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Aug. 31, 2001:
APPROVED FOR SURGERY!!!!!!! Hooray Hooray!!
Sept. 05, 01:
I got my surgery date!!!
WooHoo! I'm scheduled
for surgery for the 4th of October.
(who'd have thought that Em and I
would be scheduled at the same
time considering we saw the doc and met
about a month apart!)
Sept 13, 2001:
Tonight I had my first class and support group meeting. It was also the first time meeting Emily IN PERSON! I don't know which I was more excited fore! Well, let me tell you, I wasn't off to a very good start. I was 20 minutes late to my Dietary class. Luckily it was a full class in a large open room so it wasn't too noticeable. What was really cool was, as soon as I did walk in I zeroed in on Emily right away. I recognized her immediately (from her pics) and went and sat next to her.
The dietary class was informative. The nurse basically kept stressing the importance of your protein intake. She also told us wht kinds of ingredients to stay away from. It was alot of good information.
Right after was the Support Group, which I thought was very cool. We met a couple different people with stories that amzed me (and pictures too). I really enjoyed this meeting.
Afterwords, Em and I went out to dinner at the Olive Garden and just had a GOOD time! We laughed ALOT! Always a healthy thing to do! I knew I found a new life-long friend in her!
Over all it was a good break from the tragedy that our country has just gone through.
Sept. 17, 2001
Okay well today was quite a busy day! I originally only had 2 appointments scheduled; my pre-registration/lab work and my physical. Well, Friday evening (last minute), I got a call from the doc's office saying I had an appointment at 10:30 for an ultrasound, but that I had to be at Outpatient reg by 9:30. I guess I haven't yet mentioned that I live an hour and a half from the hospital! Okay, well no biggy I guess. My husband was planning on staying home to take care of our daughter, so it ended up working out anyway.
Well I got to the outpatient registration area at about 9:15, which was a good thing because they were extremely backed up! I finally got called back about about 10:40! Anyway, my gull bladder is fine...no gull stones. And the doctor said that my other organs look really good too. Kinda corney sounding but Hey, I'm all for having good looking organs! LOL!
I finished the ultrasound by 11:30 and went down to the Admitting Dept. They were still able to see me even though I was 1/2 an hour early (they were slooow). Once I was registered, they took me to another office where I talked to some social worker who asked if I was alergic to this or that, was I taking any meds, and basically going over my health history. After that I was taken to the "Lab" area and got an EKG done by an extremely miserable lady. Then I went right next door and got a chest x-ray. Right after the chest x-ray I got my blood gasses drawn. That was interesting cause they have to draw the blood from your artery in your wrist. She had to stick me twice cause the first time she hit a nerve and my wrist started twitching (and it was stinging too). She told me to hold my hand still but I was like, "I'm not doing it!" She was a really nice lady though. We both laughed and then she pulled the needle out cause she wasn't getting enough blood. She had to squeeze my wrist (with gauze) for a long time cause it didn't want to stop bleeding. So after several minutes she tried again on my other wrist and was successful. And let me tell you.. that one didn't sting hardly at all compared to the first one! So, after that I went and got my regular blood work done which was a breeze.
The only thing I'm worried about as far as my blood work, is my thyroid. I'm worried it might come back abnormal or something cause hypothyroid runs in my family... ALOT! I'll let you know!
So I finished all that stuff by 1:00. I had been told it was going to take 3 hours for that particular appointment. It took just about an hour (not including the actual admission part). If you include the admissions then it was about an hour and half... but still no 3 hours! Well, that left me with 2 1/2 hours to spare, so I called Emily to see if she wanted to get lunch or something. She came out to the hospital and picked me up, then we went to a mall and had some lunch! I think I'm a bad influence on her though. She's only supposed to have an hour for lunch, I know she had to have been gone for like 2 hours! But we always have fun together... at least I think we do!
