My pursuit of a healthier me

Because I have been overweight all of my life, as I remember it, and I have been grossly, hugely fat the past 15 years, I finally had too much, and my doctor told me I was in great danger, I finally accepted the idea of having surgery to help me loose my weight. You see, I'm only 5 foot, 1 inch tall, and at the start of my weight loss journey, I weighed 315 pounds.

Here's my story:
In December of 2002, my primary care doctor (PCP) suggested that I consider gastric bypass surgery. He referred me to Kaiser's gastric bypass approval screening meeting; and when I went to that, I learned what this meant. At that meeting, they explained that the surgery I was being considered for is called "Roux-n-Y" gastric bypass. They showed pictures of what they would do to my insides (if surgery was done), and they had me fill in a questionnaire about my previous weight loss efforts, health history, and how I felt about the process. This questionnaire was reviewed by a nutritionist(s), a psychiatrist(s) and a doctor, so they could determine if I was a good candidate for this surgery.

After Kaiser approved me for the surgery, they referred me to the surgical group who would do my surgery. I was told to go to an orientation by Pacific Bariatrics Surgical Medical Group (located in San Diego). They had an orientation class at the Red Lion Inn (Arden Fair) one evening in May 2003.

You can find more about the surgery and this medical group at the web site: http://www.pbsmg.com/.

At that orientation, they told me that I should start exercising, stop drinking all caffeine, and replace one meal a day with a high protein drink. They recommended Pro Complex, which I was told to mix 2 scoops with non-fat milk. Also, they told me to make sure to drink plenty of water (minimum of 64 oz a day). I started that regime the next day. I went and bought some Pro Complex powdered protein mix, started spending 20 minutes every morning on my exercise bike before going to work, and taking walks at work instead of spending my break times drinking coffee and eating snacks. I also cut back on the amounts of food I was eating somewhat, also avoiding high fat and carb foods.

After the orientation, I had to fill out a bunch of papers about my health & family health history and weight loss attempts. I also had some lab slips & gallbladder sonogram to have done. Once I submitted all the papers & did all the medical tests, I was contacted to go for my 3 pre-op appointments on August 4, 2003 with: the surgeon, a cardiologist (I have a heart problem from birth) and a psychologist. By that time, I had already lost 30 pounds. However they told me that I still needed to join a gym and loose another 30 pounds, but I didn't mind, I still needed more checking by the local cardiologist (at Kaiser, Roseville).

I had the appointments with the cardiologist, he ordered a EKG stress test (on a treadmill) and another heart test. I managed to loose nearly all of that additional 30 pounds by the time the Roseville cardiologist said that my heart was healthy enough for the surgery. I was given a surgery date of March 4, 2004.

When March came around, I had caught a sinus infection, and my surgery was postponed until after the infection cleared. I was finally re-scheduled for June 3rd. My total pre-op weight loss was 63 pounds. My surgeon told me, after the surgery, that all my weight loss and exercising really gave my body an advantage to get through the surgery better.

My surgery itself was pretty uneventful; I had one tiny complication. My heart "fluttered" during surgery, but thecardiologist was on hand during surgery, and they paused a minute while this passed, and went on with the surgery. I haven't had any other (real) complications since.

My only post-op problem has been since I started eating more food. If I don't pay attention to my eating, I occasionally eat too much. When I get overstuffed, I end up throwing up the excess; usually nottoo much. I need to chew each bite thoroughly; if I swallow large pieces of food, especially meat, it doesn't want to stay down. So, when I eat, I need to remember to chew, chew, and chew some more.

Today, the day I'm starting to post this "web-log", November 11, 2004, I've now lost a total of 120 pounds! 63 pounds before surgery, and 57 pounds since my surgery, a little more than 5 months ago.

In my future posts, I hope to post some of my thoughts that I had during my journey, and what happens to my in the future. I am an avid reader and particpant in four different internet bulletin boards, and I can go back in the archives, and copy my past postings into this web-log.
By-the-way, as everyone that I know always ask me, yes, I do feel so much better than I was. I know I'm lots thinner than I used to be, but I'm not where I want to be. (I want to loose at least another 60 pounds.) I cannot let myself loose focus, I have to keep working on loosing this weight; I have to keep up my new life, because I never want to go back to the person I was before at over 300 pounds, so unable to do much for myself in my life.
A healthier me -- Sandi H.