kelee62
I started my journey in January 2006 by attending Dr Woodman's seminar at Baptist Memphis Memorial Hospital. In February I had my first appt with Ann who is Dr Woodman's insurance coordinator. From that point I started my 6 month physician supervised diet with my PCP. On June 16th, Ann sent all my paperwork into Aetna for approval. 10 days later I was approved!!!! It took about 3 weeks before I was scheduled for my pre-op workup. It was done on July 31st and it was a breeze. A week later I got the call I had been waiting for. My "official" pre-op appt was scheduled for August 17th. It would be at this appt that I would get "my date." During that appt I weighed in at 310 lbs and was told by Dr Woodman that I had to lose 10 lbs in order for him to operate on me so that it would be a safer procedure. After meeting with him I met with Kelly who is his Office Mgr and scheduler. I was scheduled for Sept 1st which meant I had 2 weeks to lose 10 lbs. Yikes!!! Well I showed them....I lost 19 lbs in those 2 weeks by sticking to clear liquids at every meal except lunch when I would have a boneless, skinless chicken breast. My surgery was on and there was no stopping me now.
My surgery was on Sept 1st as scheduled, however what was supposed to be a 9 am start time turned into a 4:15 pm start time. I reported to the hospital at 6:30 am as requested just to have to wait 10 hrs to be taken to surgery. Now you must remember that this was 10 hrs with no food or anything to drink. It was absolutely miserable but well worth it once it was all over. My stay in the hospital was pretty uneventful other than a nagging headache caused by an empty stomach as well as the pain medication I was on. I went home 2 days after my surgery. I stayed home from work for one week which was more than enough for me. I was fit to be tied by the time I returned to work.
Two weeks from the day of my surgery my daughter and I started walking a mile every night. We are now up to at least 2 miles a night. We are going to have to change our routine or our walking location soon though because of the time change at the end of this month.
This past week we went to Clarksville, TN for a college visit at Austin Peay State University. My daughter loves it and has officially applied to attend there next fall. I am hoping to move to Nashville next summer if a position comes available with the company that I work for. I've been with the same company for 7 years and hope to stay with them because I love my job and the people that I work with.
I will update more later.
