Recently, I had my 2 year "surgiversary", or the anniversary of my weight loss surgery. On December 22, 2014 I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, a surgery that I fully believe both changed and saved my life in so many ways. And two years ago, I spent New Year's Eve in the hospital trying to watch the Alabama playoff game before I passed out from pain medicine. Here's the story of how I got to both days.
I had tried so many different things to lose weight over the years: Weight Watchers multiple times, Slim Fast, fad diets, diet pills, low carb, low fat, no sugar. Basically, you name it, I had tried it with varying levels of success that never seemed to last too long. And yes, I sometimes even threw attempts at exercise in with my diet of the moment. I even walked a half marathon at Disney World at well over 200 lbs! But nothing worked for me. Thanks to some health issues, it was like my body fought against me at every turn. And, if I'm being honest, part of it was probably due to my unwillingness to really make the changes I needed to make. I think I just had to develop a level of maturity that said "I'm going to make the hard changes and give up some things to make myself better." And VSG was the tool I needed to help me do that.
Finally, during the spring of 2014 I started to really and prayerfully consider weight loss surgery. Several people I knew had had the surgery and I was able to watch them and see their successes. I found a wonderful doctor in Oxford, who also was my cousin's surgeon, and I got started with the lengthy process of getting approved for the surgery. I was originally supposed to have my surgery during the summer of 2014 and even did nine days of the liquid pre-surgery diet. But God had other plans and it was deferred until December. I remember being so nervous and excited as I sat in the waiting room and holding area at Baptist Memorial in Oxford. I knew my life was changing, I just wasn't aware of the full scope of those changes.
I had my surgery on the 22nd and stayed my two days in the hospital, drinking out of the little hospital cups and walking my laps around the 2nd floor. I had some of the sweetest nurses and nursing assistants while I was there and they were so encouraging! Everything went as planned and I was released to go home and spend my Christmas walking laps around my living room and progressing with my liquid diet. But things didn't exactly go as planned from there. Within a few days I was running a fever and we weren't really sure of the source. I tried liquid Tylenol, which is disgusting, and seemed to be getting a little better. But soon I was also feeling really nauseous again and couldn't drink anything without feeling sick. And I was having some stomach pains that should have already subsided. At this point, almost a week out, I should have been able to drink and shouldn't have been needing the anti-nausea medicine anymore. Thankfully, my mom trusted her "mama instincts" and got me back to Oxford to my surgeon. I spent that Monday, December 29th, going back and forth from Baptist Hospital to my doctor's office getting different tests ran and trying not to pass out from dehydration. I was blessed with an amazing surgeon who told me that day that he was not letting me go until he knew what was wrong with me. At the end of the day, through testing and CT scans, it was determined that I had a mesenteric venous thrombosis - or a blood clot in one of the main veins in my intestines. At first, I was relieved to know what was wrong with me and why I felt so sick. But then what my doctor had said set in - I had a blood clot! He quickly assured me that if I had to have a blood clot, this was the place to have one. I wasn't in danger of it breaking loose and causing problems like if it had been in my legs or lungs. The solution to this was that I would stay in the hospital for a few days, get some IV fluids to combat the dehydration, and start trying to treat my blood clot with blood thinners.
Oh, if it had really been that simple. Things kind of snow balled from there. First, I was so dehydrated from not being able to drink that it was almost impossible to get an IV going or do the blood draws necessary to check how my body was reacting to the blood thinners. I found out that the phlebotomists would look at each other and say "Not it!" when my room number came up! This led to a central line being placed in my neck to be able to keep an IV going and quickly check my blood levels. Second, all of those blood level checks were necessary because it became apparent that my body wasn't metabolizing the blood thinner correctly. My levels were all over the place and nobody was really sure why. My "few day hospital stay" turned into 18 days. That's how I spent New Year's Eve 2014 trying to watch Alabama play Ohio State in the College Football Playoff before I fell asleep from my pain medicine and anti-nausea medicine. I didn't even care that we were losing! I do remember thinking "This is not how I wanted to spend New Years!" The scary moments continued when I pulled a muscle in my chest and we thought I might have developed another blood clot, this time in my lungs. There were some very tense moments until the CT scan ruled out a clot and we surmised that I had pulled a muscle trying to sit up without relying too much on my stomach muscles that were still sensitive from the surgery and the clot.
My family and I spent the next few weeks making ourselves at home in the hospital. Mom and I set up shop with our laptops and printers so we could both try to get some work done once I was feeling a little better. Our nurses were a little surprised by that one. They said they had never seen an office set up before! We got to know our team of nurses really well and even made friends with a few that I still keep in touch with. Our friends and family visited and prayed with me. I had so many people texting and posting that they were praying for me and I was on their church's prayer list. I felt everyone of those prayers! I even had a couple of my sweet students come visit me in the hospital. Bless them, they didn't look too scared by all of my tubes and wires! Haha!
Looking back to two years ago, I know that God answered every one of those prayers and more. He healed me from the blood clot and allowed me to use my weight loss surgery as the tool I needed to change my life and my health for the better. People ask me if the surgery was worth it considering the blood clot and time in the hospital that followed. My answer is always "Yes!" Even knowing all of that, I would do it over again in a heartbeat. I have lost 110 lbs but the numbers on the scale are just the beginning. I feel so much better and am so much healthier than I was two years ago and there is so much I want to do and accomplish that is possible now. From the beginning, God's plans and his timing were evident through the whole thing. So tonight, on this New Years' Eve, I will happily watch football on the couch with my husband and look forward to another new year full of opportunities and blessings. And I will be so thankful that I am not in a hospital bed!
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