DiminishingDawn

Week Two

2009-03-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

I'm now on week 2 of my get active campaign. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have this cold still hanging around. I started the Friday before our Spring Break (March 13th) so it's been a good two weeks that this cold has been hanging on. It's funny as it is really the first time since surgery that I've even been sick! I went to my doctors and got some glorified cough medicine and the typical "it's a virus...let it run its course" from her but at least the cough medicine has some nice codeine in it that has put me to sleep every night quite nicely.

The plan for Lisa and I and our training for the marathon is to do some walking on Monday and Thursday nights. I had to bow out of Thursday as I was feeling too haggard...but hope this week that we can do the twice a week thing! I'm ready and excited.

I walked to work and home almost every day this week other than when it rained so I managed to do a good two miles every day which has made me feel really good. It's amazing how much a walk can keep you focused and energized. Great for thinking about my day and reflecting upon situations especially when it comes to work issues! And bonus, I lost a few lbs last week :)

Dawn

Welcome Spring!

2009-03-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

Now that it is officially Spring, I am really looking forward to getting active again outside. During the Winter, I have to admit it - I was very sedentary. I am very out of shape right now compared to a year or two ago. I let work and the cold get in the way and hardly did any walking at all this Winter. Not getting active of course has allowed extra pounds to creep on - so I am looking forward to getting active outside again. I miss getting outside with my sunglasses on and going for incredibly long walks in the sunshine. I just hope that the weather will cooperate enough to get back on track! I can't wait for the sunny months ahead! Until then I resolve to get on my treadmill at least every other day for a half an hour. I also want to start walking back and forth to work again - I miss that too!

I have a lot under my belt right now to be honest. Lots going on! Report cards are due in a few weeks. I have a week of teaching and then will be a mentor to two student teachers for a month at work. I am still doing puppy kindergarten classes. Still training and dealing with a little puppy - who by the way is absolutely awesome - 100% housetrained and we've had her less than 2 months now! I want to also get back to the gym -- my gym membership has been sorely not used.

So here's my Spring goal:
1) Start walking to and from work again except for rainy or busy days
2) Lose some Winter weight
3) Start eliminating the junk food again - it is getting OUT of control
4) Getting hubby on track with HIS eating.
5) Start eating a hypoglycemic diet way

My friend Lisa have made it official. We have registered to participate in the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Being that both of us are not particularly sporty, we entered for the half marathon (13 miles) non competitive walk. That's a good one for us because we can walk or run depending on what level of fitness we reach come October 18th. That's good because we don't know where our exercise will take us.

Lisa has invited me to join her little running club. I guess she has a group of about five people who are starting to meet up to do some serious walking and to build up to running. One of the friends is a real marathoner and she'll be our "trainer". Apparently we are quite a group of walkers who are not really in that great of shape so we are all supposed to be a good match for one another. LOL! I ordered two books on amazon to get me motivated and will now have to think ahead to getting a passport since the marathon goes through both Detroit and Windsor and we have to walk/run over the bridge and through the tunnel. Sounds like it will be an adventure!

Dawn

Dawn

It's Official..

2009-03-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

It is official - I am confirmed as being hypoglycemic. The funny thing is that the two hour test usually isn't enough to confirm it as most people find that their reactive hypoglycemia takes longer to "kick in" - so often you have to go for the five hour test. But my doctor said that I'm pretty severe and so it totally was revealed through the two hour test. She said the usual stuff which I already knew - the small meal thing, watch simple carbs and of course, keep candies or juice around in the purse etc. All the stuff which I've read incessantly already. I just wanted it confirmed (I pretty much diagnosed it myself but wanted to medically confirm it before I put it into my MedicAlert information).

But I wonder how many people out there have it and don't know it? I see it all the time, post wls'ers complaining that some time certain foods make them tired and grumpy etc, etc. I'm going to make it my mission now in the wls community to make sure that people know about it as many don't seem to know. Thank goodness I have a diabetic husband around with a blood sugar monitor so that I could have found out what it was the first day I had a reaction. How many people wait and wait? I went down to 1.1 which could have easily have made me pass out or had a seizure. How many people will not know and have to deal with THAT? I knew of reactive hypoglycemia before I got it - how many people don't know? That's what I find is scary.

Running a support group that has probably hundreds of members by now, I have seen people with various levels of understanding and education on weight loss surgery. I hate to say it but there are a frightening amount of uneducated people. So I think this will be a story for me to tell at an upcoming meeting. It will be my story to tell and educate people.

Dawn

Complications

2009-03-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

If you are pre op and considering having weight loss surgery, I don't mean to scare you. This is the fact though that people need to deal with: more than likely every one at some time that has had a form of weight loss surgery is going to have complications down the road. This is reality and when you are reconfiguring your body and one of it's major processes, you need to realize that more than likely you are going to have issues down the road. If not now, probably later. It could be a year out, two years out, five years or more.

