Update on Cheri's Recovery!

I just wanted to thank everyone that has contacted me. You are all the greatest! It is such a wonderful feeling knowing you have friends out there to call on for prayers and support when the going gets rough! You will never know how much it has meant to me and my family! Dr. Warnock told my husband we should expect a long, slow recovery and I can tell already he knew what he was talking about. He said this surgery was more complex, I had to have two surgeries too close together, and I was extremely weak due to the surgeries and dehydration. I am so used to bouncing right back that it is hard to take it easy. I am so weak I spend most of my day sitting in a recliner. I do make sure I walk around every hour so I can work on rebuilding my strength. I was very surprised when I did my weekly weigh in today. I REACHED GOAL! I am actually one pound below the goal I had set. I have lost 116 pounds. What is really exciting is that I made it exactly one week before my one year anniversary. Isn't that the neatest! Hopefully, I'll be stronger this week and able to sit at the computer more. I'm looking forward to keeping up with everyone again and getting to know all the new friends. Where ever you are in your weight loss journey, hang in there! Dreams really do come true and even though you may get stuck along the way, the weight really does come off! And, oh how good that feels! Cheri 259/143

Oh Cheri, I am so happy that you are doing better, I hope that all your medical problems are over and that you can enjoy your new life. Hope to see you in San Antonio. Dot

Thanks for the update, Cheri! And, congratulations on meeting your goal weight. I can't imagine what you have been through! I'm just glad to see that things are looking up now. Take care of yourself and enjoy the rest! Kathleen

Cheri, So glad to see you are posting! I just got home but I had already decided that I was going to post and see if anyone had your phone numbers and snail mail address. I took the numbers with me to Mexico, but I have no idea where they are now! I really need to get an address book instead of writing on scraps of paper! Anyway, could you either pm me or email me with them? I have tried emailing you but they keep coming back. Is your mailbox to full? Oh well, the important thing is you are on the road to recovery! Take care and I will continue praying for you!' Genie

Hugs Cheri! So great to hear that you are at your goal weight which is a really nice diversion amid all this adversity I bet! Hugs and well wishes to you and your husband as you get better everyday. God made the human body so amazing didn't he? I know you share my faith in knowing that all things work together for those who love him. Here's to knowing that it is true in your case too! I hope that you can find just the right spot in your recliner to be comfortable. My recliner days were not that long ago and I know how it is. Happy recuperating, Molly

Hi Cheri, keep up the good work------and reached GOAL!!! Yeah for you! I'll will keep you in my prayers! Cathy Fowler

Hi Cheri, My prayers are going out for you. I pray for strength and total good health for you now. Thank You for letting all of us know what happened. We all need to be watchful because of our own surgeries and for that I thank You. My question is this: I know your Dr. said Dr. A did a great job and it is not related to the RNY. What is it related to? Is this something we as surgery patients should watch for? Is it related to scar tissue? Congratulation on the weight goal! You must look great. Now you just need to feel great. get well........and God Bless. Kay

Hi Kay! It's great to hear from you again. I hope your recovery is progressing well! You have a great question! A bowel/intestinal obstruction can be caused by any surgery you have ever had. Since most of us have had at least a gall bladder surgery prior to our WLS I guess you'd say we are definately canidadates for it. However, my cousin had one and three weeks later another and he had never had surgery except as a teenager and that was on his knee. Believe it or not, his was caused by a seed in some Picante Sauce. Scar tissue is one of the causes. Scar tissue will just depend on how each of us heals, as we all heal differently. Also, something can cause the intestine to kink like a water hose. That's pretty well what was going on with my second one. The intestine had wrapped around the bowel and then to add insult to injury, it kinked. I guess it wanted to do it up good. I don't have a clue how all of that happened. I would say if you start having severe pain in the abdominal area and vomiting, at least call a bariatric surgeon. The first time I threw up green liquid (over 130 times) and the second time more of a clear foamy liquid. Also, when you throw up that much you are going to be dehydrated. That's where a lot of my problems came in, too. We must be very aware of our bodies after this surgery! It's a wonderful tool but it comes with a lot of responsibility to know what's normal for us and make sure anything that is not normal is questioned. I'm still extremely weak but I can see improvements every day. Thankfully, my mental and emotional outlook has improved at a much faster rate than my physical. I have come to terms with what happened, accepted how easily I could have died when my heart rate went so high, and am rejoicing that God still has a work for me to do and left me here with my family. You and Candice are still in my thoughts and prayers and I hope you both are doing great! Cheri