Celia S.

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Well, here I am. Officially one week post-op from my RNY gastric bypass.

Things are going really smoothly for me. I haven't had a whole lot of issues other than getting in ENOUGH protein and water. I am not having a problem getting them in and keeping them down, but I'm just not getting enough. I'm battling my brain right now that is telling me I'm not hungry by telling myself I HAVE to eat anyway. I have been averaging around 30oz of each per day, but I'm trying to put more emphasis on hydration at this point because it's more important than nutrition. It's the strangest feeling not being hungry. I haven't been hungry for a whole week. Not once! I'm actually really liking this! :)

I'm also realizing that I have a somewhat picky pouch. All my liquids as of now have to be room temp. or warm, but not HOT or COLD or I get a crampy pouch. Flavored waters like Propel or MiO and Crystal Light also give me a crampy pouch. There are also some proteins that I could tolerate before surgery that make me gag just smelling them now, so looks like I'll be donating some very expensive protein powders to someone in my support group soon!

I've had to get creative with my soups. I got tired of the "cream soups" that I was supposed to eat, so I've chosen some other high protein soups like bean and bacon and split pea and ham, I make them with a can of skim milk and then add a cup of powdered milk to bump up the protein to around 11g per 1/2c. serving. Then I blend and strain so they're edible for me. It's nice to have a LOT of variety in what I eat.

I'm healing pretty well, too. I have had very little pain compared to what I was expecting. I am not quite off my pain meds, yet, but I'm only taking them when I'm hurting pretty bad. I have a tendency to do too much but doing anything less isn't really an option for me. I'm a full time mother. I have to take care of my baby, I have to still go grocery shopping (though I have utilized the motorized carts once), plus I am in school and can't afford to miss a bunch of class. So by the time I go to bed some nights, I'm in a fair amount of pain. I'm ready to have the stitches taken out of my one incision that wouldn't stop bleeding in the hospital. It's right at the top of my abdomen and makes bra wearing very uncomfortable, but going without a bra is NOT an option! LOL My incisions (all 7 of them) all seem to be healing very well. I have had very low energy, too, but I know that is temporary.

My body is totally being a jerk right now. I had my last "cycle" right before surgery. It seriously ended just 2 days prior to my surgery date. And now I'm on another cycle. God I really hope this pattern doesn't keep up. I'm supposed to have 3 weeks off, NOT one! But I suppose this is a small price to pay for weight loss. I'm also going to take this as a sign that my fat cells are actually being burned off which is what's releasing all these extra hormones, and I'm okay with smaller fat cells! :)

I think I'm going to go weigh in today, just to see where I am.

So that's my update. I'm so glad to be on the loser's bench and starting to feel better. Now to start seeing the results! :) I'm very excited to be on this wild ride!

***Edited to add*** I weighed in today and saw fantastic results! The day I left the hospital (Thursday) I weighed in at 345.8 - although I'm a little fuzzy on the decimal. This showed a 4 lb gain since the day before surgery from all the fluids they pumped into me while in the hospital and may not have been my total weight gain since I got more fluids after I was weighed. Anyway, today I weighed in at 336.1!!! That's a 9 lbs loss, folks!!! In just 5 days! Although I knew my RNY would cause me to lose weight, and fast, that big a loss in such a short time is astonishing to me! I'm very happy! I accidentally told the nurse at my surgeon's office "That's the EASIEST 9lbs I've ever lost!" I then immediately corrected myself because this is SOOOOOO not easy!

Well folks, I have finally made it to the loser's bench! :)

I had my RNY on Tuesday, October 18th at 8 am and everything went great! Dr. Hanly took out my gallbladder and biopsied my liver. Thank goodness there were no signs of liver disease!

I'm still a little sore, but I am lucky enough to be able to say that on day 2 post-op, pain is very minimal at this point!

Honestly, other than a lack of hunger, I don't feel too much different than I did when I went in.

