fattyfatterson

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Ok, so I had my initial consult with my surgeon yesterday morning.  He is confident, kind, and easy to talk to. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear that I only need to lose 6 more lbs before he will perform the surgery.  BUT, I was very disappointed to learn that he does not feel I am a good candidate for the RNY due to my history of some GI issues that could poentially be made much worse with bypass.  Although I appreciate and completely understand his concern, I don't particularly like the idea of the lap band and am a little apprehensive about having VSG, which is relatively new.  I do, however like the idea of avoiding the malabsorption issues. Oh well, more research to do.  Thank goodness for this site. Have a great day everyone :)

Hello everyone!  I've been stalking you all for a couple of weeks now and finally decided to join in.  My name is Angela. I'm 33 years old and have been fat for most of my life.  Same story as most of you in that I've made multilple attempts to lose weight. I've been successful losing up to 25 or 28 lbs, then for whatever reason, I put it back on and then some.  Over the years my annoyingly thin parents have tried in their own ways to motivate or encourage me, but often times just ended up being cruel.  I have really great friends, a great career, I own my own home, etc.  For the most part, I've been successful at everything but managing my weight.  I have thought about WLS for several years, since a good friend had gastric bypass, but fortunately I did not meet the criteria until February of this year.  My BMI was 40 and I was surprised to find out that I also have sleep apnea (doing ok wihout CPAP however, thank GOD!!).  Sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension on meds, and polycystic ovaries are the co-morbities accepted by my insurance.  I also have asthma, arthritis (did I say I'm 33?!), and chronic low back pain. Unfortunately, my pcp did not put in the referral to bariatrics for one reason or another.  I then did some routine blood work in October and found out that I am now also diabetic. This was devastating news and I did a bit of wallowing (and over eating) initially.  I have been a registered nurse for almost 10 years and know what an obnoxious disease diabetes is, however sitting in the classes that new diabetics are referred to and hearing the info for the first time as a patient was absolutely terrifying.  I have never in my life been this motivated to change. Since my follow up appointment on 10/27 I have lost 17.5 lbs. I am exercising more and eating much better than I was before, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.  I still meet the criteria with my slightly lower BMI since I now have two of the approved co-morbities. As expected, a couple of people have tried to disuade me from considering surgery sighting my recent success on my own. I appreciate their concern, but I don't trust myself to be able to do it on my own at this point.  Part of my motivation, I'm sure, is knowing that help is on the way in the form of WLS.  I'm not fooling around anymore. I want to have a child at some point. When I do, I want to have a healthier relationship with food and exercise. I know that I should wait approx 2yrs after surgery before becoming pregnant so I just want to get this show on the road and get on with my life! The procedure itself and the lifestyle changes to come are daunting to say the least, but it feels right, ya know?  I attended a 2hr class that my pcp scheduled and saw a psychologist to confirm that my depression is stable.  I then attended a 5hr orientation that was scheduled by the bariatric dept.  This morning I have my initial consult with my surgeon. I will find out how much weight he feels I should lose prior to surgery, etc.  So, we'll see....