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- If I hadn't had the surgery I would be dying
because you can't live with malnutrition for very long.
In 2013 I was tired a lot.
But I had a lot of friends at the same time
boosting me up and keeping me going.
I just got to the point where I wanted to be better.
When you can't you have to hang onto walls
to get to the washroom and stuff,
then that's when I decided that I needed
to pursue this a little bit more and see what can be done.
I went through a gamut of tests to see if there was anything
that would show up.
Other than my blood work being off kilter they didn't know.
And I'd been going back and in and out of hospitals
for two or three years trying to figure out
what was going on.
Trying to build me up with blood transfusions,
iron infusions, and nothing was working.
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The doctors, after determining that I was basically
suffering malnutrition due to malabsorption
determined that the only possibility maybe
that would work for me would be to reverse
a gastric bypass that I had back in '75.
That was only a guesswork at the time
because he didn't know if it could even be done
because it had never been done before.
I said what, I haven't got anything to lose,
let's do it.
I was in the hospital for about three months.
The first month was building me up
with special nutrients and IV nutrients
plus as much as I could eat they said.
Keep on eating, keep on eating.
The extra nutrients are what built me up, too.
I also had another specialist in the hospital
who worked at balancing my electrolytes
and that which were apparently always wonky,
and he got that balanced.
I still do things that he told me to do
to keep the electrolytes going properly.
I had a lot of support in that respect.
My husband and I separated 20 years ago,
but he has always been there for me for everything
I've gone through over the last 20 years.
Anything, health issues, he was always there.
He passed away last February.
He made sure that I was okay.
Anytime I needed some groceries
he would get groceries for me.
My friends and my family my daughter, she came from Holland
for the surgery and stayed to make sure everything
was okay and then went back home.
Then it was just a slow process just being careful
about what I'm eating.
At first I wasn't able to eat raw food.
But I gradually worked it up.
After six months I was feeling pretty good,
pretty strong.
I went on a cruise for seven days to Alaska
in September and that worked well.
I just from then on I've gotten stronger and stronger.
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If I hadn't had the surgery I would be dying
because you can't live with malnutrition for very long.
So today I'm now super healthy and I'm making up
for lost time.
I keep all the friends around and I keep active now.
I do exercise classes twice a week.
I do volunteer at West End Seniors' Network
once a week.
So three out of five days I'm busy doing something.
It just feels good.
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