retta
9/28/04
I'm 35 and been over weight for about 11 years. I have been trying to lose weight for 10 years and just haven't been successful. When I first heard about bariatric surgery two years ago I thought to myself, that's a little extreme. But after researching and talking to my primary doctor and people who have had the surgery I realize the surgery is very minor compared to been overweight with health problems.
I first decided to have the surgery when my doctor told me that been overweight is causing me a lot of health problems and I was put on medication for high blood pressure. She referred me to Dr. Mejias. I was so excited I couldn't even wait for them to mail me the information packet. I went picked it up August 10, 2004 and brought it back the next day. That Friday 8/13 or Monday 8/16 don't remember which day, but I do know it was right away; Janet, Dr. Mejias nurse called and said my application was accepted. Sometime during that week I received a letter in the mail with all the things I need to do.
On 8/26 my first behavioral assessment was schedule to see Dr. Robison, (really didn't care to do this part). Everything went ok we sat and talked for almost an hour then he gave me several pages of questions to take home and answer about yourself. I took it back about a week later. I visit him again 9/17 to go over the questions and to do a 564 true/false booklet, which took over an hour to do. Now I'm waiting to either meet with him again or for him to compile all my information together and send it to Dr. Mejias's office.
On 9/3 I had my consultation with Dr. Mejias, I was so anxious to get this thing rolling. He is a wonderful person (handsome too :), I was surprise how comfortable I felt around him and Janet, for a first visit. After meeting him I felt comfortable with him being the one doing the surgery. Janet is so friendly, I love the fact you can call the office and be able to talk to her and she is able to answer your questions and give advice.
On 9/9 I met with Dr. Lazenby for a sleep study and he set me up to come back for the study 9/19. My results for the study came back 9/28 as mild sleep apnea. So now I got to go back for a c-pap study 10/12.
On 9/22 I met with the Nutritionist, Kasey Johnston, another great person on Dr. Mejias staff. We went over the diet guideline after the surgery that took almost an hour also. She was very attentive and knowledgeable of the diet for the bariatric surgery, a great person to have on the team.
On 9/22 I also attended my first support group meeting. I really enjoyed meeting people who have had the surgery and meeting people like me trying to have the surgery. I recommend support groups to anyone who thinking about having the surgery or have had the surgery.
Well, I am almost finish with everything, they have my sleep study, TSH report, and Nutritionist visit. My letter from my primary doctor for surgery approval is in the mail and now all I'm waiting for is my behavioral assessment to be completed. I'm almost there, I will report again as the process continue.
10/20/04
I'm back with more to report ........ I finally got my behavioral assessment from Dr. Robinson's office. Janet got the letter Wednesday or Thursday and was faxing it over to my insurance company Thursday, 10/14. She told me to give them until Friday, 10/22 before I start calling them. Now I wait very patiently (if you call going crazy patient) and prayerful for approval.
10/28/04
Just thought I'll check in before the month end. It’s been two weeks now and I’m still waiting to hear from the insurance company if I’m approved or not. I called today and they said its still pending, I really believe they haven’t even looked at it yet. I’m trying to be patient but it’s really hard.
I went to the seminar last night (10-27-04) at Dr. Mejias office and it was very informative, if you are planning on having this surgery I recommend you go to the seminar that way you will get to talk to Dr. Mejias and ask all the questions you like. I did it a little backward; I should have gone to a seminar and then applied for surgery.
That’s all for now hopefully the next time I report I will be telling you my surgery date.
The insurance company has been giving me a hard time; they are really testing me. Last week they said my information was missing the nutritionist evaluation, now today they are saying its missing 3 years of weight loss history, what is that all about. So now I’m really upset and just praying that God see me through this.
11/17/04
Today I feel much better, prayer is a powerful thing. I refuse to call the insurance company to let them upset me and I’m not calling Janet to get on her nerves either. I decided to wait until Friday to give everything time to settle down and hopefully they can give me some good news.
GUESS WHAT….. Janet called me this evening at work and told me I was APPROVED, I didn’t think I would ever hear those words, Thank You Jesus. I would like to thank Stephanie for supporting me, Janet for putting up with all my phone calls and checking up with the insurance co. and Sylvia for getting everything straighten out with the insurance company; you guys are awesome. Signing off now, hope to be back soon with a surgery date.
11/18/04
I attended the support group last night and after the meeting Janet gave me a surgery date for Dec. 14, 2004. I can't believe it my surgery is just 3 weeks away.
