Darvin
my story
Feb 20, 2007
Been overweight all my life always doing some diet or other.. i discovered about 5 years ago that i have osteoartheritis and fibromyalgia, very painful! in Dec 2002 i quite smoking and boy did i pack on the pounds, but i'm still not smoking i refuse to! A year ago i decided that i need to do something about this or i'm not going to be mobile for very long. Everything hurts, my feet, my knees , my hips, lower back ect.. i can't even go shopping anymore or enjoy a walk i need to sit in a wheelchair. So i went to my pcp and talked to her about wls and she totally agreed that it would be a good thing for me so she agreed to refer me but apparently in Canada the waitting to see a doc for this surgery takes years! Well she got me an appointment for April 5th 2004 so i had to wait a year for this consultation, but hey i hear some people take longer like 3 years! I've researched what i can on him and see a few members have had the same doc with good reviews so now i'm 2 weeks away from the consult! i can't wait.. i'm tired of sitting in the house hurting all the time.
April 6th 04
Had my consultation yesterday everything went really well. Dr. Reed was very thorough and to the point. He spent a long time discussing the surgery and answered every question i had. I now i have an app to see his dietician and i'm set up for an ultrasound and the scope test then i go back to see him on July 12th and i should get my surgery date, probably August or September. Woohooo another step in the right direction!
August 3rd 04
Hi guys so sorry i haven't updated but i've been going through a lot but here i am! I went for my endoscopy with Dr. Reed but unfortunatly he found two ulcers he was very concerned about because they were large ones. This is not the first time i have ulcers so he has decided that the RNY is not for me. I spoke to him about getting the DS instead because if i develop ulcers after surgery it would be much easier to treat them, and he agreed about that. Now the problem is in Canada very few docs do the DS. They are in Quebec and have a waitting list of 5 to 8 years at the moment. Our health care does pay for some to go to the US to have WLS because of the waitting times here but my pcp won't back me up on going to the US for reason that i don't have a high BP or diabetese. I have many other problems though but she is refusing to sign my papers to go out of country. I know to some it may sound simple.. just go to another pcp? well no not here there is a shortage of docs like you wouldn't beleive. Anyway i'm really tired of fighting so after much discussion me and hubby have decided that i will take out a loan for this.. this is the most important thing i've ever done for myself and we will do what it takes! So providing my ulcers are healed by Sept i'm planning to have surgery with Dr. Ungson in Mexico. I have contacted him and Sept is a go so far just not figured out the exact date yet... wish me luck!
August 14th 04
Unfortunatly after a follow up on my ulcers seems like they are going to hang around! After much discussion on what the best thing to do for my case we have decided on the BPD with a Vagotomy to try and prevent future ulcers. So i've got a DATE!!! SEPTEMBER 8th is the tentative day for me to get to the other side finaly after 1 1/2 year of waitting, wondering, researching i'm almost there!
September 18th 04
Well i'm finaly home and i'm doing good! I'm so thankful that i went to Mexico to Dr. Ungson and his team. I have never been so well treated by doctors in my life. Would you beleive he and his team came to see me in my room up to three times a day to check and see how i was doing?? Anyway i have to say that i'm am a very blessed women to be here today because when the doc opened me up and started on my surgery he discovered that i had part of my small bowel strangulated in an abdominal hernia that i had because of previous surgeries. This was in a mess of lesions and the bowel was turning black and needed to be removed so my surgery ended up being much longer and complicated than previously thought it would be. I have been recovering very well though the doc took my stiches out for my BPD on Tuesday and when i got home yesterday my family doc took out the other stiches from the bowel repair out, they took a little longer because the incision was on top of old scar tissue. So i have to say i'm glad it's over but i'm so happy that i'm switched and that that bowel problem was found when it was or i could have been in serious trouble! God is good!
Sept05
Hi everyone! well it's been a year and i feel great! it's been an amazing ride. I still have days when i'm not feeling so great because of my fibro and osteoartheritis but i just can't believe how my life has gotten so much better. I'm able to go shopping, for long walks, spend time with friends and family, cross my legs all the time! the list goes on!! I have lost 110 pounds, my starting weight was 260 and my before pic shows me at 255!!
I just sent an updated pic to be updated so you will see the new me shortly. THANKS DR. UNGSON!!
