Kathleen S.
Kathleen Sims
Oakland, CA, USA
Post Op - BMI: 61.8
Surgery Type: RNY
Member ID: Sims965538389
Contact: Click here to send a Personal Message
Surgeon: Gregory Broderick-Villa
may 2000 350lbs
july 2000 347
sept.2000 346
sept 2002 349
aug 2003 331
oct 2003 326
jan 2004 333
6/2000
I have talked with one doctor about this as a matter of fact he was the one to say I should have the surgery. He is dr.Stephen Lewis in Concord does anyone here know of him? My primary referred me to him for weight loss and he has me on this egg white and vegetable with fruit diet and so far 13lbs have come off so I gues we'll see what results another three weeks of this will do.I used to get very tired just walking to the corner and now I have a lot more energy with this weight loss so I can imagine how I will feel losing 50 and more.
9/15/2000
Ok so far I have lost 14 pnds and I think I would have lost more if we had not had all these events going on in agust and this month. I have an appointment with the physciatrist on monday 9/18
and I have one with the nutritionist 9/27, The dictor that is being reccomende to dothe surgery is Dr. Vierra at Stanford and My surgery may happen as soon as november or december but maybe I'll ask them to wait until january so that I won't have tor rely on anyone else to do my christmas shopping for my neices since they are living with me I want them to have at least two thanksgivng and christmas's that are nice and they get a lot of gifts from Santa. Their parents are trying to stop me from keeping them so I do'nt know what going to happen with them but at least they can say that auntie Kathy gave 2 good years.
I'll keep you informed on any changes or dates I get.
9/27/2000
I had my second visit with the psychiatrist and she wants me to take some time for myself and really think about if I want the surgery or not so that's where I am now and I have not had any time to really think so I going to have to make some.
11/30/2002
Well I have not been here for a while, so let me update you on my situation. I did not have the surgery beacuse I had some issues with it and then the nutritionest did not think I was a good candidate for it because of those issues, so I passed it up and let someone else take my slot and i feel that it was a ggod decision on my part why waste everyones time when I was not sure and someone else that was in need also could use that space. so here i am back facing the same issues but with a little more motivation to have the surgery, I would like to talk to some people who have had the surgery and had bad experiences with it and people that have had it and had good results, because i want to explore all options. I have a new primary care doc. and he is reccomending it along with the surgeon I went to go see about the gallstone that I have, I have recently been told that i have diabetes and high blood pressure but they are not out of control and I not had a high blood sugar reading since he told me about it and i changed some of my eating habits and my blood pressure ha been fine also. so if anyone out ther can give me some insight on the surgery as far as the good and the bad I would love to hear from you.
8/14/03
well here is my latest happenings, I have seen the nutritionist and she is very positive about me having the surgery, she has given me some homework to do like increas my walking time and make out a phase two post-op menu I guess it is the menu after i come home and also she wants me to have a three day record of what i ate for when i come back for my next visit on the 27th, my pysch evaluation went very well at least I think so the Dr. was very positive I told about my fears of having the surgery and that I would be able to deal with having to change me eating habits for the rest of my life, I don't do to much sugar anymore I just have to educate myself on the ingredients in the foods I buy and how to know what is good and what is bad, but I'm determined beacause I know if I don't do something I won't be here to see my neices graduate or go on their first date, yes they are still with me, it's been a rough four years but we're making it. I talked with them about the surgery and the youngest one wants me to have and she does'nt want me to she's afraid that something may happen and we sat down and talked some about the possibility of something happening to me either way we just don't know it's all in god's hands and there is nothing we can do when the Lord says it's time for to go. But try as you might to explain this to 12&14 year old the 12yr old is pretty mature for her age, It's from having to make adult decisions before she came to live with me she was basically the mother for her older sister who is mentally slow and can be sure to make the right choices so she always took care of her and now that they have me they don't to worry about food, clothes being able to bathe,not have to tuck there covers in at night so that the rats and mice don't climb on them just being able to have there own bed and bedroom, so they have come a long way and I know they are afraid of this changing things for them but I told them not worry about it they will be taken care of.Okay so much for that, now the doctor who will be doing my surgery if I'm approved is not here yet he coming to Oakland, Ca from Texas and from what I have read he is a very good and caring surgeon his name is Dr. Kazantsev and he should be joining with Dr. stanten's office soon I am so glad that I will be able to have this surgery here in Oakland at Summit which is very close to my home and I am glad that dr stanten is going to have a fully functioning WLs clinic here also I don't have the best transportation in town so it makes things a lot easier on me. I just read through my first profile and realized that i did not say anything about myself and how I came to this point in my life so here it is.
