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Before & After There are currently no before and after photos for this member. See these instructions if you wish to submit your own Before & After photos. Surgeon Testimonial Stephen Merola, M.D. My surgeon was not actually my first choice. I had gone through the process with another surgeon and his office in NYC, only to find out at the 12th hour that they were not in my network and no amount of begging, sobbing or offering of my firstborn male child would allow the surgeon or his office to let me pay on terms.rnSo I researched again and decided to try NY Hospital of Queens because I had grown up in the area and my family was close by.rnI called and had to go through the seminar again (I had gone through it with the first surgeon). Despite the fact that I really didn't want to go through it again, figuring I basically knew what I wanted and what I was up against, I was pleasantly surprised that I found out additional information the second time around.rnMy impression of Dr. Merola was very good. He was a good speaker and took the time to answer any questions thrown out by our small group. rnI promptly scheduled an appointment for my first one to one with Dr. Merola which took a few weeks and again, I liked the fact that he answered all questions, spoke respectfully and did not rush through things. He was very explicit each time, listing what appointments I still had to make (thankfully he accepted all the testing I had had done with the other surgeon's office so I didn't have to start from square one), what the pros and cons were etc.rnHis office staff is great. Carline was the person who handled the insurance approval for me and she was great, despite my annoying calls and questions.rnI think Dr. Merola and his staff are great and I would fully recommend them to anyone thinking of gastric bypass.rnI don't really have anything negative to say. I had complications about a month out from the surgery, but they were always addressed pretty promptly. Member Interests
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My Story I am now 46 years old and almost 3 months post op. I discovered this site a few weeks ago. I wish I'd known about it before my own journey because it helps reading and comparing my stuff to others' and knowing that I'm not alone. Having said that, I still want to post my own experience before I forget anything. I never actually considered surgery myself. I've been a dieter on and off all my life. In retrospect, I was not necessarily a fat kid. I developed early and I think that made my parents think of me as a big kid. When I look back, I wasn't huge, I was just growing, but I was labelled a fat kid and I took on the label and made myself so. So I've struggled all my adult life. I've taken weight off and looked and felt great and then gradually it would creep back on and then some. A few years ago, I went on an exercise regimen and did really well, lost weight, looked and felt great. I also developed a herniated disk which eventually began to hamper my exercising. I went through almost a year of gradually debilitating pain before I had a diskectomy (which immediately alleviated my pain). Unfortunately, I did not also have a diet regimen that went with the exercise and as I could not exercise any more, I started to gain weight back -- and then some. I went through a depression because I was so upset with myself and my failure. My sister was the one that actually decided to do the surgery. This was about 3 years ago and she got as far as the consultation and I think one or two of her appointments before she decided not to go through with it. At the time that she was doing this, I was very adamantly opposed to the surgery. I felt that I should be able to do this myself. Reality hit me though after a year or so and I realized that I was probably going to go through life yo-yoing and I decided to do some research on the subject. I googled it and found a surgeon in NYC. (At that time I didn't realize how prevalent the surgery was and how many surgeons I actually could have chosen from). I called and made the appointment and the person on the phone explained that I would have to make an appointment with the psychologist and the nutritionist too, so I made the appointments for the same day. I took the day off from work, but did not explain to my bosses what I was planning or thinking of yet. On a day in Oct. 2006, I went to the surgeon's office and I loved the decor! The chairs were all large size which meant I didn't have to worry about fitting into the chairs and they were quite comfortable. I chatted with one of the women in the waiting area while we waited to be called into the seminar. They kept us waiting almost 40 minutes before we were called in one by one, weighed and sent to the conference room. When we were all together - I think there were about 5 of us, the surgeon started the seminar which was basically a Powerpoint presentation. It was informative and last about an hour or so. After that, we met with the surgeon one on one. He told me I was a good candidate for the laparoscopic bypass, and recorded an excellent review of me and my history and his exam. (They had emailed me an 11 page history that I had to fill out before coming in.) They did the breathing exercise and I had to go eat lunch and come back for the psych and nutrition part in the afternoon. I went to a Borders store and had some fancy sandwich that I self consciously wolfed down and then walked back to the surgeon's office. I met with the psychologist who gave me a couple of tests to determine my areas of angst and she spoke to me about issues regarding my weight. She also encouraged me to go to counseling because I still have issues that got me to the weight that I am. I was anxious that she might turn me down for the surgery, but I got her letter a few days later and she wrote very encouragingly in my behalf. I also met with the nutritionist who went over what I was eating and how my eating would change after the