I have my next check up with my surgeon on Saturday, (he keeps insane hours) and I  am nervous. I have lost 146 pounds since surgery I think that I am doing really good. But I'm afraid that he is going to get upset with me. I don't know why but I'm worried about it.

My mom and sister are getting worse when it comes to eating and food. I can eat more things with out getting sick and they are on my back all the time about eating almost ANYTHING and I want to kill them. I don't get upset with them when I sit and watch them pig out on things that are slowly killing them. But we are talking about a women (my mom) that weighs 180 pounds and thinks that she is fatter than I was when I had surgery. I think that she is insane and my sister is heavy set but she mantain her weight very well.

So I am having crazy dreams about having surgery  because I've stretched my stomach but when Belnap gets in there, there isn't a dang thing wrong with me. Like I said crazy dreams! 

This was me on the 19th of January of this year; it was the day after I met with Dr. Legrand Belnap for my pre-operative appointment for my Gastric Bypass. I was really nervous; all day I was really conscious of what I was eating and I drank a lot of water. Unfortunately I gained seven pounds in a year which put me at 417 pounds. Mind you I was proud of my self that I had only gained seven pounds, but he was not too happy about it and told me that before he would operate I had to loose forty pounds. So the journey begins....

It was not easy to do; he told me that it would probably take me three to four months to do it and that when I was close to it we would schedule my surgery. As my husband and I were getting in the car to go home, he asked me if I was upset. I told him no that I was not upset; I was a bit disappointed but I was determined to loose the required weight as soon as possible.

The next day I started; took this beautiful and inspiring before picture and started watching my proteins and carbohydrate intake. It was the easiest thing in the world for me to do; there was a goal to reach and it made it so much easier. I lost forty two pounds in seven weeks as felt good about my self.

This picture was taken the morning that I was supposed to have surgery. The thing about using Dr. Belnap is that he is also a transplant specialist and I knew that if a transplant came in that I would get bumped from the schedule. Well March tenth I was in the hospital and was ten minutes from going up to the O.R and the nurse came in and told me that she had bad news. He got a transplant and had to bump me from the schedule.

On the way home I called his office and rescheduled my surgery from Wednesday. I called my supervisor and let her know what was going on and told her that I most likely would not be in the next day because I was up most of the night doing my bowl prep and I didn't feel well. I slept until noon the following day I was so tired.

Wednesday morning rolled along and nine twenty five in the morning they called me to let me know that he was still in transplants and they were putting me on the schedule for Friday morning. I went to work on Thursday, and mind you I was on a clear liquid diet all week because I refused to do another bowl prep. (I went up to the office on Wednesday to weight and had lost another five pounds.) Well Thursday night his office called again and I almost cried when I heard Adams voice. I just thought that this is never going to happen. They only wanted to let me know that he had one more after the one is was doing and was hopping to get to me Friday even if it was late that night.

Friday morning I got up and went to work, I figured I could wait for the dreaded call there as well I as  I could at home. It never came and my supervisor and bundle handlers drove me crazy every five minutes coming over and asking if they had called yet. Well I had my Ruen-Y Gastric Bypass on March 14, 2008 and it has changed my life.

This is me know, I am down 143 pounds weighing 279 pounds and I feel fantastic. This was the greatest thing that I could have done for my self. Life is wonderful I can do so much that I could do before. I go hiking, four wheeling and I am taking advantage of life.

I have gone through such a life changing experience this year, and have so many feeling and thoughts about it; I am hoping to find people who have been through the same things who can share in my awe of the things that are happening to me.

Ronda