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Surgeon TestimonialCynthia Long M.D.I love Dr Long! So much so that I followed her to Baltimore and would probably want to continue aftercare with her no matter where she'd work! :)
My first impression was that she's very skilled & detailed. Her plan was easy to follow and she gave all new patients a binder that explained the process step by step She made things clear at surgery & right after, which assuaged some worries I had early on. I had no complications from my surgery. My positive opinion on Dr Long has not changed over time. However, I feel that she could have better staff at Sinai - they did not make for a smooth transition from her private practice to working at Sinai and I have had some problems in them relaying messages & communicating. Future patients should know that Dr Long is an employee of Sinai, which already had an established bariatric program. If a future patient does not feel comfortable with any aspect of Sinai's program, they need to weigh that carefully and discuss their concerns. For example, I decided to return to my original nutritionist instead of continuing aftercare with the nutritionist at Sinai; their plan did not coincide with what worked for my body, but it may work better for other people.
I've heard alot of stories of surgeons either having good competence but bad bedside manner - Dr Long has good skills on both, which is a hard find. One cannot base their success on a program or a surgeon, so it is important for potential patients to know the great majority of the work & success will be the patient's, but it is extremely important to have a supportive & understanding surgeon. I have nothing but good things to say about Dr Long! nfarris79's JourneyClick Here To View
Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.I had been overweight and obese for most of my childhood and all of my adult life. I had begun to consider weight loss surgery in my 20s but had neither the insurance coverage nor emotional resources to pursue the surgery at that time. I had been on diets since age 12, had struggled with binge eating, unhealthy eating concepts, and even a brief brush with bulimia until I failed my last diet (Weight Watchers) at age 30. I got married in a size 22 wedding dress, was profoundly unhappy with my body image, and had been a success in so many other areas of my life - except the one that was most visible and representative to others! |
get a grip on January 7, 2013 4:25 am
121.2 = not a happy camper. So I've gained 5 lbs from lowest weight. I know exactly how and am ashamed of it. Kinda like Al Roker said in an interview I recently saw - this surgery does not give you a skinny person's way of thinking and experiencing food, it just gives you the exterior image of the naturally thin person. It's really up to me to realize that the obese person is still there lurking and if I slip back into old habits or delude myself into thinking I can occasionally eat like a normal person, she'll come back. 5 lbs at a time, but she'll be back.
Even worse is the binging/disordered eating will come back if I'm not careful. I do NOT want to be bulimic again! Once in my life was way enough, when I was young and didn't know the damage it could cause my body and mind. Now I KNOW better, I know the tools to use to deal with emotions, so I just gotta use them!
I seek relief from stress, and it won't be found in the pantry or fridge. I seek answers to problems and they won't come to me thru food. I just gotta friggen buck up and deal with this stuff!!!! I'm starting to consider looking for a personal counselor, someone who specializes in eating issues and that I don't have any professional contact with.... hopefully that person exists in this area!
Ugh. Maintenance is hard. I just want to cry today.
NSVs, SVs, etc on September 25, 2012 5:45 pm
I had my 18 month follow up with my surgeon today and it was good to see her! She's training for a half-marathon in October too, so she was happy to hear about my training progress and hopefully will donate to our fundraising effort. Here's the victories from the office visit: I weighed, with clothes on and after breakfast, 122lbs! My body fat is down to 20% - originally was 54%! My waist circumference is 27 inches!!!! I just cannot belive that last one - I don't think I've been in the 20s in my adult life!
My surgeon was really impressed with the fitness progress and believes strongly that I'll be one of the long-term sucess stories if I can keep diet & exercise consistant - I hope I can do her proud for the years to come! Just gotta remember to contact the compounding pharmacy b/c my B6 is pretty high so they've gotta write up an order for all vits/min EXCEPT B6. I'll always be an odd one....
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Upping the ante on June 17, 2012 5:10 pm
As I'm recovering with water blisters on my feet from the CCFA Take Steps walk yesterday, I wait to hear back from the Team Challenge people with baited breath. Yeah, the blisters were from my own doing - didn't wear socks with my sneakers; dumb move, I know.
Yes, I've taken steps (ha ha, pun intended) to sign up for the informational seminar on August 9th to start the 16 week training course to learn to run the Team Challenge half-marathon in Las Vegas on December 2nd!
