Aggie_P
From the beginning until Dec 2 2006
Apr 19, 2008
Jan. 18th 2005
I started this journey When I was part of a photography workshop at Zion National Park, back mid November. I was one of the organizer since I had worked at the park during my college years. When I was young, I use to average about 4 to 5 hours of sleep, the rest of the time, either working, or out hiking. I was so in shape, no one could keep up with me. This time, I was overweight, out of shape, and had other problems from all of this that made the whole experince a nightmare of pain. It was the third night of this disaster for me, that I decided enough was enough. I wanted my life back.
Some background on myself, I'm 51, and for most of my life have lived with a strange disease called Hasimotos. It starts as in inbalance in the pituitary gland, which effects the whole endocrine system. Most notably to be effected is the thyroid gland. It makes the thyroid yo-yo. Earliest incident of something not being right was when I was 12. I was to spend the summer with my sister and her family in Utah. All she wanted was a cheap babysitter. Before i left home (Nebraska at the time) she hauled me into our family Dr. and had him put me on diet pills. I was then 4'11" and weighed 138. I was to lose weight down to 96 pounds. My stay ended up being 8 weeks long. during that time I managed to lose 26 pounds. That was not the odd part. I also during that same period of time, grew 8 inches taller. I was 5'7" and weighted 112 pounds when my mother arrived to take me home. But alas according to my family I had not reached the goal weight of 96 pounds, therefore I was deemed fat and slovenly. It didn't matter you could see my ribs on my sides I was so thin. I now know that the height gain was not normal. a couple of inches yes, but not 8 in 8 weeks.
The next incident of strangeness was when I was 18. I had gained the typical freshman 20 when I went away to college. I now weighed a whopping 160. Again I was being belittled by my family (all of which were fat) that I was horrible and severly obese. I with my Danish determination went for three days eating not a thing, but drinking only water. I wanted the weight off. I gained a pound. My mom had my sister once again haul me to a Dr. (we now lived two blocks from my sister in Utah) This new Dr. was not so easily swayed by my sister. He ran a bunch of blood tests and put me through my first of many three hour glucose tolerence tests. It showed I was extremely hypoglycemic, and hypothyroid. I was given a set of things to do to maintian a healthy blood sugar level, and thyroid pills. The weight melted off.
Wehn I got married I weighted 151, and was 5'8" which is normal. My first pregnancy something was wrong, but nothing could be found. I was told to take it easy. I gained 70 pounds, which when I delivered my daughter was found to be about 20 pounds of water. two days after giving burth I had lost nearly 40 pounds of the 70. I did manage to get another 10 off, before the pace of a new mother caught up to me, and I just let it slide.
The second pregnancy was not as easy. This time the suspected problem reared its head big time. I had a heart problem. supposedly at sometime in my life I had rhuematic fever. Like so much of my life, I did not stop for it, and kept going, ignoring going to a dr. Now I was paying for the way I was raised. At 4 1/2 months they put me on heart meds, and told me to relax as much as possible. I was to have a maid do the housekeeping. (I liked that part) I did gaine weight this time. by 6 months it was total bed rest. I compromised with the Dr. and said I would do what I had to do from 8 am to 11 am. That was 3 hours of being active after a full nights rest. Maybe If I had stayed in bed full time I would not have had to have had the emergency c setcion at 8 months. my BP hit 230/190. I obviously survived it. Now I was a whopping 240 pounds. I didn't realize at the time that the darn thyroid had gone out of whack as well.
For the next 20 years, I have battled with endless diets to get this darn weight off. Like others I would lose some, and then gain more. Dr.s would bounce me on and off thyroid meds. Most who would take me off would say "Oh honey you just need prozac instead." Yeah right. mask the troubles and don't take care of them. I at this point went back to college with a goal of being a Dr. myself. I majored in molecular bio chemistry. I learned so much about what goes on in our bodies. I also found out much more about my own disease. I now would not take the normal crap I got fed by Dr.s I even was able to get scores of 13's across the board on my MCAT exam. Most only get from 9 to 11. I had three medical schools call me without applying. When I was hit with blood clots in my legs. The way I had studied had caused me to develop yet another problem. If I was to do medical school, I would have to be on coumedin and probably would still have periodic bouts. My health took precedence since my kids were still in grade school.
Three years ago I met a lady who was nearly 500 pounds. and got around mostly by using a scooter. She tried to tell me it was a family history of Pickwicks syndrom. that had her in the wheel chair. I knew better. She had gained so much weight she had caused the syndrom which is not congenital. the weight pressed down so hard on her lungs she was not able to breathe normally without a tank of oxygen connected. I tried many times to get her to go walking with me, but she had excuse after excuse. She would not watch what she ate, instead ate mass quantities of things that made her diabetes worse. it got to the point I was exasperated after 9 months of trying to help her that I stopped our weekly trips to the movies. a couple of months later she called me, and I let the answering machine pick up. She was in the hospital. She had fallen and broken her hip. She was afraid. I just couldn't bring myself to deal with her and called my hubby to have him call her. All seemed fine, they were going to put in a pin the next morning, and she would be in the hospital for a couple of months. (due to her weight). I figured it was a good place for them to put her on a diet and watch her intake. The next afternoon, her husband called to inform us she had paniced when they were preping her for the surgery and had stopped breathing. she was now on a respirator and in a deep coma. OK, I felt really bad. I had not gone to talk to her when she was scared. I had let my own frustration over her refusing to help herself guide me to ignore her. The worst was a week later when we found out the Dr.s had decided it 3was best to just pull the plug and had advised her husband to do so. I asked if they had done a cat scan and brain activity test. They had not. they said she sweated to much for the electrodes to be connected. I asked about other tests, and no not one single one was done. What had been told to her husband is, that she was so overwieght, if she came out of the coma, she would be bedridden for a very long time. seh would have to go through extensive physical therapy. They doubted she would like being that restricted. Becasue in the end she was overeweight, they were going to let her die. I was so angry I yelled at her husband. He didn't pull the plug then. He waited 2 more months, then finally at 6 pm the night he had decided to do it, called me to come over and see her for the last time. I had avoided this. I didn't know if I could handle it. My husband went with me. We made it to the hosptial by 9 pm. I really was not able to take what I saw. Yes she had gone over 500 pounds by this time, but to see her lying in a special oversized bed, hooked up to tubes, I nearly fainted. Until you are faced with all of this and see what weight can do to a person it is easy to just think I will get around to doing something. I stayed for about 1/2 hour. I lasted longer than my husband thought I would. I cried for the next two weeks, and could not stop during her funeral. I knew I never wanted to get to that point ever. I myself was 280 pounds by then.
I had flown to Washington state for another photography workshop with a very famous photographer 18 months ago. I had not had any troubles with edema before. This time, my feet swelled up and walking was difficult by the end of the day. each morning they were back to normal. this new edema did not go away when I got home. I kept getting worse. 16 months ago I went to my then PCP and she said I just needed a little diuretic. When that didn't help, she had no clue what to do. She also said my blood had too much calcium in it. A red flag went off in my head, but I figured ok, she is young and knows a bit more than I do, so I went along with her pulling me off calcium totally. for the next year I was in so much pain, I finally decided to do something. But I had the Zion workshop coming up.
When I saw my PCP (new one since hubby was laid off and had a new job) Dec. 7th 2004, I was barely able to walk into her office. Blood work up showed I do not have any Vit. D. which casued my body not absorb the calcium. The free floating calcium in the blood was a red flag, but I had figured to let it go. My thyroid was off, and had to be adjusted, and the edema was so bad I looked like I had elephant feet. I was retaining water all the way up to my hips. I felt like a water balloon ready to pop. And I had hit the weight of 328. She figured a good 40 to 50 pounds of it was water retention. Not satisfied with a little diuretic, she gave me two strong ones in combination. I was ready now to tell her I wanted gastric bypass surgery. Before i could say it, she was telling me it would be a good idea if I looked into it. Now that was easy.
