Link to the photos and report of my abdominoplasty performed this week

For the moment I am just posting photos and a brief summary of my abdominoplasty this week.

Please look at my other blog for the photos and report.

http://livingin22.blogspot.fr/2013_09_15_archive.html

Two years and five weeks post op - Skin Removal

The two year anniversary of my mini gastric bypass went unmentioned and I guess this shows how used now I am to being slimmer.  It is no longer something I think about every day.  My weight has been stable since September last year and I now weigh 71.5 kilos and hover between 70.5 and 72.5 kilos on a week to week basis.

Now it's finally time to have the excess skin on my abdomen removed.  The plot is to do this op removing the skin in a way which will result in a very large upside down T shaped scar.

I am not looking forward to the operation as I am very worried about healing such large incisions but have to try and be positive.  I will enter the hospital on Sunday, 8 September and have the operation on the following day.  Dr David Lechaux, who did my bypass, will be my surgeon and this will be the third time he's operated on me so I have complete confidence in him.

I'll post again after the operation.

Bladder repair operation - TVT - 23 April 2013

I meant to post before about my bladder op which I had on 23 April and which was performed by Dr R Braguet. 

Everything went smoothly and I had just two nights in Clinic du Littoral before being allowed homes after two separate scans of my bladder to check that it was emptying completely, which it was. 

I had been suffering from stress and urge incontinence since the births of my three children – all of which were difficult.  I did have a bladder repair, involving lifting and sewing the bladder into its new position, in 1988, nine months after my daughter was born but it was unsuccessful.

This time they inserted a Tension-free Vaginal Tape (TVT) which lifts and supports the urethra.  There was the possibility that even if it alleviated the stress incontinence it might worsen the urge incontinence.  I am happy to report that both conditions appear to have been completely cured.  For the first time in the thirty years since I had my first baby I am totally dry and have finally got the confidence to live life without any protection whatsoever. 
 

So, with the mini gastric bypass and my TVT incontinence operation, life has changed radically for me for the better.  Brilliant!

 

 

One year and forty-five weeks post op - skin removal and folic acid

At the end of last week I received a letter from the Service de Control Medical. This was asking me to attend a meeting with a Doctor Spinelli of the Health Service here to ensure that the operation to remove the spare skin on my abdomen was a necessary one.  I had to take photo identification and details of my mini gastric bypass.  I was surprised how nervous I was.  Dr Lechaux had told me before the bypass that I would get this skin removed without paying but, clearly this was not rubber stamp job. 

I found the building easily with the aid of TomTom and there was loads of parking available.  My appointment was not until 14.00hrs but I arrived at 13.30hrs as I hate being late and also thought that if I arrived during the French two hour lunch break I was more likely to find a parking place.  Parking was free too as is usual here in France.  I checked in with Reception and read my book in the waiting area for about 15 minutes completely alone when Dr Spinelli arrived and called me in early.

He asked me about my operation date, weight then and now etc. and asked me to show him my stomach skin.  I had to take my jacket off and when he had seen my excess skin he said that it was not a problem and it would be dealt with without me paying and the same for my arms.  My breasts, however, I would have to pay for if I wanted them done.  Really it’s only my arms and stomach which bother me.  He said I would get it done at Rennes, but I explained that Dr Lechaux had said he wanted to do my stomach skin himself.  I have an appointment at Rennes with Dr S Aillet for my arms and breasts.  

So a good result for me.  He was a very pleasant chap and it was nothing for me to have been nervous about.

Three weeks ago I was left an answerphone message from my GP asking me to collect a prescription for folic acid.  She wasn't around to talk to so I didn't know why, but I see from the product leaflet that it is recommended for malabsorption of food etc so I presume that the answer.  My diarrhoea has changed and the frequency has decreased so I think it was a good call.

My weight remains stable.  I hover between 69.5kgs and 72.5kgs.  This morning I was 71.9kgs.  It's now been stable at this point for eight months so I am very happy with this.

I have a friend going in for her bariatric surgery a fortnight today, with Dr Lechaux at Yves le Foll.  I’m sure everything will go well for her and I’m glad she’s been able to take advantage of this surgery – it will change her life.

