My Sleeve Journey

[chefpamc49 6]

My name is Pamela C. I am from North Carolina. I am a Certified Personal Chef and Certified Person Pastry Chef. My journey with gastric bypass started last year in September. My husband is a photographer and had a client come in to take pictures because they had had the surgery. After speaking with them, I quickly made up my mind that this was something I needed to look into. I had looked into having gastric bypass before but always thought that I could not afford it even with having insurance because of the upfront out of pocket money that I would have to pay. I had already gone to several information sessions. After speaking with my husbands client and getting her story I contacted the same surgeon that she had used. My journey began! At my initial consultation with Dr. Enoch of Bariatric Surgeons of NC I weighed in at 412lbs. OMG I did not realize that I had let myself get that out of hand but I knew I was in the right place. The next 2 months were full of appointments to prepare me for surgery. December rolled round and I started to get nervous thinking that my insurance company was not going to approve my surgery before the end of the year as I had already met my deductible and I needed this surgery to go before the end of the year so I wouldn't have to start all over again with a new deductible. And lo and behold 2 weeks before Christmas 2012 I got the call that my surgery had been approved and I got my surgery date ... Dec. 28, 2012. This was the best decision I had made in my life. I was tired of being fat, tired of always hurting; my back hurt, my knees hurt, my ankles hurt .... seemed like everything hurt all the time and I was tired of it. My only co-morbidities were sleep apnea and high blood pressure thank the Lord! The morning of my surgery date as I was driving to Raleigh for my surgery, I got a call from my surgeons nurse stating that because I had sleep apnea and I did not have my own machine, that I would have to be in intensive care for 1 day after my surgery. I didn't care this was fine with me as long as the surgery was still going to take place. My surgery went without a hitch and my stay in intensive care was short (about 8 hours) before they transferred me to a regular room. My surgery was on Friday at 430p and I was leaving the hospital and heading home on Sunday at 11a.

I will say the following week was pretty easy, I didn't have any problems. Week 2 and Week 3 were a little more challenging with trying to get used to only having Soup broth or yogurt and not getting to really eat (drink) very much of that. Once I got past the 4th week, I felt I was used to my new lifestyle and my weight loss journey had begun. Two weeks after surgery, I was taken off my blood pressure pills and I had no signs of sleep apnea.

I will say getting used to the new eating habits can be somewhat challenging. Knowing when to stop eating or drinking is challenging at times because your brain is saying keep eating but your stomach is saying I'm way more that full. I think that has been my biggest challenge with the whole process of having the Sleeve is knowing really when to stop eating.

It has been 10 months since my surgery, and I am down 144 lbs. I feel AMAZING ...who knew that losing so much weight that everything changes in how you feel, no aches and pains, no more high blood pressure, no more sleep apnea, and a whole new outlook on life. I wish I had done this years ago. I have 83 more pounds to go to reach my goal. I turn 50 in March, it is my goal to be at my goal. I look forward to my future!!

[Mel1071 149]

Wonderful story, Pam! I'm a fellow chef and will be having surgery in December. I have to admit the surgery is scaring me a bit. My body is acting much like yours - everything hurts. Plus I am on meds for high cholesterol, HBP, and have been told I am pre diabetic.

My question for you is did you find that having your surgery has compromised your chef abilities -especially in regard to taste? One reason I found the sleeve so interesting is there are no malabsorption issues.

Welcome to the forum!

[Pattie1966 35]

Congratulations on your journey, you have done an amazing job. I had my sleeve done on 9/13-13 and have lot 45 lbs so far and it is so amazing how most of the body aches are gone already. Thank you for sharing your journey.

[Threetimesacharm 1,400]

Did you have gastric bypass or VSG? Wondering because you mention both in your ad.

[emurphy002 0]

I had the Sleeve surgery on January 4, 2013. Its now November 20, 2013 & Ive already lost 182lbs. I haven't been this happy & healthy in almost 35 yrs. I had no idea that it'd happen so fast. I love my Dr who gave me the surgery. She saved my life and helped give me a new one. I still have 35-40 more lbs to go. But I knw I can do it. I exercise daily and stick to a 1000 calorie a day diet and exercise at least 1 1/2 hrs a day. I'm below my pre-pregnancy weight as well. I'm very happy withthe results of my surgery. Id recommend it to anyone with the option.