Emily dropped me off back at the hospital at about 2:45-3:00. I still had like 45 minutes before I my appointment with the nurse practioner for my physical, but I didn't feel like waiting. So, I went up to the doc's office anyway and told them I was early and signed in. They were kinda slow at that time too so I was able to go right in and get my physical over and done with! Everything went good right up until Barbara, the nurse practioner, told me she needed to do a RECTAL EXAM! UUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! She said she just needed to make sure there was no blood in my stool. And low and behold...there appeared to be some blood present. We were thinking that it was because I had been "spotting" but she wanted to make sure. She gave me one of those little card things to get a stool sample from a bowel movement. How lovely right? But it's all precautionary stuff. I have an appointment on Wednesday for something else so she told me to bring it in then and she could test it while I wait. Oh joy. I knew everything was going too smooth! I'll let you know what happens!
Sept. 19, 2001
Today I had my psych evaluation. That was interesting. I've never seen a psychiatrist before, till now. She just kept staring! The kind of stare like she's hanging on to my every word! I don't know about anyone else, but that just makes me feel all weird! But the outcome was good. She told me she thought I was a perfect candidate for surgery and she felt I would do extremely well. I mean, she was nice and sincere and all (yes, I did get a little emotional when asked certain questions), it was just the staring thing that got to me. But I'm sure that's what most of them do.
After that I went to the hospital and gave my "stool sample" to Barbara. Everything was fine. It came back negative for blood! So, as nasty as it sounds I still have to rejoice! WOOHOO!! So now, all I have to do is still wait to find out about my blood work.
We had another class this evening. It was our Behavior Modification class. Our teacher was a nurse named Ronnie. He was kinda weird, but nice too. It was definitely an interesting class, that's for sure! We talked about goals and stuff, and different ways of coping with stress. It was cool.
And of course afterwords Emily and I went out for dinner! This time we went to the Lonestar for steak. It was good!!!! I could only eat half of it though cause we got cheese fries for an appetizer and salad. That pretty much started filling me up. I gotta say, I really like her company! I'm soooo glad I met her. She's a sweetie! We've been wondering if we'll be able to share a room when it's time for surgery, since our dates are a day apart. That would be so cool!
Okay, well my next appointment isn't till next Monday, so I'll update more then (unless something comes up before then).
Sept 24, 2001
I started this morning out by calling Hilarie at the doc's office to check on my blood work. Emily told me on Friday that they had called her and told her she has H Pylori or something like that. That kinda freaked me out, cause apparently the rest of her blood work wasn't in yet, at least that's what they told her. So that got me to thinking maybe I should call to find out about mine since I've been worried about my thyroid and all. I left her a message as usual and she called me back about 15 minutes later telling me that it normally only takes like a day or two for the office to get the results from all the blood work. So since I had mine done last Monday, she said if something had been wrong I'd have heard from them by Wednesday. So that was good news, cause that told me that all my bloodwork was normal! WOW!
Tonight we had our last class. It was the Nurses Information class. Emily was late this time!! Haha! The nurse who was "teaching" the class was a past gastric bypass patient herself! She basically went over all the pre-surgery stuff that they do the day of surgery. She also went over how things will be in the hospital too and some things we should be doing while we're going to be in there. We recieved our Incentives to help prevent getting pneumonia. The nurse was pretty funny. She kept going into personal stories and just kept the class laughing. She was cool.
Yes, of course, Emily and I went out to dinner after class. Went to a place called Great American Steak and Buffet. "The Last Supper" as we're calling it. At least for me. I still have a week and a half to go, but I don't want to eat big meals anymore. I want to get a head start on the surgery, ya know? The only difference about tonight was this time my husband and daughter were with us. My husband had came down with me, but waited outside while playing with our daughter. Emily had been wanting to see her and now she has!!! Okay, so now I have no more appointments till surgery itself! I'm not even nervous yet. This whole thing hasn't quite set in yet. I still can't believe that I'm actually going to be a "normal" size after all this time! And the fact that I'm about to undergo MAJOR surgery just hasn't quite hit me yet. I mean once in awhile I'll think about it and be like, "WOAH!" But that only lasts for like a few seconds... to a couple minutes and then that's it. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm not thinking about the surgery itself, but the after effects of it. Who knows.
