Trent P.
I have found myself to be on a rollercoaster of emotions and health over the last 7 years. In 2004 I lost weight very quickly with only a new walk routine only to find that it was because of my BS levels going to 200+ daily, yes the high BS will actually cause your body to shed pounds but just not a healthy way to go. That was the time I was around 265 and I began a destructive climb in weight with Diabetes. By that I mean that my Doc at the time, who never met a med she didn't love, had me on my first oral which started my weight climb. A few years later I was on my first injecible, Lantus. My weight was ~290 with those 2 meds. I switched Dr's to a great Internest in Colorado. He did what he could and my weight at least stabilized at 292 for a few years. During that time I had 6 kidney stones and a business that just could not survive the recession in 2009.
With a relocation back to the west coast and a new Dr here in California I added my 2nd Oral and my 2nd Insulin full time. I had the great fortune to have a bit of reaction to Humalog and Novolog. Whenever I injected it it would cause me to have a reaction similar to arthritis. Nothing like being in a 45 yo body that feels like 65. I began a quest for info on bariatric surgery at this point wanting to be able to drop my meds and maybe just maybe start feeling better about myself instead of being trapped in a house of pain. I should also mention that with the new Insulin my weight now climbed to 315, oh joy. The first Surgeon up in Santa Rosa let me know the good news that my surgery would be covered 85% but that he could not do it since BCBS required I have it at a COE, thus Good Sam in San Jose. By a fortuitous turn of events I met with Dr Jossart out of San Francisco. He luckily had a one day a week office visit in Novato. We went through the process of dealing with the insurance and they okayed my procedure. Let me stop here for a moment on the procedure. I originally was looking at DS because of the "cure" rate for Diabetes 90+%. Problem was that both DS and RNY cause an uptick in the prevalence of kidney stones. Having had 7 in my life, both procedures were contraindicated. Dr Jossart and I debated and he finally convinced me that the VSG would be an excellent procedure for me. Thus the choice of it.
