FAR..FAR...FAR too long since I've been here.....

Hello Evryone! First let me say, I am sorry I ahve been absent for what seems like forever. Let me first tell you a little about where i have been. In February I had a small insignificant lymphcele removed out of my left groin. It was frozen, cut out, 3 little stitches, and good to go....wrong!!! Three days later the stitches were bulging and I had to have a drain put in to drain all the lymph fluid builing, then one week later a major surgery to remove infected, gangreen tissue and I now had a huge gaping wound, a soda can could fit into in my leg. After weeks of failing on the wound vac to try and help heal it, 3 more surgeries to remove infection, and numerous hospital stays I was still not healing. My Dr ran tests which showed I was malnourised, and in horrible shape. (I knew it to by the way I felt) I had gotten a very serious and aggressive strep infection and things were not very hopeful, I was one very sick lady.....I was then admitted to the hospital with the idea I would not be leaving until the wound was completely healed, and I was on my way to perfect health. After 28 days of nutrition feedings thru a hickman catheder, lots of IV antibiotics, and intense wound care I got to come home. This whole ordeal took away 3 months of my life, but I am happy to say I am doing WELL now. I have a renewed zest for life and things are great. My Dr wanted me to gain 15 pounds as i had really lost.....so far I have put on 7 and I really am not trying to gain anymore and feel good where I am. I hae always been faithful to tmy vitamin regime and getting my protein in, but this was a testimony to the post bypass patients that we have to be diligent in our nutrition and actually to the Drs treating me...the oral antibiotics were doing nothing (malabsorption), the protein needed when you are healing a wound was hard to get in. I HAD to have the nutrition feedings to get anywhere the amount I needed to heal. My advice, stay on top of things....as much as you might think you are doing alright........in the long run you will be in trouble if you dont stay ahead of the game. I am back to work 3/4 time and that is going fine....I am ecstatic with my weight loss success and I feel I have now been given chance number 3 at life. Having been so seriously ill makes me apprciate all these chances even more and celebrate them fuller. I have tried to catch up with all the posts from recent and it appears everyone is doing well, good and bad days as we all have. Lets celebrate the good, and learn for the bad, but not let them ruin us. Take Care, Janelle

Wow, Is all I can say Janelle, Welcome back & very glad to hear you are doing well & back to recovery from your ordeal. Makes all my problems seem a lot lighter than what you have just been through. Take care of yourself & keep getting the rest you need. I know we take a lot for granted with our new bodies, but, you make it known that it can all change in a heart beat just as quickly. Glad you are back posting with us. Take Care Marilyn, the Bearlady

Oh Janelle! What a horrible ordeal! I have a fear that the further I get from WLS, the likelier I am to put it behind me and expect to react normally to situations. It is scary that most medical professionals do exactly the same thing until they experience this with one of us. I am so glad that you are doing better finally. Thanks for the reminder that this is a "forever" change for us.

Wow! Congratulations for your strength! Thanks for posting this. It's easy to get caught up in the insignificant aggravations of every day life and forget what it really means... Glad you're doing so much better! Jill

Janelle - I read your story the other day but have been pushed to the limit on my time and haven't had a chance to respond. I have to say it made a huge impact on me. I've been not the best at remembering my vitamins, but I thought I was doing fine. Thankfully I went in for my labs this week. They asked me if I still needed to go in every 6 months. I had been pretty okay last time...just a little anemic, but not too bad. So I was on the verge of saying "Nah, we should go to 1x a year" but I hesitated. I remembered the issues I had with Thiamin before, so I felt it best to keep up on this. Good thing. I am quite anemic and my B12 is very low, they said. Never had a B12 issue before so it kind of surprised me. And depressed me as well. I didn't realize it was that serious. I still don't have all my labs back yet, so I may find out more bad news to come. Anyway, after reading your story it really hit home. I really illustrates to me how something so minor can become something so major if we don't take care of ourselves. I thought I wasn't malabsorbing that much. Turns out it just took a little while to catch up with me. Oh, I took vitamins....on the nights I was at work. Most of the time. But I am just a forgetful person and haven't found a great method to remind me. You can bet your sweet bippy this is going to be at the forefront of my thoughts from here on out. Your warning is a timely one and one I will heed. I didn't have this surgery to compromise my health. I had it so I could make it better. Thanks for this wake up call, my dear, and I am happy to hear you are on the mend. I hope you will stick around and keep us updated on how you are doing. How are you doing otherwise? Are you able to keep up on your nutrition orally now? Were you lax at taking your vitamins at all? What do you think got you to that point? What is the plan of action for you here on out for getting your vitamins and minerals in? Again, thank you for posting this. Something I definitely needed to hear!!! Dina

Janelle, I'm so glad that you are doing better now. I can't imagine how scarey that must have been. I try to get every type of medication or vitamin that I put in my body in either chewable or liquid form. I noticed after wls that things like urinary tract infections were not clearing up with one round of antibiotics like they did before. Other medications seemed not to be as effective so I suspected that I had absorption issues. I seem to be reading more and more about people having issues with medications. I'm starting to think that chewables and liquids should be a standard for us. Best of luck and I'm counting on you feeling stronger and stronger every day. Connie