I'm 46yrs young and will be 47 in october and I have been overweight all my life at least as far as I can remember and from what relatives have told me I have always been big boned, I have always tried to keep my body toned but my love for beer soon added a spare to the doughnut I already had so throuhout my teens I always kept pretty much tonedbut i was always ashamed of my body size so i wore big clothes and coats to try and hide it I took a bad fall in dec. of 96 and and hurt my back and after several trips to the dr and being in constant pain they did a mri and found a large tumor on my pelvic area and i also have three bulging disk in my lower back. so off to surgery in July of 97 for a laproscoptic hysterectomy which wound up having to be an open because of the size of the tumor they had to take it out in for sections and all of my insides had attatched to it so they had to carefully remove things and repair them and put everything back where it was supposed to be, my doctor had to go and tell my sisters about the change of events and that nothing was in place so they were going to have to put them bac after they repaired them, I know what your thinking but i had thre surgeons and when my obgyn left to tell my family the oncologist and renal surgeons were working on sectioning the tumor so they could get it out so after 9hrs in surgery I wake up in so much pain that the morphine is not helping it was due to my renal line and blatter haveing to be patched up, one day while the doc
was checking my staples and foley he noticed that i had a lot of leakage and I told him that i had woke up soaked and the nurse had changed my gown and called him. he wound up having to take out the staples because I had gotten an infection so there I was laying there with a hole in my gut big enough to sit a bird in and having to stay in the hospital for a month. I went home open and I thank god for my middle sis because she got right in there and watched everything the nurses did when they came out to change me, so when they cut back on the nurses visits she told them that she would do the changes on the days they did not come out and she did it for 8 months after that until it closed. so I have not been able to work since then because of the health complications my weught has caused me to have. living on social security disability is not what I had planned for my future and having to live on a fixed income sucks so i will be glad to be able to try and work once i lose the weight. I did take this time to teach myself more about computers thatn i knew so i can do little jobs for people such as designing brochures, flyers, doing projects for my Pastor of course those are free but a lot of my friends that I gained through being the hostess at my dad's social club call me to do a lot of personal business for them online, so i guess you could say i love my computer :-)) well that's enough about me I will post as soon as I have something to tell.
Kathy
08/27/03
Well I went for my 2nd visit with the nutrionist and i found out that I will be in the first group to have the surgery at Summit here in Oakland, so I'm kind of excited, I should be getting a package from the nurse and an appointment with the surgeon real soon so things are moving along, the nutrionist asked me on a scale from 1-10 how ready did I think I was and I said an 8 and she said she feels that I a 9 with 10 being totally ready so thats a good thing to know, I will update after I see the surgeon or hear from my insurance. oh yeah I lost some weight I'm at 331lbs from 349
09/05/03
I've talked with the bariatric nurse at summit and I have an appoinment Dr. Kasantsev on Weds. the 10th so I'm excited and a little scared becasue I know this is one more step closer to the real deal, so keep me in your prayers.
9/11/03
I had my first consult with the surgeon on yesterday and I like him, he's a straight to the point guy and that I like He told me the risks and complications we could have and since I'm asthmatic he really stressed that the tube may flare up my asthma and I may wind in ICU for a couple of days he also told me that I may have to stay in for about 5 or more days due to my asthma,I like the fact that he listened to my concerns and I told him about my sother surgery and the one complication I had (I better remember to tell him about the transfusions)and he asked me about the incision as to where it was and I told him that I came home open due to an infection.Helen his nurse is so nice I finally got to meet her after talking on the phone with her a couple of times, she also told me about risks and what symptons to look for and that I should get in touch with them the minute I start feeling any different,she told me that it very important not to wait to see if it will pass but I have read that on this site from several people so I think this will be drilled in my head by the time I have my surgery and come home. They will be having their first meeting on the 24th of this month at summit medical center in annex B from 6-7:30 pm that's the fourth Wednesday of this month and then they will be every 4th wednesday after that. so I am looking forward to going and talking more with her and Dr. Kazantsev I know I'm Missing some things I should be asking so if anyone has a list of questions I should be asking please send them to me I'm trying to write down most of my concerns as I think of them. Well until next time, I think I need to call my doc for this pain in my mid back and feeling of trapped gas I think this gallstone is acting up.