I really hate it when I see people online bragging about how they have had no complications because trust me, you pretty much have to expect it. Complications do not have to be a terrible, near death experience. A complication does not mean an issue that will be fatal - but rather you are going to have issues, deficiencies, problems that do crop up because you have permanently altered your digestive tract. I say this not to alarm anyone but rather to accept that fact, to be prepared for that fact and to be proactive.

If you feel exceptionally tired after surgery, get your bloodwork done. If you are dealing with constant nausea, call your surgeon. If anything at any point feels off or not right, call your surgeon. Expect bumps in the road. Be ready for them. Be positive.

I consider myself a pretty "lucky" case over all with my surgery and yet I've had complications too. While having surgery, I had an artery bleed that was repaired within a few minutes but made me lose more blood than an average person. Three months out, I became temporarily anemic. A year out, I developed osteopenia. Now I am pretty sure that I'm dealing with the latest in my complications as a post gastric wls.

It all began in February one night after dinner. For dinner, we'd had some cabbage rolls that we bought at the local church famous for the pierogies and cabbage roll dinners. The cabbage rolls were a let down mostly consisting of rice. About a half an hour later, I had some reisen's chocolate candies as a little dessert.

I was feeling funny the next hour. My eyes were bugging me so I took my contacts off and put my glasses on. After a while, I couldn't stand it and called hubby over and said that something was wrong. I was watching an episode of Friends and was getting really irritated because my eyes were playing tricks on me to the point that the people on the television had "no chins" (this has become a little laugh with my coworkers). I was very irritated and asked hubby if he could get his diabetes tester and test me because maybe I was having "dumping syndrome" or something.

When he took my reading, he was shocked. Rather than being high, I was crashing at 1.8 or something like that. He called his mother immediately (she deals with bloodsugar issues all the time) and she told him to give me some juice). Within a half an hour my bloodsugar was up to a normal reading of 8 or so.

I seem to be dealing with reactive hypoglycemia these days. My body is overproducing insulin when I eat sugary things and so it makes so much insulin that it brings my bloodsugars down but it brings them down TOO low. A few weeks ago, it got as low as 1.1. (Let's just say that I could have been having seizures or gone unconscious with that number).

I approached my doctor who made me go for testing. A test where you have to drink dextrose and then sit around for 2 hours. After about 15 minutes of drinking the stuff I started to faint in the waiting room....they had to put ice packs on me! I managed to sit for the two hours though after hubby came to monitor me after that incident. I'm waiting for the results back when I see my doctor on Tuesday ...but I pretty much feel that I know what I am dealing with after reading oodles about it.

So at 2 1/2 years out, yet another issue...but you know what. I can deal with it. I can deal with anything. I have always expected these things to crop up now and again so it's nothing that can devastate me. Still worth it a hundred times over.

Dawn

The Facts

2009-02-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

The Facts:

1. I do not do protein powders. There is no reason. I get more than enough protein through foods. I did do protein powders religiously throughout my first year but not now. They pretty much gross me out altogether now.
2. I can eat very normal amounts. A 6 inch subway sub is quite tasty and enjoyable. This is a normal amount of food. I can do a big mac or pretty much any burger. A happy meal is a nice treat now and then. I have it as a treat but try not to make it a habit.
3. If I really want to have something I will. Sometimes I indulge too much and need to smack myself up the head but nothing is off limits.
4. I do not feel deprived of anything. There is nothing off limits. I try and do moderation. I eat normal foods.
5. I need to get back to exercise. I feel more tired and blah without it but I've slacked off this year with being so busy. This is the reason for me having my bounceback I am sure. I miss exercise. I hate being lazy and sedentary. I want to get back to exercise. I really, really miss my walking.
6. I believe in supplements in moderation. I am glad I don't have a ton of vitamins to take every day. I am quite forgetful at times about this. I do think that vitamins are a necessity. I do not want to wait til I have deficiencies.
7. I've slacked off my water but have learned that much of the water thing is a myth so I'm not obsessed about it either.
8. The cold wintry weather sucks. I miss walking and can't wait until I can start my walks around the city again. I really do miss it...and spring!
9. Low carb products do not give you a free pass. I see too many people eating junkfood early out just because it is labeled "low carb". I think you should try to avoid the junk food early out. why set yourself up for trouble?
10. I don't go on the boards too often any more. I just get tired of some people's attitudes...but I still enjoy email :)

Dawn

Found an Old Picture

2009-01-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here's an oldie I found while going through my computer:

2009-01-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

Maggie: March 17, 2001 to January 6th, 2009

I know that this is extremely off topic but I have to post this. I feel like I must somehow pay a little tribute to the loved one that I lost yesterday. Maggie was our 7 1/2 furry child, golden retriever who was taken from us much too soon. Our world revolved around here. She was fiesty, smart, very comical, lovable, food obsessed, pool and swimming obsessed and just the bright spot of our lives.