surgery. So I was about halfway through at that point. The only other things I had to do for the surgery was to have a stress test from a cardiologist and get an endoscopy which they would schedule for me through Lenox Hill where the surgeons were affiliated. After my day at the surgeon's office, I made a trip to my primary doctor in Astoria. I had spoken with him a month or so before I went to the surgeon's office about the possibility of weight loss surgery. At that time, he was supportive of it, relating to me about a few of his patients who had had it done and were now reducing medications. So when I went to see him, I thought he would be happy to know that I had gone to the surgeon, but he was sort of so so about it. He did give me a referral for a local cardiologist tho, for the stress test. So I schedule the appointment for the stress test. It took forever, the doctor had a busy practice and I must have waited almost an hour before he saw me. Then he did an echo cardiogram and a stress test and he cleared me based on the tests. He was very good once I got to see him and very encouraging about the surgery and the surgeon. So that was one more test down. One thing about the surgery and all is that it always takes time to get things done. The surgeon's office called me and scheduled the endoscopy for Dec. 5 - my anniversary. My husband drove me in and I went to admitting and did the paperwork, got into the gown and had the test done. Then hubby drove me back to work. So now I was at the point where the office was going to schedule me for surgery. They asked me when I wanted it done. I decided that I didn't want it done until after Christmas. I wanted a nice holiday with my family. My father died on Dec. 26 and I didn't want any other bad things to be associated with the holidays for my kids. Not only that but I wanted to give my bosses' some notice so I told them around the 15th of January. So now I figured it was a go, and I went to my boss and told him about it. He was so supportive and told me that I didn't have to worry about anything. My job would always be there and they would do what they could until I came back. That made me feel great! A day or so later, I got a call from the surgeon's office that they could not schedule the surgery because they were not in my network. I felt like someone had driven a stake through my heart. I was devastated and cried on and off for a few days. I called and emailed the surgeon because their website said that they sometimes try to work out terms. I tried everything, I knew my insurance covered the hospital, so I offered to pay terms for the surgeon's fees, but they couldn't go for that. So I was back to the drawing board... So I was still trying to convince my surgeon to let me pay, but in the meantime, I started googling again. I went through several websites including those that assessed the different surgeons. I decided this time around to choose a surgeon and hospital close to my family. I chose Dr. Merola and NY Hospital of Queens because I had grown up in the area - in fact, I still think of the hospital as Booth Memorial. So the next morning, I called and spoke to the person in the office, Carline, and made an appointment to attend the seminar. I tried, unsuccessfully, to have the seminar waived because I had already done a seminar, but was told that every patient has to go through the seminar first. So fine, I went. I dragged my husband this time and I was actually glad I went. It made me feel less of a failure since stats clearly show that obese people rarely lose weight and keep it off. I did learn a few things the second time around. We stayed a few minutes after and spoke to Dr. Merola who was very pleasant and willing to answer any of our questions. My husband was funny because the doctor was explaining that the surgery could alleviate many diseases such as diabetes. DH has a friend who is diabetic and legally blind so my husband was asking about his friend having the surgery. The only problem with that is that his friend is not obese, so this wouldn't work for him! Unless of course he gained 100 lbs to have the surgery. I thought hubby was cute though looking out for his friend. So I made the appointment for the one to one with the surgeon and I think I had to wait a few weeks for that. When I got there, I weighed in at 321. The surgeon examined my stomach, pressing down quite hard I might add. He said he was going to try and repair my hernia at the same time. He also said that he would take all my prior test results which was great, but he wanted me to be checked out by a pulmonary doctor. So I made that appointment and of course, he was not available for a few weeks. The day of my pulmonology appointment was the day after a weekend of heavy snow. My older son had school and went off early in the morning while my younger son had off, so he helped clear off the car with hubby so hubby could rock the car back and forth out of the spot. We made it to the drs. office with time to spare. The doctor examined me and told me that the next time I came I would have a blood test from the artery and breathing exercises. Before I left, they also gave me the number of a place where I would need to have a sleep test done. So again, I made the appointment for the sleep test. Now being my anal self, I wanted to schedule my next appointment for the pulmonary doctor and then the surgeon, but I had to wait for the sleep test and then schedule for at least two weeks after that. The pulmonary doctor needed the sleep test results and then of course, the surgeon's office needed the pulmonary doctor's results so I had to make myself wait until after the sleep test. I think it was about Feb. when I went for the sleep test. Hubby picked me up from work and we drove over to the place which was located across from the courts in Kew Gardens. We sat outside and wolfed down some Wendy's food before going upstairs. I went upstairs and filled out some paperwork. I was assigned a room which was sort of like a motel room. Nice bed