Ilianexy

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Well, that was really fast! I went to my second appointment with my surgeon on July 22nd, I gave them everything they asked for and more, I was mandated to attend 2 support groups and I went to four. I'm like that, a total psychotic perfectionist, a person that extremely follows direction, stays organized and punctual to everything, it's really annoying but I feel anxious if I'm not that way. Well I knew I was going to get a surgery date but I didn't expect it to be so soon.  The nutritionist saw me and went through my nutritional assessment and though my psychological evaluation for which I had to pay $300! cash because they hired their own psychologists and they don't accept any insurance...fishy, but whatever. Then I had to see the nurse who always takes the place of the doctor because he is never there, so in this clinic you always speak to this nurse, she goes through all the surgery options with you, everything is done by this nurse not the doctor, sometimes by the nutritionist or another helping doctor...if you are lucky enough you will get to see the actual doctor before the surgery, but chances are you will get to meet him the day of your surgery. I saw him once, he said hello but that was it, what I liked about him is that he is always smiling, for some reason he always seems happy.

Well the nurse told me that my vitamin D, and vitamin B1 was low and that I have a bacteria in my stomach that causes gastritis and acid reflux, she gave me a prescription for vitamin D...50, 000 units weekly in the form of a small soft gel capsule! And a Prevpac kit for the bacteria. She gave me a B1 injection which hurt soooooo much! And then I was ready to set a date...August 5th!!!!! WOW! That was quick! I'm really happy. On Monday I have to go for my Pre-Op testing and nutritional class at 7:30 in the morning! I have 12 days exactly to get ready...but I am really excited!!!!....

Well, I think this is my third day of watching one video after the other in YT about people that are either in the in the process of getting surgery or already had their surgery and they create a YT account and use it as a video diary of thei whole experience. I love to watch this kinds of video, they are really informative, I especially like the "What I bought for surgery" ones, they are really helpful. Some of them over buy stuff, I guess they get super excited and start buying like crazy and a lot of unnecessary things, like 20 little plates, 20 little cups, tons of little utensils, etc...I mean how many mouths do u have? In my opinion I think the most you need is three of everything, 3 little bowls, plates, small spoons, cups, etc. But these type of videos had help me to get an idea of what I might be needing for my trip to the hospital and at home, stuff that I didn't even consider before like breath strips, wipes, antacid chewable tablets, gas x strips, dry mouth spray, and a whole bunch of stuff that make your life easier in a situation like that. I also love to watch videos of people going into the surgery, they do their videos inside the hospital, before and after the surgery the same day, talk about their experience, what happened and stuff like that. It's very important for me to witness the person coming out alive from that operation room, alive and talking.

I particularly love a channel of a woman that had her surgery like 2 years ago and I just love her videos, her channel is BeTheBestMe and I think is one of the best channels for this particular subject, she is so nice, honest, very descriptive and she has over 200 videos, I haven't watched all of them but they all look very interesting, I have picked up a lot of tips from her, information, her "What I bought for surgery" videos are really cool, I want the Hydracoach smart water bottle that counts your sips and your ounces, I want a cheaper version of the Magic Bullet she found in Wal-Mart and a really cool pedometer that she has that you download the info into your PC and one of the best things she shows after she'd lost 143lbs is a compression line similar to Spanx but better called Slimpressions that are extremely good for people with excess skin, she models the whole line and everything looks so tight and amazing, no jiggly parts, nothing so I really recommend to watch her channel, watching her transformation from very overweight to fit is amazing. 

The only thing I recommend based on my own experience is the book Weight Loss Surgery For Dummies, is my WLS bible, is so informative, so complete, it covers everything, it even has some recipes depending on the stage you're at. I think is the first thing anyone considering this surgery has to get. I love to be super informed, super organized, everything has to be planned and written down and I do not want to go through this surgery having any questions in my mind that might bother me, so keeping myself as informed as a I can helps me a lot. Take care...

I was rejected by the Harlem Hospital for bariatric sugery this morning :( . They felt that performing surgery on my belly was too risky due to my previous surgery and scars. They said they would've to cut open my belly to perform such surgery and that the Lap-Band was out of the question and the RNY was going to be difficult because I had a surgery on my intestines before. So they decided not to go ahead with it. I was a little sad about it but at least I went to another hospital yesterday for a second opinion and that was the best thing I did...