A few days after Christmas she started with these spells of lethargy and what we almost thought was sadness. The first time it happened, she laid down in the backyard in the pouring rain refusing to move. She could barely lift her head. We took her to the vet only to have her recover in the waiting room and therefore, the vet couldn't see anything wrong with her as there were no obvious signs. We were sent home basically told that it would be "blind testing" as he couldn't see any physical signs of anything - no smoking gun.

The next time it happened, again she laid out in the snow this time, four days after the last episode, extremely tired and unable to move. Again, in an hour or two she was fine.

The last time it happened she could not snap out of it, and it lasted more than 12 hours. We brought her in, she was put on i.v. and they did literally test after test after test. The ultrasound finally showed that she had tumours in her spleen (and possibly other organs) called hemangiosarcoma. The prognosis was not good. Basically every episode she'd had previously was a tumour rupturing, her bleeding out and then somehow the blood stopped on its own. This time, she was just bleeding internally and it was not stopping. It is an extremely bad form of cancer for dogs - even with surgery the prognosis is something like 59 more days out the dog (while putting it through all the pain of surgery). It was so hard to make that decision yesterday but we had to put her down. It was not fair to her to make her go through the labour of surgery when in the end she'd at most get a few more days or weeks. If it was years, we would have done it in a heart beat...we would have extended our baby's life in a heartbeat.

We are in complete and utter mourning.

Dawn

Revelations

2009-01-03T06:45:00.000-08:00

One interesting facet of Weight Loss Surgery is that as you travel down that road, you'll make new realizations about yourself. You might discover new talents. You might find that fear has held you back from doing many things that you've wanted to do. You might even notice that your personality changes somewhat as you become more confident and assertive with others. Revelations are a big part of this surgery, unexpected as they might be some time. Along the way, I've made some revelations both positive and negative and I'm sure that you will too as you travel along your journey.

One revelation that I've made along my way is indeed a negative. It took me to have weight loss surgery to discover that I have an eating disorder, specifically that I am a binge eater. I always attributed my "eating binges" to being hungry but not knowing what I was "in the mood" for, not realizing that I will binge for other reasons. I guess this goes back to the emotional aspects of eating that typically got us in trouble. Once you have this surgery (or any form of Weight Loss Surgery) it is initially like you are starting life anew and this issues go away for quite some time but be sure that one day, they will indeed rear their ugly head again whether it be one year out, two years, three years...

Eating disorders rarely go away. They just sort of linger in the background ready to bounce like a Bengal tiger. Mine certainly have come back.

Certainly the binges are smaller - thank goodness for that - having a smaller capacity stomach is a relief at these times...but I get that feeling of spiralling out of control, grazing needlessly, trying to fill up something that's never quite full emotionally. The stressors are still there - food is still there. To combine this binge eating with lack of exercise and you can imagine, I've gained a few pounds. These pounds are much deserved. You'd be shocked at how much binging can be like it was pre-op when the need strikes. It's scary some time.

Ever since the holidays though I've been doing amazingly well. I'm actually quite shocked. The week before Christmas I lost a couple of pounds. I went into "debt" of pounds before Christmas and pretty much managed to maintain that debt throughout the holidays. I'm sort of amazed at myself because I definitely DID eat during the holidays including a WHOLE BOX of Russell Stover chocolates! I'm really thrilled that I managed to maintain the loss.

For about the last week, I've also gotten back onto my treadmill doing 2-5 miles a day, and I can't believe how much more confident and happier I feel going back to my old routine. I did 4 miles almost religiously my first two years out. I've let myself go with exercising, constantly complaining of how tired I am with work. I feel much better now that I'm getting my ass going. I've lost so much muscle that I'm bummed about it - I've gotten so lazy that I abhor it. But now getting back on the treadmill really gives me a sense of pride and power once again..and yes, the pounds are coming off.

I just hope that once I get back to work next week, I can keep it up rather than give into my tempation to be lazy! Wish me luck!

Dawn

A New Year

2008-12-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

It's almost time to bid adieu to the year 2008. Time to almost usher in 2009.

Every year we talk about New Years Resolutions. I'll tell you mine. I want to get back to being the fit athlete that I was in 2007. While I'm at a decent weight, I've found that I've gotten much to slack on myself with my exercise. The point of getting into exercise for me has not been about losing weight but about being healthy.

The statistics show that you can be a normal weight and not be healthy. I see people all the time at goal bragging about how they are at goal and don't need to exercise. It is very possible that you can be at your goal weight and have a heart attack or a stroke. Shocking but true.

Thin People Might Be Fat on the Inside

When I first started with my WLS journey, I was exercising like a mad woman. In the last year, I have really slipped off course and yes, I can tell that I have.