that I knew was not going to be as comfortable as my own at home. Flat screen tv that was much better than my own at home and two fans, a ceiling fan and an oscillating fan, both of which were needed since it was a bit hot in the room. The tech told me that he would be back about 9 to start hooking me up. I changed into shorts and a tee to be comfortable and started watching tv until I got hooked up. He came back in and started putting the wires on me. He told me that I could go to the bathroom and he would be back about 10:30 or so and then he would finish the hookup. When I went to the bathroom, I looked in the mirror and I reminded myself of the Frankenstein creature (before he pulls off all the wires and escapes, of course!). The tech came in and finished attaching all the wires and then he went off and I heard the disembodied voice with the commands, then I was allowed to go to sleep. I didn't sleep well, it was hot, the bed was not my own and I didn't think they were going to get a very good reading on me, but then I figured they have to make allowances for that too, so I guess it all worked out in the end. The next morning, we had to be out before 6, so me like a dummy walked out of the building lobby to find that the door locked behind me so I was on Queens Blvd on a desolate street for at least 15 minutes before hubby came to get me. Then I dashed home to shower and get to work. The funny thing was that my boss was super interested in hearing about the test. He said he's been wondering how they do the testing for the longest time, so he asked a bunch of questions about it. So then I made my appointment for the pulmonary doctor for about two weeks later and then my surgeon for later in the week. I figured at the very worst, I would cancel one of the appointments if needed, but I knew that the appointments were always weeks away. This is my hindsight lesson - schedule appointments as soon as possible. My other one was that every time I was given a doctor or test, I called my insurance directly to make sure that they were in my network. I got burned once, I wasn't going to let it happen twice. So two week later, which was sometime in March, I went back to the pulmonologist where they drew blood from my artery. The awful thing was that the person who did it could not get blood the first time so had to try a second time and it hurt!!!! I'm a good patient, I don't go nuts, but it really hurt. Then I had to sit in the booth thing and do the breathing test. It took a few times for me to get how to breathe into the mouthpiece properly, but I got it and I did fine on the breathing tests. While I was there, I asked if they had gotten the results of the sleep test, but apparently they had not, but the doctor said that was fine, they would send the results to Dr. Merola when they came in. So now, as far as I was concerned, I was finished with the required tests and had my appointment to go back to the surgeon and hopefully schedule my surgery. When I went to the surgeon, he went back over the risks of the surgery, and what I could expect after the surgery. He also mentioned that I might need to have a plastic surgeon remove excess skin from my stomach since that is my area with the most fat, but that was something that could be assessed at 18 to 24 months out from the surgery when the max of my weight should be gone. He also told me that I could not gain any more weight since I had gained 5 lbs since my first appointment with him. I was at 326 at that point. He left and had Carline, his coordinator, come in. She gave me a form to give to my PCP that he had to fill out and send to them for the insurance approval. She also put me down on the schedule for April 25th and told me that the hospital would call me for the pre-op testing. So now I was semi-excited because I had a date, but I still had a bunch of things to do and I was anxious that my insurance might deny the surgery and I knew that it would be devastating for me. So I went home and made an appointment immediately for my PCP so I could go over the letter for the insurance with him. It was probably one of the most frustrating days for me. Even tho all along, I had put his name down as my primary doctor on all the testing and had tried to fax over to his office whatever results I had copies of, when I presented the letter to him, his first reaction was that he couldn't do it for me. I was upset and began to tear up. He asked me why I was upset and I told him that he'd been my primary for at least 5 years and knew the struggles I'd gone through. He told me that he had never received any paperwork on any of the tests that I'd had done and never received any letter from the surgeon's office. So he told me that I had to call the surgeon's office and tell them to fax over to him any test results to him and he also wanted to do a blood test on me so he had up to date stats on me before he would do any letter. I did understand his reluctance after he explained to me why and what he needed from them and from me. It was just frustrating for me because I was trying to keep him in the loop and apparently it had not worked. So I called the surgeon's office and they had sent him a letter after my first one to one with the surgeon in Jan, but they refaxed the letter to the office and all the test results. I kept in contact with my PCP's coordinator, Jennifer, and she was so helpful. She knew how important this was to me and she showed me the letter that they had put together and then pumped it up a bit for me. I think it was about the 17th of April when I went for the pre-op testing and that was a good 4 to 5 hours. I had the blood work done, the chest xray, a physical, and they thought I had a lump in my calf so they did a sonogram on my legs, which turned out to be fine. In retrospect, I think the lump was a muscle since I live in a 3rd floor walk up, but I didn't realize that at the time! They were afraid it was a blood clot. So now I had my pre-op testing, and I was paranoid because my PCP had told me that he needed