Donna W.
Hi, I am over 400# and have been morbidly obese since I was 19. I have tried every thing from slim fast to phen fen with temporary results and gaining more than I lost! I have spoken to my PCP about RNY and he said that he would be happy to refer me to a surgeon as long as it is covered by my insurance! :)
I spoke with Cigna (HMO) today who said that it was approved as long as proved medically necessary. They also gave me a list of surgeons who are covered by my plan so I could find one who does RNY. I found a surgeon who does RNY but they require 5years med record proof of over 100lbs over weight and a personal letter from my PCP saying that he will be my follow-up care provider AND a history of all diets that I have tried!!! Just to be approved for consultation! I spoke with my Previous doctor's office today who said they would fax my medical records in the morning to the surgeon!:) I was totally shocked that it didn't take more than that. I just had to ask.
I will call my PCP in the morning to request him to fax a letter to the surgeon. I am very excited! I know there are a lot of hurdles that I have still to jump over but I am glad that the first few were so smooth!!
10/05/00-I have made now 3 calls to my PCP in regards to the letter I need to see Dr. Bell, the surgeon. I spoke today with the man in charge of referrals at the office and he said he would take care of the letter and the refferal for me and call me back. I never got a call today. I will have to call tomorrow for an update I guess. One positive thing- I told my Mom about the surgery and gave her this web site for reference and she said she supports me fully and will even fly out from Seattle to help me the first few days post-op while dear hubby is at work.
10/08/00-I found a scale to weigh myself on today and I am at 437 pounds!! It is the heaviest I have ever been1 No wonder My feet and joints hurt so bad!! I am still waiting for my PCP to refer me to the surgeon. I want so much to be on the other side and be a looser like all of the wonderful post-ops I have met on this site.
10/10/00-My PCP FINALLY sent the letter to the surgeon and I have a consult sched for Nov. 3rd!!! That was the first available date!! I am so excited!! I just pray that it goes well and I am approved. One less hurdle!!
10/17/00-My Surgeons office called and they had to re-sched my consult to 11/10/00. It's only another week out, but it was still disappointing!! I guess the wait is definately worth it! Also, check out the new web page I started! Click the link under my name at the top!
11/10/00-Went to my Consult today with Dr. Bell and he said that I was an Excellent cantidate for RNY! I spoke with his nurse and she said that I most likely will have surgery within 3 weeks!!! I can't believe it! I was crying when I left the office cause I was sooo happy! I will let everyone know when I have a date!!
11/13/00-WOOO HOOOO!!! Surgeons office called today with my date-December 4th 2000!!! Merry Christmas to ME!!! I am so thankful to God that he has granted me this new chance at life!
12/23/00- Sorry so long since update! My computer has been out of commision for about 2 weeks! I am doing VERY WELL!! I have all my staples out and my incision is healing nicely. I still have quite a bit of soreness when I walk around for awile like shopping! But I have been off the Percocet for over a week now. I just take Extra Strength Tylanol and it seems to maintain pretty well.
I am down 45 pounds! Yep you read it right! LOL 45 pounds! Can't imagine 45 pounds in 18 days but the scale doesn't lie!
I know that I am lucky to have lost that much so quick and I know that it is mainly due to the fact that I am getting my 64 oz of fluid in almost every day and I haven't just stayed in bed. I have been out as much as possible! My family thinks too much actually! I get frustrated that I am still too sore to pick up things off the floor but then my hubby reminds me that it's only been less than 3 weeks since surgery! I don't know why I expect my body to heal at super human rate! LOL
I haven't had really any problems eating. I did get nautious (sp) when I tried potted meats (too greasy). I have eaten 1/2 a peice of pizza-minus the hard crust and even unbuttered popcorn at the movie theatre. I am still scared to try red meat. I have had some chicken though. VERY LITTLE and it settled ok.
My surgeon is not strict at all. He released me to eating whatever I could tolerate last week, but I still have only tried a couple of new things. I am too chicken to get sick! LOL
I have not tried any sugar. I am just going to trust that it would make me sick!! That was always my downfall was my sweet tooth-so there is no reason to wake the beast! LOL
I have had a couple of pieces of suger free candy. About 5 since surgery. They satisfy my sweet tooth.
01/09/01-I am now just over 5 weeks post op. I am down 45 pounds as of last weight in 2 weeks ago. Next time is at the doctors office on the 15th. I am doing ok. I started back to work this week and I am REAL tired when I get home but it is nice to get back in the land of the living! Before I stated that Chicken settled well, that was the Only time it has! LOL Every since then I get sick no matter How it is cooked! I have had some beef and some pork chop and both settled Real well. I haven't had any salad yet although I am craving it. I am afraid it will make me sick. I tried rice tonight and that made me sick. Who knows! Seems like every other day I can eat something and then next time it makes me sick. I have been told though that it is not rare since the pouch is still tender. It is Very picky!
Now for the important thing, Yes, even though I am sick about once a day and what I can eat is limited now, I would still do it all over again because I know in the LONG run that I will be healthier and happier!!
1-18-01-Update! I finally got to weigh myself and I am officialy down 65 pounds!! Woo Hoo! I am so very excited about this! It definately makes the complications seem worth while.
