Virginia B.

I had my sleeve done on 11/18/2019.  It's been a trying time this month but the dietitian says I am doing great, even with the stress level I have been under.  My husband, who has been on hospice since September, passed away on the 1st of December.  It has been a whirlwind of activity since then with the funeral planning and getting through the funeral itself.  In the meantime, I have completely cleaned the house and threw a lot of stuff away, gave a lot of the groceries that I can no longer eat at this time to my cousin who really needed the help, bagged my husbands clothes and donated them to a local church thrift store, and gave his niece and 2 nephews items that I knew he wanted them to have.  Although I have a gym membership, I am waiting until after the holidays to go back to my workouts (I am trying to get over a head cold at this time).  My weight loss is starting to slow down a little but it is still moving in the right direction and should pick up again once I can get back to the gym.  I can still only eat between 2-3 ounces at a time and I found that food I liked prior to surgery either makes me nauseous or gives me really bad heartburn.  The dietitian says I can begin trying some new foods to see what I can tolerate, especially vegetables.  Hopefully I can expand my diet to more than just soft foods.

I am nine days post-op with a 22 lb. loss so far.  The sleeve procedure is making me re-evaluate my life and the way I look (and eat) food.  I am still learning how to register being full.  Twice now I've thought I knew when I was full but within 10 minutes, the hiccups started and the uncomfortable feeling at the junction of my throat and stomach let me know I ate 1-2 bites too many.  

A little about me:  I was never overweight until my late 20's (even after 2 children).  My weight then went up to around 180 lbs. which is a good bit for someone who's only 5'4" tall.  I finally had my 3rd child when I was 29 and my weight went unchecked after that.  I ballooned up to 356 lbs. in the 1990s. At that time, I had already tried a lot of fad diets and finally found the only thing that worked for me..an item the FDA has now banned-ephedra.  I managed to drop 140 lbs using this around 2001.  I finally thought I had the weight problem licked and was really having a great time without people saying "you would be so pretty if you managed to lose some of that weight."  

I met my husband in 2002 and we got married on my birthday-November 23rd. Now the weight started to return.  Fast forward to 2019 and I finally decided enough was enough and began researching surgeons and programs in my area.  Began the long process of qualifying for the sleeve procedure.  Just before my approval came through, my husband had to be placed on hospice.  By this time my weight was holding steady at 288 lbs.  Once he was set up with regular nurse visits, my surgery date came through-November 18th.  Going forward, I now get to celebrate my birthday all week long beginning on my new birthday, November 18 and rejoicing through to November 23rd!

I know I still have a long, difficult road ahead of me to learn my new normal and make the transformation that I know is possible.