Melissa S.

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Well, its been a while since I have written, had a lot going on, but here is my 3 month photo.



The biggest change is that I feel so much better! Its the little things, being able to breathe when I tie my shoes, not dreading when its time to shave my legs, things like that. I have been working out @ the new gym at work every day Mon- Fri. I am now up to 2 miles on the treadmill and do some ab crunches and upper body exercises. It is tough to make myself go every day, but it is becoming a habit now.

As a side note I went to the GI had my colonoscopy, he thinks my colon isnt working, another appt in December and more tests blah. At least they are ruling stuff out.

I go back to my surgeon in December too for a 3 month follow up. I think I am doing pretty well with weight lost. I am down to 208 now, I CANT WAIT to get under that 200lb mark. It isnt coming off quite as fast, but at least it is steady. I have noticed a huge difference in clothing sizes and my face specifically.

I still am liking cooking and trying new recipes, I made chicken and dumplins with carbquick that turned out pretty well (till I reheated and the dumplins fell apart) and a white chicken chili that turned out REALLY well.

I am also really proud of some friends of mine who are going through this journey as well and doing FABULOUS!!!

Well I havent posted in a while so I thought I would, here is my 2 month picture.



As of today I am down to 220. It is moving a little slower this month compared to last, but nothing I can complain about! Aside from this journey I have exciting news, my son just had his last lumbar puncture chemo treatment!!! It has been a long 3 years, the last hurdle is one more treatment through his port then he is done with maintenance. Then we have to hold our breath for a few more years praying that the Leukemia doesnt come back.

I have still been having severe constipation, I had an upper GI with small bowell follow through, and EGD, and now tomorrow I am having a colonoscopy. The best news is I will have been scoped from all angles now and there will be no part of my GI tract that has not been seen! Haha. The gastroenterologist thinks my colon isnt working, hopefully there is nothing really wrong, I guess I will know tomorrow.

I did get my hunger feeling back as well, that is not something I missed! I do feel satisfied off of a few ounces of food though, so that is good, I also feel over full even easier now. I do find myself tempted to munch or snack between meals, I have some jerky and nuts for the times I just cant stand it and have to munch, at least I am helping get more protein in. A small piece of jerky or a few nuts really holds me over between meals. I am worried about returning to old habits though.

Well I figured I would post something about food today. Before the surgery I was not really into cooking much. Sure I had some staple type meals that I always cooked like spaghetti, lasagna, chili, hamburger helper, grilling stuff etc. But I was about 75% likely to bring something home for dinner or order pizza, or let the kids get what they want, like hotpockets or mini pizzas etc ya know, frozen microwaveable food.

Since the surgery I have actually been cooking more. I have been looking for things that my hubby and kids will eat too, along with things I like that I can freeze leftovers in my little tubs (LOVE the 4oz gladware tubs) so I can bring them for lunch to work and stuff. Now I actually cook more like 5 nights a week.  I have found that since I have to chew things so much it has got to be something I really like the flavor of.

Before I would take chicken and grill it tossing a little BBQ sauce on it, now I found Kroger's 30 minute marinades and haved tried carribean jerk chicken, and sesame ginger chicken, and bourbon peppercorn steak. I am LOVING it, its so easy and who knew! Hahah, I am sure most people think of me as a dork for not marinating before but well I also never planned meals in advance before either.

I bought that after WLS cookbook on Amazon, I have tried several things in it, the Asian turkey cabbage wraps are my fav! They taste just like the chinese restaurant, but are healthy! I also tried the tuna steaks with tarragon, and some other recipes that were good too.

I ordered Carbquik and love it, I made their chicken broccoli bake tonight and it was amazing, the whole family loved it! I have tried several things from eggface's site too, I love the bacon cheeseburger bites! I also love the pizzas made with tortilla shells. I am going to try making brownies or some pumpkin muffins or something sweet tomorrow.

