Me and the New U Program

The first meeting I went to for the New U Program was in August of 2004. Dr. Liljenquist, my diabetes doctor had told me that Medicare now paid for gastric by pass surgery and that I should look into it. He asked me if I could imagine myself 100 lbs lighter. I told him "No, because I had weighed 100 lbs. when I was 9 years old and I weighed 133 lbs. when I graduated from high school and I have no inkling of when I was between those two weights. I weighed 138 lbs. when I was married. The first meeting was a seminar that explained the program and the things, health issues, it could help. I found out that they have monthly support group meetings and I have attended each one since then starting in October, 2004. I saw my surgeon, Dr. Baird, in January and told him that altho' I hadn't gotten a definite yes to go ahead with it I hadn't gotten a definite no either. He told me to come back when I got that definite yes. Dr; Lijuenquist had told me to pray about it. I had been for many months by this time. Both my mother and mother-in-law were very much against this surgery. They had known people with bad experiences with it or had gained all of their weight back plus more. I wasn't going to tell anyone I was thinking about it but my sweet husband couldn't hold it in for some reason. After he told his mother about it, I decided I might as well tell mine too.

Sometime during the middle to the end of January, 2005, I was trying to settle down and get comfortable in bed. My clothes were tight and binding and twisted around my body. It was so hard for me to turn in bed and get comfortable. I tho't how much longer am I going to have to go thro' this. The tho't immediately entered my mind, "You know what you can do about it." It started me then I tho't is that my answer? My heart started to pound and was wired as they say. I couldn't go to sleep or settle down at all. I prayed some more and came to the conclusion that yes, it was my answer. Ater a couple of weeks I called Dr. Baird's office and made an appointment to see him again. He said that I couldn't be scheduled before March 14.

I weighed in at 221 lbs. on March 10. My BMI(body mass index) was 40.4, fat % 50.9%, fat mass 112.5 lbs.,fat free mass (FFM)108.5 lbs. total body water (TBW) 79.5 lbs. My height being only 5'2" I was almost square! On March 13, I started coming down with a cold and ended up with the crude. I coughed for two weeks! My surgery was postponed until March 20. I had two rounds of antibiotics in order to get rid of that crude and cough. I didn't go to church or anywhere. I was miserable but very glad that hadn't had the surgery. (This keeps going in and out of italics without provocation! and I don't understand it.) On the morning of my surgery I weighed in at 216 lbs. So I had lost 5 lbs in the past almost three weeks. I was thrilled. The next morning after my surgery, I weighed 14 lbs more!! and it really startled me. I expected to weigh a little more because I knew that they filled you full of IV fluid but 14 lbs.! Of course I lost that part very quickly. At our first breakfast I weighed in at 203.5lbs. BMI 37.2, fat % 52.0% (?), fat mass 106 lbs. FFM 97.5lbs. TBW 71.5lbs. So I had gone from 240 lbs. down to 213 in one week! I was encouraged. All I could eat that very first week was sugar free jello, 2 TBS. and 2 TBS. of chicken broth three times a day. And try to get in 8 cups of water during my waking hours a couple swollows at a time. That's all I could tolerate at that time. I was to take at least 20 minutes to eat each meal. I had started walking the halls of the hospital the day after surgery. We were to walk every two hours as far as we could. And use our incentive spirometer every hour. That did keep us busy. I sat up from breakfast on until it was time to go to bed at night. After going home I walked outside a couple houses down and back then increased it a house or so each day. The Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after surgery I didn't walk tho'. I was getting very weak After our First Breakfast (we met with the dietician of the program and talked about what we could eat and not eat and what to expect.) we were able to incorporate protein in our diet and I almost immediately got stronger. I was surprised that I didn't get really hungry. I ate my meals about four hours apart. And contiually tried to remember to drink water, crystal light, V-8 juice or something like that. The V-8 juice I was able to start drinking right after our first breakfast. That V-8 juice tasted almost like heaven. It was so good!