Sorta big news...

I recently sent this email to close family/friends. I thought I would post it here in case someone was missed on email who happens to follow my blog. I also want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has responded to my email. I have gotten nothing but love and support from all of you. I can't begin to express how much that really means. Having an excellent support system in place is important for my long term success. Thank you!

Hi everyone. This is brand new news to some of you, old news to others but important for me to share regardless. As all of you know, my weight has been a serious struggle for quite some time. I'm capable of losing weight but have never been a success at maintaining weight loss. While I have been lucky thus far and avoided comorbidities such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes etc, it is impossible to remain at my current weight and not have these issues arise eventually. About a year ago my endocrinologist(doctor who manages my thyroid levels since it has been removed) and I had a conversation about my weight as I was looking for advice on long term success with weight control. While it IS possible for me to lose weight through diet and exercise, it is hard. I have a couple of issues working against me. One is insulin resistance related to my PCOS and the other is that we've had a hard time regulating my thyroid levels since surgery. He basically told me that this is going to be an uphill battle for the rest of my life. Yay me! *I'm totally rolling my eyes here* At that time, and with his encouragement, I began looking into gastric bypass surgery. This has been a very long process. I attended 6 months of classes through the weight management center at Alegent Health. I've met with a psychiatrist(a couple of times) who had to declare me "mentally fit" to make the decision to go ahead with type of life altering surgery. I've met with a pharmacist, bariatric nutritionist and patients who have already undergone this surgery(some who have been successful and some who have not). Along with Darren, my endocrinologist, my GP and the bariatric surgeon, I have decided to go ahead with gastric bypass surgery. They are all supportive of my decision and feel that I am well informed, as do I. The surgery itself is a BIG surgery. They will create a 2 oz pouch of stomach that will be my "new" stomach. The other portion of my stomach will remain inside and continue functioning and making gastric juices, it just won't get contact with food. The next step in the surgery is to reroute a portion of my small intestines. They will bypass about 3 feet of small intestines, and connect the jejunum to my new pouch. My intestines will also remain inside and functioning. It will reconnect further down in my intestines and meet back up so that all of the appropriate juices still get to the food....just a bit further along in the digestive process. This creates two new processes. One, I will be restricted in the amount of food I can take in(approx 1-1 1/2 cups after a year out from surgery) and two, because of the rerouting of intestines, I will be absorbing less fat/sugar. Thus....weight loss. Crazy, huh!? The first 6 months after surgery are the hardest. In the beginning, while my new pouch is learning to work, I will be on a liquid diet...usually this lasts for about two weeks. I will then move to soft foods(mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese etc) for a couple of weeks, it will continue to progress as tolerated and by about 6-8 weeks out I'll be on a pretty normal diet. I will have to avoid tough or dry meat, tough skins(such as apples, grapes), super fibrous foods(pineapple, oranges), seeds(strawberries, nuts) for a bit longer. I may or may not tolerate those foods in the future...it's luck of the draw basically. I may also struggle with breads, pasta, rice etc. Those foods will be limited anyway due to the carb content. I will be in the hospital for three days. I will have an On-Q pain pump placed inside my belly that will provide local pain control and will also be hooked up to a morphine pump for a couple of days. The surgery is laproscopic, I will have 5-8 small incisions and one 3-4 inch incision. The larger incision will be left open to heal from the inside out. They say it usually takes about 10 days. I will be really restricted in lifting and some physical activities for about 4 weeks. I will be doing LOTS of walking however, speeds up the recovery. Darren will be off the week of surgery and Emily will be here the following week. The third week Darren will be home again. Emily is "on-call" for the 4th week but I hope to be very much back to normal by then. My mom has offered to be available if we need help as well. Here is the kicker....my surgery is scheduled for 0730am, next Wednesday, the 18th! Only 5 days away! It will be at Immanuel and I expect to be there until Saturday the 21st. I know that all of you probably know the friend of a friend, or someone who had this surgery and regrets it, had complications or has not been successful with it. I know. What I am really asking for though, is your support and your prayers. Prayers for an uncomplicated, easy recovery. Prayers for this surgery to be a success and for me to be back in control of my weight and health. I am excited and a little bit anxious. My surgeon is top of the line and I have great faith in him!
I am in the process of a 7 day pre-op diet of protein shakes, sugar free jello and chicken broth. It sucks but will totally be worth it in the end. Thank you for loving me and for being supportive. It means a lot to both Darren and I!!

Jamie

P.S. If I have forgotten someone who you feel would like these details, feel free to share. While I am not screaming this information of the rooftops, because it is personal, I am not embarrassed about having this surgery. I am actually very proud of myself for taking the reigns and becoming in control of my health before significant problems arise.