Three things I like:

1.   Being able to bend down and garden again.

2.   Running down the lane when I got caught in the rain.

3.   Going through a turnstile entrance without thinking about it

One year and thirty-one weeks tomorrow post op

It's the most beautiful sunny morning here after so much rain for the last months.  It's so lovely to feel the sun eating into my back and the general warmth and brightness.  It was a hard, very hard frost last night but it didn't seem to take long for the sunshine to work it's magic and melt it all away.   After I'd done the animals I went to a healing session for my neck and then onto the physiotherapist - belt and braces!  On the way back from Bourbriac I parked by the patisserie and came home to sit in the sun and have

a gorgeous almond crossant and a mug of sweet, black coffee.

I weighed in this morning at 69.5kgs/153.2lbs/marginally under 11stone.  I have been in the 69.5-72.5kgs range for months now and feel this is where I will stay unless I have excess skin removed at some point.  I am more than happy at this weight and, as I don't have a partner so no-one really sees my body except me, I'm not sure the excess skin is a real problem.

I now eat pretty much what I want to when I want to.  Sometimes I can't manage the whole plate of food I have given myself.  I push the plate away and then have another go about ten minutes and a microwave flash later.  I suppose I should really stop after the first attempt when I have finish half the plate, but as I am not gaining weight I don't see the need to do that.

I am still finding things which I can now do which I couldn't do before and that's always good, just as it is when I meet friends who haven't seen me since my weight loss and are dumbfounded at my new size, complete with sharp intake of breath and hand up to the mouth before saying Oh My God!    

I have now turfed out more of my fat clothes having realised I am never, never, never going to need them again.  I am a hoarder by nature so it has not been easy to get rid of anything!  I do though need the space to put all my smaller clothes which I really enjoy buying from the normal size rails and trying on to find they fit. 

Some difference between the "then" and the "now" photographs!

I thank Dr Lechaux in my head every day for doing my operation because without it I would still be disabled and missing out on life.  

The diarrhoea has calmed down.  It hasn't totally gone but no longer rules my life and I am confident leaving the house for the day.  

Life is good!

Exactly, one and a half years post op

It's been so long since I've posted, but as it's now exactly one and a half years since my mini gastric bypass I thought I ought to do an update.  These are both photos of me in December 2012.

 

I seem to have stablilised at 70 kgs/11stones/154 lbs and I'm very happy with this weight. I visited my lung specialist in the latter half of last year and was able to lose my oxygen machine.  In December I had an overnight sleep apnoea test.  The results showed that I could return my night time breathing machine and sleep without it in future.  I can't tell you how pleased I am about this. 

 

In November I went into Clinic du Littoral and had the large vein in my right leg removed along with some smaller veins in my right calf.  The operation went well.  

 

I may be having an operation this year to hoick up my bladder, but having visited the surgeon last Thursday, we are going to try two drugs and some bladder reeducation for three months to see if that will do the trick.

 

Immediately before Christmas, I decided I would not go ahead with the revision to the bypass which had been rescheduled by the surgeon for 17 January 2013. I have not been able to get my head round having the operation and apparently it carries possible complications. Bizarrely, since I have made the decision my diarrhoea has been much better. In fact, during the last three days it has not really been diarrhoea. The definition of diarrhoea is "the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day". For the last three days I have only had one movement in the morning. I feel vindicated in my decision not to have the revision, though why it should suddenly have improved after eighteen months I have no idea.

On the left, here I am early on Christmas Day 2012.  I'm in scruff clothes as I was just about to go to the field to do the animals.  On the right, it shows me at Christmas twelve months ago.

I am now able to shop from women's rails instead of men's which is a novelty!  While back in Cornwall during the first week of January I bought three swimmers from the normal rails and it was good.

My lung specialist asked me to talk to another of her patients who wants to have a mini gastric bypass.  J came over to see me a few weeks before Christmas and she is currently seeing all the professionals who will make the decision about whether she can go ahead with the operation.  She is very positive and I am sure that she will make an ideal candidate.  I look forward to doing anything I can to make it easier for her.

I never dared dream eighteen months ago that I would have had this transformation - it has changed my life in every possible way.

