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Surgeon TestimonialJeffrey Friedman M.D. I originally started my journey towards weight loss surgery with a different local surgeon. I didn't get to meet the surgeon, but for my insurance I met monthly with the nutritionist / dietician. The first visit with him had me leaving embarassed and angry... with only a few paper handouts to show for the visit. His assumptions and comments were what I expected from the general public, not a weight loss professional. I decided it was a "standard 1st visit speech" so I went back again the 2nd month. I received another fistful of handouts and instructions to cut out "all those deep fried foods" - even though he never reviewed the carefully documented food log I had in hand (which did not list any fried foods). Again, the 5-10 minutes he spent with me left me feeling humiliated and unsure.
I decided I would rather go through life struggling with my weight on my own than to deal with the frustration and embarassment.
And then a friend suggested I visit Dr. Friedman. WOW. What a difference.
The instant I walked in the office door I was greeted with a pleasant waiting room and an even more pleasant lady at the desk, Betty. Dr. Friedman came to the waiting room to get me and I had a consultation with him before even meeting the nutritionist. He was very friendly and down to earth. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go through with surgery, so Dr. Friedman reviewed all of the potential complications, risks and benefits. He sketched out the surgery on a piece of paper and wrote down the various medications and vitamins he would be requiring of me. When I left HIS office, I felt confident in my new decision to have RNY Gastric Bypass, and confident in my decision to have Dr. Friedman as my surgeon.
Throughout the remaining months of my insurance required visits, every visit was pleasant and reassuring. There was no rushing through and no "handout only" consultations. Every time I met with the nutritionist she explained her expectations, why she had them and how I could meet them. The nurse was WONDERFUL about making sure my anxiety and claustrophobia was addressed and made known to the entire team who would be involved in my surgery.
The morning of my surgery I expected to be frantic... but I was very calm and confident that I was placing my life in the hands of a great surgeon who had genuine concern for me as an individual, a friendly and thorough OR team who would see to my needs (especially the anxiety and claustrophobia, if the need arose) and I had advocates in both my surgeon and his nurse.
I woke up from surgery with mild pain, but mostly wanted something to moisten my mouth. I had very little pain throughout my stay (Tuesday morning - Thursday afternoon) and it was always addressed with reasonable quickness by the nurses on the floor. The nurses and techs were caring and attentive. Even the housekeeping staff seemed like my own personal cheer squad as I took my walks in the middle of the night.
Dr. Friedman visited me each day and checked on how I was feeling. He never made me feel like my questions were dumb or insignifcant.
I am only a week post-op and I feel great! I had my first post op visit and everyone in the office was happy and proud for me. It was like celebrating with friends instead of the usual feeling you get in a doctor's office. There is a 5yr aftercare program, so I feel good knowing I have resources available to me for the "long haul."
I adore Dr. Friedman and his staff.... and I feel like they are sincerely interested in playing a part in my success so that I can really LIVE life Member Interests
- Animal Rescue - I foster horses that are seized by the county
- Cats - 4 of them inside - Diva , Leroy, Boots and Lil
- Dogs - I have a 110lb yellow Lab named Rio. He means more than this line lets me write.
- Horses - 2 horses - 29yr old Skye and 2yr old Buddy
- Gardening - LOVE my garden! Even at my highest weight I was out there in the Florida sun
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A Real Spring? on March 24, 2012 5:09 pm
We don't have "Spring" in Florida -- we have hot summer and slightly less hot "winter". But we are having a beautiful spring!! Today it was around 81*, low humidity and bright blue skies. I love this! (thinking about it.... 81* was always hot to me pre-op with my extra 145lbs of insulation).
This morning I got up and helped my mom before grabbing breakfast (cottage cheese and SF jello with fruit) and heading to the next town over to watch my youngest nephew's baseball game. It ws pretty ugly but they won!
After the game I finally went to buy animal feed, but still haven't bought a cot or groceries. I am going Monday before work. I have to!!
The game had started an hour late so I was rushed when I got home. I helped my mom again, had lunch (jambalalya- too much!! but no rice, so that's good, right? :) ) and then headed back over to the same town over for Rio (dog) training class. It was too warm for outside training in a parking lot, but that is exactly what we did. Dogs were worn out when we went back inside, so the trainer went next door and bought them some dog ice cream lol.
At my parent's house I unloaded feed to the barn, played "Words with Friends" with my mom and fixed dinner - egg fried in PAM, deli ham, 1/4c shredded cheddar, P28 bread. And 2Tbs of homemade chicken salad. (and I still feel like I am hungry!)
