WELL SO MUCH HAS HAPPEN SINCE I MADE THAT LAST POST. I GAINED SOME MORE WEIGHT AND SINCE THEN HAVE DEVELOPED ALOT OF RESPIRATORY CONDITIONS. I AM ON OXYGEN 24hrs. A DAY. i HAVE SEVERE SLEEP APNEA WHICH HAS GIVEN ME ALOT OF HEART TROUBLE..MAINLY CHF (CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE).
2 yrs. AGO I HAD TO STOP WORKING AS A GERIATRIC NURSING ASSISTANT, WHICH IS WHAT SEEMED TO BE THE BEGIN OF. THE END FOR ME. IN 2002 I LOST MY BEST FRIEND FROM COMPLICATIONS TO BARIATRIC SURGERY, THAT WAS A BIG BLOW TO MY WHOLE BEING. iT REALLY FREIGHTEN ME ABOUT HAVING THE SURGERY. AS TIME WENT ON I GOT SICKER AND HAD TO MOVE BACK HOME WITH MY MOTHER.....I HAD ONE LOST AFTER ANOTHER. AND I LOST MY HEALTH INSURANCE BECAUSE I NO LONGER WORKED. THE LOST OF MY BEST FRIEND, MY JOB ,MY HOME , MY HEATLH INSURANCE, MY HEALTH, MY INDEPENDENCE HAD ME THINKING I WAS GOING TO LOSE MY MIND. BUT I AM NOT GOING OUT LIKE THAT!!!!!! i USED TO ASK GOD WHY ME....I FELT HOPELESS, LIKE I WAS BEING PUNISHED. 30yrs AND I AM DAMN NEAR IN A WHEELCHAIR. BEING THE SMART GIRL THAT I AM....I THOUGHT TO MYSELF WHY NOT ME. I KNOW THAT THE GREATEST LESSONS AND JOY COMES FROM STRUGGLE AND WHAT A GREAT STORY I WILL HAVE TO TELL WHEN I COME OUT OF THIS....BECAUSE I HAVE FAITH THAT I WILL COME OUT OF THIS. THERE ARE SO MANY LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR SINCE I BEEN SICK. I AM DETERMINED THAT MY LIFE'S STORY WILL NOT BE A TRAGEDY BUT A STORY OF INSPIRATION.

MY MOTHER AND MY COUSIN BOTH HAVE HAD THE SURGERY AND FINALLY I HAD HOPE THAT THERE IS A CHANCE FOR ME. I HAVE HAD A HOLD ON PREPARING FOR THE SURGERY BECAUSE I HAD TO GO 2yrs. SINCE 2004 WITH NO HEALTH INSURANCE, ITS OKAY I HAVE DONE A LOT OF LEARNING ABOUT THIS SINCE THEN. AS OF JULY 1, 2006 I NOW HAVE MEDICARE A and B AND I AM ON MY WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ON SEPT. 13 2006 I AM GOING TO THE INFOMATION MEETING AT G.B.M.C. I HAVE SUCH HIGH HOPE AND FAITH ...I AM READY TO CLAIM MY LIFE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY MOTHER AND COUSIN ARE DOING SO GOOD AND HAVE EACH LOT ABOUT 200 LBS. MY MOTHER IS A DIVA NOW!!!!!!!! LOL! I LOOK FORWARD TO BREATHING FREELY AGAIN. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME I SEE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.

OH YEAH!!!!I HAVEN'T SMOKED A CIGARETTE IN 2YRS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

September18,2006

I went to the infomation meeting on the 13th of september. We were almost late because me and my cousin got lost to get to the weight lost center you should turn into Sheppard Pratt , not the hospital entrance. ONce we found our way to the physicians pavillion, it was very easy to found the forum, did nt have to walk far, which is important to me because i have trouble walking far.
It was very imformative. I look very foward to getting an appt. to meet with the doctor. Their was a weight lose patient there to do a "testamonial" and dont get me wrong we all are in this to gether
and no matter how much weight you have to lose it is always a blessing to see someone who has had the surgery and been sucess.
But i wish one time I could see someone as big as me get the surgery and show up skinny, wear a size 8.....lol....for real...that would be real inspiration!!!! hahahaha sometime these people before weights are my goal weights....hahahahahahaha.