 

One year and sixteen weeks post operation

Yesterday morning I had an appointment with Dr Lechaux to discuss the revision of my bypass.  This will reduce the bypass length from 2 metres to 1 metre and hopefully mean that I will absorb more food instead of it rushing straight through me.

 

He gave me a date of 23 January for going into Yves le Foll hospital, with the operation taking place at 14.00hrs the following day.  He then offered me an earlier date at the beginning of January, but I said I'd stick with the first date he suggested.  He said I must start taking the vitamins I am supposed to take daily for the rest of my life as he wanted me to be in tip top condition so that the intestine will heal well and not leak in anyway. 

 

He said that it would be a seven day stay in hospital which is longer than it was for the bypass itself.  He knows I hate it in hospital and said he'd see how I was and may let me home earlier but they do need to know that there is no leakage.

 

He thinks that it will not be necessary to go through the liquid, then purée regime before embarking on "proper" food again, as my stomach will not be operated on.  We shall have to see how things go. 

 

I have to see the anaethestist on 7 January and this time he has given me a devi for my insurance company which is weird as I haven't had problems with them paying on invoice the last three operations I've had.

 

He asked if it didn't work would I want a complete reversal and I said definitely not.  I would prefer to have diarrhoea for life than have the possibility of getting fat again.  Perish the thought!

 

So - I am not exactly looking forward to it - in fact I am worried as usual about another operation, but feel I do have to give it a go.  Fingers crossed.

 

 

One year and fifteen weeks post operaton

No change this week in my weight, which is good news. 

 

I have had some lovely food this week too.  I was out to lunch on Sunday with an Australian friend and then on Monday had home made beef casserole when a friend came to lunch followed by a fruit crumble which he brought with him with whole cream poured over. 

 

Today I have eaten one of the two rabbit pies with puff pastry which I made this afternoon - I haven't eaten rabbit for years and it was absolutely delicious.  With the little piece of puff pastry left over I made a small raspberry jam filled tart, which was also very good with cream.

 

This damp and grey weather we have been having lately makes me dream of casseroles and pastry covered pies.  I feel as if I need something sturdy and hot to keep me going through the day. 

 

I have though also had salad and on Saturday I bought a crab which was cooked for me by the fishmonger while I did the rest of my shopping.  I mixed a third of it with Hellman's mayo and chilli paste and had it with salad from my polytunnel and lovely fresh French bread.

 

A friend gave me a large portion of pumpkin which I shall be turning into soup after roasting it with garlic, onions, carrots and sage.  I do like to add cream too, but obviously I don't have to.  While I am trying not to lose more weight luckily I can indulge myself in these treats which will have to be more restricted after my revision.

One year and fourteen weeks post operation

I weighed in this morning at 71.5kgs/157½lbs/11st3½lbs, so am remaining pretty much the same at the moment, but I am eating a lot of food.  I am always ready for something to eat, presumably because the diarrhoea is rushing the food I eat through me and it doesn't satisfy me.  Hopefully when I have the bypass revision this will no longer be the case.

 

I saw the vasculaire surgeon yesterday and he has booked me in for removing the large vein in my right leg along with some small ones for 23 November.  I will have to wear support stockings for three weeks and walk for a minimum of half an hour a day from the day after the operation.  A nurse will come to the house daily for a few weeks to give me anti-coagulant jabs.  Hopefully it will all go well. 

 

At the beginning of October I went back to Cornwall for a week and seemed to spend a lot of it eating out; the first three days saw me lunching in three different restaurants and my last lunch in England was spent at a riverside restaurant.  I rarely eat out here in Brittany, so it was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it all.  As well as seeing the family, I visited a few friends and my old surgery where the staff were surprised and pleased, once they recognised me, to find how much weight I'd lost.  It still amazes me that people don't recognise me in this new shape.

 

Shopping for clothes was interesting with having to buy smaller sizes than when in England in July and I even got properly measured for a bra in M&S.  It's strange not knowing what size I am when I start shopping, though I seem to be mainly size 16 in tops, sometimes 14 and size 18 in the two pairs of trousers which I bought. 

 

One really good thing - I managed to get my sewing machine mended while I was in Cornwall and will now be able to alter clothes that I want to keep but which are currently too large.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One year and ten weeks post op

There has been something of a breakthrough in my post op life during the last two weeks.

