Jill L.
March - April 2003
I am 39 years old - I have been overweight all my life, and have had type II diabetes for the past 10 yrs.- I am researching WLS and think it may save my life and also help me have my dream - a family... I have been trying to conceive for 18 months with no success. I think that this surgery will help me live again , get off all diabetic meds, let me fulfill my dreams...
This site is wonderful!!! It has been a huge help...
June 2004
Well I have not updated my profile in a very ling time. I am now 40 almost 41. I still was not able to conceive and had several issues with my cycles in the past year and in December discussed with my OBGYN and we agreed that I should go back on BC pills since I was planning this surgery and would need to be on them during and after the surgery. She fully supports this surgery and will be writing a letter of support for me.
I did not rush thru this process since it is a serious life altering surgery. I have not taken this decision lightly. I feel fairly well educated about the surgery and the before and after care thanks to this website!
My BMI was thought to be 60 a year ago as I was going by the last weight on a scale that would weigh me which was in March 2002. Well a month ago I had a hospital stay and they had the "sumo" scale as I have affectionatly referred to it as. And I was shocked and discusted to find out that I weigh about 31 more pounds than I thought and that I had gained that in the past year and a half. It is the most I have ever weighed in my life and causes my BMI to be between 63.6 and 65.5 as I am 5 6 1/2 and you cannot calc on the 1/2......
I did however in my hospital stay find out that my heart is healthy which is good for surgery. My two brothers have had severe heart issues and I had chest pains for the first time EVER and when that feeling happened a 2nd time in a week I went to the ER and they kept me 2 days and did alot of heart tests and everything checked out fine. They feel it may be a pulled muscle or possible gall bladder which I will be getting checked out.
One good thing that came from the scare other than finding out my heart was healthy and my cholesterol and blood pressure are not dangerously high and do not require any meds. The medically induced stress test was done my a heart Dr from Emory and can be used for clearance for the surgery - I am glad that was a scary test.... They said I did great thru it.
So I have referrals to 2 different surgeons and see which one I seem to click with.
I have been getting together dates and weights from copies of my old medical records- It amazes me with my weight how many times even though I got on the scale EVERY time I was there - the nurse or Dr did NOT always write it down which has been frustrating!
I wrote to my old PCP that I had for almost 20 yrs who moved to a different state and have not gotten a response from him. I am afraid it is buried in his office or never reached him (as I hope he is not just ignoring me) I was requesting a letter of support from him as he watched me try over and over at attempting to conquer my weight. I have a letter of support from my endocrinologist, and can request one from my OBGYN and PCP. I do not have any 26 week Dr supervised weight loss programs in the last 2 yrs which scares me for getting approved. I am hoping that my endocrinologist can write a letter about my struggles in the past 2 yrs of seeing him and then request things from 2-3 nutritionists I worked with many yrs ago- I am so frustrated and feel beaten down that I must prove to the insurance that I will fail at lossing again just because I have no documentation of attempts and Dr supervision in the past 2 yrs, but over the past 36 yrs I have had many, many,many diets, weight loss, only to gain back more weight after..... Why do I have to prove failure once again? I am hoping that with me documenting all of my attempts in chronilogical order for the past 36 yrs or trying to loose wieght even though I do not have something written from the Dr's that I was in the care of at the time that with that. my BMI, my diabetes of which I continue to have to take more and more insulin for and have added metformin and another med for renal flow this year and the stress on my feet and knees that they will see that long term this surgery will save my life, and save them a bundle of money in medications.
5/6/08
Well Hello,
It has been awhile since I posted anything.... Well I have lost 236lbs and am 15 months out from my surgery. I have 56 more lbs to go to get to my goal and at my year appt my Dr who had never given me a goal tells me he would like to see me weigh 147(which is perfect on the weight/height scale) and which is 97 more lbs instead of 56 to my goal?? So I will keep going and see wherer I get too. I am already utterly happy with my success and do want to loose some more. I feel the best I have in years, I am at a lower weight than I have been at for more than 25 years. I also know if I have the surgery to remove my exces skin that I will loose some additional weight from that. SO I am trying to just keep on track and continue loosing though it has gotten to be a snails pace for sure. I was used to loosing 16 lbs every 2 weeks for many months then about 16 lbs every month now just a few lbs every month. I am going to try to get back to being more consistnt with my workouts. I lost my dda 2 months ago and a cousin the week before and before that it was the holidays and oh so busy... SO I need now that its MAY to get a grip and get back to a good routine and get to my goal!!!! I am so thrilled to be wearing a "normal" XL in tops and 18/20's for bottoms!!! I love shopping nw and getting my picture taken which before I ran from the camera. I have cut my hair very short and lightened it sev eral shades and have alot of blonde highlights (you know what they say - blondes have more fun!) It seems so wierd to be almost 45 and reinventing myself is what it feels like - it's a whole new life! Have a great spring! Oh and speaking of spring - I have not planted a garden or flower beds in years and Sat we planted and worked in the yard 8 hours and have about that many more to get everything finished. I have 16 tomatoe plants and 8 squash plants and alot of beautiful flowers.... Its a new life for sure...
