The Video is up!

As promised here is my testimonial for Dr. Ameri.  Thank you again to Sue for recording this for me!
Happy Holidays everyone!

Testifying!

Giving a testimonial was terrifying!  And yet, I got through it and it was awesome.  I'm going to get the video up as soon as I can, but I need to say a big, big thank you to all of my friends.  I have the most amazing support system.  And I have to say a very special thank you to my friend Sue.

Sue, thank you for coming to this meeting, supporting me throughout these recent tough months and taping my testimonial tonight.  It means a lot to me that I have you in my life.

To everyone I met tonight, you can do this.  You are going to get through this surgery and change your life.  If you need a pick me up, have questions, or just need to talk please contact me and I will do whatever I can to help.  Stay tuned for the video!

Track Marks?

I once again have a railroad on my belly.... or a zipper...or little bugs....I had ANOTHER surgery!

I was opened up again on Thursday, November 16th at 1:30pm and this time, Dr. Ameri took a souvenir...my gallbladder.  My Gallbladder was gross...super gross....so gross that it needed to be removed.  So gross that when it was removed my surgeon told me that I had "an ugly gallbladder".

Let me tell you, it was a horrible experience.  Most of the people I had spoken to had told me that the surgery was relatively easy.  That the healing time wouldn't be so bad.  That is SO not true. I spent 14 hours in the hospital in level 10 pain.  Unable to move, breathe, talk, pass gas, eat, or relieve my bowels without help or pain.  And when I tell you that my gastric bypass surgery was easier, know that I went back and watched the old videos, I read the old blogs, and it was still an easier surgery.  Not only did the gas stay with me for the entirety of my healing time so far, but so did the gas pain, the bloating, and the inability to do anything by sleep sitting up and drink water.  UG!

Highlight of the past 2 weeks....Thanksgiving.  I was able to eat, I was able to walk around, and I got to spend time with my family whom I love very very much. Wonderful day, I hope yours was fantastic as well.

Low-point....having my roommate come into my bathroom, while I sat on the toilet in almost blackout pain to save me from passing out and hitting my head on my sink.  For the record, I called her, well text messaged her, from my toilet because I knew that something was wrong and couldn't do anything on my own.  I needed help, or I would have been found the next morning passed out with my pants around my ankles on the floor of my bathroom.  Nothing good about that.  Thank you Gloria for helping me that night.

So tomorrow, Wednesday November 30th I will have my staples removed, all 10 of them.  And then we will see how I'm feeling.  There is a possibility that I pulled an ab muscle...but if that's the worst of this left, I can handle it.

Gallbladder surgeries are very common after gastric bypass.  My surgeon says that 1 out of every 4 patients will need to have their gallbladders removed.  A friend of mine who works at the hospital, and the wonderful nurses who helped me this time (Thank you A4 RN's) think those numbers should be half of every patient.  This is a common side effect, and it's a painful one..at least for those who are post-op.

How did I know I needed surgery?  I realized something was wrong with my gallbladder because my feces were white. That's right everyone....I had pastel poop!

Dr. Oz taught me to watch my poop...that was a great way to diagnose a number of ailments.  Mine was white...or almost white, which is NOT normal.  So I saw my Dr. and when he pressed on my abdomen, where my gallbladder was located, it was tender.  NOT PAINFUL, just tender.  An ultrasound showed that I had a single, LARGE stone in my gall bladder.  A 7 millimeter stone.  That is roughly the total size of a normal, health gallbladder.  The bile duct out of the gallbladder is roughly 1.3mm large....so my stone just stopped up the works. No bile could get out, and yet I could store it....hence the ugly gall bladder.  Watch your poop everyone.  If I wasn't, I wouldn't have discovered this issue until much later...and it probably would have been an emergency removal.

Next up....a testimonial.  Dr. Ameri holds monthly support/informational meetings for people thinking about weight loss surgery or who have already had one of the surgeries.  At each meeting he asks a patient to give a testimonial about how their surgery went, and how they have had continued success.  On Tuesday, December 13th I will be the person giving a testimonial.   I am honored to share my story with those who are thinking about or have had weight loss surgery.  I'm going to ask if i can record the testimonial for my blog, and for my boyfriend who has a work obligation.  So stay tuned for information on that.

