7 months out

Well not much more to report. I am 7 months post op and I hit 112 pounds since surgery and 150 pounds since October. I am able to wear some 1X tops (depending on the brand) and wear 2X knit pants. I want to go and try on a pair of jeans. I haven't worn jeans in about 20 years.

Its only 2 months until the wedding and I haven't even looked for anything to wear yet. I'm thinking of something in maybe a sage green. I think that would contrast the girls apple red dresses. I'm not sure, will have to wait until I go looking.

All is well here. Took George in for a complete physical last week. He is having some trouble walking. Haven't gotten the results back yet. But the doctor did tell us that one of his medications that he is on has the side effect of weakness in the legs. When he went to the clinic on Wed. we asked his counselor about that and she got us in to see the nurse and they have changed the one med. to a lower dose and added another one to counter act the symptoms. They said that we would be able to see a difference almost immediately. We picked up the meds last night and he will start taking them today. Well see what happens.

Well that is all for now, just wanted to update. Its really been a year since I had started to think about doing the gastric bypass. I didn't think that I would have all the support that I have had. I want to again thank everyone for their support, without it I don't know if I would have done this great. Thanks again.

6 1/2 months since surgery

I can't believe its been over 6 months since the surgery. I'm posting three pictures today, the one on the left was taken back in October and the other two are from July, 6 months post op.
I went this past Tuesday to see the surgeon(Dr. Reyes) for my 6 months check-up. He was quite pleased with my progress. Since the surgery I have lost 107 pounds and since October 145 pounds. Dr. Reyes said that all my lab work was great but my protein level was still a little low, push more protein. He said that he didn't need to see me for another 6 months and do lab work again at that time.
The other doctor that I went to see was the pulmonologist. He was also pleased with my progress, I had not seen him since the end of February and had lost probably about 70-80 pounds during that time. He said instead of doing another sleep study, he would send me home with a little oxygen sensor that you put on your index finger that would record my oxygen while I slept and I just had to take it back the next day and they would print out the results and let me know. Well, I did that on Wed. night and took it back on Thursday, that didn't turn out so well. It still shows that my oxygen level falls to about 77 percent while I'm sleeping, so I have to continue using the oxygen while sleeping. I was not happy with that, but I came home and cleaned the machine and put it in the kitchen near the bedroom and ran the tubing into the bedroom. I slept with it last night and slept pretty good. Having the machine out of the bedroom makes it quieter and I could sleep better. I am going to check back with that doctor next month when I go to see the heart doctor and see if I can use the little sensor again to check it. I don't go back to the pulmonologist until February and don't want to have that big machine for another 6 months. Medicare will pay for it for one year and then its yours. What would I do with it after that.
I had a WOW moment last weekend. I went to see the movie "Mama Mia", hadn't been to the movies since before the surgery and then I would sit in the front row where you could put up the armrest. Well, I sat in the second row above that and was able to sit in the sit without any problems. It felt great. I also only had a bottle of water with my crystal light added to it. NO POPCORN. Hope my rambling hasn't been too boring.

I wanted to post my latest picture. My friend Jody took this picture of me on Tues. July 22nd. I have now lost since the surgery 104 lbs. and since Oct. 142 lbs. I feel great and even finally had a hamburger the other night. I grilled outside and then toasted my hamburger bun. I ate half and it tasted so good.

I have been experimenting with some recipes that I have gotten off the internet. They have been really tasty.

I also took a long walk the other night. For those that know where I live, I went around the entire block. From my house down to Palmetto around to Blake back to Dominion and onto Encino and then to my street. I did it in about 20 minutes. I was tired but it felt good to go that far. I have also been doing some wall push-ups. Since the hurricane it has been too hot to go ride the exercise bike, now that all is calmed down I will start doing that again.





We survived the hurricane with a minimum of damage. We had part of the fence blow down as you can see in the pictures. The streets looked like a lake. We had a little water that seeped into the master bath and onto the carpet in the bedroom but not really bad. I vacuumed it up with a wet vac. We did lose phone and internet and just got them back on this evening. I so missed not being able to get on the internet.

So that is all my rambling.