October 18, 2006 

I went for my first visit with Dr. Von Rueden today. I was soooo nervous. I also saw the person who handled the insurance stuff and i was pleased, i have medicare a and b so it's not difficult to get approved for surgery i guess. I dont have that mandatory deit thing but the nutritionist is going to suggest that I lose 30lbs before surgery. I have a deductible which is $125 and $952, which is alot to a poor girl like me but im not worried. Im so proud of my self i have never been this dedicated to losing weight . Im so ready i'll give up all the food in the world to be healthy again. All this time i thought food was my friend he was stabing me in the back. Well i have all my test i need to take. It shouldnt be to hard because half the test i just had at my primary care office. Dr. Von Rueden was very nice i was very comfortable with him. He answered all my questioned, every thing i read about him was true. He is going to try to get me into physical therapy since i cant really excert myself to much. I feel like I am truely am in good hands there.










June 6, 2007

Well I know its been along time I have so much going and I neglected my page. I think its important to keep this updated you never know if experience will help someone. Reading others profile really helps me.....anyway, ok since the last up date alot has happen, I began getting all the test I needed. I was having such bad time with my cpap machine and not wearing it that my already severe sleep apnea was getting worse. I started using a full face mask and bi pap in December, and i sleep like a baby.

My Echocardiogram show that i had very high pulmonary hypertension which my cardiologist and Dr. Von Ruedon was concern about he said he only wanted to do the LAP BAND which was devastating to me because I prepared myselp for the Bypass and i knew with my weight that the LAP would' nt be much help to me. I got a stress test with the nucluer medcine thingy...lol just thinkin about that experience makes me laugh.

In Feb 07 my pulmonologist was also concerned about pulmonary hypertension and said it was not a good time to get the surgery. She suggested that i wear the bipap for a few more months and get a new ECHO, which i did................and in May 07 I i showed a remarkable difference, i got clearence from my cardiologist. My pulmonologist has' nt given me clearence yet ...grrrrrrr.
But my surgeon now says he is willing to do the Bypass surgery he says that is really the only thing that will help me.

I also have to get a IVC filter...which is cool, I heard it was uncomfortable tho....Is that true?

I got Psych clearence which was easier than i thought, I was she would say this chick is cookoo..lol Someone told me they got rejected because the psych Dr. said she was an emotional eater....im thinkin like whos not!

Dr. wanted me to lose 30 lbs. and in 6months I only lost 15 but i told them dont judge me this is the first time in my life i got on the scale on a consistant basis and been less than i was the previous time....lol.


I went to Pulmonary REhab which is basic exercise for people which respiratory issues i did it for 3 months, from january to april...medicare would only pay for it that long.....i loved it. medicare will pay for it again post-op...so i cant wait.

So, June 20th I go back to the surgeons office and hopefully everything comes together and i get my date.










June 20 2007


Well I went to Dr. von Rueden's office today expecting to get my date today.........that did nt happen
But i did get good news....my pulmonary doctor approved the surgery but the office where i got my psych evaluation didnt send the surgeons office the paper work, so they could'nt my info off to the insurance co....which for me is medicare...so i had to get that straight with the psych office peeps.

So now I am finished all my supervised weight loss appointments and everything else is done.    My info is sent off and all I have to do is wait to have my surgery scheduled
which i was told by the nurse would take about  to 10 days
and she said it will probably be in August.....so we'll see









July 1, 2007

WoooooooooHooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!      i have a date, drum roll please...............
AUGUST 30, 2007
I can't believe it finally may happen, I have worked so hard for this , I fell like I have won an OSCAR or some crazy shit like that !
They gave me August 28 at first but i got it moved up 2 days because school starts the day before and that gives me a couple more days to get maia straight.








July 20, 2007

Forgot to make quick update my doctors office call back to ask me to switch back to aug. 28 or i would have to wait like 4 more weeks and I was not having that soooooo.......
August 28 07 its ON!!!!!!!!!!!














July 31, 2007 

Today was my pre-op physical with my primary care doctor. I also had to get all my blood work done.  Everything went pretty good, my dr. wants me to see my cardiologist because my EKG was a little abnormal. Sooooo....I will do that on the 13th of August.