1/8/05
I finally had my surgery Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004. It was one of the most exciting days of my life. After surgery is another story, I'm going to keep it real. When I came through after surgery I felt miserable, you feel so bad you actually ask yourself what the he-- you have gotten yourself into. After about 2 days I felt a whole lot better, thanks to drugs :-). I was released from the hospital on Friday. It felt good to be home but you can still expect to be a little uncomfortable and sore. The first stage meal is awful, I am so tired of Jello and Chicken broth; I am so ready for some real food. It's true that you do feel full after a couple bites and if you over eat your body will let you know. I'm now 3.5 weeks Post-Opt and have lost 18 lbs. I'm feeling better and better each day and I know I made the right choice for a better me.
2/9/05
I'm now 8 weeks post-opt and down 26 lbs. Thanks to God, I'm feeling good and haven't had any complications. I visit my primary doctor last week and she was impress with my weight loss. My blood pressure is normal and I haven't had to take medication for it since the surgery, Praise God. I was a little concerned about my weight because I went about three to four weeks without loosing any weight, but didn’t gain either. My plan is to start exercising next week, so I will let you know how that is working out on my next posting. I will try to get some pictures up soon.
3/14/05
It has been 13 weeks since my surgery and I'm feeling great. There isn't much to report, except I need to increase my exercising. I am down 33 lb. I have lost 7 more pounds since my last report.
I finally got some pictures up; below are 2 pre-opt pictures. I will try to get some after pictures up soon, even though I am only 3 months post-opt my body has made a massive change.
3/21/05
My 3rd month check up was today and Dr. Mejias said I look great and to keep the good work up. I weighed in at 203#'s, I'm down 36#'s and loving it. I have been receiving so many compliments about how good I look, I was even told I look younger. My self-esteem have really shot up. I'm so glad to be on the loser side.
3/25/05
I am so happy that I just had to share my good news. I went shopping today at Lerner New York and I purchase a size 16 in pants and a large in shirts. It felt so good to slide that 16 on. I remember just a few months ago when I had to hold everything in just to get a size 20 up. I have to lose at least 10 more lbs. to get in a 14 comfortably. The top of my body have slim down a whole lot compared to the lower part of my body. Just being able to purchase a smaller size has really made my day. WLS is the best decision I ever made for myself. For anybody who is thinking about having this surgery, I’m here as a witness to say, go for it, trust me this is the best thing you can do for your health, looks and self-esteem. Until next time, take care!
5/2/05
I am almost 5 months post op and doing well. I am finally under the 200 lb mark. My weight is 194 lb. I am now 45 lb lighter; I am 19 lb away from my goal. :)
This is a picture of me and my cousing Vanessa taken at my birthday party. I have the gold shirt on with the money pin.
6/3/05
I am almost 6 months post op, and is down 49lbs. I weighed myself at the doctor's office today and I am down 4 more pounds. As you can see the weight is coming off very slow, about 3 to 4 pounds a month. I'm not complaining, as long as it keep coming off. I believe I am the reason it's coming off so slow. I need to exercise more and monitor what I'm eating. I have to admit that I haven't been eating healthy like I should. So I'm going to try to get back on track and see if that will make a difference. On another subject, my doctor ordered a CT scan for me and they found something in my groin area. He thinks it's fluid or hernia. So I am scheduled for surgery Tuesday, June 7th. I was a little worried because they can't tell me exactly what it is. It will be alright though because I have turned it over to God. If anybody read this before then please keep me in your prayers. By the way-- this don't have anything to do with the WLS. Take care and keep being a big loser! (-:
June 14
I had surgery last Tuesday and I am doing fine, I had hernia; thank God thats all it was. I'm a little sore but overall doing ok. I went for my wls 6 month check up this morning but didn't get to see anyone. They didn't have me down in the appt. book. So I showed her the appt. card she gave me with June 13th on it. I still didn't get to see Dr. Mejias because he wasn't in and wasn't coming in at all today. I have to see him on the 27th for the hernia surgery follow up so they will do my 6 month check up then. So while I was there I asked to be weighed on the office scale and guess what, yes, I'm down 3 more pounds. My weight is 187 lb. I can't believe it, I didn't think I would see that size again. 12 more pounds for me to be at my goal weight, which is 175 lb.
