Change of Plans?

I began to tell the doctor that I wanted to lose as much weight as possible within the year and then I wanted the LAP-BAND® to keep it off. He asked me if I was open for suggestions. When someone asks you if you’re “open to suggestions” that usually means they want to change your mind about what you want. I looked at my husband and said, “I guess, what are you thinking”? He said, “It looks like your portions are under control and that you’re doing a great job sticking the pre-op diet, the LAP-BAND® will only teach you what you’re already learning, portion control. He went on to say with your PCOS, you will have to work out every day and stay very strict on your eating the rest of your life to keep any of the weight off, as well as get the rest of it off. I had no clue where he was going with any of this until finally he said, “However if we do another procedure called the Gastric Sleeve, it will not only get the weight off, it will cure your PCOS”, and he looks at my husband and says “and if you want a baby, you could probably have one.” I would love to say that I didn’t have to think about it at all and said yes right away but I didn’t. Before I could really say anything else, he proceeded to say, “by the way the surgeon wants to meet with you today as well”. Normally you don’t get to meet with the surgeon until you hit your weight loss goal, Not only was I never given a goal weight, but this was still my first appointment and I’m only 4 weeks into my 1 years journey.

The Whirlwind began June 28th

Once Lifestyle Changes and Nutrition 101 was checked off my list, the first doctors appointment was scheduled. First up, the psychiatrist. I met with a very nice man for about an hour. We talked about my past diets, my childhood, as well as my reason for wanting the LAP-BAND® as well as what it would mean to me if I were to meet my goal weight. I said, “It would mean I could shop for clothes and not take all day doing it because I literally had to try on everything. The appointment went well and I laughed a lot. You know, it’s ok to laugh at yourself. Getting back to the whirlwind, when I finished seeing the psychiatrist I had one more appointment that day and it was with the Nurse Practitioner. This is where one weighs in, gets a goal weight for surgery, as well as gets a physical. Then the doctor orders more blood work, as well as a chest x-ray and EKG. He also talks about what type of surgery you're leaning more towards, and begins to make sure you have a clear understanding of what the surgery entails. My official 2^nd weigh in reads 203 lbs. In the past 5 weeks, I had lost 11 lbs. I was so excited. I knew I lost weight, because like clockwork, my period started again. But I didn’t know how much.

My Journey began

Day one began and I felt on top of the world, I thought, this is it, I’m going to have a doctor monitor my weight loss and tell me what I’m doing wrong/right. I went shopping and filled my cupboards with all the food I was allowed to have and cleared out things I couldn’t have, oh and the no drinking with meals, I would love to say that was the easy part but actually, that was the hardest part for me. Every diet I’ve ever been on said drink lots with your meals so you get full on water, what they don’t tell you is that water goes out of your stomach before food, and then you feel hungry again sooner because you weren’t able to get that much food in with all the water. I can honestly tell you it took me two weeks to get this right. I didn’t just stop drinking with meals, I weaned myself off, by getting a smaller cup each time and then spreading out the timeframe I would wait to drink, 15 minutes after I ate, then 30, 45 until I finally reached that hour. Now the only problem I have is remembering to drink starting that hour after I eat and drink lots in between meals.

Bad News

I learned that I have a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome. What the Heck is that? Well I learned it is a problem in which a woman’s hormones are out of balance. It can cause problems with your periods and make it difficult to get pregnant. PCOS may also cause unwanted changes in the way you look. If it is not treated, over time it can lead to serious health problems, such as diabetes, and heart disease as well as the reason I could not get the weight off, and actually when I would start to lose weight, my period would start and I would bleed for months. My Doctor’s first solution was the Mirena® IUD. This IUD is an estrogen-free intrauterine contraceptive device. This IUD would help control my bleeding and PCOS while I lose weight. Though some women reported actually gaining weight with this IUD I did not. I didn’t lose weight either. So after two years of trying to lose weight with no success, back to the doctor’s I go.

Begin with your Doctor.

I began by scheduling a Doctor’s Appointment to see if there was some sort of imbalance. So off to the Primary Care physician I go. I explained that I have tried every diet out there and for some reason was never successful with losing weight. She decided to do a physical and run some lab test. So you know that’s a white sheet of paper with about 50 different options to highlight and then they draw blood and begin to test, I swear every item was highlighted. I started seeing the lab results come back on my Kp.org site® (which by the way I love) She tested everything from Glucose fasting, TSH, LIPID panel, Thyroid, to HCG, CBC, Iron, Creatinine, Serum, Glomerular, potassium, and everything came back normal, Verdict, very healthy. So next stop, gynecologist. I got my appointment pretty quick and began to tell the story of my sporadic very abnormal periods and failed attempts at weight loss, and she ran some more tests.