Laurie Unblocked: My Bariatric Journey

  I had my 6 week follow up at the surgeon's office last week.  Everything is going really well and there are no concerns about my surgery recovery or progress, except for my concerns about that scale. I know about stalls. I know that it's still a loss. I logically know all of the things, but it still stung looking at that number. Going into it I expected to see a big number. I'd only seen 10 pounds from my surgery date to my first visit and that surprised me with all the stories of big big losses that first visit. I accepted the fact that I was still having a lot of inflammation from surgery. I also conceded that I was retaining water and that was ok.  However, going into this next appointment I felt like this was it. I was going to see at least 10 more pounds. My clothes are getting loose and there are inches gone. I had a shirt on that had been very tight in the arms and it fit correctly. My sweatpants couldn't be trusted outside of the house because they were fallin...

After the chop. After I washed. I couldn't stand it anymore and impulsively chopped off all my hair.  I decided on Wednesday of last week that my very long hair was too much for me right now. It was always piled on top of my head because it was too heavy and too much to deal with. It took a long time to wash and condition, and forever to dry. I put off washing as long as possible because it was exhausting. Besides that, I was already seeing some hair loss every time I brushed and washed, which was frustrating.  So, it had to go. I had already pinned some cute shorter shag haircuts. I knew that hair loss was going to happen eventually but wasn't forever. I wanted something that could help hide the uneven growth as it grew back in. I did not have a regular stylist though, and that's where my problems began. My stylist had closed up shop and wasn't taking clients so I'd been letting it grow for over a year. I definitely should have taken care of that before I needed it...

Here I am about to go into surgery.  February 11, 2025 was the day of my gastric sleeve surgery. It took about 9 months from the time the doctor suggested the surgery to get to the actual operating room. Those months sometimes felt like the longest months of my life, and sometimes they flew by faster than I could process. I can tell you I went into it fully expecting to be found an unsuitable candidate.  I have struggled with my weight since my 20's. At 23 I was diagnosed with complete heart block and had a pacemaker put in that I have since been 100% dependent on. After that my weight started to creep up. I did lose weight occasionally, but not when you would consider it normal, and it was definitely not sustainable.  I had 2 pregnancies after my pacemaker surgery (1 before) and lost weight during each of my pregnancies. After delivery I would put weight back on. I had many difficulties during my pregnancies including cholestasis of pregnancy, which explained why I had d...