The Bariatric Pathway

Being since I am the spouse of an Active Duty service member, I am covered under the private insurance through the Army. With this insurance comes a program called the Bariatric Pathway. It gives you ALL the necessary tools and information needed to succeed with this surgery and lifestyle change! Yes, I said it and I'll say it again..its a lifestyle change..forever! They say to get something you've never had you have to do something you've never done and I couldn't agree more!! Even if you haven't or aren't planning on having major surgery to be able to loose weight, this lifestyle change still applies to you! You still have to get up off the couch and go for a walk, you still have to make the decision to pass by the sweets aisle in the grocery store so you're not tempted to splurge. You'd be surprised how much money we've actually saved by making a biweekly menu and shopping only based off of that. It keeps me from splurging on sweets, it keeps us to a certain budget, and it keeps everyone fed with healthy nutrients! Before you say it, let me clarify because I was that person who always though to eat healthy you had to get some rare magic fruit from Africa and some vegetable from Australia and such..but let me be the one to say, eating healthy is not any more expensive than the doctor bills from developing diabetes or some other form of weight related issues. I shop healthy for a family of 6 on a small budget and I love the things I'm able to experiment with and create! The coolest thing I've learned about cooking healthy is there's a substitute for everything! Seriously, if you thought eating healthy meant you can't eat fried chicken, think again! If you think it means you can't have pizza, think again! So many many things I've learned that I'm going to enjoy sharing with you!

The journey from the first appt until surgery day went by surprisingly fast.. my seminar was on November 5th 2018 and I had surgery on May 17th 2019. I had to be tested for everything from sleep apnea to nicotine lol. I had no issues with any of the appts but at my last meeting with the surgeon before my surgery, he rold me about the 2 week pre op diet... 1st week resembles the Atkins diet, not so bad but the 2nd week was liquids only!! It was hard especially since I had to cook for 5 other people in the house and watch them eat. The point of the 2 week diet is to shrink the liver and the fatty tissue around it so that the surgeon can easily manipulate the organs in order to reach where he needs to be to perform the surgery. Now my surgery was what they call laparoscopic which means the surgeon controlled robotic arms inside 5 tiny incisions so that they didn't have to completely open up my stomach. I loved that! Now after 1 month, there aren't even any scars!

So the day came for surgery. I was told to report at 8am to be prepped which consisted of mostly getting hooked up too all the machines and talking to the entire team that would be in the OR with me, doctors, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and such. They answered any final questions or concerns before surgery time. About 1030am I'm getting wheeled back to the OR and the journey began! 4 1/2 hours later I woke up surprisingly not confused or distraught, however, I did think I had only been asleep for a few minutes lol. After I woke up, I was wheeled to my room from recovery and my husband was waiting there for me! About 30 minutes later, my surgeon came in and was telling me how everything went and said it took a bit longer because I had what they call a hiatal hernia. It's where the top part of your stomach pushes through the bottom opening of your diaphragm and usually has to be surgically repaired. Some people never know they have it.. I was one of those people, I had no signs or symptoms but apparently it's very common in overweight patients. I had zero complications with the surgery and I honestly felt great afterwards. I spent one night in the hospital and the team was working on discharge papers for that next evening when they brought me my first tray of liquids to sip on. On that tray was a container of Gelatein. Its a sort of jello with no sugar and with protein in it. I tried a bite of that and started having the most excruciating pain in my esophagus! It was so bad they kept me another night to make sure I was better. Long story short, don't try anything thicker than milk while in the hospital! I was up walking around constantly to get the gas out that they full your abdomen up with the be able to see during surgery.

My husband took a week and stayed home with me to help out with household things, mostly our 3 year old as I wasn't allowed to pick up anything over 10 pounds and she's about 35 lol. That week I walked a lot, slept a lot, but the best part is, I didn't take a single drop of pain meds after leaving the hospital! I think that helped me heal faster because I wasn't groggy and sleepy from the medication and I was able to move around a lot. Now it's 1 day before my 1 month follow up appt with my surgeon where I'll be released to full activity, meaning I can start exercising now! I thought about blogging from before surgery but I didn't think I'd feel like it after and I honestly had no idea what to expect. So today, I did my 1 month measurements and pictures and I have to say, even I see a difference already. All the dirty details in my next post..

Much love y'all. Until next time,

Kay