Hi from Missouri

[Guest guest]

My name's Vicky and I live in northeast Missouri. I've been a member of the

list for a long time but I think I've only posted once. I had Lap RNY in

April 2002 with 100 inches bypassed. I weighed 391 on surgery day. Today I

weigh 197 and I'm 5' 4 1/2 " . I'd like to get in the 165-175 range. The

highpoints for me... getting out of 5x clothes that were getting too tight,

crossing my legs for the first time since high school, walking around a fair

with my husband and not having to sit down for rests, being told by people I

barely know how great I look, shopping in clothing stores instead of Lane

and Roaman's, swimming again ( even though I wore shorts and a

t-shirt, not a bathing suit ), driving without the steering wheel crammed

into my stomach, and not thinking that everyone who looks at me is thinking

" freak. " I've found a little self-esteem again and have started wearing

makeup, nice clothes ( worth the price even though I won't be in a size for

more than a few months ), and I even got my hair frosted blonde. I feel

like a " normal " person for the first time in my life. I can sit in a

restaurant booth! I easily fit into movie theater seats!

I've had a few little bumps along the way. About 4 weeks after surgery I

got a stomach virus. Unfortunately for me, my surgeon was on vacation in

Florida for the week. I was the sickest I think I've been in my life.

Everything came back up, even sips of water. The worst part of it was, I

couldn't sit or lie still. I would lie down to rest and within a minute I'd

be back up walking through the house. At night I'd finally get a few hours

of sleep from sheer exhaustion. I went to several other doctors during that

week but all they did was x-ray me and give me Vicodin for the stomach

pains. My husband was really scared I was dying and he couldn't get anyone

to help me. I finally got over it and when my surgeon returned he said it

was a stomach virus and if he'd been in town he would have hospitalized me.

Then a couple of months after that I got an ulcer right where my new stomach

emptied into my colon. They did a blood test and said I didn't have the

bacterial kind of ulcer. I went on Prevacid and that's been working pretty

good. My latest problem started on October 30th. I had an upset stomach

that then turned into extreme pain on my right side under my rib cage, going

around to my back in that area. I ended up in the emergency room that

night. They did x-rays and a cat scan and couldn't find anything wrong. I

had my gall bladder removed when I was 23. The surgeon thought I might have

a kidney stone and had me have an ulta sound. Nothing was found. I had the

pain again about three times, ending up in the emergency room every time.

My surgeon then did a endoscopy and still didn't find anything. Has anyone

else had this type of pain and if so, what was your diagnosis? I haven't

had any pain for the past couple of weeks. I've been taking my Prevacid

religiously, watch that I don't eat anything greasy or spicy, chew my food

till it's pureed and have only one cup of coffee a day. I don't know if

what I'm doing is why I'm not having the pain because I don't know the cause

of the pain. I live in fear it'll return, though. I'm afraid to go out of

town for the night or eat dinner out.

I want to end by thanking all you posters for all the good information,

opinions, laughs and sense of comradery here. I don't know anyone else in

person who's had this surgery. I come here everyday for my " fix " of feeling

like I'm not alone. Thanks, all of you!

Vicky