12/09/03
Well I have not been here in a while there has been quite a bit going on I have a tentative date of January 22nd but we are still waiting on my medical group to give the final yes, I have slipped off of my weight loss regimen and it's so damn hard trying to get back on especially since it's the holidays and I'm doing all the cooking this year I lost 21lbs but I have probably gained most of it back since Thanksgiving and I am feeling so guilty. this is one of the worst addictions you can have and mine is sugar, but I know that i must lose before i have the surgery, my doc dose'nt require it but i know it makes things a lot easier if i can shrink my liver by any amount before my surgery at least this is what i heard happens when you fast and lose some of the weight. I have been going to our group support mettings since they started up and in this group it looks like I'm one of the last ones that originally started with the group to have their surgery, Angie Taylor who is also a member had hers done today and I will be going to see her tomorrow afternoon or evening, some of my family has been supportive and some has not but I'm not leting that discourage me, I had a serious talk with one of my neices last night and explained to her that I would be writting a letter and also giving my oldest sister power of attorney to make all my decisions should something happen but I have faiht in the Lord and I will have the prayers of my church family and my personal friends and my friends here at Obesity Help. so I will get back here as soon as I can it has not been easy this last 2 months since my sister that lives with me is down with arthritis real bad and now she is addicted to the drugs they give her so it's a real battle, but she does'nt want to get free of the pain meds so I put in for a transfer to a smaller apartment for me and my neices because we don't need this stress she will have to go it on her on, I'll come by and make sure she eats and has clean clothes and stuff but other than that she has to want help to get passed this. Be back soon.
Kathy
12/29/03
well I have a tentative surgery date of Jan.22nd I'm kind of nervous I know I have been enjoying the holidays a little more than I should because I feel this will the last time for a while that i will be able to enjoy all the fatty foods but I don't think i will miss them, I'm glad that eating the sweets will make me sick and that is one thing I don't like being so I know I will be leaving the sugar alone. I have to really concentrate on the chewing part I have a tendency not to chew alot so I am going to be doing that more now. after this week I will be cutting back on my meals and choosing more veggies I really don't care for a lot of red meats and I know that there will be a problem because I love chicken and turkey breast, they say that your taste for foods change sometimes so I'm wonder if I'll start liking beans after the surgery becaus now I don't eat them only baked beans with bar-b-que and not a lot then, so I wonder if that will change I know it will surprise a lot of people if I all of sudden develop a liking for beans well lets just pray that my insurance will accept the contract with my surgeon so that I can join evryone else in my support group on the losing side.
01/12/04
Well here I am one week from my surgery date and my insurance has not signed the contract with my surgeon yet, this so frustrating because if they sign this week we will probably have to postpone my surgery date for another week I don't know what the [problem is but I know I'm getting really really frustrated but if I have to wait another week I will so that I can have do all of my pre-op stuff. This must be God's way of telling me to wait, "not my will but God's will", so I'll wait and see what happens, I have gotten so many good wishes from the my loving OH family here and I know that all your prayers are with me and I thank and ask for your continued prayers
01/14/04
Well bad news, got a call from Helen she is doc K's nurse and she told me that one person from Hills physicians has still not signed the contract, so we had to cancel the surgery date of the 22nd. So I'm hanging in here the Lord must have another plan for me and it just wasn't my time to go in yet, he'll let me know when the time is right so I'm not going to worry about it I'm just going to go ahead and do everything they wanty me to do so I'll be ready when they say it's a go.
1/26/04
HELP ME!! I'm strating to give in to those cravings and I have to lose 8 more pounds I have been givin in to the sweet tooh and since the ulcer came on my ankle it has stopped me from walking so I have managed to gain 7 pounds instead if losing so now I have to work hard at this and get away from the sugar, that is my downfall and I have to start moving around more I just figured out the exercise part of it and I just need to get myself motivated enough to stop using my stationary bike for a coat rack and get my but on it for a about five minutes a day to start out I'm going to start today, I have so much going on in my head right now that I just want to get out and walk and clear my head but I can't do that or I'll irritate this darn thing and I have healing pretty good now so I don't want to irritate it.
02/10/04
Well I got a call from Helen, the bariatric nurse and hills physician denied me they said that I don't have anything showing that I have weighed in with a doctor for six months while trying to lose weight, they are so full of it do they how expensive that would be so my doctor is going to send me a fax showing my last six weigh ins and appointment for the the past six months I hope this helps. My surgeon is appealing it next week with the board and I pray they listen, if not I have to start all over again, this is enough to make a person give up I don't know why they are so against this surgery if they look at how much money they will save as opposed to continuing to treat me for all my other ailments and I'm going to have to have these gallstones removed sooner or later, well I'm going to go pout now so I'll say by for now.