I'm nervous about many aspects of this, and I know some of these concerns will be answered at the info meeting, but my first thought is WILL I BE ABLE TO RUN???? I haven't been a runner EVER in my life. The last time I ran was in elementary school, under duress in PE. And I hated it. I was the fat kid who always took at least 10 min longer to run the track than everyone else, while my thighs rubbed together so much that I could have set those polyester shorts on fire. So, I have a track (again, pun intended) record of hating to run. But before surgery, I would see those skinny pretty girls in their fancy workout gear run around our lake, long hair bobbing in ponytails, and I would swear to myself "I'm gonna be a runner". A year later, and I max out after a few minutes of running. So what makes me think I can do this? I'm putting prayer, and a lot of faith in training, that will get me there.
I'm also worried about how we'll pay for this. I'm guessing it's thru fundraising - and I kinda suck at that - so we're gonna have to whore ourselves out big time, outside of our comfort zone. I kinda feel bad for pimping our relatives for money over & over again - being that I'm addicted to charity walks this year! But this will be a different level - a friggen half marathon! Wow, I'm both freaked out & friggen excited!
Another & more selfish motivation to joining Team Challenge is my feelings of being 1 year post op: this will be something to work for, something I have to be accountable for, and the next step to push my body into wellness. I so fear regain that I'll run 13.1 miles away from that fat monster lurking in the back of my mind.
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Reflecting on maintenance on June 11, 2012 2:52 am
I got myself back on track after pulling my big girl panties on and getting the carbs back under control - - with results! I'm back down to my lowest at 123.8 lbs! Whew - - was really worried I was on a steady climb back up and really felt like I was too soon for regain. Of course I know I'm not; evidenced by posts of "started regaining after 6 months" etc. I looked on MyFitnessPal to see my progress & the last time I was having significant weight loss was over the 3 month tracker. So it looks like for the past month I've been at a stable weight, in the 120s. I'm hoping to maintain there. I'm also hoping to meet with my NUT this summer because I just want to know that I'm not crazy to keep my carbs around 50g. To me it sounds crazy low for maintenece but that little foray into eating 60-90g each day was leading to regain & I'm just needing to hear from a professional that I gotta do what my body knows to do.
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Confession time on June 3, 2012 4:40 pm
Ah, the trials & tribulations of maintenance! So yesterday I had a major brush with my old food demons. I'd had a hard day and felt good that I realized I NEEDED to go for a walk/jog when I got home. Even if that meant skipping mass. God will forgive me, because I could not focus for an hour on anything after working all day long. So I took a walk and felt better. Then I started to eat. And I couldn't stop. Lunchmeat led to protein bars led to crackers led to cookies..... By the end of my semi-conscious food frenzy, I'd consumed 1700 cal in the day and over 90g carbs! I felt like crud, both physically & emotionally. And honestly, I had some thoughts of compensatory behaviors. Anyone who's had ED will know what that means.
Nik's recent post about the "Cinderella Effect" is really appropriate to what I went thru this morning. I feared that I would be starting on the regain path after my "carbacide" so I stayed off the scale. I feared that I wouldn't fit into my new skinny clothes but I wore a size 2 to work yesterday and put on another pair of size 2 jeans this morning. No difference! They fit! Why should that surprise me? Thinking one slip up would send me back into Lane Bryant? Yep, I was being delusional.
Today was getting back on the wagon. I got exercise, ate 1300 cal and 42g carbs, made much better food choices (including some of that Arctic Zero ice cream that some posts referred to - I actually liked it!), and above all, FORGAVE myself. The work of this past year will not be undone in one day. I have the power to recognize a trend of slipping towards unhealthy behaviors. I can put a halt to regain if I remain diligent about what I'm eating, what I'm doing, and how I'm taking care of myself. I may need to come to grips with the fact that I can't go "off-diet" because this isn't like any other diet before - this is a lifestyle change. I may need to come to grips with making low-carb a permanent part of my life, not just something that was a fad for the past year. For those who say "oh, how I wish I dumped!" as if that makes you immune to sugars & carbs, please believe that it really doesn't change your head. Only your mind can change your head! So a confession and a recommitment to get back on track...... wow, this is SO not the easy way out!
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