some time to go over that because he had to clear me physically based on that testing. Luckily, the results began to get faxed over the next day and I was in contact with Jennifer, the PCP's coordinator, and Carline, the surgeon's coordinator. The best day was the Wed of that week, the 19th. I had gotten a called from Jennifer who told me that they had finally faxed over the letter. Then I had called Carline and she told me that she'd received it. Maybe a half hour or so after that, Carline called me and told me that the insurance had approved the surgery!!!!!! I could finally relax. I didn't realize how stressed I was until I got the approval. I called Jennifer back and she was so happy for me. Then I called hubby, and my family members, one by one. Then I told my boss and everyone congratulated me. I actually only told a handful of people that I was doing this. My immediate family, my boss and that was about it. But once the insurance approval came through, I told a few people in my office. I told one of the lady's and then I felt that I should tell the other one since I'd known her longer. She said, oh, that's the one that you can die from? Uh yeah??? For the most part, everyone was supportive and encouraging to me. So I enjoyed the weekend with my kids and hubby, having my "last" meal of Indian food. I worked on Monday and got hugs and kisses from both my bosses and great words of encouragement. I went home and relaxed. I'm not someone who dwells too much on what's going to happen, what happens will happen, so I don't get all nervous ahead of time. Comes with age. The next morning I had to be at the hospital by 6 or so, because my surgery was scheduled for 7:30. So we got there and I told hubby to park in the big expensive parking lot, courtesy of my boss, who gave me a parking card for the occasion. We went to the presurgery room and waited with the other folks going under the knife that morning. I got called to go put a too small gown on, with a hair cap and the funky hospital socks and then had to go get interviewed and sign some forms. Then I said goodbye to hubby and gave him my glasses. I had nothing of my personal effects with me, hubby had everything. I walked with a nurse down to an area with a bunch of gurneys. I was instructed to lay down on one. A few minutes later, the anesthesiologist came and introduced himself to me. He also looked at my arms for the veins, which unfortunately are horrible. I am not blessed with big popping veins, they always have to go searching blindly for them. He kind of made some stupid remark about me not wanting to have the surgery because I didn't bring my veins with me. That immediately annoyed me, but I figured, hopefully if he does his job right, I'll be under most of the time and won't have to listen to him. After a little while, I was wheeled into the OR and had to scoot my butt, trying to maintain decorum, on the cold, skinny operating table. My friend, the anesthesiologist, was there and made another comment about my reluctant veins and then I guess he found them because I don't remember anything after that...... Until I woke up in recovery hours later. I am not sure to this day how long my surgery took. My family said about 5 hours. My hubby and mother were waiting for me and they said they did not get to see me until about 2 in the afternoon. So my surgery was about 8, after my reluctant veins came through, and if it was 5 hours, I was done about 1. My surgeon did repair an umbilical hernia before he did the bypass, so maybe it did take that long. Anyway, I remember waking up in the recovery room and my hubby and mother were there. I remember it being a busy area. My brother (who works for an affiliated hospital), sister in law and my two nephews popped in later in the day to see me. My sons also came after school. I kept thinking they would take me to a room, but my surgeon popped in and told me that my mild sleep apnea was buying me more time in the recovery room. I do remember them telling me to breathe occasionally when the machine would beep. I didn't realize that I was not breathing! As it seems are the weird ways of the hospital, they moved me to a surgical step down room about 2:00 in the morning. Before that, tho, I was brought down to xray for my leak test. I was so annoyed with the staff in the xray when I was down there. Now I have to say, most of the staff at the hospital were great, but when I was taken down for the leak test, I had just had surgery hours before. I didn't expect anyone to carry me from the gurney to the xray table, but they could give me a hand to steady myself. I asked the guy for help and he said, "I'm not going to carry you." I thought how stupid and insensitive is this moron? Anyway, I took the drink and they did the xray, but they could not make any determination at that point. Because they did not have any results, they would not let me drink anything until my surgeon came in and gave me the ok. I think that was late on Wed so I got my first drink of water that night. Again, in the weird ways of the hospital, they moved me to a regular room about midnight. The next morning, I got my first meal of clear liquids - horrible jello, chicken broth and what tasted like nirvana to me, apple juice. I was in pain on and off. They had a person come in and explain that I had to use the morphine drip to head off pain and then after a few days, they took the drip out and I was given oral pain meds. I got up and walked around a bit. My surgeon was great about not rushing me out until I felt up to going. I was released on a Sat. He asked me if I felt ready and I told him that I could be as uncomfortable at home as I could at the hospital. He released me. My first night at home, I took the Percoset for the pain and so I could sleep and I had the scariest dreams. They were about this bible school my kids used to go to and that I used to volunteer at. But there were ghosts there and the time went back and forth and it was just scary and spooky to me, so I didn't want to take the pain meds