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Surgeon Testimonial Jeremy Korman, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Korman studied with the doc that pioneered lap RNY. He is an amazing surgeon, I don't even have any bruises after surgery!! His beside manner is so warm and kind, he's almost flirting. Which is a good thing cuz he is such a hottie. I feel completely supported and cared for. He uses the same surgical nurses, and hospital nurses for every case. The team is so used to working together that they get great results pretty consistantly. Now that my surgery is done, all of the after care is included for a year, no additional charge. I can see they Physical Therapist, the nutritionist and have psychotherapy with the LCSW on his team anytime I want to, no additional charge, for a year. This is such an emotional, anxiety producing process that it was really important to me that I be treated me with patience and compassion. I got both from everybody on the team. I'm sorry if this is so happy happy, or if I sound fake, but it really was a postive experience, all the way around. Member Interests
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Wendy B's Blog
Stupid shit that never occurred to me...
Well I am a year out. Down roughly 100 pounds. My lowest was 180 and I am back up the mythical 10 pounds that everyone seems to re-gain that I was SURE I wasn't going to gain......but here I am. 190ish is okay. Still a size 16 and I am working on letting that be okay. Sure I could work out more, I could go back to REALLY low carb, like maybe 20 grams per day, and I would probably go back down to 180ish, but I would still be a size 16 and after all is said and done, I believe that it is a quality of life issue. Things may change (like perhaps my attitiude) but it hasn't done so yet. So, for 20 years, my husand has repeatedly told me that my weight doesn't matter, he doesn't care, he is just concerned about my health. I was CONVINCED he was lying....how could he be honestly attracted to a 300-pound woman? Know what? He was telling me the truth. Swear to God. He spent a month or 2 feeling kinda disoriented because my body had changed so much. Now he's used to it and says it's "good". But that's it. He is just as delighted with me as he was 100 pounds ago. It's comforting and sweet. I mean, I know that.... 1) He's not that good of a liar afterall, and 2) If I ever developed some horrible disability or disfigurement, (God forbid) he would really be okay with it. But it woulda been more fun to have him be really excited...like showing me off to his friends, or bringing me home bikinis or something. I guess you can't have it both ways. I am having trouble walking through doors. You know, the kind of doors in office buildings and stores that have those panic bars on them that you just sort of lean on and the door opens....at least I used to sort of lean on them without much thought and the door would open. Well now I sort of casually lean on the door and nothing happens. Stopped dead in my tracks, I stand there and take a beat waiting to figure out what's happening and trying to recover from the shock. Really gotta get my feet under me and PUSH the door open, but I expect them to open as easily as they used to and it still suprises me every time. I guess I have discovered the only real-world function of excess body fat. 100 Pounds of momentum behind you makes opening those big heavy glass numbers pretty easy. A couple of months ago, when the weight was really dropping dramatically EVERYTHING was suddenly too big. Bras, Jewelry, panties, clothes, the distance between me and the sterring wheel in my car was crazy. Just everything got too big, almost over night. So I was trying to get used to it, and trying to not do stupid stuff like sucking it in going through the turnstyles, you know adjusting. I wasn't paying a lot of attention I guess and still trying to adust to the new dimensions of the world and I took a full, upright stride into a parking lot tram at Disneyland. Mind you, I am a Disney dork that has been in the park every week for probably 10 years. I should be able to navigate a parking lot tram in my sleep. But I was trying to start expecting that everything would be too big now and I didn't duck my head appropriately. Slammed my head into the roof of the thing so hard I almost knocked myself out. You mean I didn't get shorter?? I can't really say if the job situation is any better. I mean, I am not recognizing any dramatic absence of discrimintation now. Who knows what job opportunities I was denied because of my weight? Who knows what new things I am being allowed to do now that I am normal? It is a very nice thing to meet someone face to face for the first time. For example, at a job interview after talking to them on the phone first. It is really nice not having that akward first few minutes while they adjust to how big I am. You know, that initial "Oh, wow.." moment? I am selling Cookie Lee Jewelry just as