It's been one year!

February 26th was our one year Surgiversary! Tia is down 145 pounds, while Mark is down 110. Both of us had high blood pressure, which is gone. Tia's cholestoral is under 200 (191, down from 259 in August) for the first time in living memory, Mark's is 145 (good genes). Mark's diabetes (type 2) is GONE.

What a journey it's been. Even though we had our operations the same day, we each had very different experiences.

Tia couldn't handle solid food reliably for about 9 months - turns out she had a stricture (the opening to her stomach shrank). Once she had the easy day procedure to take care of that, she's now eating like a champ.

Mark on the other hand, can eat anything - and that's a bad thing. Definitely the reason I haven't lost as much weight as Tia. I'm having an upper GI to see if things have stretched out on Wednesday.

Here are Tia's thoughts on the surgery after one year:

Be patient. The weight loss has slowed considerably. Just remember that this is long term. Enjoy the little triumphs; the way you can walk up and down stairs without getting as winded. The fact that you can now sit in normal size seats without hanging over. That you no longer have to use a seat extender on the airplane.

Time to start thinking about plastic surgeons and how to get rid of the extra skin. Wish I could have this done this spring, so I'd be healed for bathing suit season, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.

And here are Mark's thoughts:

I echo Tia's sentiments. I have absolutely no regrets at all, in fact I wish I had done it sooner. I feel SOOOOO much better. Remember, all the emotional issues that you had before surgery, you'll still have afterwards - you just can't eat as much. Some type of support person/group is essential to success.

Last week, Tia's workplace had an employee recognition dinner, so we decided to splurge on some new clothes and get all decked out. Tia looked fabulous. Here are the photos - it felt like Prom!

9 Month photos

Okay, here we are at the 9 month mark. Tia is doing much much better with her eating since her dialation procedure, so both of us are eating pretty much normally. We had our 9 month checkup with the surgeon yesterday and all is good. Just a slight vitamin D deficiency for both of us, easily corrected with a supplement. With the lack of sunlight in the Pacific Northwest, this is a pretty common condition.

So, on to the pictures. As you can see, Tia is looking fantastic. She's down 130.2 lbs while Mark is down 109. We're starting to investigate the whole plastic surgery thing for the excess skin.

7 months photos and update

Apologies for missing the 6 month mark. I think we were distracted by life and other things.

The good news is that Tia is doing a bit better with her eating. She had a mild stricture which caused her to not be able to eat any meats, so we had a procedure to fix that (went smoothly). She's still very cautious about things, but can handle tuna, etc. No chicken yet though.

Mark is doing okay. Things have slowed a bit but I'm approaching 100 lbs down (yay!).

Both of us are much more active, taking walks about 5 times a week, sometimes with the dogs pulling us along.

By the way, people really didn't start noticing until we were down about 80 lbs, so don't get discouraged if people aren't gushing about your loss. Most are scared to bring it up!

Okay, on to the photos:

Goodbye, Melissa

I first met Melissa Batten through e-mail. I was researching weight loss surgery and stumbled upon a message board called Thinner Times. While reading through the posts, I saw someone who said they were a software tester in the Seattle area. Hmmmm. While there are lots of software companies in the Seattle area, I wondered whether she actually worked at Microsoft – where I worked. In looking at her sign-on name on the board, it looked an awful lot like a Microsoft e-mail alias. For the heck of it I put it into our address search at work and voila – there she was!

Hesitantly, I e-mailed her to verify it really was the same person. Not only did she confirm it, she was very forthcoming with information about her experience with the surgery. She even recommended her doctor – Doctor Lauter at Overlake hospital in Bellevue.

We exchanged a couple more e-mails filled with questions about every aspect of weight loss surgery. Each time, she responded with wonderfully detailed, open and beautifully written answers. When I asked her where she learned to write so well, she said it was from writing tons of test specifications.

In one of the mails, she volunteered to meet up with Tia and I to answer any more questions in person. Wow, we were amazed by that offer, but eagerly took her up on it.

