WLS Journey

Okay… well… some of you have stumbled upon this page thinking “What is this all about?”  So to let you know, WLS stands for “Weight Loss Surgery”.  NO… NOT liposuction, but rather Gastric Bypass Surgery.  That’s right! I am going to have Gastric Bypass Surgery.

I got to thinking about something and decided to edit this page a little bit.  When I first made up this page I did not make much mention as to “why” I am having this surgery done.  So, I am going to talk about it.  Why not.  It could be something that could help someone else to realize that they really aren’t alone in the mysteries of why some things happen in relation to health.  Sooooo… taking a deep breath… here I go…

Like most everyone even as a little girl I had problems with being “chunky”.  I am talking about before I became a teenager.  And, like a lot of people I had those “wonderful” people that I knew that couldn’t help themselves and just ran with the nicknames…. I won’t dare mention what I was called by those sweet few.  But, then as I became a teenager I thinned out some.  I still had that thought that I was “fat” just like many of us did back in that time.  Now I kind of chuckle over my ignorance of believing what some said.  Then I had those that always were my friends and told me differently than what I thought about myself.  I still didn’t see it in myself though.  But, over the years I have learned.  My mother even took me to Weight Watchers when I was 16 because I weighed 120 lbs.  Something many of you who knew me never knew, huh?  When I had gotten pregnant with my oldest I weighed 124 lbs.  I was 18.  I got down to almost that weight again in 1995.  Then I got pregnant with my youngest daughter.  For almost 3 years after I had my youngest I could not lose weight. I tried many different things.  Then at about 3 years it started coming off again when I went on about 15 different types of diets in a year.  It was NOT easy to lose those 30 lbs. but I got down to 138.  I got married for the second time and in 2001 I was pregnant with my son.

In 2000 I was in a major car accident.  A lady hit the back of my car doing 60 mph while I was at a complete stop in rush hour traffic.  I walked away from the accident shaken up but okay… except I developed fibromylgia.  Because of this my 2nd husband, Jason, and I asked my PCP if it was safe to try for our son. He gave me the clearance to do this but cautioned me because of the fibromyalgia.  About 9 – 10 months later we got pregnant with Tristan.  Then just after my first appointment with my PCP I got a call that they needed to see me.  Within less than a year I had developed almost full blown cervical cancer.  Luckily I was able to have a procedure done and they removed all the cells.  At 27 weeks pregnant (Valentines weekend) I was put into the hospital because I had developed gallbladder disease (in other words my gallbladder was full of stones).  I also was having an increase in migraines and back spasms.  I was put on permanent partial bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.  Tristan was born exactly on his due date, by his own doing.  His birth was the easiest thing in comparison to all that I had already going on.  He was so healthy and gorgeous.  About 2 months after he was born I finally could have that gallbladder removed.  In that surgery I have been told that I had to be given almost 3 shots of medicine to wake me up from anesthesia, which is rather nerving. Then I had to go back in again because they thought that I may have had stone lodged somewhere that they may have missed.  Got that taken care of and I thought I would be fine to start working on losing this weight again. WRONG! My metabolism came to almost a complete halt.  I started gaining whenever I tried to lose weight.  Then I just stopped at one weight and didn’t move up or down.  No matter how hard I try it just won’t budge.  Had tests ran and found out that I have developed Polycystic Ovarian Sydrome (PCOS) and I am now a pre-type 2 diabetic.  So…. well… that is what has happened.  Did I try any diets? Yes. I found that several just were not tolerated well and I had to be careful as to what I ate or I had “issues”.  I had tried about 4 different kinds and nothing worked.  Soooooooo…

I have done a TON of research on this surgery and I am hugely hopeful. MANY people who have diabetes and have had this surgery have that go into remission completely (basically as cured as it can be for diabetes) as so do so many other major health issues.  (SEE links I have listed in right column.)  This is my hope to being able to be healthy again.  To be me again.  Soooooo here we are and…..

There are several different types of Gastric Bypass Surgery.  The three most common are: Roux-en-Y, “Lap-band”; and Vertical Band.  The type in which I am going to be having is the Roux-en-Y.  As I travel along this journey to have this surgery done, and the journey after the surgery is done I will be blogging about it.  If you look under “CATEGORIES” you will see that I have marked certain posts to coincide with what “phase” I am in during this process.  You can click on that particular category and then be able to read my posts.  I know that may sound confusing but it is easier than scrolling back through the all the posts.  Another thing you can do is you can go to the “Search box” and enter in key words that you know should be related to a particular phase.  The search box will give you a list of all postings that coincide on my postings and pages with what you are looking for.  Don’t forget to check out the sub-pages that I have with this topic.  Never know what may show up on those.

~Tammy~

P.S. If you have questions please feel free to ask.  I would rather people be informed and know about this surgery process, the problems that health issues can have on ones weight, how weight can also cause issues, how you have to be proactive on your health care.  I have too much to live for and I absolutely refuse to let them down by not being here for them.  If I can take this proactive step and come through rough times then anyone can.  Oh and I have been dealing with this stuff all the while of raising 4 kids, being a wife, going to school, and working…. So, if you are considering this surgery… just ask yourself these three questions… “How badly do you want to live? Who do you want to live for? What do you want to live for?” Then no matter what set your mind towards it get up and MOVE!!!

URL for the above clip is:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcDMUKd-mWM