 

Diarrhoea was still present and on Wednesday last week I saw my dietician at St Brieuc.  She weighed me in at 71.5kgs - the same as my home scales.  She was happy with my food diary - I have to complete the diary for a week before I see her - and that I was now including pretty much everything in my diet.  She wasn't happy with my continuing diarrhoea and suggested that I didn't wait for my appointment with Dr Lechaux in December, but see him before that.  She asked what I was drinking.  I explained again that I had a refrigerator which dispensed ice and chilled water.  She said that she thought that the very cold water I was drinking might be the problem.  I haven't drunk water with ice since, but have had the chilled water.

 

Before I left the hospital I popped into see Dr Lechaux's secretary and she said she would get him to 'phone me. He did 'phone and asked if I would email Dr Robert Rutledge, a mini gastric bypass surgeon in Nevada, USA, who has done more than 5000 of these operations, to see if he had a possible solution to my diarrhoea.  I emailed Dr Rutledge and heard back immediately from him suggesting a revision of the bypass.  I wrote back, worried, asking if this was a reversal.  He replied that it was an amendment to the length of the bypass.  If I was losing too much weight then it needed shortening and vice versa.  He described it as an easy operation which didn't take long and referred me to a youtube video of his.  I forwarded the information to Dr Lechaux and he replied today saying he would be contacting me regarding a revision.

 

Since stopping the iced water I am now starting my third day of limited diarrhoea.  I go to the toilet when I wake up and then not again until I go to bed.  In fact, last night I didn't, so it was twenty-four hours until I visited the toilet this morning.  Consistency marginally more formed but mainly mousse-like.  Is this a breakthrough?  Could all my troubles really be down to drinking water with ice cubes?  

Well - six days further on and the effect of stopping iced water has not lasted.  I shall wait to hear from Dr Lechaux. 

After my mini gastric bypass last year I was ambulanced back into hospital because I got a clot in my right leg.  Having now seen the vascular chap at Guingamp he has referred me to a vascular surgeon at Clinic du Littoral for 17 October to discuss having the vein removed as he says it is dead and liable to clot.  I would now want to have this operation before any revision to avoid another post op clot.
 

 

 

One year and eight weeks post operation

Well - I've finally reached the point where I have lost exactly half of my pre op weight.  I never really felt that this could happen.  It is an incredible thing and I am stunned by the reality of it all.  

I originally weighed 143.1 kg and now weigh 71.5kgs/11st3½lbs/157½lbs.  It seems unbelievable to me that my skin could have held two of the people I am now, athough, as I have said before, my skin is very saggy.  I feel it looks like hanging unironed curtains!  Luckily not too much of the spare skin is hanging round my face so when I'm dressed I don't look so dreadful. 

I put on a new Asda size 16 t-shirt this afternoon to go up to the Clinic in Guingamp and it was a little too big.  I did wear it, but was aware that the neck gaped rather a lot.  I had a mammography today and although there always has to be a second opinion which they will confirm in a letter enclosing the mammograms, the first doctor who looked at the results said there was no problem that she could see, so that's good.

I then went on to a supermarket and bought three fleecy round/scoopy neck jerseys for winter, all the same but different colours, and a lightweight zip up fleece, so I feel equipped for colder weather now.

It seemed really chilly when I got home and it was just raining too - only 18.7°C outside - so I got a fire going in the woodburner and inside it's now 23.5°C so I'm a happy bunny.





 

One year and seven weeks post op

Weighed in a day late again this week and was 72.7kgs/11st6lbs/160lbs, so a loss of 2lbs.  My skin is hanging on me and as I wear short sleeved or sleeveless t-shirts most of the time, I am very aware of my awful looking arms.  Don't get me wrong - I am thrilled to be lighter and mobile, but my skin is looking awful.  On Monday, even my chiropodist remarked on the wrinkles I have on my face now the fat doesn't fill them out. 

