bbbluiis2
Fremont, NE, USA
Surgery Type: RNY
Surgeon: Thomas J. White, M.D.
Current Age: 55
Height: 5'3"
RNY Surgery 1/27/03
Pre-Op Weight: 375 BMI 60.1
1/17/06----195
8/15/08----218
9/3/02 I have contacted Dr. Danny Jacobs with Creighton Medical Center and have been playing phone tag for weeks with Michele his assistant. Hopefully we will conect up soon. I was also recommended to Dr. Sudan that has recently joined Creighton from the UN Med Center and comes highly recommended, I did leave a message with his unit secretary but did not get a return call, I don't think he has started scheduling surgeries yet. I am hoping to get this surgery done before the end of the year, at that time my deductible takes a considerable jump. Related illnesses, sleep apnea, acid reflux, chronic cough, incontinence, depression, water retention and my GP feels that the majority of these will disappear after the weight reduction. I am psyched up for this and would have done it yesterday if they would have called and said they had an opening.
10/2/02 Spoke with Michele today, Dr. Jacob's coordinator and my appointment is scheduled for February 21st, 2003, wish that was tomorrow, was hoping to get in sooner for insurance reasons (my deductible's are taking a huge jump in January), but doesn't look like that will happen. She said that after the initial appointment then it would probably be another 6 months before surgery, so we are looking at possibly next September-2003. Yikes, now I am depressed to think I have to worry about this one more year.10/7/02 Attended the Bariatric Support Session at Creighton hosted by Michele Fisher, Dr. Jacob's Coordinator and Charity Hallman, Dr. Sudan's Coordinator, both wonderful woman and very knowledgable. I learned a lot about the surgery, they had 5 post op patient come up and talk and then did a Q & A session with each. I did find out that I will not be able to have the open surgery since I have had open gall bladder surgery, they can do Lap surgery but your BMI must be down to 48 before they consider it, mine is at 59 right now, I have to lose about 60 lbs before I could even have the surgery, so it gives me something to do until that February appointment. I have 5 months to lose it, thats a lot to lose but possibly if I can get going on it and lose the rest before surgery, which they say won't be until next summer they will do it. I think I will attend the support group sessions each month, I really did learn a lot tonight.
11/27/02 I received a letter today from Creighton Medical Center and Dr. Danny Jacobs stating that he has accepted a po/0sition with another University and they are unable to accommodate further patients at this time. Imagine my disapointment, I have been waiting patiently 3 months already, for a February 21st appointment. They gave me a list of local bariatiric surgeons in the area if I still wanted to pursue weight loss surgery, well I tried Sudan at Creighton and you can't even get a phone call into him their voice mailbox is always full. Then I tried Thompson and McBride at UNMC and they had no openings until next August, and their secretary almost laughed at me. So I tried Dr. Thomas White and their secretary was very nice, I am going to an open session with him on Monday evening December 9th. They sent out all the papers I needed to fill out and hopefully this will help move things along, she was shocked to hear that Jacobs had left Creighton. Soooo I will let you all know what happens after the session on the 9th. I have to bring all my Dr. records and insurance info to the session and they go ahead and run it through and let me know and then set up the appt to meet one on one with him.12/10/02 Went to Dr. Whites open session, there were so many people there, his presentation was ok but nothing that I hadn't seen at Dr. Danny Jacobs at Creighton, the room was so full it was standing room only, the chairs were not fat friendly, they were only meant for thin people, I noticed that the majority of us had to sit sideways just to fit in the chairs. I would say the majority of the people there knew nothing about the procedures, I tried desperatly to ask a question about what your BMI had to be to have the surgery, since he only does Laproscopic RNY surgery and finally his assistant answered my question, she said there is no set limit. The session was a bit disorganized because of some equipment problems and the room was too small but Dr. White is the expert I had read about. What I was amazed about was that they sent me a packet to fill out and return when I came to the session and they billed my insurance company $137 for a consultation with Dr. White, that I was not made aware of, when I went to Dr. Jacobs session it was free, but I do understand that he needs to get paid to get all the paperwork filed.
