Inspiration

I found a Journal page for an insightful woman who has had Weight Loss Surgery. She lists struggles, hi-lights, and accomplishments.  Her story has helped me to know what to expect, realize that this is a very real process, and has given me hope for the future. I hope that one day my story can be that for someone else.

Please CLICK HERE to visit her journal.

4 Weeks Pre-Op

Today I am 4 weeks Pre-Op. This is going to be an embarrassing post for me because I am going to list my pre-op weight and measurements. Putting it out there for the whole world to see can be tough, but if this blog can help someone and be their strength, then I want them to see it.

Taken at home:
4 Weeks Pre-Op Measurements:
Weight: 249.8 lbs
Height: 5' 3"
Waist: 55"
Bust: 52"
BMI: 44.2

I would include a photo today, but my husband is still at NTC, so I don't have anyone readily available to take one for me. I will certainly post one the day before my surgery.

My ultimate goal is to be a healthy weight for my height, which my doctor says is between 112 lbs and 130 lbs. He thinks that even a loss of 100 lbs would be a success putting me at a weight around 150 lbs.

If I want to hit the lower side of the spectrum it is going to take great dedication to my diet and exercise post-op, and I am prepared for that.

I would like to fit into a size 6-9. I have never fit in a size 6, but when I was at a size 9 for a brief moment of my high school career, I was almost completely happy with myself and my weight.


I will update again before surgery with a photo and my doctors office measurements.

Final Clearance!

Today I went to my final clearance appointment and scheduled my surgery date! My surgeon went over what my goals afterwards should be and how to achieve them. My height today was 5' 3/4" and my weight was 252.03 lbs. making my BMI over 45. I have an excess of around 134 lbs. and My surgeon wants me to aim for a goal weight between 130-150 lbs. I however would like to strive for a lower weight in case I end up gaining a small portion back - this way I still won't be overweight if that happens... My Pre-op and Pre-admissions appointment is set for November 15th and my surgery is scheduled for November 27th. I am so excited about the surgery and I am ready to be healthy again! Also, today marks 3 weeks without any type of soda, caffeine, or carbonated beverages! I am glad that i will be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family and friends before surgery, but I am going to be sure not to gorge myself and make sure that I give all leftovers away! I am also thankful that my surgeon doesn't see a need for me to do a pre-op liquid diet! I will update again after my pre-op appointment and then again after surgery! Soon it will be time for my before photos!!!

Psychological Evaluation

I had my final psychiatrist appointment on Monday, October 8th. At this appointment we went over all of my assessment answers. They have you take a few different self-help tests and then your answers are compared to 700 other bariatric patients answers. The reasoning for this is to see where you rank among other people ranging from good to poor. In each 4 areas of my testing I ranked good in three and average in one. I was also screened for depression / suicidal personality and eating disorders. Because I showed no signs of either, I passed my evaluation not needing any additional education or therapy regarding my bypass. I got a letter to give to my surgeon stating that I have no psychological contradictions to surgery and no problems that could impair my ability to voluntarily consent for surgery and comply with all pre and post - operative requirements. He also states that my ability to benefit from the procedure and maintain the lifestyle changes necessary for long term success are good.

This was the BIG appointment. Whether the psychiatrist thinks you are ready or not is the biggest obstacle in the bariatric program. If he says that you aren't ready you will have to take more classes than what is already required and will have to go to therapy until the problems are fixed, which can take a very long time. Because I am a "First - Time - Go" I was able to schedule my Final Clearance appointment.

The final clearance appointment is the very last appointment before you come in for surgery and is when you schedule your surgery date. My surgeon, Dr. Mayfield, said that scheduling is anywhere from 2-4 weeks out from your final clearance date. I am hoping to schedule my appointment for November 19th or 20th, right as my husband, Anthony, gets home from training at NTC. I know that it is right before Thanksgiving and Christmas time, the time of year we eat the most, but the sooner I get it the better. I don't want to wait and then have to deal with deployment stress and the stresses of being a bariatric patient all at the same time early next year.

I am going to take the first available surgery date after my husband gets home from NTC.

Supplements

In preparation for my surgery date, which I schedule on the 17th at my final clearance appointment, I have been researching bariatric supplements. I will begin taking the supplements prior to surgery and after surgery with approval from my surgeon. The supplements are used to help with vitamin and mineral deficiencies after surgery. Supplements are a daily part of a gastric bypass patients life following surgery. I found information on Celebrate Bariatric Supplements and I am going to try them out. They offer a "Celebrate Sample Pack" for $3.00, and in turn send you a $3.00 coupon for your first order, so essentially, It's a free sample if you end up choosing their supplements. Their website states:

"Each pack contains a sample of the following: chewable multivitamin, chewable Calcium PLUS, chewable Calcium PLUS 500, chewable Iron, ENS, ENS+Protein and Creamy Bite. This is the minimum samples that you will receive. Based on availability, we will attempt to provide you several flavors of our multivitamin, calcium and iron products."


