The Journey is really about to begin...

May 18, 2010

Ok so this is the first time I have ever written one of these and I haven't posted to any of the forums on here yet but I thought it would be beneficial to document my journey so far.
I started the whole process at the beginning of April 2010. I am 28 years old, 5'10 and weigh over 300 lbs. I have some health problems; high blood pressure, hyperinsulinemia, and sleep apnea. My ankles, or cankles as I refer to them as, are almost always swollen, but they don't 'pit' so my doctor isn't overly concerned about them.
I decided that I had to do something to change the path that my life was taking. I am too young to have to deal with some of the issues that I am having. I called St Vincent Bariatric Center in Carmel IN somewhere around the 7th of April. They got me scheduled for the seminar and also a consultation with one of the physicians; Dr RoseMarie Jones. That was scheduled for April 21st. Since I had 2 weeks until that appointment I went ahead and got all of my charts together as well as the recommendation letters from my PCP. I had already been diagnosed with sleep apnea and was put on a C-Pap machine in 2008 and the pulmonologist had also already referred me to a Reg Dietitian. So I had those things out of the way already. When I went in on the 21st, I went in with pretty much everything that I was required to have. The Seminar lasted about 2 hours. Then I had my 5 minutes with the surgeon who stated that as young as I was, I would do great with the surgery and that I shouldn't be concerned with the excess skin from losing weight so fast as my skin should still have lots of elasticity. She predicted that I would lose 100 pounds in about 6 months!! This sounded great to me. After my consultation, I had my appointment with the Psychiatrist that day as well. Since the Center is over 2 hours from my house, I tried to get as much scheduled as possible since I was going to be up there.
The very next week, the surgery scheduler called me to schedule my surgery. My insurance had already approved me and I was ready to go. She scheduled me for June 4th, which is also my birthday. Most people would think that it is awkward to schedule something like this on your birthday. I seen surgery as one of the best things I could do for myself so that would be like a present to myself.
Since I work at a St Vincent facility, the scheduler said that I could do all of my pre-op tests here where I work, which would save me a drive up to Carmel. With gas being almost $3.00 a gallon, that was awesome news to my ears. I got my Nutrition class scheduled for 5/18/2010. They recommend that you have this done no more than a month before your surgery. This is where they give you the knitty gritty details about the surgery and tell you what to expect and what you have to do following surgery.
To be cont...

0 Comments