alieden
After being on high dose prednisone for a rare condition called Sarcoidosis, I ended up gaining 150lbs. When I went into remission, I started on Jenny Craig and after 2 years had lost 110 lbs and weighed 190. Within the next year I gained 70lbs of the weight loss back and decided it was time to do something that would keep the weight off once and for all. I decided on the band because I had seen so many RNY's end up 3-4 years later gaining a large portion of their weight back. I wanted something that would be permanent and it made sense to me that the ability to tighten the band would help with keeping the weight off. In addition, my surgeon said that this was for meat and pasta and bread eaters, sweet eaters didn't do well with this. Well I practically hate sweets, can't stand the taste of anything sweet. So it seems this is the best surgery for me.
I went to the lecture at Cleveland Clinic on November 15th 2007. Met with my surgeon the same day and did my psych eval as well that day. Within the next two weeks I completed all my preop tests:
Ultrasound of gallbladder - found one 2 cm gallstone (asymptomatic)
blood tests - normal cholesterol, normal lipids, normal everything basically.
esophogeal motility test (checks for problems with reflux) - I am not prone to reflux the test found.
endoscopy of my esophageal/gastric junction - mild gastritis, nothing to be worried about the doctor said
ekg - normal - blood pressure 110/70 (ALWAYS!)
PFT's (breathing tests) - they made me do this because of my sarcoidosis which is also in lung tissue - mine were great
c/t scan of lungs - for sarcoidosis flares - NO SARCOIDOSIS!!!! YIPPEE!!!!
chest xray - just scar tissue from my open lung biopsy in 2001.
So I got the word on Thurs of last week, the 29th of November that I was clear for setting my surgery date. I have Medicare and they don't require preauthorization, just 3 consecutive diets over a period of 5 years. I had one diet with JC for 24 months, so I passed the requirements and then some.
Monday I call to get my surgery date because I missed the call on Friday. I'm aiming to have surgery before they close for Christmas. Makes taking time off easier since my employees will have off at the same time.
