Sarah B.
08/04/05
Well i have been visitng this site for a while now. Just watching and reading(LOTS). There is some great information and very uplifing stories here. They have all inspired me to make the dicision to have WLS. I am 27 years old, married with one son. He just turned 6. He is my life. He is my inspiration for this surgery. I am tired of sitting on the side lines while my son grows up. I want to participate. He played soccer last year and t-ball this year. I am so overweight i don't have the energy to get out and practice with him or play with him. I want to roll around on the floor and run next to him as he learns to ride his bike. All the things a parent is supposed to be able to do. I have a wonderful husband. We just celebrated 5 yrs of marriage this past march. I have wanted WLS for a while now. I stand 6' tall and weigh about 495. Nobody every believes me when i tell them how much i weigh(i don't tell that tom any people). Because i am so tall i hide it well. I haven't been able to weigh in a long time. The scales at my dr office now don't go over 350. So the last time i was able to weigh was about 2 years ago. so i am not really sure. I actualy work for BlueCross and my insurance does pay for the surgery but only at 50%. Unfortunalty i just can't afford to pay the other 50% because everybody want my 50% up front. That just isn't a possiblty. My husband just recently got a new job and there insuance is Kaiser. I reasearched and found out Kaiser does cover the surgery after extensive "hoop jumping". But for me that is ok. I will jump through as many hoops and loops and whatever they ask me to just to get the surgery. I want it that bad. In some of the stories i have read the process takes some about 2 years. I am hoping it does't take me that long. My sister is the one who told me about this website. She had WLS in Feb. 05.(she is covd by tri-care) She has lost so much weight and is so much happier. I can't wait for that feeling.
I have my first appointment with Kaiser on 08/29/05 with my pcp. I will have to get set up as a patient and the pcp to refer me to the bariatric dept. I am hoping my medical conditions will move the process along a little faster. I have sever diabets(i take 2 different insulins/ 4x a day) i have 2 blood pressue medications and diaretics. I have severe sleep apnia and sleep with c-pap machine every night. My arches are falling in my feet and i have foot orthotics to help with the planterfaceitis(not sure of spelling) in both feet. I have bone spurs out the back of both heals and they hurt. I know this isn't alot compaired to what some people are going through but i am tired of being like this. I have tried so many diets and they never seem to work. I have been fighting with my weight since i was about 12 years old. Before that, i was thin. well i suppose that is enough for now. :) I will update soon.~Sarah
08/29/05
Well i went to my appt today with my pcp. I don't know what i expected. I know this is a long and drawn out process but i was hoping to at least get a referral to the bariatric dept but that didn't happen. My doctor told me before i can even get the referral i have to take either a 5 week or 12 week weight mngmt class that kaiser offers but doesn't pay for. The dr told me i could take either one and once i completed the class i could get my referral. But when i called to scheduler he said the 12 week class will be mandatory at some point of my journey so i should start it now and get it out of the way. So the next class start Sept 22. It will cost $140. But i guess compared to all the diets and weight loss crap i have bought over the years this is probably pretty cheep. We have to pay for the class when we register so i will do it on friday. That's payday. I was weighted today for the first time in probably 4 years. My doctors never had scales that went big enough. I was a little shocked when i saw the numbers go over 500. I weighed in at 503. I almost cried. I am so tired of being fat. I guess i am a little down because my son has been gone on summer vaca for almost a month and i really miss him. He has NEVER been away this long. EVER. But he will be home this weekend. He has been spending time with my mom and grandma in Washington. They don't get to see him very often so this summer he went to spend a month with them. Anyways....i will update more when there is something to update. Later~ Sarah~
03/10/06
Wow. Long time no update. Things kinda got put on hold for while. My dad has been very sick. He went in for open heart surgery in Jan and I have been crazy busy helping him. But I finally got back on track today. We got our yearly bonus at work and I finally have the extra money to pay for my weight managment class I have to take for Kaiser. I start on March 28th. I go every Tuesday night for 12 weeks. Then I can get my referral to the bariatric department. I know I am just starting my journey with Kaiser and I know it will take a long time to get to a surgery date. But for as long as it has taken me to get to the weight I am today, I don't expect it to come off tomorrow. With my bonus I am also going to save enough money to sign up for the Weight Watcher program through Kaiser. They offer it at a discount of $9.50 a week. That will be 3 months of dieting I can add to my list of Trials. Things are starting to get busy at my house. My son is getting ready to start baseball again. Unfortunalty, I don't get off work until 6pm to I won't be able to take him to practices every week. But games are on Saturday mornings, so that will be fun. Well I guess that is enough for now. I will write more when there is more to tell. Later~