It's amazing how easily tired I can get now since I'm not as vigilant with myself as I should be. I feel "fat" again and am definitely a bit more lumpier and bumpier than I was a year ago. I am easily a lot more tired. I can barely do 2 miles on my treadmills on some days when before I could easily do 3-4 miles.

It's not that I'm getting "fat" but rather, that I'm getting "unfit" again. It transcends itself in most ways - especially in my perception of me. I feel fat again. I see in the mirror the old "fat me" because I feel like a bump on a log again.

So my goal for 2009 will be to get my butt back to the gym more often or in the last to do more treadmill work outs and hopefully, perhaps, get to jogging which I have been trying to do forever but have pretty much given up on.

Dawn

It is Wrong?

2008-12-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

Is it wrong of me to feel very, very frustrated when I see a poster on a board ask a basic question such as "What am I supposed to be eating right now" or "What is dumping?" as a new post op. I find it so incredibly frustrating that there seem to be so many people that have surgery and don't have a clue as a post op. I don't understand why they haven't made a point to educate themselves.

I see it all the time and I honestly have to quash the desire to say something weird or snippy. I feel such resentment about that and I don't know why. I feel like this surgery is a gift, but you also have to know what you are buying before you purchase the whole deal, you know? I find it frustrating, aggravating....

I find this perplexing to me because I love to help people as newbies. I love to explain things that they don't understand. I love sharing my story. But I do this for newbies - people researching the surgery. I don't expect to have to tell basic concepts of this surgery to people that have already been under the knife. They should know better.... I'm not trying to sound like I'm a know it all but wouldn't you think that they would know the basics of this surgery? I mean in a few odd cases it's because they didn't get any information from their surgeon, but goodness, wouldn't you have done SOME reading on the surgery and what it entails before actually going on the operating table? *sigh*

Frustrating as heck some times.

Dawn

The Holidays

2008-12-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

If you are still beating yourself up because you overindulged during the holidays, just stop it now. By far, most people that I've talked to whether WLS patients or not, struggle with the Christmas holidays. This is common for everyone so stop it already!

Media stories often suggest that the average person gains 7 to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And in surveys, people say they gain, on average, about five pounds this time of year.But several studies now show that the average weight gain during the winter holidays is just one pound.

Although the average gain is only one pound, people who are already overweight tend to gain a lot more. One study found that overweight people gained five pounds or more during the holidays.

That little line at the end was particularly interesting, don't you think?

The thing that I've noticed throughout the years, is that generally when I have a little blip in the radar such as holiday time where I might overindulge is that I can get back on track and right away the pounds drop off. The 'weight' that I gain is only temporary. So if you've gone up on the scale during the holidays, just turn yourself around and get back on program and more than likely the excess one or two pounds that you gained (or even five) will more than likely just fall off again within a matter of days. The quicker you turn yourself around, the better. Don't let a two day binge turn into a 2 month binge.

After any binge, just get back on track and refocused. Don't keep beating yourself up as you will only end up removing your sense of self esteem which will more than likely result in you binging yet again.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to your winning ways,

Dawn

Doctors

2008-12-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

At our support group meetings, we always end up talking about doctors. Mostly about how some people are stuck at a dead-end because they have an unsupportive doctor. So we share about who is good, who is supportive when it comes to weight loss surgery and who the top docs are in our area.

It's funny because I give out my name and phone number on flyers so inevitably I get calls from people about surgery. It's the negative part of running a support group because of course, it can be great to tell someone information to help them but also that your name and number can be given out too much.

Take one local doctor (well in Belle River, Ontario) which is close enough. He must be very supportive when it comes to wls surgery because he's actually giving my name out too much! First of all, either he or his secretary is passing around information that people can call me and I'll actually book their surgery! ha! ha! Okay, while I consider myself fairly knowledgable when it comes to the ins and outs of surgery and OHIP approval, I'm not actually knowledgable to perform the surgery itself! To top it off, both the ladies who have called me saying that they want to book surgery with me seem to be ESL and so communication is well, let's say, challenging to get them to understand that no I'm not a hospital, no - I'm not a doctor...blah blah... Although I find it amusing let's just say that hubby does not!

Today's phone call took the cake however. The lady is calling because she wants to have the surgery because she needs to lose 50 lbs. Okay, huh? Her doctor is telling her to have bariatric surgery to lose 50 lbs? I had her on the phone and we computed her bmi which was basically 30. Not even in the remotest way a candidate for surgery by any means. Not for out of country or in country for that matter. She's barely meeting obese criteria, never mind being morbidly obese. So she asks me what she should do. The only thing I could say was to talk to her doctor about methods that might be appropriate for her and that OHIP mentions in their bariatric report that Weight Watchers has one of the highest success rates.

I can't believe the doctor though would even put her in contact with me. It's unbelievable. I'm hoping to send this doctor a letter or find someone that has this doctor to let the office know the criteria and information about wls. While it's great that he's ready to refer patients he needs to know that I do not actually perform the surgery and that there are indeed criteria.

