- Name: Dena W.
- Username: waskiewiczrn
- Location: Concord, NC, USA
- Member Since: 8/29/2006
- BMI: 52.6
- Post Op
- Surgery Type: RNY (03/12/07)
- Surgeon: Roc Bauman, M.D.
Goals
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Category: Health 120 People in progress, 14 People achieved this |
Category: Health 31 People in progress, 2 People achieved this |
Category: Health 19 People in progress, 1 Person achieved this |
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Surgeon TestimonialRoc Bauman, M.D.He's very nice, very up front about what this surgery involves, what your choices are for surgery, and that it is your decision. I met him first a couple of years ago and my impression has not changed about him. His office staff is very nice, very well educated about this whole process and your requirements. His waiting room is very comfortable, and seats are large to accommodate obese patients -- a nice touch! A lot of emphasis is placed on the importance of lifelong lifestyle choices that have to be made for this WLS to be successful. There is a lot of postop care required by him, and that is stressed at your first presurgical consult. Risks of surgery are plainly stated over and over again, each time death being one of the risks stated. I would rate him a 10 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best. I think he is both competent surgically and has a good bedside manner with patients. Now ... don't ask me as a nurse how I feel, because my opinion of surgeons in general is not real high on that side of things (just a hazard of the job...lol). Since I have worked for the hospital he practices at and know several nurses on that unit, I know he can be a bit uptight. But since he has a zero mortality rate, I don't mind him being uptight with nursing staff and keeping his patients safe. Member Interests
- Crafts - Creative Memories scrapbooking!
- Birds - I have a feisty Parrotlet named Zacheus.
- Cats - I have way too many cats -- want one or more?
- Dogs - I have a mutt named Lexi and a blue tick hound named Luke.
- RN - I'm a post surgical RN at CMC-Northeast in Concord, NC.
- BMI over 50 - My pre-op BMI was 54
- WLS in your 30's - I began this journey at 39 years old.
Latest Surgery Support Comments
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Glad to hear your
doing well. You
should be discharged
today, but Ill stick
my head in when Im
over there meeting
with the
anesthesioligst just
in case. As always
I have tons of
questions for you.
Big hugs.
Melissa
-
Hey all.........Dena
Looks GREAT! She was
feeling a little
sore but, so far
nothing real bad. I
visited for about 30
min and she was
alert and was very
nice to
visit.....Man I was
a bear... I am so
proud of her!
Her angel Melissa
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Hi Dena,
So glad to hear you
survived your bowel
prep ;0P and had
your life changing
surgery this
morning. Before you
know it you'll be
posting your
experiences and your
wow moments. God
bless and have a
speedy recovery.
helen
Click here for the surgery support page
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Going to a Theme Park! on August 5, 2008 3:31 am
I'm going to Carowind's with my family and my sister's family today! I can't wait to see the difference in how I fit into a roller coaster seat/harness/etc.. This is the first time I've been to a theme park since before weight loss surgery, so I'm also curious at how I'll tolerate walking around the park, the heat, etc. I'm taking the camera and plan to take a lot of pictures, so be on the lookout for those coming up soon!
I weighed in at 138 pounds this morning, so off went another pound. I still consider myself to be maintaining, though. I did try on a size 12 last night and that fit just fine. The 14's are too loose and the 12's are just right, I guess. If I had lower body lift, I'm certain I'd drop a few more sizes. But that's a future thing, not something I have to do now or ever. I'm finally comfortable in my own skin for once in my life, even if it's sagging!
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Happy Birthday to Me! on July 29, 2008 8:07 pm
I turned 41 years old today. Very happy birthday! I am still weighing in at 139 pounds, so total lost is 158 pounds. I guess I'd call that maintaining! I did a You Tube video update today. It's short -- pop over to You Tube and watch that. Here's the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GtlYBriqRv4 | Click here to leave a comment.
And Beyond Goal, STILL! on July 9, 2008 7:39 pm
Well, yesterday and this morning I weighed 139 -- that makes me 6 lb below goal now. I'm still wearing a medium. The size 14's are getting too big, but I need some of them to be a size 14 just to cover the extra skin left behind. I did some research today with my insurance company (Cigna), and it looks like they still don't cover plastic surgery for weight loss surgery patients. We are supposed to be switching to Medcost, and I have heard (through rumors) that they DO pay for plastic surgery for WLS patients. That won't happen until our next open enrollment period, but I have that to hope for. By then, I will have been maintaining my weight for a while, too, which is probably a requirement. I can't find any Medcost info yet to support the rumor I heard, though. I guess that info will be forthcoming at open enrollment. Anyone reading this with Medcost insurance that has been through plastics? I'd appreciate any comments.
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Beyond GOAL! on June 5, 2008 3:22 pm
Okay, so now, 5 days since my last post, I'm 3 pounds BELOW goal. How'd that happen? Beats me. I'll take it!
I went to the neurologist today to follow up on an odd set of symptoms I had last month. I had some facial numbness/tingling, arm heaviness/weakness, and chest pain. It was all on the right side of my body. After scans and a complete cardiac and blood workup, the neurologist has diagnosed it as migraine. I have a history of migraine headaches, but this time didn't have the typical headache. He said it had to do with the part of the brain that the migraine originated in. I had NO idea it was migraine at all since it was so unlike anything else I have ever experienced. I'm so happy that it has nothing to do with my heart, and nothing to do with my gastric bypass. Because you know people want to blame every symptom you have once you're postop on your bypass! So, anyway ... I'm just as healthy as ever. In fact, when I was in the hospital overnight being worked up for cardiac to make sure it wasn't my heart, I was able to exercise over 9 minutes on a treadill and they said that that was EXCELLENT! I could not have done that before this bypass. Thank God I had this surgery! | Click here to leave a comment.
