Surgery is completed

I am back home feeling great. I still do not have any energy since I cannot drink much protein right now, the stomach is still a little swollen. My incisions look great, I am a little surprised I am not more sore. If I did not have the x-ray from our leak test, I would not be convinced they took out 80% of my stomach. We had a great drive home and no pain. I have not taken any pain meds since 2 days after surgery. I am having a very hard time getting these Antibiotics down, I have to cut them into 4 sections and use yogurt to get them down, they are nasty.

The worst thing I experienced is this purple dye we had to drink ( 8oz) for our first leak test.The good news, no leaks in our drains, the bad news, it was the worst thing on earth to drink. It made our third leak test
( drinking the barium) for the radiologist a picnic after that purple stuff.

It looks like I have a couple more weeks on liquid and then I can move to soft foods, I think I will be ready.

Surgery Day

I woke up about 3:00am but very rested. I need a cup of coffee but I cannot have anything to drink or eat because of my blood panel I have to have before surgery. I am ready to get this surgery behind me. Today is day 10 on liquids only. Everything has gone very smoothly and the clinic has been on top of everything. They are picking us up about 8:15am and we will be heading to Tijuana. I have to have the bloodwork, EKG and then meet with the Cardiologist. My surgery will take place about mid-afternoon. There are 4 surgeries today including mine. He is doing one Lap Band and 3 Sleeves. I will be in the hospital overnight and then at the recovery house Thursday and Friday night. We will be heading back home sometime Saturday.

We are in San Diego

We Drove from Dallas to Willcox Arizona on Monday, almost 1,000 miles. We had great weather and it went very smoothly. We stayed last night at a nice hotel and slept like a rock. We left Willcox about 3:00am and drove to San Diego, got here about 10:00am. We checked in with the hotel and went to Anthony's for Lunch, we had broth, Karetha had two huge Lobster tails, they looked great. We are going to mess around San Diego today and they are picking us up tomorrow morning to head to Tijuana. My surgery will be Wednesday afternoon. Karetha will keep you updated.

Leaving for Mexico

We took Deja to Pet Paradise yesterday and headed to Dallas. We stayed at Noel and Gay's last night so we could get an early start this morning. It was nice, last night we went out so I could get some tortilla soup, the broth was all I could have but it was great. I woke up about 2:30am, I could not sleep. We are leaving about 4:30AM. We are going to drive as far as possible today so we can get into San Diego fairly early on Tuesday, Karetha wants to go to Rockin Baja Lobster, our favorite place in Old Town. I guess I will go and watch her eat Lobster. I will keep everyone updated on the trip.

Last big hurdle has been accomplished

We are leaving for our trip for my surgery on 5-22 and have been waiting to get our passports, they finally arrived today via Fedex, nothing like cutting it close. That has been a fiasco from the beginning, I guess that is about par when dealing with a Government agency.

Major milestone for me

I started my liquid pre-op diet on 5-16-2011. My weight has been over
300 lbs for many years. I am at 296 as of this morning. The purpose of the pre-op liquid diet is to shrink your liver to avoid complications  during surgery. I have been drinking about  80 grams of protein a day and have not felt weak like I thought I would. My blood sugar has continued to go down as well. I have not felt this good in a long time.

Starting my PRE-OP liquid diet

I am not really looking forward to this at all. I have been shopping for the best tasting protein drinks, powders and energy drinks. I have been stocking up on chicken broth, sugar free jello and Gatorade, that is about all I can have from 5-16 until the surgery on 5-25. I have to keep my eye on the big picture, that is what will get me through this. The best flavor protein powder I have found so far is Unjury Chocolate Splendor, it tastes pretty good without the bad smell or after taste. The best prepared protein drink I have found is
EAS Carb Control, it is great in all flavors.

Surprise in my Bloodwork

I went to my primary to get a full blood panel and an EKG, I wanted to have a reference point and make sure there were no issues before making the trip to Mexico. My blood work came back showing I had very high blood sugar levels, I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I should not have been surprised but I was. My primary wanted to start me on all of this medication to get my Blood glucose level down but we decided to wait since my surgery was coming up at the end of May. Most people that have the surgery no longer have diabetes due to the new eating lifestyle and weight loss. Since the day in the doctor's office, I have not had any sugar and only very few carbs. I have a blood glucose meter that I test my blood and my numbers have already improved greatly.

The good news is my blood pressure has always been good and my EKG was clean. The next thing is to start preparing for the trip and gettting ready to start my liquid pre-op diet which will start on 5-16-11, stay tuned.

Search for a Surgeon

This was the hard part. Being self-pay, the cost was part of the equation but not a deciding factor. I live in the Dallas Area and there are some great surgeons there, I had narrowed it down to two but in reality, the cost was just too much. I had been on the forums and communicating with people all over the world trying to find a solution, something I could feel safe about and something to fit my budget. There were several Doctors in Mexico that came highly recommended. The first thing I thought of when I heard MEXICO was "underground" and organ harvesters. I was scared to death. The more research I did and the more people I talked to it became more and more logical. I found a surgeon in Tijuana, Mexico that has done more sleeves than any surgeon I could find here in the U.S. . The main reason the Medical care in Mexico is more affordable than the U.S. is the mal-practice insurance premiums and fancy hospitals in the U.S. , they have to be paid for by somebody.

I had found a couple of Surgeons there in Tijuana that was qualified and I felt comfortable with. The deciding point for me was communication. I had emailed and called both Patient coordinators, one got back to me in a timely manner, the other did not. I emailed more questions to both again, the same one got back to me, the other FIVE DAYS LATER. That was enough for me. Once I made my decision, I would email or call my coordinator several times a week, God bless her. She always takes the time to answer ALL of my questions and puts my mind at ease. My surgery has been set for 5-25-2011. More to come and a bit of a surprise.

How my journey all started.

I have been overweight since I was about 28 years old and Obese since I was 37, I am 46 right now. I am like most overweight people, I tried every diet, some successful, some not. What the common denominator was is I always gained all the weight back. My sister which is in the medical field had a Gastric Bypass for her weight loss surgery about 5 years ago. She has lost all of her excess weight and for the most part, kept it off. My insurance would not pay for weight loss surgery so at that time, WLS was not an option. In 2010 I started having some issues with my feet hurting, headaches and just not having any energy. I started doing a lot of research into different WLS, their risks and cost. There was a new procedure called the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, it is where they go in laparoscopically and remove about 80% of your stomach leaving it shaped like a tube or sleeve, hence the name. There is a video of a VSG surgery on the right side of my Blog. This was introduced in 2006/2007. After all of my research, I have choosen to have this type of WLS instead of the Gastric Bypass ( very evasive, changes your plumbing) or the Lapband which is very high maintenance with the adjustments and fills. These can also slip and have to be adjusted often. The VSG was the most logical choice for me since it is permanent and no maintenance. There are no adjustments like the lap band and no dumping ( throwing up) like the Gastric Bypass. With the VSG, you can eat almost anything but only about 4oz of it. It is a lifestyle change and it is permanent.