Thank you for sticking with me...for sticking with my lack of posts...and for sticking with me throughout my vast number of changes. My commitment to the blog hasn't changed, but boy has my life changed.  I will continue to change, but hopefully it will always be for the better.

Who Are You?

I have been away for too long.

So much has happened and I don't have enough space to tell you about all of it. Let's start at the beginning...it has been 1 year and 11 months since my Gastric Bypass Surgery. My peak weight loss has been getting down to 150 for a total loss of 145lbs. (Almost as much as I weighed at that moment!) I am currently sitting at 170lbs. What is scary is that I've gained 20lbs since I hit my peak weight loss and at least half of it has to do with medication. It's tough to know that there is almost nothing I could do to take some of that weight off...it's just there...until I'm off the meds.

What are these meds that I need to take now. Birth Control. That's right, I'm on the pill again after 11 years! There are a number of reasons that people go back onto the pill, heavy periods, bad cramps, ridiculously bad clotting, and birth control. Since I wrote last I've gone through MANY changes...but the biggest is that I got a divorce.

That's right...Alex and I broke up after over 5 and a half years. She was such a source of support and encouragement for me. She made me feel good about who I was and where I was going. But I had fallen out of love with her...and needed to make sure that we were both going to love and be loved the way that we deserved. In June I breached the subject of breaking up and in September our divorce was final.

For the record, I love Alex and want NOTHING but the best for her...but I am not in love with her and I haven't been for some time.  Alex is amazing.  Everyone who meets her loves her, and I miss her every day.  I miss my friend, I miss my companion, and I miss my confidant.  But I do not miss Alex, my lover.  Luckily, we have a number of mutual friends and we still have a fur child to take care of, so I hear from and about her from time to time.  Alex, if you read this, I am happy that you are doing well and I honestly want nothing more than for you to be happy.  I'm sorry that I was not the person who you needed me to be.

To add some confusion to all of this, I am also in a new relationship.  I think that I was finally ready to find my other half, and although I was not looking for anyone to come into my life, this man side swiped me and my heart.  I have a boyfriend.

That's right world, I said boyfriend.

This person could have been anyone.  Please do not think that I left a woman because I needed to be with men.  I was with an amazing person for a long time...and I happened to find yet another amazing person who made my heart sing.  This second individual could have been a man or a woman, it just happened to be a man.  What I will say is that THIS man is very supportive, understands my past and my surgery circumstances, and has fallen in love with me.....and I with him...even though I have saggy extra skin and the face of a 16 year old boy.

OH YEAH! Did I mention that when I turned 31 in June I developed Cystic Acne? Awesome.

SO all of this sounds pretty bad...and seems to have NOTHING to do with my surgery. Well, in some ways you are right. But, I'm a confident woman now. The Lindsay of 2 years ago...fat Lindsay...would not have left Alex in order to be happy. I had become content with being ok. I had become content with the fact that I would never be 100% happy. I could live with only being happy 80%. That is NOT the way anyone should ever live. If I hadn't had my surgery I still would have come to that conclusion, just not as quickly. I would have stayed with Alex, and had a decent life where I was just ok...but not truly soulfully happy. Everyone needs to follow their heart, and a wise friend of mine told me that "Matters of the heart blondie, you can never control matters of the heart." And it's true.

At the end of all of this, anyone thinking about having gastric bypass, anyone supporting those having gastric bypass, think about where you are now and KNOW undoubtedly that it will change. I am not saying that everyone who has surgery will leave their loved ones...I'm not saying anything of the sort But what I am saying is that you are going to change. You are going to change in ways that you didn't think were humanly possible. Your boundaries, your fundamental beliefs, your ID can and will change. Be prepared...and have the a system around you to support you through this change.

Don't be afraid of who you are, who you were, or who you become. No one can be anyone other than themselves...and YOU are amazing.

Goals and the Future

Who doesn't make goals? I am pretty sure that we all do. But what happens when you reach that goal?

My goal of loosing 130lbs is complete. I've officially lost 140lbs...and yet I feel like I could loose another 5. Maybe another 10. Is that the weight loss curse?

