Update

Just thought I would give a quick update. I went back today to have a urine sample tested. And the plan was then to strait cath afterwards to see how much remained in my bladder. Well - first I wasn't able to go to the bathroom. I haven't since yesterday evening. No desire nothing. Mary decided to not worry about doing the retest and just to the cathing. That was another hole problem - 45 min. later Mary gave up and said there was no way her or the other person was going to be able to do the strait cath. I left and and went to the hospital for a CT Scan of my abdomin. It was mainly supposed to be for my kidneys and bladder and also some lab work. So off I go. The clinic told me to wait at the hospital while they got the results and then they would talk to me over the phone. The Rad. Tech has me wait and then comes out and says "You need to go back to the clinic. Mary will talk to you over there.". Okay - back to the clinic I go. The CT of my kidney and bladder was okay. There was no sign of dialation and such of "something" (I can't remember the name of it) that they were looking for. There are no stones or blockages either. So now I am being refferred to an urologist (sp??) for urinary retention and because the opening of the uriter (??spe??) is smaller than a babies. Mary said she has done many cath's before and never not been able to do it. She used pediatric foley still with no luck. When the Radiologist read the CT Scan she seen a cyst type of formation on or near (i don't know where - i'm so frustrated right now) my liver. She reccom. I have a CT contrast scan of my liver and an u/s of my liver done right away. Now...they could have done it this week one day but not till 2:45pm. The gal told me I couldn't eat or drink ANYTHING after midnight the night before. I told the receptionist that is not possible. I have history since WLS of being dehydrated and nutritionally I can't go that long w/o eating. The gal got snippy w/me and told the person on the other line "she can't do it. she will get to dehydrated". Then says to me "Well, they can't get you in till next week. Is 12:30 ok?" Trying not to cry and be completely a b_ I said "it will have to. I dont' have a choice I guess". I told them numerous times while I was standing there that I am tired and fed up and just going to forget the hole thing. In which the recpetionist would then be bit nicer and say "oh its okay. everything will be fine" whatever. Has anyone else ever had anything like this? When Grace (nurse) told me she seemed concerned and said that Mary wanted her to make these appts. asap. So she went and had the receptionist do it. When Mary came in she was very quiet and didn't seemed to concerned about it. I played like I didn't know anything because I wanted to see her reaction. Truth betold...It does bother me. My hair is falling out in hand fulls. I have no bangs left. I don't know what to do or how to style it. We had family pics done this weekend at one of those Vintage Old Time Shops. I bought the CD. So I will have to somehow figure out how to get my family pic up. I was glad we decided to do this because I had a hat on and you can't see how thin my hair is. Yet, I have had 2 people today ALONE ask me "Gala, your hair is really thin. Why is that?" I just gave a half smile and said "just is" and kept on going. I am loosing about 1-3 lbs a week. Which is seems really slow to me. I feel like I have been at "60 lb" loss forever. I see my surgeon tomorrow for my 3 mon. check up and I will be discussing this stuff with him. Gala

Gala you're really going through the challenges. I don't understand how you can drink and go so long without urinating. I have to get up 3-4 times every night to empty my bladder. I've retained urine before and it's unbearable. For me at least, it totally consumes me. I'm so miserable that I can't think of anything else. I can't believe that they won't get you into a urologist on an emergency basis. Retaining urine the way you are is very damaging to your kidneys. Now to change the subject to your hair loss. You are 3 months post op. Losing hair is our bodies natural reaction to the trauma from surgery. Our WLS was a major surgery. At about 6 months the hair loss should return to a normal hair sluffing rate. When we lose hair after that time then it can be because of a protein deficiancy. Your weight loss of 1-3 pounds a week is pretty good. I wouldn't worry about it. I don't think it's slow at all. You've already lost 60 pounds which is remarkable. The weight loss slows down and won't come off as quickly as those first pounds. Keep us updated Gala. I hope they can find out what the problem with your bladder and uritors are. Melody

Thank you Melody for your support. I appreciate it. I typed out a long response to both you and Hydie and it got lost in cyber land. I'm not really in any mood to retype it and I have things I need to get done. No news today. Mary (pcp-pa) wasn't happy w/me that I am making the appt. myself because her "staff" can get me in quicker. I told her that yesterday it was all I could do not to cry and I just needed to come home. If she wants to make the appt. that is fine and I will give them days that I am not available. She said not to worry about it and let her know when I get the appt. If it isnt' soon then she will intervene. My surgeon didn't think it was warranted to do another CT scan and such. Since he was "just in there" and there was nothing wrong. When I told Mary this she got kind of irratated I think and said "well that doesn't mean that there isn't something now" She also told me there there was some abnormal soft tissue present on my bladder that needed to be checked out. She didn't tell me this yesterday because she knew I was already upset and frustrated. Whatever. I'm about ready to throw in the towel. Some days it is just a bit to much to handle. Gala

Aw, Gala. Hang in there.

GOOD GRIEF GALA! I'm so sorry to hear about everything. I hope they get the problem fix, pronto! My hair's also starting to thin out quite a bit but I was blessed with thick hair in the begining so I actually enjoyed the hair loss for a while. But, the sides are getting thin enough where you can see my scalp if I fix it a certain way. I don't know how long your hair is but you might try backcombing (ratting) it a bit and then smoothing the ends out over it. In school that's what we did for some of the elderly women who didn't have much hair. It's what I'm going to be doing to my sides here pretty quick. Well, my prayers and thought are with you! Hydi

My hair isnt' long enough to do the ratting with. It is pretty thin all over. Thinking that the Sinaid O'Connor look would be okay? NOT!! I knew that my hair would thin. I thought I had prepared myself mentally for this to happen. But I didn't think it would look this bad. My mom says it looks fine. But that is what moms are supposed to say right?? Anyways, I wrote a mini update in my response to Melody. Thanks again!! Gala