How did you first find out about bariatric surgery and what were your initial impressions of it?

Local newspaper.I looked into it

Describe your experience with getting insurance approval for surgery. What advice, if any, do you have for other people in this stage?

Never had a problem.I called Trigon found out their qualifaciations which I met.Scheduled an appt. with the surgeon,after the appt.he sent aletter I was approved within a week

What was your first visit with your surgeon like? How can people get the most out of this meeting?

I was impressed very nice and pleasant

What made you finally decide to have the surgery?

my knee

How did you decide which proceedure to have?

lap RNY

What fears did you have about having complications or even dying from from the surgery, and what would you tell other people having the same fears now?

After having 5 knee surgeries my only problem is being a little nervous as one might expect prior to surgery.I would tell people the biggest problem has more to do with your self than the actual surgery

How did your family and friends react to your decision? Would you have communicated anything differently if you could now? How supportive were they after your surgery?

My wife has been a little angry upset constantly telling me that I am doing this for myself and no one else

How did your employer/supervisor react to your decision? What did you tell him/her? How long were you out of work?

I am an electrician I told the foreman that 7-10-02 will be my last day.I will be out for some time and hopefully there will be some work when I am ready

What was your stay in the hospital like? How long where you there? What things are most important to bring?

I wish I could say it was great but in fact I was miserable. The operation was only supposed to last 2-3 hours I was in closer to 6. They removed my gallbladder at the same time. The JP drain that was put in leaked everytime I got up. Came to find out most do leak but I did not know that.During my stay I could not eat w/o getting sick I ended up having a second drain installed. I was having a lot of problems with bile coming out. I believe it was called a "G tube".I was realeased on 7-19-02

Did you have any complications from the surgery? If so, how did you deal with them?

During my stay I noted in the above question most of the problems

In the weeks after you got your surgery date, how did you feel? How did you cope with any anxiety you might have felt?

Fine Did not have any anxiety. Although looking back on everything I feel I should have prepared myself more by reading on possible problems

What aftercare support group/program do you have? How helpful/important is this?

I belong to the Hospital support group plus an online support group. The online group has been extremely helpful an answering any and all questions. I would encourage anyone who has not done so to look into joining one.

What is your scar like? Is this what you expected?

I have 5 1"incisions with scars from the drains. Yes no surprises there

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

After being released on 7-19-02 evrything was going great.I started a daily exercise program of walking. Withina short time I was at 2 miles a day and it took about 45 mins to complete. at my first post op appt I had already lost 31 lbs. Of course then things went down hill. On Aug 4th I started having a major problem with keeping anything down, by the 5th it had gotten to the point I began to hurt very badly in my stomach area.Finally I went to the ER. the week from the 5th to the 11th I had about every test they could think of done to me to find the problem.On the 9th they did an upper gi where they found the first symptom of my problem ,my new pouch was not emptying as it should thing were very slow moving. I was scoped in hopes that I might have had stomal stenosis. However this was not the case. Satruday they tried liquids in hopes that maybe they could isolate between solids or liquids,this also proved futile. Sunday evening my surgeon came in and said he had scheduled me for surgery on the 12th and informed me what he was expecting to find. I went in to surgery on Monday once I woke up the surgeon told me I had adhesions a twisted intestine due to the adhesions and some loose bowel. I was realeased from the hospital Thursday evening. My second post op appt was the following Thursday now I have lost 51lbs I am still sore but getting there. The weekend of the 24th I have started to have some set backs the nurse seems to think it is from trying to hard and eating to fast. I have been given some Prilosec in hopes things will clear up.08-28-02 It has been quite awhile since I udated this so here goes.Sept 1 2002 back in the hospital for an endoscopy they find I have an ulcer as well as Stomal stenosis released 4 days later.From then till Nov 11th I was the perfect patient everything went according to the book all was perfect exercise eating right plus the weight was still coming off had a few plateaus but who doesnt?Starting Nov112002 problems a lot of pain in my abdominal region I was in and out of the hospital close to 6 times(from November to mid January)I was checked for anything and everything,if you want to call it good news nothing internal was found wrong but nothing my surgeon could find would explain the pain I was in.Dr.DeMaria decided to send me to a Pyschologist but not any one the one he sent me to was a patient of his so from that aspect we both had something in common.I have made some encouraging progress with her not that she helped me with the pain but she has helped me deal with some personal issues and bring them out in the open and be able to deal with them.I was also told to try and seek help with a Pain Management Dr.If you do anything make sure you get along with with the PM Dr.I had a bad experience the first time I met him he formed an opinion about me and I formed an opinion about him.To make a long story short he thought I was a substance abuser and refused to alter any of the meds that he originally perscribed to me.I put up with this for 2 months and finally I called the office up and cancelled all further appts etc with him their office manager asked why and I told him what the doctor was like and I felt I could get more help from a bedroom wall then him.So at any rate I saw Dr.De Maria he asked me what happened I told him.He thought about it and suggested I see a different PM Dr. This new Dr. is great He has listened he increased my pain meds to the point I can at least make it thru the day.If you live in the Richmond Va area and need a PM Dr. see Dr.Decker with Mid Atltantic Spine Specialists I had a procedure 2 weeks ago where he located the problem nerves and yesterday he froze the one on the left hopefully killing it today of course stinks but things should get better.This should catch things up my weight is now down to 209!!! I am having a hard time beleiving it even as I see the weight on the scale my BMI is 25.4 I use to be at 44 what a change my waist has gone from a size 46/48 to a loose 36 my shirt size is a large but I feel in some styles a medium might look better.Today's date is April 10 2003 I hope everyone who reads this has had a better time then me.

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

yes they are amazed how fast the weight is coming off. For that matter so am I.