KLR814
Hello! I had my RNY on July 24th, 2007. It was the best decision I have ever made. I am healthy and active and I feel a thousand times better. I started out at 302lbs and I was a size 24.
KLR814's Blog
100 pounds gone
November 1st, 2007
I just had my 3 month check up today and everything is going great. I am down 100lbs! I work out 3-4 days a week and I am slowing adding protein shakes back in my diet. I can eat pretty much whatever but obviously only a very small amount. Chicken and beef don't really sit too well with me but that's about the only thing I have had trouble with. I usually eat a half a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter for breakfast or cream of wheat or oatmeal. For lunch I have a small salad or soup or fruit with yogurt. For dinner I might have pizza ( a mini tortilla w/ sauce and mozzarella cheese) or tuna salad.
I am in a size 14, down from a size 24. I realized that I have collar bones lol I haven't felt them in a long time. I can now cross my legs comfortably, which is nice. I am getting closer and closer to my goal weight, which is 140lbs-150lbs.
Overall I am sooooo excited and happy with how things are going. It's definitely not easy but it's well worth it.
I hope everyone is doing well!
All smiles
August 29th, 2007
Well, it's been a little over a month since my surgery and I am doing great.
I figured I'd take you back to my surgery day and start from there.....
I arrived at the hospital with my parents and brother at 6am. I was then taken back to the prep area and they started my IV. I changed into a gown that was HUGE! I put a lovely pair of compression stockings on and I was ready to go! hehe My family came back with me and waited. It seemed to take forever. We took some pictures too. Finally the nurse anesthetist came back and spoke to me. They gave me a cute little hat and were ready to take me back. I told my family I'd see them later and I was on my way. As soon as they pushed me into the operating room, I started to cry. The seriousness of the situation just hit me like a ton of bricks. Up until that point, I was fine. Not scared. I got onto the operating table and I got all hooked up. Everyone was soooo friendly. The doctor and nurses stood all around me, rubbing my arm, holding my hand, telling me I would be fine. It made me feel much better. They put a mask over my mouth and nose and told me to take deep breaths. The last thing I remember is Dr. B holding my hand. So surgery over...
I was sort-of-but-not-really awake. I remember there was a tube down my throat. I remember gagging on it. Finally the nurse pulled it out. The next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. I was in a TON of pain. I remember crying and saying please over and over lol I wanted something for the pain so bad and the lady was not very nice. I was there for 3 hours I think. I was then taken to my room. My family came in to see me. My mom spent the night with me :) I was in quite a bit of pain and I pretty much got pain meds whenever they offered them. The only thing that happened the first night was my arm, which had the IV in, got really swollen. So swollen I could barely bend my fingers. They decided to stop using the IV in my arm and they started to use the central line, in my neck, for everything. I hated the central line! I had these tubes hanging from my neck. I had to have my neck cocked to the side because if I didn't, it felt like the stiches were pulling out. And when they put meds and flushed the ports on the central line, I could taste a terrible medicine taste in my mouth. It was weird. Moving on.
The day after surgery....the doctor came in to see me and told me everything went perfectly during my surgery. He said "not a bump in the road." He told me to use the spirometer 10x an hour and walk every 2 hours. The nurse came in shortly after Dr. B left. She pulled my foley. What a relief!!!!!!!! She wanted me to get out of bed after that. I wanted to get up and get moving but I was really scared. I knew I would hurt. My mom and the nurse helped me up. I can honestly say I never felt pain like that before. My belly felt like it was tearing open. I sat on the edge of the bed in misery. I was dizzy from the morphine too. I finally got into a chair and tried to cope with everything. I had the pulse thing on my finger, I had telemetry monitor hanging off of my chest, the central line and the IV in my arm. I was hooked up! lol After a while I decided to get walking. I walked around the nurses station, which was pretty far. I started to feel better. More friends and family came to visit. I was determined to be discharged the next day! I kept walking and was drinking the tiny cups of water. I was using the spirometer religously.
My family left and I spent the last night alone. I had to have help getting out of bed and I really hated to ask. But right after I got back into bed, after one of my many trips, the nurses came rushing in to my room. The doctor was on the phone asking what my vitals were and the nurses were rushing around doing all sorts of things. It turned out my telemetry monitor read a really high pulse and the doctor had to be called. Everything was fine but it gave me a scare.
I went home the next day. I was sooo happy to be out of the hospital. It was a little hard at first. We don't have air conditioning and when your trying to recover, a fan just doesn't cut it. We only have window units in our bedrooms and I didn't want to be stuck up there all day. However, the day after I got home, it was too hot and I couldn't stand to be out of the air conditioning. For about a week after I got home, I was in my room nearly all day. I really started to get serious about my fluids after I was home for a day or two. It took me only a day or so and I was getting 64 oz in easily. I was also taking 54 grams of protein with no problem.
