ObesityHelp

After spending over a year investigating WLS I've finally taken the plunge. So I went to a seminar back in January of 2006, right after the holidays. I was interested in Lap Band but after going to that seminar I was scared. Also they weren't doing Lap Band in Duluth yet and I would have to travel to Deer River, MN and I didn't feel comfortable having a Dr. so far away, Not that Deer River is that far (about 94 miles). So back in Jan it just didn't seem like an option. So here is the first thing I wrote about Lap Band on my blog. SO............................ this is what I wrote on my blog back on March 19, 2006.
"So, what's new? Well, I'm hoping beyond hope to get my insurance to approve of my having Lap Band Surgery.

FOOD IS THE ENEMY!

Anywho, I've noticed that a lot of people out there who have had WLS have started blogs and on line journals and I suppose this could be the beginning of the end of mine depending on how the whole process unfolds. So March 9th I started my journey. I went to my Dr. and said, "Enough is enough, I have to get a grip". We talked about my weight which is bad, but not as bad as some people. I could lose 100+ lbs and I might be happy losing just 80lbs. I got the referral from my Dr. and there is about a 2 hour long informational meeting I am required to attend. (I actually attended such a meeting a couple of months ago and decided maybe it wasn't for me. I have sense changed my mind.) I'm a woman I can do that. I'm am scheduled to attend the next meeting which is April 12th. Guess I'll be back then to see if I can get through the next series of steps. If I get through them and approved of through my insurance company then I guess I'll have to post my before picture.

With that said, this is what has happened in that short time period. Duluth's St. Mary's started doing Lap Band in March. I could not sit on this any longer and I was already told that the hospital was getting very busy with WLS. So the day after the seminar, I was scheduled May 22nd to meet for 1 hour with the surgeons nurse followed by an hour with the dietian. As a result of these meetings the surgeons nurse decided to get me in with Dr. Medlin on May 24th.

After meeting Dr. Medlin we talked about my health concerns and problems, high blood pressure, very high cholesterol, edema and from talking he thinks I might have acid reflux and sleep apnea. Just what I need..... to find problems I didn't know I had. I am scheduled for an EGD on June 8 and I meet with a Dr about the sleep apnea on June 19th and then spend that evening at St. Mary's hospital.

In the mean time, I learned that SMDC's psychologists were booked 2 months out for the psychological evaluation. However, I got in at St. Luke's which my company uses. I meet with the psychologist May 31 and took the tests on June 1 and they pre-scheduled me for June 9th for going over the tests, which will then be forwarded to my surgeon.

I also from the benefits coordinator at SMDC that MEDICA requires that I be on a medically supervised diet. I explained I had been on two before. Those don't count! I was very very bummed as I couldn't bear to go through being on another diet and going through the guilt failure process again. I know that the lap band will be the tool that will enable me to make my lifestyle change a success. So I called the dietian and she apologized for not paying attention to what insurance I have, but she reassured me and explained why. I meet with her for my second meeting on June 21. I'm keeping tract of what I'm eating and what exercise I'm getting. I'm not so good with walking but weekends I'm incredibly busy!

So that is where I am at. With that said, the girl I work with/for reminded me that God needs specifics so instead of saying I'm hoping to have surgery by the end of summer. I've thrown in a date for good measure. We'll see if it comes to pass. I've requested August, 24 2006. I won't be upset if this comes to pass as long as my insurance approves me and I can have the surgery at some point!

I want to take my life back!

~ June 18, 2006 ~

So where am I at? The SHRINK SAYS I'M SAD..... OH BYTE ME! He says he wants me to be "happy before I have the surgery". OK
So I have to meet with another shrink who deals with eating disorders. Dang are they trying to tell me that since I was a little type I've had a eating disorder? I just love to eat! I love the smell, the textures, the taste. I was a short skinny kid. I was a short skinny teenager. I was the envy of all the girls who couldn't eat like me. UNTIL....... HIGH SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING CHANGED! My freshman and sophomore years weren't too bad, but my junior and senior years I was gaining and those wonderful high school boys weren't shy about pointing it out and neither was my dad. Thus begins the fight. So for 29 years I've been waging a war against my weight and thus far it's been a losing battle (not that kind of losing!) So yes, I guess I could be considered a sad person. But for the most part I think I'm pretty happy.