Can't wait to heal up and be able to hit the gym again! :)

Thank you all for your love, support, thoughts and prayers! Love you all!

Well, heard official word from my surgeon's office today...

Provided nothing else comes along to hang me up again, I will be joining the loser's bench on...

October 18th, 2011.

Hello everyone!

It's been a while, so I'm not sure where to start. I guess I'll go back to my heartbreak. I spent several days being angry at the whole situation even after my paperwork had been processed. All I could think was "I should have been going home today," or "I would have been a week out today." This anger was aggrivated to an even higher level when I made a phone call to my daughter's doctor's office to have them rebill Medicaid for a couple of appointments she had had in the time that we were in coverage limbo.

It was in that way that I found out that, while we were covered again by Medicaid, we had been booted off of the HMO plan we were covered under prior to the first of September. I also found out through my investigation that we would not be placed back onto the HMO plan until October 1st. So I called my surgeon's office and told them it would be pointless to try and contact Rocky Mountain Health Plans to verify my coverage till 10/3 since the first fell on a Saturday. So I was angry that I would have to wait even longer for my surgery.

In the emotional aftermath of my tumultuous week, I gained 5 lbs. :(

I'm also finding myself back in the spot of wanting to indulge in my favorite foods "one last time." It's very frustrating because I thought I had moved past that. But oh well. I'm trying my best to keep the calories in check, though some days are much easier than others.

Good news is I have found a new committment to getting to the gym and getting my body moving. I have been working on getting this 5 pounds that I gained back off, but have only managed to drop a couple of them. I have an old friend who has become my new workout partner (and a damn good one at that!). She keeps me motivated to go, has literally forced me to go once when I was frantically making excuses not to, and keeps me pushing hard on the equipment. She even got me to get on the elliptical which up to then had been my mortal enemy! The first time she got me on it, I wanted to get off within 3 minutes, but she got me to push for 15 minutes. Since then I have gone 30-33 minutes each visit on the elliptical which feels like a HUGE accomplishment! Altogether, we are doing 60-70 minutes of gym time every Tuesday and Thursday and we are looking to start going Saturdays as well, but that's not going to happen until after this coming weekend at least. My daughter will be turning 3 years old on Thursday and we're having her birthday party this weekend which will keep me super busy! My friend is so sweet, too. To celebrate 2 straight weeks of keeping with gym time and working hard, she brought a little gift for me today. It was an after gym kit with mini shampoo, conditioner, body washes, lotion, a bath pouf, comb, and mini deodorants. Plus she gave me a (used but good) MP3 player with my workout playlist from my phone already uploaded to it! Again I say she is awesome! :)

Anyway, back to my surgery - I am back on track. My surgeon's office was able to verify yesterday that I am once again covered under the HMO that gave me my approval. I have an appointment to speak with the surgeon and resign my consent forms next Wednesday 10/12 and am waiting to hear when exactly my new surgery date will be. They told me I could possibly be in the week after that which would be the 18th. If that's the case I'll hear from them before the week is out so I know to start my pre-op diet this Saturday. If not the 18th, I'm fully expecting to be in surgery by the 25th at the latest. We shall see.

Anyhoo, that is my update for now. I will undoubtedly be back with my (second) official surgery date! :)

God Bless!

Yesterday started out as a wonderful day. I woke up knowing that my surgery would be taking place in less than 24 hours. I had lots to do: go to surgeon's office to weigh in and make sure I didn't gain on my pre-op diet, pick up last minute prescription, get batteries for my camera, pack my hospital bag, shower, place scopolamine patch behind my ear (this is a transdermal anti-nausea medication), and try to get some sleep amid all the excitement for the start of my new life. Unfortunately, not all of these things got accomplished.

