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

Have known about it for what seems like forever..

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

no problem knew going in that the insrance coverage was there.

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

The stay was fine, no problems - was there an extra day because of other health concerns. Most important to bring comfortable slippers for walking.

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

none

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

apprehensive but prayerful

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

First couple weeks were slow and painful. Expect some pain, some sadness. After the second week I was ready to walk and started working part time via computer from home.

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

I live approximately 7-8 miles from the doctors office

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.

Wow, hard to go back - but at first anything solid was off limits. Even cottage cheese was hard. It took a couple months to get to eat much more than oatmeal, pudding, jello, popsicles and applesause. It was trial and error - at 13 months out I still can't tolerate scrambled eggs, fish and sometimes meat. I have trouble eating spaghetti but can eat chili. I can't eat other pasta or rice very well. I can eat shrimp and steak now but chicken frequently bothers me. I still crave salty snacks so I eat flavored rice cakes and really watch my calorie intake.

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

Slow but steady. I began walking every day and by June 06 had joined Curves and I am still attending at least 3 times a week.

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

Senior woman's multi vitamin, B 12 injections, Vitamin D and Calcium. I need iron but am really bothered by it gastrically.

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?

The worse side effect was hair loss which did not occur until 6 months after surgery. It has taken 4-5 months to get a decent head of hair back and it is still not thick like it was. I never really experienced nausea much unless it was a food I could not tolerate.

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

There was no worse part. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well it went from first cut to complete recovery.

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

Dr Stewart has a support group and I attended a couple times. Other than valuable information I never felt like I belonged to the group.

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

Since I had my gall bladder removed 40 years before the WLS and my surgery was laproscopic, the scaring is minimal. The doctor used the ends of the former scar for two incisions and the other 3 incisions, each less than an inch, are barely visible now.

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

March 2007, 11 months after my surgery, I hit my first plateau. Prior to that I lost at least 1-5 lbs a week. From March 07 through April 07, I really did not lose any weight (nor did I gain it). I stayed between 206 and 215. Beginning in May I have actually lost a few pounds and I have gotten down to 200(lbs).