With that said, I see the next shrink July 5th. Oh lets see, I had an EGD done on June 15th. That wasn't very fun! I apparently have a small hiatal hernia (that won't need fixing) and he did a biopsy to see why I had some redness in my esophagus. Haven't gotten the results from that yet. Then tomorrow I have another appointment the Dr. for the sleep apnea study and I then spend Monday night at a sleep over at St. Mary's. Then Wed. I have my second appointment with the dietian. One more appointment with her in July and then I assume things will be forwarded to my insurance company.
 

~ July 17, 2006 ~

BTW, is this site slow............................... or what? I felt like I was waiting for a dinosaur egg to hatch!
I couldn't resist this one too. OH I also got my surgeons approval for the surgery on July 12. Yikes I didn't know I needed his approval too, but I have. Only one thing left to do. One more month Aug 8th and I have my last visit with the dietian and then everything is ready to be submitted to the INSURANCE COMPANY.

~ July 20, 2006 ~

I just can't resist these crazy tests! Some one stop me pleazeeee. Wella girlz gotta do what a girlz gotta do while she's waiting for approval time :)

You Are A Martini

You are the kind of drinker who appreciates a nice hard drink. And for you, only quality alcohol. You don't waste your time on the cheap stuff. Obviously, you're usually found with a martini in your hand. But sometimes you mix it up with a gin and tonic. And you'd never, ever consider one of those flavored martinis. They're hardly a drink!

~ September 15, 2006 ~

I'm bad. Lot's has been going on. I was denied on August 16, by the insurance company based on my psychological eval. Fortunately I followed through and made weekly calls to MEDICA and last night there was a message on my voice mail at home about good news. Got the official word this morning that I am approved!!!!!

~ September 30, 2006 ~

I figured there was no since thinking about when I'd get the phone call about the surgery.... SO boy was I surprised when I got the call yesterday! I heard they were scheduling into Nov. so I figured I'd be called much later and with a Nov or even Dec. date, but I'm in for Oct 27th!! Within an hour I had three phone calls and 6 appointments! Mon. Oct 3rd I meet with the dietian and on Fri Oct 7 the surgeons nurse. Oct 13th my PCP for my pre-op physical and then............ Oct 27th I become a loser!

~ My wish list and things I want to do list ~

I've been meaning to get this going and my shrinkologist also suggested this so here goes.......

 

1.  I can't wait until I can buy smaller bras ~ I'm buying smaller bras!
2.  I can't wait until my bras quit poking me under my arm pits,jabbing me  in the side of my arms, riding up my back and digging into my flesh! ~ My bras hardly poke me or dig into my flesh anymore!
3. I can't wait until my underwear stops rolling off my stomach and under my roll. ~ LOL My underware doesn't roll off my stomach and under my roll anymore!
4. I can't wait until I can buy sexy lingerie, bras, panties, sleep wear.
5. I can't wait until I can buy clothes with shape instead of bags.
6. I can't wait until my pants stop squeezing the life out of me. ~ My pants don't squeeze the life out of me anymore! Oct 13th I was wearing 24WP's and today I wear a junior size 18P.
7. I can't wait until my seatbelt quits jabbing me in my thigh. ~ In early December I realized my seatbelt was nolonger jabbing me in my thigh!
8. I can't wait until I can get the seatbelt in my girlfriends car to fit around me so I can latch it.
9. I can't wait until I can play tennis with my daughter.
20. I can't wait until I can go down hill sking again AND find snow pants that fit!
21. I can't wait until I can go up and down the stairs without huffing and puffing. ~ It's getting easier to go up and down the stairs!
22. I can't wait until I can go for a walk without pain and huffing and puffing.
23. I can't wait to join a belly dancing class
24. I can't wait until I can bend over and tie my shoes and breath at the same time. ~ I CAN BEND OVER AND TIE MY SHOES AND BREATH AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!! 
25. I can't wait until my confidence gets stronger.
26. I can't wait until I'm no longer embarrassed to be seen in by old friends and family.
27. I can't wait until my dad quits asking me if I have a problem pushing myself away from the table.
28. I can't wait until I really like me for who I am.
29. I can't wait until I can wear a swimsuit in public.
30. I can't wait until I can get a good nights sleep, where my arms don't hurt and my shoulders don't hurt, when I don't wake up with a head ache, when my fingers quit falling asleep when I
should be the one sleeping, when I don't toss and turn all night long because my back hurts. ~ I'm starting to sleep better at night.
31. I can't wait until going up and down the stairs in the morning isn't a problem.
32. I can't wait until my feet quit swelling up in the summer and I quit smelling terrible in my flesh rolls where I sweat year long.
33. I can't wait until my blood pressure goes down and my cholesterol goes down.
34. I can't wait until the little problem I have with sleep apnea goes away.
35. I can't wait until people tell me how wonderful I'm looking. ~ People are starting to tell me I'm look great!
36. I can't wait until people tell me they are proud of me.
37. I can't wait until people quit looking at the amount of food I eat.
38. I can't wait until I can go shopping in all the fun clothing stores.