after that. It took a week or so for the pain to ease up so that I wouldn't wake myself up when I went to sleep. I went back for my one week with the surgeon and I think I had lost about 10 pounds. At that point, he put me on soft mushy foods. I was thrilled to be having something other than broth and iced tea, something to actually chew. I only took 9 days off work, so when I went home from the hospital, I had a week off where I basically didn't do a lot. I felt tired a lot. Hubby had quit his job. It was basically a pain anyway, but he told his bosses that he needed to take time off to be with me and they gave him a hard time so he left. My job basically covers all expenses anyway and we decided that when he was ready he would go and find another job or go into some side work on his own. My first month was ok. I went back to work, but it was mostly part time for awhile because the surgery really took more of a toll on me than I thought it would. I went back for my first month and I had lost about 20 lbs. At this point, my doctor was putting me on regular foods. The week before I went to the surgeon, I had trouble keeping food down, but on the day that I went to the surgeon's, it had stopped. So I stupidly assumed that I had had a bug or something. The evening of my surgeon's appt, my brother came in from Florida with my niece. We had offered to let them stay with us on the night they flew in, but they ended up staying at my mother's that night because they flew in so late. So they were staying with us on the Friday night. It was so exciting to see my brother. He is 13 months older than me and so he's sort of my touchstone from when we were growing up. I am probably closer to both my brothers than my sister. So I was excited to see him. Unfortunately, that weekend I started hurling again. It got to the point where I had a bowl with me all the time. I had dry heaves constantly and when I drank or ate, that would come up. I felt bad for my brother and my niece that they had to witness that from me. On Sunday, we were all supposed to go to my younger brother's house for a bbq, but I felt too sick to go, so my kids and hubby went. I just basically passed out on the sofa. The next day I didn't go to work. This was about the 5th of June. Hubby called the doctor's office and the coordinator told him that if I was throwing up all weekend that he should take me to the ER because there was a possibility that I could get dehydrated. So we went over there and I waited about an hour in the waiting room until they took me into the ER. I had to get a seat and a bowl while there until they found a bed for me. While I was there, they did the chest xray, EKG, and a catscan of my stomach to make sure that there was no obstruction. They told me that my surgeon was in surgery, but if there was an obstruction they would send me up asap for surgery. Thankfully there was no blockage. My mother and my brother, sister in law and the nephews all popped in that evening to see me in the ER. I was in the ER probably about 10 hours before they put me in a regular room. I stayed in from Monday to Thursday until I was weaned off the IVs and put back on liquids. My surgeon told me to stay only on liquids and we would build me back up to food. In the meantime, if I was having problems throwing up again, I would get the name of a GI dr who would do an endoscopy on me to see if I had a stricture. I went home and was fine for a week and a half or so. Meaning that I was still tired and not feeling great, but I wasn't throwing up. Then I started having dry heaves and hurling again. I called my surgeon who called in a script for Zofran and gave me the name of the GI doctor. I called his office and was told that they were not scheduling appts until July 12th because they were moving. I explained my situation and they scheduled me to come in on June 23rd. By this point, the hurling and heaving was so much a part of my every day life that we had bowls strategically placed around my house. When I left home, I had a bowl or a large cup and tons of paper towels. It was like when my kids were babies and we always had supplies for them. So hubby and I went to the GI doctor's office. I felt horrible and had my cup with me. He saw that I couldn't stop throwing up (you lose your dignity quickly that way!) and told me that he couldn't do the test on me if I was dehydrated. He said that I should probably go to the ER sometime over that weekend. Then when I couldn't stop hurling, he told me that I shouldn't be proud and that I should probably just go there now. I never imagined going back there after the first time, but he was pretty adamant about it. He wrote this note for me to give to the triage nurses and hubby and I traipsed over to the ER again. This time the waiting was nil. I was taken into the ER and seen by the same resident as two weeks earlier. They did the same tests on me. I asked them why they needed another chest xray since my first one wasn't even two weeks old, but they said it's protocol on someone of my age! Again, they found no blockages on the scan, but decided to admit me and put me on IVs again with anti-nausea meds. They decided to schedule an endoscopy for me on the Monday, June 26th. Now the worst part of this hospitalization was that my son's high school graduation was on June 26th. My hubby and I spoke to the GI doctor to see if he thought there was any way I could get out that day and see my son graduate. I didn't think I would have been able to sit through it because the only way I really felt ok was when I was laying down, but it felt horrible to miss my son's graduation. Hubby and I discussed it and we picked a family friend to go in my place and she was beyond thrilled to be asked to go. So when everyone was going off to the graduation, I was being wheeled to an endoscopy. When I woke from the test, I was told that I had had a stricture and that was causing the vomiting. The GI doctor, who was great, dilated me so that I could take food in ok. I felt the difference upon waking