Will update more later!
October 1, 2001
Okay so it's Monday the first and I'm having surgery on Thursday! I think it would be safe to say that yes I'm getting nervous now. It's not a whole lot, but the feelings are there and very real! I think the fact of having surgery is what scares me the most. This is MAJOR SURGERY!!!!!! Hello!!!!!!! It's fine though. I just can't wait to be on the "other side" ya know? I don't know if I've said this before or not, but Emily and I have already planned our summer for next year... well kind of anyways. We've been planning our King's Dominion trips! HAHA! Okay well don't have much to say right now...'cept for the fact that I don't have nerves of steel like I thought i did!
POST OP!!!!!!
October 9, 2001:
Well, it's official! I am now on the "other side" and I'm feeling pretty good! Of course I already HATE CIB's now. And I think it's fair to say that "hate" isn't too strong of a word in this situation!
Okay let me back up a little and explain my experience in the hospital and stuff.
I got to the hospital at 10:40 (was supposed to have been there at 10:30-and was supposively scheduled for surgery at 12). The lady in admitting took me straight to the prep waiting area. I had already been pre-admitted so I didn't have to sit through all that. But I was surprised that I had to wait as long as I did for them to call me back for prep. But that was okay cause I got some extra time with my husband and my daughter. When they finally called me back they gave me one of those gawd awful hospital gowns to put on with hospital booties and a cap. The only problem was... HELLO??? Did they NOT realize I was a big girl and that the regular gowns don't go all the way around my butt??? GEEZ! So I had to ask for another one to preserve SOME modesty! I laid down, and they started the IV. Then the anesthesialogist (have no idea if I spelled that right) came to put in the Central line in my neck. They had a problem getting it in on the right side, which is where I guess they try to put them most of the time, so she moved over to the left and managed to get it in on that side. THEEENNNNNN I found out the doc was going to be like an hour late. So when I asked the nurse about what time they said he'd be getting around she told me around 2. I said, well that would be 2 hours late. That's when I found out they had rescheduled my surgery to 1:15 without telling me! No wonder I waited awhile in the waiting area!
So Dr. Harrington finally showed up at about 2:30 and that's all I remember! Haha!
The next thing I know I'm being told to BREATHE! But let me tell you... I didn't want to! I was obviously out of it... but I do remember that it actually felt better when I WASN'T breathing!! They kept telling me I have to breathe and to keep breathing. I specifically remember telling them I didn't want to and that it hurts. Then that's all I remember again till I ended up in my room at 8 pm.
(oh yeah.. when I was being prepped I asked the nurse if she knew or could find out if Emily and I were going to be in the same room, so she called up to the ward and asked and got it set up so we would be in the same room. She said we hadn't been set up that way, but that we were then... keeeeewwwwwllll )
I basically slept off and on that first night. I tried to talk to Emily a little, but it really hurt my throat. I wasn't able to talk loud and my voice was all scratchy and stuff.
The next morning we had a really good nurse. She was cool. She came in and helped me up. I had told her I wanted to brush my teeth. MY GAWD I had the worst taste in my mouth.... not to mention the cotton mouth! UGH! So the nurse laughed and helped me up for the first time. She helped get me all washed up, and it felt goooood =)~! I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, my hair and put my deodorant and lotion on. Then I was set. She then took me for my first walk around the halls. Wasn't too bad, but was still a little uncomfortable as could be expected. I also got a bit nauseas too, but nothing happened. After that Emily and I pretty much hung together, walked together and whatever else. I was jealous, though, she had this AWESOME comfortable chair! Mine was okay... but kinda small for my buttocks  , so naturally I preferred to sit in hers. Emily being as sweet as she is let me sit in it as much as I wanted.
I got nauseas a couple more times that day and was dry heaving the last time, which hurt pretty bad, but they gave me a shot for it and I was fine from then on out! Anything I drank made me burp alot and hiccup (which hurt too).