I weighed in with better than expected results. I had only lost a disappointing 1.6 lbs during the first 5 days of my pre-op diet, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I stepped on the scale. I was just shooting for maintaining the 1.6lb loss. To my pleasant surprise, the last 5 days of my pre-op diet garnered a whopping 6.9lb loss! Wow! Icing on my cake :) Then I was off to get my prescription. Another pleasant surprise: there was no line at the pharmacy where I'm usually waiting in line for 30 minutes to pick something up! I got up to the counter, told her my name and DOB and yes, it was ready. "That'll be $ 15.22."

Ok $ 15. ... Wait.... What?!?!? "Did my insurance not cover that?"

The lady asked if I had insurance, if it was in the system, and if I had my card on me and they would fix it right away. Whew!

"Ma'am? Your insurance shows that you're not covered."

Are you kidding me??? I'm supposed to be having surgery TOMORROW!!!

I ended up paying the $ 15.22 for my prescription. It wasn't really a big deal that it wasn't covered, but what would be a big deal is my surgery not being covered. I spaced off getting batteries and went straight home to start making phone calls to DHS to get my insurance (Medicaid) straightened out. Call #1: I asked to speak with my case manager. No answer. I don't have time to wait for a phone call back from her when I still haven't received a call back from a message I left back in August! Call #2: I asked to speak to my case manager's supervisor. No answer. Voicemail said she was out of the office for the day. She wouldn't be any help to me. Call #3: I asked for ANY supervisor. They said they can transfer me to the supervisor that was out of the office. I told them that was unacceptable. They transferred me to the district supervisor. Again, no answer. I left a voicemail hoping at least she would have time to return a phone call.

After a while I get a call from the surgeon's office asking if I had figured anything out. No. They called my insurance and they verified that I indeed did not have coverage and then told me that I needed to contact DHS. Don't you think I've TRIED that!?!?!???!?? Call #4: I told the receptionist I needed to speak to a HUMAN.... TODAY! I told her I am scheduled to have surgery tomorrow and I needed to get this stuff sorted out now! She told me my best bet would be to go in to talk to someone. I probably should have done that in the first place.

So I went down to DHS. I didn't have to wait long to talk to someone. I told them I turned in my recertification packet for Medicaid weeks ago and haven't heard anything yet. They verified I turned in my paperwork on August 16th. Nearly a month ago and then told me they were really behind on paperwork so my caseworker just hadn't gotten to it yet. She told me even if she found someone to push the paperwork through that night that it still wouldn't say I was active the next morning but that she would let my case manager know I came in and see if she could look at it in the morning since she had already gone home for the day. So the woman who could not return my phone call in the last month or process my paperwork that she had had for a month can afford to go home early??? Whatever.

I called my surgeon's office and left a voicemail about what had happened and asked on a hope and a prayer that they would still let me go forward with the surgery even though the computer would show that I have no coverage since I KNEW that I would be approved once my caseworker got to my paperwork and I KNEW that there would be no lapse in coverage once I was approved for recertification. I got a call back a little while later that the answer to that, sadly, was no. My surgery was postponed. I was heartbroken. I cried. I cursed. I ate.

This afternoon I got a call from my caseworker. Apparently SOMEONE I talked to yesterday was able to get her motivated to do some actual work as she processed my paperwork and I had been approved. THANK GOD! I have medical coverage again.

After that phone call, I went directly to my surgeon's office to let the ladies in the office know so we can start working on getting me another date. They won't give me another surgery date until they are able to verify that I indeed have medical coverage again which may take a couple of days, but they're going to call Thursday to see if they can get it verified then. Once they do get confirmation of coverage, they will call to reschedule my surgery date. Hopefully I'll be able to get in as early as the 27th since they usually only do their surgeries on Tuesdays and a surgery next Tuesday would be pushing it.

I'm sticking to the 800-1000 calorie pre-op diet I've been on since the 3rd of this month so I ensure that I won't gain weight (which will cause me to wait even LONGER for my surgery)!

I've had a rough couple of days, but things are already looking better. I just hope and pray with everything I have that nothing else goes wrong!