~ October 06, 2006 ~

Had my appointment with the surgeons nurse and I'm getting really excited. I start my 2 week liquid diet on of all things Fri the 13th of Oct. and my surgery date is Fri Oct 27th. I'm also finally getting over a wicked cold! Lisia took this picture of me, so I'm considering it my official pre-op photo. I'm 237.5 in this photo. I'd look tall as my darn petite pants are so long that I'm wearing shoes with a 3 3/4" heel and the darn pants are still dragging the ground

~ October 13, 2006 ~ As in Friday The 13th

This was a typical bad luck Friday the 13th kinda day.  I had my pre-op physical and following that I was going to my girlfriends dads funeral.  I've known the family since I was three years old. Plus, I'm on the first day of my 14 day liquid diet.

Anywho, all looked well and my PCP was getting ready to give me the go ahead, alls AOK.  But they were going over the pre-op requirements for the hospital and one of those requirements is for an EKG.  No problem.  WRONG!!!!  Warning, Warning, mayday!  Yep the nurse came back in after doing the EKG and told me my PCP needed to talk to me about the EKG.  OK now my heart is having problems.  The news.........  She asked me, "so when did you have a heart attack"???  A what?????  Well, if you didn't know you had one then you had what we call a "silent heart attack".  She had me scheduled Monday morning Oct 16th at 7AM! (I'm not a morning person) for a "Treadmill Stress ECHO".

~ October 16, 2006 ~ As in Friday The 13th

OK, I am now on day 4 of the liquid diet.  My surgery is also pending pending the results of the treadmill stress ECHO I take today.  So they hook me all up.  I'm suppose to go 9 minutes on this treadmill and at three minute intervals they will raise the treadmill and speed it up.  Now since the tech is having a problem getting good images of my heart they decide to IV me so they can give me some interesting little chemical called Difinity so they can see my heart better.  I know exactly what is going to happen........  Yesiree, doncha jest know it!  After two pokes they couldn't find my fine little veins, so they call in the IV team.......  And well, he finally got me all poked up and I'm only sporting 4 bandaids!  Not bad I usually end up with 5.  I still have the bruises and it's Sunday the 22.  But, I digress.  So they give me the Difinity that was cool!  So they get these nice pictures of my resting heart and now it's too the treadmill.  I chatted with all the gals despite the fact that I was breathing hard after three minutes.  But it usually takes me a bit anyway for my breathing and everything to take on a nice even pace.  Now I'm 6 minutes in and they are asking me if I'm OK.  Ummmmmmmmmmmm yeh, aren't I????  So I reach my target heart rate before 9 minutes.  Then they almost forget the Difinity so I keep walking up hill.......... then ya have 1 minute to get back over to the table after they give you the Difinity so quick like I'm at the table.  And boom just like that 2 hours later, I'm all done.  The gals there said my EKG looked just fine, so they are not sure what my Dr. saw the day she took my EKG and since they didn't have a copy of Friday's EKG they were going to have to get it.  I'm told I won't have the results of the echocardiogram for a week!  A WEEK!  Well they better have them by Monday cause I'll be into day 11 of this liquid diet and if my surgery has to be postponed because now I have something going on with my heart, I'm not going to be too happy.  So that's where I'm at, hoping to hear something tomorrow which is Monday the week after this test.  Hope everything is OK with my heart and that something didn't happen to it when I was on Phen/Fen for a year and a half.

                ~ October 23, 2006 ~

It took a long week to get those results back. My EKG was good. Yes somewhere down the line I had a silent heart attack. My lower atrium is enlargered.  Apparently it is very common in obese people since the heart has to work harder to pump the blood through. I have learned that this will not shrink back to normal. I also have a small heart murmur.  SURGERY IS A GO!

                                ~ October 27, 2006 ~ 

Today is my surgery day!  Today is the first day of the rest of my life!  Today is the day I take the road less traveled!

