Re: Jitters @ Weight and revision surgery & looking in the mirror

[Guest guest]

Jeri,

Please don't pre-judge your posts as whining!!

I think most of us lost some weight during the surgical process. Mine

was a staged procedure so I was in the hospital longer. I think all

together I lost about 10lbs. I was probably about 20lbs over what I

would consider my ideal weight. You are right, it is easy for weight

to come on when you just don't move much due to pain.

As to the positioning for surgery I think it is a question for your

surgeon. To be honest, I am wondering if concerns about your weight

may be the reason he wants you on a striker frame after surgery. I

recall that SB's situation was along the lines that DrBridwell was

reluctant to undertake anterior surgery due to her weight. This

prompted her to get very motivated to shed some lbs before surgery,

and ever since. I think she is somewhere around the 60lbs lost right

now. I am sure you have seen the amazing pictures of her changed

physique! Somewhere along the line this fall she was up for her

checkup and I think I remember her telling us that DrBridwell asked

her why exactly it was that he didn't do the anterior surgery in the

first place because apparently he couldn't remember the " old " Suzanne!

I am sure you will be telling a similar story a year from now.

As a parting thought...I would suggest that you speak to a nutionist

if it's possible. One thing that I did learn before surgery was

actually from the father of a flatback member who worked as the

dietician in a hospital. He said that Arginine-L is a key ingedient

in good surgical or wound healing. I know you are a researcher by

nature so I am sure you will probably look around on this topic. What

I found convinced me that since I would be undergoing a staged

prodedure a week apart that keeping my nutition status good would be

worth paying attention to. I found the Novartis research on this very

interesting. Martha (also from our group/Bridwell) said that Bridwell

used a parenteral feeding system for her between stages. Long story

short, with my surgeon's permission, I purchased and brought to the

hospital the Novartis product " Impact-Recover " as well as a small

bottle to mix it with ice in. I was not permitted to move off fluids

for at least 3 days, but after the first 24 hours I was permitted to

drink this stuff. The day before my second stage while DrRand was

looking at my blood work and asking me if I was " ready " he said he

had never seen such a high albumin rate...and that apparently was a

very good thing. I recall the box was on the expensive side and I

didn't want to go through insurance reimbursement...but in retrospect

I could have with a prescription which I believe DrRand would have

written had I asked. It is a medical product. I just told myself that

$60.00 was a small investment to make that week...after all our

grocery bill would at least go down that much those 2-3 weeks while I

was in the hospital and home sleeping!

I guess the take away point is that while I know you want to loose

weight, and you probably will, you do not want to do it at the

expense of being sure your body has what it needs to meet the

extraordinary challenges of surgery...hence my suggestion that you

seek the support or information from a registered dietician or

someone with medical/nutitional credentials. Once you are home you

will still have to overcome the temptation to sit/lay/stand around

and eat. The early days of recovery are also long and boring and you

will be more or less housebound for awhile. DrT may even have someone

who will work with you.

Last year I found the Sparkpeople webiste and made a Flatback-Revised

group over there. The site has very cool features, is free, and I

loved logging in my daily diet and watching the lbs come off...but I

haven't been over there in some time. Every time I read SB's story I

mean to go get back on track...especially after the holidays and all

the high fat cheeses and yogurts here in DK! Thank god I can still

swim 3 days a week. Maybe we should have SB take over that group and

get us all fired up.

Heart! You will get there.

Take Care, Cam

[Guest guest]

Dear Jeri,

I was in your boat weight wise going into revisions( yes I had two), but took a great deal of weight off after the surgery( 40 lbs). For pain control following surgery I had a Fentanyl patch, which had me sick at my stomach a lot, and kinda queezy most of the time. The weight literally fell off. Not a good way to loose weight, but it did come off. When I went back to eatting normally after getting off the patch, 20 lbs creeped back on. So I started doing Adkins, and off that came with a few more pounds. I kept it off three years. Unfortunately I know I'm an emotional eater, and with some big losses, I got lazy and put it back on. I'm back at working on it again, for me I guess it will always be a battle, and carbs are just my enemy. So my suggestion is make better choices with food moving up to surgery, don't do anything drastic, but be mindful of portions and balance. Most people will loose some weight after surgery, and then look at that loss as your jump start to better health, and find an eating plan that works for you. After surgery most of these doc's want you walking, walking is good exercise and helps boost your mental being. Look at swimming too, many here after doc's okay find swimming very good for their bodies. If you need a weight loss pal, maybe we could be each others pal during it, I need to loose 50 lbs, you do, and maybe we could keep each other motivated. It's tough, I thought I had the weight thing sorta beat, and back I went, but today is a new day, and I'm there if you need it!

