Mistymee...aka Kel's story... - ThinnerTimes

mistymee · 04-06-2008, 03:24 PM

How I got here…

I’ve been reading many of the ‘story’ threads, and decided I wanted one of my own so, like Cindy, when I want to vent (or in my case whine, sometimes).. I can without starting a new thread.

I started on this journey towards WLS last summer, when one of the vendor reps who frequently visits our office showed up after a long absence having lost a considerable amount of weight. I thought he looked fantastic and told him so. He shared his ‘secret’ with me.. He’d had a RNY done last April and in less than 4 months had lost over 80 lbs. He said if someone had offered him 10 million dollars but told him he had to stay fat forever, he would’ve turned the money down without a second thought.

I was, at this point, at my highest weight ever and my knees were hurting, I was not taking good care of myself *at all*.. my blood pressure was barely in check from the meds, my cholesterol was up.. the diabetes was in control with oral meds, but barely.

I hated going out to restaurants with booths as it made for a tight fit, etc. The final kicker.. my fiancé and I drove out to Ohio in Aug so I could meet the rest of his family… it’s a 13 hour drive which was, believe it or not.. a *wonderful* day.. I so enjoyed everything about this trip, with one glaring exception. The seatbelt. The entire time in that damn car, the seatbelt was so tight, it kept locking up on me.. Honda does not make any allowances for a seatbelt extender at all, citing liability issues as their reason and I just couldn’t stand it.

I started doing research on lap-band at that point, as I was scared of the very idea of the full by-pass. The more I read, the more I felt that I would be better off with the RNY, but I decided that I was going to ask my doctor about the options.

My 3 month diabetic check-up was September, so I waited for that appointment. My first words to the doc were “What do you think about me possibly getting a lap-band?”… She looks me square in the face and says “Kelly, I think you will die if you don’t” !!!!! WOW.. talk about a slap in the face- I was dumbfounded. If she thought this, why didn’t *she* bring up this option, I thought?

She tells me to choose one of four hospitals that she prefers her patients to have the surgery.. I research the doctors & hospitals and choose Brigham & Woman’s in Boston, with Dr. Ashley Vernon. My first appointment was early November. When I went for my psych evaluation, there were two women there with me that had family who worked at B & W’s, who said their family member insisted that if they had the surgery it had to be Dr. Vernon, so I felt I made a good choice; I really like her a lot. The hospital, on the other hand.. ugh… I can’t say the same.

In the end, I guess it was worth putting up with a lot of the crap I went through with the hospital, if it meant I had such a skilled surgeon.. There were complications and it almost came to having to have an open RNY instead of the lap.

I’ll post details of the surgery and my hospital stay in another post, to keep this hopefully in a readable length!

mistymee · 04-07-2008, 04:17 PM

Day of surgery comes and I feel fully prepared.. I had surgery in 1981 for my gallbladder removal which was an open surgery back then.. cut from between my breasts to my belly button. In 2000, I had a partial hysterectomy (uterus only), which had to be done from belly button to just above the pubic bone due to the size of a tumor I had at the time. Due to these past surgeries, Dr. V was not sure she would be able to do a lap or if it would have to be done as an open RNY.

She was able to do it as a Lap RNY, but I have eight lap sites as it did end up complicated by past scar tissue and adhesions, which meant that in essence my internal organs became ‘glued’ together, making the re-routing of the intestine troublesome. She said she basically dissected me and put me back together. Also, my liver cracked part way through the surgery, so that was a problem as well. I was in OR for six hours.. arriving in the recovery around 2pm.. didn’t make it to a room till close to 9pm…

The hospital is a teaching hospital and I had nurses that were very green.. one didn’t have a clue as to how to help up an obese patient, and I paid dearly for that.. she was very timid and afraid.. sweet girl but just not good for my needs.

Second day, my roommate, a nearly deaf woman and her guest were blasting the TV and yelling over the TV to each other..… when I asked them if they would mind turning off the TV since they were not watching it (I had a splitting headache at this point *and* was wearing ear plugs already), her guest.. a young man of about 25 or so came and stood over my bed yelling at me to shut the hell up and quit complaining.. and if I didn’t like it I could get my ass up and move to some other room, he hadn’t seen his aunt in 5 years, etc. etc.... .. he was very menacing and I was scared of him.. his standing over me that way scared the bejesus out of me..

I rang and rang for the nurses, but only an aide came and she had become friends with the older lady by that point and was not going to say a word to her or her guest.. I was left alone with them again, and he spent the next 15 to 20 minutes in an awful harangue about how selfish I was being.

Unfortunately that was the day my fiancé, G and I had decided he would spend the morning running errands figuring I’d be too sleepy for a visit, so he wasn’t with me at the time. I called him on his cell and told him he needed to come *now*.. unfortunately I live over an hour from the hospital so “now” was still a ways away. As soon as G showed up though, this guy shut right up. G is a big guy.. tall, broad shouldered and not someone you want to mess with, even though he’s not a spring chicken!

I was never so happy to see someone walk through a doorway as when he arrived in my room.

Thankfully, this roommate ended up being discharged later that afternoon and my new roomie was just like me.. quiet and liked it that way.. we kept the shades drawn, the door closed and no TV.. I had asked everyone to not visit or call as I preferred to rest and heal, also because I figured I’d be out in two days anyway.. as it was, I stayed for five days.

mistymee · 04-09-2008, 03:53 PM

I'm putting this here, because I didn't want to start a whole new one to VENT.. it's sort of OT but not really. I ate cool whip yesterday. It was sugar free... but it is not calorie free. I did it in response to my ex finding out where I work, after guarding that information for 3 years. It was a careless thing that happened, our son emailed us both and since I was 'at work' it was my work email addy he used, totally without thinking, very innocent. I've managed to keep the fact that his father likes to send drunken diatribes about what a bad mother I am to my various emails and my cell phone from the children.