Everything was pretty smooth. Emily left me later that day  but that's okay cause my husband had finally decided to show up. He brought my daughter in one of her prettiest dresses which made everything all better.
Later that night I was (not that you necessarily want to hear it...but...) able to pass gas. YESSS!! Believe it or not (those of you who haven't had surgery) this is a GOOD thing! They really didn't want you to leave without passing something. Just ask Emily  . The nurse was funny when I told her. It was kinda embarrassing, but then again not really. She walked in and I told her (she'd have asked anyway), so really loud she yells, "WOOHOO, YOU GET A STAR!" I could've died at first! But it's something you gotta do. After that first initial one it seemed to be some-what easy to do.
The next morning Dr. Martin, asst. to Dr. Harrington, came in to check me out for discharge. She too was happy about the gas situation. She actually came while I was racing this girl around the halls. I couldn't resist... I was feeling good that morning!
She told me I was all set to go. All she needed to do was write up my prescriptions. YAY! I called my husband and told him to come get me!
My husband finally got there (we live about an hour and a half away), and we got everything together and basically left from there. I refused to be wheeled out though. I figured if the doc says we need to walk, then that's what I'm gonna do. So I told them not to order the wheelchair cause I was walking out!
The drive home was kinda bumpy. Really didn't feel well, but I managed.
When I got home I took a shower...mmmmmm. Then I went and sat on my oh-so-comfortable recliner and passed out! I woke up about an hour or so later feeling really bad. I was starting to get a fever. I didn't understand why cause I hadn't had one at all in the hospital. I figured it was just my body trying to adapt to all the activity going on all of a sudden and the fact I was no longer on the IV. Once I went to sleep for the night, I felt better. The next day my fever was gone...thank goodness!
The next day (Oct 7), I woke up, had my breakfast CIB, then my husband, daughter and I went for a walk. I ended up walking between 1.25 & 1.5 miles. Not bad considering it was the first day out! The rest of the day was pretty mellow. I took a nap mid-day. After I napped we all went to the grocery store and picked up a couple extra things for me. I look at it as getting a little extra exercise too. My husband had said he'd drop me off in the front. I told him not to and made him park halfway back in the lot so I could walk more. Then we also walked the store a few times just because. Not bad for a days work huh? I continued drinking my CIB, which I should add got old really quick.
Yesterday (Oct 8) I didn't do as well with my walking as I did on Sunday. But there was a good reason for it. My daughter has this little bike that she rides when we walk. Well she's not quite old enough to pettle it so we have to push it. It does have a long back to hold for pushing, but I think it's more for another kid to push it cause for adults to push it you have to slouch a bit. It's not much, but when you've just had surgery on your stomach and you're still trying to recoup, the last thing you want to be doing is scrunching over for a mile or so. I ended up going about 1/2 a mile, which isn't bad still. At least I don't think it is. That's pretty much it for yesterday. My husband was at work, so it was just me and my daughter.
Today I'm feeling considerably better. I actually attempted to sleep on my stomach last night. Didn't last long, but I tried anyway. I'm so stubborn  ! Today I was able to walk further again. My daughter actually decided she wanted to walk too! The first time, though, we went around (the block = approx. 1/3 mi) with her on her bike (ouch!) and when we got back to the front of the house we played ball for a few minutes. Then we both walked around a couple more times. All together I walked about 3/4 of a mile today. Not bad...keeps getting better! I'm expecting some company though, so I'm gonna have to scoot. See ya tomorrow!!
October 10, 2001:
Last night I slept on my stomach almost the whole night! It felt great! The only thing that bothered me about it was when I wanted to shift positions, otherwise it was heavenly! Haha. I'm feeling pretty good today. I'd say I actually feel about 90%. I'm just dreading the CIBs more and more. But we gotta do what we gotta do! It's all for our own good. That's what I keep telling myself.
I walked another 1.25-1.5 miles. I'm just trying to do all the right things. I got this surgery for a reason and I don't want to do anything to mess it up!
One other thing... my incisions are ITCHING!!!!!!!!!!!