Now... I will go lay on the couch and read "The Hunger Games" that my nephew let me borrow. In a little bit I will go feed the horses, help my mom and hopefully get to go home and go to bed. Monday and Tuesday will be crazy for me - shopping Monday, then work 1-930p, Tuesday training at work 830-1230, stitches out at 245, then work 4-1a. BUT Wednesday I will be up early loading for my camping trip!! How awesome is THAT?
Ummmm..... on March 15, 2012 9:49 pm
Ok I KNOW I posted last night because I wrote about my frustration with the doctor's offices....what's up with my blog?
Anyway - I was supposed to go Wednesday to have a cyst removed from my neck at 1130. The office called at 1015 to reschedule for Monday. Then I was supposed to go today to get the dizziness checked and THAT office called and rescheduled for Tuesday. Awesome - so I just deal with stumbling, nauseating dizziness for nearly a week.
This morning I worked out with the personal trainer. Our regular trainer has been ordered by her bosses to "share" the group training class, so she didn't do our training at all this week, she'll be back next week. Anyway, the girl that did it was late so a different trainer warmed us up. She obviously didn't notice I am a fat chick!
Warm up - Jog about 100ft on gravel road to a very steep embankment, about 20ft high. Jog up and down the embankment. On the "up" do 30 seconds of jumping jacks. We did it 3 times adn then she changed her mind because of how wet the grass was. So we went to a flat spot near one of the main buildings (the gym is on my work campus and the whole back of the buildings are windows!) and she had us sprint a short distance to her, do high knees, sprint back, do butt kickers, sprint to her etc. Finally the other trainer showed up and we went inside.
We did 25 minute AMRAPs of 8 stations, 45sec each, 15sec transition. Butterfly crunches, plie squats with weighted bar, stability ball side squats with dumb bell, med ball slams, elevated lunges (back leg on step up box), tricep bench dips, plank pulls, box step up with bicep curl / overhead press with dumbells.
After the circuit we did 10 minutes on the treadmill. 20 seconds of speed, 10 sec on the rail. I set my speed on 5.0 and ran!! It was cool. That would total 5minutes of running!! Even though not consecutive... lol
I had planned to go back and do the beginner cycle class since my doctor appointment was cancelled, but it was less than 2hrs after this finished and I had to go buy horse feed, eat lunch and get clothes for work. Didn't happen. It will though - in April. Next Thursday my nephew has a baseball game and the next Thursday I will be camping with my horse!!!
I am averaging 1000 - 1200 calories a day. I guess that is ok? I get a ton of protein and all the calories are from good sources (except last night - chocolate flavored rice cakes and lite whipped cream are BAD! They kept jumping in my mouth!). I have an appointment in May with the dietitian, so I guess I 'll just hang in there until then. If I start doubting too much I'll shoot her an email.
In the morning I will be busy - 9am dog trainer, 10am measurements with the trainer, 11am counseling appointment. In the afternoon I HOPE to work on my garden and chicken / rabbit pens. If I get those things done, then Saturday maybe I can take my horse to the state forest and ride. HAPPY HAPPY
(hope this post actually sticks)
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Still Dizzy on March 12, 2012 7:23 pm
I have had some really severe dizzy spells over the last few days. Today I was ok, just kind of foggy headed, until this evening... and now I get dizzy quite easily.
I have a few theories - the 2 main ones are dehydration and exhaustion. I drink way more than 64oz on the days I work because I drink 2 of my 32oz jugs of water and don't even count the Powerade zero or water at home.
But on my off days I am not as active tracking my fluid intake, so while I think I get at least 64oz, maybe I don't ? So I am going to work more on getting that sorted.
I don't know what to do about the exhaustion. I don't really have anything I can take out of my schedule - I help my bedridden mom in the mornings, I have animals that depend on me in the morning / night for food water and shelter, I paid $$ for my sessions with the personal trainer and I have to work whatever schedule fits the coverage needed at work.
I did a WebMD symptom checker and of course there are only 9000 things that dizziness could indicate lol. Dehydration, anemia, vaso-vagal response, etc etc
Support group is tomorrow night, so maybe I will ask Dr. Friedman or his nurse about it.
Tomorrow morning is session 5 of 8 with the personal trainer. She runs a group session called "Sweat Shop" and has to have at least 5 people. It is super cheaper than individual sessions, and it is an hour instead of just 30minutes. One of the ladies won't be back next month due to a surgery, I don't know if the others will come back or not (some folks come in expecting something easy and it is NOT easy at all). I love it - except last Thursday I was feeling so weak and tired I had nothing to give and THAT ticks me off.