I went to the first meeting a week later at Stanford Medical Center and put in all my paper work with them. I was told to be proactive in my treatment and call and make sure everything was going well. I was also to make sure I got all the pre testing done. I made the appointments with the Psychiatrist, and the Nutritionist. then I was to see the dr. on Feb. 11th for the first time. I knew I also had to lose 10% of my weight for the surgery. I was glad since my PCP had documented I weighed 328 and I had already lost 12 pounds by Feb. 11th. There was a discepency between each scale, with Stanfords weighing me 5 pounds heavier than my PCP's ofice. KNowing the difference was possible due to different calibrations, I didn't think a thing of it. I was told that since I had lost almost 5% he would schedule me for April 18th surgery date. Wow, all the pre work of getting they mountain of tests they wantred done had paid off. I only had to se their nurse prc=actioner, on the 3rd of March. I was on my way.
Feb. 24th 2005
My March third appointment was moved up to today. Can I say things were gong too smoothly? Everything is still set for the 18th of April. It is the losing weight thing that I am about ready to spit nails over. The hasimotos when it is down low I lose ounces where normal people lose pounds. Unless I take my calorie intake down to 400 to 500 calories a day, I do not lose like a normal person. My clothes had gotten loose, and the one shirt that I liked, had gotten baggy. Yet when I got on their scale it was only 1 pound lost. Then I was informed I still had 31 pounds to go. Wait one dog gone minute there, I had lost 13 pounds so far and should only have 19 to go. No, They only go by their scale and the initial weight. That is not what the Sr. had said when I met him two weeks previous. Then the condescending crap started. "Oh you just need some guidenance on how to lose weight, I should schdule you for more nutrionist meetings." Well I did get upset at all of this. By the time I had finished, no more nutrionists meetings, and she had been educated about a few things even she had not been taught in college. It was amazing the lack of some fundementals she did not know. She also said she would take a documented letter from my PCP as to the weight loss. If I had known they were going to pull this kind of thing, I would have loaded my pockets with weights, and worn my 10 pound ankle weights.
Feb. 26th 2005
I'm still upset that I have to lose an additonal 12 pounds just becasue of some burecrat. I have been limiting myself to one of the whey protein drinks, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, no fat, and one 16 ounce portion of V* tomato juice per day. I will get this damn weight off. I can hang in here maybe a good 6 weeks, before I will want to eat the paint off walls. Monday I will talk to my PCP about upping my thyroid meds a bit for the next 6 weeks to help on that end too. My heart functions are fine. In fact the tests they made me take showed I had a heart most atheletes would be envious of. It has never been I over eat and eat the wrong things, it is an inability to stay at the low calorie amount that is needed to lose this weight. I also for the last 2 days have been walking 5 miles, and working out on my total gym for an hour each day. This is making me wrack myself out in pain each day, but I am stubborn, I will live through this and get that darn surgery that will help to make this whole thing easier. I don't drink sodas, I drink bottled water. I'm one of those strange people who likes water. I love veggies, I always have. I don't care that much for most fruits, but I love berries. I'm a true omnivore, and eat meat. I will miss my sushi while my body goes through all of this change. My big down fall was good homemade breads. Those I can do without, knowing that i will get to where I need to be. The holding pattern I'm in for knee replacements may be pushed off for decades now instead of just a year or two.
Next spring, mid May, a group of us photographers are going to go for 3 to 4 weeks to France and Spain. I want to be down so that I will not worry about holding the others up while they wait for me to slowly set up my cameras. I also want to purchase a slinky new dress in Paris. Might even have to get some french perfume to go with it.
March 3rd 2005
Well today was not a good day. I had been assured that my insurance was approved. I come to find out this morning that no it has been denied. Why? Turns out the meeting I had with Anna Peters last Thursday I should have been upset about. As if I wasn't. She submitted the paper work that afternoon after I left come to find out. I was orginally scheduled to meet with the surgeon Dr. Morton, and it turned out to be Anna Peters. The report that went into the insurance company was deneid based supposedly on an evaluation made by the psychiatrist at Stanford. Supposed I'm in non compliance with three things. One I am in non compliance with attending support meetings. Which is funny since I attend them locally instead of the over 200 mile round trip drive it would take to attend the ones at Stanford. I guess attending support meetings if they are not run by Anna Peters at Stanford are no good. Second I am in non compliance with the nutrionist meeting. I have gone to their nutrionist. but Ann Peters thinks I should attend a series of meetings run by the nutrionist and guess who, herself Anna Peters. Third, since I am upset and you can read previous reports about my hassles with Anna and the losing the 10% weight prior to surgery. has me listed as non compliant with weight loss. Well over the weekend I restricted my calorie intake further and also went from 1 to 2 hours of exercise to nearly 8 and the small plateau I had hit was over. I am down a good 6 pounds just this past week. Which since my home scale is calibrated to match my PCP is only 12 pounds off from the needed weight loss. but again I'm in non compliance with weight loss requirement and I still have over 6 weeks until my scheduled surgery date. I doubt that will happen now.
Once I calmed down a bit I thought about it. Robin Apple the psychiatrist, was happy with what I was doing, and said she was going to write a report to my surgeon reccomending surgery. At no time did she have me weigh or did she ask me about my weight loss. I also was not asked about my nutrionist meeting by her. Something was not adding up. It also seems strange that a psychiatrist would be concerned over weightloss and doing a follow up report without seeing me. But and that is a big but, Anna Peters was concerned about all three. It didn't matter to her how many times I told I was doing the weight loss, it didn't matter to her how many times I talked about the support group meetings. it didn't matter how many times I told her about nutrionist meetings other than this I have attended, or how mcuh I had learned about the body and proper nutrition while getting my degree (94) in molecular bio chem. I could tell her how the body reacts to each chemical compound introduced. At no time did she listen to me. She was too concerned telling me how much she loved Bariatrics. I have come to the firm belief now that it is not bariatrics she loves, it is the power she weilds over peoples lives. It is the control she has over people like you and me that she exercises.
First thing I did was call the new patient coordinator. No one is in the office today. Second was to call one of the guys I met in Dr. Mortons office and see what his experiences were with Anna. Come to find out he had similar things to say. She even threw an ink pen across the examing room at him and his mother. He told me to file a greivence with the hospital about Anna Peters.
I then called the administration number at the hospital, and later in the day got a response back. Martha Platt is wonderful to deal with. Both she and I are wondering what the orginal and only report from the psychiatrist says. I have a request in for a copy of that report. I will be going over to Stanford tomorrow to pick it up in person. I am under a deadline and I have to have my eviedence ready to send off for an appeal to my insurance company.
I have sent off emails to many on here who have gone to Stanford and had Dr. Morton as their Surgeon. I am waiting for emails back from them.
I have called my PCP, and will have them weigh me again in the Am. They can then fax over the numbers and have it verified and signed by the PCP as to what my weight loss really is.
If the report from the psychiatrist tomorrow shows she did not make the statments that were attributed to her via the report Anna Peters sent in, I will have the local authorities follow through on a person making fraudulent statements to an insurance company in the capicity of a medical provider. I can handle delays if they are warrented. I do not handle outright lies and fraud. I do not think we as a group of people should have to deal with this on top of all the hoops we are made to go through to get this surgery.
I'm upset hurt about the lies, and frustrated. I have to wait for the written denial snail mail letter from the insuracne company to arrive. Only then can I do the formal letter to start the appeal process that can only be done by snail mailing it back in. It is slow and can take months. To say I am angry is an understatement. I wish people would tell the plain truth! Is that too much to ask for from a medical person? If I had not gone this far with this facility, I would seek this surgery elsewhere, and let everyone I know what kind of games are played at Stanford. Maybe Martha as the patient care handler can do something. If it is found Anna is behind a fradulent report, I feel that it should be Dr. Morton himself, (who I have never met in person) that has to make a call to the insurance company and fax them the real report. He should do everything to his ability to rectify this fiasco.