I wrote to my surgeon, Dr Lechaux to find out what the Créon dosage should be as Dr Picot hadn't told my GP, Dr Quarck, what he wanted me to take, and Dr Lechaux had prescribed it for me before.  He wrote back to say 25,000UI gelules three times a day, so I had to pop into the surgery and ask for a new prescription just for Créon.  I picked it up yesterday afternoon and will collect it from the pharmacy on my way back from bowls training tomorrow.  Then I'll start taking the correct does from Friday morning with the Surgilene - vitamins - which I keep forgetting.  I'm going to put them in an open container on the worksurface each night so in future I can't forget when I come downstairs in the morning.

 

The Créon is presented as a plastic capsule filled with tiny little balls.  I am not allowed to swallow the capsule so have carefully to tip the balls onto a spoonful of yoghurt in order to stop them falling all over the place - then they get stuck inside my mouth, so I have to try to cover them with yoghurt too - not easy but possible.

 

One year and six weeks post op

I've weighed in a day late again, but at least I remembered this morning.  I was up early to take my daughter and grandson back to Roscoff to catch the ferry to Cornwall and got on the scales before I set off as I knew I'd have something to eat on the journey.  I like to weight before I eat or drink anything in the morning and wearing the same clothes so it's accurate.

My weight has dropped a little - 700g - this week to 73.5kgs/162lbs/11st8lbs - a miracle when I think of what I have been eating this week with the family here.  My diarrhoea is no better.  Now the family have disappeared back to the UK I will get on with taking the Créon I've been prescribed from tomorrow which means I will absorb fat instead of passing it straight through.  We'll see if that helps this time.   Also I'm going to start taking my vitamins daily.  I've failed to do this for at least five months now, so I'm going to start doing things properly. 

Last week I bought a whole lamb for the freezer.  Lamb is expensive here in Brittany and this was an organic lamb raised by some Brits over here.  I'm looking forward to eating the chops I've just got out of the freezer for tomorrow's supper.

 

 

 

One year and five weeks post op

Yet again late with posting as I still have the family with me and I have no semblance of my normal routine.  Not that I have a real routine as such, but I do usually go on the computer first thing in the day and now I have a grandson to give breakfast to and entertain until the other adults surface, so we tend to disappear up to the field and do the animals and harvest the ready veggies and strawberries.  Here he is lining up the last of the podded broad beans to dry for next year's seeds.

 

 

 

I weighed in this morning at the same weight again 74.2 kilos/163½lbs/11st 9½lbs, so I'm happy.  I did wonder if I would gain while my family are staying, considering I'm having a lot of packed lunches as we're going out for whole days together to adventure parks etc

 

 

 

and icecreams are figuring pretty high on the daily list of foods along with pizza, chips and crèpes while we're out too. 

 

What I do find having lost all this weight is that I can keep going all day walking round adventure parks, not out of breath, not red-faced, not looking for a seat as I can't manage to sit down on the grass or get up afterwards, not worn out before the day starts.    I can get through turnstiles at pay kiosks, I couldn't before.  I can sit on a picnic table bench and not worry when the people get up on the other side that the table/bench combination will tip over.  I can sit on the beach all day reading, taking photographs and sunbathing while the others make sandcastles, swim and enjoy themselves without wishing I could leave. 

 

 

It's years since I've wanted to be on a beach as I found it so uncomfortable. It's all great!

One year and four weeks post operation

Two days late weighing this week.  I've got the family here and completely forgot.  Still at least it shows I'm not obsessed with my weight! 

I've stayed the same as last week so far.  Before the mgbp I always expected to gain weight when the family come to stay as I cook much more than normal and someone is usually snacking and I join in.  It doesn't seem to be making much difference to me now though.  We went out this evening to a Pizzeria after a walk along the Nantes/Brest canal bank at Gouarec.  I couldn't eat all my pizza so the remainder is now in my fridge, brought home in a takeaway box.  Since I've been home though, I've had Carr's Water Biscuits with brie and little home grown cherry tomatoes - lovely!

Tomorrow we're having lasagna.  I made the meat sauce today and fridged it.  Tomorrow my daughter's boyfriend will make the béchamel sauce and we'll assemble and cook it for supper.  We'll be having a picnic lunch down by the lake if the weather's fine - I've got lots of bits and pieces, prawns, cheese, homegrown cucumber, tomatoes and salad leaves, paté, etc. etc. so it should be good if the sun shines.

