Sunday, October 07, 2012

I take a new Journey in my life

As I was sitting on this scooter (in March of this year) enjoying the ride, I was also in a great deal of pain and feeling shameful.  I had been away on a bus trip in which there was a lot of walking. I have arthritis in both hips and week of traipsing from store to store left me in agony. Each night in our motel room I would rub myself with liniment take painkillers and anti-inflammatory pills and rest up for the next day, all the while cursing my weight.

By the time I came home I was in such pain it took me two weeks to recover. I went immediately to the doctor and asked for a referral to an orthopaedic surgeon. My appointment was for six months down the road. I knew that the Surgeon would likely take one look at me and say you need to lose some weight before I do anything. 

I talk to my family doctor about my problem and he asked me if I had ever considered gastric bypass surgery. I immediately said no I don't want that. 
I had only know two people who had ever had the surgery and both had put most of their weight back on. The doctor told me that is not the case for most people, that the odds were very good that I would keep most of it off.  I told him I would think about it. I had him put my name on the list for the Orientation and thought I would at least listen to the information.   

In the meantime I came home and read lots and lots and lots about it on the internet and the long and short of it is that after many assessments and appointments I am having my surgery on October 19th. 

Right now I am on a completely liquid protein, low fat diet of Optifast until the surgery, so even though it is Thanksgiving here in Canada, no Turkey for me. 
I am nervous, excited and yes a little worried. This surgery is not without it's considerable risks but I think it is worth it. I have a lot of health issue that will be helped by losing weight, so I need to do this. Oh yes and the Orthopaedic Surgeon is happy with my decision and says he will be ready to replace my hip when I and my Surgeon say I am ready. Wish me luck.

4 comments:

Rebecca said...

Been There Done That ...
And it was worth it... I had the surgery 17 yers ago and its come a long way.... I lost 130 lbs and never knew how much I was hurting until it stoped...
Good luck and take care and you will do great!

Jennifer said...

Good for you, Deb! It's not an easy decision to make, and it sounds as though you have made the right one. You won't know yourself when it's done. Happy Thanksgiving!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

Good luck to you Deb, I do not have problems with my weight but I do have problems with my hips - I can imagine (I think) how much more it would hurt if I weighed quite a bit more than I do - I guess I am one of the lucky ones - my doctor warned me years ago - "try not to gain weight, you are fine in the weight department now but if you gain you will be in considerable more pain" due to that warning and I'm lucky in the gene department as well I have always tried to never weight too much - it is much harder the older I get.
Good luck to you and let us know how you are doing.

Karen said...

Best of luck to you Deb. I hope you are recovering and doing well. My sister in law had her gastric bypass right after the New Year and is doing great. She had a very difficult time getting into the groove of the program as nothing else had worked for her. She has now lost over 100 pounds and looks and feels fantastic.