conmarie

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What a wonderful thing I have done.  It may have taken multiple morbidities, but I am so glad that I had surgery.  I use the weight I was discharged at since I gained weight after surgery.  That was 431 lbs.  Today I am at 361 lbs., for those who hate math, that is 70lbs since 4/13/09.  I look much better than I have in years.  While on vacation, my family and I looked at my Senior Picture, and noticed that other than a little bit of double chin still left, I look like I did in High School.  It was great when I ran into some friends from that time in my life.  One of them saw my Drivers Licence and said, "I wouldn't have known you like that, but you look like the Connie I remember."  What a great compliment.  Who doesn't want to look like they did in Highschool, when you are about to turn 40.  So if someone asks me if they would do it, I tell them YES, YES, YES.  I saw a friend while on vacation in Michigan, and she had lots of questions, and fears.  It was so nice to tell her that if you find a provider that you trust, you can make it through the surgery without a problem.

  Well, for all the pain, I can say that it was worth it.  At 2 weeks out, I am down to 383lbs, that for me is Amazing!  Food could be more exciting, but I am following directions and eating the "Baby Food" texture protien the Doc wants us to.  I still have days when I am sore, and last Saturday, I found a stich that was missed with all the bleeding.  I took it out myself.  Most of the sites look good, and I am keeping them covered in Antibiotic cream so they heal better.  The biggest acheivement is that the "girls" are down to the size they were in 9th grade, and I was able to buy a 26-28 shirt for the first time in 10 or 11 years.  Add to that the fact that my diabetes is gone, and my RA in my neck is less painful, and I'm a Happy Loser!

  I am finally feeling human.  My sugery was on April 13, 2009.  I spent 3 days in ICU, due to some bleeding problems.  I came home on Friday the 17th and it has taken almost a week since then to get to feel better.  Would I tell someone who was thinking about this to not do it? Not now, I would have during those days in ICU and the first few days I was home, but at this point, I say go for it.  It is the best thing I have done.  I watched "The Biggest Loser", the other night, and it was really hard for me.  Since I am a single mom and my kids are both on the chunky side, I really don't want them to be angry with me for not doing this sooner.  I talked with both of them and they said that they are proud of me, not mad at me.  It was so nice.

So if anyone asks me, GO FOR IT!!!!!!!, you may have some bumps, but hey that's what life is about.  Oh, I'll just add that I lost 33lbs in the first week.  Part of that was extra fluids, I had a picture taken a month before surgery, and then the day before, and when you hold them up to each other and then to me, there is a clear difference already.  When my kids can see it, losing is happening fast.

So happy to be a loser!

  I don't know how most of you do this.  Waiting for surgery is driving me crazy.  I only have 3 weeks left, but it seems like forever.  I am pushing to get things in line, the house ready for guests, kids have spring break the week before, so they will help.  I know that I am lucky in the fact that my process has gone really fast.  My PCP talked to me about surgery the end of January, 2009.  A week later I went to my informational session, then preop started that week.  I saw the surgeon for the first time on Feb 16, 2009, finished preop approvals on Feb. 20.  Then a 2 week wait for the information to get to the surgeon.  I called the Monday following my 2 weeks, and was told that they needed a better release from my Pulmonolgist.  That was faxed that afternoon.  By Friday of that week, I called the office again, and later that day was rewarded with a Preop Education date of March 30, Preop with Dr. Joyce is April 8, and finally Surgery on April 13, 2009 at 9:30 am. 

I know that many of you have to wait at least a year if not years.  I will pray for all of you that are trying to get this approved, or just are struggling with the decision to have this done.  I hope that some of you will be as blessed as I have, and have it take 10-12 weeks.  Just know that it flys and you need to have made up your mind on having the surgery, because you have very little time to reconsider.  Good luck to you if you are struggling to get your surgery.  I'll let everyone know how I am doing after surgery.  I many blog some more after Preop Ed.

I have to say that I am more excited about this date, then I was my first date ever.  After waiting patiently, I called and bugged until, she called me back and April 13, I will have my sugery!!!!  I'm so I excited!!!  Can you tell.  Those are me, I can hardly wait.  I have my preop education on March 30, then start the preop diet the next morning, on April 8, I have my preop with Dr. Joyce and then 5 count them, 5 days and I'll be on my way.  I love having appointments before the date, so that I can help count the days.  So now, it's time to get the house and kids ready for me to be gone for 2 or 3 days.not so fun.  Pray for me, please!  I'll keep praying for all of you.

HI, I am very excited, but also amazed at how fast the process is going for me.  I know that God is pushing this for me.  I am 39 as of Feb 11, and my BMI is 65, yeah kind of scary.  So in January, I had a Sleep Study, the results came back with recommendations 1-3 had some mention of Medically Supervised Weight Loss.  So my Doctor of 3 months said, "you should check into this, you would be the perfect patient."  She gave me information on a program not to far from home, but it was not a center of excellence.  So they gave me a couple of ideas to check and with the additional help of this web site, I was able to not only find, but feel confident in the Surgeon.  So I went to his information session on Feb 4, was called 2 days later, with a Feb 16th first appointment.  In the mean time, I set up some of the prep appointments.  I was able to get into 2 of the specialist and get the testing that they wanted done before my first appoint with my Surgeon.  After the appointment I was disappointed and scarred, my insurance it turned out did not cover the type of surgery I wanted and the surgery that would be best due to my super large size. It turned out that by the end of the night on the 16th I would find a way to pay for the surgery that I wanted.  My last hurdles were clearance from Cardio and Phyc.  I called one provider who did not return my calls and so I tried the other provider who is further away from my home.  They didn't answer either, but did return my call within 20 minutes.  The man who call was very nice and explained their routine.  It consists of a day to do testing, and then a follow up for discussion and interview.  He tells me that the testing is on certain days and it so happened that I had just missed the latest testing.  The next one was on a Sunday afternoon.  Then we talked a little and he looked at what they had available, and it sounded like it would be a while.  So I was shocked when he said, can you come in tomorrow morning for testing, I know I said we didn't do on that day, but we have a cancellation on Friday, can you come then also?  I am lucky or unlucky enough that due to RA, I am disabled, it's bad enough that I can't drive, so I could take the immediate opening.  So it will be 16 days from initial information group to the last approval appointment.

Has anyone else had it gone this fast?  If so did you feel kind of like a tornado hit you?    I know that the normal is to have it go on, as I worked with people trying to get surgery approved by insurance before I had to stop working.  So I expected some lag time and I feel for those of you fighting to get approved.  I'll post again after I have a surgery date and in the mean time, I'll pray for those of you fighting to become healthy.