Dawn

Pictures

2008-12-11T03:54:00.000-08:00

More Christmas Party Pictures here.

This may shock you...

2008-12-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

That's me on the far right :)
Me in a Dress!!

It's a Small World

2008-11-25T04:05:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I received an email in my account for my local weight loss support group which I help to run (I started our local group). Anyway, the name was a familiar one and it ended up being my two former student's Mom! Talk about a small world. Anyway, I emailed her back and both she and her husband will be having weight loss surgery in the New Year! How exciting for the two of them. We have quite a few couples in our support group who have done surgery together. I only wish I could convince my hubby who has a thousand more health issues than I ever had...but *sigh* Oh well.

Anyway, that's kind of neat to run into a face from the past. It's funny how many people I've seen or have talked to in the group - one of my Mom's from last year is having surgery later this month I believe. A lady from the library where I worked for over 2 years has joined the group. It reminds me of the old adage of the six degrees of separation and makes me think of people in the past who I knew struggled with their weight. You just want to be an outreach and say, did you know that OHIP will pay for your surgery?

But it brings me to the point, that if you are a newbie, expect a struggle down the road. Weight loss surgery although it is a wonderful thing to help point you in the right direction is not an end to your weight loss struggle. I'm not saying this to dissuade you or to make you depressed - but realistically you need to know that the struggle will eventually come back. You will revert to old habits at some point, and you'll struggle with eating things that you shouldn't. If you were a binger before surgery, old habits die hard. A lot of people go for counselling after surgery because they struggle with inner demons. WLS is a help but not a cure for the triggers that got you eating in the first place. It's sort of like being an alcoholic - once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Use your tool wisely and make the most of your first year or two while the "window of opportunity" is there and weight is flying off you!

Dawn

Skin, Glorius Skin

2008-11-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

It is interesting to note how so many people run out for plastics after surgery. I think I am an exception to the rule. Plastics is just not something that I feel is a necessity for me. If I had an extra $8,000 lying around, I might very well jump at the chance to get some procedures done but I in no way feel the need to go out and run and get a tummy tuck, liposuction or my breasts done. If you wish to purchase any of these for me feel free to donate to my paypal account (although I will probably end up using this money for books, clothes and Lush! LOL!).

I have seen plastic surgery shows on television often enough to know how painful they are. Excrutiatingly so. Lori in my support group had surgery about a month ago and is now finally starting to say that she doesn't regret it -- so it must be something that is worth the pain...but I don't know. It seems like so much money and I just don't feel the need to save up or get a loan to pay for it as people often do. I guess it is just a matter of priority and for me it doesn't matter much.

Sure there are days that I hate my under arms. The hanging skin isn't very pretty and I definitely could use a pull here and there but it's nothing I really care to pursue at this time. I wonder how many people out there think like me - although I think far more are opting for tummy tucks and all than not. I think if I were to choose a procedure it would be a tummy tuck as that's my bone of contention - our bellies are never flat enough. You could not in a million years ever convince me to do a breast enhancement. Never. Even though I've deflated from a DD to a B, there is no way in heck I would put anything foreign into my body like that. The thought of it just grosses me out. Funny how we all have our differences that way.

So well, are you going to take the plunge and do plastics, my friends?

Dawn

Day Off

2008-11-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

I took the day off yesterday. I needed it badly. It was what I call a "mental health day". I am totally, absolutely exhausted right now. I just want to sleep my life away. Of course, with that, I am eating really awfully and not exercising. It's a combination of a lot of things in my life right now which lead me to get quite overwhelmed at times. You know how it is, changes at work, financial issues, working hard at your job, trying to keep up a house, pets and the like. Thank goodness I don't have any children of my own as they'd be sadly neglected right now.

I took the day off and well sort of relaxed. I slept in which was really a nice treat! I slept in until almost 9 oclock which is quite amazing for me really! I did some school planning. It was funny because hubby came into my room shaking his head at me, "You took the day off to do school work he asked?". Yes, as sad as it is. I'm feeling incredibly unorganized right now and I have Parent-Teacher interviews coming up and a Student Teacher coming to observe so I'd like to feel a little less....scattered.

I am so feel so tired and overwhelmed lately that I'm doing really dumb things. I'm forgetting appointments, I threw the kitchen sink stopper in the garbage, ..that kind of stuff. Weird for me. And I'm feeling sooooo tired.

Then it hit me, I grabbed my bloodwork from early September. I looked at my levels again, and saw how I was borderline anemic yet again. All my ranges were in the normal range but right at the border of normal. Then I thought.....well in September, my cycle went nuts and I had a full month plus of a cycle. It made me think about the loss and I'm willing to bet that it sent my iron levels down again and I bet that I'm anemic yet again. So I've decided to get back on an iron supplement. If this doesn't do the trick, I'll get my labs done yet again.

