Two years ago I weighed 430 lbs. I was to embarrassed to even leave my home. Then I got the idea of becoming a non traditional student. I started out going to a university online and worked on a degree in science and communications. I studied diligently and before I knew it I was losing weight. My mind was off of food and it was on my studies. I graduated last year with my associates degree. Around the same time as graduation I discovered I had type 2 diabetes. I had gone from being 430 lbs to 360 lbs and I found myself plateauing between 360 and 375 and bouncing back and forth like a yo yo. Right now I was last weighed at 360. I decided to go to a local college in order to take classes at a campus and force myself out of isolation. I started studying computer science last fall. It felt odd being in classes with people my children's ages but it felt good getting my mind off food again. Then I became deathly ill. I was hospitalized for 4 weeks. It took two weeks just for the doctors to figure out why I wasn't getting better. I had panniculitis but the reason why the antibiotics were not healing me is I had an abscess. First they used a catheter to drain it but when that did not work the surgeon cut me open and I had a wound healing from the inside out. He had nurses changing dry gauze dressing on it every day. It did not heal until December even though it was only a few inches long and an inch deep to start with. I started gaining weight after I got out of the hospital because I had to take medical leave from school . I no longer had my study's to get my mind off of food. I got up to 375 by Christmas. In December I had a relapse. I kept telling the surgeon that I thought the hernia near my navel was causing the abscesses. He would not listen and the C T scan and ultrasound would not show images of my internal organs or my hernia. I spent 1 week at that hospital and then I went to a different hospital for a second opinion. The second hospital had very clear images of my insides. They found a huge abscess and they discovered that the hernia was strangling part of my intestine and leaking fluid into my stomach lining which was causing the abscesses. The surgeon had to get rid of the infection before he repaired the hernia. So he drained the abscess surgically and put a wound vacuum on it, to speed up the healing process. The wound was 6 inches long and 3 inches deep. It healed completely this week. Next I will have a panniculectomy with a hernia repair this March. The panniculectomy will take off the fatty apron on my belly. It will feel like I am cheating having plastic surgery but it is being done in order to prevent the panniculitis from coming back. I will still need to lose weight every where else. I also have to pay attention to my diet not only for weight loss but for the diabetes as well. Hopefully I will heal on time to go back to college in the fall.
I don't think you're cheating by having that surgery. Losing weight with the health conditions you have is very difficult. If that's what it takes for you to get better so that you can continue to lose weight in a healthy way, you shouldn't feel like it's cheating.
I don't think you're cheating by having that surgery. Losing weight with the health conditions you have is very difficult. If that's what it takes for you to get better so that you can continue to lose weight in a healthy way, you shouldn't feel like it's cheating.
Thank you for the feedback Cory. I was watching panniculectomy videos on youtube that inspired me with questions to ask before the surgery.
Today I went to the doctor about a swelling on my thyroid. She ran some tests and I will have the results soon. I have been borderline Hypothyroid in the past. They weighed me at the clinic. Two weeks ago I weighed 360 lbs / 163.293 kg today I weighed 370 lbs / 167.829 kg. Two weeks ago when I was weighed at the neurology clinic the Neurologist Nurse practitioner gave me nortriptyline for the migraines. I told her the last time I took nortriptyline it made me hungry all of the time and I gained weight. Now I gained 10 lbs on it. My family doctor was not very happy because she sent me to the neurology clinic so I could find out what is causing the migraines and my family doctor had already tried the nortriptyline on me for the migraines in the past and it did not work. It is so hard to lose weight when medications influence my eating habits. I am so frustrated because when I get to 360 it feels like a few steps forward and now I have taken a few steps back. I am so afraid I could get back up to 430 lbs / 195.045 again.
One woman I saw on youtube who had a panniculectomy before losing weight looked pregnant after the removed her fatty apron and she had trouble finding pants that fit right. I will definitely have to diet religiously after the surgery.
Two years ago I weighed 430 lbs. I was to embarrassed to even leave my home. Then I got the idea of becoming a non traditional student. I started out going to a university online and worked on a degree in science and communications. I studied diligently and before I knew it I was losing weight. My mind was off of food and it was on my studies. I graduated last year with my associates degree. Around the same time as graduation I discovered I had type 2 diabetes. I had gone from being 430 lbs to 360 lbs and I found myself plateauing between 360 and 375 and bouncing back and forth like a yo yo. Right now I was last weighed at 360. I decided to go to a local college in order to take classes at a campus and force myself out of isolation. I started studying computer science last fall. It felt odd being in classes with people my children's ages but it felt good getting my mind off food again. Then I became deathly ill. I was hospitalized for 4 weeks. It took two weeks just for the doctors to figure out why I wasn't getting better. I had panniculitis but the reason why the antibiotics were not healing me is I had an abscess. First they used a catheter to drain it but when that did not work the surgeon cut me open and I had a wound healing from the inside out. He had nurses changing dry gauze dressing on it every day. It did not heal until December even though it was only a few inches long and an inch deep to start with. I started gaining weight after I got out of the hospital because I had to take medical leave from school 
. I no longer had my study's to get my mind off of food. I got up to 375 by Christmas. In December I had a relapse. I kept telling the surgeon that I thought the hernia near my navel was causing the abscesses. He would not listen and the C T scan and ultrasound would not show images of my internal organs or my hernia. I spent 1 week at that hospital and then I went to a different hospital for a second opinion. The second hospital had very clear images of my insides. They found a huge abscess and they discovered that the hernia was strangling part of my intestine and leaking fluid into my stomach lining which was causing the abscesses. The surgeon had to get rid of the infection before he repaired the hernia. So he drained the abscess surgically and put a wound vacuum on it, to speed up the healing process. The wound was 6 inches long and 3 inches deep. It healed completely this week. Next I will have a panniculectomy with a hernia repair this March. The panniculectomy will take off the fatty apron on my belly. It will feel like I am cheating having plastic surgery but it is being done in order to prevent the panniculitis from coming back. I will still need to lose weight every where else. I also have to pay attention to my diet not only for weight loss but for the diabetes as well. Hopefully I will heal on time to go back to college in the fall. 
