Four years out and counting...

Sep 25, 2011

Greetings all!

I know that this profile hasn't been touched in over three years, but I thought I'd give a brief overview of what life has been like 'on the other side' for me for four years after my gastric bypass.

In the beginning, I had my Roux-en-Y bypass to help me lose weight that was associated with having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  Until July 2007, I had been gaining weight steadily despite all the doctor supervised diets I tried; there was once a whopping seven (yes, seven) pound loss once.  Aside from that, I just kept gaining and it seemed as though there was nothing I could do.  Birth control pills, Provera (progesterone pills), and Metformin (glucophage) were all ineffective at regulating the PCOS and so I opted for an extreme answer to the problem: my gastric bypass.

I went to Dr. Afram's office in Washington, D.C. where I was very happy with his services and his staff.  He has so many wonderful people working for him that it made this nervewracking experience so much better.  I felt that I could trust his team and was willing to put my life in his hands.  I have never been dissatisfied with the level of care that I got from these people and highly recommend them to anyone in the DC Metro area who is looking for a reputable and talented surgeon.

Had surgery in July 2007 and had what seems to be a pretty typical bypass experience aside from the constant bleeding and hormonal issues associated with the PCOS.  As of my last post, I had said that I would be seeing another doctor to address the PCOS issues; I saw both an OB/GYN specialist and a reproductive endocrinologist, followed through with treatments, and my life has never been the same since. 

I took the hormonal treatments that were suggested by the OB/GYN  which resulted in putting my ovaries on hyperdrive; I grew several large cysts (one was 6.5cm in diameter while the other that was on the same ovary was 4cm) and hemmoraged to the point that I was so anemic that when I did end up in the ER, they wanted to give me blood transfusions.  At the same time, I was exposed to mononucleosis (Epstein-Barr virus) and contracted it; it went straight to my liver and spleen and wreaked havoc on everything.  I ended up having mono for eleven (yes, eleven) months and hemmoraghed for five months straight.

I was too weak to work and ended up leaving my job and the DC region just as the economy imploded.  I still deal with the financial ramifications of this; three years later, I am still $11,000 in debt from all of the medical expenses incurred despite having good and stable health insurance coverage throughout the entire period. 

Physicians in my new city (I was forced to move back in with my family) may have great credentials but do not have the same philosophies as those in DC.  Here in my new town, I was treated as just another deadbeat who complained of health problems.  Meanwhile, I am working 60 hours per week in addition to pursuing two professional graduate degrees; I am enrolled in both law and business school, have received scholarships for both programs, and have consistently worked at least 2 and as many as 4 part-time jobs at the same time to make ends meet.  But healthwise, I continued to complain of hemorraging and severe pelvic pain that would literally bring me to my knees.

My concerns were dismissed by ER doctors and the only pain management office in the region; the pain management folks gave me pills, suggested I go for physical therapy for back pain I didn't have and when I did arrange for the physical therapy AT THEIR OFFICE WITH THEIR RECOMMENDED THERAPIST, the woman looked at my records and informed me that she had no idea why I had been sent to her and that she had no idea how to help me without the doctor's instructions.  I took her message back to the doctor who said "Well, you have to go.  Also, why don't you come to our Fibromyalgia school to learn to live with your condition".  So apparently, now I have Fibromyalgia.  The Fibro group sessions were held in the middle of the day during my scheduled law school classes and when I told them that and that I was more concerned about making sure that I received the physical therapy that they recommended, they dismissed me and blew me off.  I never returned again.

I ended up being recommended to a wonderful GYN surgeon who recommended pelvic floor physical therapy which I went to religiously for four months.  Unfortunately, it wasn't really successful and we began to explore other options.  The hemorraging continued to be a serious health problem and finally, I was cleared for a hysterectomy.  I had a total hysterectomy and right oopherectomy in March 2011 during Spring Break.  It was very difficult and painful at times, but I was back at school within two weeks.  Since that surgery, my life has improved dramatically.  With the exception of 2 days per month, the pain is gone (I suppose I was correct when I said it wasn't Fibromyalgia in the first place) and I just feel healthier and more alive than I have in years. 

If you've made it this far, you know that most of my health issues are not RnY related.  However, there are a few that are directly related to the bypass such as:

- I am now hypoglycemic.  After eating a meal with a significant number of carbs or high sugar content (e.g. oatmeal, sandwiches with lots of bread, waffles, pancakes, etc.), my blood sugar will go to about 100 and then will drop 1.5-2 hours later into the 40-50 range.  So I shake, sweat, and become disoriented.  I've seen an endocrinologist for this who believes that this is a direct result of the RnY bypass; he has several patients with the same issue.  I now take Metformin daily to keep my blood sugar levels steady and if I miss a pill or am slightly late in taking it, I pay dearly for it.

- My gallbladder finally mutinied and was thrown overboard.  My gallbladder had stones when I had my RnY in 2007 but due to its location, it was too hard to get out.  In July 2010, I put up with increasing abdominal pain for over a week before I gave up and went to the ER where we discovered that it was surrounded by fluid.  Emergency surgery got it right out of there and I was back to giving presentations and traveling across the country less than a week later.  I have had more food sensitivity post-cholecystectomy and occasional chest pain where it used to be, but there have been no major complications from that. 

- I have not experienced much weight gain post-bypass.  My highest weight was 245 and my lowest was 134; the low point occurred two weeks after my hysterectomy when I hadn't been eating solid foods for 2 weeks and in the three months before that, I hadn't eaten much at all as I was dealing with significant stress with the family and the ending of a serious relationship.  My weight tends to hover between 145 and 150 and I'm pretty happy with that; at 134, the excess skin just looked horrible.

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