Patricia F.

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kylakae 23 years, 11 months ago

<table border="0" width="100%"><tr> <td width="15%"><center><IMG SRC="http://www.dwarfworks.com/kyla/pictures/birthday/eyorebday.gif" width="144" height="88"></center></td><td width="85%" valign="middle"><b><font face="Lucida Sans" color="#FF3399">Happy re-Birthday, Patricia! Today marks the anniversary of your WLS. Congratulations on all your triumphs! I hope that you continue to be blessed by this surgery and that you are feeling great. May this next year be your best ever!!</font></b></td> </tr></table>

Susan H. 24 years, 11 months ago

Your angel husband's letter a day after your surgery was very touching. It is wonderful to have that kind of support in your life - as well as for the surgery. I wish you the best in your recovery. You will do well - no doubt. I too live in So. California. I am just 7 weeks post-op and feel that this life-saving surgery is a GODSEND. I too have supportive people in my life. It makes for a strong support system. Keep happy and gain your health back. Best to you. Susan H

Patricia F. 24 years, 11 months ago

I AM PATRICIA'S HUSBAND PAUL, I WROTE THIS TO THE HOSPITAL WHERE MY WIFE HAD HER SURGERY I Thank you so much for the SPECTRIM program! Yesterday, May 17th 2001 at 10:30am my wife Patricia Figueroa went into the operating room with Dr. Sheilah Clayton and had the Gastric Bypass operation done. I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience so far as a husband and supporter of my wife and this procedure. I hope you will acknowledge this letter for I am writing this at 1:30 in the morning 1st day post-op May 18th 2001. Back in March of this year my wife Patricia had been looking into this dramatic life changing procedure. A friend of ours gave us some information from the internet about programs that did this operation. We called several programs before calling SPECTRIM. Our first contact was with Deb Vasquez the Director of SPECTRIM. Since we didn't really know much about this she shared a little bit about the program, (please forgive me for not really knowing how to write this), she sent us a video tape of these testimonies that were too good to be true. We were also invited to a seminar at the Marriott in Torrance. I have to say that this presentation was very informative and enjoyable, it was enjoyable because there was hope for my wife in losing weight! We met the staff at SPECTRIM, Dr. Clayton, Deb Vazquez, Laura and post-op clients/patients Rita and Abbie. They were all very kind, compassionate and "down to earth". Deb Vasquez has been from day one our contact, today she is not only our contact but our friend. She has been absolutely wonderful with us. She has walked us through this whole experience. Anyways, I asked her what would be our next step and she said that she would like to have a consultation at the SPECTRIM office with us, this impressed me because she included me. This is very much my surgery as it is my wife's that’s the way I feel. Being that we live in Riverside 75 miles away she was considerate to think about our traveling burden and she coordinated the consult with her along with the Psychological assessment by Dr. Andrews and setting it for a Tuesday when there was the Spectrim support group meeting, we appreciated this especially with the price of gasoline! Deb showed us around the facility and then sat down with both of us and explained the procedure to us and what Patricia would have to do after the surgery and for the rest of her life, my wife agreed to the sacrifice that she would have to endure. The trade off seemed to be well worth it. She also told us that this was major surgery and that there were risks. We appreciated Deb being upfront with us. Dr. Andrews then sat down with Patricia first and then I was invited to sit in for the rest of the consult, she also pulled no punches and told us the pros and cons of this lifestyle change. We then that evening attended the support group, this I feel is extremely valuable to our experience and is definitely a tool that puts things in perspective and allows one to get information from the other patients both pre-op and post-op and at different stages of there development. I am amazed at what I hear and see, looking at a before picture and then seeing them right there in front of me 150 pounds lighter in such a short time, absolutely incredible!!! About a week later (last week of March) Patricia had the consult with Dr. Clayton at her office in Pasadena. All that was said by Deb, Laura and Dr. Andrews even the other patients was reconfirmed by Dr. Clayton. Everybody was in-sync. Patricia was ready to do this. Deb said that our insurance was a good insurance and so Dr. Clayton submitted a letter to them and in 5 days we were approved! (ok, she was approved : )!. Dr Clayton tentatively gave us a date of May 18th, 2001. We were moving right along. The next step scared us. Patricia had to do some pre-op testing about the 1st week of April. A couple days later Patricia gets a call from Laura she says that she has some abnormal test results and that it could exclude her from getting the gastric bypass done. My Heart fell to the ground my wife was in tears. This was disturbing and I consoled my wife and told her to have faith in GOD. I called Deb Vasquez and asked her what was going on, she told me that yes she had some abnormal test results and that more tests needed to be done to clarify the questionable readings. Patricia followed the instructions and came back for another day of testing. We then had to see Dr. Gross 2 weeks later and people that was the most stressful 2 weeks we’ve had as a couple in the 4 years of marriage. But the good news was that Dr. Claytons office called 2 days before our appointment with Dr. Gross now only 1 week till the big day and they said if it was possible to have surgery on May 17th not May 18th, one day earlier. Patricia didn’t understand, we still needed to see Dr. Gross for the final results, Dr. Claytons office said that the Doctors had discussed the results and that everything was good and ok’d for surgery. YAHOO!!!!! I know this letter is probably not the type of letter you get and may just seem juvenile and childish but Ms. Hagel I feel very happy for my wife. Yesterday my wife had the surgery and so far she looks like she is going to recover beautifully. I am so grateful to all the people who made this happen, I would like to thank Dr. Clayton for her GOD given talent, Dr. Andrews, Dr. Porter, Dr. Amar, Dr Gross, the staff at SPECTRIM and especially to Deb Vasquez who instilled hope in me when it looked hopeless. In my opinion with healthcare programs having so many patients to take care of I sometimes feel like I am a number not a person. That feeling of someone actually caring about your well being , that personal touch sure does make a difference. I will be forever grateful to Spectrim! Thank you so very much, sincerely, paul figueroa jr.

Patricia F. 24 years, 11 months ago

Patricia F. 24 years, 11 months ago

REGARDING THE LAST MESSAGE/UPDATE. THIS IS FROM PAUL FIGUEROA, PATRICIA'S HUSBAND :)