So many questions...

Christine, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???? Glad to hear from you! We expect an update on how everything is going! How is your daughter? CeCe

CeCe, Thank you for asking how I have been and where? I have been lurking and reading the post but not posting at all. I have had to have my gallbladder taken out, had a complete hysterectomy, oh joy, now just trying to get my self back in order and READY to go back to work on June 23. I think I am done with surgeries, except PC, there is nothing else to take out of me,(tonsil, apppendix gone) except vital organs, and we all know that we have to have them. I feel wonderful and I am still hanging at 137lbs. Our daughter is doing GREAT, she is 33years OLD and had her RYN on Aug 30 2007 and had a stricture, had that taken care of and now she is down 101lbs since her surgery. She is back playing baseball and said to me "Mom I had no idea how easy it was to run the bases with all that excess weight gone, so much better" that she feels great to be back playing again. She is down to 143lbs. She had worked at Dell Roseburg, but when they closed down she was one of the 250 people that lost their jobs, she was with them for four years and doing good. Now she has been back to college now for two years and doing better than the first time she went. You, Britt, Wanda and the rest of the girls look GREAT! Chrisy

I didn't know you are a weldor! That is so great! I love to see stereotypes broken. You are a lovely weldor! I'm so happy for your daughter. I would love to be able to give my daughter this surgery. It would change her life (and maybe she would leave the drunken, cheating bum!). If I ever get an extra $30,000 that's what I would do with it!

Wanda, 1. Count your blessings! It is great that you can eat without having to count every calory/carb. Evidently you are active enough and eat within your bodies BMR. With our surgeries we may seem to eat out of control but you are probably still eating relatively small portions. If you are like many of us, you probably still stay away from sugar and fat so that you don't feel bad. Like I said count your blessings and don't stress over why. If you see a gain, then think about it. 2. Every doctor seems to think the answer to any eating issue is depression. I suggest you get off the Welbutrin as soon as possible. Don't go cold turkey though. It can cause mixed signals in your brain and make you feel really bad. 3. You probably have an absorption issue with protein. Maybe your body doesn't absorb it well. That would explain the deficiency and the issue in #1. No absorption = no calories to make you gain. 4. My veins are large now too. At least some of them. I was always a hard stick. Not anymore. I always contributed it to the amount of fluis/water I now drink. I thought I drank alot pre-op but now I KNOW I drink a lot! If you are good about getting your quota- then maybe this is the answer you seek. Wow, you sure are a curious little thing! Good for you. I miss being on the board everyday. I hope to have a home computer soon. Hugs, Valorie

I am a curious person! You know what I never got an answer to? My question about why we have to fast for 8 hours before surgery when our food leaves the pouch and enters the intestine way sooner than that. I emailed my doctors office. They always get back to me, but not this time! I don't think that they wanted to answer it.

Wanda, Sorry I'm so late on responding to this. I don't have any answers but I'll respond anyway! 1. While I do exercise, I've posted about my problem with grazing and eating too much. I rationalized that my body was healing because I didn't understand how I was losing or maintaining either. Like you, I'm scared about eating so much because I always fear that the hammer is going to slam down soon and I need to have my good habits back before it does! However, what Valorie said about your poor protein absorption probably makes sense! Find out more about that. Have you researched it on the Internet? 2. In the past I've been on Wellbutrin, Prozac and a couple of others. I think Wellbutrin is about the weakest. I know they did or still use it for people who were/are attempting to quit smoking. I never felt like it did much for me anyway. Like someone else said, don't stop cold turkey but if you feel it isn't solving any problems, talk to your doctor about going off of it. While I still have some "down" days (usually during Hormone H@ll Week!), I know from experience when I'm actually clinically depressed or just feeling blue. Thank God, it's been years now since I've had a really bad time. While that medication may not be for you at this time, I'm so thankful that antidepressants are available!!! 3. Ask the doctor about the protein and, like I said earlier, research online so you have plenty to discuss with him. 4. My veins are pretty big too. Even at my highest weight, I've never had any problem with blood work. Now the veins on my hands are HUGE, HUGE, HUGE!!! Was it Trudy who said it might be because at heavier weights our veins had to be bigger to pump the blood? That makes sense! I know that being heavy our bodies had to develop more "miles" of veins to get blood supply to the fat! I see that several of us reported we have big veins. Should we now call ourselves The Big Veined November 2006 Surgery Group?! CeCe