Not much else to discuss. Like I said, I'm feeling pretty good, but I guess I'll update later! *HUGS*
October 25, 2001:
I haven't updated in awhile. There's not really a whole lot to tell. The good news is that I went to the doctor last Friday (the 19th) and I had already lost 18 lbs.  I was hoping it would've been more, but I hadn't been drinking much water at all and I think if I had, then I'd have lost more. I have been doing really good at exercising though. So that's a plus. I'm basically just walking alot for now. I'm going at least a mile (that's my minimum) every time. But that's alot better than what I was doing before. Before I wasn't doing much of anything IF THAT! Heh. I go back to the doc on Nov 5th, and this time I've been drinking my water!! Maybe I'll have better luck. What am I talking about luck... this whole experience is beyond luck.. this has to be the best thing I could've done for myself!
I've been feeling okay  . When I went to the doctor last week he basically expanded my diet, so to speak. It's a good thing too cause I was about sick of CIB! But basically he's allowing me to eat soft foods. Here's the kicker though, I don't want to eat at all! I'll try to eat something but when I take a bite or two, all of a sudden it just doesn't feel right. I want to eat real food, even though I can't eat alot of it. I haven't eaten anything all day today. I don't feel hungry and nothing really appeals to me. Weird huh? Okay, well, I'm going to get going for now. I'll update again soon.
~Love~
~Lori~
November 12, 2001:
Okay so things have been a little rough for me, but I still wouldn't have done anything different. I've had a rough couple of weeks but it just goes to show the reality of what you face when determining if this surgery is for you or not  .
So what happened you ask? Well...alot!
I was in the hospital for a week last week. But that's not even where it starts. Let me back up a week more. On the 26th of October I had to go into the ER. What a horrible night that was. I had been throwing up for a coupld days prior to that, but just figured I was dumping (even on the CIB). Well that Friday night I vomited 3 times and each time my stomach was starting to hurt more and more till finally I couldn't take it  . It actually dropped me to my knees crying. It was such an intense pain that I was completely lost on what to do. My husband was scared to death. The only thing we knew to do was get to the ER...and even that was a chore in itself. I could barely walk. I had peed on myself from dry heaving while rolling on the floor in excrusiating pain. That in itself should give you some idea of how bad it was.
When we got to the ER (keep in mind I don't live near where I had the surgery done - 1 1/2 hrs. away), they pretty much got me to the back pretty fast. I was moaning and groaning (like all those melodramatic people that you see in an ER - I was one of them this time... but it was true pain). It took them awhile before they finally got me anything for the pain.. but when they did I passed out! The doctor's had absolutely no idea what to do or what was wrong with me. They called down to Dr. Harrington's office (my surgeon) and were instructed to have me sent down to Richmond. So several hours later and after several shots of pain meds I was sent via ambulance down to Richmond. They admitted me in the hospital. Tried to do all these tests, but I kept throwing up the stuff they wanted me to drink to be able to do the tests. I couldn't keep anything down. Then later Saturday I started throwing up pure blood. Doctor didn't say too much about it until I threw up ALOT of it. He came back in with another doctor and they did an endoscopy on me. Of which I woke up in the middle of... NOT fun! Basically they found an anastomatic ulcer in my stomach! Ouch ! I ended up getting released on Monday..in time for me to be healed somewhat enough to take my daughter trick-or-treating! Thank goodness! I'd have been devistated had I not been able to.
November 26, 2001:
I know, I know...it's been too long for me to have gone without telling you what else has been going on. Last time I didn't really finish telling you everything, but I was a bit sore and pretty tired. So here I go.
