My Journey was a long time coming!

Dec 31, 2011

Well, here goes...  As the title states, my journey began in December 2010.  I was approved by my PCP and began the whole appointment saga with specialists.  (Let me say right off the bat I am a member of Kaiser, No. California and live in the San Joaquin Valley.)  I was able to get into the initial orientation right away 12/10 and from there everything just fell into place as if "it was meant to be."  I was able to get all my nutritionist, Psychologist, Surgeon, and follow-on orientations scheduled in January and February 2011.  I began this journey at 232 lbs. and at my Feb. appt. with Surgeon he wanted me to lose 6 more pounds to bring my weight to 216 before he would schedule surgery.  I knew I wouldn't have any problems doing that so I scheduled another appt. for 2 weeks from that date.  He was please and thrilled I was able to get my weight down he had his scheduler set my surgery date for April 19th!  At 2 weeks out I started my pre-op protein only diet and took care of all my labs and xrays.  I had my final pre-op appt with Dr. Alvarez on April 17th and received my admitting info scrubbing pads (Kaiser Fresno is anal about fighting infection!).  Because my hospital is 2 hrs. from home, it was evening before we arrived home.  To my surprise there was a message for me from Dr. Alvarez saying he would call me back later that night, but my surgery was cancelled.  My heart almost stopped... When he called back he explained that he had forgotten to check my chest xray before my appt. and unfortunately it showed a "shadow" on my right lung and surgery would have to be postponed until it was diagnosed and taken care of.  He hoped it was just a leftover shadow from earlier pneumonia.  But, alas, after a CT scan, biopsy, and PT scan it was determined I had a stage 1 tumor in my right upper lobe.  Long story short I was assigned the BEST Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon alive today (!) and he recommended removing the entire lobe since I had such good lung fuction.  Since it would significantly reduce the recurrence rate, I quickly agreed.  Surgery was May 23rd.

Now, fast forward to present.  I discussed VSG surgery with my Oncologist who is a fanatic about weight loss and exercise as a means of fighting a recurrence of cancer, and emailed Dr. Alvarez asking his opinion.  They both approved, I met with Dr. Alvarez in December 2011 and have been scheduled for VSG surgery on 1/9/11!!!  I am excited, nervous, and very thankful for this forum!

So all I can say now is.................... To Be Continued....

1 Comment