Also, I know she will ask about the 5k, and I will be so embarassed to admit I didn't run it, or even try....
Wednesday is supposed to be the day I have this cyst taken off my neck, then I have a 10 1/2 hour day at work with a 2 hour training. Thursday is more PT and a 10hr shift. Friday I will be 7mths Post op!!!
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Checking In on March 11, 2012 8:08 pm
This is why I have to post everyday, even when it isn't all that important or maybe not even WLS related - I forget to come back and post again!
Friday was a great day food wise. It was kind of a crazy day in general though! I had called the surgeon's office on Tuesday and left a voicemail that I was coming in on Friday to get a copy of my labs. When I got all the way downtown on Friday morning, the office manager said the labs had already been sent to medical records so I would ahve to go there to get them. It was a couple of streets down. Grr.
Fortunately I had to go downtown anyway to do packet pickup for the 5k that would be on Saturday. It is the largest prediction run 5k in the country. There were around 13,350 people running!
After packet pickup I went to the feedstore and bought some started plants for my garden. Paid for them and as I was wheeling them out of the store, the whole tray of plants tumped over in the floor, breaking off some of the tender little plants. Dang!!
Next stop another feedstore for horse feed - they were sold out. *sigh*
My dad picked up my B12 prescription for me so when I got home I went to take it - no syringes. I just used one of my mom's insulin syringes lol.
To top it all off, all day long on Friday I had horrible, room spinning, make me nauseous dizziness. It was awful. I still did some gardening though (had to get those traumatized plants taken care of!!).
I went to bed around 8pm - up at midnight and then restless all night long. Finally dozed off, alarm rang at 515. I got up and got ready for the 5k , headed downtown super early so I could get a parking place. I found a primo spot and sat there for about an hour, sick and dizzy. I finally gave up and went home. I was so disappointed in myself, but I just couldn't see me stumbling dizzy for 3 miles.
I napped a while after getting home, then went to my counseling appointment. I ran some more errands, sat with my mom for a bit, took the dog to training class, watched my nephew's baseball game. I slept much better last night!!
Today I have done fine on my eating as well. I had a Dark Chocolate Hershey miniature and REALLY wanted another one, but I knew if I wanted to eat it I had to email my counselor. Of course, Fat Me said he would never know.... but the REAL me would tell him, because I am brutally honest with him. So I was able to distract myself playing "Words with Friends" with my mom and then after my lunch break I was distracted by work.
Busy week ahead, really want to get some more gardening done and some other "farm" chores - like a new chicken pen, new rabbit hutch, work in the barn. I also want to go horseback riding!! sheesh. .
3/28 I will be loading up my dog, my horses, my camping gear and heading to a state forest for a huge charity fundraiser trailride / campout. I'll be there from Wed 3/28 - Sun 4/1. now THAT's what I'm talking about!!!
NSV! NSV!
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Calories on March 4, 2012 8:40 pm
I am one of "those" people who stresses over calories. Calories were what got me fat, right? Sigh
When I saw the dietitian back in mid-Feb I asked her for a calorie goal. She refused, sweetly. I told her I NEED a calorie goal so I know when to stop eating. It freaks me out not having boundaries. She still didn't want to name numbers - she said if she gave me a calorie goal and then time passed and I was hungry and started taking in more calories it would freak me out and I wouldn't eat. Finally she relented and said to stay around where I was.... 1100 calories. Lately I have been closer to 1200 and she was right - I don't want to eat at all!
I guess I will allow up to 1200, still try to get around 1100. I see her again in May so we can re-evaluate.
My labs came back and said my B6 was high - and in researching my drinks I found out that Powerade Zero has 15% of the Daily Value in a 2000 calorie diet - in one serving. I get half that many calories (ideally) and drink 3-4 servings. No wonder it was high!
My cholesterol was 102 - down from 117. Good cholesterol was a little low, but triglycerides and bad cholesterol were great. I will get a hard copy with more detail sometime this week.
I wish I knew why I am so tired. I think maybe if it isn't vitamins it is that I don't get enough sleep. No matter what time I go to bed I get up by 9... whether I go to bed at 2330 or 0330. Tuesdays and Thursdays I am up by 830 to go work out with the trainer at 930. If I had more energy I wouldn't want / need a nap in the afternoon and could maybe get inspired to walk or ride my bike.
Still don't know what to do about the aquatic center. If I sign up I will be paying about Seventy Dollars for one month of swimming. If I don't I will have bought a brand new swim suit and swimshorts and never even taken the tags off.
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