GOAL! on May 30, 2008 6:26 pm
I'm glad to report that after 14 1/2 months, I have hit GOAL!!! Yes, a revised goal but I'm there! Look at this ticker: 
I am so happy, I cannot tell you! I am tickled to report a weight of 145 pounds today!
I'm working a lot but hope to have time to do a new You Tube video update in the next few days. Twelve-hour shifts and getting home at 8 p.m. don't really make me feel like vlogging in the evenings, and I'm working five 12-hr days in a row this week so it may have to wait til Tuesday (when I'm off work) to do a video update, but look for it soon!
Dena
1 comment | Click here to leave a comment.
Archive
My Story In the beginning ...
September 2006 ~~ 297 lb, BMI 54
My sister and I do almost everything together, including pursuing weight loss surgery together. You may see her name appear here from time to time. Her name is Amy Helms, and she is also in Concord, NC. We are trying to do most, if not all, of our appointments at the same time, as well. Since we are both registered nurses and work the same very small company, we will have to schedule out operations at a different time so that only one of us is off at a time ... and so that we can also take care of each other! Plus, our boss threatened to kill us if we both took time off together for major surgery. :)
9/11/06 -- I sent my letter to WellPath regarding medical necessity/request to cover WLS. They called me back saying I need to have my MD contact them with request/proof of medical necessity. Complete physical appointment scheduled on 09/14/06 and surgical consult scheduled on 09/20/06.
09/14/06 -- I had my complete physical today. Weight 294 even. MD agrees with WLS. All required labs drawn today (11 tubes of blood!). Anxiously awaiting next week's surgical consult. Begun on Topamax for migraines, which has a nice side effect of weight loss. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and experience that while waiting on approval for WLS!
09/15/06 -- I made my psychiatric appointment for 10/09/06. Attempting to make nutritionist appointment but keep playing phone tag with that office.
09/20/06 -- My appointment with Dr. Bauman went very well. He is very upfront and to the point. He tells you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. He told me I need to begin on a multivitamin, Biotin to keep down the thinning hair that can come with the surgery, and a diet/exercise program preop. He said that all of that will make the surgery easier in the longrun and that any weight I lose will be a plus. So, I'm going for it. Slowly but surely. I called WellPath again yesterday and they said they don't pay out of network benefits, and he isn't on their providers list. So, I'm going with plan B. Next month is open enrollment at the hospital where my husband works. I will have him add me back to his Cigna insurance plan. The coverage won't take effect until January for me, but that is okay. Cigna requires 6 months of MD-followed diet, weight, measurements, etc., anyway. That means next March/April before I could schedule the surgery for the first time. I've waited this long, the next few months will fly by so I'm not worried by that. I still feel like I have a light at the end of the tunnel and something to look forward to!
Still waiting on my PCP to fax his information/notes/lab work I had done last week at my complete physical over to Dr. Bauman's office. He has time to do that now, at least! I also need to call and make the nutritionist appointment since I haven't been able to get in touch with that lady yet. No rush ... I have some time!
09/22/06 -- WellPath Insurance says I have a written exclusion (from employer) that does not allow for WLS. I'm going to call the guy that sells our company insurance tomorrow and see if I can get a rider or whatever added to my policy for an additional premium amount that might make it possible for WellPath to pay; if it works, fantastic...and if not, then I'm still working on the Cigna idea as an option. Either way, I still feel like I'm moving forward.
10/08/06 -- Mini update. All lab work has returned and my PTH was high, vitamin D was low. I had to have some repeat labs drawn. Not a big problem. I'm now on a vitamin D supplement. All of my results got fax'd to Dr. Bauman, except that I have now completed my upper GI series and those haven't been sent to him yet. The only "abnormal" finding was a hiatal hernia, which the radiologist said was small and that most people have them and it should not be a complication that would prevent me from getting WLS. My psych eval. is scheduled for tomorrow, and my nutritionist appointment is on Thursday this week. I did send an "appeal" letter from my doctor to WellPath because they denied the first request. We'll see what they say now. I'm supposed to have an answer from them within 15 days of the date of that letter, so somewhere in the next 2 weeks I should know something from them. I'm still planning to go with Cigna and looking forward to hopefully having surgery this coming spring! I'm just not ready to totally accept "no" from WellPath until I know I've at least exhausted the appeals process. Dr. Bauman said don't hesitate to mention that my lawyer would be in touch with them, but I don't know that I want to fight them that hard when I don't care for them in general as my primary insurance company.
Photos
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Pre-Surgical Consult |  | 
297
Pre-Surgical Consult |
12/01/06 -- I have now completed my nutrition evaluation and psychological evaluation since my last update. Both of those went well. I have also had a few more physician office visits (for the required 6 months of physician-directed weight loss efforts). Oh, yeah ... Wellpath denied my 2nd appeal so I did have myself added back to my husband's insurance policy (Cigna), and coverage begins in January 2007. My weight was 295 at my nutritionist's evaluation and my last physician's visit, which is good because I'm told that Dr. B frowns on proceeding if you gain any weight during your preop period. Things I have tried with the physician-directed weight loss the last few months are Topamax (not a good choice for me, as it gave me uncontrollable tremors), and Metformin (also not a good choice for me, as it gave me frequent diarrhea). Instead of trying other medications, I've opted to just try to watch portion control and try to incorporate some exercise (not an easy task for a 295-lb woman!).
I'm now taking Vitamin D weekly and will have a repeat blood level drawn the end of December to see if we have successfully brought the level up any. My sister is now working on the postop unit where my surgeon's patients go. The hospital will open a brand new postop unit on January 2, 2007. I'm told that the bariatric unit is gorgeous and very accommodating. I can't wait to be one of the patients on that new unit! And, perhaps my sister will end up being my nurse there. You never know...
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