If anyone reads my profile and can offer any support, advice, encouragement, help with my profile page making it pretty just contact me. I am very thankful for this sight. I will post again as I hope to be close to surgery in the next few months!!!
April 3, 2006
Well I am still wanting to have surgery- and have not yet... After my last post and I seemed to have so much started - my best friends mom started dying from cancer and I literally lived with them the last few months of her life. I then went thru a pretty bad depression - as this was the 2nd person I had experienced up close and personal the hard process of dying with cancer - July 2002 I lost my sister in law and was her primary care giver and then July 2004 we watched my friends mother pass. Then Dec 2004 I lost my cousin to a rare kidney cancer he had fought for 2 years and at that time inherited his mom (my Aunt) to care for as she has no other family. Needless to say I had put everyone before myself and have no regrets of being there for people as they needed me only sadness as when I again started to persue the road to surgery in Feb 2005 by starting my monthly Dr visits and surpervised weight loss as my ins co(Cigna HMO - thru GA state merit) stated I needed to do in a phone call Dec 2004. I then found out in April 2005 during an open enrollment period that Cigna and all the other 5+ offerings of different ins companies thru GA state merit were ALL going to have written exclusions for bariatric surgery (and that they could do this since they are self insured)... I checked into the fact that I had gotten info in Dec that if I did the Dr visits and diet and got all the other letters about my co-mobidities (which now include hypertension - diabetes {type II insulins and pill dependant}- severe joint pain and trouble doing most anything at this point- acid reflux - and probably sleep apnea)if they could still grandfather me in and my HR person acted like they would do something and then never came thru for me. I then spiraled into a sever depression barely able to leave the house- all the while my Aunt having health issue after health issue and who could blame her she lost her only son... She was so sweet thru me finding out that unless I could create 2+ extra months of Dr supervised diet and get all my clearances and get a date for surgery before the July 1 deadline that my hopes for insurance covering my surgery were gone. She offered to pay for the surgery - which is wonderful and I would have hoped to have it before now - but all summer her health issues became more severe and in Oct she had a severe dementia episode and an 11 day nightmare hospital stay of which we almost lost her. Then to a nursing home rehab unit where I had hoped they could rehab her to walk and she could at least move to a really nice assisted living place in Smyrna- But this has never happened - we tried to get her walking again with a walker - but she forgets to use it and had numerous falls so - finally in Dec she is in a an adult walker called a meriwalker that is a little safer. She cannot go to the assisted living center with it though and her dementia has progressed and they are haiving a tough time getting her meds satbilized- She has been back to the hospital 3 more times since Oct and once for another 6 days with pneumonia(again we almost lost her). We finally think we may have her stabilized - I promised myself and a dear Christian counselor I have been seeinf since April 2005 that 2006 was my year to take care of myself and not put everything off for everyone else. This is very hard for me- but I have went to my endocrinologist and we are trying to get my A1C down to 5-6 from 7.4 and I visit my primary Dr every 8 weeks as he trys to keep my BP lower- it has risen again lately and my OBGYN thinks it is stress.... I go to my primary Dr tomorrow for a physical and hope soon after to go to the cardiologist for clearance due to all my family history and some chest pains I have been having - and then soon to go on any other clearance appts I need to do before getting a surgery date- psych - ect... I have narrowed down my surgeon choices to 4 different ones and want to have consults with each one and then decide who to go with.
I at one point was very stress free about getting the surgery and with all the time that has past - I have let the fear creep back in. I think because I will have to be self pay - I am scared about ALL the after surgery stuff that may be non covered by my insurance -DOES anyone have any advice about this?? I have been told by a few to keep quiet after the surgery and ANY Dr I go to afterward should not use a code for bariatric surgery issues... and then I should be ok and covered by my insurance- On the other had with all my comorbidities - I had planned on writing letters and showing them after coming off all my meds I am currently on and all the potential long term issues I could avoid - how much money long term I would save them if they would cover the surgery??? Has anyone had any success with this?