Please do not misunderstand. I am amazed, thrilled, and in awe of the transformation that has taken place in me both outwardly and inwardly over the past year and 4 months. But I just can't escape the feeling that I have so much more to do. I am hoping that working towards having some skin removal surgery will help me feel better about this new body. The only thing I see when I take off my clothing is folded skin....which is gross by anyone's standards. But when I have clothing on I feel like a million bucks.

It's funny....I've been told by a number of people over the past couple of days that they never saw the big girl that I was. Honestly, neither did I. I was still flirty and being hit on by men and women. I was still going out and having fun. None of this has really changed since I have become smaller. I do notice more people looking at me and smiling now. But that's really it. Maybe personality can transcend the outward appearance of a person more than society lets on.

Do not get me wrong...there were always people who were laughing at the fat girl, or who judged me based on my weight. These are things that I only recognize in retrospect though, I didn't see it that way at the time. But someone who is friendly, and tries to assist you at any time, whether big or small, someone who smiles and laughs and treats you like an equal (or at least tries to) maybe that is what matters and what people remember. Not the fact that the person helping them is large.

What do you think about this? Everyone has had issues with weight one way or another. Whether you're trying to put it on or take it off. Have you ever experienced this phenomena? Do you think that size matters? (The size, aka weight, of a person...get your mind out of the gutter!)

Put your answers in the comments!

One Year? Really?

I'm pretty speechless.  No really, I don't know what to say.  Today marks my one year surgery anniversary.  One year.  WOW!

After one year of struggles, pain, trials, friendship, smiles, crying, melting, cooking, adjusting, and everything else I am 125lbs smaller than I was a year ago today.  I'm skating in the roller derby, something the old me couldn't do...coincidentally something that the new me can't do because of a sprained MCL...but that's a different story for a different day.  I'm MARRIED....not just engaged but married, (Yeah that happened this past Saturday, January 15th.  Sorry for the lack of post.  Go to our wedding blog for the information on that.)  WOW!

So what does Lindsay look like today?  Well, for starters she is a size 14 bottoms with a Large top in all stores...well, all stores except Lane Bryant....you know...the store I no longer have to shop in.  She has short blond hair.  She wears skinny jeans and short skirts.  Sometimes, well 2 times a week, she wears leggings with boy short underwear over them with roller skates.  This new Lindsay wears an Alexandrite and Diamond ring on her left ring finger.  She has a curly haired woman holding her right hand and a black and white kitty man who is usually curled up on her side.

New Lindsay likes going for walks.  She doesn't get to the top of the stairs and have to stop to catch her breath.  New Lindsay will race you down the street...and jump down the stairs.  New Lindsay looks more like her mother than her father, although Old Lindsay was basically her father with boobs.

New Lindsay does not miss the Old Lindsay, but LOVES who she has become and will always be thankful to the Old Lindsay for making her who she is today.

So, today on my surgery anniversary, or  my new birthday I introduce to you the New Lindsay.  Her name is Lindsay Alaimo-Fuentes and she loves her life and everyone and thing in it.

Thank you everyone for the support and love over the past year, and then some.  And thank you Old Lindsay for stepping aside to let the New Lindsay come through.

Vitamin D

Apparently Vitamin D is very important.  A common problem for people who have had Gastric Bypass Surgery is that they no longer absorb enough of anything, let alone Vitamin D.

For those who do not know what Vitamin D does, check out the Wiki Page here.

I recently found out that my Vitamin D levels are extremely low.  no surprise given my lack of Vitamin D Supplement, however still not reassuring.  On Wednesday of this week I went in and had some blood drawn for a multitude of tests.  8 Vials were taken, testing for everything from Cholesterol Levels to the amount of Zinc and Magnesium in my blood stream.  Both my Primary Care Physician and Surgeon wanted all of the results.  It's funny that although 8 vials was a whole lot of blood, it didn't seem like too much.  In fact, for the testing that they wanted to do it seemed like 8 wouldn't be nearly enough!  I'm not complaining though.

I immediately posted on Facebook how amazed I was that my labs needed 8 full vials of blood and had a plethora of people ask me if I was trying to get pregnant!  For those of you who do not know, you are not allowed to get pregnant for 18 months after surgery.  You don't want to damage anything going on with your belly and you certainly will be unable to sustain 2 lives, sustaining your own is challenging enough!  So no, I am not trying to get pregnant, thanks for asking though.  :-)

I'll keep you updated on how the rest of the labs go...until then, thanks for reading.  :-)

A month of stuff!