12/23/02 Had not heard from Dr. Whites office about the paperwork, but I had my Psych eval today, not do bad at all, he asked me a whole bunch of questions about my reasonings for the surgery, etc and is forwarding the report on to Dr. White's office. I called Dr. Whites office and they set up an appointment with him for January 14th, I am pumped, I am so hoping since I have the psych eval done that I can get a surgery date soon thereafter. Will report back then.1/7/03 I got my notification from BCBS I have been approved for Lap Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery, it was approved on 12/31/2002 and surgery has to be done within 6 months, hopefully I will be able to get a surgery date within that time frame!!! Only one week until I meet with Dr. White, I hope he has good news and a surgery date for me!
1/8/03 Ok, things just keep getting better, I was sitting in my office this afternoon and Dr. Whites surgical assistant called to make sure that I got my copy of the BCBS approval and I said I did and she said that all we needed to do was get an appointment set with Dr. White and I said I had that set for 1/14/2003, and that I already had my psych done and she said well then lets see what I have open for surgery and she said I have January 27th open and I said I'LL TAKE IT. I can't believe it, in less than 3 weeks I will finally be going in to have the surgery done. When I got home from work Dr. White office had called and I had to reschedule the office visit because he had to schedule a surgery that morning but that was no problem, I have rescheduled it for 1/21, the same day I have my history and physical done from my GP for the surgery so I will have it all done at once. Dr. Whites Surgical Assistant did say that I will need to be on a liquid diet for 10 days prior to surgery, so I will have to start that on the 16th, low fat, low sugar and low carb, it helps shrink the stomach and makes the operation go so much easier. Plus your system is used to the liquid diet that you will have to be on after surgery than. I went shopping for some drinks and jello and yogurt, and going to make some soups up this week end and puree them. I know it will be hard at first but I am committed to this. I will keep you updated during the 10 day liquid diet. More to come.1/19/2003 Well, it's the 3rd day of my Liquid Diet and it seems to be going very well. I am having my Edge Carb drink for breakfast and lunch and having homemade cabbage soup and cottage cheese for supper. Desert is Blue Bunny Splenda yogurt. I did have a couple of pieces of celery today, I just needed to cruch something. I can hardly stand to watch those food commercials on TV. But I am getting excited, surgery is only one week away. The start of a whole new life is coming soon.
1/21/2003 I finally got to see my surgeon for the first time. Dr. White was very nice,answered all of my questions. He told me that I would have the Laproscopic procedure unless they got in there and found too much scar tissue from my other operations (gall bladder and appendix), my surgery time is 10:30 a.m. on Monday the 27th. My new Birthday, everyone at work has been told and they are all so supportive, which makes me feel so much better. More later in the week, reporting on how the liquid diet is going, so far so good.
1/24/2003 Day 8 of the liquid diet and I am down 20 lbs from where I was a week ago, I have been exercising and only having the carb drink, soup, yogurt and cottage cheese. It has been good, only thing I need to do more of is drink water. I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend. My surgery has been rescheduled for 7:30 a.m. on the 27th, that will make the night before go really fast. Next time I will update will be post-op, I am taking my laptop to the hospital with me. Talk to you all real soon.2/1/2003 POST OP Day 6 after surgery and I am finally home, Surgery went well, I had the LAP procedure and they did not have to open me up. But I had major complications after surgery, after they wheeled me out of recovery and got me to my room I had a severe reaction to the morphine and I got very very sick. My blood pressure dropped down to 58/38 and my kidneys shut down, I had to be rushed to ICU and spend 2 days there getting blood transfusions and oxygen and mega doses of antibiotics. I also had a reaction to perfumes/colognes, every time a hospital worker came near me with it on my esophogus/windpipe would close up and I could not breath. Doc doesn't know why all the problems but things happen and I was prepared for the worst. I had to stay 6 days in the hospital, if everything would have gone as planned it would have only been 3-5. I am very sore, my stomach has a HUGE bruise on it and it keeps bleeding, but it's tolerable. I got sent home on a clear liquid diet for at least another week if not two, I also have my drain tube in and will go back to the office next week and get it out. I'm tired and have been trying to rest but have had lots of company and that helps pass the time. Well it's off to la, la land for me for awhile. I will try to check in after the tube comes out.
