ang41
I will begin by saying that I have been overweight for most of my life and I have been morbidly obese for about the last ten years. During that time, I was diagnosed with insulin resistance, then diabetes in 2004, high cholesterol in 2004, high blood pressure in January of 2008 and severe sleep apnea in January of 2008. That the last two medical issues were the reason that I decided to seriously consider bariatric surgery. At first, when it had been mentioned to me by a doctor, it was about five or six years ago and at that time I only had the insulin resistance. I researched and had decided that I did not need to do something so drastic. I was still under the belief that I could do it on my own and I didn't need a "quick fix". Fast forward to the beginning of this year and I was at the heaviest I have ever been (276) and then I got the the double whammy with the two added health issues. I was still attempting to get myself back on track by eating healthier. At this point, I had scheduled an appointment with a dietician to help me adjust my diet. On the second visit, I had a different dietician and this woman looked at my file and told me that my health picture was very much like hers had been. Now, at first I was just thinking that she was trying to be nice because looking at her, she was not overweight and I didn't think she could possibly understand my situation. Then she told me she had RNY surgery nine months before and all of the health issues she had been plagued with (all the same as mine) had been resolved and she had lost a lot of weight and looked great! This time I was ready to contemplate going the surgical route. I asked her many questions and thanked her ever so much for being willing to share her story. That very day I went home and researched where she had the surgery done and did a lot of other investigating and decided it was time to do something for myself.
I had an appointment a few weeks later with my family doctor and asked her opinion about my undergoing surgery and she was in support of it. I then made the call to attend an informational seminar given by the Bariatric Solutions in Findlay. The seminar was a little intimidating and I knew that if this was something that I was going to do that I would have to undergo a lot to get the approval, not to mention that this would be a lifestyle change for me for the rest of my life. Some people there were of the opinioin that they could just jump right into surgery. I think the thing that most impressed me was the statistics of getting rid of or greately reducing all the health issues I had! That is my main motivation. Although, of course I want to lose weight a feel better about myself, the fact that I could possibly regain my health was the best motivator in the world. I knew that this was the path that I needed to begin on to take my life back. I knew from what information I had gathethered that it would be best for me to undergo the RNY. I was hoping to do it laparoscopically, but if it needed to be open that would be okay too. They gave all of us a HUGE packet of information to fill out and once done I could see Dr. Kerrigan or her physician assistant for the initial appointment to see if I was a good surgical candidate.
After my first appointment, I gave Vicki, the insurance coordinator, my information and she told me she would send it in. In the meantime I was scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Kokocharov and also some initial blood work and EKG, with a follow-up visit with Dr. Kerrigan's physician assistant in a month. I was also told that I would need to have a psychological evaluation.
I scheduled my psych evaluation for as soon as possible and had to go for two visits. After a LONG test and discussion with the psychologist, I was given approval on his end for the surgery.
During my visit with the surgeon, he checked me and and explained the surgery and told me that I would have to have a gallbladder ultrasound and an EGD to check out my stomach before surgery to make sure that everything was all right. I was a litttle nervous about having to have an EGD, but I wanted to have the surgery and this was another of the necessary steps to accomplishing that goal.
The EGD itself was not as bad as I thought it would be. It showed I had a small hiatal hernia and some gastritis, but nothing to hinder the surgery. The gallbladder ultrasound also came out okay. Now it was time to wait for the approval before I could move onto the next step.
On July 21, 2008, I got the news that I was approved for surgery. The next day the scheduling nurse from the surgeon's office called and scheduled a surgery date of September 17th!. I also had to have two nutrionist appointments and an exercise appointment, plus preop blood work and a chest x-ray. I couldn't believe it was all scheduled, including the two week follow-up visit after surgery. What great birthday present I got finding out that I was getting my surgery!
The first nutritionist visit was scheduled for two weeks from the date that I had my surgery approved, but the night before I was supposed to go, the surgeon's office called and told me not to come because Dr. K and Blanchard Valley Hospital were in some kind of dispute and all surgeries and any appointments relating to them were all being put on hold until things were resolved. I was so disappointed. Here, I had my surgery scheduled and was going to begin to do the other appointments when I was put on hold. They had hoped to hear something in the next week, so I was hopeful that I would be able to have surgery around the same time. Well, I did call about once a week and still was being told that the dispute was not solved. By the fourth week, I had decided that it was some to have a final answer or move on and find someone else to do the surgery. I really did not want to leave because I liked Dr. K and his staff, but my approval was only good for six months and I wanted to have my surgery before the end of the year because my deductables had all been met for 2008. That's when I decided to research here and found Dr. White in Sylvania. One of the wonderful members here had answered my initial introduction to this site and told me about her surgeon and wonderful supportive aftercare they have. It was farther for me to drive to get there (1.5 hours), but after I had read all of the testimonials about Dr. White here on this site, I was convinced that he would be a good surgeon for me.
