Tammy Bruno
2/18/04 - Well I have made the decision to have the gastric bypass surgery. I found out my insurance covers the surgery & doctor 100% and only requires a letter from the doctor stating the surgery is due to obesity. THATS ME!!! :) I also have complete support from my family all around. My husband of course is a little nervous, but at the same time is 100% supportive. He tells me he loves me any way that I am. He also knows if I want to grow old with him I need to do this, as well as being healthy.
I am so excited, on 3/2/04 I will be attending Dr. Croirin's seminar which is my next step in the process. I cannot wait for this seminar. I am also hoping and looking forward to seeing some of the people from the message board, sharing their stories, etc. I will post again in a couple of weeks. :-)
3/2/04 - The day has finally come! I have been waiting for this for about two weeks now, which seems like a year. I am FINALLY being able to go to Dr. Coirin's seminar to learn more about the RNY (LAP) procedure. I am SSSOOOOOO EXCITED, I can't stand it! I will post tomorrow.
3/3/04 - Well, I went to the seminar last night. I was so anxious to get there. Listened, asked questions to Dr. Coates, Dr. Morgan, the nutritionist, and the patients who have had the surgery. It was so facinating and I learned alot of stuff. I know most of it bcz of all the research I have done and plus being here on the message boards, etc. I left there more JAZZED than I did walking in. I know this is the right thing for me and if I had any doubts before (which to be honest with you I didn't) I do not have doubts now.
I cannot wait to get started. If I could of gotten the surgery following the seminar, I would have been the first in line. I cannot wait for the day that I have been re-born. I want to be healthy, have energy, confident in everything that I do, I just want LIFE again!!! Well, I expect to hear from Dr. Coirin's office within the next day or so. Will post again when I have more news. :)
3/8/04 - I met with Dr. Coirin today, and it went VERY WELL! Dr. Coirin said I was an excellent candidate for this procedure. Dr. Coirin is a very nice, low key type of guy. He answered all of my questions, and made sure I understood everything including the risks. I am very excited about moving forward and hope the process continues to go smoothly. I have an appointment scheduled for my physc evaluation with Dr. Morgan for March 18th, which I am REALLY looking forward to. I have a chance at the seminar to talk with Dr. Morgan for a few minutes and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now all is left is my nutritionist evaluation to be scheduled.
WAIT!!!!I am on the phone right now with the nutritionist!! My appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday (3/16) @ 9:30am!! ROCK ON!!! That is awesome!!! :-)
I also had my physical done today with my PCP before my appointment with Dr. Coirin and that went extremely well too. My doctor and I talked about my diet history, current health history, i.e., high blood pressure, asthma, etc. She is very supportive and willing to write up a great referral for the insurance and doctor Coirin. WHHHOOOO!!!!everything is falling into place. :)
3/17/04 - Since my last update I have had my blood work results from my physical, and everything came out great! My cholesterol was a little high 219, but that was the only thing. I feel very lucky. I also had my nutritionist evaluation yesterday, 3/16 and that went very well, learned some new things--I tell ya everyday I learn something new in regards to gastric bypass, its very, very interesting. Anyway, I got that approval done and out of the way. Today, 3/17 I had my physc evaluation with Dr. Morgan, this appointment was moved up a day--of course I did not mind. :-) That evaluation went very well, really enjoyed my talk with the doc. He is a very nice man, soft spoken, and has a great bedside manner about him. Before I left his office, he told me he will approve me for the surgery, there is no doubt in his mind. That made me feel really good. All reports have been sent to Dr. Coirin's office including my letter from my PCP requesting and supporting my decision on having the surgery, so now its that time to wait and see what the insurance has to say. I am confident, things will work out for me.
4/06/04 - Well it's been a while since I have posted, and even though it really hasn't been that long, I have felt that its been months since I have had anything worth updating. Today was not turning out to be a day of happiness and joy UNTIL I got a phone call from Karen at Dr. Coirin's office. Karen called me and said my surgery had been approved by the insurance and I am scheduled for April 29th for my surgery date. YEAH!!!!!!! I never thought this would happen. I will be REBORN on April 29th!!!!! Just about three weeks away and I have so much to do and get ready for. Dr. Coirin's office has been wonderful and has handled everything with the insurance and all of my appointment scheduling, its just been AMAZING, i am very lucky to be apart of their lives. :)
5/12/04 - Well, its been some time since I have posted an update on my profile, alot of things have happened. I am now REBORN! I had my surgery on 4/29/04 @ 11:30am. Everything went beautifully. I was in the hospital 2 and 1/2 days, pain was minimal and the staff at Doctors Hospital Of Manteca were just AWESOME! They treated me like a queen. The only thing that bothered the hell out of me, was when I finally got to sleep I was woken up by a nurse to check my BP and oxygen levels. I was up walking just a few hours after surgery, and then about every two to three hours after that, I was up walking, walking, walking, walking....Dr. Coirin is just wonderful, I cannot say enough good things about him. I owe him my life back. Every time I tell him something like that, he is very humble and tells me he did nothing its all about me, that I am the courageous one. He is just one of the best. As of today, I am down 22 pounds...less than two weeks after my surgery, can't believe it and I feel AWESOME!
