PrincessErin

I met my goal weight of 125 and I've managed to hold steady. Here is a picture of me on the day of surgery and now. This is almost 18 months out.

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I've posted. I guess I've been very busy. I did have an intestinal blockage and I will tell the very long story in this post. Thanks to Claire for keeping up with this thread and with me. She is the voice of our group and I adore her. Claire, I am so excited for you to get your plastic surgery. I thought I saw you mention that the extra skin is causing some back pain. I hope this remedies the whole situation. I'm also hoping you have no complications. I keep up with a few of you on Facebook and I am so proud of all of our wonderful results. Personally, I had been maintaining my weight of 150 (sometimes 145) since December with no real weight loss happening. I was a little disappointed that I never got down to 125 but I also felt pretty good about the loss I had achieved. I knew part of it was I was drinking the majority of my calories with these sugary energy drinks. (Java monsters). Unfortunately, near the end of May, I began having terrible pain in my stomach. This particular day it wasn't just any regular pain. It really hurt. I had eaten a little bite of a breadstick without chewing well, and I thought perhaps it was stuck waaaaayyy Down low. I tried to make myself throw up to ease the pain and it did not work. I laid down to take a nap, thinking maybe I was just tired and my bread needed to digest. I woke up about 45 minutes later with increased pain. I took a tums and had a drink of water. The water did not go down. It kind of sat on my belly and caused sharp pain. I describing this in detail so you can be aware, should it happen to you. At that point, I knew in my heart something was wrong and I was quite sure it was a blockage. At this point I was thinking the blockage was my breadstick, stuck in my stoma. I give it another hour to digest, the pain gets pretty intense, and I go to the ER. ****this ER is the closest to my home but has NO bariatric unit*** They give me meds for the pain and do a CT scan. No blockage. I just have a stomach flu. They send me Home with pain meds I can't swallow and wish me luck. That night, it took me about 5 times to take a pain pill before it finally dissolved enough to get in my blood stream and help. I would try to drink a sip of water, and it would cause intense sharp pain. I would vomit a horrible, very foul tasting bile that smelled just terrible. It was truly a nightmare. The vomiting, as bad as it was, would relieve the pain a little for a short period of time. I basically laid in an empty bathtub for the night, vomiting this bile every hour or so. The next day I went right back to the same ER and begged them to look at the scan again. I told them what happened during the night and that maybe the radiologist and dr weren't aware of my bypass and they were missing something. I was told to go home and take my pain meds (can't swallow anything!). At this point I haven't kept down a drop of water, I am in misery and the pain is severe. I do my best throughout the night. Basically the same scenario. It wasn't worth trying to take the pain pill because it wouldn't stay down and would cause me to go into fits vomiting that horrible bile. The next morning I call my daughter who is at work and tell her she has to come get me or I'm calling 911. I was past the point of coherent thoughts and I was pretty sure death was close. I have her take me to the hospital I had my lap band surgery. It is an hour closer than my gastric hospital and my dr is no longer practicing anyway. I know this hospital has a bariatric unit and I am thinking they have to help me. It's an hour away and I am in so much pain I'm having panic Attacks to the point that my hands atrophied. I've never in my life been so scared. They help me fairly quickly, mostly because I am demanding it and causing a scene in the waiting room. I nearly passed out and they rushed me back. I literally was past the point of even being able to reason. My poor daughter said someone has to help me because she has never seen me like this. I get a CT scan and some IV pain meds that do not even touch the pain. Yup. Intestinal blockage. And now I have a fever. I receive dilaudid about every two hours until the pain begins to subside and I can rest. I get some IV fluids and a room. I had emergency surgery the next morning. I had over a foot of intestine removed because it died during that 3 day wait. I was septic and had to stay an additional 6 days to fight the infection and fever. The blockage was lower, at the part where the small intestine is rerouted and reattached. My dr told me it was good I came when I did and that I had no idea how sick I really was. I disagree. I knew it was bad and it was honestly all my emotional, mental and physical strength to make it through those days. I spent the next week in a very bad drug induced fog. I lost about 23 pounds very quickly because it and I also got 26 staples down the center of my abdomen. I also found out I am severely anemic and I have to find a blood dr who will help me now that my surgeon is not an option. I am now 127 pounds and everyone tells me I look sick. It is because I lost the weight due to actually being sick. It's been quite a journey. I don't regret the bypass and there is nothing I could do to prevent the blockage but it just was a very big setback. I missed 3 weeks of work and had to withdraw from my classes in college. I'm feeling much better now. I am going on a cruise next week. My very first one. I hope others update as well!!!