WOW!  How does a month go by without a post?  I hate to say it but boy am I slacking!

The past month has been SUPER busy.  June is notoriously crazy for me every year, as almost every person I know is a Gemini or a Gemini cusp, including me.  That's right, I recently celebrated my 30th birthday!  Goodbye 20's hello to a new decade of my life.  There are no pictures from the event, however let me tell you my partner planned a party that was perfect for me.  The theme of the whole day was "A kids party for an old lady".  We started the day rollerskating for an hour and a half at Roller World, in Saugus.  I had almost every birthday party there as a child, making it a total trip down memory lane.  (I always think about Bobby Cincotta with the fork in his nose....anyone else remember that?)  After skating we had a BBQ at my mom's house.  Alex created an atmosphere of fun and relaxation, which is what I wanted.  There were goody bags (Complete with toy dinosaurs, glow bracelets, Buffy the Vampire Slayer pins, and vodka nips), stick the horn on the unicorn game, and a crafting table for people to put birthday wishes on sheets of paper.  We are going to put all the wishes on a canvas and hang them in the house.  Gotta love craft projects!

The highlight of the day was the fact that Alex surprised me by driving 45 minutes, each way, to a bakery in Salem, NH called Chatila's Bakery for a sugar-free birthday cake and sugar-free / gluten-free cheesecake.  Both were super tasty and beautiful.  I have got to say, I am a very lucky girl.

Otherwise, I have been working my tail off, going to birthday parties for my friends, going to concerts (Dave Matthews Band is ALWAYS amazing live by the way), and trying new recipes.

I made an Italian style casserole that is reminiscent of baked ziti and stuffed peppers mixed together.  Thank you again for the inspiration Michelle from The World According to Eggface.  Her creations inspire my cooking so much and give me a place to start from and then build upon.  So my "stuffed pepper casserole" was almost exactly a combination of these 2 recipes:  Un-stuffed Pepper Casserole and Shelly's Turkey Stuffed Peppers.  Make the Un-Stuffed Casserole but put mushrooms, zuccini, and summer squash into the mix.  And instead of ground Turkey, I used leftover rotisserie chicken that I cubed.  Alex LOVED this one.

She also liked this pizza I made today.  It needs a name, but for now I'm calling it


Linz's Kitchen Sink Pizza

1 Ezekiel 4:9® 6 inch Whole Grain Flour-less Tortilla 

(I got them at Hannaford's Market but you can go to their website and look up the stores that carry the brand)

2 TBLS Tomato Sauce

3 slices of deli smoked ham (HIllshire Farms)

1/4 of a cup of leftover sautéed veggies  

(I had zucchini, summer squash, onions, mushrooms and garlic left over from the above casserole)

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar/Mozzarella Cheese

1/2 a Haas Avocado

A few squirts of hot sauce (I use Red Hot but any will do)

 A light dusting of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Again, I follow the instruction that Michelle at the Eggface blog give's .  If you do exactly what she says you will throughly enjoy any food you find at her blog.  Go check it out and enjoy her ideas.

So, the nitty gritty.  I hit 210lbs yesterday.  That means I have lost 85lbs since January 18th, 2010.  (5 months for those of you who are counting)  I'm in a size 18 and have gotten rid of everything but 1/8th of my original wardrobe.  Luckily, I was a clothing hoarder and kept things that I haven't worn since college, literally. I've also been lucky enough to have a number of people in my life who have gone through their own weight journey recently who have given me clothing that they can no longer use.  This is the smallest I have been since my sophomore year at Regis College.  That was 11 years ago!  

Here is a recent picture ...

Yup, that's a red cup.  I'm pre-gaming for the Dave Matthews Band Concert.  I can handle a single alcoholic drink now which is also really, REALLY nice.  An as for my little man Luna...

He can't handle his alcohol yet either...You have got to love being a cat!

HOLY COW that's a lot of weight!

Enjoy the video...and check out the pics!

 

Me on April 21, 2010.  Check out the comparison with the old photos...

