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Surgeon Testimonial

Ravindra Mailapur
I first met Dr. Mailapur at his seminar when I was thinking about have WLS. I was very impressed with his knowledge, honesty and manner. He ensures the surgical candidate is well versed in the potential risks of WLS. He has distinctive ideas about the philosophy behind WLS and what aftercare should consist of. He makes it clear that he is providing a tool and the hard part is up to the patient. He expects his patients to listen to what he instructs them to do, but at the same time he is kind and compassionate. He provides extensive information and has an in-house nutritionist. Both his surgical competence and bedside manner are excellent. He is extremely particular in how the patient is handled while still in the hospital and you certainly can tell it by how you are treated on the Bariatric floor at HH!
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Latest Surgery Support Comments

  • Comment by Dakota Mom on 6/26/07 11:42 am
    Happy 1- year Anniversary Kay! You have done an amazing job! Congrats on your success! Keep up the good work! Hugs~ Gail
  • Comment by Bama Sunshine on 6/26/06 10:00 pm
    Hey Kay, Just wanted to stop by and let you know that you're in my thoughts and prayers. By now you're on the "Losing Side" and I hope that all is going well for you. May you feel God's peace and love surround you now and throughout all your wls journey. Looking forward to getting to know you more. Take care & God Bless You~~~Lisa
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Hi all!  I'm a 49 year old mother of one and wife to a fabulous man who has always loved me no matter what size I am!  I go by my middle name and a slight variation of my last name 'cause I don't like gettin' googled!! NOTE:  I cannot post from work although I can read the boards from work.  So I'm mostly on in the evenings and weekends.  If you see me posting during the work day it means I'm off work (YAY)!
My Blog
Just my everyday ramblings


Two Years and 2 months postop!!
on August 16, 2008 4:10 pm
Well!  I completely forgot to update on the occasion of my 2 year surgery anniversary!  Oh well, better late than never.  I think I was just so focused on helping my daughter get her approval for RNY, which she did, and had her surgery on August 4th.  It sure is a lot more scary when it's your kid and not you!  But thank goodness she came through it fine and is doing great!

I am at 147 at present.  I tend to play with the same 5 lbs. bouncing between 147 and 152.  I sure can eat a lot more now so I really have to watch it.  And grazing could really become a problem too if I let it.  All my labs were good except my protein was on the low normal side.  My surgeon fussed a little and said he would like to see it several points higher.  So I'm working on that now.  Unfortunately I have become a peanut butter and crackers addict.  I can't seem to get through the day without one package.  LOL!
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Routine Labs with PCP
on August 13, 2007 6:11 pm
I had labs drawn last week to check my thyroid and cholesterol.  The nurse called this morning and said my thyroid is a little high (they're not too concerned but want to recheck in October).  I currently take 10mcg of synthroid and have for about 15 years.  My cholesterol was 168!! Awesome! My triglycerides and bad cholesterol were very low which is so great!  I don't remember the exact numbers on them, but they weren't anywhere near the high range.  WLS did this for me!  Weight-wise, I'm still hovering around 158 and in an 8-10.
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My ACTUAL Birthday
on August 13, 2007 6:01 pm
Well, August 10th I turned 50!  It fell on Friday and we celebrated for 2 days.  It was wonderful.  I am so blessed.  On Friday, I awoke to a big surprise in my front yard.  SOMEONE had ordered 50 pink flamingos and very large bright yellow letters with my name and the number 50 stretched across my front yard!  There were balloons on my mailbox and a palm tree with a cute remark on it.  I was so sure my older brother did it.  More on that later.  Anyway, my daughter Tara took me to our favorite day spa where we usually just get our hair done and we had manicures, pedicures, facials and just for me, a massage!  She paid for ALL of it.  We had such a nice time.  We got home just in time for me to get ready for my husband Bill to take me to Pauli's, a VERY nice restaurant we only go to on very special occasions.  It was yummy.  We had a fruit and cheese plate as an appetizer and then he had a filet mignon and I had halibut.  At the end of the meal the server brought out a creme brulee with a candle in it!  So cute. I ate one bite and Bill had the rest!  Then on Saturday we met family and friends at Outback for an early dinner and then everybody came over to our house for dessert and to swim.  My sister-in-law brought a beautiful fruit tray mostly for me since the cake and ice cream was out.  Now, back to the flamingos.  I found out after the get together that it was MY MOM who did it!  That little stinker!  It's kind of uncharacteristic, so it was really funny!
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My first re-birthday
on July 5, 2007 6:23 pm
I meant to post this on the actual anniversary date of my surgery (June 26th), but didn't have time. Then I realized I never got around to it! My husband and daughter were so sweet to me that day.  They sent me flowers, we went out to eat that night at Outback and Tara had made a sugar free almond cream pie for dessert.  She also gave me the cutest one-year old card with a fuzzy raccoon on the front.  I posted on the Alabama board that it was my re-birthday or surgiversary and everybody was so nice and supportive!  And Julie Campbell sent me a card!  What a nice surprise that was.  