up and was able to take some pureed soup that night. My surgeon had me stay the night after the scope just to make sure that I could take in food. So I was released the next day and planned to come back to work, but my boss told me to take the time off since we were off July 3 and 4th anyway. He said to come back in on the 5th. So I just relaxed at home. After a few days of being home, I started getting nauseaous again. I had vomiting and stomach cramps and hubby wanted to take me to the ER again on the 7th of July, but I didn't want to go again. But the next morning I felt so sick that we went about 7 in the morning. There was no wait and plenty of beds. I told hubby not to call my family until we knew what was going on. Maybe because it was a Saturday, but the ER was nuts that day. I think I was examined by 8 doctors and they all had a different opinion. One of the doctors told me that I had had a gall bladder attack and they were sending me home with a script for Vicodin. I asked the nurse to take out my IV and then I started changing my clothes too fast and started bleeding all over my hospital gown. Then the doctor came back over and told us that she had read the wrong info and not to move yet that they were probably admitting me. Then the next doctor said they were sending me home. It went on like this for awhile. Finally the partner of the GI doctor who had scoped me came in and he told me that they were admitting me and he knew that they'd told 7 or 8 different things. I know they were concerned because my surgeon had repaired my hernia, but in the place where it had been, I had a mass of what I think they called calcified fat. My surgeon explained that fluids go into the space where the hernia was and then is reabsorbed by the body. So I haven't been concerned with my little pet rock, but everyone that examined me was ultra concerned. So they finally admitted me and put me on IVs and redid the scope on me. This time they found no stricture. My GI doctor and surgeon were both there when I was done and apparently told me a whole bunch of stuff that I promptly forgot when I was told to go back to sleep. They released me the next day and I went back to work on the Thursday. I had my appointment with the surgeon on the Friday and he reexplained everything that he told me when I was still under the influence of the endoscopy -- mainly that some people just have a problem with nausea and it takes time. He also gave me a vitamin spray because I haven't been taking the regular vitamins for awhile. I was put back on mushy foods. I think that brings me pretty much up to date now. Oh yeah, as of my last appt, I lost 66 pounds. We went to my brother's after the appointment. Since they are getting new furniture, they gave us their entertainment center and a bookcase which we picked up from them yesterday. We hung out with them for a few hours and had a great time. My sister in law told me that my head shrunk!! July 24, 2006 Now I am up to date with my story although I do want to relate a nasty weight related story, but I'll do that later. July 25, 2006 Here's my nasty weight related story -- I'm sure we all have them. I went to visit my brother in Florida in Nov of 2004. I hadn't been on vacation in years due to finances and health. I was heavy, of course, but I didn't think I was that bad, but then I can easily fool myself. Since so much of my weight is located in my stomach area, I wasn't sure if I would need an extender or not. I was hoping I wouldn't mostly because I didn't want to draw attention to myself by asking. Well, I get on the flight and of course, I need an extender. I asked the steward and they got one for me. The flight down was not bad. I had the aisle seat and there was a guy at the window seat, but the middle was empty. So it was nice and relaxing. I spent a week at my brother's and I had simply the best time in a long time. He has a pool and I swam almost every day. The weather was warm, but not hot like the height of the season. I met up with a girlfriend from high school that I hadn't seen in over 20 years. I stayed over her place for a night and we had such a great time getting to know each other again. I met her twins, a boy and a girl, who were 5 at the time. It was just the best time. My brother drove me to the airport for my return home and it was very emotional for me. I was so sad to leave. I was waiting for my flight and saw Pierce Brosnan go through the airport with a little entourage. Then I get on the plane. Now this time, I sit down next to a young teenage girl in the middle seat and her grandmother at the window. When I come in, I hear snickers from them and the row in front of them. So now I feel self conscious and try to tell myself that they are not snickering at me, but of course, they are. I had to ask the stewardess for an extender again and of course, even though I did it as quietly as possible, it's never quiet enough. The whole flight the family (the mother and brother were in the row ahead of us) were making remarks to each other. At one point, the girl bought a pack of snacks when the stewardesses rolled the food cart around. The grandmother says to her, "Don't eat so much of that or you will end up looking like her." I turned to her and said, "Lady, I'm fat, not deaf!" I couldn't believe the nerve of her. It was horrible for me because they ruined the flight for me. When we landed I got out of there as fast as possible, but I heard laughter when I left so I had a feeling they were making fun of the extender. I didn't let them spoil my vacation, but I was shocked at how blatantly horrible they were to me and the grandmother was old enough to know better. What kind of example was she teaching her granddaughter. The funny thing was that they have this musical quiz on the screen on the seat in front and I played it on and off for most of the flight. I am very good with trivia and quizzes and my seat and name were on the board alot for winning the games. I noticed that the teenage girl was waiting for me to answer