OH...and for those of you who are wondering what Luna is up to...here are a few pics of him being insane!

Zumba!

WOW! Just...WOW!

Ok, so I'm not in the best shape. Let's be honest, I had weight loss surgery. I have never been one to exercise, not even a little bit really. I do like to have fun though and dancing...I LOVE to dance. Well Zumba, it's dancing. Dancing with cardio, and exhaustion!

My legs feel like jelly and my arms are sore, and yet all I want to keep practicing the moves I just learned.

So, I'm going to assume that none of you have ever done Zumba before. It is basically dancing to loud Latin infused music for an hour. Resistance training is also a big part of this, but using your own body to create resistance, your body and difference of speeds and tempos. It's fun. It's a lot of fun! I'm kinda obsessed! All of this after ONE CLASS!

If you want to learn more about Zumba and where to find a class you can go to www.zumba.com. Where I took my class was at Studio 239 in Malden. My instructor, who is fantastic, is Nelson Mendoza. He was really considerate of the new people in class and made it a point to get around to everyone who was participating, and he was FUN!

Have I said that Zumba was fun?

So go check it out and have a blast! Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it...but bring plenty of water...and a towel to wipe off your sweat...you're going to need it!

Pouchy Tastiness

I had such a tasty dinner this evening.
After attempting a cold cut rollup...roast beef and turkey...I almost instantly felt sick to my belly. Alex got to finish that, and I got to continue making dinner.

Dinner tonight: Baked Salmon with dill, lemon and scallions. YUMMY!  The meal is super high in protein AND super tasty. I cook these in packets, parchment paper covered in aluminum foil. Oh, and did I mention that it is also super easy to make too.

Put a piece of parchment paper on top of a piece of foil. Place your salmon on the parchment. Put a tsp of extra virgin olive oil on the fish. Chop the dill up and place a TBLS of dill on your salmon. Chop up a scallion and put that on top of the dill. Slice 3 or 4 rounds of lemon and place them on top of the scallions. A touch of salt and pepper and then close up the packets.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Take out of the oven and squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on it. Enjoy!

I ate this with a cucumber salad with protein rich dill yogurt dressing which I got here. Thanks Eggface for the tastiness yet again!

Time Moves On

Sorry that it has been so long.  I hope that this video helps to make up for it.

PAIN!!!!!

WOW!  I don't even know where to begin with this post.  Today was a horrible day!  Let's start at the beginning.

I went to work, as I have been everyday.  I've been feeling really fantastic, today I was tired, but otherwise it was no exception.  At 11am I had about 1/4th of a cup of cottage cheese.  I've been eating cottage cheese daily and having no issue at all. 

So, the day goes on and at about 2:30pm I was helping out the weather kids in the control room, the shoot was going really quite well, and all of a sudden a pain shot through my system.  It buckled me immediately so I excused myself and ran to the bathroom.  I thought that I was having gas pains, so the bathroom made the most sense.  After about 5 minutes of sitting with nothing going on, not even passing any gas, I decided it was useless sitting in the gross school bathroom and headed back to the studio.  I told my boss what was going on, went into my office, shut the door and curled up in a ball on the floor. 

Before I go any farther, I need to explain the pain.   It didn't feel like I was being stabbed or anything, I had an intense pressure, like something was sitting on top of my stomach inside me.  Almost like my stomach was in a vice....I couldn't curl up without being in pain...but I also couldn't straighten up.  All in all it was a pretty horrific feeling.

So, after I ignored one of my members knocking on my office door, I realized that being on the floor wasn't helping me any.  It was time for more drastic measures.  I got up, as best as I could, and headed for the bathroom in our office.  By now I was convinced that a piece of cottage cheese had gotten lodged into my new stomach/intestinal area.  I went into the newly cleaned "bathroom" that is in our office space.  It is never used so I know that it would still be clean.  I closed to door and wound up the courage to make myself throw up.  (I HATE throwing up.  But if something was stuck, it needed to come out).  Nothing....not even bile, which is the weirdest thing in the whole world.

After laying on the floor for what felt like an eternity.  I realized that the pain wasn't as horrible as it was.  I ran into see my boss, told him I was going home, and promised to call him when I got there. 