So there is a good chance that I will be able to try more than the ones listed. If anyone has used these or tried them feel free to leave comments about your experience. I will update this post after I try them with my personal opinion of the brand. If you would like more information on these supplements you can visit their website at Celebrate Vitamins.

Eleven Little Obstacles

When you are a bariatric candidate as a spouse in the Army there is a certain amount of education that goes along with the procedure to ensure that you're stable enough to undergo such a surgery and understand the life-long changes and impact that it will have on your life. There are 11 mandatory appointments that you must go through and complete successfully in order to receive a final clearance and schedule your surgery date.

The Wellness Center:
The first 2 appointments are at the Wellness Center. You have to get your resting metabolic rate checked and they hook you up to a breathing machine. I was kind of nervous to have this done, because the machine looks intimidating.


They hook you up to it and it sends your results to a computer. you just breathe into it normally for 15 minutes - in my case they had me lay down and relax. It was painless enough. The second appointment is to receive your results after a doctor is able to analyze them and they can tell you how many calories you burn in a single day without any physical activity. This can help to determine how many calories you should intake to lose weight.

The Nutrition Care Clinic:
The next 4 appointments are completed with the Nutrition Care Clinic. The first and second appointment are bariatric classes, where you learn about the different procedures available to you and the nutrition you will need upon choosing each one. You go over supplements and vitamins and learn how important they will be to your health after the weight loss surgery is performed. The third is an individual consultation with your dietitian to determine the nutrition you should be consuming prior to your surgery so that you will be more prepared after the surgery and will already have some new goals and routines set in place before coming home from the hospital. The fourth appointment with the Nutrition Care Clinic was my favorite because it was a support group meeting. There were people there who haven't had the surgery, people who just got it done, and people who are years out from their surgery. Going and talking to others who have chosen a healthier lifestyle, just like you is so encouraging and you get a lot of great tips and motivation from them. It was a wonderful experience. I will continue going to the support group once a month after my surgery is complete.

Bariatric Orientation:
As your seventh appointment, you must go to a Bariatric Orientation with one of the performing surgeons. Dr. Mayfield led my Orientation and was a straight forward, honest speaker about the topic. He stressed how he would not do anything to us that he wouldn't do to his family - and thus it is his personal opinion to not perform the Gastric Banding procedure. He was very informative about statistics in the US for obesity and gave wonderful information about the procedures.

Psychological Evaluation:
There are 3 appointments with a Psychiatrist that you must complete and be cleared from in order to receive the surgery. I have only attended one of these so far and my second one is this afternoon. I don't know how I feel about Dr. Drozd. I feel like he is just there to study you, but perhaps that's the way it should be. I am confident in my ability to pass the psych e-val.

FINAL CLEARANCE:
This is the eleventh appointment that everyone cannot wait to schedule! At your final clearance appointment you go over pre-op information, decide on the surgery that is right for you, and set your surgery date! My Final Clearance appointment has already been scheduled and I go in for it on October 17! (They usually don't schedule this until after they receive the psych e-val but my surgeon is confident that there won't be any problems.) I can set my surgery date anywhere from 2-4 weeks out from my final clearance, but I will probably end up waiting 5 weeks or so because my husband, Anthony, will be at NTC from late OCT to late NOV.

The Dietitian Visit

My doctor put in a referral for me to see a dietitian at the Nutrition Care Clinic at Evans Army Hospital at Fort Carson. I went eagerly to find out what I could do to become healthy again and to one day be able to conceive. Little did I know, my dietitian was also the bariatric dietitian. We began discussing options when the fact that I qualify for bariatric surgery arose. I have high cholesterol and a BMI over 40. According to Army standards I qualify to have any one of the bariatric surgeries done at one of their facilities. I wanted to get started immediately and came to the realization that if I don't do something drastic about my weight soon, I could die from weight related problems in the future. I want to be able to run around with my children one day, and I surely want to live long enough to watch them grow with my husband. She put in my referral to general surgery that day.

How It All Began

My husband, Anthony, and I moved to Colorado in September of 2011. It was his first active duty PCS. We decided that we wanted to start talking about trying to have a baby once we were settled in, and about 6 months later started talking about the possibilities. I was unable to become pregnant and went to my doctor for help. What I got instead was a run-around. They put me through numerous tests but all led to no answers. Finally my doctor brought up the fact that my weight was probably the main issue to my infertility. I knew that I had become overweight since high school and getting married... but it caught me off guard to hear that I was "morbidly obese." I asked for help the same day. I was referred to a dietitian and so began my weight loss and health journey.