Happy 4th

Big news, I went to visit Jennifer at the end of June and didn't have to buy TWO seats on the airplane, plus I was able to buckle the seat belt on two of the planes I was on. Don't understand why the other two belts were so short, even the flight attendant didn't understand why, she said that other passengers had said the same thing.
Back to Jen. We had a great visit. I even got a pedicure. We went shopping and got the ivory satin for the ring bearers pillow, and yarn to make some favor bags for the tables at the reception. Jen's soon to be mother-in-law,myself and Jen are crocheting them. Oh yeah I also got to meet Dan's parents and the rest of his family. They are all so nice. Had a good time at his parents house. They had a bar-b-que, it rained a little but then it cleared up. I wish I had gotten a picture of his parents together, just snapped pictures.
We went to church on Sunday at the church they are going to get married at. It is beautiful. After church we went and saw the reception hall and went across the street and made our reservations for the 31st and 1st. I believe we got a lot accomplished in such a short time.
We went back to George's mom's Sunday afternoon and had a get-to-together with his side of the family. Everyone was amazed by my weight loss. I am glad to say that I didn't gain anything while gone. I stayed the same, even though I had pizza twice, but only ate 1 small slice when we went to Fox's and had 2 small slices and a mozzarella stick the second time.
I have found that my hair is still falling out some. I have started drinking more of the protein shakes. I have discovered that if I mix the vanilla powder with my french vanilla cappuccino mix it doesn't taste so bad. My hair is so thin anyway I can't afford to lose any more.
The pictures that I'm posting are from my trip, the one with the little girls is my two nieces from Chicago(sorry the picture is sideways), Kit is sitting on my lap and Lily is standing next to me, and the other is of Fionn, Kit's little brother, and then the one of George, me, Jen and Dan. Sorry that this is so long.

I hit a new milestone

I'm so excited. I got on the scale this morning and I hit a new LOW. I have lost since October 120 pounds. That makes 82 pounds since Jan. 28th. That's only 5 months ago. I feel really good. I still go to my sisters and ride her exercise bike plus I have been walking more. We even went swimming the other night and the bathing suit that I have is a little big, the last time I wore it it was somewhat snug on me.

I leave this coming Thursday to go to Chicago to see Jen and her fiance Dan, and the rest of my family that is up there. I will also get to met Dan's family for the first time. I am really looking forward to that.

This picture that I'm posting is me and my brother Ken. He was down here at the end of May. I should have more pics after my trip to Chicago.

I promised one of my friends from church if I continued to lose this past week I would do a praise report and let the congregation know how much I have lost, so will do that tomorrow. I Bless God and all my friends for all their support.

Not too much happening

I've been told that I needed to update my blog.

Not too much has happened since my last post. I have lost another 5 pounds. I have hit another plateau. I have been going to my sisters almost every day and ride their stationary bike for between 15-25 minutes. I walk several times a week, I know that I am losing inches because I have gone from a size 5x down to a 2x. That is really exciting. I am being more active and have a lot more energy.

Also my brother Ken came down for a short visit this past month. It was good to see him. I am going to go to Chicago the end of June to visit my daughter and to meet her fiance's parents. I can't wait to see her. She was down here for Christmas and has only gotten to see me in pictures since the surgery. I will also get to see my brother and his family and meet my two nephews that I have only seen in pictures. I will also see George's mom, sister and family. It will be getting in a lot of visiting in a very short time period.

I don't have to go back to the surgeon until November. I went to my family doctor and she said that my sugar levels were good and that I didn't need to go back on the medicine and she took some blood to check the thyroid and that came back that she lowered my dose of thyroid medicine, and to come back in six weeks and they would check again. It is possible that I will be able to get off of the medicine completely after I have lost all the weight I need too. That would be fantastic.

I don't have any pictures to post this time, but will after I come back from Chicago.

More Good News and some bad

Hey, I went to see the Dr. that did my surgery. He was very happy with my progress. Since I saw him in March I have lost 34 more pounds. That is a total of 75lbs. since the surgery and 113lbs. since October when I began. All my blood was good except for my protein level, that was down and he said that I needed to start drinking the protein powder or do protein bars. He also said that I didn't need the nurse to come by any more. I even went in to see the dietitian and welcome her back, she had a baby boy in March I believe. I wanted to ask her how much protein I should have each day and she said around 100 grams. I also asked her about tortillas, and she said to make sure they are not to dry, its different than bread.

Now the bad news, Dr. Camacho is leaving next month to work in New York. He had said something about it back in March I believe but didn't sound positive that it was a done deal. He asked me for a hug and I thanked him for all that he has done for me. He told me that I would do well with Dr. Reyes and Dr. Garza. I really hate to see him go, but he did stay until I was healed, Judi told him he couldn't leave until I was healed.

I am going to go see my family doctor tomorrow to make sure my sugar readings are okay since I've been off the medicine for 3 weeks, and hope that she will take me off the water pill since my ankles and feet haven't been swelling very much since I've lost the weight.

That's all for now.