. She's a vibrant lady! I love her attitude and enjoy her company.

I'll post when I can..........((((((sigh))))) i still can't believe i'm doing this.