Oh i forgot to mention that me and hubby moved from Ontario Canada to South Carolina in August so here i am in the USA :)
May 24/06
I have lost 115 pounds in all and i'm feeling great! I unfortunatly have a hernia where i had the previous one repaired because of C-sections and hysterectomy so i'll be getting that fixed at the end of June. I met with some of the upstate ladies last night .. what a wonderful bunch of girls! we had a so much fun i want to do it again soon!!
April 6th 04
Had my consultation yesterday everything went really well. Dr. Reed was very thorough and to the point. He spent a long time discussing the surgery and answered every question i had. I now i have an app to see his dietician and i'm set up for an ultrasound and the scope test then i go back to see him on July 12th and i should get my surgery date, probably August or September. Woohooo another step in the right direction!
August 3rd 04
Hi guys so sorry i haven't updated but i've been going through a lot but here i am! I went for my endoscopy with Dr. Reed but unfortunatly he found two ulcers he was very concerned about because they were large ones. This is not the first time i have ulcers so he has decided that the RNY is not for me. I spoke to him about getting the DS instead because if i develop ulcers after surgery it would be much easier to treat them, and he agreed about that. Now the problem is in Canada very few docs do the DS. They are in Quebec and have a waitting list of 5 to 8 years at the moment. Our health care does pay for some to go to the US to have WLS because of the waitting times here but my pcp won't back me up on going to the US for reason that i don't have a high BP or diabetese. I have many other problems though but she is refusing to sign my papers to go out of country. I know to some it may sound simple.. just go to another pcp? well no not here there is a shortage of docs like you wouldn't beleive. Anyway i'm really tired of fighting so after much discussion me and hubby have decided that i will take out a loan for this.. this is the most important thing i've ever done for myself and we will do what it takes! So providing my ulcers are healed by Sept i'm planning to have surgery with Dr. Ungson in Mexico. I have contacted him and Sept is a go so far just not figured out the exact date yet... wish me luck!
August 14th 04
Unfortunatly after a follow up on my ulcers seems like they are going to hang around! After much discussion on what the best thing to do for my case we have decided on the BPD with a Vagotomy to try and prevent future ulcers. So i've got a DATE!!! SEPTEMBER 8th is the tentative day for me to get to the other side finaly after 1 1/2 year of waitting, wondering, researching i'm almost there!
September 18th 04
Well i'm finaly home and i'm doing good! I'm so thankful that i went to Mexico to Dr. Ungson and his team. I have never been so well treated by doctors in my life. Would you beleive he and his team came to see me in my room up to three times a day to check and see how i was doing?? Anyway i have to say that i'm am a very blessed women to be here today because when the doc opened me up and started on my surgery he discovered that i had part of my small bowel strangulated in an abdominal hernia that i had because of previous surgeries. This was in a mess of lesions and the bowel was turning black and needed to be removed so my surgery ended up being much longer and complicated than previously thought it would be. I have been recovering very well though the doc took my stiches out for my BPD on Tuesday and when i got home yesterday my family doc took out the other stiches from the bowel repair out, they took a little longer because the incision was on top of old scar tissue. So i have to say i'm glad it's over but i'm so happy that i'm switched and that that bowel problem was found when it was or i could have been in serious trouble! God is good!
Sept05
Hi everyone! well it's been a year and i feel great! it's been an amazing ride. I still have days when i'm not feeling so great because of my fibro and osteoartheritis but i just can't believe how my life has gotten so much better. I'm able to go shopping, for long walks, spend time with friends and family, cross my legs all the time! the list goes on!! I have lost 110 pounds, my starting weight was 260 and my before pic shows me at 255!!
I just sent an updated pic to be updated so you will see the new me shortly. THANKS DR. UNGSON!!
Oh i forgot to mention that me and hubby moved from Ontario Canada to South Carolina in August so here i am in the USA :)
May 24/06
I have lost 115 pounds in all and i'm feeling great! I unfortunatly have a hernia where i had the previous one repaired because of C-sections and hysterectomy so i'll be getting that fixed at the end of June. I met with some of the upstate ladies last night .. what a wonderful bunch of girls! we had a so much fun i want to do it again soon!!
Photos
 255pounds April/04 |
 |
 August/05 |
