This feels good...

Jan 07, 2008

I wanted to post this because I just found out... I will post tomorrow about my surgery experience, but I am home safe and doing really well!



Pre-Op= DONE!

Dec 20, 2007

So today was my final appointment before surgery! Started off with a bang...there was traffic everywhere on the way into Boston this morning for my 8:30 appointment. What is usually a 1/2 hour ride took us close to 2 hours!! But BMC took me in right away which was great. First I meet with Dr. Hess's fellow Dr. Grunner I believe, dont take my word! I was definitely a little frazzled when I got introduced. He explained to my Dad the procedure again, the risks, what recovery is like, etc. Then I signed my consent forms and asked some questions. He was really very nice and open which was good, definitely told it like it was.

Next, I meet with Dr. Hess who again was awesome! He asked if I had any questions, talked about how well I did through the whole process and how everyone had nothing but good things to say. He also assured my Dad that my parents would be kept in the loop come surgery day. He remembered me from my first appointment back in March which I must say is amazing!

Then I meet with Tony who coordinates the program. He explained a few more things and talked about preparation before surgery. I have never meet Tony before, just talked to him on the phone but he made myself and my Dad feel very comfortable and welcome which was nice.

I really enjoy people who have a sense of humor and everyone here definitely does which is awesome!

Next I made my way over to the Pre-Op office and answered all the questions for surgery, got some blood drawn and I was on my way!

I'm really excited, nervous, scared, a little of everything! But its coming so fast! Oh yeah and I lost weight!! Not much but I was really afraid seeing as it was just after Thanksgiving and Finals week which are usually bad days for me. So I am now 277 and 2 weeks away from THE LOSER'S BENCH!!!!!

5 days til Christmas!!!
13 days until Surgery!!!

Uh Oh...

Dec 11, 2007

Pre-Op testing/Appointment with Dr. Hess is on December 20th. I am nervous because it is soo close!! I haven't weighed myself because I don't have an accurate scale so I really really hope that I have lost weight and kept it off! I feel like I have but thats never a good way to judge.

Wish me luck!


Ahhh!!!

Dec 09, 2007

Getting soo many emotions at once!! I am a very confident person and I don't get nervous about much, but this is scaring the sh** outta me! haha Only 22 more days, the thing I'm most nervous about is that they will reject me at the last minute. I have been losing weight but I feel I could do more if I put a lot more effort, problem is I am so busy with school/work that I dont have the time! I am dedicating the next two weeks to weight loss/being healthy/studying for exams! Wish me luck!!

15 days til Christmas!
22 days til Surgery!!

The countdown begins...

Dec 04, 2007

So I am less than a month away from surgery! Time flies...wow I cannot even believe it. I am starting to buy everything I need for surgery here's the list so far:

Protein- I am buying a big thing of unflavored Unjury and then I am going to buy some travel size ones so that I can bring them to class/work if I need to.

Calcium- I am still in hot pursuit of the Citrical Creamy Bites which have the right kind of calcium...these suckers are hard to find or expensive! But I think I'm going to buy them off of the CVS.com webiste.

Multi-Vitamin- I think I am going to go with the Centrium Complete chewable, seems like the best choice.

Magic Bullet- Something easy to make shakes in. It's on my Christmas list!! Thanks Santa...

And once it gets much closer, I am going to buy some pudding, jello, and other snacks to have once my diet advances.

I am currently waiting for a call from Tony to schedule my pre-op testing and last appointment with the doctor. So I will keep everyone informed.

Hope your enjoying the Christmas Season...my fav!!

21 days til Christmas
28 days til Surgery!!

The Home stretch...

Nov 01, 2007

So I got a call yesterday from Ellen, the coordinator, saying that they finally got the report from the phsychologist and asking me what days would work for me so they could send it to the insurance company.  She gave me either December 19th or Jan 2nd, I picked Jan 2nd so I could have some time to get things together after my finals, because techinically I would have a test on December 19th still.  So I am sooo excited!!! Then today, my mom gets a phone call and its Ellen again saying Harvard Pilgrim already approved my claim!!!!! YEAHHH!!!!!!! I can't believe it was that fast....less than 24 hours, amazing! Seriously!! I couldn't have asked for better, Ellen, Dr. Hess, Harvard Pilgrim...the whole process has been easy because of them. I am soo excited!! So next step...the loser's bench! Thanks for everyone out there who has given me so much support.  I truly appreciate it.  

Now back to studying...thanks! :)

Meg

Oops...its been awhile!

Oct 06, 2007

There has been so much happening and I'm sorry its taken me so long to post! But so much has been happening....I have completed ALL of my appointments leading up to insurance approval! I am sooo excited.  Next step is obviously the insurance approval after the results from the psyc. eval and the last nutritionist appointment.  

So here's a break down of what has happened since August.

I had an appointment with the Doctor of nutritional medicine (not sure of his exact title) Dr. Istefan.  He's basic function is to look over the test results and then approve/disapprove for surgery.  He also gave me options about how to lose weight, whether I wanted to go use pills or help from the nutritionist.  I decided to go with help from the nutrionist.  Which brings me to my next appointment.

Next, I meet with Sharon Gallagher, the nutritionist at QMC.  She went over a history with me and when I remembered losing weight and how I did it.  She also went over the different stages of the diet after surgery.  Next, she talked about how much weight I needed to lose, she said in order to have an easier time with the surgery and show my commitment I needed to lose around 15-20 pounds, she said that was a realistic goal seeing that I'm currently in school and I really know what I'm talking about when it comes to the surgery. She was awesome, really helpful and definitely very knowledgeable.  

