Linda G.
I am a 53 year old lady living in Southwestern Ontario. I have lived in this area all of my life. My weight problem as well has been with me all my life. The last time I was of "normal" weight was at birth! From there it just climbed rapidly. My mother would drag me to every different doctor she could find in Toronto to try and figure out why her daughter was so big. Of course in the 50's, a chubby baby was a healthy baby. Up until age 18 they kept telling me it was baby fat.....NOT!
Of course I have done the whole gammit of diet regiemes over my life. Including a stomach stapling (VBG) in 1995 which basically accomplished about a 30lbs. loss for me in total. Of couse since then I have gained back that 30 plus much more! When I had the VBG there was absolutley no support (that I new of) and the surgeon who did my procedure had the bedside manor of a troll! At my one month check up she basically said I was being "piggish" as I had only lost 10lbs. I needed to stop eating so much. During that one month I was living on liquids and jello. Go figure!
I came upon this site accidentally and started reading information and posts about procedures I new nothing about. One article I read brought me to tears. Apparently the VBG procedure historically had about a 60% failure rate! Amazed me. I thought I was the only one who had WLS and failed. What an eye opener. I approached my GP (who is a wonderful doctor) about the possibility of having a revision and she said lets go for it! And thus the journey began!
I sent my OCC forms into OHIP for approval and had it back approved for consultation with Dr. O'Malley within 10 days! I was amazed. I was worried that because I had had the VBG I would not be considered but I guess the revisions are not that unusual. The approval came back in July, I attended the seminar with Dr. O'Malley in November and surgery,Duodenal Switch, was booked for April 4th, 2007.
The surgery did not go on without issue. I had numerous leaks. When they went back in to repair the leaks I ended up on life support for approx. 10-12 days. Once I finally woke, I had severe pain all over. Numerous doctors were brought in to review my case. Finally a drug was found that helped with the pain in my legs and feet. Slowly I started to walk assisted for a long time. It took months before I could walk on my own with a walker. Today, 4 years later, I still use a cane regularly and a walker in some circumstances. Condensed version iof the story is I still suffer with chronic pain. My pain specialist believes that the chronic pain is most likely the result of a stroke. Strokes are a risk of any surgery. I could have had a stroke having my gallbladder out. I just had the misfortune of having it during this surgery.
I have lost approx. 160lbs and am no longer diabetic nor have sleep apnea.