March 10th 2005
Well like my husband warns people, do not make me angry. I'm perfectly calm right now. Of course the Stanford administration customer care people are scurrying, the Dr's office is scurrying, Anna Peters is trying to shift blame, the insurance company has a headache now dealing with my hubbies internal insurance over sight committee. It has been established by more than just me, that things reek. Anna has admitted now that the only reason the nutrionist meetings were being demanded were due to my not losing weight. Well she got faxed the correct weight loss from my PCP, and still tried to say I needed to send it to her. Well the Admin person at the hospital was not amused over that. So two of the 3 non compliance issues vanished with that. Next came the non compliance with the group support meetings. Which I pointed out was not a problem in the psychatrists letter. Especially since I had her hand written instructions to me, to "continue" doing as I was doing. I am just sitting back and letting everyone runn and deal with the fiasco. They upset me, now they are paniced.
As a medical practioner, Anna Peters should never have done what she did. We as patients have enough to deal with, without someone purposely obstructing our approval process. How many of us have been down the road of going to a nutritionist previous? How many of us have flagging self esteem issues? It should not be assumed just becasue we have a weight problem we are automatically stupid, and liars. We expect our care givers to listen to us not make assumptions without listening. We expect our care givers to ask the proper questions to substantiate what needs to be addressed. We expect to be treated fairly and as human beings.
What was most gratifying when I went over to Stanford to pick up the reports, was what happened in the medical records department. At first they wanted to deny me access to the psych eval. I just plopped down my bag and sat down saying I was there for the duration even if it took weeks. They could just lock the door on me at night when they left. I had the report in 15 minutes. Next Martha Platt showed up. While we were talking another lady entered the records department to get copies of her things. She overheard us discussing my problem. Then she asked, "Are you talking about Anna Peters?" We said we were, and she next said, "That lady needs serious counseling, she doesn't know how to deal with people. She should not be allowed to deal with the public." I could have hugged her. Nothing like independant confirmation of what you were saying.
When I called on Tuesday to see what was happening with everything, I found that both the contact person at the IBM employee support services dealing with this, and Martha Platt were now on a vacation. A new person in each office were now dealing with the problems. I was assured that yes they were working hard to get the approval done, and would keep on it. While I wanted to know also what was being done about the person who had casued all of this. I do not thing that her falisfying an insurance request direct to the insurance compnay should be just taken care of with a slight slap on the wrist and some counseling. She is and was out of control. Her subsequent actions on trying to defelct responsibility and blame others should be viewed as non compliance with reasonable work ethics. I strongly feel she should be reasigned to a different department where she does not have to deal directly with the public, or fired. Bariatrics does not need her kind humilating and brow beating patients.
On a different note I have only 9 pounds of the 32 left to lose. I have over 5 weeks to go, and I'm sure I can make that.
March 17th 2005
Well I was all set for another round of dealing with the insurance company, and the hopsital. Seems my case manager at the insurance company decided not to deal with me again, and had it known I was to deal with the appeals department not her. She had someone else give me the appeals departments direct number (the insured are not to have this number) I was then routed to the case manager in the appeals department. She was not there, so I did the next thing, and go over her head to her supervisor. That person said she would have my case manager call me within the 1/2 hour. 10 minutes later she wazs calling me, and let me know I had been approved. In a way it was a let down, I was so ready to fight today. Now all I have to do is deal with the one rogue nurse who caused this mess to happen. I do not want to see this treatment happen to another patient. She is weilding her power over peoples lives, and that is not right. She also fradulently sent in altered documents to the insurance company. That is a felony. That should never be allowed when dealing with the public. We as the patients have to suffer the stress and chaos this brings to our lives.
I am now down to where I have only 7 pounds left to lose. I found out that the scales I had were inaccurate. Nothing like taking a lage piece of metal and placing it over the top of the wretched devise, then driving a big $X$ over it several times to make you feel so much better. I just needed to take all this pent up anger and frustration out on something, and that poor scale, was the victim of my wrath. Of course I had ordered a new scale several days ago, which should be showing up any day now.
I have learned one thing valuable with dealing with my body. I can't go on low calories, without augmenting it with major protein. So 1 protein drink, (isopure with nonfat milk, and added powedered non fat milk) That is a whopping 61 grams of protein in a 12 ounce drink containing 430 calories. I just nibble at small things other than that main drink. I stay under 600 calories, and that has jump started the weight loss again. Good thing the surgery is in one month from tomorrow. I do not think I could handle this style of eating without the aid of that surgery. I know that the water intake will not be a problem. I am so addicted to water drinking. I have been my whole life.
March 28th 2005
Three weeks to go until the journey starts. I got a call this morning from my insurance company. The orginal lady who called to tell me of the denial wanted to make sure that I knew I was approved. This is only 11 days later. Funny thing is I still have not gotten the orginal denial letter or the subsquent approval letter. I did find out and this is for all those who have BC/BS, they are required by law to do a fast turn around on the appeals process. They have to give an answer within 24 hours of receipt of the appeal paper work. Nice to know this since I have read many profiles where the appeal process people drag their feet for weeks if not months. The rest of the conversation centered on the insurance comapny now wanting to monitor how well I am treated and my progress. The lady is going to call me the day before surgery to make sure everything has been taken care of. She is also calling after surgery to see that I am doing fine and do not need any major post op services like being readmitted. They will be calling me frequently to as she said, "make sure You are all right!" They even offered to send a home health nurse to take care of me daily until I recover. It is not in my policy, and yet they said I didn't have to worrry about paying for that, they want me to succeed. Their back peddling on all of this is being done so hard it is leaving ruts in the pavement. I have am ample posterior for them to kiss if they are so inclined. They had better hurry because the target will be shrinking.
It is beginning to sink in that I am going to have the surgery. I have been deligently reading everyones profiles and gleaning little helpful tidbits. I have my suitcase open and half filled with things i will be taking with me. I have my hubbies noise cancelling headphones and several unabridged books on tape, plus a bunch of magazines to thumb through. If I get really bored I have my cell phone and can call the guys I am working with on the magazine, and do some work. I have found several different protein flavors I like, and searched for items not containing soy or aspertame. The soy renders my thyroid meds ineffective. Aspertame I rememberr well from all my college chemistry classes. Breaks down into its compnent parts at 84 degrees F. One is wood alcohol and the other is strychinine. They may be minute amounts, but they cause other problems in the body. I just do not need more problems. Even now they are doing studies that confirm it has the same effect on the body as sugar. I could have told them that. It is one amino acid in overdose amounts. If you over do on one item, it will cause the rest o go out of whack trying to stabilize out.
The more you ingest the worse it gets. Best to just avoid it in the first place. My cupboards are stocked with at least 2 months of liquid or soft items for me to eat. My son's college courses are such that i will only have about 1 to 2 hours a day where i won't have someone around. My PCP has dealt with many WLS patients so she is cognizant of our needs. I have support locally and internationally from friends and relatives. I have read everything I could get my hands on. I have planned my post op exercise plan to take me in stages through adjusting to the sugery and getting back into the routine of exercising. I also have to be back in full form health wise by July since I have my first major conference in Santa Fe the weekend following the 4th. I know I can do it. I make a mule look compliant and sweet when I kick in my stubborn streak.