The pain is gone...but I have a severe ache...kind of like when you can feel a horrible migraine coming on.  The calm before the storm.  Unfortunately I still feel horrible 6 and a half hours later.  I called my Doctor and unfortunately they couldn't get a hold of him.  They told me to call in the morning if I still didn't feel well, and to go to the emergency room if the pain came back.  I'll keep you posted....

Happy Anniversary!

Potato and Leek Soup

1 Leek (Cleaned and roughly chopped)
3 Idaho Potatoes (Peeled and roughly chopped)
About 1 Pint of Chicken/Veggie Broth (Free Range if possible)
1-2 TBLS Chopped Garlic
1-2 TBLS Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, warm the oil and add garlic, leeks, salt and pepper. Cook the leeks and garlic until tender (about 10 minutes)  Once the leeks are tender, add potatoes, stir and cover potatoes with broth.  ( You may not need the entire pint of broth for this soup.)  Cover and let cook until potatoes are tender (About 15 minutes) Once the potatoes are tender, add oregano and use an immersion blender to completely puree the soup.  (You can also use a regular blender, just add the soup in batches.)  Enjoy!

YIPPIE!

So plateau be damned.  I just needed to tell all of you about it, because yesterday the scale moved! 
It's official...30lbs. 
Just thought that I would let you all know.

YIPPEEE!

Staples, diets and Luna.

I was REALLY long winded this week.  Enjoy both videos.   :-)

Part 1




Part 2

So Tired

How tired am I? I'm so tired that I haven't been able to blog. UG! I hate that.

I've returned to work part-time working 10 to 3 each day and have found that I am having an extremely difficult time keeping my energy level up enough to do much of anything when I return home. As soon as I get here, I instantly pass out. In fact, on Wednesday, my first day back, I got home from my 5 hour day at work and slept....for 3 HOURS! Each day, my sleeping after work has gotten less and less, but my exhaustion has not subsided.

Working has been interesting, I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I'm having a hard time remembering things on a regular basis. Daily I'm doing things like walking into the back room at the office only to forget what I needed. At least 3 or 4 times a day....and I'm only working 5 hour days!

I feel useless being there. I can't lift any equipment, I can't bend all the way over to pick things up off the floor, and I can't sit for super long periods of time without getting either gas pain or pain in the area of my scars. Never mind the bathroom runs. See how much YOU need to go to the bathroom, when you are on a liquid diet. Yeah, you go a lot. I also feel really bad. I want to be able to help out at work and be there 100% but I just can't do it. I don't have the ability to stay awake after working so hard, I have to ask my members to move equipment for me, as I cannot. I'm lucky that my boss is so wonderful and understanding or I would be in quite a pickle.

Maybe one day soon I'll be more complete and able to work. Let's hope that day comes sooner, rather than later.

OH, on another note, I think I've become lactose intolerant since the surgery. With that being said, I am so sorry to anyone out there who is lactose intolerant. Having never having to worry about this before I had NO idea how horrible it was to go through this process. I'm telling you, my bum has seen many better days. Sorry for the TMI.

Protein Shakes

First things first, I'm sick of protein shakes. I'm sure that anyone else who has had to be on a liquid diet can attest to how sickening they make you after a while. I'm sure that one day I will enjoy Chocolate again; however I can't imagine that day ever coming.

Regardless, it's a necessary evil in this process. Finding protein that you like and in enough flavors is tough though. Today I headed to GNC, not somewhere I would normally go, but I had a gift card. I have to say, it was a trip worth taking. The man who was working there was a plethora of information. Apparently, there are many different kinds of protein. Whey, soy, isolate, weight gain, and vitamin packed proteins are everywhere, but which one is right for people who have had gastric bypass? Well, according to my GNC source, the answer is isolate. It's a type of whey protein that is easily absorbed into your body, where the others, though good are more difficult for your body to take in. GNC carries a number of these products in a vast array of flavors in this protein ranging from chocolate, vanilla and strawberry to cookies and cream, orange and Alpine Punch.   

So, for those of you sick of the usual flavors who might have an extra buck or two (Or 40) head over to GNC and get a flavor of isolate whey protein that is different and exciting...because I know if I have anymore chocolate ever again, it will be too soon.

What it's been like....and how I'm doing.