Preparring for bariatric surgery.

It took me 7 years to get to the point of even being ready to have the surgery. Once I decided I was at my lowest point, I went to a couple of seminars here in the Phoenix area. I decided on a surgeon. Due to the insurance requirements I had to do a 6 month diet, and get all the medical records (1 note for every year the last 5 years showing my co morbidities & my weight) together. I had to do the phsyc evaluation, and I had all the testing and got the pulmonary & cardiac clearance. I was over 50% body fat. I was 37 on blood pressure, diabettic, asthma, and allery medications. I topped out at 230lbs at 5" 3' and 3/4. I found out that I was a diabettic when my weight kept increasing despite exercise & diet change back in 2005.

I followed a low carb, fat, sodium, sugar free diet. Wow what a challenge! I manage to pull it off and still eat very satisfying meals. I watched a lot of Alton Brown on Food Network Tv. I learned a lot about spices and cooking.

This year though, I started having more physical mechanical problems. My knees were popping and clicking, and I had been walking up to 3 miles a day. I had to back down to 1 mile a day. Then my left gastro calf muscle burst. I was off work a week, and had weeks of physical therapy. This was about 2 months prior to my surgery. I recouperated and started walking again.

So getting closer to the surgery date I had to go in for the preop testing. It was really convienent. It was all scheduled and set up at the hospital were the procedure was done. I was in and out with everything done in like 2 hours. Now this included a the barium swallow. The doctor put me on a full liquid protien diet for 2 weeks prior to surgery to help pull the fat off of my liver. This was okay and easy in the begining. But by the second week, I was starting to really feel the pangs of hunger. The smell of food just made my stomach churn with hunger. I had to letteraly leave an area were there was food. This happened a couple of times. I quickly left the erea and avoided being around friends and family while they ate. Or I made sure I had my protien drink as a shake to satisfy my hunger. That worked pretty well. Then the day before the surgery with the prep. That wasn't bad at all. I think this was primarily to do with the liquid protien diet. There wasn't much to get rid of with the prep. I was okay with that. The process would have been miserable if I hadn't been on a liquid diet prior.

The big day arrived. I went through The Bridges Centre for Surgical Weight Management at St. Luke’s Medical Center http://www.stlukesmedcenter.com/services/weight_loss_surgery/.  My husband and I went to the hospital, and before we knew it I was in the operating room. Then I was in recovery quickly after that. I went home the same day. I loved that! It was a fairly easy recovery. 5 years ago I had 2 major back surgeries, and that required an abdominal surgery as well. This gastric band surgery was a breeze to recover from compared to the back fusion surgeries. By week the end of week 4 post of I was able to bend all the way down to put my gym shoes on. I noticed though when walking during that first 4 weeks that the giggle of my belly caused pain on my side were the port was placed. I had to hold the side of my stomach to ease that problem.

Well I am going to sign off for now. I am loving my new diet, and loosing weight at it! I have become a Flexitarian!
I'm loosing weight and loving the food I cook!