Lee Anna Sayers

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

I arrived at the hospital at Five a.m. When I called yesterday, to get my surgery time, I was told to drop off my urine and get blood work in the lab. So I went down to the first floor to have my labs completed. The place was all locked up, unless you had a badge you were not getting in. I have no clue what to do now, so I took the elevator to the 6^th floor. ( I know the Same day surgery clinic will know what to do.) The nurse at the front desk was extremely warm and friendly. She took my urine sample and asked my to have a seat in the waiting room. ( It was not quite five thirty yet.)

Due to the fact that I am extremely nervous, I picked up a readers digest to pass the time. Unknown to me the coves story was about break through in weight loss. It was a bunch of crap about new drugs and shots, that promises a small percent chance in weight loss. Well this revitalized my faith in this surgery. I do not want to be like every other obese American waiting for the life changing cure in obesity, when it is staring me in the face at this moment.

Well there were not to many other people in the waiting room. Two or three people waiting with a few family members. It was sad for me; I wanted the comfort of my husband and he couldn’t be there physically, in my heart I know he was sitting there. It was hospital policy that my children were not allowed into the surgery clinic and we had no one at five thirty in the morning. ( To all of my Angels in the support group going I would have been there, Well I was not dragging you out at five thirty in the morning to sit and wait. I know I could do this on my own.) The strength in my relationship with my husband carries me when I am falling in life. Like he knew I needed him my phone rang. It was so good to have that.

At about five twenty my name was called and I was taken back to the vitals area. After they took my vitals, they drew my blood and administered my heparin shot. (Heparin - Is a shot given before and after surgery to prevent the development of blood clots before and after surgery) That shot burned SO SO SO bad, advice to all, just keep rubbing. When all was completed the nurse led my back through the same day surgery clinic, to another waiting area. This room resembled an ER except there were no beds. There was a large desk surrounded buy a bunch of curtains, instead of bed there were chairs. Here is where you wait with you family. The person in charge administered my new attire. A robe, a gown, scrub pants and foam black and green hospital slippers with big smiley faces. Ironic who wants to go in to surgery wearing BIG GIANT smiley faces. After I was dressed I went to my cubical and we all sat waiting and watching, independence day the movie. ( for me another ironic moment, for this was my independence day from obesity.) While I was in here I called my husband again for comfort. Then between six and six thirty the doctors came to tell em that thing were prepping and they would be moving my down stairs at any time. While they were chatting with my I noticed someone else came into the room and was addressing the other patients. When my doctors left he came over to me, he was the Chaplin. He asked if he could provide me with

a prayer for surgery and recovery, I agreed. Before the prayer he asked if there was anything I wanted mentioned in the prayer. Well I wasn’t exactly sure, so I asked him to ask for a speedy recovery so I could get to the ninth floor and be with my husband and children! After his prayer A weight was lifted from my shoulders. It relieved so much of my anxiety. I felt as though the words were coming out fo my mouth and not his, it was so personal.

After the Chaplin left, nursers arrived. There were a few nurses carrying charts. Mine was one of them. They took us down to the third floor, the operating floor, to the surgery intake area. It again looked like an ER, only this time the curtains contained beds. There was staff everywhere, nurses, doctors , anaesthesiologists, and more. When I got to my curtain I was freezing. Then when they asked my to strip down to nothing but my gown, I was colder. They wrapped my in warmed blankets and kept them coming. In my curtain I had the nurse that would watching over me the entire time, my anaesthesiologist and a few doctors, who where in and out. It took them three times to get my IV in. This is because the size of the IV needle was a lot bigger then the IV’s we are use to getting. In fact they numb the area first to you don’t feel any pain. So the nurse tried twice and then the anaesthesiologist got It the third time. YA more bruises for me thanks to the heparin. The comical part was after the anaesthesiologist got it in first shot, the nurse commented on his good work. In reply he said, " I stayed at a holiday inn express last night." What a comic, his joke eased my stress.

After they go the IV in I was left a while to wait. They had to finish prepping the OR. This s when things got to me, I even thought about chickening out. I also was dwelling on my fear of anaesthesia. What I don’t like about is the instant feeling, like you nodded off and woke up instantly and you feel like no time has passed, when in truth it has been hours. Well the time finally came the OR was ready and Dr, Chasen was waiting there for me. The anaesthesiologist, the comic , came in with my "Happy Medicine." The lady behind the curtain next to me was getting hers too. We could hear her anaesthesiologist ask what kind of cocktail she wanted her happy medication to be. The woman replied " A fine white wine."

