sweetbea
Well, I'm fat. Have been nearly all of my life. Around 1st grade or so I guess. It has just gotten progressively worse and worse. Obviously, I'd never been happy about it, but I also was never able to change it. I stayed under 200 until about 2001. I met my now husband and my weight progressively started to climb. Lots of eating out didn't help matters.
Well, starting in summer 2006 my back started hurting worse than it ever had. I remember going to the craft store in October to get some Halloween things and leaving in tears because my back hurt so bad I couldn't walk long enough to shop anymore. I went to several docs, had tests, etc. No one could find a reason other than I was overweight. I wound up in a wheelchair because my back was so bad I couldn't stand for more than a minute or two. I also had to quit my job as mobility was a issue and sitting in my chair all day hurt too badly.
Finally in January 2007 I admitted to myself that I wouldn't be able to lose weight on my own now that I couldn't walk. So I finally decided to think about surgery (before I'd been adamantly opposed). I went to the information session at my surgeon's office in February and decided then and there that I wanted an RNY. So I signed up.
I went through all of my extensive pre-op appointments (psych, cardio, pulmo, vascular, sonogram, Upper GI, blood gas, etc.) while also going to my nutritionist once a month for 6 months (insurance requirement).
By August I was ready but my appointments kept getting cancelled or rescheduled. Finally I saw my surgeon in the fall. By that time, they were scheduling out into January. I was disappointed, but at the same time a little relieved that I'd be able to get through Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday (Jan 13) one last time before giving up all the good food. So my date was scheduled for Jan 24. Yay!
Well, I went to my PCP on January 10. She had gotten the results of my pre-op blood work and told me that I had diabetes and she was not approving me for surgery. To say that I freaked out is putting it mildly. The next day I went to my surgeon's office to speak to him, but he was in surgery. One of the nurses took me back and told me that he likely would agree with my PCP. I just cried and cried and cried. I cried all the way to the car.
The surgeon finally called me back on Saturday and confirmed our suspicions. He said that as soon as en endocrinologist could get my blood sugar under control, he'd do the surgery. So I had an endo appointment on Monday. My endo was great and got me started on an aggressive insulin regimine.
I got home after the endo appt to find a letter in my mailbox stating that my surgeon was leaving the hospital and I could go with him to his new hospital (about an hour south) or stay at the current hospital (GBMC) and use his partner, Dr. Moeinolmolki. I was so angry that he did not tell me about his plans when I spoke with him TWO days before. He also was rather uncaring about my surgery being cancelled and didn't seem to understand how devestating it was to me. So I decided to go with his partner, Dr. Moein.
It took a little over a month and a lot of tweaking dosages, but he finally said he'd approve me for surgery. As soon as I found out I was diabetic I cut all sugar out of my diet, which certainly comes in handy for the surgery as well. So I made an appointment with Dr. Moein and he wanted new labs drawn to see that my A1C had gone down and wanted me to see a derm due to psoriasis on my abdomen (he was afraid it may be fungus).
So I did that. Then I was finally approved for surgery on April 9!