We met at the Starbucks in Redmond Town Center, near work, just before our initial consult with Dr Lauter. She was so open, so generous and so excited about her WLS experience. She talked about how she was now doing martial arts, and even running – which, in her words, was stunning, as before the surgery the best she could do was a few seconds on Dance Dance Revolution video game before becoming exhausted. She mentioned how she wanted to try to get pregnant now that she was slimmer, but there was some hesitancy about that from her husband. We both got the feeling that he wasn’t entirely supportive of her transformation.

She made the surgery seem normal to us. It would all be fine. Life afterwards was so good, there’s no reason not to.

So on February 26th 2008, we did. And with Dr Lauter, her recommendation. He was fantastic. We were off on our new lives!

We kept in touch via e-mails, with her checking up on us on our surgery date and every few weeks afterwards. Each time we had a concern or questions, she’d still openly and patiently answer.

Shortly after our 5 month mark, I posted some before and “so far” pics on our blog and wanted to share them with Melissa.

Something weird was going on though. She wasn’t in the Microsoft address book any more. I looked up her manager’s org chart and she wasn’t on there either. Maybe she’d gotten pregnant and was off taking care of that??

Being the researcher that I am, I decided to go back to the Thinner Times site to see if she was still posting there. I did a search for posts by her…

What I found was a bunch of condolence messages. My heart sank. Oh, no, no, no. What happened?


…


From the Seattle Times, Friday August 1, 2008:

“A woman who was fatally shot by her estranged husband at a Redmond apartment complex Tuesday just before he killed himself had obtained a protection order against the man a little more than a week earlier, court records show.

The protection order was obtained July 21 by Melissa Batten, 36, against Joseph Batten, also 36, in King County District Court in Redmond. In her request for the order, the woman had written that her estranged husband had recently purchased a handgun and had threatened to kill himself.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Thursday that Melissa Batten died of multiple gunshot wounds and classified the death as a homicide. Joseph Batten died of a single gunshot wound and his death was classified as a suicide, according to the medical examiner's office.”

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

This loving, generous person…a person who had changed our lives for the better was murdered.

Oh my god.

Even though we only met in person that one time at Starbucks, the support she gave to Tia and I through numerous messages was immeasurable. She showed us how good life could be after surgery. How happy we could be in our new bodies. And that the eating afterwards was do-able. We could feel normal again.

Melissa, we’ll miss you. You had a more positive impact on our lives than you imagined.


Epilogue: Tia and I are meeting with a couple on Friday to share our experiences with WLS. We can only hope to do as good a job as Melissa did.


Mark

Tia hit 100 today!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some great news - Tia hit the 100 lb lost mark today! We're all very excited. She's fitting into clothes that she hasn't been able to fit into in many years.

Congrats, Tia!

5 Month Photos

I'm planning on writing up a "Lessons Learned So Far" post, but haven't had the time yet. In the meantime, we took some 5 month comparison photos. Here they are!

Way to go, New Hampshire!

Just saw this on the newswire:

New Hampshire now requires insurers to cover gastric bypass surgery if it is found to be medically necessary. The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Robert Clegg, wrote the legislation after having to pay more than $20000 for his own gastric bypass.
Details here.

3 month check-up

So, we had our 3 month check-up last week. Everything is fine, no nutritional difficulties or anything. We've both lost around 70 lbs!

We definitely are in two different places though, eating-wise. Mark can eat virtually anything, while Tia has trouble with just about everything and is afraid to eat solid foods. She's been having mainly hot cocoa protein drinks and now protein smoothies. The doctor says it's fine though and wants to see us again in 3 months to check in and see if things are improving.

We're both stalled a bit with our loss right now, but from what I've read that's kinda normal at this phase.

So we'll keep plugging away at it!

12 Weeks out pics

We're now at 12 weeks out, so here are our new pics. Overall, things are going well. Tia is much more sensitive to foods than I am, so eating is a bit of a challenge. Dumping is a powerful aversion tool. I'm able to eat anything, which worries me too.

But, bottom line is that we've both lost 60+ pounds in 12 weeks, which is a pretty good average!

Two months and WooHoo!

Quick update: We had our two month "surgiversary" this weekend and both of us have lost 50 POUNDS!!! EACH!!! This is so cool.

Both of us would still like to blink our eyes and be at goal weight, but hey, this is going great.