I pray that the next post I have here will to tell you I am on my way to a surgery date or even that I have a date...
7/27/06
Well I am getting closer to getting a consult with a surgeon!!! I turn in my packet to Dr. Daniel Proctor's office tomorrow and am very excited about that. I have had some speed bumps in the past 3 months and will be having a minor female surgery in a couple of weeks. Once that is done and all is ok, I can go forward with my WLS!!! I have started my pre-op's had a cardio consult today, have an echocardiogram Mon., a Pulmonary clearance appt Tues., a nuclear stress test Thurs., Then hope to schedule the female surgery, have labs to get done, WLS education class,an upper GI and gall bladder screening, a sleep study, the psych eval, Surgeon consult, any additional pre-ops after that and then a surgery date!!! I had hoped to have the surgery in June and have been really low about not having even gotten a surgeon consult yet, but am trying to be patient a little while longer. One of the hardest things was getting weighed last week and finding out in the last 2 years I have gained 46 lbs. and that they are having trouble getting a tabel that can hold me for my cardio tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so over being obese and want to be "normal" and "fit" in - no punn intended!...
Is it normal to just be at your whits end by the time you get this close to getting the surgery??? Did anyone else feel soooooo over being big, being uncomfortable. not able to fit in any chairs, feeling bad most of the time, being scared something major was going to happen if I do not have this surgery NOW??? Did anyone else feel this way??? If you did and you come across my profile - please email me and share with me what you did to get through this hard part!!!! I again hope the next time I post I will have good news and be on my way!!
12/13/07
I am soooooooooooooo sorry - it has been way too long since I posted an update here. Once I tried to update with the new profile type and something happened and it must not have updated what I added so I will as briefly as possible catch you up! I will be on Christmas Eve this year 11 months out from gastric bypass. It has been an interesting to say the least journey. As of today I have lost 203 lbs and am estatic about it. My husband gave me an anniversary band today as my 100 and 200 goal rewards! I am off ALL diabetic medications and high blood pressure meds and high cholesterol meds too! I feel so much better this year than last year which is wonderful, but terrible for my pocket book as I have been a shopping mad woman since I feel so good rhis year! I have had very little issues the entire time. I am very blessed and thankful for this. The major thing has been (excuse me if I am rude) major diarrhea that has been going on ALOT since about 2 mnths out from surgery. They first thought it was that I was lactose intolerant and it isnt that and after suffering until July they feel it is because I also had my gall bladder out at the same time as my gastric bypass. They say this happens with alot of people that have their gall bladder out that even don't have gastric bypass- but I had no choice there was a golf ball size gall stone so they had to remove it. Other than that issue all has been pretty normal. The gas and bad smells take alot of getting used to and trying everythin known to man - something they sell at Walmart called Odorcide I think is the best thing for the bathroom and cheap too!
Anyway - I have went from a BMI of over 77 to a BMI of 44 now and have 97 more pounds to go to get to my original goal. I ma working out 3 times a week most of the time and have gotten all new hand me down cloths in the past couple of weeks. I fell this has been the most wonderful thing in the world and I have saved my life. I am enjoying things more and not a couch potato anymore. I feel sooooo much better. OH has been a charm and all the support is wonderful and I went to the Atlanta seminar this past fall and it was great!!!!
Hopefully I won't wait this long to update again!!! ttfn
1/11/08
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In just 2 short weeks I will celebrate my one year birthday into my new life! As of today I have lost 211 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 89 lbs. to go to get to my original goal, but I have a sneaky suspicion that I will want to loose 30+ more when I get to that original goal. I just got new blood work done and my A1C is 5.3 I NO LONGER SHOW AS DIABETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND NO MEDS!!!!! I am so thrilled! This should also be another big year. We hope to get green lights from all of our Dr.'s to start in March trying to get pregnant one last time. I will turn 45 this summer, so we have more than run out of time, but now that I have lost so much weight and am not showing diabetic we pray we will get pregnant easily now and can have a child. We are also looking into adoption and even if we have a child soon we will also adopt in the near future. I do not regret having this surgery one bit. It has not always been an easy journey and at 1 year out can easily tell why people gain the weight back. I am trying to stick with it- get my protien, water and vitamins in and exercise, exercise, exercise!!!! I pray that everyone researching surgery can be inspired by my journey. I will update again soon and hopefully add some pictures soon.
