two years?!?!

So I created this blog back in March 2008 when I began LA Weight Loss for the 3rd time. That didn't go so well so I never even did a first post. But I'm here now and better than ever.

Gonna warn you now, this is gonna be a long one.

It seems like this journey started so long ago, and yet it didn't take much time for it all come together. Back when Halen was born - actually when she was two weeks old - we discovered that I had blood clots in my left leg. Part of the treatment for blood clots (or DVTs as they are known in the medical world) is to give Lovanox shots in the abdomen. These shots caused severe brusing - I'm talking black and dark purple - from hip to hip, but I had to give myself two shots every 12 hours to help the blood clot stabalize.

I remember the day that I did one of the shots and it stung; normally there is no pain because the needles are so small. And it wasn't long before there was a small knot forming where I had the stinging. Matt and I kept an eye on it for a while and it seemed that the knot was getting bigger. We spoke to one of my doctors about it and he agreed that the Lovanox had caused something to form and it was calcifying.

Over the next couple of years, a few more tumors developed and in the meantime I had a CT scan done to make sure that they were just calcified fat. The CT scan showed that they were lipomas (like we thought) and they weren't really causing any medical issues. Still, I wanted to see if a surgeon would be able to convince the insurance company to cover the removal of these things. Of course, they said no because it would be cosmetic.

Flash forward to July 2009. I'm getting my annual physical done and ask the doctor who delivered Halen if she thinks these things are bigger than they were last year. She says that she is certain they are bigger and recommends a general surgeon (as opposed to a plastic surgeon) here in town. When I went to see her she did a physical and said we basically have three options.

#1 - tumor removal which would even out the two sides of my abdomen but that's all

#2 - do a paniculectomy (to remove the entire fatty belly apron) but that's what they denied last time so it would probably be denied again

#3 - do a weight loss surgery and then she would remove the tumors (and extra skin) in a couple of years

Well if you are reading this, it's no surprise which one I chose: option #3. I'll put more details about the immediate process before surgery and the surgery itself in a future post. For now, I'm 3 months post op and down 64 lbs. I proudly weigh 224 instead of the 288 that I started at!