Desiree M.
Hello My name is Desiree' and I live right outside Philadelphia. I am 28 years old and 5'7. I have been putting on weight since I was 20 years old. I was 258 pounds when I decided to search out information on Gastric Bypass. I went to Abington Hospital's information seminar. I went to the info seminar in mid January 2008. After 8 months of every type of appointments I finally had a surgery date, September 10, 2008.
[Recent EDIT] BEWARE: I have since learned that the reason for my intolerable pain upon awaking from surgery was due to my shoulders. They must have dislocated during surgery. I was either pulled to a differnt bed by my arms or the way I was strapped to the operating table applied too much stress to my shoulders. When I woke up I cried and whailed about my arms and was told that it was the air they pumped un me from the laproscopic surgery. Unless that air can dislocate bones it was from the surgery staff, not my doctor, moving me incorrectly. I still constantly have pain and must relocate my shoulders on a weekly basis. I have brought this to my surgons attention but he said that could not have happend. IT DID HAPPEN. I went to sleep with normal shoulders and woke up with them out of the sockets. I now am always in pain but what can I do??? I just deal with it because I was told over and over again that its impossible to have that happen during my surgery. I know it was not my surgon because he enters the room after I was prepped and left before I was moved. The Doctor does not stick around to move the patient. He did not do it. My Doctor said, "The staff knows better than to move someone by their arms because when you're sleeping you can't protect your joints. That would be against protocal so I am sure that couldn't have happened." i believe the staff got lazy and just pulled me by my arms from one bed to another. I will suffer the rest of my life. If anyone can help me PLEASE help me???
I was originally going to have Lap Band but after much consideration and attendence to support groups I changed my mind. The reason I changed my mind was I did not feel I had enough discipline tobe successful with Lap Band. I was told that if you are 100 lbs over weight Lap Band on average will help you lose 50 lbs of the weight. That would still keep me above 200 lbs and for me that is not a healthy weight. I felt at that weight I would not be able to get rid of my comorbidities. I did have comorbiditites such as sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesteral, acid reflux/IBS, and was pre-diabetic. I have since been cured of these illnesses. The stats on RNy is that if you are 100 lbs over weight you'll lose and keep off about 70 lbs. That was what I finally based my surgery decision on. (To each their own!)
When I woke up from surgery I was in the worst pain of my entire life. I have an extremly high tolerance for pain medication so after 30 hours of horrific pain they put me on Toridol which seemed to help. I then I also was given liquid Codine for the pain. I felt better by the 5 th day and stopped all pain medication.
I have been extremly thirsty to the point where I had to go back to the hospital for fluids. I only went to the ER once for dehydration but I still suffer from it. I still have many cravings for food or head hunger as people call it. This really had me bothered to the point I felt I needed to get help for my food addiction. RNY stops me from over eating but not from mentally obsessing over food. I decided to seek out help from Overeaters Anonymous. I am so grateful to have admitted to myself that I am a food addict. Now I can start to treat the mental issues I have with food. I am hoping that in the long run being a member of OA will help me maintain future weightloss success. I have learned more in 2 months of OA than in years of therapy. I highly recommended it. At the meetings take what you want and leave the rest.
I lost 30 pounds in the first 2 weeks and the 3rd week nothing but i still felt my body changing. My feet are too small for my shoes!!!! I am glad I did get surgery but it is not a decision I would take lightly. If I had to do it again I would think long and hard before I chose surgery. I guess I am glad I did it but my God it is tough.
GOOD LUCK to all who have just started with this endever and I pray that we all learn to take care of ourselves in a healthy manner. God Bless.