I had hoped to meet 100 lbs. lost by my 1 year anniversary, but I didn't quite get there.  I'm about 3 lbs. short!   The weight loss has really slowed down now and the eating demons have been haunting me.  I still can't eat large amounts, but I seem to want to eat all day (grazing).  And you CAN gain your weight back this way.  I'm trying hard right now to get back to basics.  Cutting back on my carbs and the frequency of my eating.  All of my labs were good, with the exception of my protein levels.  They were just a little low, so Dr. M asked me to add a protein supplement.  So I have been adding a scoop of chocolate protein powder (premixed with a little bit of skim milk) to a cup of coffee in the morning.  Hopefully this will help.  It's very scary to see that when you get this far out the struggles really begin in earnest.  I see people posting all the time things like "100 lbs. lost forever!!"  Not so fast, sister!  Wait until you're a year out or better before you get so confident.  The more you can eat and the greater variety you can eat, the harder it is to stay on track.  Beware!  Do not become over-confident.  IT.IS.HARD.  But I will NOT go back to where I was.  I will take it day by day and do my best to keep the protein first mantra, the eat until satisfied mantra, the no grazing mantra, the get in all your water mantra, the get some exercise mantra.  And of course, the take all your vitamins mantra (this I have no problem with!).
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Almost a year now!
on June 18, 2007 8:04 pm
Well, June 26th is my one year "surgiversary".  I'm down 95 lbs.  I had hoped to be down at least 100, but I don't think it's going to happen by next Tuesday.  Oh well, I'm pretty happy where I am.  This past weekend I took my husband and his two grown kids to Talladega to do the Dale Jarrett Driving Experience.  It was so much fun!  Bill got to drive and the kids did a ride-along.  Then Bill surprised me and bought me a ride-along after we got there.  I would never have done that a year ago.  I would have been afraid they didn't have jumpsuit to fit me or that I couldn't climb in or fit in the stock car!  This surgery has helped bring me out of my shell so much.  I'm living life and that is a blessing!
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My Story

June 2, 2006 

I started looking into this WLS option earlier this year after seeing many others at work be so successful. I don't have a lot of co-moribidities, but I don't feel very energetic EVER and I'm tired of being tired. I've lost the same 40 lbs. over and over and then still have 60 more to go. I am very lucky to have a supportive husband who has run interference for me with my family and they have "fallen in line" and decided to be supportive as well. LOL!

My journey so far has been easy (getting approved, etc.). Right now I'm preop and on the diet. My surgery is scheduled for June 26th! I feel good about my choice of surgeon and hospital.

August 18

I haven't posted since I was preop, so I thought I'd add a few things. Surgery went smoothly and on schedule (June 26th). I was in the hospital 4 days with only a small hiccup ( a fever ). My surgeon ran all kinds of tests and found nothing. So as soon as I was fever free for 24 hours, he let me go home. My family was awesome and someone was with me at all times while I was in the hospital. My wonderful daughter stayed nights and didn't leave until someone came to relieve her. It was such a blessing to have her home this summer from college. Her availability allowed my DH to keep his work schedule which was super important because he's self employed.