B New Year's Eve! 145! 20 from my ultimate goal. Those are size 7 jeans and a medium shirt. I can't believe it! Oh and that is my teenage daughter's messy room. Not mine.

Congrats!!

We will all be motivated with the rest of the world in January to commit to eating healthy. Don't be too hard on yourselves for enjoying the indulgences of the season. Skinny people enjoy in moderation. Enjoy life! I have managed to still lose a bit here and there during the last few weeks, which is an amazing feat. I work at a school where the treats flow freely! Merry Christmas from Caisley and me!

The wine is a killer. I can't wait to meet you. Please keep in touch.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I certainly did. I spent most of the day preparing a wonderful meal for my family. I truly enjoy cooking so it was a pleasure for me to do it. When it came time to eat, I didn't have too much and it was a little uncomfortable to sit while everyone else ate, so i enjoyed the conversation and then busied myself with clean up. I was able to eat like 3 rolls over the entire day on Friday. It shocked me. Unusually throw them up. I must've been having what I call a "big pouch day". I still managed a loss of .5 pounds even though I wasn't trying. I just didn't eat a lot but was very active. Those 3 rolls and part of an egg were all I ate all day on Friday, due to shopping. I still have 5 pounds to my original goal of 145. I have 15 to get to my hopeful goal of 135. I wouldn't be sad if I made it to 125, but I don't have any goals of going lower. I'm working out at home, I am doing two challenges a month to keep active. I don't have a gym near me. I'm not at all stressing losing over the holiday season. I plan on enjoying every moment of it, within the limits I've set for myself and that my pouch sets for me. I won't let myself gain but I refuse to let the stress of losing shadow my holiday time. Here I am at the Disney resorts yesterday. We enjoyed the holiday decorations. It's a tradition for our family. You can definitely see the extra skin flap on the one of me by myself. I find it very discouraging. But I am just going to keep moving forward.

I have noticed there is nothing that will 100 percent work all the time! I agree totally. I've also noticed that some days my pouch will seem to let me eat more than other days. There seems to be days that I am full from just a few bites, and then other days I can eat an entire serving. It's very odd how it all works but I have allowed myself to adjust and make it work for my life.

I love fish, shrimp and crab meat and they are fine to eat. I really have no complaints regarding the food I can't tolerate, other than wishing protein from meat was easier to eat. I'm happy with my weight loss most definitely! 25 pounds to my ultimate goal!

Wow!!! Thanks for all the great ideas. I'm going to definitely try a few. Since we are on the subject of food, I am wondering where everyone else is on what they can and can't tolerate. I've had a very hard time with any bread unless it is toasted to a crisp. I also can't tolerate honey mustard salad dressing and creamy sauces like Alfredo. I can't really tolerate any soup that is cream based. I have a hard time with chicken unless it is cooked perfectly. I can't do steak. Ground beef is a life saver if it is cooked all crumbled up like for taco meat. I can't do tortillas, either. I will dump if I eat too much sugar. I still throw up if I eat too fast.

I'm really struggling with breakfast and lunch ideas. What are you guys eating these days?

If you guys ever come to disney or St. augustine, I am right in between the two.

Awww how lucky! I would love to meet Claire and Kim!!! RNY your transformation is amazing! Claire, you look stunning.

I'm 7 months out and down 65 pounds. It seems about normal for revision patients to lose slower. We know what we can "get away with" and we already had that initial shock to our system. Be patient, track what you're eating and see if there is a way you can cut out the excess calories or add a work out. You'll get there!! I promise.

We are just rocking this!!!!