[ ] Jitters @ Weight and revision surgery & looking in the mirror

As I look over what I wrote below, I realize that it's probably just the latest of my pre-surgery jitters. Regardless, here's my latest whining...I'm at least 50 lbs overweight -- a number that is being kind to myself.I'm wondering if any of you had the same situation at your revision date. And if so, how it went for you losing weight while/after recovering.Dr.T did not say anything about my weight at my appt with him in November. But I read an account of how the patient is positioned for the surgery... and a note of how an obese person's belly needs to be supported differently. It makes perfect sense, but I feel embarrassed about the idea. I've had moments when I eat right, and then plenty of others when I just give up and eat because I'm hurting, or because I haven't looked in a full length mirror lately. Hubby set up my recumbent trike for indoor use a few weeks ago, and I use it, but loosing weight feels so hopeless.I avoid full length mirrors because of weight, but also the twisted-craned-neck-hunched-bent-over sort of look. That's not how I feel inside... just like I don't feel 53 inside either (more like 35 at most).It's a shock that I look so broken down and old. I try not to cry, so I try not to look.Thanks for reading all this.Jeri

[Guest guest]

Cam, I have actually considered asking you to make me a comoderator

of the sparkpeople group. It has not been very active lately.

I am so thankful to whoever it was that first told us about

sparkpeople! I am sure that losing weight is part of the reason I

feel so much better. I am down a total of 65 pounds now, and seem to

have bottomed out.

I started trying to lose weight about 3 months before surgery, and

was able to achieve a lot by cutting down to one Dr Pepper per day

and counting my calories. I also finally started taking pain pills

so I could exercise every day. It is still so hard to remember when

half a mile felt like a long walk!

I had lost 33 pounds before surgery, so another 35 pounds after. It

is so much easier to walk now. I think I have mentioned that I have

been walking before work, at lunch, and after work and last week I

averaged 10 - 12 miles per day! I went for an 8 mile walk on Sunday

and barely broke a sweat.

Sparkpeople was definitely the key. They have a huge database of

foods, so it is easy to track your calories and whatever other

nutrients you want to track. They have tons of articles to read

about nutrition, fitness, motivation, and wellness. And they have

some active messageboards where you can meet new people who will help

keep you encouraged. I learned that I can eat what I want and still

lose weight as long as I made sure what the serving size was and

stayed in my calorie budget for the day.

I am going to cut down on the walking next week because water

aerobics starts again on Monday. That was the big thing I did for

exercise before surgery. My husband likes to walk, so he has really

helped me keep up with the doctor's walking recommendation. He

commented earlier this week how happy he is that we can go for walks

together every day.

I was very tired this morning and tempted to go back to sleep, but as

I was on my morning walk, I realized that NOW I finally understand

what people meant when they said that revision surgery gave them back

their life. I may not be able to do everything I could do 20 years

ago, but I can do a whole lot more than I could do in the las 10

years. It feels GOOD!!

>

> Jeri,

>

> Please don't pre-judge your posts as whining!!

>

> I think most of us lost some weight during the surgical process.

Mine

> was a staged procedure so I was in the hospital longer. I think all

> together I lost about 10lbs. I was probably about 20lbs over what I

> would consider my ideal weight. You are right, it is easy for

weight

> to come on when you just don't move much due to pain.

>

> As to the positioning for surgery I think it is a question for your

> surgeon. To be honest, I am wondering if concerns about your weight

> may be the reason he wants you on a striker frame after surgery. I

> recall that SB's situation was along the lines that DrBridwell was

> reluctant to undertake anterior surgery due to her weight. This

> prompted her to get very motivated to shed some lbs before surgery,

> and ever since. I think she is somewhere around the 60lbs lost

right

> now. I am sure you have seen the amazing pictures of her changed

> physique! Somewhere along the line this fall she was up for her

> checkup and I think I remember her telling us that DrBridwell asked

> her why exactly it was that he didn't do the anterior surgery in

the

> first place because apparently he couldn't remember the " old "

Suzanne!