I went home on Thursday before the 4th of July and began trying to do the liquid diet. As happens to most, my tastes really changed and I had a hard time finding things I could stomach, but I did okay. I also walked on my treadmill as much as I could (way too hot to walk outside). I had my followup appointment the following Wednesday (day after the 4th) and the Dr. let me start pureed. I was soooo excited. On Thursday I went back to work. So I was off a week and a half which I thought wasn't too bad.

After being on pureed for a couple of weeks, I started trying to chew foods and started running into trouble immediately. I didn't recognize the signs of a stricture until I had completely digressed to just being able to keep clear liquids down. I just thought I was doing something wrong. So at 1 month out I checked into the hospital (outpatient) and had the stricture stretched. For a couple of weeks I did better, but suffered from a reasonable amount of nausea. By the time I got over that, I was starting to foam every time I ate anything other than cottage cheese and yogurt (so tired of THAT!), so I went back to see my surgeon. He predicted I was developing another stricture and he was right. So yesterday (Aug 17) I had another endoscopy. It was scheduled for later in the day, so I was very low on fluids by then. After five tries and a good while under warming blankets, they got an IV in. They had to use a pediatric needle. I hate IVs!!! Then for some reason the Dr. doing the endoscope had to go in twice (I was too out of it to ask why and my sister who was taking me home didn't ask either!). My throat is bruised. But, Hey!! I can eat today. I actually ate five grilled shrimp and a couple of sauteed mushrooms tonight for dinner! I'm in heaven.

As of today, I'm -43 lbs.!!

Will update again later.

September 10

I haven't updated in a while. So here goes. I developed another stricture (the third time) and went in for what should have been a routine endoscope on September 1. The medicine to put me under did not work and I was awake the whole time. Something went wrong as the doctor was stretching the stricture and he perforated me at the bottom of my pouch. I was sent immediately to radiology where it was discovered that I had free air in my abdomen which is not good.

When I was brought back from radiology, the doctor who did the scope had paged my surgeon. They concurred that I would have to stay in the hospital. I was put on IV antibiotics and IV nutrition. It was so disappointing as the next day was my precious husband's birthday and we were supposed to go to the Auburn-Washington State game. We had 50 yard line tickets. We were also going to visit with my daughter who is a senior at Auburn. I stayed in the hospital from Friday until Tuesday when I was discharged with home health care. I have been on IV antibiotics and nutrition (TPN)since then (on a PICC line) and it's now Sept. 11.

September 11

Thank God, I got an excellent radiology report this morning. The radiologist said there was no leak (the microperforation has healed) and no air in my abdomen. So after I see my surgeon on the 12th I should be able to get this PICC out and start eating again. My weight has stalled since being on the TPN and in fact I think I have gained 2 lbs. I know that will turn around when I get back to normal.

Remembering the victims and families of the terrorist attack 5 years ago.

September 12

I got my PICC line removed by Dr. Mailapur today. I had NOT GAINED but lost 6 lbs!! I was sure with being down and having all that nutrition through IV that I had gained. So that was good news. It's so great to be off the IVs and he said I could go back on liquids and work back up to pureed and then to regular food.

Of course when I got home, I found out it wasn't going to be that easy. My stomach has been bypassed for almost 2 weeks and it doesn't want to work. I'll just take it slowly.

September 26

I had my three month postop checkup this morning. I have lost another 10 lbs.!! Woohoo! I'm feeling pretty good and doing better with my eating. I'm down to 14-16 sizes. I bought my first clothes in the REGULAR size department this weekend at Parisian! It was so exciting! I have also taken some things to be altered. I work full time and need clothes!! I'm hoping the alterations will get me through for a while with the few things I've bought.

October 15

I'm at 200!!  Almost in onederland!  Feeling pretty good although I've gotten sick two times this weekend, both times on chicken.  Kind of surprised because I've actually been doing better with chicken lately.  My doctor told me not to give up on chicken because it's such a good source of lean protein, but geez, it's hard to keep trying stuff that might make you sick.  I guess I need to stick to fixing it at home because that seems to be when I do best with it.  I'm also more relaxed when I eat at home, so that may be part of it.

Trying to figure out this new format here at OH.  I like it, but I sure am glad I hadn't gotten my profile "spruced" by anybody yet!  I may be able to do some of it myself with this new format and tools.

 


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