"Well how about a Pinot Grigio?" the anaesthesiologist

"sounds good" and then she was asleep. So I turned to my team, who was also listening and laughing, and said" I’ll have what she’s having." . That was my last thought before surgery wine. Lol

  Well I am already for tomarrow. I am excited more than nervous, but I am that too!!! You know all the thought that go through your head. I have to bee at the hospital for 5:30 I Should be in surgery at 7:30 and it is about 1.5 hours to 2 hours if they fix my hernia too. If not it is less!! Well I will see some fo you in the hospital. Thanks for everyone's support it means so much. I'll up date when I get out  .    Wish me Luck!!

Whether one regards bariatric surgery — last-resort weight-loss operations such as gastric bypass and stomach stapling — as an essential treatment for obesity or as a failure of the fat person's will, the fact is, it works. Studies have shown that after surgery, patients often lose 50% or more of their excess weight — and keep it off — and symptoms of obesity-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea are improved or eliminated altogether. Now, two new studies in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) show another long-term benefit: a lower risk of death.

In the Utah study, researchers compiled data on 15,850 severely obese people, half of whom had undergone gastric bypass surgery between 1984 and 2002, and half who were from the general population and had had no surgical intervention for obesity. Overall, researchers found, the surgery patients were 40% less likely to die from any cause during a mean 7 years of follow-up, compared with the obese controls. What's more, the mortality rate attributable to obesity-related disease was 52% lower on the whole in the surgery group: after gastric bypass, patients were 92% less likely to die from diabetes, 59% less likely to die from coronary artery disease, and 60% less likely to be killed by cancer.

Results like these have got some doctors intrigued enough to start thinking about bariatric surgery as a treatment for conditions other than obesity —especially diabetes. A growing body of research suggests that the surgery may reverse the disease, a potential solution that could help some 20 million American diabetics. Though the current NEJM study did not specifically study the impact of bariatric surgery on diabetes, it did reveal a 92% reduced risk of death from the disease in surgery patients —findings that support what has been emerging in other experiments. "In more than 80% of patients who are severely obese and have diabetes and then have gastric bypass surgery, the diabetes is cured," says Ted Adams, professor of cardiovascular genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine and lead author of the new study. "The interesting thing is that the resolution of diabetes happens within a few weeks following surgery, long before patients have lost their weight." Like some other researchers in the field, Adams believes that the surgery triggers other biological mechanisms, separate from weight loss — perhaps an interruption of a crucial biochemical pathway or a change in the release of certain hormones in the stomach or small intestine — that may have powerful effects on diabetes.

"The gastric-bypass patient is really providing a source of intriguing research related to all kinds of disease treatment as well as weight gain and weight loss," says Adams.

The second study, led by researchers at Gothenburg University in Sweden, involved 4,047 obese volunteers, 2,010 who underwent some form of bariatric surgery and 2,037 who received conventional obesity treatment, including lifestyle intervention, behavior modification or no treatment at all. Ten years after surgery, researchers report, the bariatric surgery patients had lost more weight and had a 24% lower risk of death than the comparison group. Though the overall number of subjects in this study is much smaller than the first, the results confirm general benefits of bariatric surgery, and gastric bypass in particular: after 10 years, bypass patients had maintained a 25% weight loss, compared to a 16% loss in patients who had stomach stapling, and 14% in those who underwent a banding procedure.

In both studies, surgery patients had an overall lowered risk of death, but an interesting finding in the Utah study shows that these patients were 58% more likely to die from other causes, such as suicide and accidents. The authors speculate that as people lose weight and become more active, they also become more prone to accidents, which may up their risk of death. Surgery patients may also have pre-existing psychological problems — a history of abuse, perhaps — that can't be resolved by losing weight. "There have been some studies reporting that following bariatric surgery, some individuals may be more prone to chemical dependency, such as increased alcohol use," says Adams. "There's some speculation that certain addictive behaviors that are in place before the surgery — with food, for example — are transferred to alcohol or another addictive behavior."

"Hopefully this research will stimulate additional evaluation of what the optimal approach is for evaluating candidates for this surgery," says Adams. "I think we should never lose track of the importance of individual evaluation of benefits and risks."

Last year, an estimated 177,600 patients underwent bariatric surgery, a figure that's likely to grow as Americans get fatter and fatter. Though modern surgery techniques have become more sophisticated, less invasive and safer than in the past, the bariatric procedure still carries all the risks of any other operation. Patients have a .5% to 1% chance of death. The risk of gallstones goes up. Sometimes a second surgery is necessary. And all patients must be careful to make up for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The surgery isn't for everyone; current guidelines recommend it as a last resort, only for the morbidly obese who have a BMI of 40 and higher, or for the obese with a BMI of 35 and higher plus a serious weight-related illness like diabetes or hypertension.

Bust 48''
Claves 17.75''
Waist 49.5''
Hips 55''
Thighs 29''
Arms 15.5 ''
Butt 51.25''