This is a picture of me and some friends at work. From left to right (Retta, Harry, Betty, and Lessie). I was 8 months post opt here and weighing 183 lb.
October 17, 2005
I am so sorry for waiting so long to update my profile. When I was pre-opt I use to complain about people who didn't update often, now look at me doing the same thing. Well I am 10 months post-opt I weigh 179 lb. would like to reach 175 to 170 by my 1 year anniversary. I think I look great, still getting crazy compliments, especially from men's, I have to stay a good girl I'm married. :-) My family keep asking me when is my weight going to be stable, they don't want me to lose any more weight. My weight has slowed down a lot so I think it's stabling out now. I might lose 1 or 2 lb a month. Over all I'm doing ok, need to do better on my food choices. What I mean about that is I'm now at a stage where I can eat more (not as much as I did before surgery) and can pretty much eat anything I want. Now I have to really stay focus and try to make the right food choices. I read on obesityhelp.com somewhere that your pouch needs to be well watered before eating your meals and it was a few steps you need to follow. So I'm going to try that and exercise more so I want gain any weight back. I also read something that is very useful called the "Teeter Totter Effect" (The more exercise you do the less you need to worry about the amount of foods you eat and the more you worry about the foods you eat and keep it healthy the less exercise you need to worry about). So I will start making smart food choices and exercising more so I can stay healthy and cute. I am in the process of down loading some post opt pictures so they should be up soon. Until next time...... and I promise it want be months from here, stay healthy and on the losing side.
11/18/05
Everything is still going ok; I'm surprisingly still losing weight. I have finally reached my personal goal, 175 lb. Now I have set another one for 170-165 lb. I know, I’m a hard to please woman. I’m currently wearing 14’s and would like to wear size 10-12. So hopefully by Christmas I will be in a size 12, we will see. Good luck to everyone out there on this journey or trying to get on this journey, it’s truly a great one.
11/28/05
This is a picture of me 7 months post-opt. I was at a friends family reunion and was feeling real good with my cute summer outfit.
12/5/05 This is another picture of me at the office; almost a year post opt.
Everything is still going ok with me. I received a letter from Dr. Mejias’s office telling me to schedule my 1 year physical. I'm thinking about joining Weight Watchers at the beginning of the year. If you are wondering why, this surgery is a success for me when it comes to not over eating but not for my bad eating habits. Weight Watchers is a good tool for me when it comes to eating healthy. I use to be a weight watcher member before surgery and really liked it, so I'm going to give it another try so I can maintain my weight and not gain it back. My biggest problem is exercising; I still can’t get into working out. I’m really surprise how successful my weight loss is without exercising.
12/15/06 Hello, it has been a while since I updated my profile and there is really no excuse. Well as of yesterday 12-14-06 I am 2 years post opt and amaze how fast time went by. I am still hanging in there by the grace of God no complications and my weight is up and down between 167-173. I'm happy and satisfied with my weight, my only dissappointment is I just can't bring myself to exercise and that's the first thing on my new year resolution list, to exercise even if its nothing but go for a walk everyday. This journey has been a wonderful experience and I still highly recommend this surgery. Just know its only a tool not an all around fix. Even though I have manage to stay at a good weight range I have became comfortable with myself and started getting careless with my food selection and eating more. So I'm working on discpline myself to eat the right thing and listen to my body when it tell me its full. I also notice if you distant yourself from the support group meetings and forums you lose track of thing. Staying involve with the WLS community help keep you focus. So starting this month I will go back to support meetings and also come online to Obesityhelp.com and communicate with others and read up on different issues. Thats all for now, check out the updated pictures in my photos; I'm the one in the black and white outfit, the girl don't look bad do she :-).
1/9/07 Happy New everyone, I hope your year is starting out good. Well its been two years and 3 weeks since surgery for me now and I'm still live and kicking. I started my new year out with a few resolutions, (1) To exercise and tone up, (2) make better food choices, (3) attend wls support group meetings more and check in with the forums on obesityhelp.com. (4) up date my profile at least once a month, and (4) I join weight watchers (ww). WW is a wonderful tool when it comes to making the right food choices. Again, this surgery is only a tool its up to you what you put in your mouth and how much and I feel ww can help me control that. I posted new pictures, please feel free to check them out and check my before & after picture out below. I also could use some friends in my list surely I have more than one friend :-). Take Care!
A before and after picture of me.
Before: 245 lbs. (12/2004)
After: 168 lbs. (07/2006)