04/19/06
Hello All. Well I finally feel like I have made some progress. I feel like I have been sitting idle for so long. I started my 12 week weight managment class and will have my last class on 06/13/06. I had to go back to the doctor for a blood pressure check and diabetes check on Friday. My docotor was not available so I saw a new Doctor to Kaiser. My PCP told me I had to finish the weight managment class before I could get my referral to the bariatric dept. However, one of the ladies in my class said that wasn't usually the case. So when I went to see this new Doctor I asked him if I could get my referral because I had started the class. He put it right through. So I'm a little upset that I could have really started this whole process back in August when I saw my PCP the first time and she CHOSE not to get the referral started. But no need to dwell on what is done. I got my referral and now I am just waiting for my questioniare to come in the mail. Once I get that and fill it out and send it back they are supposed to contact me to schedule my first appointment. Like I said, I finally feel like I have made some progress. Well I guess that's all the new news for now. Best wishes and good luck to all. Later~
07/24/06
It's been awhile... Well summer is in full swing and I have completed my 12 week "freedom from diets" class at Kaiser. I got my letter for orientation and that appointment was last friday.(07/21/06) My birthday was 07/18/06 so I am one yr older and a ripe ol' age of 28 : ) I have had some very trying times recently. My father passed away on June 10th and I have been very off track ever since. I have not been taking my meds and have fallen into a bad habit of not taking my insulin shots. I know, I know, I have to get back on track. At my meeting they told us we have to loose 10% of our total body weight and our diabetes has to be under complet controle. This has been so hard for me because my dad was my supporting rock. He was my encouragement when I needed it. It was very hard when I got my orientation letter as it was only a couple days after he passed away. We had been waiting and anticipating this letter for months. I got the letter and just cried and cried. I called my sister and she said she would go with me. She has been great. She had RNY in Feb 2005. I don't know what I would do without her right now. But as of Friday, I know if I truly want this to happen I have to get things back on track. I know my dad would want that. So at the meeting on Friday I learned that my next steps are I have to start an excersize program and call to make my next group appt with the social worker. I have already had a sleep study and I currently sleep with CPAP so I shouldn't have to do that again. The things I need to work on is a diet and excersize journal and working at loosing 50lbs. But that compaired to what I need to loose total is nothing. I can do it! I know I can. ~Later~
08/01/06
I called Mary Lou and made my next appointment for the group meeting with the social worker. Is it scheduled for Aug. 23. They only have those meetings once a month. I am lucky to have gotten into this month. I have started keeping excersise and food journals. I am trying really hard to make good healthy choices. I am doing much better. I am eating more fruits and veggies and salads. I still have pasta once in a while but not the amount I used to. I have started taking the stairs DOWN ONLY at work. I work down town on the 7th floor of our building. I have been taking the stairs down every day at least 2 times. So at least 14 flights of stairs every day. I need to add some walking to that and I think it will make a huge difference. Well gotta go do some stairs.
Later ~
08/25/06
Hello all. Well I went to my meeting on the 23rd and I called to make my next one on one with Julie and Brenda. I was very supprised today when Ella called to make my next appt. I was even more shocked when she said next Thursday. I really anticipated at least a month wait. Guess not. I don't think I have made enough progress to get a referral to see the surgeon yet, but it will give me a great idea of how far I have to go. I don't want to get too excited. I am starting to get nervous. It is all happening so fast but taking so long all at the same time. I wish I could be done with surgery tomorrow(as everybody does). I am going to attend the support group this weekend at Sunnyside. It will be my first support group meeting. I think it will be educational and fun to meet new people. Well, that's all for now. I have to get back to work.
Later~
08/31/06
Wow! I went to see Julie and Brenda today and had to step on the scale. No lies. I lost 31 lbs since April. I weighed 480. It was great. I was so excited I cried. I was so ready to see no change at all that when I saw that it was rather shocking. I am going to see a physical therapist and another social worker and then back to see Julie and Brenda in 4-6 weeks. Julie told me it would be to my advantage to see another social worker to try and find alternative measures to handle stress,drama, and trauma. The recent loss of my father is still very hard to me to handle. I just don't quite know what to do without him. So I am going to keep working hard and eating better and less. We will see where I am in 6 weeks when I go back. I'm so happy!