I hope this feeling can go away. I'm just so tired. I'm hardly on the computer. Just in front of the television lately, wanting to rest or taking a nap. Hardly the good life of a 38 year old lady. Let's hope this iron thing resolves itself and I feel better in a few weeks. I think last time it took me a good 3-4 weeks to feel better. Fingers crossed.

Dawn

2008-11-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

If you don't know who EggFace is - this is my chance to let you know on a great place to find post-op WLS recipes. EggFace is a poster on obesityhelp who is known for her post op WLS recipes. She had roux en y surgery I believe a few years ago and is a chef. So she's prepared some very friendly post WLS recipes.

Now you don't want to rush out and start making all her sweets recipes right away. As a new post op you still want to limit the 'treats' since they will slow your weight loss down, but she has some very family friendly casseroles and the like on her page.

To be quite honest, when it comes to cooking, I'm really not all that great - and I fuddle mostly with recipes on my favourite site allrecipes.com since sugar is not a big worry for me and all. But three of my absolute favourite recipes are from EggFace and I want to share them with you:

Baked Ricotta

8 oz of Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 large Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup Marinara Sauce
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Mix ricotta cheese, parmesan, beaten egg,
seasonings together and place in a oven
proof dish. Pour marinara on top and top
with mozzarella cheese. Bake it in the oven
@ 450 for about 20-25 minutes (best) or
nuke it till hot and bubbly. I usually make it
first in the oven and heated the leftovers in
the microwave.

Cottage
Cheese
Pancakes

1/2 cup Cottage Cheese
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Flour

Whiz in mini food processor. Spray pan
with non-stick spray. Cook on low till
bubbles appear, flip. Cook till done. Makes
4 small pancakes or 8 silver dollar size.

These are very tender pancakes so smaller
is better for flipping. They won't get any
style points but they taste great. Oodles of
protein too.

Breakfast Bites
(I do them for dinner too!)

5 Eggs
1 cup Shredded Cheese
A mixture of any meats/veggies I’m
craving.(Typically mushrooms, green
peppers, onions, diced tomatoes).

Preheat oven to 350 F. Saute veggies until
golden. Mix all ingredients together. Be
sure veggies and meat mixture has cooled
slightly before adding to egg mixture.
Spoon (I use a small ice cream scoop) into
lightly greased mini muffin tin. Bake for 30
minutes or until centers are firm. Makes 24.

Dawn

Preventing Crash and Burn: Supplementation

2008-11-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

At our last meeting, the inevitable questions of supplementation came up - what vitamins do you take? Why? What does your surgeon suggest? How often are you getting your bloodwork done?

There is no hardcore answer to supplementation. You will hear a wide range of philosophies at each meeting. There is no hardcore truth here I will tell you that - opinions are all opinions and different people with different levels of expertise will answer that for you. So what do you do? What do you go by? Hard to know.

I will tell you about my philosophy and why I have that philosophy. The main thing is that with whatever approach you take - to supplement or not to supplement - that you find research to back up your thoughts (don't base it on the opinion of others who may not know wls needs) and that you are at "peace" with your decision. You are the one that will be living with the results of whatever your choice is.

For me, I've banned myself from Flintstones. I supplement religiously with calcium, vitamin d, and b-12. I take iron when I'm dragging. I wish I'd did that right away as a post op - because guess what? I was deficient and feeling tired and without energy totally sucked. Wish I would have prevented that rather than have had to supplement after and fix the problem. I don't want to "fix a problem". I want to prevent a problem.

I read and I research a lot. Talking with others that have a "no supplementation" philosophy, I've found that is generally because they are counting on their general practioners for advice. We all know that doctors don't know diddly squat about weight loss surgery! The wait and see mentality is not good for bariatric patients. We need to be proactive about everything as we can have a tendency to crash and burn very easily.

One great article to read (I've posted to a website that contains it but yes it is a medical study - just posted on this website that makes it easier to read).

Great Article to Read

Info For Pharmacists: Another Interesting Read

Do you know that you can have severe neurological impairment with this surgery? You need to research those studies. Even a basic multivitamin is not enough and yet, there are people who still swear by Flintstones. Please at the very least do your research on the topic so that you are at peace with whatever your decision is about supplementation - but you need to know and you need to research. And yes, if you are researching go by medical journals - hardcore studies and NOT by word of mouth. You are an adult. At least take adult vitamins if you are not going to supplement anythng else...but I do suggest that you read, read and read about nutritional deficiencies - they are very real and very scary.

I do not believe and wait and see. I do not believe in waiting until problems happen to take action. There was talk about letting your bloodwork tell you what I need. You need to know this my friend: your blood panel that you are doing is probably not complete. If you've gotten your bloodwork done and have never paid money out of pocket - guess what? You have not gotten a full blood panel done.

