Nita C.
I have struggled with my weight for 20+ years. I have a reoccurring pituitary tumor, removed 3 times. I have hypothyroidism, fatigue, sleeping problems, decreased libedo, knee pain and my blood pressure has elevated at times.
I have family history of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
I have dieted and exercised thru the years, lost weight but never lost the weight I needed to and always gained it back plus some. My husband and I are a active couple. I think of myself as young but I don't feel young. Which is the reason I am looking in the bariatric surgery. A friend had the surgery couple years ago at your facility, due to her health condition and she feels so much better now. Her surgeon was Dr. Rosie Jones.
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9-4-06
Hi- I have seen Dr. Cacucci and I definately am a canidate for bariatric surgery, the doctor suggested RNY type. I have since
found out that my husbands insurance has excluded bariatric
surgery so my husband and I have discused it, going to get a
loan at the bank to self pay for the surgery. Dr. Cacucci requires
some tests before surgery and eval with psyc dr. I had sleep
study test 8-31-06, one of test required. Did not sleep very well
but anyhow will have one test behind me. I have psyc eval
scheduled for 9-8-06. Best wishes to all. Have a nice day!
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11-14-06
The day is finally here ! I made it !! Dr. Cacucci is running on time and they take me back at 11:40 am. 55 min. later and I am on the other side !!!!!! Everything went excellent and was in recovery for about 2 hrs. Into my own room at 3:30 and so groggy having a hard time coming out of the anesthetic. Have to get awake because the nurses say i am going for a walk at 5:00 !! The nausea prevention patch they gave me really helped !! Just a little dizzy setting up for the first time but went away quickly. Slow easy steps for the first time, lots of hoses and wires to tend with. Went down the hall and back for a total of 50 ft. ! Woo Hoo ! Back to bed for a short nap it's going to be a long night with having to walk every 2 hrs. Love those ice chips. mouth and lips are so dry. The nurses are excellent ! and really care about their patients. So glad i chose to have this done at St. Vincents Carmel.
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11-15-06
The Dr. is in to see me early and says everything is lookin great. Able to keep my water and meds down with no problem. Less sleeping now and lots of walking, have to do my laps. More energy everyhour. The only thing making me tired is the pain meds, but i want the pain to stay in control and so far it has. I't's lunch time , but so far no feeling of hunger, I ate my 1oz. of juice and 1oz. of Jello. So happy everything is going down and staying there. Each walk I am going 3 to 5 laps and it feels great. The nurses took the I.V. off and now I don't have to walk with the the pump. Tummy is very tender and one of the hardest things is wiggling myself back in the bed to get comfortable.
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11-16-06
Yesssssssssss !! It's " send me home " day. Rested much better last night. The nurses only came in every 3 hours to check on me and get me up for walking. Dr. Cacuuci came in around 7:30 am and said everything still looks wonderful. I am so pleased, no complications and the staff here is the best. My nurse said to give her a hour or so and she would have my discharge papers ready. Last thing on the list is for them to teach my hubby (He is such a wonderful guy !) how to give the Lovenox shots. 10:00 and we're on our way home. 2-1/2 hr drive in cold, rainy weather. Slept off and on along the way. Stopped after an hour so I could walk a little. Thanks to the Holiday Inn for letting me use there lobby and 1st floor hall way (LOL !!). Finally home ! The closer we got, the more my belly could feel the bumps in the road. ouch ! Now I can get my self on a schedule. Visit with the kids and snuggle with the dogs (we have 4 daschunds) then take a little nap and Hubby and I are going to the gym so i can walk. Gym was not to crowded, did a half mile walk, maybe a little to brisk, was begining to feel it in my belly. Time for supper, squash baby food and low fat cottage cheese . Looking forward to sleeping in my bed tonight. I so much appreciate everyones support. A BIG thanks to all of you !
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11-26-06
It's been a rough 2 weeks. Went for my post-op visit on 11-20-06. Dr. C. took the drain out. Sure am gald ! that thing was beginning to hurt. Causing sharp pain in my lower right abdomin area. Came home from the Dr. office feeling pretty good, no pain, walking great, then BAM !!! About 2:30 in the afternoon had terrible diahrrea ! and blood in my stool !!!!! same thing 4 times over the next 5 hours !!!! Called the Dr. office and told them what was going on and she said better come in to the E.R. at St. V. to get checked out. She did a endoscope and said my pouch and staples look fine and that it was bleeding in the large colon area. She said it should heal it's self in a few days so they kept me and put me on I.V. to keep the fluids flowing. Finally had enough energy on 11-22-06 to walk a few laps around the halls at the hospital. Let me go home on Thanksgiving day. Slowly getting more energy back each day. Lost 4 pints of blood so Doc says will take a month or so to recover from the energy loss. Taking Iron supplements daily and they seem to be helping. The best news is I have lost 23 lbs. since the day of surgery !!!!!!!! Never thought this was possible. Still amazed this is all happening. Been wearing jammy pants all the time so going to be interesting to see how my work clothes fit when I go back to work in another week. As many of you have said, it is a struggle to get the protein in each day. Trying the Iso-pure drink as it is very high in protein but YUCK !!! this stuff nasty tasting. Also everything inside my body seems to be settling and it's been hard to get comfortable to sleep at night. Finding I can rest better in my hubbys recliner. Also noticing I am a lot colder natured than before. Could be from the blood loss however. Will close for now and update again later in the week. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. :)