I called Kristi and she was wonderful about helping me and told me what I needed to do and even scheduled me for the first two dietician appointments. I got my records transferred over as quickly as I could and she contacted my insurance provider to see about getting the letter of approval transferred to Dr. White. Then there was a snag, the approval letter would not transfer, so I had to have all of the information submitted again and wait for approval! I had to get with my family doctor and have them send what was needed to Kristi to put in the paperwork AGAIN. Now it was a matter of waiting for approval again.
In the meantime, I had my first appointment with Shannon, the dietician, and she was very helpful in explaining how I was going to eat and the different phases of the diet once I had the surgery. She also told me how to read labels and wanted me to keep a food log for two weeks, trying to implement the lifestyle changes to the best of my ability. Well, I will say that I did not have hardly anything in my house that fit the nutitional guidelines, so a trip to the grocery store was in order and I spent a lot of time reading labels and trying to find healthy foods that I could eat. Another hard thing was just eating three times a day and making the meal last for 30 minutes. I found that I really had to schedule ahead of time when I was going to eat and have a plan of what I was going to eat to be able to accomplish this. There was also the factor of not drinking anything while eating, as well as 30 minutes before or after. I never thought that I would be able to do this, but I found that I could. I learned to like sugar-free jello and that Splenda was a good substitute for the sweet tooth for flavoring. I also found that I liked Crystal light and such drinks because I needed more than just water to drink. I also switched to skim milk, which was not hard at all, and even tried some sugar-free pudding too. I will say that I was hungry a lot of those two weeks of logging, and I did pretty well without eating too many food that were not healthy.
That same day as my first dietician appointment, I also had my first support group meeting. They had a guest speaker who is a plastic surgeon, showing lots of before and after pictures, as well as some time afterwards to kind of get to know everyone and listen to the advice of people who have already gotten the surgery. I left there feeling really positive that I had made the right choice about coming to Dr. White and made a promise to myself that I would do everything within my power to get to the support meetings, as a present to myself and to aid in making this lifestyle change I so desperately want and need.
When I went back in the two weeks for the second dietician appointment, I felt pretty good about my hard work. I had lost six pounds and was very happy to see the scale finally moving in the right direction. Shannon and her dietician in training, really spent a lot of time explaining to me about the different phases of the diet and how I would need to live after surgery to be successful. They also told me that I could contact them any time I needed to with questions, but this phase of the journey was completed. Now it was just waiting for the approval letter to come in.
The very next day, I received my approval letter in the mail and I contacted Kirsti, who had me fax the letter to her, as she had not gotten theirs yet and told me she would let Dr. White's office know, so that I could get my consultation with Dr. White scheduled. She also let physical therapy know, as I would have to meet with them as well before my surgery.
Cathy, called me a few days later and scheduled my appointment with Dr. White for October 28th. She also told me that I would get my surgery date when I came for that visit.
When I first met Dr. White and his staff, I felt very comfortable with them. The nurse took my before pictures and told me first I would talk to Dr. White and then he would examine me and if everything was good, then Cathy would get me scheduled for surgery. Dr. White was very nice to me and explained to me about the surgery and answered all of my questions. He then examined me and gave the okay to get the surgery scheduled. He has to be one of the kindest and gentle physicians I have ever met and treated me with such respect and understanding.
Next, I saw Cathy and she was a whiz at getting my surgery scheduled as soon as November 17th! I couldn't believe things were finally coming together again for me. She also got my presurgery tests scheduled, blood work, EKG, chest x-ray, gallbladder ultrasound and upper GI scheduled for November 4th. She even went further as to schedule my physical therapy appointment for the same day so I wouldn't have to travel back and forth so much. She was such a great help and really helped me to understand everything that needed to be done in the next part of this journey. I really felt that she was wonderful and that I could easily trust her to help me in this journey to getting healthy and that she would be a big part of it. I also had my surgery follow-up scheduled for November 25th.
On the day of my preop testing, I had to be there at 7:00 a.m., so I had to leave Lima at 5:00 a.m. to make sure I got there, as I had never been there before. When I got there they did a urine test and blood work and then an EKG. Then it was off to have a chest x-ray. After the chest x-ray I had to have an ultrasound of my gallbladder and I'm glad Dr. White decided to do this test again, as the one I had with Dr. K was not as extensive and I want them to have as much information about my body before going into surgery. The last test was the worst one for me, the upper GI. I never had one before and I hope I don't have to have one again. The stuff that you have to drink is awful and my stomach really did not feel too well afterward for most of the day. Since the tests got done early, I had time to get something to eat before my physical therapy appointment, which was nice since I had not eaten since 5:00 p.m. the night before. I found the physical therapy office without problem and the therapist was very informative and helpful about what I need to be doing exercise-wise to get healthy, before and after surgery. They gave me copies of the exercises and even an exercise band to work with. Exercise has never been my favorite to do, but I know it is a very important part to getting healthy. Now I have about two weeks to incorporate exercise into my life before the actual surgery.