Wow! I can't believe that in just 2 weeks my life will change forever! I'm so excited to go under the anesthesia and wake up a surgically altered freak! LOL Admittedly, I'm a little bit nervous, but not scared. I'm READY. I'm prepared. I know my stuff. I feel like I've been studying for a really big test for the past 4 months and now I'm just ready to go in and rock it!

I'm going to be a busy girl for the next couple of weeks, so that will make the time fly by, I'm sure. I have Pre-Admission Testing at the hospital on Friday (9/2) at 11:15 am, my 800-1000 cal/day pre-op diet starts on Saturday (9/3), and I have my pre-op class where I'll get all of my final instructions before surgery on Thursday (9/8). Somewhere in there I'm also going to have to have another UA because they found a bacteria in my first UA back in May that they have to check for, and a nicotine screen as well to make sure I haven't been smoking. The nic. screen isn't a big deal at all since my last cigarette was on 4/19! I can't believe I've been smoke free for over 4 months! I'm so happy I quit and this time I have extra incentive to not start back up!

On top of all of that, I still have home and school obligations as well, so I will be extra busy! But that's okay because, like I said, it will make the time fly by!

So it's been a while since I last updated (again). LOL

I didn't want to inundate everyone with updates as they were coming in because after my file was submitted to insurance for approval, it all went by very quickly.

On Monday, August 9th, I got a phone call that my insurance had APPROVED my surgery! I was pleasantly surprised and very much in shock over the quickness of the response!

I had my pre-op appointment with my surgeon last Wednesday, August 17th. He went over all of my paperwork, made sure I fulfilled all of the testing and other things he asked me to do, and went over the risks of surgery and of the RNY specifically. I got my prescriptions for surgery day and afterward and did some other things. It was a pretty long appointment, but my dad and hubby went with me and had lots of opportunity to ask questions. This appointment definitely helped calm some of the fears that my hubby was experiencing and put to rest some of the doubts my dad was having as well. My surgeon's physician's assistant told me at the end of the appointment that I should hear from scheduling by the end of the week to set up my surgery date.

Well, today by lunch time I had not heard from them so I started making phone calls. Long story short, I got a call back after all of this and got my date!!!! I will be joining the loser's bench on Tuesday, September 13th. I have to check into the hospital at 6am for an 8am procedure. I have some other last minute testing and other things to complete before then, so I'll stay busy up to that point, but even still it's only 3 weeks away! Holy Cow I can't believe how quickly it's all going now! I can't wait - but at the same time, I'm getting a little nervous! I haven't had any kind of surgery since I was 2 years old. Much to young to remember it. LOL. I am praying all goes smoothly and that my recovery is uneventful!

Happy Sunday!

Just thought I would write a small update.

I am at the end of the beginning of this journey! :) I completed my insurance-required 3 month supervised diet this past Thursday, 8/4. My file was submitted to insurance for approval on Friday!

So now I'm playing the waiting game. My surgeons office says my insurance averages about 2 weeks for a response. Once they get approval, I will get a phone call to set up my pre-op appointment and should have a date soon after that! :D

I'm so excited!

Well, I have been a busy girl since my last update.

I have obtained my psych clearance, I have had my pulmonology consult, and I have had my sleep study.

This week I go back in for another sleep study (a full night of titration - which is just a fancy way of saying finding the right pressure for me on the CPAP) and I have my NUT consult.

I have to be on a CPAP for 4 weeks before I can have my surgery. My 3 month pre-op diet will be completed on August 4th, but I'm sticking with it until my surgery date. If I stay in active weight loss, my surgeon's office said I will not have to do the 10 day pre-op liquid diet. The final thing I will have to take care of is to pay off my previous hospital balances and they told me they would settle the debt with me for half of what I actually owe.

So I'm still on track for having surgery in the last week of August or first week of September.

It's getting closer!!!!

(I'm so excited.)

:D

So I decided today I wanted to start a vlog on my WLS experience. You can find me on YouTube at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrsDores  
I'm still a novice at all of this so I hope they videos are okay. They'll get better at any rate. :)