Your doctor probably does not know that you should be getting tested for thiamine - B1. It is a very common nutritional deficiency as a post op patient. Many people do not know this. After a year out, I would suggest seeing an Endocrinologist who will know more tests to do for you and yes, you may pay out of pocket for this but it is totally worth it to have more piece of mind.

The other fear with waiting until a deficiency is in your bloodwork is that deficits can happen almost over night - you can plummet very fast. There are certain "givens" with this surgery and b-12 is one of them. You no longer have the part of the stomach that manufactures b-12 - yet many surgeons do not suggest supplementation. I recently read of someone who crashed her b-12 levels in half and went from feeling fine to hospitalization practically over night. Personally, I don't want to crash and burn.

An article titled, Don’t Forget Multivitamins After Weight Loss Surgery tells the story:

The 27-year-old woman attended hospital with a three-week history of dizziness, low-appetite, and vomiting, having had uncomplicated gastric bypass surgery two months earlier at University College Hospital (UCH) London.

Upon discharge after her weight-loss surgery, she was prescribed the standard treatments of multivitamins and lansoprazole - a drug which prevents the stomach producing acid, according to a release of UCH. The report was published in this week’s edition of The Lancet.

Upon examination, she had rapid heartbeat and dehydration, and was provisionally diagnosed with gastric outflow obstruction; but an endoscopy revealed nothing of note.

Since the surgery the woman had lost nearly 20 kg, and blood tests gave results consistent with dehydration. She was given intravenous fluids, including glucose, and also drank high-sugar energy drinks.

The next day, she felt light headed and collapsed in the shower, and had extremely low blood pressure. Further tests revealed abnormal eye movements, hyper-reflexia in her arms, weakness of the thighs, and reduced touch sensation - all of which led to the diagnosis of thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency.

Intravenous administration of thiamine began, and the patient made a full recovery. She admitted that she had not been taking her multivitamins.

Following gastric bypass surgery, vitamin supplements are necessary to make up the shortage of vitamins entering the body through food intake. Total body thiamine stores last 18-60 days, and deficiency can cause wet beriberi (cardiovascular problems), dry beriberi (nervous system problems) or Wernicke’s encephalopathy (an acute neurological disorder characterised by eye movement problems).

The woman had symptoms of all these three conditions.

Oh and if you think that only early out you are at risk of having nutritional deficiencies, think again. Many of them happen after 2-5 years out.
Dawn

Tracking Your Weight Loss

2008-11-09T06:33:00.000-08:00

Writing things down is one of the most successful habits that you'll ever have in terms of your weight loss. I started the day I got home from surgery and still track when I am watching what I eat, wishing to drop off a few pounds.

I suggest that all newbies buy themselves a really nice book to track in for post op life. Indulge and go to Chapters or Staples or any store really and find a cutsie little book or a nice leather bound planner - whatever floats your boat. Use this to track your eating every day, protein intake, exercise done and water intake. You can even write down your vitamins, moods, and the like. You may or may not want to write your weight down - I did and I think it would benefit me to see how the natural fluctuations go. If you become too obsessed then no it is not a good idea and I would avoid that other than to write in your weight once a week.

Writing things down is important because:

1) You can begin to see patterns in your weight loss. Want to know what food caused you to gain a pound over night? You'll see it there. You'll see the fluctuations in your weight.
2) You can keep track of foods that didn't work for you - intolerances. You can see common threads that may have made you dump or have the foamies.
3) It keeps you accountable for everything you put in your mouth.
4) Had a great week last week but didn't do so well last week? Compare the two weeks and see if there is a thread that you notice. Did you have too many carbs last week? Too many snacks. Read!
5) It keeps you accountable towards your goals. You might not reach your protein and water goals early out - but you'll keep bumping up the numbers every day.

I still have my book from my first year out. I am going to keep it forever I swear! It's a great recount of what I ate my first year, imperfections and all. I can easily show it to anyone who might ask "what did you eat your first year out?".

I find when my eating gets crappy, I don't write things down. See what I mean about keeping yourself accountable? You won't be perfect all the time... but at least if you write it down you will be honest in your recount of what you ate that day, or week, or month for that matter. Journaling your intake is a very successful habit.

While browsing the Barix website I found some food intake logs that also look interesting. If a journal is not the way to do and you want something more absolute and in stone, the logs there are wonderful. Please note that early post op you generally don't worry about calories too much so these might not be for those early out but are a good resource after your first 6 months on.

Dawn

Meeting, November 4th, 2008

2008-11-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Our meeting this month was not as originally planned. Originally we were going to have a Guest Speaker. After Teresa played a bit of phone tag with the orginal speaker, a new idea was born - to have members speak about their weight loss surgery experiences instead.

Sometimes the best laid plans don't work out...but what you end up with is something even better and that was the case I think this month. If you didn't get out to our November 2008 meeting it was truly a shame as this meeting could have saved your life. I'll recap though and perhaps help you know more about some pretty significant issues in the life of post WSL'ers.

