Wordless Wednesday Weight Loss

Technorati Tags: weight loss surgery,before and after,gastric bypass

February ‘07

April ‘08

March ‘09

“Just think how happy you would be if you lost everything you have right now, and then got it back again.”

So,

Yesterday I had my second opinion appointment with the surgeon. The surgeon who did my gastric bypass almost three years ago. I continue to trust this guy with my life. After all, I allowed him to operate on me when I weighed 430 lbs!

He (and we - Nancy and I) wish that the circumstances of my bowel obstruction had been different. Not so acute, and not having escalated quite so quickly! If we'd had more time and had our wits about us, we would have called him, in Portland, and been life flighted. Had this happened, the guy who knows all about my altered innards could have taken care of the bowel obstruction laproscopically, instead the old fashioned way. Now I have this painful belly incision that is taking a while to heal. It hurts, I have a big piece of scar tissue that aches deep down inside.

But, hindsight is always 20/20, right?

In the end the guy that did the surgery saved my life and I will be fine. I need to wait a few more weeks for my muscles to heal.

Today, I had an upper and lower barium GI thingy. It was gross, the stuff I had to drink. This was to make sure that everything is running smoothly through my gut.

I feel nauseous and yukky today from the chalk drink. ;-(

I see the gastero intestinal guy next week to get the results of today and if everything is OK there, I'm going to go ahead and get myself back into the knee replacement surgery loop.

*sigh*

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey, then where you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Emergency Surgery, Anyone??

Monday started out like any other day. I went to work until 10AM and then it was time to take Mom to her monthly lunch meeting of blind and low vision folks. We got back home and the rest of the afternoon was normal too.

Mondays are Nancy's long days at work so she wasn't due home until 8PM-ish.

As the evening went on I was feeling more and more terrible. I was having cramping in my belly that started to radiate around into my back. It got worse and worse. Eventually the only place I could find any sort of relief at all was flat out on the floor on my belly. Even that wasn't too comfortable at all.

As soon and Nancy got home she called 911 and I was brought to the ER.

Eventually I was diagnosed with a pretty major blockage in my intestines. Seems that once you have had abdominal surgery a couple times your innards get "tacky" and can slip and twist more easily. In the last 10 years I've had a hysterectomy, gastric bypass and my gallbladder removed. I had a large section of intestine that was just black on the ex ray. So, at midnight on Monday I was headed into the surgical wing.

The surgeon found that about one third of my large intestine was twisted up and inside itself and was getting no blood supply. Once he got things untwisted and organized again they pinked right up and everything was fine. I was brought to my room around 3AM and don't remember a whole lot of what went on until Wednesday. I was so sick and out of it.

I came home yesterday afternoon.

I'm feeling a little better today. I'm very sore and tired. I have about a 9 inch incision running from above my belly button to my pubes with staples holding it closed and I have a belly band with Velcro that I have to wear.

I'm fine and thanks in advance for the well wishes.

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, the you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

More weight loss pictures

This is my before and after video I made back in March.


Me in a robe I USED to wear.


I could barely button this up then...


Now, we BOTH fit in it!!

I have now lost a total 260 pounds!

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Dumpity dump!

The other day I was shopping and what did I find?? Sugar Free Cool Whip!

"Wow!" Says I to myself, "I can now eat Cool Whip! YAY!"

So later that evening we had our dessert and not 15 minutes went by and I was having cramps and growls and was generally not feeling well.

I knew I was experiencing the beginnings of dumping syndrome.

Dumping syndrome is a result of my new gastric bypass digestive system which alerts the (my) body of inappropriate eating. Dumping syndrome is described as a shock-like state when small, easily absorbed food particles quickly dump into the digestive system. This results in a very unpleasant feeling with symptoms of a cold clammy sweat, drained color in my face, a pounding heart beat, cramps and eventually explosive diarrhea.

Shortly after eating a food I don’t tolerate (sugar, corn syrup, fructose and just about any other form of sugar) I get disoriented, dizzy, I can have an overall sense of confusion or panic and I begin sweating.

At this point during a dumping episode it's best to just lie down, gently massage my tummy and let nature take its course. My body is efficiently, and painfully, correcting a chemical imbalance in it's cellular system. I know that "things" are passing when my panic subsides and exhaustion and cold chills set in. I can "follow" the cramps down through my abdomen and then I begin having diarrhea. After all is said and done I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.

The mild delirium associated with dumping is the result of an interruption of nerve impulses affecting cerebral metabolism. When incorrect foods are consumed and dumped into the digestive system the electrolytes and fluids in my system get out of balance.

So... this has happened to me before and it was because I'd not been careful to read the ingredient list on something. My bad.

As you can see by the picture of the new "sugar free" Cool Whip package up there at the beginning of this post, there's bright red, prominent lettering clearing stating that this product is SUGAR FREE!

Harrumph!

No it's not!

I checked the package (afterward) and it clearly states CORN SYRUP as the second ingredient! I took a screen shot of Kraft's web page where the ingredients and Nutritional Label are listed. Click the picture below to see it up close.




Ingredients: WATER, CORN SYRUP*, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM POLYPHOSPHATES, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM AND ASPARTAME* (SWEETENERS), BETA CAROTENE (COLOR). *ADDS A TRIVIAL AMOUNT OF SUGAR. **PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE.

A trivial amount of sugar!!??? I think not!

Normally I am a stickler about reading ingredients labels and if I'd kept a cool head in the grocery store, I would have read it, but the allure of those bright red letters stating that the product was Sugar Free proved too much for my elation and I paid for my lapse in judgment with a severe case of liquid ass!! *sigh*

So, anyways a couple days after the event, I was feeling better and I decided to contact the nice folks at Kraft and told them about my episode with their sugar free product. I emailed them in the morning and by that evening they were calling me!

The woman was very pleasant and took down my complaint and asked me how she could help make it better? I was actually dumbfounded for an answer. It never occurred to me to seek monetary reimbursement. She asked me if 5 dollars to replace my investment in their product would "do it?"

I paused with my mouth slightly ajar and thought - "5 bucks to "pay for" my being terribly ill for the better part of 24 hours???"

I don't think 5 bucks is going to pay for that.

I told her that and she said that all she could do was offer me the 5 dollar reimbursement and it was up to me to do whatever else I needed to do.

So... folks have suggested that I contact the local consumer reporter on one of the local television stations to see if they'd do a piece on me. Perhaps bringing light to this particular issue of "truth in packaging" will prompt a lawyer to contact me and take this one step further.

Hmmmmmmm.............

I don't know what to do at this point except "sit on it" for the weekend, discuss this with family and friends and see...

The idea of litigation isn't one that I relish, but I was duped. Wasn't I?

*shrug*