sherr_k
1/1/08
I am now 2 years post surgery. I weigh about 153, have a BMI of 26. I still have a little ways to go but am seriously considering a tummy tuck and maybe some other minor procedures. Wish I could afford the full monty. I just have to say that in two years there has not been one day that I am sorry that I had this procedure perfomed.
I am 43 years old, married for 23 years and have a 22 year old daughter. I have been over weight most of my life and am just plain tired of it along with all of the comorbidities (diabetes, sleep apnea, hypothyroid). My goal is to lose 140-150 pounds. I am so excited to get to see Dr. Snyder next week.
5/21/05
Frustrated, that's what I am. Earlier this week I found out that my insurance company (Wausau) requires that I have a 6 month monitored weight loss program completed in the last 3 years. I have not had a monitored program in about 9 years. I have just worked on losing the weight on my own. So I had to cancel my appointment with Dr. Snyder and start with my PCP monitoring etc... I hope to see Dr Snyder in August and possibly have surgery this year.(before the insurance company decides not to cover wls)
8/23/05
I am going to Denver on Friday(4 hr drive) to meet my surgeon and see the pulmonologist. I have 1 1/2 months to go before I can submit to insurance, things are looking more positive. I guess I will know more next week. Boy am I hyperventilating have just posted for the first time my height and weight. This is something I just don't tell anyone. Panic attack! way outside my comfort zone.
8/30/05
I met with Dr. Snyder and his wonderful staff. Wow what an awsome Dr. I am very comfortable with my choice of surgeon. He suggested that he would like to do the surgery in October (monitored weight loss program completed on Oct. 6). I don't think that I can be ready before November (maybe Oct. 31). Woo hoo, here I come.
9/1/05
Appointment with my therapist today, she really ripped me for not doing the things I need to do. I am not prioritizing (not writing in my food journal, not walking. How am I going to succeed if I can't do the things I need to do to prepare for this surgery? On the positive side I saw my physician today also and lost about 3 pounds.
10/9/05
I have seen my Dr. for the final appointment of my 6 mo monitored weight loss program. I have lost 9 pounds in the 6 months which may not seem like much but to me it is wonderful, I did not gain. Dr. King will have my paperwork ready in a few days and then I can send to Dolly the Insurance guru at Dr. Snyder's office. I haven't checked in for a while because I was so depressed. A couple of weeks ago some oxygen company called and told me that they were going to come to my house and add oxygen to my c-pap. I told her NO, and she said what do you mean NO? I told her no, you are not going to come to my house, and no you are not going to add oxygen to my c-pap. I don't even know who you are, I will call my PCP and see what she has to say and then if I have to have oxygen I will call the company that I regularly deal with. So I called my pcp and they suggested that I call the pulmonologist office. When I called them they said that yes they ordered it, I thought that it would be nice if they had let me know. Really frustrated me as I feel like if the insurance company hadn't made me wait 6 months then I never would have needed the oxygen. I know they would have found it sooner then but I would have lost enough by now that it would be over with. Oh well! That is over and now I can move on to waiting for the insurance company to approve.
11/8/05
The surgeons office submitted documentation to the insurance company on 10/12/05. Yesterday I received notification that they need further documentation. When I asked them what they needed they listed almost everything. I asked them what Dr. Snyder's office sent to them and they said they only received 6 pages from the Dr's office. I myself hand delivered or faxed over 100 pages to the staff. I am so disappointed, but I will press on and submit the documentation on my own. You know the old saying, if you want something done right do it yourself, well that is still true. I still can hope and pray that this happens this year. I really don't want to find a new surgeon, I have every confidence and am comfortable with Dr. Snyder and don't want to have to have to start over just because of one staff member. If you are reading this please pray for me that I have the patience and the grace to handle this glitch without having a nervous break down.
11/28/05
After again being told not enough documentation I collected everything including my Primary Physician's entire chart and fedexed 2 pounds of documents to the insurance company. I called on the 21st and they said it was still in review. I faxed one last piece of info on the 23rd, that must have been what put them over the edge because.........I am approved, let me say that again, I AM APPROVED. And I have a tentative surgery date of 12/27/05. Woo Hooo, I am so excited. Thank You God! And thanks to all of my friends out there and your prayers.
12/1/05. I will drive 4 hours to Denver on Dec 16 for pre-op and then back to Denver for surgery at 1:30 on 12/27, what a christmas present. I am not afraid, just overwhelmed by all of the things I need to prepare before hand at work and at home.
I am going to try to catch up from memory, have not been good about updating.
12/27/05. Weight 279. Was taken into preop and just about backed out when they told me that they were going to place a central line, I work in a dialysis center and swore I would never be put on dialysis mainly because of the central line. They told me that I would be unconcious and would really be for the best so I went ahead with it. I met with the anesthesiologist for the first time and it was not the originally planned one he said that his partner was up all night with an emergency so I asked him if he was well rested and he assured me that he was. We discussed my choice of surgeon and he explained to me what a top notch surgeon Dr. Snyder is. He said that people fight to get to watch him operate and that he is somewhat of a virtuoso. I thought that was pretty cool. Well he finally gave me something to relax and as they were wheeling me out he put a patch behind my ear, I kissed my husband and don't remember a thing until I woke up in the intermediate care center. I don't even remember waking up in the recovery room. I figure the anesthesiologist must have done a really good job. I had to go to intermediate care because of my sleep apnea. They took wonderful care of me there. I got to visit with my friend Melissa who drove at least 240 miles over treacherous winter mountain passes to be with my DH Bill during my surgery. I appreciated this so much she just can't begin to imagine how much it meant to me. I just hated the thought of his being alone in a strange city if anything had happened to me. Melissa had to drive back home the same day so she left. Bill stayed for a while and then I sent him back to the hotel I think about 7:00 pm. My back was hurting so I asked the nurse if I could walk, I thought that it would hurt less that way. They were amazed that I walked clear around the nurses station. And I did it several times throughout the night. Bill was so wonderful and caring, he got me ice chips every hour that he was there, and just let me sleep until I needed him. He even combed my hair for me. Several days after we came home I thanked him for combing my hair even though I didn't give a **** about how I looked. He said that he did it because he knew that I take very good care of my self and never would go out of the house looking like that so he just helped me when I couldn't. I never realized that he even noticed.