I had the result of my stool sample tests.  All the infections, parasites etc. that they checked for were clear.  As my doctor said, it's perfect.  The diarrhoea continues.  I'm going to start some candida treatment when the family go home, although the test showed I don't have it, but we're clutching at straws a bit.

One year and three weeks post op

I am a day late weighing this week - completely forgot to do it yesterday - so this morning I weighed in at 74.2kgs/163½lbs/11st 9½lbs, so I've lost 3lbs this week. 

I had a very bad Friday night through Saturday morning with regard to vomiting bile and then having very, very frequent diarrhoea from 02.05hrs to 10.00hrs.  I had no sleep and felt awful during Saturday.  Then I slept really well on Saturday night and woke with tons of energy on Sunday, doing lots of gardening and other stuff.

I saw my GP, family doctor, on Monday afternoon for my usual three monthly prescription drugs and she said I had lost too much weight.  I can't understand this as I just - only just -still fall into the obese level for my BMI.  I am 1.57 tall and weigh 74.2kgs which gives me a BMI of 30.10.  This is how it is calculated:

BMI Categories:

• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
• Overweight = 25–29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater 

So obviously, to me, I can afford to get down to BMI 25 which would, for me, be 62 kilos, and still be just in the overweight category. 

I know the top half of my body is not fat at all now, but my hips, thighs and calves certainly are overweight and if I can, I would like to be smaller in these areas.  At just under 5ft 3ins a weight of 11st 9½lbs is hardly too low.

   

  

One year and two weeks post op

No change in my weight this week, still at 76 kilos.  I have had lots of noodles this week as I have been cooking stir fries nearly every day and been really enjoying them.

One thing I keep meaning to post about is sneezing and eating.  I know this probably sounds like an unlikely combination, but I have been doing lots of research.  Last year I used to hiccup three times after eating.  This year I have found that my nose was running a lot.  It was a bit like having permanent hayfever.  This seems to have decreased now to be replaced by sneezing as I am getting to the end of a plateful of food.  Apparently all these things are connected by the vagus nerve, so I did some research and have taken this extract from another blog -www.myweightlosssurgeryblog.com

"It is a common occurrence with post-op gastric bypass patients. When they take that last bite, just before feeling too full, we can experience sneezing and/or hiccups if we eat just one bite too much. Both the hiccups and the sneezing are bound to Vagus nerve signals. Many claim to get a “runny nose” with one bite too much food for their pouch, and hiccups from eating too fast. But this discovery sparked my curiosity about this Vagus nerve business.

The Vagus nerve helps to regulate the heartbeat, control muscle movement, keep a person breathing, and to transmit a variety of chemicals through the body. It is also responsible for keeping the digestive tract in working order, contracting the muscles of the stomach and intestines to help process food, and sends back information about what is being digested and what the body is getting out of it.

I also learned that there is a name for this condition, Gustatory Rhinitis, in which people sneeze, get a watery nose or become congested after eating. Any food can be a trigger, but most often it is caused by hot, spicy foods or alcohol. Cold food can also trigger a series of sneezes, which in the case of Gustatory Rhinitis is a neurogenic reflex mechanism (meaning it originates in the nervous system). Food-related sneezing can also be caused by eating large meals, and sneezing has been attributed to a distended stomach."

When I first thought of the connection it seemed quite mad, but now I know that there is a reason for the runny nose and sneezing I'm experiencing at the moment.

Here is another bit about the vagus nerve from the internet.

Vagus nerve: A nerve that supplies nerve fibers to the pharynx (throat), larynx (voice box), trachea (windpipe), lungs, heart, esophagus, and intestinal tract, as far as the transverse portion of the colon. The vagus nerve also brings sensory information back to the brain from the ear, tongue, pharynx, and larynx.

Wikipedia has this information:

This means that the vagus nerve is responsible for such varied tasks as heart rate, gastrointestinal peristalsis, sweating, and quite a few muscle movements in the mouth, including speech (via the recurrent laryngeal nerve) and keeping the larynx open for breathing (via action of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle, the only abductor of the vocal folds). It also has some afferent fibers that innervate the inner (canal) portion of the outer ear, via the Auricular branch (also known as Alderman's nerve) and part of the meninges. This explains why a person may cough when tickled on the ear (such as when trying to remove ear wax with a cotton swab).