And for those of you who I'm quoting, I'll do my best as I didn't actually write anything down on paper and am actually going by my recall - and well, let's just say my mind is a terrible thing to waste! LOL! If you can correct me, please do so in the comments as my memory is definitely not as it used to be after suffering from CRS!

The first speaker was our lovely Kim. Kim was about 9 months out of surgery when she started to feel some pretty horrible pain on her side (I think she said it was her right side) and it was up around the breast bone area - maybe a little lower. She didn't think too much of it at first but after it got to be pretty bad, her co-workers convinced her to go to the hospital to get it checked out. When they checked her out, they seemed to chalk it up to her gallbladder and let her go with some pain meds. No biggie apparently to the doctors there. This was after of course, they made it perfectly clear to her that they really didn't want to touch her much being a post WSLer...and why would they actually talk to her surgeon in the States.

After going home, the pain started to get worse and she started vomitting quite a bit. It was my understanding that it was green and although it wasn't said, I believe she was vomiting bile from the sounds of it. She went back to the hospital. They dilly dallied over tests and Kim I believe had to wait about 5-6 days until the appropriate test was done. They still would not contact her surgeon.

Eventually the test came back that she had a bowel obstruction. They finally contacted the surgeon and whisked her off to Henry Ford for life saving surgery to untwist her bowels. A few more days here in Canada doing nothing and she could have died. Her husband made a point of getting the doctors in Canada in contact with her surgeon in the States. That made all the difference.

A bowel obstruction is likely to happen to you if you have ANY kind of surgery done laproscopically and can happen at any time. Usually scar tissue from previous surgeries or the body's attempt at healing itself is the problem. The scar tissue gets in the way of the bowels and they twist around inside. Circulation gets cut off somewhere in the intestines and an obstruction occurs. The probability of it happening is around 10%.

The next speaker was a wonderful lady named Denise. At a few days out, Denise started having bleeding. It basically was coming from her bottom and was scaring her. She went to the hospital to get it checked out and the doctor there immediately said he wanted to put a scope into her and see where the bleeding was coming from. Okay as an WLS'er it wouldn't be so bad usually - you can get a scope as it is a camera that can help them see inside you...but this lady was only about one week out or less..which means of course, that the stomach was itsy bitsy and could be easily punctured (getting it done at a year out would be completely different of course). The Windsor doctor was quite arrogant that this was the only thing he could do and Denise actually fought with him and begged him to call her surgeon. He would not. "Why would any person go over to the States for surgery and then expect Canadian doctors to fix them up?" was again the attitude displayed at a Windsor hospital.

Well Denise refused the scope. She also called her surgeon who was more than willing to talk to the Canadian doctor if the Canadian doctor called HIM of course.

Eventually Denise found a young doctor, an internist, who actually listened to her and called her surgeon. They realized it was probably a blood clotting issue - that a medication might be interferring with the Heparin she was taking - therefore she wasn't clotting right. They decided to take her off her blood thinner and see if the "leak" resolved itself. It did and she was fine, needing nothing more than coming off of her medication.

The point with these two ladies is that after surgery, you need to be an advocate for yourself. YOU NEED TO KNOW the state of your innerds. You need to know what you can and cannot do, what you can and cannot have in terms of treatment and medications.

I made the point that with every medication my doctor prescribes I always say "That's not an NSAID, is it?" to remind her. I know how busy doctor's are and I cannot assume that she's remembering my no NSAID rule. The point is not to scare you as a newbie. It's not to make you worry - but it is to make sure that you are not one of these people who gets out of surgery and doesn't even know what surgery they had. You need to know. Doctor's are not necessarily going to know for you.

You MUST be an advocate for yourself. You must surround yourself with the knowledge of everything related to your surgery. You must research and you must be informed.

The last speaker was our own lovely Lori. You might remember that at the last meeting she was looking a little slow to get around because she had surgery. Lori was over a year out and had a hernia removal (a common issue with those of you that have surgery done Open) and she had a tummy tuck at the same time. At last month's meeting, you might remember that for the world you could not have convinced Lori that the tummy tuck was ever going to be something that she would have ever been grateful for. She did remind us that it was nothing pain wise compared to her roux en y. Plastics hurts people. She was in pain for quite some time. Is she making peace with her surgery? Yes, she's starting to have less and less regrets and the swelling is now going down. But she wanted to remind everyone that plastics is not something to be taken lightly and that OHIP will not be paying for your tummy tuck on a silver platter. She paid out of pocket and I think she's finally feeling like with each passing day, she's getting her moneys worth.

We'll see you again at the January meeting. The first Tuesday of the month as usual. There will be no December meeting.

Tickets are on sale however for the Christmas party to be held at the Ciociaro Club on Tuesday December 2nd. Contact me for info or email/call Michelle directly for tickets.

Dawn