Hello there. My name is Jenn (you may know me from my personal blog, 
I swiped my husband’s XL hoodie today, simply because I could.
Once upon a time a 3XL hoodie fit me pretty snugly, as evidenced by this photo:
Ah, how far I’ve come. 
Those rings right there? They’re currently a size 6. My husband had them resized for me in August of this year, when they were ridiculously loose on my fingers despite a Ring Snuggi. While my husband’s mens wedding bands are still perfectly-sized for him, mine were most definitely no longer perfectly-sized for me. My engagement ring was an 8.5, and I believe my wedding band was a 9.5. Now that they’re a 6 and I’ve lost another 30ish lbs. since their resizing, they’re getting a little loose on me, but I shouldn’t need another resizing for at least another 25 or so pounds!
Plus swimwear is one thing I’ll never need to purchase again. That kind of sucks, because most regular swimwear lacks chest support, and is way too revealing for this formerly 300+ pound chick to feel comfortable in. I’ll probably stick to short-skirted one-pieces, as well as tankinis combined with cute and sassy swim shorts. I don’t think I’ll ever venture out in a two-piece — at least, not without some major plastic surgery first.
In terms of sizes, I’m currently a 13-15 in pants, L-XL in tops (L in a hoodie, yay!), and my underwear – size XL – are too big, so I’ll need to replace them soon. Whoo hoo!
So I had my gallbladder out last week — a routine laparoscopic cholecystectomy. My bariatric surgeon performed the procedure after I was in and out of her office a few times between August and late September, complaining of super-painful gallbladder attacks. Scans and such turned up no stones, but my gallbladder was so enlarged that it was folded over on itself, and my surgeon remarked that it was scarred and in “rough” shape, so she was very glad she took it out.
Anyway, having the surgery entailed checking in at the hospital and spending several (almost four, actually) hours in pre-op, waiting around — I was the last surgery of the day (what’s funny is that I joked to the nurses that I’d be a rush job, and wouldn’t you know I wake up in recovery in SEVERE PAIN because they FORGOT TO GIVE ME PAIN MEDS AS THEY WERE WRAPPING UP THE SURGERY. AHHH!) — and then getting prepped and going into the OR. At some point Dan mentioned that I had gastric bypass surgery, and someone — a nurse? — seemed stunned, seeing as how I’m “only” 185ish lbs now (I was 331 lbs at my heaviest, and 286 lbs on the day of my surgery), and actually said to my surgeon, “She’s one of yours?”. Aww. That made me feel really good to hear. I’ve come so far!
P.S. 184 lbs today. As of last week — when I was 187ish lbs — I am no longer obese. I’m just overweight!
A compliment I’ve gotten time and time again throughout my years of being plus-sized is that I dress stylishly, and that “despite my weight” I manage to look good. Well, thank you, I guess. As I go through my closet and bag up the last remnants of my plus-sized self (as I type this I am wearing yoga pants that are a size XL, a cami that is a size XL, and a hoodie that is a size L), I thought I’d share where I have shopped for plus size swimwear and plus swimwear, since as any plus-sized woman can attest to, shopping for plus size swimsuits can be the most difficult part of creating a stylish, fashionable and wearable wardrobe.
Check out any of the following — and be sure to check them out while they have sales going on:
- Target
- Old Navy
- Avenue
- Torrid
- Fashion Bug
- Lane Bryant
Now that I’ve had both a gastric bypass surgery and a gallbladder removal surgery (cholecystectomy), I can honestly say that the cholecystectomy has been much more painful. Now granted, I didn’t have a morphine pain pump (because I was discharged yesterday evening), and I didn’t receive pain meds immediately after surgery (because the OR screwed up?), but still… it’s definitely more painful. I took two Percocet at a time on two different occasions (yesterday evening and late this morning), and then held off and took just one at a time only because I needed to get some kind of anti-nausea meds first. Now that I have those, thanks to my awesome surgeon and her assistant (all I had to do was call to complain about the nausea and wooziness), I’m feeling pretty damn good.
According to my surgeon, my gallbladder was severely scarred up and in “rough” shape, so she’s glad that she took it out, as it would just continue to cause me problems. I’m glad too. No more attacks!
Tomorrow I am heading to the hospital for a 10:30am surgery appointment. Although knowing how hospitals work, I’ll get there at 10:30am, be poked and prodded by the nurses in women’s scrubs, but I probably won’t actually head into the OR for surgery until closer to 1:00pm, or even 2:00pm. I hate waiting around for all those hours, so to stave up boredom and anxiety that is sure to drive me crazy, I’ll be bringing along my netbook, my iPod, my cell phone, and a book. I’ll also be bringing an overnight bag (it’ll stay in the car), just in case I’m not discharged tomorrow evening, as that is a very real possibility.
I’ve been dealing with gallbladder attacks for several months now, and they have been increasing in both frequency and intensity, and my gallbladder is so enlarged that it’s folded over on itself, so I am very much looking forward to getting out. I am really nervous about surgery though, so I wish tomorrow would hurry up and get here!
Wish me luck!
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