April 9th 2005
I had my preop meetings with the surgeon and anathesiologist yesterday. I thought and was led to believe it was going to be a short little appointment with the surgeon to go over things prior to surgery, and then on to meet with the anathesiologist. The dr's appointment was supposed to be at 8AM and the anatehsiolgoist at 12:15pm. I was wrong about that. At 8:20 I was taken in and weighed by the nice nurse. Then shown to an exam room. About 10 minutes later Anna came in to say that IF i would like they were going to have a leasture, and then the surgeon was coming in to talk to all of us. After that the surgeon would talk to all of us individually. I asked what happened to the dr's appointment I was there for? and why all of a suddent he change to a lesture? She just said If I would like to attend then I could, but everyone else was going to be at it. Strangeness again, that had me wopndering what was going on, and why the big delays from the appointed time. It turned into first a small lecture given by the infamous Nurse, Anna. In attendance were two other ladies, who just happened to be from my same area, (and we all live with in miles of each other) two hospital customer care (adminsitration) people, my hubby, another ladies hubby, and myself. The other two ladies are not due to have their surgery until the week following mine. No one from the same week that I am was there. In fact the lady I met last time I was at the dr.'s office, who is scheduled for her preop stuff the same day (yesterday) was not there, Originally we were going to carpool to the dr's office, but my hubby had things to do after that were to take us up to San Francisco later. I really wondered when she didn't arrive at the meeting. I also wondered why all the people who were to have surgery the same week as me, on the 18th and 19th of April were not there. This lecture didn't start until nearly 9 am. So much for having an 8 am appointment. Something was fishy about the whole meeting. I noticed the meeting consisted of things that had been mentioned to us previously, and we were only told one real bit of information that we had not previously received. That was about the prescriptions our dr. would require us to take afterwards for 6 months. One to prevent ulcers, one to prevent problems with the gall bladder, and also a pain medication if we need it. All of which could have been told to us by the surgeon when we finally met with him. After this meeting that lasted over an hour, the surgeon came in and told us what exactly would be happening to our bodies, and the moratlity rate and risks. He was impressive and was consise with no faltering. The hospital customer care people left before he came in. Which also makes me wonder about their attendance. Once the group meeting was finished, we were led to individual exam rooms where we were to meet with the dr. one on one. Now this is what is funny also, the two ladies at this meeting with me, who have surgery the week after me, were called the day before, supposedly under the pretense the surgeon was going to be gone on Friday the 15th. They had to reschedule their meetings for yesterday so they could get all of their things done. If this is the case, Why would I be the only person having surgery on the week of April 18th through 24th? Why would only 2 people be having surgery on the week of April 25th through May 1st? Again something is not adding up. I do know that they are very busy and have a long waiting list of people scheduled for the procedures. Where were all the people that should ahve been there? I was able to see the surgeon finally after a long wait (nearly 11 am). Which was funny since I was the one with the first schedule appointment of the day. He is very nice, and I feel at ease having him do the surgery. I have spent the past 4 months researching out everything I could find about this surgery, pestering friends who have had it, and reading boards like this website. I also have tried many many of the protein supplements and found a few I like. I have found other sources of protein rich items that are easy to digest after surgery ie jello. I also found where I could obtain these items the cheapest. I had no real questions for the suregeon except about my throid and imtrex meds after surgery. Since they are very small pills, he sees no problems with them. The other question threw him, "Does the hosptial have wifi?" No one had ever asked him that before. The teaching part of the hospital does, but he didn't know if the whole hospital did. It made him laugh. I also found out he likes photography so we have some common ground. For my first real meeting with him, I remain as impressed as when I saw him at his introductory lecture. Everyone on his staff, save the one nurse is extremely nice, and helpful. The anathesiologist meeting was fun, I also noticed that he didn't stay in the rooms with other people when they had to have their blood drawn, but he stayed the complete time with me. Again this is strange.
It has also been deemed that since I have a history of blood clots, and my sister died of a pulmonary embolism, that I should have the greenfield filter put in. I really don't want to do this, but I know it is for my own good. That proceedure is scheduled for April 15th. They also want me there at 6:30 an. Couldn't they do that one at a civilized hour? Oh well, I will not make waves, and do what I am supposed to do, like I have all along.
Now I want to documment my concerns about the hospital and what is happening on the front of Anna. I know I have mentioned a few things above. But I want to go over them again since I know this may end up being taken to legal ends.
1. I am concerned that Customer Care had to be at a meeting I had not been told would be held.
2. Where were the others to have surgery the same week as myself? Especially since another lady I know is schedule for the same day as I am. She even had the same preop meeting with the dr. schedule for 1/2 hour after mine.
3. Why was Anna so syrupy sweet to me this time? She went so far as to come out to the reception room where the appointments are made to tell me if I had time next Friday to come over and just pop into the clinic and say hi. Complete turnaround from her abrupt, non caring, yelling belittling attitude she had the time before. In fact she had the same negative behavior at the introductory meeting back in Dec. once Dr. Morton left. (He had to leave early)
4. Is Anna gong to remain nice to people other than myself? She has a history of picking on people indiscriminately.
5. What else is the hospital doing to take care of the problem of Anna falsifying a report to the insurance company? Should I continue on to take this matter to the police and the medical boards?
6. Knowing all of the problems resulting from Anna, did the dr. not mention her to me and his concerns about the problems?
7. Why didn't Martha Platt attend the meeting instead of sending in her subordinates?
8. Why was I sent a bill for my medical records I picked up in March ($151) that they at the time I picked them up said there was no charge for them? I received that bill on Wednesday of this past week.
I plan on dealing with all of these matters further after my surgery. I want to make it through this with no further impediments. I went through hell to get the weight off to the point of my fasting to the degree I passed out twice from low blood sugar. I resorted to unsafe measures to ensure that the weight would be off in the time scale dictated by said Anna. I didn't care after all the crap she put me through that the dr.s had commented that if I was off a couple of pounds it would be ok. I was going to do it, and by the meeting I had yesterday. I wanted no option given to justify the false reporting Anna made back in Feb. If losing weight was easy, I would not be doing this surgery. It took me 4 months and drastic measures to get the 32 pounds off. I exceeded that goal by 2 pounds, and as of now have lost 34. With the procedure on Friday coming up, I know I will lose weight from that, and the day before preps for both the greefield filter and the surgery. So I figure if I stick to a sensible diet and such, I might be down another 2 pounds by the time I go in for surgery.
I look back to mid Feb. and how I thought this had been an easy and painless process to go through to have everything set up and approved. WRONG. The stress, the migraines, the unsafe measures I went through to make sure the weight was off should not have happened. It had my family scared that I was going to have serious problems health wise even before I had the surgery. I will also go back to eating about 900 calories a day so I can have a bit more to eat this last week before surgery. The 400 to 500 a day was very hard to do, but I did it for 2 months. It would be nice to have one last normal meal before I do this. I have not had a normal meal in 4 months. That is not to say go out and pig out, I just mean a normal meal. One where I can have a bit of meat, some veggies, and maybe something other than water to drink, it can even be sugar free. I don't care about desserts, I don't care if it has carbohydrates, just a normal meal for me. Anna nearly tipped me into a pychological need to become anorexic, and if it had not worked to get the weight off, I would have resorted further to throwing up, laxatives, and added measures to strip more water off than the normal diuretics the dr. had me on. My family lived with me crying and screaming at the scales. The anger that ended up spilling over to the family becasue of the frustrations at all the work I was doing to lose the weight. The lost nights of sleeping becasue I was anxious about not meeting the weight loss goal prior to surgery. I even contimplating doubling up on my thyroid meds to help speed up my metabolism, but I could not risk the delicate balance i had acheived after 38 years of hell to get that thyroid statis established. I still feel I need to exceed everything Anna said I wouldn't be able to do. I do not know if in the future I will lose sleep over her. I do know the thought of being around her yesterday raised my BP to high. It normally unless I am stressed is in the normal range.