sometimes before she answered and she won several games too. I couldn't help thinking, you can make fun of me, but you can also use my brains when you want?? I know people make fun of fat people, but this was the first time it was ever done so blatantly and in my face. It really hurt. The saving grace to me was that I know I am better than they will ever know. I am a great person and they will never have the pleasure of knowing someone like me because they can't get past the exterior. July 26, 2006 I can't believe the summer is half gone. Next month is a busy month for us. My younger son turns 16 on the 15th and I turn 47 on the 27th. My older son leaves on the 20th. He got into an honors college and will dorm for free. I will be so sad to see him leave, but everyone tells me to stop being a wimp because he is dorming in Manhattan which means I can see him by taking a train into the city! But he still won't be living at home so it's going to be weird. We did our first dorm shopping last week at K-Mart. We still need a bunch of stuff and I'm sure he's still going to have to get stuff when he moves. His room is a decent size. They are all individual rooms. We are borrowing a refrigerator from my boss. He can't cook in the room, but each floor has a kitchen and he is all excited because he really enjoys cooking (doesn't take after me!). Then my younger son starts school after Labor Day. I can't believe he's going to be a junior in high school this year. Time flies! July 27, 2006 I went to the support group at NY Hosp Queens yesterday. Got there very early and was reading while waiting. I really enjoyed the group. It was not too big and it was a nice mix of long time WLS-ers, short term, those with dates and those still thinking about the surgery. I told my family when I was going through the process that since this was such a big commitment that I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot by letting myself gain the weight back after my 18 - 24 months of weight loss. So I think the support group is going to be very important for me. I still might go to counseling seperately since once a month might not be enough for me. I left about 8:45 because hubby was waiting for me, but I really wanted to stay until the end. I came home and my boys were playing that blasted X-Box until I went to bed. They are like zombies with that game! I made my appointments today with my PCP and my gyno. I was supposed to go back once a month to my PCP, but was sick with the nausea and all and didn't get back in June or July. I did make an appointment last week with my PCP, but he had no power (he's in Sunnyside and they were all out!). I also made my yearly appointment with the gyno to get the pipes checked out. I had a 10 day period after the surgery, and this month it was a week late and when it hit, it was like a tsunami. It didn't last 10 days, but the cramps were bad. I know weight loss can affect that so I am guessing that my body is trying to re-regulate. I've gotten my period since I was 10 years old -- I developed early. I will be 47 next month. If I had all the money that I've probably spent on my period, I would probably have alot of money! I want to go into menopause so I don't have to deal with this any more. I was told that if you start early, you finish early, and I've also heard that if you start early, you finish late. I guess it depends on each individual. But I'm so ready to jump on the perimenopausal band wagon! July 29, 2006 I had my 3 months visit with my surgeon. I am down by 74 pounds since my surgery. I didn't think it was going to be that much but it was 7 1/2 since my prior check up. Because of my issues, I still have to go back next month, but I am coming along. I also had to get my blookwork done, but won't know the results for about two weeks. I'm still not eating a whole heck of a lot. Literally 4 to 5 half teaspoonfulls of cottage cheese for lunch, but I told my doctor that if he was not concerned, I wouldn't be either. He isn't -- so I'm not. This afternoon for lunch, I had one sausage link and two kalamata olives and I was full! So I don't think I am any where near what is "normal" for someone out 3 months, but again, I'm not concerned. I was going to go to my cousin's wedding today. I missed her shower because it was during one of my hospital "vacations", so I was all set to go, but then I started having stomach cramps and I decided not to. It's from being too tightly bound (being delicate here) and I have to get some prune juice or something to help unbind me. I think the Zofran is doing it to me. Tomorrow is my nephew's birthday party so I will definitely go to that. His birthday is actually today, but we are celebrating it tomorrow. My son is sleeping over my brother's house so it should be quiet here today. Aug. 1, 2006 I can't believe the summer is half over! I went to my brother's on Sunday for my nephew's birthday party. I had such a good time, but I always do with them! My brother and sister-in-law's place is mucho kid friendly. They have a huge inflatable water slide and a kiddie pool. It was a lot of fun. I had about a half a hot dog and one green olive and I was full! Worked yesterday and then after work, I joined the YMCA. I want to do the aerobics and spinning classes and eventually work my way to the water aerobics. I did my first spinning class today after work. It was hard! The bicycles are higher than the one I use at home and I feel like my knees are coming up too high. I lasted 25 minutes out of 50. The instructor told me that I lasted longer than she did at her first class! I am going to go again on Thurs evening. It was so hot today....well, when I ventured outside. Even now with our 12,000 btu baby working, it is 82 degrees in here. Hopefully we won't have any power outages over the next few days since it's supposed to stay very hot for awhile. August 7, 2006 What's new? I had an apartment-ful of teenagers on Saturday. My son's ex-gf (who he is still very close to) came over and my son and the ex cooked a meal for about 5 