Marci M

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Well I am feeling so much better lately!  I am down 60 pounds and I feel so great!  I am no longer on my blood pressure medication or my anti-depression medication.  It is so nice to be able to actually walk and not tucker out after a few minutes! 

I am having a very hard time getting on the MS boards lately and seeing the same people bashing Dr. Cleveland.  I understand that a few of these people had complications as a result of their WLS and they blame Dr. Cleveland for these complications.  However, it is just a constant mud slinging towards Dr. C and the clinic.  I also know that alot of people are getting frustrated with the staff at CMMC because their phone calls are not being returned or their emails.  But I also know that the staff are going thru alot of changes right now and everyone is suffering, the staff of the bariatric clinics as well as the patients!  No, I don't like the answering service that they use, mainly because I don't feel that they deliver the messages half the time!  I wish they would hire someone on site to answer the phones, but that is only my opinion.  I can usually get an email to Adam and he responds within a day or so, I can avoid the answering service this way!

I absolutely adore Dr. Cleveland, Adam and Sandra, and I am just so tired of hearing all this negativity about them!  I know everyone has a right to express their opinions, but express them and move on.  Don't keep on and on and on with the same stuff!  If you are not happy with the clinic the by all means find another doctor some where else.  Dr. Cleveland saved my life when he did my RNY surgery.  I knew after I met him that he was the only doctor that I would trust to see me thru this surgery. I knew that he would do his best to make sure that I was okay, and if something were to go wrong, then it was God's will.  I knew all the risks and complications that could have occured, and praise God I did not have any.  Dr. Cleveland and Adam have been so supportive and helpful, I really don't think I could have made it this far without them!  So this is my side of the Dr. Cleveland issue!  My ranting is over... lol 

Well, I have been sick as a dog lately!  Started Thursday night throwing up and by Saturday I could not even hold a sip of water down.  Dr. Cleveland did EGD to see if I had a stricture but he felt it was going to be more of a bowel obstruction.  He did do the scope and there was a stricture so he fixed it while he was in there.  They gave me a couple of bags of IV fluids since I was dehydrated as well.  Dr. Cleveland told Danny that if I was not better by tomorrow, he was admitting me to the hospital on Wednesday.  Of course I was still throwing up and sick all night and so Danny called them back Wednesday Morning.  Had to go be admitted to CMMC.  Lord they had such a hard time getting an IV started.  I was stuck over 9 times before they finally called the IV Therapy Nurse and she got it on the first try!  They had even stuck both wrists…. Ouch!  Dr. Cleveland ordered CT scan to see if there was a bowel obstruction but it came back fine.  Dr. Cummins came by that afternoon and said she felt it was a severe case of dehydration and that hopefully after a couple of bags of fluids I would be so much better.  Wednesday night they decided to add a Potassium Bag to my IV bag that I that I was already getting!  As soon as they added the little Potassium Bag to the IV pump, my arm felt like it had caught on fire!  It ran all the way up my left shoulder and to my neck!  I told Danny to run out and tell the Nurse to come take the IV out – it had blown the vein.  The precious nurse came in and I was squalling.  She undid the IV and brought me some Tylenol for my shoulder.  (TYLENOL DID NOT WORK!)  I spent the rest of the night sitting on the side of the bed rocking and crying because I had such severe pain in my shoulder.  There was no lying down on it.  The nurse kept coming in with Tylenol and warm towels.  They came in to change the IV site again, after a total of 19 sticks during this hospital visit, they finally got another site started in the other arm.  For some reason they kept telling me that they were going to put a PIC line in Thursday morning.  I assumed from that little bit of info that I was going to be here for awhile, since the IV was now working fine, why the PIC line?  Sure enough that morning the little IV Therapy nurse came in and set up for the PIC line.  She had already opened everything and was just about to get started when praise GOD Dr. Cleveland came in the room!  He looked at the girl and said why are you doing a PIC Line?  Is her IV Site not working?  We both told him the IV was fine right now.  So Dr. Cleveland told her he hated that she had already opened all the stuff but there was no need for a PIC line, I was going home tomorrow most likely.  Bless her heart, the IV nurse did a little dance too, she was not looking forward to having to do that either!  

Can I just say that Dr. Cleveland is my hero?  I explained what happened with the IV and my shoulder and how badly it was hurting me.  He told me that it was most likely a very irritated nerve.  He immediately got me a shot of Morphine and a portable pump as well!  He also ordered a heating pad!  God bless this man…. It was so nice to actually be able to lay back and sleep!  He sent me home with liquid loratab, it works okay but I have to sleep in the recliner.  It hurts still to lie down in the bed.  Once this shoulder thing works out, I will be so much better!  This has just been such an awful few weeks, but it is getting better each day! 

Well surgery went great - no problems!  I had alot of pain in my left side and had trouble getting up and down.  Poor hubby had to lift me up and down constantly.  It has been just over two weeks and things are getting better and better each day, I have lost 29 pounds.  I still have some pain and soreness in my left side and I have alot of trouble sleeping.  I have been going stir crazy here at the house so I decided to try to go back to work for half days and see how it goes.  I lasted three hours and had to come home because my side was starting to hurt.  I was very sore this morning so I decided to stay home and take it easy.  I may try to go back tomorrow again and see how it goes!  My inscisions have healed so well, Dr. Cleveland did such a great job on these!  They turned out alot better than the ones I had when I had gallbladder surgery years ago!

I am having trouble getting protein in too, I can not tolorate the powders.  I even got the unflavored Unjury but I am having trouble mixing it with liquids.  When you blend them together, the protein powder gets foamy.