I also attended a couple of support group meetings.  So far, I have attended one at Boston Medical and one at Quincy Medical.  While both were very informative, I found the one at QMC better because of the diverse group of people.  There were more people at this meeting which allowed for more people at different stages both post and pre-op.  Everyone was willing to share both positive and negative experiences which is AWESOME!  I will also be attending the next one which is October 15th.  

2 weeks ago, I had the psyc eval, video watching, and MMPI testing.  All went very well.  The video was very informative, everything I have found from researching but good to hear from people I have seen through appointments and people I will be working with more in the future.  The test was very long and exhausting! But it was good to see that there are these tests to weed people out that are not ready.  The meeting with Dr. Perna was also great. He was really nice and very engaging.  He had me explain what the process of the surgery was and also just had a conversation about my lfie and my process towards surgery.  He told me I gave him textbook surgeries and said that he felt I would be a great candidate for surgery.  He also said he would put in his report that for me, it would be best to have my surgery during my winterbreak which was really really nice of him.

Lastly, I had my last nutritionist appointment.  I got weighed and lost about 7 pounds so far which I am very excited about! Sharon asked if I had any questions or anything and also asked how I was doing with the diet.  I asked her to go over the diet again just so I could definitely get it engrained in my head, I am a creature of habit and definitely need someone to beat something into me sometimes!  She said the next step is insurance approval!!! Whoaa!!!

So thats my last few months in a nutshell...and oh yeah, I turned 22, I feel so old! :(   Buts its ok...cause I know this is the year I am making changes for the better...to be healthy, happy and thin!!!!

I will keep everyone updated as I get word!!! Please think of me...I hope things go smoothly.

Meg

Pre-Op Testing

Aug 07, 2007

So today I had all the testings...chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, bloodwork, breathing tests, blood gas, and EKG at QMC.  All in all today went so great, I could not have asked for a smoother day.  I checked in at 10am and got brought in to have the chest x-ray done by 10:30, then I had to wait until 11 to have the ultrasound done.  The ultrasound was kind of uncomfortable, I put the gown on backwards so I was basically flashing the tech the whole time...nice! Anways, she was pushing pretty hard on my abdomen and I really had to pee so it was uncomfortable, it felt like she was pushing harder to get throught the fat but it still hurt.  

After the ultra sound, I went to get my blood drawn. I always always have problems getting blood drawn, they usually have to stick me so many times before finding a "good vein" today, I went in, got stuck and was out in 10 minutes. I cannot say enough good things about that lab!!! 

After this, I had about an hour to get something to eat (light lunch with no caffeine).  My Dad ( who was awesome, sat in the waiting room for 4 hours!) and I went for a little ride to find something and we stopped at this little Italian Deli in Quincy Center and I had to best greek salad ever...delicious! I highly recommend.  

Then I went back by 12:45 and went upstairs with Frank, the pulmonary function specialist, to have the PBTs(?) done.  He is probably the nicest person I have meet all day, very nice, friendly, talkative, didn't make the very intimidating visit bad at all.  

During this appointment, no one told me what to expect, I was assuming it was just a breating test.  While I did have the breathing test, I also had to have a test where they numb your wrist and then take blood from an artery instead of a vein to measure the oxygen level in your blood.  Frank said that this could be painful and most people hate it because it is harder on people with bigger wrists because you have to go deeper in the wrist.  But, he got it on the first try and it was not painful at all! Then the breathing tests, they were a little uncomfortable just becuase you are breathing through this tube thing and you dont know if you are doing it right, but he said I had great lungs (despite my Mom's smoking) which was good to hear (I was 96% and above for almost everything).  

I finished the day up with Frank's sister in the Cardiology Department.  The EKG took all of about 2 minutes. I had never had one before so I thought it was going to be long and drawn out but it was nice and simple.

I stopped by Dr. Hess's office to check on my appointments, I don't remember getting anything about the Dietician appointments.  Ellen felt so bad, she brought me into her office and made sure I had everything I needed before letting me go. 

Besides all the poking and proding, I enjoyed the day, everyone I met was so nice and welcoming it was unbelievable! I have never meet so many nice people in the medical field! 

Next off is the Nutrionist appointment on August 22nd! Wish me luck!!!

SOOO EXCITED!!!!

May 04, 2007

I went in to meet Dr. Hess today and he is probably the nicest doctor I have ever meet.  He took time to explain everything for me, thoroughly evaluated me to see if I'd be a good candidate and actually made a list of things for me to tell my parents about gastric bypass v. lap band.  I can tell this is a great decision and I am so happy I finally did it!! So Dr. Hess said I would be a great candidate because of my age and not having any comorbidities.  He said all of the appointments will probably take about 5-6 months and he said I could have the surgery around Thanksgiving or Christmas!!!  Now I am waiting for a call from the office about when my pre-surgery appointments will be.  

I just really want everyone to know, that so far Dr. Hess's office in Quincy have been so nice to work with and have really made me feel like I was the only patient in the office, which is not usually done in practices today.   I highly suggest him and his office!  I'll fill people in as I get more info.

Initial Consult

Apr 19, 2007

I am getting ready for my initial consult on Friday May 4th!!! I am really excited and nervous, it is truly official when I finally go to this appointment!! I will keep  everyone updated.

About Me
Boston, MA
Location
40.9
BMI
RNY
Surgery
01/02/2008
Surgery Date
Jan 16, 2007
Member Since

Friends 27

Latest Blog 11
This feels good...
Pre-Op= DONE!
Uh Oh...
Ahhh!!!
The countdown begins...
The Home stretch...
Oops...its been awhile!
Pre-Op Testing
SOOO EXCITED!!!!
Initial Consult

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