8 weeks post-op photos!

Okay, here they are - our photos at 8 weeks out. Tia has lost 46 lbs and Mark 47! It's weird, when we look at each other's photos, it difficult for us to see the change, yet we know it's there. Something about self-image, I'm sure.

After Tax Day

I'm know I haven't written in a while. I'm not sure if it's because I have too many things going on or not enough to actually write about. Either way....here I am.

As Mark stated, I have finally found my protien rhythm. One challenge down and a couple more to go. So let's get started.
First challenge...drinking enough water. I used to drink 6-8 16oz bottles of Propel a day. Now, because the taste of Propel is way too sweet, I drink plain water. It seems to go down easier for me, as long as it's pretty cold. Luke warm water? Icky ca ca! My problem is that I used to go through so much water because I gulped it. I would chug an entire bottle between the grocery store doors and my car. Now, with the sipping, the "no drinking 15 minutes prior or 30 minutes after" issues and the constant 2-3 hour feedings, it seems like most of my time is spent in the waiting period. Then when it's not in the waiting period I'm so busy at work that I forget to drink. So, while I haven't mastered it yet, I plan to by June.

Second challenge...excersice. Mark and I have been walking and are up to 1.5 miles per day. This week I started doing water aerobics (Mon, Wed & Fri) and water walking (Tues & Thurs). I did my first aerobics class today. {Funny thing about the Skagit area, if you aren't a member of a gym and want to use the public pools with their programs, it's really hard to find an aerobics class that isn't in the middle of the day. I really don't know why this would be. Don't they think people work?} Anyway...I found one at the Fidalgo Pool in Anacortes (about 2 minutes from my work). The members and instructor are all senior citizens. They are great ladies. Very fun loving and really welcomed me without hesitation. I thought (once I found out that these classes are mostly about stretching) that I wouldn't get much out of it. HA! Good Gracious, this instructor had me stretching muscles I don't think I'm supposed to have. I have no doubt that I'll benefit from this class. And on the opposite days when I'm water walking, I can work on getting my heart rate up. I think this will be a good thing. Not to mention that Mark and I will continue to walk at night.

We are looking into buying a BowFlex machine. Mark is a "research-a-holic" and found that Consumer Reports rated them #1 for home gym equipment. This, plus the fact that my very fit brother (with a body fat of about 10%) says they do a wonderful job of sculpting. And as we all know from looking at my picture, I need some sculpting.

Let's see, what else...Oh yes, the looks and comments.
Now, after loosing 43 pounds in 7 weeks, people are starting to look at me a little differently. They think something has changed, but are almost afraid to say anything just in case they are wrong and I really haven't lost weight. Those that do know make comments about how good I am looking. This comes with mixed emotions. (1) Are they being sincere? (2) Are they only complimenting me because they want something and they know this subject is close to my heart? (3) Did I really look that horrible before? I showered, wore make-up and did my hair.
I understand these are paranoid feelings. But, having been verbally abused for so many years prior to my hubby, I am not that easy to trust. I hadn't realized that learning to trust was going to be on the menu that comes with the Gastric Bypass Surgery. Can I exchange it for cake?

We will be taking measurements on Sunday the 20th and posting them soon after. So stay tuned for the next episode of Mark & Tia's Amazing Journey.

After 40 days...

So, we're back in the groove again and losing steadily. On day 40, Mark is down 37 lbs and Tia is down 40! It's starting to feel "real" now, as we're seeing numbers on the scale that we haven't seen in a long, long time. Both of us have bought clothes two or more sizes smaller than what we've been wearing, and donated a bunch to Goodwill.

After struggling with some irregularity (to put it mildly - it was like passing a bowling pin!) I (Mark) have found a good rhythm - the key for me is to constantly drink, as well as get at least 12 grams of fiber in per day. Now things are fine.

Tia has also found her rhythm with her protein, which was a struggle for her. She now makes Hot Cocoa, consisting of one packet of Swiss Miss Diet variation, plus half a scoop of vanilla protein powder and half a scoop of chocolate. By the way, it took a while to find a brand she likes, but we settled on Jay Robb's brand. Yummy! And 25 grams of great whey protein per serving.