I plan on getting my protein in after surgery and the water that I love will not be a problem. Isopure powdered has 50 grams a portion which is mixed in 8 oz. of either water or non fat milk. with the non fat milk that adds another 8 grams of protein, and if you fortify it with non fat powedered milk, it gives it another 8 grams. That is a whopping 66 grams of protein in 8 oz. I find I like it a little less thick, so I add another 4 oz.s of non fat milk. that increases it to 70 grams total for 12 ounces. I have it figuresd out how to proportion it our for 3 4oz meals. So as long as while I am on the full liquids I can get in my protein in smaller does with just the above. Dr. Morton wants me to do 4 meals a day, with no snacks, which is fine. I am set for protein drinks to last me if I did nothing else for the first 3 months. All the vitamins and minerals are stocked up on. I found the bariatric multi vitamins are the most complete and the similar dosage as the mega multi vitamins my endocinologist has me on. Flintsones was just not complete enough. I also found that the bariatric advantage chewable calcium is made with no sugar added hursey's chocolate. It tastes like I am cheating. Sipper sweets when you do a google search has raspberry lemonade that is very good, and no sugar. Plus it has one gram of protein per 8 oz. No aspertame either. My family likes it so much they want me to get a lot more of it. Da Vinci syrups have no sugar and are very good. The chai tea is not a good substitue for starbucks. I had to add a lot of powdered milk to get it to not overpower non fat milk.
April 13th 2005
I called the clinic on Monday to have them fax over the prescriptions to our pharmacy connected to the insurance. Any script over 3 months in duration has to be done mail order. If I had not made that call, I would never have known that they had changed the date for the greenfield filter. It was scheduled for Tuesday the 12th. No one had called me to let me know. Hubby and I scrambled to get our schedules changed so we could be at the hospital the next day.
Stanford needs to have some of its nurses take classes concerning how to deal with patients. I was in a preop roon with four others. I was all prepped and ready to go for the 10 am procedure to have the greenfield filter put in. I watched all the others leave, then a few new ones arrive. One lady across from me returned after her proceedure. I had not had a meal for a while, nor anything to drink a while. watching her drink juice and eat lunch was getting to me. At 12:30 pm hubby went out to see what was holding things up. My nurse came in and snippily told me, "They are backed up, and will get to you when they are able to." Then she left. I watched as nurse after nurse and even intern after intern came in to talk to the one other lady waiting to be taken up to the surgery unit. She was being informed of what was going on, and a possible time when the delay would be over. She was scheduled for 11 am. At 2 pm the schdule board in front of the nurses station was checked, and I wasn't even listed. The other lady showed 1 person ahead of her. Just after 3 pm I finally hit the limit of patience. Just as i was going to get out of bed and march up with my IV trailing to the nurses station, one of them came in to tell me that they were on their way down to get me. Good news, but I wasn't seeing anyone. I waited, and half an hour later a guy showed up to take the other lady upstairs. I was really not amused. I was vocal about it too. I was on the floor gathering the back of the breesy gown up, when the man wheeled the other lady back into her space, and came over to me. He had the wrong person. I was the one he was after. Yet the idiot had checked his clipboard, called in on a cell phone, and looked at her ID bracelet. Yeah right. I have a feeling someone had blown it, and when I started yelling and getting out of bed, there were a few paniced people double checking finally.I finally had it put in at 4:30 pm. I was relased at 8pm. At least we missed the rush hour traffic. 2 hours later, I was home in bed, and sound asleep.
Today I feel like a horse kicked my neck. and my throat is sore on top of it. I know it is from being so dry. When ever I have not drunk enough with the duiretics I am on, (which I skipped yesterday) I get this darn sore throat. It hurts to swallow, so despite the pain, I am drinking to get rid of the sore throat. I know this pain will fade. It was all from them having to push so hard while they were doing the procedure, and I forgot to tell them I am one of those that bruises easily. I have the nice technicolor array to prove it today. Which is fun since this is warming weather, and I feel I need a turtleneck to cover it up.
The nurse I had in the post op room was great. In facvt she is thinking about having WLS also. We talked for a bit about it, and she is going to look into it.
Today, it is hitting me that it is only days until I do the surgery. I woke up wondering what the hell I was doing. I fought to get this procedure, now I'm getting aprehensive about the whole thing. I just have to remind myself of the wall I hit last fall when this darn weight kept me from doing what i needed to do at the workshop.
April 23rd 2005
I'm on the other side. Not what I expected. I gues being 51 instead of 31 having a c section means you don't bounce as well. I got there early since the traffic around San Francisco bay is unreal if we waited one more hour it would take us 3 extra hours to drive the same distance. We were all checked in and waiting at 7:45 am. I was not due to be there until 10 am. I went over to the clinic on the first floor of the hospital and weighed myself. I was offically 292 on that scale, which definately puts me losing more than 10% by their darn scale. At home It was 290. In the surgical prep room, I weighed 287 on their scale. nice to know that mine weigh only 2 pounds less that the surgeons office.
At 10:45 they called me into the surgery prep room. I changed, and then had to answer and sign lots of papers. Finally the anathesiologist came in to hook me up. No luck, after 5r sticks he gave up and the senior anatesiologist did it in less than 20 seconds. They had to hurry by this time since the OR was waiting on me. I got in there, and on the table, they were talking and the next thing I remember was in the recovery room. I kept saying vomit and pain. They told me no meds until I took deep breaths. I took deep breaths, and would nod off again. Then they told me to wake and deep breathe again. Finally they gave me a pain shot, and I was wheeled into my room. It might have been due to me telling them off and saying if I could get out fo the damn bed, I would walk home.
I was in my room by 6pm. my roommate had a whole crowd of noisy people, talking and laughing. Cell phones were going off, and they would turn the tv volumn up very loud. She was supposed to take the fleet enema drink, and drink it slowly. She would not listen and would chug it. This caused her to vomit it all up. They then would have to get another does and start all over. I lost count after three times. At 10pm I asked to be changed to a different room. I was refused. They did say that visiting hours were over at 8pm, and that her room full of people would have to leave. Finally they gave her a suppository type of laxative. At midnight she started to need the bathroom. Every few minutes she was ringing the nurse and yelling for them to come take her to the bathroom. When she got in to the toilet she would not sit down, she would stand, and this made a huge mess. Then she complained that they had to get someone in there right now to clean it up. She would walk out and wash her hands, but refuse to take her IV stand with her. The nurse kept telling her she had to take it with her or it would rip out. she didn't care, she was so determined she had to wash her hands before touching the pole. Needles to say I had no sleep all night.
Next morning the med students, interns, and residents all came in a herd. Great bunch of kids. My roommate was discharged about 9 am. and I was taken shortly after that for my leak test. On the way there I felt really nauseous. by the time I got there, I wanted to wait a few minutes to let my tummy settle first. They didn't care. If I didn't do it right at that moment, they would have to take me back to my room. So I figured if I stood up and puked, they could clean it. Then they couldn't get the darn machine to work. Being who I am, I did comment on it was a shame I couldn't send them back to their rooms for not doing it right now! By the time I was back in my room, I was feeling really rotten. They brought me lunch of clear liquids. I had a few sips, and that was it. the rest of the time was a haze. I was not hitting my morphine pump. I had stopped using it about 9 pm the night before. I started to throw up blood. not small amouts either. I couild not reach the call button which was on a counter top out of reach. I yelled a couple of times, but no one came even though they walked right by my bed. I got a new roommate, and she tried calling for me. No one thaought anything of me throwing up blood. Hubby arrived mid afternoon and he went out and demanded i get help, cause by this time, I was continually throwing up blood. That is when they started to measure the amount. I had after this point thrown up over 32 oz of blood. Someoen gave me a shot in the IV to stop the vomiting. My dr. came, and I barely remember them trying to wake me up to ask me questions. I was cold, numb, and so very tired. I thought it was 6 am, but it was 6pm. Slowly I came out of it. They ran all sorts of tests, and could find no reason for the copious amounts of blood. They were going to wait until the next day to see if they needed to go back in and fix something.