Exactly a week after I had the whole incident with the ulcer I went right back to the ER. This time I wasn't in as much pain like I had been with the ulcer...at least I wasn't yet. I was on my way home from a friend's house when I started noticing a pain similar to the pain I had with the ulcer (only definitely not as intense). I got a bit freaked out cause I didn't want to feel that pain again. I still had about 1/2 an hour till I was home so I was praying the pain wouldn't get worse. I made it home and decided I should call the doctor....juuuuust to be on the "safe" side. She called me back and gave me a couple of suggestions (thinking it was most likely just the ulcer acting up). My husband, bless his heart went to the store for me (per doc's recomendation) and bought me some Maloox. That didn't seem to sit well with me at all. I vomitted every last bit of it back up, almost instantly. When I had talked to the doc, she didn't seem too worried cause I hadn't been vomitting...yet. So, now I had once and the pain was gradually getting worse. It wasn't a constant pain though, it was coming and going. The only problem was that every time it came back it was always a little worse than before. Well, I threw up a second time with the pain continuing to get worse. I went ahead and called the doc back and this time she suggested I come in. Here it was Friday night, about 11:30 or so. Richmond is an hour and 1/2 away from us and we didn't want to go to the ER where we live... they're absolutely clueless! So we decided to drop off our daughter at Grandma's and went ahead and drove all the way to Richmond. It wasn't too bad cause I popped a couple percocet. They managed to keep the pain somewhat subdued . So by the time we got the baby dropped off and finally got to Richmond it was already 2:30 am!
We got there and they went through their normal procedures: started an IV, drew some blood, etc.. Then they took a regular chest x-ray (as if that was going to tell them what was wrong). Just like before, they had me start drinking some contrast so they could do one of those cat-scan type x-rays, basically to see if there's a leak or something like that (that's what they said anyway). Well, just like before I wasn't able to stomach it. I drank almost all of one cup and out it came again. So then they decide they could still do it if I was drinking water. Let me tell you, I've never tasted water like this. OH MY GAWD!! It was the worst water I have EVER EVER tasted! Well, it didn't matter cause it came back out too. Aha! So now they had their first clue that I had *drum roll please* an obstruction!! So what do you think they wanted to do next? They wanted me to drink some of that gawd awful barium so they could do an upper GI to see if I do in fact have an obstruction. Hmmm. And they think I'm going to keep it down how?? Oh well, I'm a good sport, and I'm well drugged so it's okay, I guess. They made me drink the stuff through a straw, which I'm not supposed to be doing. But they said it'll help take in more volume which will help them see better. "O-kay, if you say so!" So they take a couple pics, and they think they see a small blockage, but they want me to drink more barium and walk around a little bit to get it moving. Nice. I started walking a little bit. I was completely nausious, so they tried to get a couple more pictures before I started vomitting again  . They only got one in.. hehe. I was through after that. The nurse that was there assisting was soo nice too. She helped get me all cleaned up and everything. She was really sweet.
Okay so to sum this up really quick, basically what we found out was I had an internal hernia that had caused an obstruction in my small bowel. And the result of that was emergency surgery. So later Saturday evening I went back into the OR and this time was opened up. I ended up staying in the hospital for a week. I probably would've been released sooner except I was vomitting the barium for days and they wanted to make sure I didn't still have a blockage. I literally begged to be released on that 7th day!
Things have been going pretty good since then. I was even able to make it to my brother's wedding in California. I had been scared that I wasn't going to make it cause we had to fly out only 5 days later.
On the 20th I had a doctor's appointment. It was for my 6 week check up. I had (at that time) officially lost 41 lbs! Not too bad eh? It had been 41 days since my surgery too. The doctor said I was doing really well and he was really pleased with my progress. He stated that 2 of those weeks I was in the hospital and that I probably wasn't losing much if at all. So that made me feel better because I had been kinda hoping to have lost more than that. When you look at things like how he pointed out to me, things start looking alot better. I haven't weighed myself since then, but I'd like to think that I'm now under 300 lbs (I only had like 2 to go)! I've been keeping up with my exercising and that's always a plus.
Oh NO... I almost forgot! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My little family went to my mom's house and had a good time. It was quite interesting having all that food to choose from but only being able to eat a couple bites and that's it. I got a taste of the main stuff I wanted (nothing bad though) and that was good enough for me!
Okay well I think I'm going to close this for now, but I'll try to be more on top of my journal from now on. Talk to you soon!
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