2bethinatlast

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I am 56 years old and have been overweight most of my adult life. It all started just before I got married and went on the BC pills.  I gained steadily after that and developed quite a few health problems, including congestive heart failure, heart attack, Obstructive sleep apnea (CPAP setting of 16), severe hypertension, pulmonary hypertension, several episodes of acute renal failure, Type 2 diabetes, controlled with insulin and pills, severe osteoarthritis in both knees, shoulders, hand and very severe back problems and pain for degenerative disk disease, fibromyalgia, GERD, Hiatal Hernia, Barrett's Esophagus, Coronary Artery Disease, Restrictive Lung Disease, incontinence, depression, allergic rhinitis, just to name a few. I was at one point taking 23 different meds. Today I am on 8 pills in the morning and 4 at night, along with my multivitamin, Iron pill, and Calcium Citrate. I get my B-12 i njection monthly and also take Vitamin Das PCP said it was lower then he wanted it, also said same thing about Iron and increased magnesium form 2 500 mg tablets to 3 500 mg tablets as magnesium consistently comes back low.  I have great PCP, Bariatric Surgeon, Cardiologist, Pulmonologist , orthopedist, Podiatrist, and GI Doctors as well as an Infectious Disease Doctor who I see every once ina while who is monitoring me for MRSA which I had after breaking my ankle in June '07 and having 5 surgeries on it, after they put plate & screws in ankle, he said MRSA would always be there and that I would have to be on antiiotics as long as hardware was in the ankle. The hardare isn't coming out and I am getting really tired of taking these antibiotics, but I guess He's supposed to know what he is doing.  I had my RNY surgery May 1, 2009 in Mobile, Al at Mobile Infirmary  with Dr. Jeffrey K. Hannon as my surgeon and Dr. Lutz as my Pulmonary doctor while in hospital, had clearance from my regular cardiologist. Dr. Hannon is a great doctor, the practice is a COE. I had surgery on Fri, spent that night in ICU, moved to regular floor Saturday morning, and came home Monday afternoon. I was hoping to go home Sunday but he said I didn't look too good so he wasn't letting me go home yet. It was hard when they brouht me all this water to drink, said drink 1 oz every 10-15 min. I just couldn't get ti down, so then 1 of the nurses asked if i liked Crystal Light and mixed the water up with Crystal Light (fruit punch) and that went a lot better. Now I'm on a sugar-free Grape Kool-Aid kick and I like the Fuze Tropical Punch, Strawberry Melon drinks but they are a little on the pricey side, but I still buy about 4-5 when I go to Wal-Mart or if I go to the commissary they are cheaper there but don't always have the flavor I like. It has just now been 7 months since surgery and I have lost 74 lbs. which is not a lot as compared to others who had surgery when I did, but I am still happy with that loos so far. Being on insulin makes it harder to lose the weight, so my PCP told me and he said as long as I was still losing I was doing good. Hopefully, I will be off insulin before too much longer, and I refuse to go back on Lyrica for Fibromyalgia and Neuropathy because it does cause weight gain, when I first went on it , years before RNY surgery, I gained 11 lbs over a week-end. The only thing that  had changed was started the Lyrica., so I definitely do not want that again, if I can keep off it, so far so good. I have no regrets as far as having the surgery goes, ust wish I could have had it sooner. Actually I had my first appt with Dr. Hannon in June'07 and one week later broke my ankle and this year, finally the ortho doctors said they would clear me for the surgery.I go see Dr. Hannon tomorrow (Dec 3rd) for what should have been my 6 mos check=up which ends up actually being 7 months because I had to cancel in Nov. My PCP is really good about checking my labs and staying on top of things. I usually get a copy of them and take to Dr. Hannon for his record.  That's about it for now