Tracey W

Are you interested or able to go to the meeting in Baton Rouge this Thursday night? I'd like to go and wanted to see if you were able to. email me at [email protected] or answer here.

Yes I would love to go, but I would have to bring the kids.... Can I Francis???? Please!! Hugs, Tracey

Hi Barbara, Your weight loss is amazing and I am so glad to hear that you are still losing. That is fantastic!! At 5'8" how low do you want to go? I know that when I started the WLS process that I thought if I got down to a size 14 or 16 that I would be totally satisfied. Well, I reached size 10 once I hit my goal of 145. I weighed 136 the morning of my hernia repair/panni (June 17, 2005) and within a few weeks got down to 128 for a nano second. The hernia repair/panni took more out of me physically that the WLS did! I had to sleep in a recliner for 3 weeks and then graduated to the couch, with lots of pillows and some skillful maneuvering for about 2 more weeks. It took a few weeks for my apptetite to return to somewhat normal, and then it came back full force. It took me a good 8 weeks if not longer to feel close to normal again. The open RNY was much easier. I had a large incisional hernia at the top of my incision--I guess about the location where my pouch is located---so when I ate or drank I looked like I visibly had an alien growing inside of me!!! And it would become pretty uncomfortable, not painful---just unncomfortable. It measured appx 3.5" x 4.5" one week before surgery. My ins wouldn't cover my panni because it "wasn't medically necessary". I had no rashes, infections or anything. Before my WLS if I went just one day without using Gold Bond medicated powder below my hanging abdominal skin, under my breaste and the area where my inner thighs meet the crotch area---I would begin to break out something terrible and have an awful odor. So the gold bond became part of my daily routine and my best friend. So I figured that post op I would no longer use any of the gold bond and the rashed would return with a vengence and I would keep a detailed record--pictures, doctors visits, treatment etc to provide to ins for approval. Well guess what......as soon as I had my WLS the rashes, itching, odor disappeared!!!! And I wasn't using anything at all!! Imagine my disappointment. I believe that all the "trash" that I was consuming, sugar, carbs, fat contributed to those awful rashes. But that's just my opinions. Anyway, my insurance covered my hernia repair---it was definite medically necessary--so that meant it covered operating room costs, hospital stay, and anesthesia. The only extra I had to pay was to my surgeon was for the panni removal and bless his heart he did give me discount. I was cut down my open rny incision, from hip to hip & beyond (an extended panni). My WLS surgeon warned me up front that he is no plastic surgeon, but he would do his best to make be look beautiful. The only drawback is that he does not reconstruct the bellybutton. Says his experience is that he has too much trouble with infections, and the bellybutton actually dying. I knew all of that before he told me---I did my reasearch. I was willing to live without a bellybutton in order to have a flat tummy---that I NEVER in my life had. Do I miss my bellybutton??? Nope not one bit---never did like cleaning the lint out of it! And those few who have seen it don't even realize that I don't have one until I point it out to them. I was a size 10 pre panni, after all the swelling went down I was a size 4 or 6. Now that I have rebounded appx 10 to 12 pounds I can wear anything from a size 6 to a size 10---depends on the fit, the manufacture---of course you know that. Enough of my long post. I would love to meet those in your Thursday night group, if I am ever down that way on a Thursday night, it sounds like fun. Hugs, Terri