Newbie... My Intro (long)

April 13, 2003

Hi All........

Well, I am new to this board but not new to WLS!!!! I had my BPD/DS

(lap) in 1/01 with Dr. Pomp (my hero) at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC.

Life has improved

dramatically since then on many fronts, but it's not been the easiest

of journeys (however I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!)

My starting weight was 333lbs. I'm 5'9 " tall and will be 28 y/o this

year. I've gotten down to between 215-220lbs (it fluctuates). Most

of this loss was in the first year. I'm about a size 12/14 on top

and a 16 or 18/20 on bottom (depends on the brand). I look basically

like a " normal " person who's a bit chunky, but not obese. I guess

this " carrying my weight well " factor (which I have always been

thankful for in the past) is kinda what led me to be " comfortable " at

my current weight and not stress getting off the remaining 50-60lbs

that I still have to lose. Basically for the last 2 years I have

eaten EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that I wanted and still lost over

100lbs. Well, this kinda became a little power trip for my " fat

little kid " inside. My whole life I was never allowed to eat what I

wanted, what everyone else did, etc.... This new power was amazing

to me, and sadly, I took full advantage of it instead of taking full

advantage of maximizing my weight-loss during my " window " . Add that

phenomenon to a whole bunch of other " body issues " and " fear of being

thin " drama that goes on in my little emotional mind, and that's what

happens. Now please don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED to have lost

over 100lbs. I feel extremely blessed, and I certainly had a heck of

a good time doing it! LoL. But now I am at the point where I want to

lose those extra 50-60lbs and really become a " thin " person. Of

course, my window of greatest opportunity has passed me by, but I

figure better late then never, right? So within the last week I have

been cutting down on the carbs, gotten ridden of the obvious extra

sugar, upped the

protein, and increased the water. My concern is, I don't really know

how many carbs or calories I should be eating a day in order to LOSE

weight at 2+ years post-op? Does anyone know? I haven't contacted

the nutritionist at Mt. Sinai because I feel kinda embarrassed. I've

never met either of the 2 new ladies on staff.... I only know the old

nutritionist,

Niccole, who unfortunately is no longer on staff. Would any of you

happen to know how many carbs and cals a day I should be eating in

order to lose weight at this stage in the game? Also, will the

weight come off as slowly now as it does for non-WLS people on diets?

Okay...... My next big issue (LoL).... Dr. Pomp suspects I have an

internal hernia. I am scheduled to have surgery for that this coming

week. Of course I am terrified!!!

But so long as I am in the care of my beloved Dr. Pomp, I know I'll

be alright. Has anyone here had an internal hernia? What was your

recovery process like? How bad is the pain? How long were you in

the hospital? Did you have drains? Do you have to go back on the

original post-op diet of soft foods and all that again? Are

your " bowel habits " affected or

do you get nausea, like a new post-op? I'm just wondering, since Dr.

Pomp mentioned maybe having to actually cut and sew my intestines

(which is what they do in the original surgery) if any of the post-op

symptoms are similar?

My journey with this internal hernia has been a very long and painful

one! It started about 9 months or so post-op. I thought I was

having really bad gas pains. The attacks would last any where from

30 minutes to 2-3 hours. I didn't complain to anyone about it for

quite some time because I felt as though I had chosen to have this

WLS the last thing I'm gonna do is complain about the side effects,

ya'know? Stupid of me, because I suffered on needlessly for some

time. Last August I finally went to see Dr. Pomp and told him about

what I was experiencing. He said it might be an internal hernia, and

that they are very hard to diagnose, so what they do is rule out

everything else first. So I got the CAT scan, ultrasound, etc.

Well, they found that my gallbladder was full of stones. That made

sense to everyone.... what I was experiencing sounds very similar to

gallbladder attacks. The pain attacks only came about once every few

weeks or once a month. The rest of the time I felt fine. I had even

had it (the pain) wake me from a dead sleep at 4am!!! So I had my

gallbladder out in 11/02. Since I have moved to NJ since having my

WLS, I now have NJ insurance and so I had to use a local NJ surgeon

for that. Well, in 1/03 I got another pain attack so severe I had to

go to the ER!!!! I had never gone to the ER for this pain before,

but this was serious. At the hospital (in NJ) they could find

nothing wrong with me, gave me some pain pills and eventually (4 or 5

hours later) the pain subsided and I went home. After that I went to

my PCP who sent me to a gastroenterologist. They did an endoscopy

and then she sent me for a " small bowel series " with the

barium...uuugghhh. Well, that afternoon, (the day of the small bowel

series) I experienced the WORST pain of my entire life. I thought I

was dying, for real. I broke out in a profuse sweat, I couldn't even

stand, or barely talk. In the beginning I vomited, but it just got

worse after that. I was literally screaming in pain like a crazy

woman! I never even knew pain that bad existed!!! I went to the ER

again, but they couldn't find anything. I was still full of barium,

so that's all they could see on the X-rays. For 5 hours I lay in

that ER screaming! It was the scariest, most insane experience of my

life! The doctors there were clueless as to what to do with me.

Seems, according to the ER surgeon who saw me, " we're not familiar

with that kind (BPD/DS) of WLS here in NJ; we do the gastric

bypass. " So the very next day I sent an email to Dr. Pomp and told

him about the 2 " pain attacks " I had had that had sent me to the ER.

I went to see him and now I am going to have surgery... again!

Blah!!! He said he won't know the extent of the surgery until he

gets in there and can see what's going on. He will try to keep it

LAP, but may need to switch to open. (I had my BPD/DS done LAP).

So, anyway, that's my story, and if you've read this far, thanks!!!!

Any shared knowledge on either the right way to LOSE weight at 2

years post-op, or on internal hernias would be appreciated!!!

Thanks,

" Mariposa "

April 13, 2003