Wednesday was much better. I even got up and took a shower. I walked the halls, and sat on the side of the bed most the day. That night the dr came in again and said I was doing remarkable and I could go home the next day.
I would suggest anyone who has a long ride home after this sugery, get a nice firm pillow to hold to your tummy. Forget about the seatbelts as well.
I've only been sleeping and walking around in the house a lot. I was allowed to graduate on Friday to full liquids after i successfully farted and pooped. For those that don't know, the first time you have a bowel movement will be mostly blood again. Just think where a lot of it has to go. Of course it was Anna that had to be the gate keeper on this part of it. I also said since I will be there in two weeks for my first checkup, I thought having the greefield filter taken out at that time would be good since it saved me a trip. This is when everything goes south again. The dr. who put it in said that would be good if it could be scheduled by my surgeons office. We had had a nice chat before it was inserted about how it was temporary and only meant for one month. The Dr. (morton) when he ordered it wanted it to only be temoprary. Dr. Sanchez when when he gave the orders to discharge me on Thursday alsoagreed that doing it on the 6th of May would be a good thing. NOT according to Anna, who said it was permeanat and was to stay in. I can already see the hassle this is going to be. I will start on Monday calling customer care and have them contact Dr. Morton and Sanchez and the Cardiologist, to see what can be done about scheduling it for the 6th. I just know that Anna will never pass on the request since she all of a sudden took on her former she was boss and no you do not listen to the dr's you listen to her attitude again. Why that woman will not listen to the Dr's is beyond me.
Like most hospitals, the nursing staff is not to quick to answer a call. I had my room right next to the nurses station and could hear them talking as if I was right next to them. I was lucky the vomiting of blood was not more serious. It is not normal to do what I was doing, and thye ignored it until my hubby got in their face and demanded I be taken care of. Even the surgeon was pissed at them for not letting him know right away, but I survived.
May 15th 2005
I waited a week after my over 2 week post op check up with my surgeon to post here. I needed the time to calm down. The tests they ran in the hospital all came out negative for problems due to my vomiting so much blood. The dr. literally just shrugged the episode off as nothing and something that happens every once in a while. If that were true I would haver read about it here in all of these profiles. Not once in the hundreds that I have read (more like a thousand) has anyone had this happen. The people I asked in the chat room have not heard of this before. Having some knowledge of medicine I know it was not normal. My hubby told me that the cadre of dr's that showed up after he complained finding me semi comatose, all were worried that it was something major, and that I might have had a drug interaction. To my knowledge that is one thing that was not checked on me. I still want some plausibe answers to this. It is not what should be brushed away as just what happens. That and not once have i heard word one about what was being done to investigate why the nurses ignored me. I did lodge a formal complaint.
I was also upset that after all I had been through I had only lost after my body stabilized a whopping 2 pounds according to the dr's scale in 18 days. It stayed like that for a couple more days. I had to remind myself of the hell of a diet I put myself through to loose the weight that was demanded of me before hand. I had hit a plataeu right out of surgery. I should have pigged out the few days before surgery so I would hafve jumpstarted the losing again.
About Tuesday of this past week things happened. I have since lost 26 pounds in a matter of days. about 3 pounds or more a day. Yet I am eating the same things and getting the protein vitamins, and liquids I am supposed to get. I can't complain about that. I am also on the mush stage. I love soups with beans and chicken. A good stick blender and I am set.
I have a few mini goals that I want to hit along the way. Sort of a stair step downward.
261 - this is the weight I was when I had the blood clots in SLC
253 - this is the weight I was when my last baby was born in
1984
228 - will have lost 100 pounds combined with pre op loss
213 - this is the weight I got down to after the birth in 1988
192 - I will no longer be obese
190 - I will have lost 100 pounds since surgery
163 - I will no longer be overweight
153 - weight I was when I got married
145 - weight I was in HS when everyone thought I was so fat
140 - the weight I am shooting for. This is what a dr. long
ago said I should weigh.
As of today, I am 1 pound from hitting my first goal. I weighed 262 this morning. I wanted to lose 32 pounds the first month, which is three days away, and 4 pounds away. I don't know if I can make that one, but I am darn close.
I would like to be at 228 by July 7th. That is when I go on my first road trip to Santa Fe NM. I have a big photography conference. A lot of those people will only remember me when I was 328.
July 25th
Oh the pl;ans we make for ourselves. First my scale was broken. The massive loss I hzd in my last post didn't happen. once I got a new scale I was only down a few pounds. When I went to the Doc at 8 weeks to be checked again, I had only lost 16 pounds since surgery. I lost more before surgery dieting. To say I was upset is the understatement of the century! My ankles were more swollen than they had ever been, I couldn't get my watch on, forget about wearing my wedding ring. I was having difficulty walking that I hadn't had like this before surgery. Instead of crying I pointedly asked the dr. about putting me back on diuretics. He said of course. Well wonders of wonders the small dose stopped the massive bloating from continuing, but didn't get rid of the increase. So I slowly by myself increased the dose of the two, not just the one back up to what I was pre surgery. I kept track of my water retention to make sure I was not going to far. So far it has gotten rid of most of the water retention, but there is a small residual amount. I increased my water intake to at least 80 ounces per day. Not only do I take the lasix, but I take the spironolactone since it is potassium binding. That way I know my potassium levels will be ok. That combo of water pills did the trick. I am now losing the weight. Since that time I have dropped quite a bit. In 5 weeks I have now dropped 28 pounds, most of which was just plain water retention weight. I will take it any way I can lose it. I am happy now that I have hit 246.0 as of this morning. I see the dr. again this Friday. Maybe I will be down a couple more pounds by then.
If it had not been for this surgery, I would have said long ago to F it and given up. No turning back once it is done. That and given my pre and post eating habits, I have not changed much. I never really ate that much. I could gain not eating all day, just drinking water. Now at least I am losing slowly but steadily. Where most diet foods are geared around sweets, I was not and still am not a sweets eater. I crave salt and sour. Dill pickles have been a life saver for me. I know there is a lot of sodium, but since I have low sodium levels, that is not a problem for me. Why is it that there are not a lot of good crunchy salty things for WLS people to eat? Guess it is time for me to experiment in the kitchen. I have found that I do like slasa's. My homemade salsa is good for my cravings for salt. I know I am not according to my doc, supposed to have raw veggies at this point, but I cheat in this area. I can't eat that much of it to matter I hope. Besides no problems with tummy, and I am losing weight so all must be ok. When the 6 month oratorium set by my doc is over for raw veggies, bread, and red meat, I want a nice salad. I miss my salads.
I have reached a point that if you offer me another of those damn protein drinks I will puke. I add extra powdered milk to my non fat milk to enrich it. I make sure that I eat and chew at least 2 to 3 ounces of as lean fish or chicken a day. I have gotten hooked on a morning boost from a drink called Achieve One. It is a coffe drink like those little starbucks drinks in the grocery stores. There is no fat, no sugar and 20 grams of protein in each one. I have had no problem with managing to get in at least 60 grams if not more of protein a day.
Hubby is getting shamed into realizing he also needs to do some serious dieting. I had a photographer friend show up from Calgary Canada. We were walking around in San Francisco, and Dan (hubby) could not continue for long. His feet and back hurt him so badly that he found a bench to sit on and we had to go get my car so we could get him home. Yet most the time he had sat on benches as we would leave some of our camera gear with him and take off down streets to photograph. I didn't think about all the walking, I was enjoying myself, and probably walked at least 5 miles while hubby sat for most of it. The next day I took off on a long hike with the photographer around the Golden Gate bridge area. I look back and hiking at sea level is no problem for me now. I know I have a bit of trouble at altitude, but that is more of an adjustment problem than anything. Santa Fe the altitude sickness I use to laugh at others for, hit me hard the first two days.
