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JennieDK's Blog

A blog by JennieDK in General

  • Entries

    20

  • Comments

    63

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    7,684

About this blog

My journey toward (and hopefully through) WLS.

Entries in this blog

Down 75!

Today I reached a couple of important milestones, so I wanted to make sure that I wrote a little about it this morning: I have lost 75 pounds (which I can hardly get my head around!) and I got past a number that was kind of out there, stalking me: 186. I haven't seen that number since I became pregnant with my oldest son, more than 18 years ago. The lowest I've been since that time was 187, and that was for a brief time about 15 years ago. While I felt confident that with the help of my sleev

Random Ruminations at Midnight

I haven't blogged as much as I had hoped I would. Tonight, though, I can't get to sleep, so I thought this would be as good an opportunity as any to get some of these thoughts and see what they look like on the screen. I've seen a number of threads where people make their confessions or things like that. I don't know if I'm these will be as dramatic as all that, but as I'm approaching 5 months post op, a lot about me has changed, and a lot has stayed the same. So here's where I am tonight:

5k!

Last weekend I ran my first 5k and I rocked it! What an amazing experience this has been. It's so cool to find out that I can do things that I never dreamed I'd be able to do. I feel like I'm going to break my arm patting myself on the back, but it's nice to be proud of myself again!

Onederland!

I've been horrible about blogging-- can I say that first? When I started this process I thought there would be nothing I'd rather do than write about my experiences before and after weight loss surgery. Well, I still would LIKE to, but life and all of its obligations have continued, so forgive. But I had to write today. Today, I got under 200 pounds for the first time in. . . I don't know. . . 14 years? That's before I started teaching. I can't believe how amazing I feel. I've lost 63.4 p

One month post op

I had my surgery one month ago today, and here are my basic stats so far:   1. I've lost 30 pounds from my highest point this fall 2. I've lost 14 pounds since my surgery date 3. I take in 700-900 calories a day 4. Two weeks into working out again-- about 4 times a week   Overall, this has been a really positive experience. I was very lucky and had no complications and very little pain after surgery. I'm tolerating food pretty well-- I'm just not hungry! (Which was the point, right

Totally random milestone-- I have butt bones!

I am 4 weeks and 1 day post surgery, and today, I made a wonderful re-discovery. I have butt bones!   I thought I may have felt these mythical creatures one day late last week when I sat down on a desk at the front of the room to give my students directions. But then, as quickly as they came, they were gone. But today, as I sat in my chair trying to get comfortable, there they were! I actually thought I might be dreaming, so I reassured myself by rocking back and forth a number of times,

One week (and a day) post surgery

Hey guys!   I am really lucky because I feel awesome. I've pretty much been back to normal (other than a little weakness) since yesterday. If there wasn't a huge snow storm coming in tonight, I'd be going back to work tomorrow. I don't have a lot of time right now, but I did sit down a bit ago and update my video blog on youtube. It goes into more detail about what the past week has been like, if you're interested. Here's the link:   Have a great day, and I hope all of the sleevers

Day 1 after surgery

Well, here I am just 24 hours out from surgery, and I'm feeling pretty good. Everything has gone very smoothly. I'm now drinking water and had a tiny bit of broth and Jello after lunch. I had a lot of nausea yesterday evening, and had dry heaves. That was extremely painful. But the nurses tweaked my pain meds and gave me something for the nausea, and while I've had very mild feelings of nausea, I haven't gotten sick again. I'm sore around my incisions, but not as much as I expected.   I

Surgery tomorrow!

I can't believe it's my turn to post that I'm going under the knife in 1 day!   What a road it's been so far! I'm working today, but getting off a little early so I can go home and start preparing for tomorrow's big events. I chatted with my 3 and 5 year olds yesterday, explaining that Mommy would be gone for a couple of days, but that it would be a fun time because they'd get extra time with Grandma and Grandpa, which is always an easy sell!   I survived the liquid diet-- and actually

Liquid Diet Day Seven (The Woes Of Travel, And Other Stories)

It’s day seven of my liquid diet, and today was the first time I really struggled.   First, let me say that today was a great day in many respects. My husband and I took our oldest on a college visit today where he and other students auditioned and interviewed for theater scholarships. I’m not just saying this because I’m his mom—my son did great! Some of the professors even told me so afterwards. He had such a great experience today (this was our second visit), that he decided to commit

My Mother!

Today I went in for my presurg scope, so they can look down into my stomach and make sure all is okay. I'm day 3 into my liquid diet, and because of my scope, I was not able to eat after 10pm yesterday until about 2pm today (after the procedure.) My mom, who is pretty awesome most of the time, went with me today because I needed someone to drive me home after the procedure. (They put you all the way out.)   Anyway, we had to sit back in the waiting area for about an hour before the doctor

Hey, This Is Actually Happening!

It seems hard to believe, but after all of this time, we are underway. I started my liquid diet yesterday and so far, it's not bad. Tomorrow, I have a pre-op class, and then they'll be doing my scope, so they can take a peak down my esophagus and into my stomach to make sure there aren't any surprises. Then next week I have my pre-op physical, and then just days after that, it's go time!   While all of this is extremely exciting, it's happening at a crazy time of year. With my surgery on t

Cleaning Out The Closet (Surgery On 12/11)

My surgery is now set for 12/11, and I'm so very excited. On Tuesday of next week I will start the liquid diet, and then I'll be counting the days until surgery.   Last night I decided to start organizing my closet. I'm a bargain shopper, so few of my clothes are terribly expensive, but I have a lot of clothes. As many of you can probably imagine, I also have many different sizes of clothes. Right now, I'm comfortable in a 20 and sometimes an 18. It's been many years since I've been les

(Go Ahead, Sing Along) "the Waiting Is The Hardest Part..."

I've now completed everything in my pre-filing six month period, so all I can do is wait. While I'm not a good wait-er (see previous entries) I feel pretty good about it this time. The ladies that file insurance in my doctor's office seem to feel very confident that I'll get an approval right away. We're hoping to possibly get the surgery in before the end of the year, which would be wonderful for a number of reasons. But I'm still very nervous. For instance, there's still the esophageal sc

"psych"-Ed For Surgery

Yesterday was my second psych eval. The first one was 18 months ago when I first looked into the surgery, so unfortunately, it was no longer valid for this attempt. It went very well, and he approved me to move forward, just like the first one did. Now that that's done, I have my last D/E appt on Tuesday 11/6, and then on Thursday 11/8 I will sit down with the surgeon. Hopefully later that day or the next day, my insurance will be filed, and then it's time to wait. (Have I mentioned I'm not

Pre-Insurance Jitters

I'm not a good wait-er. I never have been. In fact, my impatience may be one of my defining characteristics. And when I set my mind on something, I become extremely focused on it. This can be really useful, except when it has to do with something that I feel I have very little control over. And that brings me to my progress toward WLS.   And yes, I know, I actually have lots of control. My insurance requires 6 months of pre-surg diet and exercise counseling, and I am now 3 weeks away fro

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