One year and one week post op

This morning I weighed in at 76 kilos/165.5lbs/11st 13.5lbs which means I've lost 67 kilos and have just slipped into the eleven stones.

I took the photo before I went to bowls this morning.

My usual bowls polo shirt is now just hanging on me being size XXL and I can't wear it anymore so as it was really hot this morning I thought I'd wear this size 16 vest style t-shirt.   I can't believe it's size 16!  I also wore, for the first time, my men's leisure bottoms size M which I bought when back in the UK in April.  So I've gone from XXL in these too down to medium. 

Yesterday, hunting through a cupboard in the spare room, I found a carrier bag of swimsuits that I haven't seen for years.  It had six size 16 swimmers in it, five with labels still intact, so that's me sorted for swimming and sunbathing this summer.  I found loads of other carrier bags of clothes but haven't been through them yet so don't know what's in there. 

I went to see a new friend on the way home and stayed chatting most of the afternoon.  Then went shopping for ingredients for a stirfry for supper which I ate sitting out in the sunshine - oh - how I love this weather.  Still 32°C at 18.05pm.

The First Anniversary of my Mini Gastric ByPass Operation

Today is the first anniversary of my mini gastric bypass.  In some ways it seems much closer than 365 days from the operation, but in other ways it seems so much longer.  I am not the same person inside or outside that I was a year ago.

I am just so glad to be celebrating it.  It was an operation I didn’t want but needed to have.  I had to convince myself to be there at the hospital I was so frightened at what the future would hold.  If only one had the advantage of being able to see into the weeks, months and years ahead, how much simpler life would be.

Although much of the past twelve months has been difficult, I cannot regret my decision, and I am so grateful that the seven medical people who had to report on whether they thought the operation would be worthwhile, reported in the way that they did and gave me the opportunity to change my life.

It’s hard to describe all the things which are different for me now.  I have mentioned most of them over the months of this blog, but every week something happens which makes me realize again how different things are for me now.

Most of all I am grateful for my incredibly increased mobility.  It’s hard now to imagine how handicapped I had made myself.  Having to walk with a stick for the 20-30 metres that I could manage was hard work.  There were a lot of things in the last years particularly that I missed out on because of my inability to move any distance.  Long plane journeys were intolerable because of the limited space in the seats, in spite of usually being given a possibility of changing to a position in the plane where two adjoining seats were available.  Getting in and out of a plane toilet was almost impossible, the door simply didn’t want to pass the bulk of my body.  The hassle of extension seat belts and the fact that they are bright orange instead of the discreet silver-grey of the fixed belts and that the air crew usually had to shout to ask in which number seat was the lady who needed the extension belt.  I’m surprised the plane didn’t tip over as people turned to see where it ended up!

To bend down to retrieve anything I dropped was difficult as was loading the bottom shelf of the dishwasher, putting things into the lower oven of the cooker and contorting my body to find things on the base of floor cupboards.

I didn’t wear socks unless someone was here to put them on for me as no amount of twisting and bending would allow me to reach my feet.  Likewise washing every part of my body was difficult and taking a bath instead of a shower was out of the question as I couldn’t get myself off the bath bottom when I needed to get out.

I couldn’t turn in bed without a huge amount of effort and this effort meant that every morning I had to shift the mattress back to its correct position as it would come over with me.

When I closed the car door it would bounce off my thigh and I’d have to start again, having moved further towards the gear stick.

I couldn’t sit in chairs with arms.  Eating out and drinking in outdoor cafés meant either perching on the edge of an armed chair or asking if they had a chair without arms which I could use.  I even started taking a collapsible chair in the car with me so I could sit at the same table as the people I was with.   The easy chair I sat in at home had made my thighs constantly numb as I couldn’t fit into it properly.  I hadn’t realized that this was the reason and only found out when I lost so much weight off my hips and thighs and the feeling came back.

Buying clothes was a matter of going to the Asda supermarket men’s section and picking up anything which had the label XXL.  Women’s clothes just didn’t seem to exist in sizes which would go round my backside – which was enormous. 