For protein drinks I have mainly been drinking Pam's vanilla chai tea, I LOVE IT, I drink it at least twice a day, and really look forward to it (I also upped the protein in it by adding unflavored Unjury to it as well). I also like Cleopatra Nik's shakes, but the shakes seem to be harder for me to get down, the tea just is all around easier on me. If I get a sweet tooth in the evenings I try different shakes by Nik, I like the dreamsicle one a lot, and the peanut brittle one is pretty good too. I need to get more chocolate protein powder. I have switched to the Walmart brand instead of Unjury mainly for cost sake, but the vanila body fortress is MUCH better than vanilla Unjury taste wise. 

As a side note I have still been having black stools, yeah I know gross poo and food in same blog post YUCK. But my hemoglobin is good and next week I have an upper GI with small bowel follow through, and an EGD scope to make sure I don't have ulcers, hernias, etc that may cause internal bleeding that would cause my stools to be black still. I have my fingers crossed that it is just the iron pills and diet changes.
 

Well I am at a month out now. I have started getting comments from people telling me how good  and different I look and stuff. Of course when I look in the mirror I don't see it at all. I decided to keep a journal of my stats and take pictures once a month, at least for the first 6 months to see the changes. Here is a side beside of day before surgery and today. Of course from the pictures its a lot easier to see the changes.



As of this morning I weigh 236, so I am making good progress. I feel better, my clothes are loose, especially jeans, belts are my friend, but I haven't really gone down any sizes. I can fit in to a 22, (started at 24) but its not very comfortable yet and I don't like having tight pants press in my belly. I am also losing lots of inches, most noticably is 4 inches off my waiste.

The first week back at work went well, I just felt a little tired at times, I would take that time to get up and walk around and get a protein drink. My biggest struggles now seem to be figuring out what to eat. Ii am trying to find recipes that the entire family can eat, I bought a couple of post WLS cookbooks off amazon and I am going to try some recipes from there. The world according to eggface has a few recipes I am going to try as well. I also have been cooking for the family and I seperate, then I have been freezing some of my leftovers, that seems to be working out well too, less wasted leftovers.

Well... tomorrow is the day.. I go back to work. I am so confused about it. Part of me is so excited, not only to get out of the house (been going stir crazy) but also to take a big step in heading back to my "normal" life. The other part of me is dreading it, and so worried, I skipped lunch so often before to get caught up on things, no more of that. Plus the catch up I will be playing is VERY intimidating. I packed my bag of post WLS goodies to bring to work, crystal light, protein, protein, protein, vitamins/calcium, protein, ya know the neccessities. I am worried about getting too tired.

The good news is I physically feel great! I had a busy weekend, Saturday we went to the in laws and fished and hung out, Sunday we went to KY Kingdom for my hubby's work family picnic (I even rode 1 ride!!), and today we went to the movies and shopping with friends. I was really worn out by the end of i, I hope that doesn't hurt me too bad tomorrow... no naps!!

I am down to 240lbs which is -38 including pre op, and 22 since surgery, I don't really feel any different yet, but my husband's family said they could tell a difference. I am going to measure and take pics at the 1 month mark, every month to see the changes if any.

It is getting easier to get the protein and water and pills in every day now. Still a little tough but a whole lot easier than it was. Getting the staples out felt WONDERFUL too, they were really irritating my skin. Getting them out just pinched a little but did not really hurt. Dr. Shina was in and out real quick, the entire 2 week appt took me 15-20 minutes including staple removal.
 
I graduated to real food which is nice too. I have been cooking things that the whole family can eat, then I pull out a bit for myself. Sometimes I cook just for myself too. I find myself throwing away a lot of leftovers though. The portion sizes are so small and you don't want to eat the same thing for 10 meals in a row, so it is an adjustment. The good thing is I am never really hungry, although I had to rearrange my schedule a bit and have my last protein shake/drink later on at night so I don't want to cheat and have a snack.

I am amused by the differences in diets for people having RNY on OH. Some are like 1 month ahead of me and still on liquids/ pureed foods. Some get 3-4 oz meals. Some have 2 snacks a day in addition to their meals. These are not people maintaining, just different surgeon plans I guess. For me I am craving veggies but they are so hard for me to get in, with 2 oz meals and needing all the protein we do its not easy to get anything else in. The paperwork I got at the 2 week post op told me this is my diet until I am ready to maintain, so it will always me 3 2oz meals.