Things are going well!

Good news, bad news

Tia and I are in kind of a strange place right now. I'm once again holding steady at weight (even gained two days) while Tia is doing fantastic and losing about a pound a day. I'm so proud of her!

I need to do two things better: Get my water in and get more fiber in (things are backed up). Both of these significantly affect my weight loss.

I'm also kind of freaked out - I seem to be able to eat anything. Literally. I haven't found anything that I can't tolerate. This worries me considerably as I don't WANT to be able to eat anything. The temptation is too great. I know I'm only eating small amounts (although it's more than I expected to be able to eat) but still. The amount is weird too though. For example, I had almost an entire small chili from Wendy's! That included crackers and cheese too. That's just wrong. Other foods I'm full with about a half cup, so there's something about certain foods.

Tia is a bit more sensitive to things, but still not bad. Sweet drinks, which she used to live on (such as Propel) are now WAY too sweet, even watered down. I think her opening is smaller than mine as well as she really has to chew things finely to get it through.

So it's a weird time. I guess the thing that surprises me is that I didn't expect to be having to watch my diet so closely so soon after surgery. But whatever it takes, I'll do!

4 weeks ago today...

We entered the hospital for our surgery. In some ways it seems like a long time ago, but in others, it seems like yesterday.

Our eating is still a learning experience, but that's okay. We're luck in that we're able to eat a wide variety of food and our tastes haven't changed that much. The only thing we've noticed is that sweet fruit drinks (lemonade, Propel, etc) are way too sweet for our tastes now, so we have to cut them in half with water. Compared to what some people go through, that's nothing!

Okay, on to the stats and photos. Both Tia and I have lost 30.2 lbs in 4 weeks (28 days). We also did our measurements. Mark has lost a total of 11.5 inches (and has gone from a size 52 waist to a 48!) and, get this, Tia has lost an amazing 22.5 inches!!!!!!!!! I'm so proud of her.

Okay, here are the photos:

WooHoo! Losers again

Good news - our stalls appear to have broken and we're losing steadily again. We'll be posting our 1 month out photos and stats tomorrow.

The other good news is that we both appear to be able to tolerate toast! That's very good news for me as I was in need of some fiber. The whole grain white bread from Costco has 6 grams of fiber per slice, so that's great. More than one serving of the Benefiber! Things are once again "regular". Plus it's just nice to have some toast with peanut butter in the evening (have to get a little protein in there too!)

Our walking is going great - doing 1 mile 5 times/week at least. Today we'll probably try for a mile and a half. Man, and to think I used to get winded just going to the end of the cul-de-sac to get the mail!

3 week check-up

Tia and I had our 3 week post-op check up on Monday. Everything is great. Tia's infections are cleared up, our tiny tummy wounds area healing well and our energy levels are great.

Dr Lauter cleared us to begin eating solid food again! WooHoo! We still need to chew everything extensively and only little bites, but at least it's a start.

Our weight is only creeping down at this pont, which is kind of depressing. Believe it or not, it's because we're eating too little. On days that we eat more (700-800 calories) we actually lose better! The other challenge that has a dramatic effect on things is getting in all of our water in. It's mainly a timing thing, but also just getting used to always always drinking or eating.

The other big milestone is that we're up to walking a mile a day! That may not sound like much, but it's huge for us. Heck, I used to drive to the end of the cul de sac just to get the mail! Another side benefit of the walking is that it really helps with digestion after dinner.

Still no regrets at all. Unlike diets, we know this will work. It's just a matter of time. Tia, by the way, is looking great. You can really see her weight loss! We'll post some one month out pictures next week.

Stalls already?

What's up with that! Both Tia and I are stuck at 21 and 25 lbs down respectively and haven't moved in 3 or 4 days. From what I read, this is perfectly normal, although most people experience it around week 3 or 4 and we're 17 days out.

It's kind of demoralizing, but unlike regular diets, we know this has to work just because of the physical change in our bodies. I think our bodies are in shock from how little food they're getting and are holding on to every bit.

I've also noticed I'm not peeing much, so I'm really trying to up my water intake. It seemed to help yesterday. Man, this really takes effort and planning!