>

> I am sure you will be telling a similar story a year from now.

>

> As a parting thought...I would suggest that you speak to a

nutionist

> if it's possible. One thing that I did learn before surgery was

> actually from the father of a flatback member who worked as the

> dietician in a hospital. He said that Arginine-L is a key ingedient

> in good surgical or wound healing. I know you are a researcher by

> nature so I am sure you will probably look around on this topic.

What

> I found convinced me that since I would be undergoing a staged

> prodedure a week apart that keeping my nutition status good would

be

> worth paying attention to. I found the Novartis research on this

very

> interesting. Martha (also from our group/Bridwell) said that

Bridwell

> used a parenteral feeding system for her between stages. Long story

> short, with my surgeon's permission, I purchased and brought to the

> hospital the Novartis product " Impact-Recover " as well as a small

> bottle to mix it with ice in. I was not permitted to move off

fluids

> for at least 3 days, but after the first 24 hours I was permitted

to

> drink this stuff. The day before my second stage while DrRand was

> looking at my blood work and asking me if I was " ready " he said he

> had never seen such a high albumin rate...and that apparently was a

> very good thing. I recall the box was on the expensive side and I

> didn't want to go through insurance reimbursement...but in

retrospect

> I could have with a prescription which I believe DrRand would have

> written had I asked. It is a medical product. I just told myself

that

> $60.00 was a small investment to make that week...after all our

> grocery bill would at least go down that much those 2-3 weeks while

I

> was in the hospital and home sleeping!

>

> I guess the take away point is that while I know you want to loose

> weight, and you probably will, you do not want to do it at the

> expense of being sure your body has what it needs to meet the

> extraordinary challenges of surgery...hence my suggestion that you

> seek the support or information from a registered dietician or

> someone with medical/nutitional credentials. Once you are home you

> will still have to overcome the temptation to sit/lay/stand around

> and eat. The early days of recovery are also long and boring and

you

> will be more or less housebound for awhile. DrT may even have

someone

> who will work with you.

>

> Last year I found the Sparkpeople webiste and made a Flatback-

Revised

> group over there. The site has very cool features, is free, and I

> loved logging in my daily diet and watching the lbs come off...but

I

> haven't been over there in some time. Every time I read SB's story

I

> mean to go get back on track...especially after the holidays and

all

> the high fat cheeses and yogurts here in DK! Thank god I can still

> swim 3 days a week. Maybe we should have SB take over that group

and

> get us all fired up.

>

> Heart! You will get there.

>

> Take Care, Cam

>

[Guest guest]

Ladies,

I highly recommend Weight Watchers for learning how to eat and live

normally. It can be done online for those of us recovering from

surgery and not able to get to a meeting. I have battled with weight

all of my life and through WW I have maintained 135 lbs. for the past

five years after a lifetime of " fad " diets. First, we need to remove

the word " diet " from our vocabulary. It conjures up visions of

failure and remorse. Think about learning how to eat properly for a

healthy you! Now that we have spent all this money and time in

getting our backs fixed, lets live longer and reap the rewards of our

new backs! My mantra since being on the program is, if it's

processed don't eat it, and worry more about sugar content in food as

opposed to fat. For instance, I used to snack on pretzels because I

thought they were a low fat snack - they are, but they are processed

flour and have completely empty calories! Also, put more protein in

your daily intake of food and drink fat free milk/milk products.

I'll stop here, because I could go on and on.

Donna T.

>

> Dear Jeri,

>

> I was in your boat weight wise going into revisions( yes I had

two), but took a great deal of weight off after the surgery( 40 lbs).

For pain control following surgery I had a Fentanyl patch, which had

me sick at my stomach a lot, and kinda queezy most of the time. The

weight literally fell off. Not a good way to loose weight, but it did

come off. When I went back to eatting normally after getting off the

patch, 20 lbs creeped back on. So I started doing Adkins, and off

that came with a few more pounds. I kept it off three years.