So here we are a month out. I get at least 64 oz of water in everyday. I take all of my vitamins/supplements, including iron, with no trouble. The only thing I am unable to get in is my protein. I was doing really good with my shakes for the first 2 weeks or so. For some reason, I just got to the point where I couldn't even look at the container lol I have stopped them. I am thinking about getting the Isopure drinks. We'll see. I am back at work full time. I just bought my mom and myself a membership at a 24 hour gym near my house. I plan on going to the gym after I finish work. I work 3p-11p. I started my college classes yeaterday as well. Busy busy hehe Oh by the way, I am down 51lbs! I am now 251 lbs from 302 lbs!
The day is here!
July 24th, 2007
So I am about to leave for the hospital. It is 4:38am. My surgery is supposed to start at 8am. It's finally here! The 5-day liquid diet was not easy all the time. However, I weighed 302 on 7/18/07 and today 7/24/07 I weigh 283! Down almost 20lbs!!
I just want to thank everyone for all their support. It has been MUCH appreciated!
Here I go! Wish me luck.
The final countdown!!
July 20, 2007
Its nice to see 3 days on my countdown here on my page! It has taken forever to get to this point. I started my liquid diet yesterday. It really wasn't that bad at all. I thought I would feel like crap but I didn't. I drank lots of water and SF Nestea. Today I had a protein shake and 1/2 c. of SF low fat yogurt. I already lost 10 lbs! So far so good.
Today is also my last day of work until the end of August! Wooohoo!!
Closer...closer and CLOSER!
July 14, 2007
I had my pre-op education class and my final meeting with the Dr.'s assistant, Manny on July 12th 2007. It was a long day.
I had my appointment with Manny at 11am. He is so friendly. He made me feel really good about everything. I was having some concerns regarding complications during/after surgery. We talked about it and he really eased my fears. I feel confident knowing I have two really good Dr.'s on my big day!
After Manny and I were finished, I went over to Pre-Admission Testing. I had already spoken to a lady from the Pre-Admission Testing center on the phone on July 10th and I answered alot of her questions. I am not sure why she did a phone "interview" instead of setting me up with an appointment. But I think it has to do with the fact that I don't take any med's and really have no medical problems. So when we spoke on the phone she said somewhere in my chart it stated I had a fatty liver. Huh? That was news to me. I told her I never heard that (even Manny didn't know that b/c he could not find it in my chart) I think she was just going to let it go but I told her I would be there on July 12th anyway. I said I'd rather be safe than sorry so I went after my appointment with Manny. They, of course, had lots of trouble getting my veins for the blood draw. At one point I had a hot pack on each arm and a blood pressure cuff on one arm! A girl, who apparently is able to get alot of the hard sticks, came in and searched for a little while. She only had to stick me once so I was happy.
After I finished up there my mom, my niece and I went to lunch. Boston Market! I love their turkey.
Once we were done it was off to my last appointment of the day. I went to my pre-op education class with Paula, the RN, and Anne (the nutritionist.) I was in the class with a really nice lady! She is having surgery with Dr. B the day before me! I really hope to run into her again. It was nice talking with her.
So now I am all done with everything, except surgery!!!! hehe I start my liquid diet July 19th, 2007.
Rewind......LONG one
July 1st, 2007
Published
It wasn't until about May that I heard of this web site. By that time I had already gone through the process of all the tests and getting approved. Since I wasn't here to blog about it while it was actually happening, I thought I'd share now....
As you've may or may not have read in "My Story", my mom and I began the process in July 2006. Two friends of mine had already had surgery by Dr. Bonanni so I knew he would be the one I'd go to.
I made an appointment with Paula, the RN, at Abington Memorial Hospital Surgical Weight Loss Center. She then sent me a HUGE packet in the mail that I had to fill out before my appointment. I filled it out and arrived to see Paula. She told me I definitely qualified for surgery. To qualify you have to be 100 lbs or more overweight and have a BMI over 40. Check! (The requirements may be different at other centers, I am not sure.) She gave me a 3-ring binder with info such as sample diets for after surgery, a check list of items to buy before surgery, a check list of tests and consults that I would have get done, etc. Paula gave me scripts for blood work that had to be done. Here they are: CBC, Chem 7, Liver Profile, Amylase, Lipase, T3, T4, TSH, Calcium, Albumin, Lipid profile, PT, Thiamine level, Vit D, PTH Intact, Iron, Folate and Vit B 12.
Here is a list of everything else that needed to be done:
-Chest x-ray
-Ultrasound of Abdomen
-EKG
-ABG
-EGD (do after appointment with Dr.B)
-Stool H. Pylori
-6 months supervised diet
-Letter of recommendation from PCP
-Nutrition Consult
-Exercise Consult
-Psyche Consult
Everything had to be done BEFORE I seen Dr. B.
