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

my mother had it about 10 yrs ago and i decided to look into it for myself.... and of course it went very well for her so i was very impressed

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

i had to fight a little not much tho my advice is make sure u have AT LEAST 6 months documented unsucessful dieting

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

it was a group setting of me and my parents and 2 other women and he was very informative and kind! to get the most out of it is dont be afraid ur asking a stupid or petty question

What made you finally decide to have the surgery?

my mental and physical health was worse than you could have imagined

How did you decide which proceedure to have?

my doctor told me my best choice and i studied up on it and agreed

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?

well 1 month b4 my surgery my best friends mother died from gastric bypass surgery...so that fear was huge! but i looked up the % of fatal cases and it was i believe 0.5% so that eased my fears.... if you have ANY fears ask ur doctor or do ur research on it!

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 mother of course was all for it...my father didnt want them cutting his baby...1 of my brothers and his wife were supportive the other one and his wife didnt speak to me until after my surgery and my sister and her husband had their doubts but supported me.. after surgery everyone was very happy for me and are very supportive now

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

i owned my own daycare at the time and i was out of work for about 6 weeks (b/c of lifting only!)

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

Morton Plant hospital in clearwater,fl one word for it....AMAZING i was only there for 3 days hair brush,toothbrush,deoderant, loose loose clothes to go home in, and a pillow to hold on ur stomach for the ride home-helps more than u know

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

well 2 days after my heart rate was 116 dr. haicken ALMOST opened me back up but looked over my chart and saw i was on ambien (sleepaid)..he ran the test to make sure it wasnt an error in his work...took me off ambien and my HR was back to normal the next morning about 2-3 weeks post op i developed a stricture-thats where the scar tissue (in my case where they connected my intes. to my pouch)causes the opening where the food can go down to close therefore causes much pain and reflux (it was suppose to be 13 mm and it closed to only 8 mm)i delayed my visit to the GI doctor b/c i didnt know what was wrong w/me...it was fixed on my 5th week post op mine was very rare but one week later the stricture came back....and at that time i had just started solid foods a piece of food got stuck and had to be removed and i had to have another esophgile dilation...that seemed to fix the problem and im doing fine now

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

i felt very very excited my life started to just begin i didnt have much anxiety to be completely honest...i trusted dr. haicken

Describe your first few weeks home from the hospital. What should people expect from this period?

well im conciderably young so i healed quicker than normal i was ready to drive 6 days after returning home... expect pain and deficulty sleeping and a lack of wanting to drink ur fluids...but u must!

How far did you travel to have your surgery? (If far, how did this affect your aftercare?)

it was about an hr and 10 minutes

Please describe in detail what things you could and couldn't eat in the weeks and months following surgery. What foods have been off limits? Please explain how your dietary tolerance changed week-by-week, and then month-by-month since surgery.

1st week clear liq 2nd week non clear liq 3rd pureed 6th week solid surger free jello was my biggest problem...it gave me gas if i had jello i had a large amount of pain in my stomach pureed meat....YUCK!!! natures best isopure $3.00 a bottle 40g protien was my best friend for 3 weeks hahaha now on solid food any sort of meat is very hard to digest...it likes to get stuck too be careful with those tortillas i tried once...never again! i had reflux for almost 2 hrs b/c it wouldnt go down

What was your actvity level in the days and weeks after surgery?

1st week i got up and walked around the house for about 5 minutes every 2 hrs after the 1st week i pretty much felt good and was up and around.... sitting was the hardest thing

What vitamins and/or dietary supplements have you taken since your surgery?

iron,cal,protien,multi vit, b12 injections once a month

What side effects (nausea, vomiting, sleep disturbace, dumping, hair loss etc.) were worse for you? For how long after surgery did they persist? How did you cope with them?

sleep disturbance was b/c of pain it lasted about 3 weeks (i can actually SLEEP on my stomach now at 2 months post op) but for the 1st three weeks i just slept semi sitting up and gradually took a pillow away every few nights until i could sleep normally

What was the worst part about the entire bariatric surgery process?

adjusting my obese MIND i think that will take me a long while

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

my mother....we keep eachother in line

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

its very small about 2 inches its much smaller than i expected i expected at least 4 inches its a little dark but i know that'll fade in time 11/24/03 its getting lighter im pretty much used to it being there...a 2 inch scar is better than 130 lbs is how i view it!

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

mines interesting every week since my surgery i will have a plateau once a week for about 3 days and i will always gain 2 pounds and the next day ill lose that 2 pounds plus at least another one example: friday im 217 saturday-monday im 219 tuesday im 216 very strange dont let a pound or 2 gain get u down its probably just water or a weird thing about ur body (like me) ull keep losing as long as u eat like ur suppose to and exercise. 11/24/03 i stopped losing weight for about 3 weeks at the 3 mo. post op mark...come to figure out (because i had stopped menstrating b/c of the BIG change in my body) i was on birth control (ortho evra-the patch) that makes u GAIN weight therefore since i had the surgery just made me stop LOSING weight 2 days after getting off ortho evra i lost 2 pounds and have lost about 2 pounds a week since then

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

ive had about 6 guys ask me out since