I went yesterday to the St. Luke's hospital for an orientation and then we were told that we could see the doctor if we wanted to so we all went. I didn't know that agreeing to see him meant to start the process right away. When I went up his office I was first given a form for my blood work, they told me to go right away so I went, got my blood taken, like 7-8 tubes! Then went up again or down I don't even know. Then they registered us to see him, I thought I was going to see him and ask him some questions only and that was it but we were called by the nurse practitioner whom you will not believe it but she was my nurse when I had my colostomy surgery! I remember her so well because she used to buy me food. She was so surprised to see me and hugged me and started whispering as if I was a protected patient still (the colostomy was performed due to a domestic violence attack and I was protected by the hospital), she asked me if that was my real name because was given another at that time for protection and not even the nurses knew my real name...wow! Well, she weighed me and stuff and then I was seen by her again and talked about my history and of course she knew about my belly problem but didn't find the big deal about not being able to have the surgery so I felt glad about that. The doctor came in and she told him a little about me and he was friends with Dr. Wedderburn who performed my colostomy in the same hospital so he said he will talk to him about what's going on in there and told the nurse to start the work-up with me. By the time I was done I couldn't see the nutritionist, but the other girls were able to, I'll see her on my second visit. They gave me the paper for the stuff I have to do within 1 month like getting an abdominal ultrasound again, getting a letter of support from my PCP, and getting a psychological evaluation which will cost me $300!!!! The department that does this kind of test don't take insurance so it has to come out of our pockets!! The second visit will be to set a surgery date and see the nutritionist and then of course do the testing. My surgery will be perfomed by Dr. Teixeira, if he doesn't change his mind.

It surprised me how fast the process is in the St. Luke's hospital, they do things so you don't have to go to so many visits, for example the surgical pre-testings are done in 1 day, it takes around 4 hours and a half and that's it. At the Harlem Hospital however you have to make an appointment for each test, plus you see the doctor,nutritionist and psychologist on different days. I will be honest, the Harlem hospital bariatric clinic is very clean, pretty, chairs are comfortable, the floor shines, is very spacious,  they have a huge staff, they are nice, everything is super organized, there's no complain. The only thing was that they turned me away and it's a little far from my home. The St. Luke's bariatric clinic is very different, it's old, dark, small, very little staff, the orientation was kind of crappy, the just put a video and that was it, no one went there to talk to us, they sent the receptionist to greet us, we watched the video and that was it. But the St. Luke's hospital is the second best hospital to have WLS in NYC after NYU, so I guess I'll be in very good hands...

Well yesterday was my first day visiting the Harlem Hospital to start my journey towards getting WLS. My appointment was for 8AM, I arrived at 7:30 AM, it was still close so the guard told me to pick up a number and sit until 8 AM with the others, then at 8AM people had to make a line in order to enter the elevators in the order of their numbers, first to arrive first to go in, I was number 40. The bariatric clinic is on the second floor in which we also had to grab a number to get registered. I registered at around 8:30am and was called by a nurse at 12:15pm!!! The reason for this, they explained to me, was that it was my first day so those people are the last to be seen because of all the explaining they have to do. While I was waiting to be called I got to meet other patients, some already had the surgery and others were in the process. Most of the patients were women from the Dominican Republic, which is my home country also, there were very few African Americans at least on that day, I expecting more variety of people. I told them I wanted to get the Lap-Band, but the majority told me not to, but couldn't give me a concrete reason. I noticed that all the people that I spoke to or heard got the RNY so I thought  "Does this hospital does anything else?" But there was this one girl who was also in the process that told me she was getting the band, she told me she doesn't wan't her intestines cut up nor her stomach, she doesn't want any drainage and she doesn't was her pouch to expand over time and become overweight again, just like another patient there who had the surgery 5 years prior and was obese again!!! I was also amazed at the amount of seniors going there for the surgery, people in their 60's and beyond! They said that they wanted to control their diabetes with the surgery. We were only 4 "young" people in the clinic and I'm 28!

Finally the nurse called me, took my blood pressure, weight and height...5' 5", 231lbs. The physician's assistant entered the room and told me to go with her. She is the one that asks you all kinds of questions and explains to you the different types of surgeries and gives you suggestions. She is super nice, her last name is Kapoor. She started asking me all kinds of questions including if I have'd any surgeries in the past, I told her yes around 12-14 surgeries in the past 5 years due to a Domestic Violence attack back in 2005, in which I also had a colostomy and colectomy performed which left me with a huge scar from right under my breast to my pubic area, she asked me to show her and immediately told me that the band cannot be done on me because of the scar, they cannot do it laparoscopically and they will not open me up for a band. Then she told me that since I had a previous surgery done in my intestines that the RNY was very unlikely also. That the only one she could suggest was the vertical sleeve. She told me that she needed to see what the surgeon did in my intestines and that she needed my medical records for that, that I needed to go to that hospital and ask them to send her those records and that she also needed me to get an abdominal sonogram or cat-scan with contrast (I hate needles!) and that is going to be on Friday. Then after getting all that they would make a decision on what to do with me. At least it was not a definite NO! 

After that I had to wait another hour for the nurse to call me and explain to me what I needed to do. She gave me the paper for the abdominal study on Friday and another for a blood test that same day. I went to the first floor where the lab is and got the blood drawn, then I went to my old hospital to ask them to send her the records, then I finally went home at 3pm!!! Well, let's just see what happens...