Here is a full-length photo to show how much weight I have lost - only 37 pounds to go until I hit my goal!

Having drinks at the weekend, first time I had a drink since my bypass in January and absolutly loved it!

My Weight Chart:

I have been having a bit of a medical problem, and was discussing it on another board, and got onto a bit of a rant.

I thought I would share it with you, and see if any of you have had any different experiences.

(I removed the graphic discussion of my issues)

Looking back, nothing relieved my pain until they gave me Buscopan. I had tried everything, including the migraine-inducing Verapamil.

The pain kept me up most nights, and when I did drift off, I would be awoken just a couple of hours later with spasms, feeling raw and irritated, and being reduced to tears.

Some days were only manageable with either codeine or diazepam. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

Luckily, my surgeon is a gastroenterologist, and I will request to see him this week and request a colonoscopy.

Unfortunatly, I have worked for the NHS and have been a patient, and I know exactly what kind of beaurocratic crap each and every doctor must go through for each and every patient.

In socialised medicine (well in the NHS), for a referal you have to do the following:
1. Get an appointment with your GP - sometimes can take over a week.

2. If your GP thinks you need a referral, or if you have something wrong with you that they can’t or do not want to deal with, they get their secretary to send a letter off to a specialist - which can take up to a month to be sent. Sometimes this doesn’t happen for weeks or months because the GP may want to just observe the problem instead of referrring you - after all, they have budgets to adhere to and referrals deflect on them.

3.Upon recieval of your referral, the specialists secretary logs your letter and gives a copy to the specialist, who then decides if you need to be seen urgently - this can take up to another 3-4 weeks.

4. Then, unless you are urgent, you go onto a waiting list, which vary. Some are as little as a few weeks for a consultation, some as much as 18 months.

This process is for everything, regardless of severity. If you have an urgent concerm, your best bet is to go into an A&E (ER) department to get reffered directly.

Saying that, I had 4 visits to an ER before being admitted with an MRSA infection (which ironically was caught in one of the dirty hospitals here) last year - the infection site (abcess) at that time was the size of a tennis ball - grew to the size of a grapefruit before it was removed.

My little sister works for a major insurance organisation, and works with people who are always rattling on about how the USA needs socialised medicine. Once they visit a country with socialised medicine and realise that it would result in a lesser-quality of care and a increase in taxes much higher than what you would pay for insurance care, with no choice of who you can see, they soon change their minds.

The tax rates for the UK are:
Starting rate 10% up to £2,230 - so if you earn up to £2,230 you pay 10% tax on your wages
Basic rate 22% from £2,231 to £34,600 - so if you earn up from £2,231 to £34,600 you pay 22% tax on your wages
Higher rate 40% over £34,600 - anything over £34,600 you pay 40% of your wages.

Then you still have to make a co-payment for each and every prescription you need, and they are only allowed to give you 28 days worth at a time, to ensure that the government gets plenty of money out of you.

Would you want to pay 40% of your wages towards a system like this?

Don’t get me started on differences in the way medicine is practised here either.

Its safe to say that in my experience, if you get some types of cancer here, it most likely will be watched and left to spread instead of being removed (but hey, they will give you pills and hormones to try and “treat it”). I am a big believer in treating cancer agressively.

/end rant LOL

Before my gastric bypass surgery and massive weight-loss, I could not understand the issues of anorexia/bullemia - and did not understand why these people could not see how thin they are.

Now I understand.

Everytime I put on a new piece of clothing, I think “oh its gonna be too small, that will never fit”. And sometimes they are even too big.

I pass a large window or mirror and I have to look twice - “Am I really that small? Is that me?”.

It has even gotten to the point that when I shop for jewlery, I am still stuck in that mindset of “oh, I must get a longer necklace, bigger ring, larger bracelet, cause surely those normal ones won’t fit”.

We all struggle with issues, and for some our issues are harder to deal with.

I hope that anyone who is dealing with Anorexia or Bullemia and happens to see this gets the help they need.

Life is for living, and these two disorders are just a way of slowly dying.

Well I have finally made it:

Here is an image to show my progress (click to open full image):

I am sooo happy!

I saw my surgeon this morning and he is dead chuffed with me - i have lost half of my excess weight in 4 months - most of his patients take about a year to do that well - I actually eat healthily and exercise though!

So, I am soooo excited about it all, and plan on having a huge sale of clothes on eBay in the coming weeks.

I did mention that I have never dumped on sugars - and he says some people don’t. I have not pushed it more that 11 grams in a chicken sauce though.

He is sending me to get checked for gallstones - I occasionally get very nasty pains, but other than that, I couldn’t feel better!

I had my surgery on 31 Jan, which was 10 weeks ago.

I have already lost 56 pounds (UK 4 stone), and I still cannot believe it!

Is this too much too fast?

I am noticing some extra skin, but its a small price to pay.

I am learning wonderful and interesting things about my body all of the time now - like I have a mild dump if I have too many carbs - it starts with random itchiness, massive sweating, and tingling in random bursts all over my body and drives me crazy!

I have also noticed that I don’t lose during menstration - in fact I feel as if I could eat loads more during that time. I don’t, but I definetly crave carbs - see mild dumping above - and feel hunger - which may be head hunger.

I am noticing that my smell and tastes are slowly coming back, so I will be adding some chilis to my cooking.

I haven’t had any hair loss as of yet, but I know that it very may well be just around the corner, so I am waiting (im)patiently and expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

I am having the best attitude about it all - lots of wonderful changes in my life right now - and although some of these things are irritating, they are a very small price to pay in the bigger picture of life. Without being given this wonderful tool, I doubt I would be here in 20 years time.

Watch this space!

When I first had my surgery, I thought I would set small goals in increments of 50 pounds.

Never in my life did I think I would get there in just 8 weeks!

As of this morning, my 8 week new-me day, I have lost 51 pounds.

I almost have to pinch myself!

Today, I had to go see one of the secretaries in another building - I needed to get some stationary from the locked cupboard.

Anyways, a few of the ladies in the department were asking how much I weight I have lost and I told them I am quite happy to discuss things with them, so they asked the usual questions about excess skin, etc and commented on how great I look.

The cupboard I needed was just across the hall, and as soon as I left the room, I heard one of them say “wow, she looks fantastic” and the others agree and make comments.

I have never been so happy! It’s moments like this that make is soooo worth it!