other friends and hubby, my younger son and myself. I had about 6 past bowties with sauce and it was absolutely delicious. They also made flan and mini-cheesecakes that I had to pass on. These were all the kids that I missed meeting at my son's graduation and dinner. This was because I was in the hospital being scoped and dilated, but I enjoyed meeting them this time. One of them is staying over this weekend with us. We will be hosting my 12 year old and 7 year old nephews, my son's friend and my son's gf asked if she could stay over, too. I said as long as her mom doesn't mind she's welcome. So, some will be on the sofa bed, some will be on the other sofa, and some will be on the floor since my sons sleep in the living room when it's hot because the A/C is so strong there. In other news, we had our office re-painted and re-carpeted. It looks nice. It's got egg shell walls and bluish carpeting. Considering that the old walls were white and the carpeting was industrial gray, we've gone flamboyant! I joined the Y last week. I did the treadmill today for 20 mins. I am going to try and go after work almost every day. I have an orientation on Friday morning. Come Sept when my younger son goes back to school, I am going to try and go before work. This way if I get 20 -30 minutes before and after work, that should do me well. It's also pretty close to my job so I'm going to walk it on Friday, from the Y to my job that is and see how easy it is. Went to my PCP on Sat. My BP was still a bit high so I still have to stay on meds. When I get my bloodwork back from the surgeon, I have to have them fax the results to him and then he will see if I can stop my Metfornin. Next week is my son's birthday, the 20th my older son leaves and then my birthday is on the 27th. Then of course, my younger son goes back to school in Sept. So it's going to be a busy month. August 17, 2006 My son is leaving in 3 days!!! I can't believe it. We will be moving him on Sunday into his dorm. It's going to be so weird without him home on a daily basis. He is working part time at my office so I will probably see him on and off some weeks. Tuesday was my younger son's birthday, he's 16 now. He chose to go to Applebee's and we invited my mother, my brother, sister-in-law and my two nephews. We had a great time. This was my first restaurant visit since my surgery. We ordered nachos as an appetizer and I had about 4 and I knew that this was already filling me up. I ordered a half salad, Santa Fe Chicken, most of which went home in a doggy bag and was breakfast, lunch and dinner for yesterday and today. I told my hubby and my sons that this was the first time in many years that I wasn't self conscious about my weight. I'm still overweight, but I felt more normal than I have in many years and I wasn't constantly feeling scrutinized. I didn't partake of the birthday cake or the desserts in the restaurant, I don't think I will dump because I have tried cookies and had no bad experience, but I don't want to get started down that road. I'd rather stay away from sweets as much as possible. My birthday is in 10 days so it will be interesting to see what my family does for me. August 31, 2006 Wow, this is Labor day weekend coming up! I can't believe the summer is almost over. My son left two weekends ago and callously now calls the dorm his "home". I know he is very happy being free from under our thumb, this is the kid who wanted to be emancipated at 12, but I still miss the bugger. My younger son actually got up, showered and went into his school for an orientation of sorts yesterday. I think it's the most he's done all summer. My birthday was on Sunday. I discovered that I do not dump. With all my nausea and vomitting complications, I would think I would, but I had a piece of birthday cake. Not a big piece, but enough that if I were going to have a reaction, I would have. So that makes me a bit sad, lol, because I would prefer that safety net, but I just now know that I have to stay away from sugary foods. My hubby, sons and I went to TGI Friday's. I ate more than I should. I still have the (as my father used to say) my eyes are bigger than my stomach syndrome. But it's not a comfortable feeling so I am trying to make sure that I don't get myself to that point and as it is, I think I am lucky if I do much more than an ounce of food. But the meal was really nice and it was nice to spend time with my rugrats. I am doing the gym at the Y pretty regularly. I really enjoy it, although I would enjoy it more if I had a better walkman. It does get a bit boring doing the treadmill without something to listen to. I did a few machines yesterday and today tho. I learned a few nutritional and exercise things at the support group last night that I find interesting and exciting in that I am doing the right thing for me. I feel really good when I build up a nice sweaty sweat! Other than that, not too much going on. Sept. 28, 2006 I went to the support group at NY Hosp Queens last night. I really enjoy the group. Even tho this meeting was about the lap band, pros and cons, it was still interesting. I am also going to check out the support group over in Whitestone in Oct. and see how that goes. I don't know how much more weight I've lost because I don't weigh myself at home. I don't go back to Dr. Merola until the end of October, so I will just go about my business until then. He has that huge digital scale so that's what I use as my guideline. But I feel it in my clothes, I've gone down a pants size already. I've been buying clothes on Ebay and by the time I get them, sometimes they are too big for me, but I've started trying to resell them back so I don't get too soaked moneywise. Work is majorly sucking right now because there is just too much drama to deal with. I'm not ancient, but I feel I am too old to deal with unnecessary BS, but I think that things are going to work out soon and we can have some peace again. Will update more later, got to cop some Zzzzzzzzs. |
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