So... Finally I will share how I got here.

Oct 05, 2012

I want to share a bit about how I got here... And why today HRRH made my day!

HOW I GOT HERE:

Last November I had a scare. January brought more... My "girls" turned on me. Yeah... You heard me right. Ma bewbies declared war!

Changes going on in the right side mid-november got me in for some imaging bi-laterally... They found something they were willing to assume was benign in the left side(mainly because I was 31 at the time), and I really wasn't comfortable with the way I had been treated. There seemed to be a lot of "you're too young", or "well it's probably just hormonal" with a pat on the head and no answers. This was December and I got it in my head that maybe I needed someone who had a bit more knowledge... So I asked to be referred out to a Toronto hospital. I got my date for February and thought that was the end of it.

I got some of the much anticipated Revenue Canada money I had been owed, and took myself and two of my close female friends to Vegas in January. It was incredible by the way... Lights... Sights... Food... Experiences... Penny machines that paid out (and well!)...

I'd been home 3 days and the left side thought it would one up the right. In 13 days it grew... And grew... and grew. Then my arm became "involved" as the lymphatic system started to malfunction in February. A CT in March showed 12 nodules in my lungs which went with difficulty breathing. No one is even going to talk about the tremendous strain it put on my sacrum, and right hip to try to stay balanced with the size increase (left side increase lead to out of alignment on the right... go figure). *snicker*

Let me just say most of the first half of this year was scary, harrowing, and I would never wish the experience on anyone.

June brought an end to any more tests and investigation for the "girls"...  I hunted up a highly regarded Plastic Surgeon to "take things back in size". He will do it, but wanted a WLS consult first because he "would rather have me weigh 100 lbs less and do it then". He referred me to Dr Paul Sullivan... Who submitted me to the registry in July once he had a form filled out. If I had opted out of WLS I would have had to get below 270 and maintain it to be able to have the plastic surgeon work on me.

July also brought amazing news. My follow up CT showed stability for the lung nodules and took the risk of it being malignant down to nil. It was also the month of the PFT (pulmonary function test) which showed a reduced FRC (functional reserve capacity). On finding out about the FRC, and what that really means... The goal was/is to work on positioning my body in a way that allows me to breath fully, and distribute the "girls" as evenly as I can until it can all be sorted.

Basically FRC is...
The amount of oxygen in your lungs after you exhale or when you have not taken a deep breath. Basically most people have 4 minutes of not breathing until their organs shut down. I no longer do until this is sorted... Who knows. Maybe I had 3 1/2 minutes...?

Imagine laying there in bed on a "sleep in day" and a small child, or cat... Comes and jumps on your chest and you didn't see it coming. You struggle to breath, and tell them to get off of you so you can breath. It is really hard to get enough to breath when they are on your chest.
If you had seen it coming what would you do? Take a deep breath in right?

I can't "take that deep breath in", or "catch my breath". I often sit straight up, or even lean forward to keep the pressure off my lungs. It really sucks... But it is easily and quickly resolved. All I need is a "reduction".

August 15th brought meeting Dr Paul Sullivan. He's lovely really! he was presenting me with information on the RNY, and I made him stop. We talked... And agreed on a VSG. For me it is a better choice.

At 32 I am unwilling to live the rest of what I plan to be a very long life without any pain medication options. I am allergic to Tylenol, Codein, and Gravol. GO FIGURE! I am also allergic to Corn... What a mess this combination can make things for a RNY. Corn can be manageable but combined with the other... ugh.

In the interim I went to support group meetings... posted on OH, did a ton of reading, etc. In this I kept hearing about... Lost paperwork and delays.

I called HRRH September 6th because I had a bad feeling... (Mainly because of others time-lines, and having seen Dr Sullivan was surprised I had not had orientation yet.) I did NOT exist within the registry. (Apparently I was lucky they checked for me but I have a compelling story that women sometimes feel for a bit - see blog post). I then called Dr Sullivan's office, had it re-faxed... Got the number of whom I should call in a couple days to make sure it really went in this time...

September 10th I made that call... I got a voice-mail back with a time-line. How long till the faxed confirmation was to be at the referring Dr's office, how long until HRRH should have me in their computers, etc.

So... I waited 14 days and called the referring Dr. Confirmed they had gotten the fax and when. Called HRRH... Got the confirmation I was in the system and thanked them.

Then... My home number went down (as well as cable and internet) the next day. Goodness help me was there no end to the madness? I called HRRH on my cell, explained why I needed them to check my number on file and to make sure it was the cell. Mentioned I had seen Dr Sullivan already... Got questioned as to how that was possible. The lost paperwork information came out and they put me in the morning orientation on the 4th of October. I darn near lost my mind I was so happy.

October 4th (yesterday) I went in and handed in all my paperwork at orientation... I made a decision to leave my weight blank on the form.

Right now you are probably wondering why I would do that... Well I don't have scales I can access (mine are in a box behind 4 other boxes on purpose... I am dumb over them. We're NOT friendly... ya know?!). When I went for my PFT on July 26th they made me step on the scales. In kg. UGH! It worked out to 339.95 lbs... I started working on it RIGHT THEN... August 3rd I was 338.2. I was willing to take that and run with it. I have lost 3 inches off my hips since the beginning of July (2 inches August 13th - September 22nd specifically, etc. etc.)

HOW HRRH MADE MY DAY:

Today I got a phone call asking me able this lack of information. I explained why it was missing... They explained why they needed a starting weight... I said I would read it off the PFT report in kg for them and did... Along with the date, and which hospital it was done in. Then as always... mentioned I would take any appointments... Cancellations, short notice, etc. and that I had already met my surgeon... Got questioned. Explained the why and the how... And was thanked for the information.

40 minutes later I got a call offering me an appointment... She started to tell me the 11th to meet the surgeon but stopped... Realizing I had already done that... I told her I needed SW, NUT, and Dietitian... Followed by Internist if needed. She told me she would set "everything up" and email me shortly...

I watched and watched for that email... Thinking... Oh goodness... They must be swamped. 45 minutes later my blackberry pinged.

SW... NUT... Dietitian. Booked. For OCTOBER 11th!

I damn near did a happy dance in my neighbours garage and got 3 high 5's.

Yes I am moving very fast from the re-submission and I am incredibly grateful. I hope no one gets upset that I am though. I know waiting sucks. I think they are just trying to get things back on track.

The best thing I did in the waiting time was filling in the nutrition information and tracking my food here in the health tracker. When I got the paperwork for next week it asked for 2 weekdays, and 1 weekend day's food log, etc. so I am going to use the "printer friendly" version and print some out. I also made use of it in the 20 page questionaire when they asked for a sample food log for a day. It helped a lot to be able to pull quantities, etc. as I went.

Shell

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