3/25/04
Well I haven't checked in here in a while so I'll let you know whats going on, I'm waiting to see what Hills Physicians say to the appeal Dr. K will be making on my behalf and probably others that I found out through my pcp who have also been denied by Hills, so I don't feel so bad now that I know that it's not just me but just about everyone that is requesting the surgery is being turned down by them. Ihave been sick this last week and a half and tonight my blood sugar level crept up to 247 so I'm checking it every hour to see if It continues to climb once it get to 260 I'm calling my doctor to see what I should do since this is the first time it has ever been over 165
I must admit that I'm gulity of over indulging in the sweets this week especially the last 4 days so now I'm paying for it "stupid stupid stupid" well I'm going to go now I'm going to check it again and call the doctor.
8/22/12
Well I have not updated in a while, ok I regained a lot of the weight and the some over the past 8 years my highest weight was 360 and I would lose a few pounds and not gain it back so I decided to change some things like my food choices but losing one of my sister's suddenly in the first month of 2005 and then finding out later in that year my dad had cancer was really tough but I manafed to make it through it but with a gain of about 10 pnds and then a loss of 5 so I moved my dad in with me and then my oldest brother got sick and when he came out of hospital he came to stay here also now I already had his 2 daughters living wiyh me and then my oldest neice became homeless so she came also with her 2 children, so my little place was full. All these people and I had to take my dad to the cancer center everyday and get my brother set up with a doctor plus help him try to get on social security and housing I would just turm to what made me feel good, sweets, well my dad passed away from a heart attack in 2007. My brother finally got his SSI and housing so I only had my neice and her 2 to try and help get a place and she was finally blessed with a place to stay withone of my other brothers, so everything is going along when we find out a cousin who was like a brother had cancer he looked upon my dad as his father cause he was the only father figure he had and when dad died he kind of just gave up so we lost him in 2009 and then a year later we lost my oldest brother to lung cancer six months after they found it. In September 2009 this ulcer started opening up and in may 2010 they found a mild blockage in one of my heart arteries so with all of this going on and my brothers funeral also I was stressed, so after the services were over and things got back to kind of normal I stated seeing a plastic surgeon about my ankle in jume he took me off my leg and put the wound vac on it so the visiting nurses were comeing out to change the dressing daily and I thank God for the nurses I had they were so caring they put me with the nutrionist we started a plan to help me lose some weight and after they did surgery on my ankle and the physical therapist started coming out in september and got me back up on my feet I was able to drop 20pnds thats when I decided I was going to look back into having the surgery because I knew that if I did not do somethimg I was not goimg to be living to many more years.
I know that we have no control over when we die but why should I push it which is what I was doing, so I went to the seminar did all my paper work and it took a few months after I first went but I was finally able to start the first steps my insurance required since I had already been trying to lose weight with the help of a nutrionist and physical therapist that was one hurdle cleared and the next two were the psychological evaluation made it through that and I had to see my health plans nutritionist for 4 months I think it may have been longer because I saw her every 2 weeks and the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays were my hardest hurdles but I managed to lose the 5 pnds gained during that time, I get my appointment with the surgeon he tells me I have 3 things to do before they can submitt a request to my insurance I had to lose 10 pounds I weighed 341, I had to be cleared by the cardiologist and I had to have an endoscophy I did all three and got approved the first time now this was in May I got approved in July I had my surgery on August 6th i am now two weeks post-op on the full liquid diet I go see the surgeon in the morning if all is well I go to the puree stage, I have did get a little dehydrated last week but after talking to helen I have been drinking gatorade g2 along with other fluids so I think I'm getting my fluids in some days I don't have as much energy as I would like but that's one of the side effects so now during the day my 8yr old great nephew is asking me when am I going to take my walk so now he walks me everyday and I go up and and down the stairs in my building since there are four floors and I live on the 2nd I walk down the hall and climb the stairs to the next floor and do this until I reach four and then do the same thing coming back down. I went into surgery at 317pnds and as of yesterday I weighed 301pnds so two weeks 16 pnds lost.
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Member Interests:
- Computers & Internet - I think I live for my computer at times you can't pull me away
- Music - I love music especially oldies and gospel
- Black American - glad to see this board for my people of color
Click here to see interests of other ObesityHelp members.
Surgeon Info:
Surgeon: Gregory Broderick-Villa
I had my gastric bypass surgery done by Dr Broderick-Villa on August 6th this year during my appointments with him he made me feel at ease he did not sugar coat any of the dangers involved. He came to see me a couple of times during my three day stay. The entire staff looked after me very well they were there when I oppened my eye's and he was there making sure I was okay and letting me know the surgery went okay I would recommend him and his staff to anyone deciding to do the surgery.
Insurer Info:
medicare plus/Secure Horizons, standard 1