2/13/2003 Well as luck would have it I have had some problems, on Thursday 2/6 I was having problems breathing and catching my breath, I call my Dr and they sent me to my local emergency room and told me to tell them to check for blood clots. Well things were not good and my oxygen levels and blood gas levels were down, so my doc wanted me back in Omaha at his hospital, so I got a nice ride in an ambulance at 2 in the morning. After they ran all the tests, they found some clots that had already dispersed to my lungs and my left lung was filling with fluid and collapsing. I got lots of blood thinners and also had to have some potasium (very painful) intraveniously. By Saturday I was back to full lung compacity and no more clots so I got to go home late sat. night. I am now on a full liquid diet but having trouble with any thing that is thick, it gets stuck in my esophagus and it's vry painful. I will see my doc next Tuesday and can't wait to talk to him about this.3/17/03 The last month has been a run with trial and error on eating, mostly error. I have found out several things, the main thing being that I cannot digest meat of any kind and the other the doc thinks I have a hiatal hernia. The pain is excruciting when I eat even a smidge more than I should or I eat meat. I am able to eat quite a few things and have been trying to eat 6 small meals a day. I still eat a lot of yogurt, cream soups, protein shakes and now have added some pastas to the list. I have had a bad round of throwing up, it's a good day if I can get through it without doing it. Doc thinks I am still eating too fast, I am trying to take more time to eat but old habits die hard. I am thirst all of the time but drinking becomes painful because I want to drink that water fast instead of sip it. All in all I am feeling pretty good, the weight is coming off at a rate of about 5 lbs per week and I am now exercising regularly, trying to get something in everyday. One thing I have really noticed is my energy level is going up. I no longer fall asleep like I used to and I can now sleep straight through the night without waking up 2 or 3 times. I have so much to look forward to and the compliments have been wonderful from all my family and friends.
7/27/03 Six Months After Surgery and I am officially down 110 lbs. Still cannot eat much in the meat/chicken dept. but can eat ground up meats and fish is no problem. I still have my protein shakes and try to eat a lot of vegetables. I have gone from a size 28-30 to an 18-20 right now, thank goodness I am a clothes horse and saved a lot of my clothes on my way up to 355. But it is fun to buy something new every now and then. I have recently turned 50 and have people telling me I don't look a day over 40 thats always nice to hear. I try to keep the pics on my website updated, it's fun to see the difference in my looks. Also I had to take a plane to go to some training for work and my butt actually fit in the seat and I did not have to ask for that dreaded seat belt extender...YIPPEE!!!!! Will try to update again soon, although I don't know if anyone is reading this, would be nice to hear from some of you if you have seen this and let me know about you!!
1/17/06 Ok, I know it's been years since I have updated this page. I have not lost a lot over the past years. I have plateaued several times over the last two years. I had a set back in the winter of 2004, I had a knee replacement. My weight was not going anywhere because of my inactivity. After a 6 month recovery I hit the gym again and dropped about 35 lbs. Then hit the dreaded plateau again - even gaining back about 5 lbs. In November of 2005 I had a shoulder injury and wound up in PT for that and let myself get inactive at the gym. By mid December I was back to 100% and have been working out 4-5 days a week. I haven't noticed a lot of weight change but I must be toning, people say I look better than I have in years. Always saying how thin I look, myself, I think I still have about 50-60 lbs to lose. The excess skin is unbelievable, don't you wish there was a magic pill that would make IT disappear. Oh well, since plastic surgery is not in my budget I will have to live with it. Will try to update again one of these days. If anyone is reading this, would be nice to hear from you, if you have seen this let me know about you!!Product Reviews
Surgeon Info:
Surgeon: Thomas J. White, M.D.
12/22/02 I have my first appointment with him on January 14th. UPDATE 1/8/03 My appointment has been changed to January 22nd, I haven't even had an appointment with Dr. White and I have surgery scheduled on the 27th, God works in mysterious ways. If you read my posts you will see that I was with another doctor until he left his position and I was left hanging to find a new surgeon. Dr. Whites office has been more than accomodating with taking care of paperwork and everything.
Insurer Info:
BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD, BLUE PREFERRED PPO
Approved on 12/31/2002 after first letter of application. No Problems-Drs office took care of everything.