5/28/04 -Tomorrow marks my one month aniversary since my surgery, and I feel great! I couldn't be more happier...well, I guess I could, I wish I could have lost all of my weight overnight, but let's be real here. :). As of today I have lost 30 pounds. WOW! it was pretty much effortless too. Not much exercising going on. I do have to say I have experienced alot these past four weeks.
In looking back the insurance approval, all the pre-op appointments, the surgery itself, recovery, were all easy compared to the mind games you go through afterwards. What I mean by that is, there were times where I would feel hungry all the time, but when I stopped and thought about it, I realized its not bcz I am hungry its bcz I had nothing else to do, so I knew once i went back to work my mind would be filled with other things than food. I do still struggle a bit with people eating fast food around me, or seeing TV commercials advertising pizza, hamburgers, you name it. I just keep reminding myself that, that is the old me, and now I am in control of my life and I will be healthier. Someday I will be able to eat those foods again, but I will also have learned how to eat in moderation.
I will never ever be able to eat the way I used to, and I am so happy about that. I sit and watch how much food is on others plates, or what they order to eat, and I think god...I used to be able to eat that plus more. Anyway, I keep truckin' along, feeling good about myself, and feeling healthy. Good for ME! :) My next goal is 30 more pounds by 6/29/04...we shall see.
6/21/04 - just wanted to give an update since my last post. All is going very well. I have already hit one plateau, just a minor one, did not last very long, as soon as I got past it, BAM! more weight started to drop, I am now down 45lbs, I now weigh 263, begining weight was 308 day of surgery, less than 2 months ago. I feel wonderful.
I have had alot of challenges so far mentally, and physically. I have not been able to eat much meat, my PRINCESS POUCH as I call it, does not like chicken or beef, before, those were my favorite things...I am or WAS a meat & potatoes gal, not any more. I still crave in my mind Carls Jr. burgers...oh they were my favorite, w/ french fries, onion rings, etc..man oh man...I can just taste it now.
Anywho...Then I have had quite a bit of pain in my legs, its almost like when your foot falls asleep and you have the pain and tingling feeling, numbness, well that's what it is. I told my doctor and he looked at my lab work that I took prior to my 1 month post-op appointment and everything looked great accept I had a B12 deficiancy, so he has had me get B12 shots twice a day every day for four weeks. Dr. Coirin says its not unusual for bariatric patients to experience this. Bariatric patients do not absorb B12 all that well. My leg will get better over time. Its really good though that I told him early in the game, bcz having a B12 deficiency if not taken care of will attack your nervous system and can leave you paralyzed and in a wheel chair...now keep in mind this is in EXTREME cases. Don't want to scare anyone.
I am working on a personal WLS website, and will let everyone know when its done. My life is so much better now, and I cannot wait to share it with all of you. I know that when I lose all of my weight, well...maybe not all of it...I want to really focus on helping others and speak at seminars/conferences about weightloss surgery, and work with patients. It has made that much of an impact on my life.
I recommend to all who is thinking about WLS or who has had WLS, that they stay very active in support groups, get on the ObesityHelp.com message boards and get support and encourage others in their weightloss journey, just be there for them. This whole process is an AMAZING journey.
10/16/04 - its been some time since my last update. Man oh man have I had my experiences. Anywhere from happiness, to depression, to plateau's, to eating issues, and many more. I think the major thing I have been through during the whole process was finding out who I really was within that fat chick that I kept seeing in the mirror. As time has gone by, the old Tammy from some time ago was starting to resurface. I wanted to be around people, I wanted to go out with friends, I wanted to start wearing clothes I never thought i would be able to wear, I was starting to live my life like I used to, I was being accepted within society. I no longer was feeling like people were staring at me, thinking that I was a lazy person bcz I was so fat. I wasn't feeling like people were looking at what I was ordering for food and how much was I eating and HOW I was eating, I know you know what I am talking about. Anyway life is good again. I have lost 91 pounds in lest than 6 months, I have gone from a size 26/28 (borderline 30/32) to now size 14....WOW a size 14, next I will be in a 12!!!
Finally the best thing that has come from all of this, are the friends that I have made. The people that I have met through WLS have been the BEST therapy anyone could ever have.