My asthma was not good and I became breathless at the slightest effort, even getting out of a chair was hard work.  I was finally diagnosed with sleep apnoea and had a breathing machine which was later joined by an oxygen extractor at night.  To date I have managed to get rid of the extractor and I hope that soon I might lose the breathing machine as well.  I hardly use my Ventolin spray and only use my steroid spray in winter in case I get a chest infection. 

I no longer take blood pressure controlling tablets, nor statins for cholesterol because I don’t need them.

I can garden again because I can bend without effort or discomfort.  I can weed, plant, sow and water.  Previously carrying an 11 litre watering can was something I didn’t want to do and on my veggie patch there is no piped water so no hoses.

I no longer use my stairlift.  Before my weight loss I could not climb stairs for two reasons.  Firstly my knees were so painful that it was distressing and secondly my breathing was so bad because the effort was too much.   My knees are much better now and my breathing is not a problem at all.

I had no lap as my stomach spread onto my thighs before so my grandson and my cats could not sit with me comfortably, that has all changed.

I used to have to use a lifter to bring my bowling woods from the floor to my hand as bending was so difficult, now I just bend.  I no longer throw my woods but bend to the floor and roll them along the mat and have become a better player as a result.

At the surgery when I had an appointment with my doctor, the receptionist would have to bring me an armless chair to the waiting room as the chairs were much too tiny for me.  Now I sit in the same style chairs as everyone else. 

I am not the fattest person in the room anymore, in fact I am sometimes one of the slimmest!  I never thought I’d say that.

My children have never seen me this slim and I think and hope that they are proud of me.  I often wondered if they were bullied at school for having such a fat mother.  They said they weren’t but I still wondered.

When I rewind back to how I was feeling on this day a year ago, I remember how scared I was and how lonely I felt.  I wanted someone with me all the way to the anaesthetic moment holding my hand but that didn't happen.  Once I arrived in the operating suite I was left for ages without human contact and I was very afraid.  This morning, in contrast, I am confident, and happy with my life. 

I look in the mirror and am amazed at what I see.  Appearance has never been important to me – I’ve never cared what I look like even when I was really slim when I was really young.  I am just grateful that I now go out without people pointing at me and talking about me behind my back, I’m just happy to look normal.

So thank you, Dr Lechaux for giving me this chance at a normal life.  I will continue to try not to jeopardize my new stomach and reduced intestine, because I am so grateful and happy that I’ve had it for 365 days and I would like to keep the effects of it for as long as I possible can.

Thank you also, all my family and friends who have been so supportive and who have put up with my constant conversations about weight loss, diarrhoea and the other situations I have found myself in during the last twelve months.

Pre-opMeasurements                           Today 52 weeks post op

Bust 136cm – 53.5ins                           41ins                   12.5ins lost

Waist138cm – 54.3ins                          38ins                   16.3ins lost

Hips172cm – 67.7ins                            46.5ins                21.2ins lost

Calf 54cm – 21.3ins                             18ins                     3 ins lost

This morning I weigh in at 77kgs/170lbs/12st2lbs and have therefore lost 66.1kgs/145.5lbs/10st5.5lbsin the last 52 weeks - brilliant!

Fifty one and a half weeks post operation

I didn't manage to post on Tuesday and then forgot completely.  However, I weighed in at 78 kilos/12st 4lbs/172lbs so another 1.1 kilos/2.5lbs lost.  

Diarrhoea was  particularly difficult yesterday from the early hours through to the early hours of this morning.  I've no idea why, I don't feel that I changed anything in my eating so who knows.  Slightly better today, if it hadn't been I've have bought shares in a toilet roll company!

I can scarcely believe that next Tuesday a whole year will have passed since my mini gastric bypass.  I look back at photos from before the operation and I can hardly understand that they are me.  I can see from them that I was grossly obese and from current photos or looking in the mirror I can see that I am now much, much slimmer. 

I find it difficult to remember what I looked like and how I changed during the time that the weight was dropping off.  If it wasn't for the old photos and the XXL clothes in my cupboard I would hardly remember at all that I used to be so hugely fat.  Strange how the mind plays tricks.  I have always thought in the opposite way to an anorexic.  I think in my head I have always been the slim person I was in the 60s/70s and was always surprised to catch sight of the fat me in shop windows or mirrors or to find that I couldn't get through a much too small gap or turnstile.