:-) later~
10/03/06
I went to the physical therapist and social worker yesterday. The PT told me the same thing they all do, " I am the most active 500 lb person they have ever seen." I found out I have lost another 14.5 lbs. WOO HOO!! I am almost to my 10% weight loss. The only problem is I can't get back in to see Julie and Brenda until November 16th. I want to go NOW! But oh well. Good things will come to those who are patient. That is what I keep telling myself. : ) That's all for now. More later~ Sarah Well i have been visitng this site for a while now. Just watching and reading(LOTS). There is some great information and very uplifing stories here. They have all inspired me to make the dicision to have WLS. I am 27 years old, married with one son. He just turned 6. He is my life. He is my inspiration for this surgery. I am tired of sitting on the side lines while my son grows up. I want to participate. He played soccer last year and t-ball this year. I am so overweight i don't have the energy to get out and practice with him or play with him. I want to roll around on the floor and run next to him as he learns to ride his bike. All the things a parent is supposed to be able to do. I have a wonderful husband. We just celebrated 5 yrs of marriage this past march. I have wanted WLS for a while now. I stand 6' tall and weigh about 495. Nobody every believes me when i tell them how much i weigh(i don't tell that tom any people). Because i am so tall i hide it well. I haven't been able to weigh in a long time. The scales at my dr office now don't go over 350. So the last time i was able to weigh was about 2 years ago. so i am not really sure. I actualy work for BlueCross and my insurance does pay for the surgery but only at 50%. Unfortunalty i just can't afford to pay the other 50% because everybody want my 50% up front. That just isn't a possiblty. My husband just recently got a new job and there insuance is Kaiser. I reasearched and found out Kaiser does cover the surgery after extensive "hoop jumping". But for me that is ok. I will jump through as many hoops and loops and whatever they ask me to just to get the surgery. I want it that bad. In some of the stories i have read the process takes some about 2 years. I am hoping it does't take me that long. My sister is the one who told me about this website. She had WLS in Feb. 05.(she is covd by tri-care) She has lost so much weight and is so much happier. I can't wait for that feeling. I have my first appointment with Kaiser on 08/29/05 with my pcp. I will have to get set up as a patient and the pcp to refer me to the bariatric dept. I am hoping my medical conditions will move the process along a little faster. I have sever diabets(i take 2 different insulins/ 4x a day) i have 2 blood pressue medications and diaretics. I have severe sleep apnia and sleep with c-pap machine every night. My arches are falling in my feet and i have foot orthotics to help with the planterfaceitis(not sure of spelling) in both feet. I have bone spurs out the back of both heals and they hurt. I know this isn't alot compaired to what some people are going through but i am tired of being like this. I have tried so many diets and they never seem to work. I have been fighting with my weight since i was about 12 years old. Before that, i was thin. well i suppose that is enough for now. :) I will update soon.~Sarah
11/17/06
I went to the doctor again yesterday and I am down a total of 55 lbs since 04/17/06. I was so excited I had goosebumps! It was awsome. Julie and Brenda said they want to see me one more time the first week of Jan. So my hope of having surgery before Christmas, is no longer. But that is ok. I feel great. Mary Lou, the bariatric nurse at Kaiser, said my next appointment will be a goup meeting with them, so that is one step closer. They said after that appointment they will send me for pre op labs. Then they review labs and as long as everything is ok I get to see the surgeon. I do have to schedule a pap. OOOOHHHHH>>>>> I don't want to!! I have always had a very bad experience with that. So I tend not to have them as often as I should. My doctor said once every 3 yrs was fine. Well, I was told the surgeon may turn me back if all my routine exams and stuff aren't up to date. SO... I gotta do it! I don't wanna do it.... but i gotta. They also told me, they want my bmi under 60 before I go for surgery. That will make it safer for me to go under anesthesia. That means I need to loose about another 15 lbs before Jan. I can do it! They asked me if I was worried about the holidays, and really, I'm not. I have suck a bigger and brighter future, that I am not worried about the temtations or snacks or deserst... nothing. I can do it. :) So, I guess that's enough for now. I will post again soon. ~Sarah~
01/12/07
Happy New Year!!
Another one came and went. Haven't updated in a while so I thought I would. I went to the doctor for my last weigh in on Tuesday 01/09/07. I was exaclty the same as in Nov. So I went through Thanksgiving and Christmas and didn't gain any weight! I was happy with that. I received my letter ordering my pre op labs on 01/10/07. Had them done on 01/12/07. According to my letter they will review my case and lab results on 01/16/07. I am excited because that is only 4 days away. WOOHOO! It finally feels like I have made some progress over the last year and a half. Well I will update more when I know something else. Thank you
Sarah~
01/26/07
Well I was approved by Kaiser. I have my appt with Dr Moiel on 02/13/07. Happy Valentine's Day to me.
Write more later,
Sarah
03/24/07
Hello everyone. It's been a while since I updated and lots has happened. I had my appt with the surgeon and they scheduled me for surgery on Tuesday 03/27/07. woo hoo... finaly.
Well, I have everything in place at work. I have an approval for my leave of absence and my short term dissability. I had planned on working the Monday before surgery just to keep my mind busy and try not to get too nervous. Well, I was at work on Friday afternoon and I received a call from the surgery scheduler saying the doctor can't do my surgery on Tuedsay! I my heart stopped!! Then she said they wanted to move it to MONDAY!! ONE DAY SOONER! I said, Um... OK.... Something came up and the doctor can't do it on Tuesday so I am very lucky they didn't postpone my surgery to a later date. So, right now it is just after 5am on Saturday morning. This time tomorrow I will be on my clear liquid diet. So that's what's up with me now. I will post more as soon as I can.
