June 26, 2004
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Here I am down 65 pounds since my surgery on December 8, 2003. I am down 78 pounds from my highest weight. I currently weigh in at 225 and have not seen that weight since about 1978.
The dogs are Savannah (the red) and Roper (the blue). They just had to be in on the picture, as usual.
I am beginning to feel better, but am dealing with an iron deficiency and still working on the magnesium deficiency. I do get magnesium injections every two weeks and have just started an iron supplement. It is my hope that the iron supplement will be enough and that I will not need to go to injections. I have finally begun exercising again on my recumbent bike and hope to be building up strength as time goes on. The frustrating part about the iron deficiency is that I was told my lab work was fine, but it was not. I had difficulty getting a lab done to check my "ferritin" levels and that is when my PCP put me on an iron supplement. The ferritin level is an indicator of the iron stores and your iron profile numbers are not an accurate reflection of what is in your iron stores. In fact, iron robs from the stores as I understand it. Anyway, once I had the ferritin number and found out it was only 12 (bottom of the range) it was time to get very proactive so that I do not develop a serious anemia problem.
Oh, I might add that I have lost quite a bit of hair and am grateful to have started with a thick head of hair. I have a lot of new hair growing in now so feel encouraged. I just have a feeling it will be coming in in silver instead of my former color. Guess I will have to wait and see what Mother Nature delivers.
Both the iron and magnesium issues are problems that I evidently had pre-surgery and am now having to deal with. The thing that strikes me most as a post-op is how much I am having to learn in order to manage my health care. There is no continuity in the gastric bypass surgical community and each person receives their guidance from their surgeon and/or clinic. It is totally amazing to me how much is out there that conflicts from one surgeon to the next and totally confuses all of us poor post-ops. So, I have developed some pages with recommendations for books, suggestions for possible lab tests, information about the symptoms of my magnesium deficiency, information about the proper calcium for a gastric bypass patient, the beginning of a page about vitamins, and a page with many links to all sorts of information. I will be adding more pages as time goes on and will continue to add valuable information to any of the existing pages as I make new discoveries. |
