5 Weeks Post Op RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery, with Pneumonia

So I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that I lost another 4.8 Lbs this week, bringing my grand total to 51.4 Lbs lost altogether since starting Optifast on January 18th.

The bad news is I have pneumonia.  I think I caught it in the mall...not pneumonia, but the virus that led to it.  I have to walk every day and we still have loads of snow and ice here, so I've been walking in the mall.  I normally avoid crowded places as I get sick easily, but it was important to walk so I went anyway.  I caught a cold or virus last Thursday, and it wasn't bad at first; just sneezing, runny nose, a bit of a dry cough.  By the weekend my asthma had kicked in and on Monday, when I couldn't get ahold of my doctor, I decided I'd better go to the hospital for an asthma treatment.

Thank goodness I went, or I'd have no idea I had pneumonia and think it was my asthma.  They both feel the same; wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, back pain from all of the coughing.

I'm on antibiotics now.  The pharmacist said it will take 3 days for the antibiotics to start working, and this evening's dose will be the third day so hopefully he's right. I already feel better than I did on Monday; Monday was the worst.

I only have 7 days total of antibiotics and usually need more than that.  I have a follow up appointment with my family doctor on Friday morning, so hopefully he'll top me off if I need more. 

The doctor in emergency scared the hell out of me.  He sent me for blood work, an EKG, and Xrays (I requested the Xray to see if my atelectasis had gotten worse).  He said he was worried I had complications from surgery and was looking for a blood clot, and that I may need to go back in for a CAT scan.  He said he'd call me with the results of my blood work and then never did.  I think it's wrong to scare someone like that and then not call to alleviate or confirm the fears.
I called the hospital but they wouldn't tell me anything, except to say that if I hadn't heard from the doctor then it probably means he found nothing wrong on the blood tests. Hopefully my family doctor can access that information and let me know on Friday.

I need to call my nurse in Sudbury tomorrow to let her know about the pneumonia.

This is all a pain in the butt, but I don't think the pneumonia is due to the surgery.  I used to get pneumonia all the time back when I was teaching.  If I would have gone in to emerg a day earlier it may have just progressed to bronchitis like normal, and not pneumonia. I usually get sick at this time of year because the snow starts to melt, then freezes, melts, then freezes, and it releases snow molds in the air, which I am allergic to. I think that, coupled with picking up an infection from someone at the mall, is what made me so sick this time.

I am happy to have lost over 50 Lbs; it was my first mini goal.  I'm also happy to weigh 252.6 Lbs. I was 304 when I started this and hadn't seen the 250's in ages.  It will be amazing to drop below 250 and get into the 240's, then 230's.  My weight stalled in the 230's for years, then stalled in the 250's for years, then 260-280 for years.  When it went up to 300 it scared me into surgery.

People are already commenting on how much I've lost, which is nice.  I was feeling so ashamed about my weight I barely left the house, and hated being looked at because I felt judged every where I went.  Eating in public was agony and I preferred to eat alone, hiding at home.  I just felt so full of shame, and that's all gone.  I haven't felt shame since I started Optifast on Jan. 18th and that alone makes this whole ordeal worth it to me.