a boredom buster and a distraction from a job I hate (but that is another blog entry isn't it?). It is still Orange County California and the jewelry ladies are almost as perky and pretty as the sales girls at Macy's or the Mary Kay ladies.....perfect perfect. I fit in with them okay. At least I am normal size and not what a good friend calls "circus fat" anymore. Another example of the lack of akward moment thing. There have been a few times when I ran into aquaintances on the street, said hello and got ignored. I really got my feelings hurt once or twice until it dawned on me all at once that they DONT RECOGNIZE ME. Sheesh. Now I sort of use it to my advantage. When I run into people on the street, I only have to deal with the ones I want to. When I don't feel like making nice with, say the president of the PTA from my kids grammer school, well I just don't have to. Don't make extended direct eye contat and shazam!! I am invisible. That's worth the price of the surgery alone. No health problems at all. None. My blood pressure was like 90 over 70 the other day when I saw my regular primary doc.. I had to ask "Isn't that dead?" Nope. Totally normal. My surgeon hasn't had one abnormal blood test result since the anesthesia wore off. Not one. No low blood sugar, no anemia, no vomiting. None of it. Of course, I have followed all of the directions exactly. Oh, and I was anemic at my 1 year check cuz I ran myself out of iron and I can't remember to take the damn things. But it stays normal when I follow directions. I am still waiting on the major emotional upheavel that everyone promised me would happen. I swear people, even some post-op WLS people practically BEGGED me to get therapy to "deal with" everything that would "come up" when I "can't eat anymore". One of the deciding factors for me to have surgery was that I knew that I never would be able to figure out what serious emotional problems I was covering up with food. I knew that I hadn't been able to figure it out yet as hard as I was trying to, I figured I never would figure it out as long as I could keep eating. Guess what?? It's not a giant emotional deal. I eat when I am bored. I am totally into the whole reward thing, like you promise a little kid..."We'll get donuts if you are good" and I am very good most of the time : ) ! It isn't some festering emotional disturbance, though. I think the most suprising thing about the whole process has been that the surgery cured the "eating disorder" that erveryone assumed that I had, but I never thought I had. But I couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with me. I still need to move the bowl of chips away from me. I still WANT the cookie or the chocolate, but I can distract myself or put it out of sight and it's okay. The obsession was gone when the anesthesia wore off and hasn't returned. That sit-on may-hands-and-cry until I finally cave in to the internal DEMAND to eat that thing whatever it is....that is gone. I used to choose the "healthy" thing on the menu and then feel so deprived and pouty. Like if I didn't order the vanilla shake that I really wanted I would CRAVE and obsess over it for days and the only cure for it was to go get a shake, or 2, or one every day for a year. Now I don't want it most times, when I do want it I get one, and toss it out when I am done with it, which usually happens before I have finished a small one, and I am over it. Or I want it but I have eaten too much junk already today and I just skip it. Not a big deal. Oh, and the depression and anxiety never came back the way it was either. I swear, at some point in my life time, they will figure out what causes obesity. Either they will find the gene or the stomach chemical that leaves our 'hungry" switch stuck in the on position. And the way they treat the obese now, the way they tell us that we are emotionally disturbed or whatever, will sound like the stories of when the REAL mentally ill people were treated like they were posessed by demons. If I am such an emotional cripple and that is what made me obese, how did surgery cure it?? I mean it was cured when the anesthesia wore off, before I had lost a pound. There is something to this...genetics, hormones, something. Why do some people only get to be 100 pounds overweight and others 1000?? There at the end, I would eat anything and everything and my weight would stay pretty stable at 280-290. How come others weight 1000+? My surgeon will only say that "We are just beginning to understand how the stomach talks to the brain" but I guess there haven't been enough studies for him to assert an opinion officially. In any case, if you decide to have surgery or not, try not to be so hard on yourself. Okay, so I suck at keeping my profile up to date. I will get some pictures up and update again. I have a big trip to do some missionary work in Uganda at the end of June and I will post a blog entry and some pics of that for sure!! 1 Comment(s)
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