CoCo's Corner

It's been four months, today, since I had my gastric bypass reversed.  In four days, it will be four years since I had that bypass to begin with.  So, I'm giving an update. First off, I'm expressing how it's affected me mentally.  In my brain, I feel like I never got to enjoy or relish being a smaller size.  Maybe for a minute or two, but not real feeling young, healthy, sexy, fabulous.  And I was far from feeling strong.  This messed with me mentally.  I had done the bypass to lose weight to get my knee replaced.  But, inside my brain, I was actually looking forward to a smaller version of me - being wild and free; able to walk, not feeling like a blob.  I went from that blob to a skeleton. My BEFORE picture I went home after having my gastric bypass to having diarrhea for four years straight.  And some days, it was worse than others.  I steadily got weaker and weaker.  Which I thought was due to my very first Covid experience...

I've been hanging out in my house for the most part.  Hiding from germs.  Hiding from phlegm.  Hiding from coughs.  Hiding from sneezes.  Hiding from snot. Trying to stay healthy until surgery day.  Not that I can hide very well.  Roommate daughter is literally coughing a lung up.  So, she can only hang out with me if she is wearing a mask.  I am bathing in hand sanitizer when I remember.  I'm taking elderberry gummies with a bunch of zinc and vitamin C in order to boost my immunities.   Poor Roommate. Not that I would know much if I did have a cold.  My nose has been running constantly since the day Jeff was pushed up my nostril.  I have a constant sore throat, due to the tube rubbing in the back of my throat.  The worst part is when I'm laying down and roll onto my left side.  It starts to move around and I feel like I'm choking.  It doesn't do it every time, but most of the time.  And I don...

Sun wasn't even up when I headed to the hospital Today, I had my first albumin infusion.  I have it at the Cancer Center.  It lasts about four hours.  They get an IV started and slowly infuse the albumin.  Today, I learned a lot: Don't take your own snacks.  They have great snacks and beverages.  And you don't have to haul all that stuff. Four hours, sitting in a little curtained room, is really not bad.  I snoozed, I snacked, I watched TV, I played on my phone. Make sure you take your power pack. If they ask you if you want a heated blanket, the answer is always YES.  I had three by the time I left.  I told the adorable CNA fella that I planned to just look like a pile of blankets by the time I was ready to leave. In October, we wear Halloween fare The side effects are headaches and achy muscles.  I'm the lucky one that gets both.  I'm doing ok tonight.  I don't get headaches, I'm used to achy muscles.  I limit my intake ...

 I was asked for an update.  So - I waited until my last appointment with my liver doctor to see what he was going to say.  What we were going to do.  What the hell is going on.   So - a little recap.  Mid August I was admitted to the hospital due to liver disease.  The initial diagnosis was cirrhosis of the liver due to malnutrition, which was caused by malabsorption. After a biopsy, that diagnosis was changed to pre-cirrhosis.  I had over two liters of fluid removed from my belly by needle aspiration the first day.  I left the hospital five days later with a PICC line with IV nutrition.  IV nutrition supplemented my regular diet for four months.  My PICC line was removed in December and now it's a matter of how my body adjusts as to what the steps are. Since August and having the IV nutrition, I gained over 40 pounds.  I was a little over 140 pounds when they disconnected IVY (my PICC line/nutrition/bag - that's her name...

 Today I finally got answers!!!  I do not have Cirrhosis!!!  I am Pre-Cirrhotic.  Very close to that precipice but still not falling over the edge and falling into a place that I cannot get out of.  I had seen my gastric bypass doctor a while ago - and was given the wrong information.  I think he was looking at the headline and had not read the story.  It's something I'm good at, too.   My doctor explained that when I was overweight, the fat in my body was damaging my liver.  Then I had gastric bypass and that should have helped my fatty liver.  But, then I wasn't able to absorb the calories, so I became malnourished. My liver was not getting the proteins I needed in order to supply my body with the proper nourishment.  Every organ you have needs protein, and it starts in the liver.  So - the malnourishment started to affect my liver.  Leading to the state I'm in now. The thing I need to work on is getting off the diu...

Malabsorption - definition - Malabsorption is a state arising from abnormality of food nutrients across the gastrointestinal tract.  Impairment can be single or multiple nutrients depending on the abnormality.  This may lead to malnutrition and a variety of anaemias (blood disorders). I have heard the term before.  But the first time I had heard it in response to me was a little over a week ago.  I was with my roommate daughter at her appointment and her doctor pointed to IVY and said, what's up with that??  So I told him.  And he said, people have no idea how hard it is when you have malabsorption.  People think you can just eat to make it better, but you can't. So let's go to the beginning.... If you have known me at all in the last few decades, you know that I was "morbidly obese".  I topped out at 245 pounds.  I had Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid disease and stomach issues (gerd) for the last couple of decades and had taken...

This last year has been the hardest one of my life. And I've had a lot of hard years in my lifetime. But this year involved the health of me and I'm being a little selfish about thinking about just me. But it was hard. But, I survived it. And now I'm learning to THRIVE. A little history. For the last four years, I have been dealing with knee pain. Most of it was in my right knee. For the first couple of years, I would get a cortisone shot and I was good. Usually last for at least a year. Then the cortisone wasn't working anymore. I had the rooster comb injections. They didn't work. So, after that, my doctor told me that I was bone on bone and needed a knee replacement. But for that four years, she kept saying - you're too fat, no surgeon will touch you at your weight. You have got to lose weight. That is always easier said than done. She always made me feel like I was failing at taking care of myself. For the last two years, I have been worki...