First Post -- Pre-op

hi everyone, I have just finished 3 months of dietician based dieting to prepare for my bariatric surgery in July of this year, 2015.  I am currently at 297 lbs.  Beginning weight was 336 lbs,  The three months started out pretty shaky, two days in and I had an ischemic colitis attack on March 2nd!  Something completely out of the blue for me as my co-morbidities were pretty common, slight high blood pressure, sleep apnea, pre-diabetes and osteoarthritis. For a 59 year old man these issues weren't too unusual in my weight condition. 

Anyway, I spent the next week in the hospital, a hell of a way to lose weight but lost 15 lbs immediately with no food and only intravenous fluids. Following hospitalization, I was on a low-fiber soft diet for two weeks.

Now I have only the after effects of the colitis which is some vertigo or lightheadness.  My physician is monitoring me for low-blood pressure as that is what they believe brought on the ischemic colitis.  I was on high blood pressure medicine (lisinopril) but was taken off of that by my physician following the attack and he has me monitoring my blood pressure.  It seems to be staying around 130/75 most of the time.

The lightheadness is getting better but that scares me a bit as I prepare for my surgery.  Also, I had a colonoscopy following the colitis attack but my colon was so angry they scheduled a second one because they couldn't go as far in as they needed too.  The second colonoscopy failed because I wasn't cleaned out enough and I now need to do a 3RD colonoscopy with a two-day cleanse prep (uggggghhhh).  Everything seems fine from what they can see, except for a little diverticulitus.  I don't think there is any other issues but wonder if I should have the 3rd colonoscopy before or after the bariatric surgery?  Right now it is scheduled for the end of July, following the surgery.  I figure I will be pretty clean still at that time because at the very best I will still be on a pureed diet at that time, but will I be able to do the cleanse with all that liquid to drink?  This will be around two weeks after the surgery. 

I will have either a RNY surgery or sleeve.  The surgeon will choose once he gets inside and can see if there are any issues with a prior hernia, etc. and the fact I am on meloxicam for osteoarthritis which is a NSAID and will have to stop taking that if I have an RNY surgery.

After the issues with the colitis passed, I have been following the diet given to me by my surgeon's bariatric dept staff.  This has worked well at at least keeping me from hunger pains.  When I get to within two weeks of surgery, I will go on a 800 calorie diet followed by 1200 calorie diet every other day for those two weeks prior to surgery.  That will be a struggle I believe, because I am currently on a 1600 calorie diet that doesn't give me any hunger issues (at least most of the time).

I am excited, nervous and hopeful going into surgery.  I believe I am ready to follow a better path to keeping the weight off.  I hope to keep posting as I want to document my story and my progress not only for me but for anyone who could use the information.  Please respond if you have any conditions like I have gone through...... would be very much appreciated.

Welcome to the group. It sounds like you've had a wild ride so far. I can't say the ride will be less wild for a time, but at least it sounds like you can see the end of the tunnel. Good luck with the rest of your prep, and don't be shy about checking in with our weigh in every sunday, even before surgery. Its a great place for accountability. 

I wish I could offer some help based on experiance but unfortunatly I can't. One thing I would question however is the colonoscopy after surgery. At that time post surgery, you'll be adjusting to the smaller stomach/pouch and may have issues getting all the preparation fluids in you. Again, I ahev no experiance, but I would question that anyway. 

I hope all turns out well for you, and am looking forward to hearing about your progress.

Thanks for your support..... it has been a wild ride and my issues are not really the main story.  My bariatric surgery process started last August, 2014 with my first two visits to the dietician.  But, my dear wife was diagnosed with stage IIIC ovarian cancer early in September that put my surgery on hold.  Thankfully her dire diagnosis and initial chemo treatment (which didn't go real well) finally took hold and this March she was declared in full remission!  Only at that time did the nurses and physicians tell us that things had looked pretty bleak in the beginning. She, also, found out she had the BRCA-2 mutation (much like Angelina Jolie) and will need a full preventative mastectomy with reconstruction in the near future. 

We are so thankful for her health right now and my story seems pretty miniscule in comparison. 

Welcome to the forums, it's a great place for info. As you continue and get closer to your big day be sure to read about your procedure and ask any questions. These forums were so helpful for me just so I could know what was going to happen. There was no guessing, which was comforting when I was in recovering.