I mentioned last time that I was getting sick about once a day, well it got worse and worse until I couldn't keep down ANYTHING!! After 7 hours and 2 bags of fluid in the ER last Friday night I found that my stoma has healed almost shut. This means that I need to have it dialated. They do this endoscopicly (thank God) down the throat into the pouch. I am just glad that they don't have to open me back up! That has been my fear since the day after surgery! LOL
The dialation is Tuesday the 23rd of Jan. The prognosis is VERY good that this will fix my problem and I will be able to keep down food. As of now, I can only keep down fluids with the help of anti-nausea medication. I guess that is partly why my loss is so high! LOL
And finally-No-I STILL do not regret having this done! God Bless
01/26/01-I had my dialation of my stoma on 01/23/01 and it was NOT FUN at all! They had a hard time with me in regards to the anestesia taking and I gagged ALOT before it finally kicked in. They however feel as though this one time will fix my problem. I home and pray that is true! Since Tuesday I have been able to keep down liquids and even some tuna yesterday and 1/2 of a protein bar today. I know that probably seems like it's nothing, but when you can't keep down ANYTHING-anything is better! LOL
I went clothes shopping today at a local thrift store and found 2 dresses and 2 suits and some pants that almost fit-I can get them on but they are tight. It is so fun to be able to buy clothes like that and actually KNOW that I WILL fit into them! As always, I'd do it all over and God Bless!
02/01/01-Just a quick update. I am feeling MUCH better this week! I am able to keep down real food now and even had a salad yesterday! I won't get on the scale again until next week, but my total inches lost from head to foot is 41 inches! I can't imagine what that number will be when I reach goal! That's all for now, will update next week when I weight in!!
OK- 03/18/01-Sorry it has been so long since I updated this page! Needless to say I have been feeling good enough to get out of the house more! LOL That and our computer has been giving us fits! Ok , down to the nitty gritty! I do not have a new weightloss total cause I hit about a 4 week plateau and stopped weighing for awhile cause I was getting very depressed!! I instead, looked at what I was eating and realized that I was eating virtually NO protein. I was living on salad and carbs cause for the longest time that is all my pouch would tolerate. However, now I don’t have that excuse anymore so I have really started to improve my eating the last 2 weeks. I have been able to eat and tolerate more protein and have added one protein shake per day. I know that I am still under the 65grams that is desired but I am doing Much better than the 12-15 grams I WAS getting. In addition to the plateau, my doctor said that he new that I was not eating enough protein cause my hair was falling out pretty bad. Every day after my shower HANDFULLS were coming out! I know, it’s horrible that I waited until this point before finding out why, but that’s because I didn’t need my doctor to tell me that I wasn’t eating the right things!! Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been eating anything that would be considered Wrong like sugar (CANNOT TOLLERATE thank God!!) but I know that you can’t live on iceburg lettuce and baco-bits!! The last 2 weeks as I said before I have been doing much better and plan to weight again this coming Thursday. I am going to include my stats on this page. That way you can see my progress even though I don’t weight myself very often! Thanks again for checking out my site and yes…I would still do it over again!! :)
09/21/01=UPDATE- I just had incisional hernia repair last week. I am still sore but recovering fast. I have updated my stats below so you can see that I am still shrinking!! I am now down to 294 pounds from my original 440!! I feel SO good now and I am happy that I can buy clothes and be more active. I still have 94 pounds to go til my goal but I know that in time I will make it!!! This surgery has saved my life. There is no other way to describe it!
December 24,2001--Merry Christmas! Well it is just over a year ago since surgery! I now weigh 260 pounds. That makes the total loss SO FAR of 180 pounds! Woo Hoo!!! I feel so great! I am so happy to be able to do so much more that I want. Even Christmas shopping was FUN this year! Not only that but I didn't dread the work Christmas parties this year! I felt PRETTY! I still have quite a ways to go but I couldn't be happier with my results. If you have read this whole profile you will understand that I had several complications but it was ALL worth it!! Thank God for this surgery! Please feel free to write if you have and specific questions. Peace to all!
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STATS
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Here they are in all thier awful glory!!
NECK: 12/01/01- 19 3/4 inches
1/17/01- 19 inches
2/01/01- 18 inches
3/08/01- 17 1/2 inches
9/21/01- 16 inches
12/24/01- 15 1/2 inches
Bust: 12/01/01- 66 inches
1/17/01- 62 inches
2/01/01- 60 inches
3/08/01- 58 inches
9/21/01- 53 inches
12/24/01- 49 1/2 inches
Bra line: 12/01/01- 56 inches
1/17/01- 51 inches
2/01/01- 50 inches
3/08/01- 49 inches
9/21/01- 44.5 inches
12/24/01- 42 inches
Waist: 12/01/01- 56 inches
1/17/01- 53 inches
2/01/01- 50 1/2 inches
3/08/01- 49 inches
9/21/01- 46 inches
12/24/01- 43 inches
Hips: 12/01/01- 72 inches
1/17/01- 67 inches
2/01/01- 66 inches
3/08/01- 64 1/2 inches
9/21/01- 57 inches
12/24/01- 55 inches
Butt: 12/01/01- 62 inches
1/17/01- 60 inches
2/01/01- 60 inches
3/08/01- 58 inches
9/21/01- 53 inches
12/24/01- 50 inches
Right Bicep: 12/01/01- 20 1/2 inches
3/08/01- 17 1/2 inches
9/21/01- 15 inches
12/24/01- 15 inches
Left Bicep: 12/01/01- 21 inches
3/08/01- 18 1/2 inches
9/21/01- 15.5 inches
12/24/01- 15.5 inches
Right Thigh: 12/01/01- 36 1/2 inches
3/08/01- 32 inches
9/21/01- 26 inches
12/24/01- 26 inches
Left Thigh: 12/01/01- 35 inches
3/08/01- 31 inches
9/21/01- 27 inches
12/24/01- 26 inches
I know this is gruesome but it is the truth and as long as the numbers are going DOWN they are positive!! Total is 45 inches so far.
***UPDATE-(SEE ABOVE)-as of 9/21/01 Total inches lost are 91.75****
***UPDATE-(see above)-as of 12/24/01 Total inches lost are 107.5****