I also had to go see the vascular doctor to set up a date to get my IVC filter, They'll get back to me with the date.









August 6, 2007

Well I saw my pulmonalogist today and ince I was going I decided to take my bipap machine because I was having trouble with it, I was waking up with chest pains and I started using my old cpap and I feel better.

So I showed her the problem, we decided thay I will go back on cpap.  I dont like the bipap like I thought I would. I only switched to bipap to have a full face mask, I didnt know i could have one with the cpap, but now i do.
Anyway, she wants me to have another ECKO done before my surgery so that i will do.













August 7, 2007

Today I went to my pre-op visit at my surgeons office today. I met with the nurse and she told me what to do the day of surgery what  meds to take and not to take.
I signed all the consent forms.
I  also went to the pre-op class to learn how to eat after surgery want supplements to start taking and stuff like that , it lasted 3hrs.
Oh yeah , I have to bring my cpap the day of surgery. I also learned that I only had to be on a clear liqiud diet for 24hrs before surgery, I heard so much crazy shit about 2 wk diets.
and i have to take some physo something to make me go to the bathroom for #2.














August 8, 2007

I had to have a pre-op visit for the IVC filter.  My blood pressure has been really high so I was put on a new BP med.
 I will be having the IVC filter put in on the 21st of August.















August 13, 2007

Today I went and got my ECKO and it was bad, looks like my pulmonary hypertension has approved some more so I'm happy.

I saw the cardiologist too, he said that everything is fine , my EKG was abnormal but it to be expected with my weight.  He says its a risk to have surgery but its a bigger risk not to have it.  My blood pressure was good today 110/70 compared to  what it was last week....157/96.

 

August 23, 2007


Ok, first of all I got ahospital bed delivered to my house because I thought it would be better than sleeping on a regular bed , but the bed is so high I think i'm gonna have trouble getting in it.
I tried to lower it but its at its lowest, hope i did nt make a big mistake.

I went to have my IVC filter put in  August 21 and I was so worried I thought it was going to hurt but I did nt feel a thing. They put it right in my groin area and they did it all while I was awake.

I have a cold and I'm worried b ecause they will not do the surgery if im sick but I have 4 days to clear it up.
I'll keep you updated.










August 27, 2007


Well my surgery has been postponed until september 27 because I caght a nasty cold and my surgeon wants to wait until I am FULLY over it.
He's going on vacation so I have to wait until he gets back.










January 21, 2008


It has been such along and so much has happened that it really made it hard to post but I am going to try and update you on all that has happened since my surgery was rescheduled to sept. 27, 2007.


September 27 2007~I arrived at gbmc at 9:00 am I was prep and all signed all the papers , got all my IV's everything was reall good I was not one bit nervous.
My mother and brother were with me and we were laughing and joking while we waited, the surgeon came in about 11:00a.m. and I went in the O.R. about 12 noon.

When I woke up about 3pm yhe first thing that came to my mind was that I woke up up, I was just happy for that. Then the Doctor came in and informed me that he was NOT able to do the surgery. was what I was feeling.
He said it was harder than he thought to retract my liver and because of my respiratory issues he didnt want to have me under anesthesia longer than he planned.......so there it was.


October 15, 2007~ went to his office so he could check the incisions he made to NOT do the surgery and it was fine. He decides to try and do the gastric sleeve and then the duedenal switch in 2 parts.  Cool so he has resubmit all my info to medicare and hope they approve.

Now at this part a whole lot of shady stuff occured at that office at GBMC but I am not going to dog them out, lets just say i'm glad Dr. Von rueden is leaving there!........so i'm gonna skip the ranting part.

So Christmas holiday come around and I find out DVR is leaving I panic because I have had no surgery yet, I decide to make an appiontment to see him on January 16.

January 16, 2008~ First thing I find out is that medicare would not approve the gastric sleeve. So DVR says he will now do the surgery with Dr. Moen, because since he knows what he will have to do he will now be better prepared, PLUS he has to hurry because he is leaving there on February 28, 2008.  So evry thing has been going fast since the 16th.......My new Date is the 13th of February 2008 and I am  more that happy.