Hello,

I am feeling great now! I have actually been excercising everyday, yes me! I have been walking and using the Wii fit ( I SO can not WAIT for that thing to not say "that's obese!" every time I step on it, while I have only been doing it for about 30 minutes a day I actually feel better for doing so. I am not using the pain meds anymore, I actually went out to Walgreens by myself for the first time the other day, and today took my son to his chemo treatment (had to push it back a week because of my RNY).

I have some problems taking all of these pills, I have 1 stomach pill I take 4 times a day, another one 2 times a day, (at least I am done with the antibiotics now), then I have my multi vitamins I take twice a day, calcium that I take twice a day (I got the mini pills because they are easier to swallow and my nut suggested seperating when I take them for better absororption, iron I take once a day, then you get in to the meals, 3 2oz meals which I seem to have no problems with, although I look forward to next week when I get to get off of the "soups". It is a struggle and I am still working on settling in on a pattern. I hope Dr Shina takes me off of some of these stomach pills. My friend only has to take 1 a day but she didn't have the bleeding and stuff I had.

Oh yeah I also added some fiber to my diet, I use half a dose of Benefiber in my drinks a few times a day to help keep things moving smoothly. That was reccomended by my nut because I hadn't been getting any fiber. I also felt hunger for real for the first time the other day, dinner was about 2 hours late for me and my tummy let me know it.

I have been experimenting with the protein. I got Unjury because it was the most reccomended by both my surgeon and the nut. After some trial and error I have found that if I use lemonade crystal light and the strawberry sorbet unjury with ice it is actually a nice enjoyable summer drink. I also got some sugar/caffeine free international blend instant coffee that I mix with chocolate unjury and it is really good, I tried it blended with ice yesterday for a dessert and it was very yummy. Today I got 4 flavors of Da Vinci delivered to me so I am going to experiment more with it. I think making the protein something to look forward to will really help me stay on it forever. I originally tried the mixing the chocolate with water and skim milk and it was horrible!! I also tried adding unflavored to the raspberry ice CL and it too was nasty.

Oh yeah and the best news yet, I stepped on the scale today and am 247! That is the first time I have seen under 250 in years!

Well I feel a WHOLE lot better. I got to go home from the hospital yesterday YAY. A full nights sleep without nurses waking me up was much needed. I feel like I have a ton of energy today. I even managed to cook dinner for the family (spaghetti). Dr. Shina told me soups soups soups, so I have been eating oatmeal for breakfast and the contents of the strainer of soups in 2oz meals. It is so nice to have variety and real food in my diet. FYI 1 cambells chunky sirloin burger strained = 3-4 meals. Home health came out today, they come back Friday.

I also snuck a shower, well not a real one, I press n sealed my stomach and washed my hair and stuff, felt so much better after that as well. I think the hardest thing is taking everything. I am on 4 prescriptions that I have to take up to 4 times a day in addition to all the supplements and protein. I am going to try a protein shake tonight with skim milk blended with ice, hope I tolerate that ok!

Well I feel a whole lot better today than I have so far. It turned out I had a lot of scar tissue, which was no suprise, but I also had a ventral hernia that had to be repaired. I was in ICU for the first day, then they moved me up to the bariatric ward. I am eating full liquids so soup, and pudding etc. I actually got hungry for the first time, and got full off of 1.5 oz of food. The blood thinner made me bleed in my pouch so they had to stop it, it gave me bloody bowel movements. I should get to go home tomorrow if all is well.

At the moment I am starving from the liquid diet. I will just be very releived when I wake up tomorrow post op and that part is over. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am guessing it will be open but hoping it will be laparoscopic. I just weighed and measured myself for my pre surgery weight. I am down from 278 to 262 after the liquid and no carb diets for the last 2 weeks. I just took my magnesium citrate... YUCK!