Jenni's Gastric Bypass Page
8/24/01 3 Days Pre-op
8/26/01 1 day pre-op
8/26/01 Jenni's Last Meal
8/26/01 My Mother and I - 1 Day Pre-op
9/16/01 - 3 Week incision line
10/25/01 - 2 Month incision line
10/28/01 - 2 Months post op and still very sick.
6 Months post-op surgery incision line
6 Months Post-Op and lost almost all of my weight by this point.  I was very sick but still took my picture and smiled as I was proud of the weight I had lost.
Well let me start with saying that my Gastric Bypass was a success.  It was a success in the fact that I lost weight but not in the way I wanted.  With most Gastric Bypass surguries, people do or say they do great and are completely satisfied with the way it all went.  I know in the beginning I was so excited and nothing was going to ruin it for me.  I weighed about 276 pounds and that is nothing compared to most that have the surgery but with all my family history of heart troubles and diabetes and weight difficulties, the doctors thought it was necessary for my health and well being.  I did everything I possibably could so I could have the surgery but I did try a lot of diets out there and none of them worked correctly for me.  I know I did have a couple that worked great but they were so much money that I just could not afford them.  I had the surgery August 27, 2001 and thought that this was going to be the miracle that I needed to get on with my life.  I learned shortly after surgery that it was the beginning of hell for me, well worse than just being large.  First of all I was told that I was not allowed to have any sugar and because of that I became very ill as I found out a couple years later that I have low blood sugar and without that sugar intake everyday, I was dropping so low that I was near death.  Why on earth, I can't figure out, the doctors never tested my blood sugar.  Especially with the history of diabetes in the family.
Here I am with my Family currently in our last Christmas Family Portrait 2006.
Come to find out, soon after my surgery, my doctor was forced into retirement.  He was quite old and apparently had a lot of cases coming back with sicknesses due to him not taking proper care of his patients.  I did find a local doctor in my own town and he started checking me out and we got things working correctly but for two years in a row I was so sick that I almost lived in the hospital ambulatory care getting IV infusions so I could stay alive.  I could barely move let alone try to work.  I was very impressed with my job at the time as they stuck it out with me and let me keep my job even though I hardly was able to come in.  I fought for almost two years and went from a size 26 weighing 276 pounds to a size 4 weighing 125 pounds in less than a year and then battled my health issues for almost a year after that.

Luckily I had a very supportive husband, which we celebrated our one year anniversary while I was in the hospital after the actual surgery, and supportive Mother.  Both of which were my life lines for a long time and I know that they along with all my friends and family were very worried that they were going to lose me as I and the doctors, at the time, thought I was going to die.  I couldn't eat or drink anything at all and if I did I would puke it up immediately.  We tried forcing anything down me that we could and eventually found a nausea medicine that they use for cancer patients in chemo and that finally helped me gain the strength by eating to finally put a few needed pounds back on my body and start back to the road of health.  Today I now have two beautiful children and my husband and I are still happy and married.  We have had our ups and downs but now we are doing well and have a new life and family.  I am a good weight now, even after two kids, and am still weighing less than a hundred pounds than I was before surgery.  I still think sometimes that I would rather go back to the way my life was before but am thankful for the life I have now.  Below you will see pictures that show from right before surgery to after surgery pictures and the incision line pictures.  I don't have my weight loss measurements anymore but am at a even size 10-12 and am quite happy with it.  A lot of people ask me about my skin and if it sags or if I had to have surgery to fix it and I did get lucky with most of that.  I was young enough, I was 24 years old, that most of my skin elasticity stayed with me and my skin formed back to normal.  Now I am not saying that I don't have those "bat wing" arms or the flab on the belly still, as I do, but I did not have to have any more surgery to get rid of it or anything.  I was very lucky in that instance.  I always feel as if I can lose more weight but that is something mentally that I will have to get over.  Life has thrown a lot of problems my way with having this procedure done but all in all I would say that I have a great life now and I thank my whole support team for that. 
Thanks for coming.
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