*anyway*.. as upsetting as that was, I'm more upset at my Pavlovian response, which is to eat crap that is not good for me. I didn't get sick, I didn't dump.. I stopped before any of that happened.. but I still did it, and I'm still really pissed off at myself for it

Instead of continuing to eat, I went to bed- it was around 8:30 and I had a killer headache at this point.. and though it was a fitful, I did sleep through till about 6ish this AM.

Then, it was about 7 am before I realized that by eating that crap last night and then going to bed, I had nothing prepared for my meals today. I managed to cobble together enough with protein bars and shakes and some cheese, to get my nutritional needs met.

I just need to do better next time in my response to how I deal with this stress. My ex can push me over the edge faster than anything

... he makes me crazy! ugh......

mistymee · 05-10-2008, 08:00 PM

Today was just an awesome day... My daughter is home from college for the weekend- still has finals, so she goes back tomorrow... we worked around the house till lunchtime.. went and had subs at subway- I had their 3 inch ham & cheese, with spinach, lettuce, onion and cucumber... no dressing on wheat.. scraped out most of the actual bread tho.. was perfect for me.

We then moved on to do some shopping.. she needed some 'command hooks' to hang up some medals she's won, along with a couple of certificates.. I needed two curtain rods, etc..

We had my iPod with us, so we played some music that she'd marched with in band and drum corps.. reminiscing.. off we went to target.. then we headed to the curtain factory outlet... moved on, looking at a car for her..no luck there... moved on to the grocery store.

They have these wands that you scan your purchase as you walk through the store, and bag your stuff as you go.. she gets such a kick out of this and we have fun.. I found 9 containers of FAGE.. YAY... she thinks I'm nuts...and we're trying to make sure we scan them all and it's like a comedy show.. we even have the lady next to us laughing.

Came home, and she had a friend from HS visit her for a while.. around 7 she's itching to go for a run but her running buddy is no where around.. so I offer to go with her.. I walked the track while she lapped me running.. both of us singing along to our music.. she was done her running before I was finished my last lap so she walked along with me and we chatted.. she told me how proud she was of me.. we talked about how we can do stuff together more and that she's looking forward to that..

We then went to Kohl's to see if we can find her something to wear to the wedding she's been invited to attend by the boy she really likes.. it's his Mom's wedding, and she'll be his date.. found the *perfect* thing right off the bat. .fits her like a glove.. (*I* found it.. and she actually *liked* it! haha.. a first, if there ever was one!) We walked over to the shoe store, but she decided that she had 'good enough' shoes and would save her money...

When we got home, she crawled into my bed and pulled the covers way up over her and said she wasn't leaving till her hiccups had gone away.. I started tickling her, commanding her to get out of my bed.. we were laughing so hard we had tears.. it was like she was my little girl again.

I know none of this sounds all that spectacular.. but it was a great day.. all in all.. one I will cherish, as with her being 20 years old.. there aren't too many like this left.. I wrote it all out here, so I can remember it better.. I have a terrible memory!

Godsblessedme · 05-10-2008, 08:31 PM

well its about time Kel

! i love that you ate SF cool whip i put it on my SF pudding when i'm in the mood and i think it was okay

fisher1000 · 05-10-2008, 08:43 PM

The Fat Free Cool Whip has less calories and only 1g of sugar per serving. I make love to it a couple of times a week. It's SOOOOOO good! Redi-Whip makes a FF version in a can--and you know that canned stuff is damn good. (Esp. when it's fat free and next to no sugars!)

Like Deb, I put it on Puddin'! Jello has all these different sugar free puddings now and I'm in heaven! Banana, Vanilla Caramel, and Mochachino are my current faves!

I also make what I call a chocolate covered cherry:

1 individual container of SF cherry jello
4 TBSP of FF Cool Whip
1-2 tsp of SF chocolate syrup depending on how much you like.

Smash the crap out of the Jello until it's in little pieces. Stir in the Cool Whip and syrup and then sit down, because it will make you weak it's so good!

I enjoyed your story (so far!) and can't wait for more--You've got a nice writing voice and I like how descriptive you are!

Take care,

-Mike

mistymee · 05-11-2008, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godsblessedme

well its about time Kel

! i love that you ate SF cool whip i put it on my SF pudding when i'm in the mood and i think it was okay

I'm not sure what you mean by 'about time'? LOL..

As for the cool whip.. this wasn't just a little dollop! It was half the container, maybe? I felt sick... didn't dump.. didnt feel good either.. I was stupid..

mistymee · 05-11-2008, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fisher1000

The Fat Free Cool Whip has less calories and only 1g of sugar per serving. I make love to it a couple of times a week. It's SOOOOOO good! Redi-Whip makes a FF version in a can--and you know that canned stuff is damn good. (Esp. when it's fat free and next to no sugars!)

Like Deb, I put it on Puddin'! Jello has all these different sugar free puddings now and I'm in heaven! Banana, Vanilla Caramel, and Mochachino are my current faves!

I also make what I call a chocolate covered cherry:

1 individual container of SF cherry jello
4 TBSP of FF Cool Whip
1-2 tsp of SF chocolate syrup depending on how much you like.

Smash the crap out of the Jello until it's in little pieces. Stir in the Cool Whip and syrup and then sit down, because it will make you weak it's so good!

I enjoyed your story (so far!) and can't wait for more--You've got a nice writing voice and I like how descriptive you are!

Take care,

-Mike

Mike... thanks for that little Jello tip.. sounds good

And I appreciate that you actually read my story so far.. and thanks for the compliment.. from you that means a lot!