               ~ November 05, 2006 ~

I am so bad!  I've been meaning to post about my surgery, but I've been so busy doing eBay stuff the whole week I was home and the drugs ahhhh yes those are positively interesting! I haven't been walking a lot, but I've been very busy hauling up boxes from the basement, taking pictures, listing stuff on eBay and packing stuff for shipping.  I have a hard time with doing nothing.  Anyway here I am now.  I posted new pictures today and I am so proud.  25lbs down and I can already see the new butterly emerging from her chrysalis.  I know this will slow up as I start eatting again but for now it's still a nice reward to sticking with the required 2 week pre-op/2 week post-op liquid diet. 

Well, for the good part, they were really impressed with my blood pressure the day of surgery.  Mine was 115/72. I've had surgery before, so I was prepared for some of the things that I might go through and possible pain etc.  For the scarey part.  I had two anesthisiologists they imformed me that I was a "special girl".  You see, I have a problem with anesthisia.  It's called Malignant Hyperthermia. It is a reaction to some types of anesthisia.  Your blood pressure drops drastically very suddenly and your temperature rises drastically very suddenly.  It can kill you, if they don't realize you have it.  This almost happened to me when I had to have emergency galbaladder surgery back in 1987.  But we know and we are prepared, only it decided to act up anyway during this surgery.  As a result of cooling me down, I got to recovery with a body temperature of 89.6 degrees and instead of a one hour stay in recovery I spent three hours there.  I remember coming to and I was just shaking as my body was freezing cold.  It took 8 hours to get my body temperature back up to normal.  Needless to say, I was advised before surgery by my team to get a medical alert bracelet pertaining to this condition as well as of course my band.  I spent the night at the hospital.  Did lot's of walking and went home feeling pretty good I did sleep almost all day Sat and Sun.

I thought I felt so good Mon. and Tue that I decided to go to work for 3 1/2 hours on Wed.!  That was a big mistake.  The 17 mile drive got the gas all jiggly inside of me and I had major gas pains for two days following.  Needless to say, I didn't try to go back to work.  I'm going to attempt a half a day tomorrow the 6th.

I also had my first wow moment today when I recieved and email from someone who said my journal inspired them! I just about wanted to cry.  Can you believe it?  Me?  Someone who is so new to this whole thing an inspiratin to someone else!

                      ~ November 9, 2006 ~ 

OK here's what I know and don't know.

What a waste yesterday was. I think I have the acid reflux under temporary control. I had an apt with the dietian. Next week I can start adding some pureed foods. That apt was at 2:15 at St. Mary's in Superior, WI followed by my apt with my surgeon which was for 3:30. Any how at 4 I was still waiting and watching all kinds of people going in a head of me to apppointments. So I went up to ask what time my apt was and she didn't say but called back to see what the hold up was. Apparently the loopy dietian forgot to pass the word on that she had seen me so the surgeon thought I didn't show despite the fact that they registered me for both appointments. So they told me I would be seen soon. They didn't get to me until I was just about to walk out the door. That was 5PM!!!!!! The only reason I hung in was because I wasn't feeling good.

On a good note, I lost a pound between appointments!!

With regard to the acid reflux, he thinks getting some soft food in my stomach might resolve that. Soft foods like yogurt, next week I can start more pureed stuff. I have another apt with him next week otherwise if it continues to be a problem I have to have an upper GI done to see if when I had the throwing up issue after they brought me to my room from recovery(which the surgeon didn't know about) it's possible that I tore the stiches in my stomach that hold the lap band in place. If I did, I will have to have surgery right away to fix it. With regard to my lower right abdominal pain, he says maybe I'm constipated, but I'm not. If it get worse (it's in my appendix region and hurts to stand and walk) I'll either call the family practice center(and apparenlty my primary care physian is out until Dec) or I'll go to the emergency room and it won't be at St. Mary's.

An added note, when I was in St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth, the day of surgery, they took me down about 5:54pm to take an x-ray. That went very quickly. Now mind you just before they took me down they gave me my pain meds. Now a friend came to see me just as they took me down. They waited 45 minutes to see me! Ya wanna know why????? I was left in a hallway for 30 minutes before the "transport" people could not get to me to take me back to my room because they were, "so busy". I was practically falling out of my chair, no one stopped to check on me and I had no idea where I was or what floor I was staying on to even try to wheel myself over to the elevator to get back to where I belonged! Now you know the rest of the story.
St. Mary's is going to be getting a nasty letter from me. These are the two reason I haven't gone back to that hospital in almost 20 years. Nothing changes there. It I had a choice of where I could have had my surgery, it would have been St. Lukes, but that wasn't an option.