12/28/5 This morning they took me down for the leak test. Talk about bumblers, they spilled the contrast all over me and the floor. That was the worst tasting stuff ever, but I passed and it was kind of cool watching it go down. I was moved down to the second floor. The next few days kind of jumbled together, most of the staff were wonderful. The only problems I had was that they took me off of all of my meds before surgery and didn't just automatically give them back to me. At some point, I think maybe the second day I kept waking up soaking wet. I finally came out of my painkiller induced fog and asked them how long it had been since I had had estrogen (I had a total hysterectomy 19 years ago) the nurse said oh honey you don't take enough for it to effect you like that and I told her bet me. I spoke with our nurse practioner the wonderful Kim Delamont and she ordered my estrogen, but I still had to ask for it, they didn't just bring it to me.
12/30/05: I get to go home still on oxygen but they were concerned about our driving over the high mountain passes.
5/27/6 I haven't updated in quite some time so am going to attempt to catch up.
1/20/06: 3 week followup with Dr. Snyder Weight 254 -24lbs. Removed the G-tube. That was awful, Patrick (the PA) attempted to pull the tube 3 times before he figured out that somehow the balloon had an extra 7 cc of fluid (he had no idea how that got there since he put the fluid in the balloon himself). That was so very painful but I am glad that it is gone What a weird feeling that thing is soooo long. It didn't really hurt but it was uncomfortable. I get to start pureed foods, Dr. Snyder wants me to eat 6 pureed meals per day, eating every 3 hours.
1/23/6: Started back to work part time, I work as a secretary in a Nephrology Clinic.
1/30/6: Week 5 247 lbs -32 lbs Back to work full-time
2/6/6: Week 6 242 lbs - 37 lbs
2/8/6: Followup with Dr. Snyder. 241 lbs - 38 He thinks that I have a stricture and wants me to have it dealt with in Denver. I would rather go home and have it taken care of there.
2/10/6: Had EGD/Dialation done by Dr. Seagren. It was very easy, didn't hurt at all just went to la la land while someone patted my leg the whole time. The opening went from 5mm to 12 mm. Can actually eat now. Woo Hoo!
2/13/6: Week 7 240 lbs - 39.
2/20/6: Week 8 236 lbs - 43
2/27/6: Week 9 233 lbs - 46
3/6/6: Week 10 230 lbs - 49
3/13/6: Week 11 227 lbs - 52 3 month followup with Dr. Snyder, he is very happy with my progress.
3/20/06: Week 12 224 lbs - 55
3/27/6: Week 13 222 lbs -57
4/3/6: Week 14 221 lbs -58
4/10/6: Week 15 218 lbs -61
4/17/6: Week 16 217 lbs -62
4/24/6: Week 17 215 lbs -64
5/1/6: Week 18 212 lbs - 67
5/8/6: Week 19 209 lbs -70
5/15/6: Week 20 208 lbs -71
5/22/6: Week 21 208 lbs -71 This is my only child's 24th birthday.
Kind of a head banger for me as this is the first week that I haven't lost anything. I know that I should be happy with what I have lost so far but does get kind of scarey and the losses have been rather slow or so I think.
5/29/6: Week 22 209 lbs -70 up 1 lb from last week. This just drives me insane, I hate it that I am so tied into that number. Logically I know that it is not fat, it is water or muscle but still can't get past that insecurity. That may just be the next topic for my therapist. The good news is that my blood sugar was 103 this morning. That is the lowest it has been yet. And have been off of the antidepressant for 22 weeks. You would think that both of these facts would over ride the 1 lb weight gain in my little pea brain. Ahh well I guess I didn't get to this point by being healthy. I just recieved an order from Susan Maria, I do love the chocolate Mint shakes. I ordered some chocolate covered almonds that were on sale...........ick, phew, spit those suckers out they were just plain gross. Won't try that again. Guess that sort of thing is just out of my life for good. No big loss honestly as long as I can have a sugar free pudding or Jello at night.
6/5/6: Week 23 204 pounds -75
I have found this week that stress is very detrimental to my pouch but sure helps the weight loss. I feel like I have a knife in my stomach much of the time. It is purely stress as my 24 year old daughter is having some legal problems and this terrifies me for her. I am able to keep my protein drinks down, but just the thought of solid food makes me want to vomit and when I do eat I can only get a couple of bites down. I have been doing water aerobics for the last two weeks and love it. I do it at least twice a week and would like to do it more often. I just don't have to think about anything but what the instructor wants me to do at the moment and then it wears me out. I can go home and rest afterwards. I asked my daughter to look for a new swimming suit probably in a size 16 or 18. She told me that she found a size 14 that was really cute. She said it was marked down from 82 to $12 and if it didn't fit now it would someday. Well, it fit. Yay!!!!!