I had my work cut out for me!!!! However, at that time I had just started a new job and did not have insurance yet. It was July and my insurance did not start until November. So I decided to get the things done that I would have to pay out of pocket for anyway. In August I started my 6 months of a supervised diet ($45 first appointment, $15 for each monthly appointment). I was able to have my nutrition consult ($125) and my psyche consult ($250). I had my nutrition consult Sep 6th 2006 and my psyche consult on Oct 9th 2006. After they were out of the way I started making appointments for the other things, that would be covered under insurance, for November. I had my appointment for an EKG November 2nd 2006. I was not wasting any time!!
I had my appointment with Dr. B December 7, 2006.
I had everything done for my appointment, except for my 6 month diet (which would end in January 2007) and my EGD.
My mom had her surgery January 10, 2007. (She did great!) I had my EGD January 11, 2007. My EGD went well although I was REALLY nervous. I had never had any kind of anesthesia and my mom couldn't be there with me since she had her surgery the day before! It went great! Everyone at Abington is AMAZING! I have not met one person in the entire hospital who wasn't very helpful and friendly. Even the maintenance crew, janitorial workers, kitchen staff, are all friendly and stop and say hello. Honest! I know I am getting off topic but...hehe I have to add this. When I was at the hospital for one of my many appointments, I got lost. I must have been looking confused because a doctor came up to me and asked me if he could help me. He walked me right to the door of my appointment!!!! SO nice.
Back on track...so the EGD went well. Dr. B said I had a mild case of GERD I believe. He said there was no reason for concern because nearly all overweight people have at least a mild case of it. My report from the 6 month diet was also sent in at this time.
I was finally done with EVERYTHING!!!! I just needed approval. We put everything in to insurance at the end of January 2007. And I waited and waited and waited. I called the surgical center a million times and there was no word. Finally! I came home from work one day and my mom told me I was denied! :( I was devastated to say the least. All that work just to get denied. So I got the denial letter from insurance mid-March 2007. I was told by my mom (who talked to Jamie from the surgical center) that all 6 people who tried to get approved from Aetna, at the same time as me, got denied as well. Apparently, Aetna started a requirement that the patient be overweight for 5 years or more. They needed proof of it. EASY! I've been overweight forever so that was no problem.
We sent in the appeal with proof I was overweight for 5+ years at the end of March 2007.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! One night after work I came home to find an envelope from Aetna stating the decision was over turned and I was APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got my approval on May 10th 2007. On the 14th I called for a date. I was told my surgery would be July 24th, 2007!!!!!!! Yayyy! It took forever!!!!
I am not required to lose any weight prior to surgery. I am pretty happy about that. I wasn't told I couldn't gain weight either. I have to be on a liquid diet for 5 days prior to surgery. I am required to be out of work for at least 4 weeks. I am scheduled for a pre-op education class and meeting with Dr. B's assistant on July 12th ( I think.) We will be taking a test and discussing the different diets for after surgery one last time. The day of surgery I have to be there by 6 am and my surgery is supposed to begin at 8 am. Since I live about an hour away from the hospital I will be getting up at about 4 am so we can leave at 5 am. Yuck! I like to sleep hehe Although, I don't know how good I will be sleeping anyway.
Your still reading this?? lol hehe Sorry it was so long.
Thanks!
Have a great day!
Negativity
June 27th, 2007
Published
I am now 28 days from my surgery Yay! I am starting to tell more people at work about it. I know word WILL get around and anyone who works in nursing knows what I mean! hehe (So much gossip)
I am amazed that all but one person who I've told, has tried talking me out of it!!!! I told my supervisor tonight and she got mad that I was doing it and would not talk to me for the rest of the evening!!! Everyone keeps saying "you are so young and pretty, why would you do that?" COME ON PEOPLE! I will be 24 in August and I weigh nearly 300lbs. I am not healthy and not happy. People also ask me "have you really thought about it?" Are you kidding me??? I didn't wake up one day and decide to have surgery. I was going back and forth about it for 2 years or so. And I have been actively researching it for 3 years. So I'd say yes, I have thought about it!
Several of the women at work are saying how many people they have seen who have had severe complications (due to surgery). However, while they are telling me these horror stories, they fail to mention how many pre existing conditions they had and how compliant they are with the post surgery diet. The one person (who had trouble) still drinks 4 cokes a day! I know problems can occur but I am more than willing to take the chance.
I am getting tired of trying to defend my choice to have it and I'm done with it. I will let them say what they have to say but nothing they tell me will talk me out of it. I appreciate genuine concern but I am 100% sure this is the right thing for me to do.
Thank you for reading and I hope my first blog wasn't too boring hehe
Night!