Unfortunately I know I'm an emotional eater, and with some big

losses, I got lazy and put it back on. I'm back at working on it

again, for me I guess it will always be a battle, and carbs are just

my enemy. So my suggestion is make better choices with food moving up

to surgery, don't do anything drastic, but be mindful of portions and

balance. Most people will loose some weight after surgery, and then

look at that loss as your jump start to better health, and find an

eating plan that works for you. After surgery most of these doc's

want you walking, walking is good exercise and helps boost your

mental being. Look at swimming too, many here after doc's okay find

swimming very good for their bodies. If you need a weight loss pal,

maybe we could be each others pal during it, I need to loose 50 lbs,

you do, and maybe we could keep each other motivated. It's tough, I

thought I had the weight thing sorta beat, and back I went, but today

is a new day, and I'm there if you need it!

>

>

> [ ] Jitters @ Weight and revision surgery

& looking in the mirror

>

>

> As I look over what I wrote below, I realize that it's probably

just

> the latest of my pre-surgery jitters. Regardless, here's my

latest

> whining...

>

> I'm at least 50 lbs overweight -- a number that is being kind to

myself.

> I'm wondering if any of you had the same situation at your

revision

> date. And if so, how it went for you losing weight while/after

> recovering.

>

> Dr.T did not say anything about my weight at my appt with him in

> November. But I read an account of how the patient is positioned

for

> the surgery... and a note of how an obese person's belly needs to

be

> supported differently. It makes perfect sense, but I feel

embarrassed

> about the idea.

>

> I've had moments when I eat right, and then plenty of others when

I

> just give up and eat because I'm hurting, or because I haven't

looked

> in a full length mirror lately. Hubby set up my recumbent trike

for

> indoor use a few weeks ago, and I use it, but loosing weight

feels so

> hopeless.

>

> I avoid full length mirrors because of weight, but also the

twisted-

> craned-neck-hunched-bent-over sort of look. That's not how I feel

> inside... just like I don't feel 53 inside either (more like 35

at

> most).

>

> It's a shock that I look so broken down and old. I try not to

cry, so I

> try not to look.

>

> Thanks for reading all this.

> Jeri

>

[Guest guest]

Jeri,

I don’t know if anyone loses weight after revision surgery, but when I

lost about 30 pounds after my Harrington Rod surgery years ago, I was told that

it takes a lot of calories to heal after major surgery. So I wouldn’t

worry about where you are now. The doctor would have said something if he were

concerned. And look at the bright side: you might have an easier time of

losing weight post surgery! I have also noticed that if I try to stick to

balancing my good carbs, good fats and protein, (like a diabetic diet), as well

as not go longer than 4 hours between snack/meals, I have fewer cravings, my

energy levels are more consistent throughout the day, and I can lose weight

easier.

I

do think that the docs are pretty used to us middle aged women having a few

extra lbs on us!

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of bocce_fun

Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008

5:40 PM

Subject: [ ]

Jitters @ Weight and revision surgery & looking in the mirror

As I look over what I wrote below, I realize that it's

probably just

the latest of my pre-surgery jitters. Regardless, here's my latest

whining...

I'm at least 50 lbs overweight -- a number that is being kind to myself.

I'm wondering if any of you had the same situation at your revision

date. And if so, how it went for you losing weight while/after

recovering.

Dr.T did not say anything about my weight at my appt with him in

November. But I read an account of how the patient is positioned for

the surgery... and a note of how an obese person's belly needs to be

supported differently. It makes perfect sense, but I feel embarrassed

about the idea.

I've had moments when I eat right, and then plenty of others when I

just give up and eat because I'm hurting, or because I haven't looked

in a full length mirror lately. Hubby set up my recumbent trike for

indoor use a few weeks ago, and I use it, but loosing weight feels so

hopeless.

I avoid full length mirrors because of weight, but also the twisted-

craned-neck-hunched-bent-over sort of look. That's not how I feel

inside... just like I don't feel 53 inside either (more like 35 at

most).

It's a shock that I look so broken down and old. I try not to cry, so I

try not to look.

Thanks for reading all this.

Jeri