shellnurse
September 9, 2007
Sep 08, 2007
I have been so seriously freaking out for the past 2 days... I referred a couple of friends of mine from work to my surgeon for lap band. I saw him about 1.5 weeks ago for my post op appt for my slip repair. One friend has already had her consultation, the other is waiting. My friend calls me and says that she got a call from the surgeons office saying that he is no longer in practice at the office or the hospital and nobody will say where he went, why he left and what we're supposed to do now... I have an appt on 9/19 for an in-office fill, and now, I have no idea what's going to happen. All this after being totally unfilled for over 2 months, I really need one.....
August 17, 2007
Aug 17, 2007
Hopefully I am at the end of a pretty miserable and scary couple of weeks. On July 4th, I had a horrible G.I. virus which involved about 12 hours of vomiting and abdominal pain. This combined with a fill that had been too tight for about 2 weeks, I ended up with a band slip. Had a complete un-fill on July 5th and surgical repair on August 7. I'm recovered and feeling great, haven't gained any weight with my unfill. I go back for my post op appt on August 22 and hopefully can have a fill set up at that time.
July 19, 2007
Jul 18, 2007
Well in a couple of days I will be 5 months post-op. I cannot believe how the time has flown by and I am excited with my results so far. As of this morning I weighed 192, which is a grand total of 52lbs. My band has been completely unfilled since July5th. I had a horrible stomach virus and was unable to orally rehydrate myself due to restriction that was too tight. Sooooo I'm on my way this am to have an upper GI to make sure there isn't something wrong with the band and that it was "just" a virus. Will update later
June 5, 2007
Jun 05, 2007
I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since my surgery. I have lost 38lbs to date and I go for my second fill on June 12. I am slowly but surely trying to increase the exercise. I got an elliptical machine for mother's day. I'm in the middle of a job change, so I am hoping that will make the exercise easier, b/c I won't have to go in to work so early. I'll be working 5 8hr days instead of 2 12hr days. Only 6lbs till I hit onederland... hopefully for the last time!
January 23, 2007
Jan 23, 2007
I think I have EVERYTHING done, finally!!! Today, I met with a nutritionist and had the psych eval. I had my labs and ekg done last week. I have to wait for the psychologist to dictate his note and send it to my surgeons office AND........ most importantly, I have to lose the rest of the 12lbs I was assigned to lose pre-op. When I went in for my recheck on the 17th, I had lost 7lbs..... 5 more to go!!! I'm really hoping for a surgery date of February 22nd. I have some days off then.
January 16, 2007
Jan 16, 2007
My re-check app't to get my EGD biopsy results is tomorrow. I was really hoping to get my written insurance approval in the mail by today, so I could give them a copy and possibly get some of the other "things" scheduled while I'm there in person tomorrow. i.e. psych eval, nutritionist eval, etc... On a positive note. I have lost 6 of the 12 pounds he required before he'll operate. Hopefully I can "step it up a notch" and lose the other six by the end of January...
January 12, 2007
Jan 16, 2007
I was getting impatient waiting on the insurance approval. I don't think I'll have any trouble. I have anthem and we have the rider that covers WLS. My BMI was just shy of 40, and I wasn't sure if I was 100lbs overweight or not. After the NP told me that my ideal body weight was 122lbs, I laughed out loud!!! I've never weighed anything in the 120's, I don't think. I think I went straight from 95lbs in 5th grade to the 130's. Anyway, I looked on anthem's website and you can log in to look at your personalized information. They have a section where you can check the status of pending claims/referrals. I checked and it looks like... I'M APPROVED!!!! I know that it doesn't mean anything to the surgeons office unless I receive something in writing, but hopefully I will before my appointment on Tuesday.
January 8, 2007
Jan 16, 2007
Today was my EGD. Had to be at the hospital at 0700 for the procedure at 0800. The staff was very nice. As usual, if they find out that you are a nurse, they try to recruit you to come to work wherever it is that you are. They told me about how they had openings for monitor nurses and sedation nurse, etc... I just wanted to hurry up and get it over with. The great side to it.... I don't remember a thing past being wheeled into the procedure room. THREE CHEERS FOR VERSED!!! lol. He did tell me that he took a biopsy of my stomach because I had gastritis. That can sometimes be caused by H. Pylori bacteria. (It could also be caused by the 10-12 cups of coffee I drink per shift when I'm working). On the plus side, maybe I won't have to do the stool specimen for H.Pylori since they did this biopsy. I have to go back to him in a week to get the results, etc... I got an appointment for Jan. 17th at 2:15pm.
January 3, 2007
Jan 16, 2007
Well... today I went for the "consult" appointment at my surgeon's office. I met with an RN, then a nurse practitioner who updated my history (I had already sent books of paperwork in before the appt) and did a physical exam. Then, myself and 2 other potential candidates for surgery had a group informational session with the surgeon. He was very informative. I am an RN also, so I had done tons of research on my own prior to the consult. They put the RNY people and the Lap Band people in the same informational sessions, b/c it's about weight loss surgery in general and then he'll answer specific questions. Surprisingly, both the other candidates were for Lap Band also. My mom also went with me b/c my husband had to work. They made it seem like it was a requirement to have a "support" person with you, I was the ony one who brought someone, and I felt bad for my mom, b/c the app't lasted a total of 3hrs. After the general info. session, the surgeon met with each of us individually. He gave us each a specific amount of weight to lose on our own before he would do the surgery. He's very strict and he wants to make sure that people are committed before he operates on them. He said plain and simple... if you don't lose the required am't., no surgery... period. How long you take to lose it is up to you. That was a little intimidating. I tend to be an "apple polisher" of sorts, never wanting to dissapoint people in "authority". He wanted all of us to start the south beach diet today and start a walking program. I have to lose 12 lbs. The worst part is that I have to have an EGD to evaluate my GERD and make sure I don't have a pre-cancerous condition of the esophagus. It's scheduled for less than a week. I guess I'm officially on my way. The nurse in the office said she would submit the insurance paperwork, hopefully sometime this week. I don't have to do ANYTHING prior to getting approval, only after approval do I have to get the lab work, ekg, nutritional consult, psych eval. that is except the EGD, which had nothing to do with insurance. Oh well.....