Oct. 4th 2005
It will be six months since surgery in two weeks. I have now lost in grand total 105 pounds. 38 which was lost pre surgery. which makes it only 67 pounds since surgery. It's extremely slow. So for those who think they are not losing fast enough when they can lose over 12 pounds a month, think again. I have worked hard to lose what I have lost. Yes the surgery for me works, since it keeps me on the diet. I can't turn back in frustration and raid the refrigerator. I tried that and was in so much pain until I threw up that I never want to go through that again. I only managed to eat on thin slice of pot roast a couple of nights ago to bring on that pain. Never again.
On a positive note, I have so much energy. My family wants me to calm down and take it easy. I have no time for easy. I am out hiking and such all the time. Especially since we recently moved to Southern Utah. I worked hard on that move, and was able to do it all. I have found that now that fall is here, I freeze so easily. while hubby and son think it is pleasant, my teeth are chattering. This is a small price to pay when giving up that insulation I had.
Oct. 18th
It's offical. 6 months today. The small plateau that comes all the time has broken, and I am losing about a pound to 2 pounds a day. If the pattern holds, I will lose 5 to 6 pounds in 3 to 4 days, then be stuck again for another 2 weeks or longer. Oh well Like I said last time, there is no turning back on this. I don't eat more than 3 to 4 small meals a day, most of which are about 100 calories each. I do indulge in one good meal with real meat. This is working for me, and my lifestyle. I never eally ate that much, but the Hasimotos did a number on my body.
As of today, I have lost exactly to the ounce 70 pounds since surgery. That makes it 108 pounds in total. It is hard for me to wrap my mind
3 year followup
Apr 19, 2008
Dec. 2nd 2005
I can't log into OH through their website, I have to do this through the email updates I get. If I try to log in, I get a message that I'm not a registered member. OH still has not responded back about this after three days and several emails about the problem.
I just past my first anniversary of having hit the wall of my weight problem. A year ago at this time I was in so much pain and hated life. I now live right by Zion National Park and spend lots of time up there hiking and lugging my cameras around. It's amazing how much energy I have. I don't think twice about the hikes, I just do them. Hubby is having a hard time. He is still very overweight and can hardly manage a flat walk of 1/2 mile with me. I have to constantly stop and let him rest so his back and legs will not hurt so bad. He also starts breathing like a freight train. He has seen what this has done for me, but his overriding fear of needles and the thought of surgery are a nightmare to him. He is out of control eating wise, and now gets even less exercise than when he worked away from home. I hope I shocked him when I told him he needed to up his life insurance, cause I wanted to make sure I was able to cope when he dies of a heart attack. He also says it is embarrasing to be seen with me, cause now he knows what people are thinking of him. Before he thought they ignored him and made the comments only about me.
I'm into size 16 pants. If it were not for all the loose skin, I would probably be in 14's. I am also just 6 pounds from cracking under the 200 mark. As of this morning I weighed 206. My big goal is to be under 200 by Jan. first. That is 6 pounds in one month. I have been averaging just over 10 each month. No real plateaus. I can't complain. Yes I can! I would still like the first two months after the surgery back before the doc's realized I couldn't give up my diuretics. How much could I have lost those first two months will never be known. I figure at least 20 pounds more than I have lost so far. As my PCP says I will probably be on them the rest of my life. As an off shoot of it, I drink at least 80 ounces of water a day, augmented by other forms of liquid like non fat milk. I still get at least 60 grams or more of protein a day. I find that I can tolerate fats, and sugars, but I don't like sugar that much anymore. If I eat very much fat, I have no problem with constipation since it all goes through me rather quickly. Gives me an alternative to a laxative when I need it, just chew the heck out of some popcorn from a theater and I'm fine in a few hours, with no cramping.
My hair finally started to fall out. It has slowed down, and I and the hairdresser know how thin it is. But there are good signs of it growing again.
Ebay has become my friend for cheap jeans as I transition downward. Hubby has bought me a bunch of sweaters and warm jackets since I freeze so easily.
January 13, 2006
I did it, yesterday I hit 199. I offically do not live in the 200 pound range any longer. I have 2 more pounds to go and I will no longer be considered obese either. 9 pounds to go and I will ahve lost 100 pounds since surgery. I also got into some non stretch Gloria Vanderbilt size 16 jeans.
I joined a gym near me. It's about time to do more work outs with eights and such to tone up the muscles. Walking and hiking alone is not doing it. I want to lose another 45 pounds before I investigate plastic surgery. I know I have a hernia. It pouches out making one of the incision areas look like a small pillow. It burns in that area quite frequently. If I hadn't lived throug others, and in particular my brother experiencing one, I would be more afraid of it. It's still small about three inches long by about 1 inch wide. I'm due to see my new GP/Internist soon so I will have it checked out at that time. Since we have the same employer but being in a different state, they have a new insurance carrier for us. One that in no way will allow baratric surgery. I have to investigate what they allow as far as plastic/reconstructive surgery is.
Feb. 13th 2006
A year and 2 days ago I found out when my surgery was to be scheduled. It's now 10 months since surgery and I have lost 101 pounds since that day. I find I can eat more than I once did. But I still have this big aversion to sugars in general. I eat carbs, but small amounts. Fats do not seem to effect me. The people over at the gym now team up the big macho guys with me to see if they can keep up. I do a warm up of five minutes at level six on what I call the butt buster. It is the stair stepper from hell. It burns 65 calories in 5 minutes. I HATE STAIRS! Then it is on to a real arobic workout. I have troubles with my back from a previous injury, so I use the recumbant bike. I started at 20 minutes then went to 30 minutes. Found that I liked an hour, but wanted more. I now do 115 minutes. The first 45 minutes at level 7. The next 35 minutes at level 5. The last segment of intensity is at level 3 for 25 minutes. I finally do a cool down at level one for 10 minutes all the time keeping it constant at 75 rpm. I love it when the weight lifter guys come and think it would be easy to do what I do. I have not had one yet be able to last past 1 hour. If I feel like it I then do some workout on the machines for another 30 minutes. I live at 1 mile elevation so this is more than the arobic workouts i could get at sealevel. Hubby can't keep up either. I have him trying at least. It is the first step in him doing something about his weight problem. He at over 400#s refuses to do a thing about his weight. Surgery is right out. He is so afraid of needles that the thought of surgery almost gives him a heart attack.
The workouts kicked me off the darn plateau I was on. I only lost 8 pounds in 2 months. I had been losing around 12 pounds a month before that. This last two weeks I have blasted off 10 pounds since I started at the massive gym workouts 6 weeks ago. The first month didn't budge my weight. I still eat around 900 calories a day. total of maybe 35 carbs a day. 70 to 90 grams of protein, some high fiber things, under 22 grams of fat per day, and around 96 ounces of water. The old problem of my thyroid must really be working overtime with me now. Others that have had the surgery can start to really lose if they do what I am doing. I've always known that the thyroid problem (hasimotos) would not go away. I was just hoping losing all this weight (140#s pre and post weight loss) I would be able to jump start a bit of it to work again. Oh well at least I can take the weight off this way. Before surgery it would not budge no matter how drastic I would get until I was down to 300 to 400 calories a day and walking for an hour and half.
April 26th
Well I'm 5 days post op from having a revision. I notice my post detailing what happened has not been added to my profile. It was the Monday after I returned from a conference in Los Angeles the first of March that it all happened. I was at the gym working out as usual, when it felt like someone stabbed me in the gut just under my heart. I knew enough it was not a heart attack. It was so intense it stopped me in mid workout, and I couldn't continue. once I got home it still hurt but only when I ate. I knew I was not in immediate distress, but something was definately wrong. Next day it was less pain, but when I ate dinner, it all hit again. I rested for several days and the pain subsided mostly. I switched to liquids only, and called my PCP. He was out of town for a week, so I followed the liquids and rest until I got in to se him. He ordered an immediate CT scan, which showed my astomiouses had herniated. Or in laymen terms the juncture of where the new pouch connected with the new intestinal tract had herniated or ballooned. This is not due to a poor procedure initially but something that rarely happens. The little space they make to do the operation laproscopically was also surrounded by fat. Over time and my weight loss the fat support had disappeared. this caused the intestine to herniate. There is a very good explanation of the risks in video form on OH's home page. I suggest anyone contimplating this surgery watch it not once, but several times. Anyway I was told to get to a surgeon asap.