Sarah~
04/13/07
Well, I am now 2 weeks post op and doing better. We had some complications but things are better. They found a size 7 cyst on one of my ovaries and part of my intestines were twisted. Once they untwisted and re-attached the opening was too narrow. So they surgeon had to make what I call another gate for things to pass through. They found a urinary track infection while I was in the hospital and gave me some antibiotics. When I came home, the antiobiotics they have me for the UTI caused Thrush all over in my mouth and down my throat. So...... I couldn't eat or drink anything for about 2 days. It totally drained all my energy. I didn't even get out of bed for 2 days. Once I started a new antiobiotic for the thrush, it got better and I could start drinking the liquid nutrition again. I have now been released to eat soft solids and can pretty much eat everything except raw veggies and meat. I am still learning what I can "tolerate" and what I can't.
I am down 25 lbs in 2 weeks since surgery. Which brings my total weight loss in the last year to 90 lbs. It sounds great. I know that 90 lbs is a great deal of weight but I don't see a 90 lbs difference when I look in the mirror yet. But I feel better. Hopefully in the near future, I will see the change like everybody else does. My husband keeps asking me where my legs and butt went. :) He is too funny! So that brings everything up to date. I am working on getting enough of food and liquid in. I never thought it would be so hard to eat and drink. But I am very excited that my new life has started and I am going to work hard to make it wonderful! I will write more soon. Thank you to all who have supported me thus far in my journey. :)
I will write more soon.
Sarah
04/27/07
Hi. I just thought I would update a little bit. I am getting ready to go back to work on Monday. I will have been off for 5 weeks. It doesn't feel like that long. Time just flys by! I am still throwing up if I eat something my stomach doesn't like. I am still learing how much is too much. Even one bite too much will make me sick. I am trying very hard to take more time to eat. That is my other issue. It has to take 20-30 minutes to eat just a few ounces so it takes some learing to get used to. I have started eating with a baby spoon to try and take smaller bites and take longer to eat. I have found I need to be doing something else while I eat. Weather it it watching tv or on the computer or looking at some papers... something to take my mind off the food to space out the bites a bit. I knew this process wouldn't be easy so I think I have done really well. I am not frustrated or unhappy at all. I weighed in yesterday which was exactly one month since surgery. I have lost a totoal of 30 lbs in a month. I am very excited about that. That means with my pre op weight loss I have lost a total of 95 lbs in the last year. woo hoo.
I finanly went and bought a couple new t-shirts. They are 2 sizes smaller than before. I really don't want to buy a bunch of clothes because I know I won't be able to wear them for long. I haven't bought any new pants yet but I think I need to. I can pull my jeans off without even unbuttoning them. But again, I don't want to spend a bunch of money on clothes yet.
Well that is enough for now. I will update again soon! Thanks for reading.... ~later~ Sarah
10/31/07
Wow, it's been a while since I last updated. Sorry. It's been very busy. We finally bought our first home. That's been very time consuming. So, an update on me..... I am down 92 lbs since my surgery on 03/26/07 and I have lost a total of 157. That was all as of the last time I went to the Dr a few weeks back. I feel great. I do have an incisional hurnia that will need to be repaired but they won't fix it until I am done loosing weight. So probably another yr or so. I want to loose another 100 lbs. That would bring my weight to about 250 and for a woman that stands 6 ft tall, that's not bad. I don't want to make my goals so out of reach that it devistates me if I don't reach them. So I am happy, healthier and loving every minute of it. : )
Write more soon.
Sarah.
11/14/07
Hello all. GUESS WHAT!??!! I went to the Dr yesterday and offically weighed in at 340lbs. Since I was 17 yrs old and obtained my drivers licences, I have NEVER weighed what my drivers license said. Even when I weighed 511lbs, my drivers license said 350. : ) Well now I can officiall say I weigh less than what my drivers license says. WOO HOO!!! I have lost a total of 171 lbs. I lost 65 before surgery and I have lost 106 since my surgery on 03/26/07. I am very excited. Ok, I will update more later.
:) Bye!
01/03/08
OMG. Here we are.. another year has gone by. I can't believe it has been almost a year since my surgery. Well almost. It's been 9 months. I haven't weighed since the last time I went to the Dr in November, so no new weight numbers this time. I am just so gratefull to be happy and healthier. My son is 8 now and keeps growning like a weed. I am sure all mom's say that, but he won't listen to me. I keep telling him to stop growing but he just looks at me and says," Mom, I can't!" Thank God for the little treasures in life! Well, I just wanted to say I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Live Healthy, Live Strong. Love always.
Sarah
Insurer Info:
Kaiser