I have to say that Dr. Cleveland and the group from CMMC Bariatric Clinic have been so wonderful.  Jeannie came to see me in the hospital and she is such a delight.  She and Adam are always there when I have questions or concerns, and  Dr. Cleveland was just very friendly and professional.  I am so glad that I was able to use CMMC and the Bariatric Clinic for my surgery. 

I finally have a surgery DATE – Monday, May 22, 2006……

It looks like this is finally going to work out after all!  I am also lucky enough to be getting such a great doctor.  I have heard nothing but wonderful things about Dr. Cleveland at CMMC and I know that I am in good hands!  My precious Queen Arlies has agreed to be my “Angel” and between her, my hubby, and all my friends at OH, I know that I can do this!  It is so hard to believe that I am not a nervous wreck, but I actually feel calm and at ease.  Please keep me and my family in your prayers that everything will work out and there will be no complications or problems.  My husband is so scared that there will be complications and he just doesn’t know how we will handle that.  I told him that we are thinking “POSITIVELY” and know that God will see me thru this!  Thanks again for all of your support and friendship, I love you guys!

Well, we are still waiting on my PCP to send Adam the lab work and my letter of medical clearance.  I went to see her over a week and a half ago and she said she would get this info to CMMC ASAP.  when I called Monday, her nurse asked if I had left a letter stating what was needed.  I explained that I went over this letter with the Doctor and personally put it in her hands during that office visit.  The nurse called me Friday and said the Dr. was dictating my letter and they would try to get it typed up and sent to Adam by the first of next week.  I have been telling them for the past week that we are waiting on them in order to be able to schedule surgery!  The reason for the delay is that their computers have been down for the past three weeks and they do not keep hard copies of any tests, results, or office visit information.  Can you imagine a doctor's office that does not have an actual paper file on a patient?  That is just crazy!  Besides that, three weeks is an awful long time for a major doctor’s office to have their computers down, especially if this is their only source of information about a patient.  If I don't hear something by Tuesday of next week then looks like I will just have to find another doctor.  After paying over $200 for this past visit with her, I hate to have to find someone else that doesn’t know my history like she does.  I certainly don’t have the money to do this, but I also can not wait forever for them to get their crap together!

Well, I went to see the Nurse Practioner at CMMC to start the ball rolling on this surgery.  We went thru the family history, I really think she didn't believe my family had all the Rheumatoid Arthritis that I had listed.  Just about everyone in my family on both sides have Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I got my letter from CMMC telling me what testing would be required before a pre-op appointment would be set up.  I go see my PCP tomorrow to get her to write a Letter of Clearance and get a copy of the tests she did back in September.  I left a message with Dr. Hawks office to make an appointment for my Psyc Evaluation.  The only other thing would be to get copies of the cardio tests that were done back in 2004 when I went to the hospital with chest pains.  It turned out to be Pleurisy, but they want copies of the tests just to be on the safe side since Mom died from Sudden Cardiac Death.  I am starting to actually get hope that this is going to finally happen for me!  I decided to go back to my natural hair color (brown) since one of the side effects of this surgery is hair loss.  My hair is already thin, I have to roll it on sponge rollers each night and tease the stuff to make it look fuller.  I certainly don't need to be putting chemicals on it if it is going to be falling out!  So we are now brunette again instead of blonde.  My hubby told everyone he had a new wife, one of the guys at work told him that sure was a cheap way to get a new one! lol 

I just got a call from the counselor at Vocational Rehab.  He just wanted to touch base with me and let me know that things still have not changed... Vocational Rehab is still not helping to fund this surgery.  He said that some time between now and June he will have to close my case, unless something changes.  But it looks like VR will not start back funding this surgery.  He also told me that he is a real advocate for losing weight the “natural” way, with making the right food choices and exercise.  He went on and on about this and then he said “Well you might have tried this already”.  He asked where I stood, and I told him that my husband and I were weighing our options to see how we can possibly pay for this ourselves.  Then he then starts telling me that some doctors have finance companies that they refer patients to, I told him that we have checked into this as well.  He said it sounded like I had made up my mind to have this surgery.  I told him that it is not a choice for me.  I have been battling this for the past 33 years and I know this is what I have to do.  Then he tells me “Well you know you will have to change your eating habits completely, or you will make yourself sick and cause serious problems.  If this surgery is what you want to do, then why not start now eating like you know you will have to after the surgery.  Who knows you might end up losing 30-40 pounds and decide to hold off on the surgery.  You can always try this for a while and if you don’t like the way you have to eat, you can always go back to the way you use to eat.  If you have the surgery, you will not have the option of going back, if you do not like the way you have to eat!” 

The purpose of this surgery is to HELP me NOT eat like I use to eat.  I am sure he thought he was helping, but in reality he just pissed me off with all his negativity.  I have tried the diets and the exercise.  I have lost weight and gained every single bit plus some back.  He knows this, it is in my file - had he read it and really listened to me. I don't consider this surgery an "easy way out," for me is a tool to help me KEEP the weight off after I lose it.  It is like he is saying “Well we can not help pay for your surgery, so you don’t need to have it!”  What was his purpose for calling?  He sure didn't bother to call me and tell me when VR stopped funding, I found that out by calling him before my consultation with the surgeon.  I just can not get over all these people who were all gung ho for me to do this surgery to begin with, just raving about how much it would help me, but now they have decided it just isn’t such a good idea anymore.  I am at the point to where you can either support my decision or get the hell out of my way!  I don’t need the negative feedback right now.