The surgeon was also on vacation for 3 weeks, so I waited and stayed on the liquids and sedentary lifestyle until I saw him. He said it was a good thing I had done that since it kept the hernia from blowing out and causing a life threatening situation. Surgery for the revision was scheduled 2 weeks away. Same prep as the RNY sugery. This time no problems with insurance, in fact they aproved me for 5 nights stay in the hospital.
The surgery was on April 21st. It was just three days past my one year anniversary. He had warned me he might have to open my up to do the surgery and would I be upset about the scars. At 52 there is no way in hell I'm going to be prancing around in a bikini. The surgery went well. In fact it was a lot less painful than the first one. I had it lap, with 4 more new spots. Hubby told the Dr. he should have connected the dots. It's amazing how limber I was, and could get around post surgery. The weight loss and the workouts had paid off in reduced pain, and recovery. They decided I was well when I joked about doing a pole dance with my IV pole I lugged with me on my walks. This hospital stay was very pleasant. A private room which they have no semi private rooms. Nursing staff that cared and were checking on you all the time to make sure you were comfortable. The Dr. was great. He didn't have a God complex and joked with me quite a bit. He also came at least once a day to check on me in the hospital which the orginal surgeon never did.
The level of care, and the competence of the people invovled has decided me on having the plastic surgery end of this done locally.
June 22, 2006
Well today I hit 170. That is 120 pounds down from the orginal surgery 14 months ago. It still pisses me off that it took them 2 months worth of that initial time before the orginal surgeon realized i still needed diuretics for my haismotos. Duh..Hasimotos is not a disease that disappears just because you have this surgery. It amazes me every day that I am not poofy. Even when I was 145 in high school I looked poofy and fat. Now I have definition and bones.
The total weight loss so far is 158 pounds. I only have 6 pounds to go until I am in the normal range. I won't be stopping there, but continuing on until I hit 150. That was the original surgeons goal for me. Mine is 143. Looking at the amount of excess skin, I don't think I should go to far. I know I will qualify for inner thigh lifts due to the vericose veins and the problems all the skin has caused aggrevating them. I also have an embilical hernia, so that will get fixed and hopefully a tummy tuck as well. Then I have what my PCP and I refer to as a plumbers stripe. It is a fungal infection that won't go away. It is a problem since I have so much extra skin on my but it folds and swishes like sitting on a half delated series (not one) of tires. It hurts and the sking being pressed into my newly found tailbone really hurts. I can't sit for very long before it feels like my butt is on fire from the pain. It also hurts to lie on my back from the same problems. Not even a donut pillow works since it keeps the skin tight even in the blank space. Given all of this, I would think a total body lift would take care of all the problems. Hubby says I need to take care of the batwings. I turn my arms just so, and they split into two hanging batwings on each arm. I live in a town called Hurricane because of the high winds. I hsven't tried it, but from the gusts we can get, I bet I could almost take flight. Last winter we had 96 mph winds sustained for several hours. Usually it is in the 40 mph range.
Only other things I want to do is a face lift. I leave it up to the hubby if he wants me to do a boob job. With a bra on, they look fine. Without a bra, they are very deflated. Only place the extra skin actually works to add volume.
April 19th 2008
Today is one day past my 3rd anniversary. a wild ride to say the least. The first year was uneventful other than losing the weight. At 3 days past my one year anniversary, I had to have a partial revision. I now wonder if it was neccessary. Last year at the end of may (2007) just over the two year mark I started not feeling well, with nothing I could or my Dr. pinpoint. I went on a major trip to Mexico and found that my knees were still in very bad shape. When I came home I saw an ortho doc. I tried the shots in the knee for three months with no results. So surgery was scheduled for a total knee replacement on Nov. 7th. I had a work shop in Montana mid Sept. I was visiting friend on Sept 5th the first of the big attacks occured. It was bad and I stayed in bed for over 24 hours until it passed. The workshop went without hitch (thank God) I got home and two days later the next attack occured. I did the bed thing again. When the third attack occured a couple of days later hubby rushed me to the ER. They did an ultrasound and found that I had a gall bladder full of gall stones that I was passing. Surgery set for Oct. 3rd. Through all of this I tried to get hold of my regular GP doc. In So. Utah you can make an appointment 2 weeks out, or go to the ER if you are in major distress. I have never been good at scheduling when I get sick to coincide with appointments made in the future.
Oct. 3rd happend and I was at the hospital by 6:30 am, wheeled into the OR at 9:30 am, and home in my bed by 11:30 am. The nurse in the recovery room told me to hurry and get out people were stacked up waiting for my bed. Well the next few days were no fun. The pain kept getting worse. Not the funny pain of healing but burning sharp pains. I told the Nurse at the surgeons office that I was having more pain and it was getting worse. They blew me off and wouldn't do a thing about it. On Oct. 10 hell broke lose, and so did the incision site on my bile duct. It had been improperly clipped and the stump had gotten necrocisis and fallen off spilling over a liter of bile a day into my midsection. It hurt worse than hell. I was literally being eaten from the inside out. The next ten days in the hospital were a total blur with 4 more operations to save my life. #1 they woke me up in the OR to yell at me and ask why I had not told them I couldn't have NG surgery. I told them my orginal surgeon who had passed it to them had known since he had done the revision a year and half earlier. #2 was the next day to finally fix the hole and stop the bile spilling. #3 and 4 were in days following to put in drains and suction out as much bile as possible since I had large pools of it causing trouble. On Oct. 19th they did the last operation and it was my 54 birthday. Horrible day. But after that I started to improve instead of going backward. On Oct. 25th I was transfered to rehab center. I fought my way out of there and went home on Halloween. I continued to have pain attacks but not as bad. They kept doing cat scans and blood work, but couldn't find what was wrong. On Feb. 20th 2008 I ended up in the hospital again with another major attack, this time my liver functions were totally haywire. I had a different surgeon see me for the problems. What had happened was I had developed pancreatitis. you can't find it unless it is during or within hours of the attack. The enzymes dissapate rapidly following the active attack. This had agrevated the Liver. The patch to the bile duct had also been inadequately done, and was leaking causing more problems to my Liver. All of this caused me to become diabetic. I had done the bariatric surgery orginally to avoid becoming diabetic, and here I was turning into something I had tried drastic measures to avoid. At least it can at this time be controlled by diet. The testing is not so bad and really doesn't hurt since I have the freestyle lite meter that allows me to use my upper arm instead of the sensitive fingertips. I'm now on watch. The problems with the liver are vascular and when the next major attack happens I get rushed either by life flight, or ambulance to SLC to have a specialist do the next surgery to hopefully finally fix the problems that dimwit surgeon in St. George did that messed me up. I also have many ulcers in my intestines due to the bile leaks. As long as I take ascifex I have no troubles from them.
Do I think all of these problems are due to having bariatric surgery? No. The most prevelent problem that happens in the USA is gall bladder problems and it is the #1 most preformed surgery. Yes there is an increased risk of having gall bladder problems, but without the surgery the gall bladder problems run in my family. I actually had mine removed about the same age as my mother had hers removed. I know that the major problems following the initial gall bladder removal were due to the surgeons incompetence and lack of follow up care when told there was problems. Eventually things will be properly repaired and my life will be back on track.
I have gained back a few of the pounds (6) so I sit at 171. I wear a size 10 to 12 depending on manufacturer. I know once all the skin gets removed, I will probably be down well under the 150 mark.