Still, neither Tia nor I have any regrets at all about the surgery. We know the weight will come off. Neither of us are especially patient people though. We want to post some "after" pictures NOW! :)

2 Weeks after

It's been 2 weeks since my surgery. As I stated in my last blog, my hospital experience was very good. Now comes the fun of trying to figure out HOW and WHEN to eat. Throughout my life it's always been, "only eat when you are hungry." Not so in this new WLS life. Now it's about timing, timing, timing.

For instance. This morning I woke at 6:15, got the child off to school by 7:00. My husband got up at 7:30 and was sweet enough to make me an egg for breakfast. It was almost one hour since waking that I finally ate. You may not think that is a long time, except when your body needs to eat every couple of hours and your last meal prior to breakfast was a snack around 9:30 the night before. So, do the math. That's 10 hours my body has been patiently waiting for it's next round of nourishment.

Now onto the emotional and physical side of things. My husband had a sentence in one of his blogs that stated, "if it wasn't for the 6 little incisions on my tummy, I'd never had known I had surgery." That rings true with me as well. My SURGERY and recovery afterwards have been a breeze. It's the other things that have me feeling less than 100%. Like the pneumonia I got while I was in the hospital. The fun of antibotics for the next 7 days. Please keep in mind that attempting to take the pill form of an antibotic right after surgery would be a terrible (TERRIBLE) mistake. So they prescribed me a liquid. Icky ca ca. I usually don't have a problem with medication, but everything I need to take at this point is liquid. I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think it's eating away the tastebuds. No matter how much I rinsed out my mouth after taking the meds, I could still taste it. GROSS!
But, I sucked it up, thought to myself, "Tia...this is about your heath. You HAVE to take this nasty tasting stuff. It's not an option. Pneumonia just doesn't go away, left untreated." And so I took it.
Now I find out I have a yeast infection and Thrush caused from taking the antibotics. Amazing how modern medicine works, huh? Starting later today (after getting the prescriptions filled) I get to start on a whole new regiment of things to get my outsides to feel as good as my insides. I KNOW I WILL GET THROUGH THIS. I KNOW I WILL GET THROUGH THIS.

I know you have read this a 100 times before, but even with the crap I am currently experiencing, I'd still go through with the surgery again without a doubt. Any woman can get a yeast infection from taking antibotics. Heck, my girlfriend told me she got one just today. So this, in my opinion, has nothing to do with the surgery itself. Do not be discouraged that little things can happen afterwards. It's a part of life, no matter what your situation is.

As for the weight loss....I have lost 20.6 pounds in 13 days. I can't complain about that at all. I am flabbergasted at the fact that after having this major surgery, I'm not taking 3-4 naps a day trying to recover. Heck, yesterday and (so far) today I've not had a nap at all. I can't imagine having Gastric Bypass Surgery in any other way but laparoscopically. The energy I feel, so soon after surgery is amazing. My husband and I used to talk about taking nightly walks. Now we do it. We started with a casual stroll, then added a little more distance. Now we are adding speed. I think next week we might have to add some more distance again. We have goals of riding bicycles together, riding horses (without the horses dying under our weight). I want to parasail with my daughter when we go to Maui. I couldn't do that the last time we went. I will not embarrass her or me again.

Well, I've talked my own ear off, so I will close this blog for not. I will post another entry soon. Stay tuned..............

Quick update

Here's a quick update as of Thursday, March 6th. Tia and I are doing well. Tia's pneumonia finally feems to be on the downside and she's breathing pretty well. Can take deep breaths without pain!

Me? This is very weird. If I didn't know better, I'd never know I had surgery. No pain, no problem getting around. Only six little scars on my tummy remind me that it actually happened.

Both of us seem to be tolerating all the food we eat. Tia, who used to be addicted to Propel, now finds it way too sweet. But other than that, no changes.

We're starting to get the eating/drinking routine down. It's very different from "normal" trying to plan everything out. I'm so used to eating when I'm hungry, drinking when I want, etc. But it's getting better, more of a reflex now.

This is definitely do-able. Oh, here are are stats: Mark down 21 lbs, Tia down 13.8! That's in 10 days!