Re: pre-op questions

[Guest guest]

!

Welcome! It's good to hear from you for a change instead of about you! Not

that we don't love hearing about you too! We do! Especially when it's about

hitting your mother with a tackle box! I hope all of my answers are helpful

to you and I didn't ramble on too much. I do have a terrible tendancy to do

that. If you have anymore feel free to e-mail me or post it here! Good luck

with your research!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) What age are you?

23 (10-11-75)

2) How long have you dealt with obesity?

11+ years

3) When was your surgery?

March 25, 1999

4) What was your weight prior to surgery?

292 lbs.

5) What is your weight now (or last time you weighed)?

254 lbs as of 4-27-99

6) What were your health problems before?

Back, knee, and ankle pain. Arthritis in both knees (that's right!

At age 23 I already had arthritis!). Major mirgraines that I lovingly

inherited from my mother. Very bad temper (you wouldn't think this would

matter...just wait). Shortness of breath even while sitting still talking

with friends (not fun!).

7) How are these after the surgery?

Knees and ankles haven't bothered me at all. Back is better,

but still bothersome at times (getting better everyday though). Haven't had

a migraine or even a regular headache since surgery (this is an absolute

blessing!). My bad temper, believe it or not, has gotten tons

better...either that or my friends are lying to me. Could be either!

Haven't had nearly as many problems with shortness of breath. Can only

remember one or two in the last five weeks. This too is a great thing!

8) Are you pleased with the surgery? Would you recommend it?

I think your mom said it best when she said... " 125%. Absolutely

the best choice I ever made. Highly recommend! " I would do it all over again

in a heart beat!

9) Are you pleased with Dr. Rutledge?

He is beyond a doubt the best doctor that I've ever had the

pleasure of meeting! I wouldn't let anyone else do this procedure on me,

ever! He's very compassionate, patient, extremely skilled in what he does,

and the most knowledgeable doctor I've ever met. In other words he is

phenominal!

10) Did you have any complications?

None.

11) If so, what kind?

Have been very lucky so far. I haven't had any nasuea or

throwing up. I have on the other hand gotten the runs on occassion, but

haven't got what you would consider the " dumping syndrome " ...I'm just a

little out of wack right now. Picked up some Citracel today and that ought

to do the trick!

12) Did they require any additional hospital time?

Nope.

13) How is your energy now? Have you noticed a change in activity, endurance?

It took me about two weeks to feel better, but I would say

two and a half to three weeks to really feel back to myself. Once I got back

to work I started to feel like the real me. The energy level is slowly, but

surely starting to rise and I'm totally diggin' this part! For the first

time in a LONG time I want to get out and do things instead of sitting around

the house. I'm actually joining Bally's this coming week! Scared of me!

14) How did your family respond to the surgery?

My family was all very supportive! I was very lucky to have

them. My mom, while very leary about the procedure, ended up being my main

source of stregnth throughout the whole thing. Family members who at first

were not pleased with my decission came around once I was able to prove to

them that I had done my homework and wasn't making any kind of uninformed

decission. The fact that my family is all in Chicago didn't help, but my

friends here in Virginia are the next best thing! They were all great!

15) Have you had a pregnancy following surgery? If so, did you have any

complications due to surgery?

I haven't had a pregnancy since my surgery (it was after all

only five weeks ago! LOL). However, this was one of my main concerns pre-op

too. I have a friend that I work with that had the open procedure about five

years ago. She has since had two very healthy 10 lb. babies. Her sister,

who also had the surgery, also had a very healthy baby. I think the key to

having a healthy pregnancy is to have a doctor that is well informed of

what's gone on inside of us and to make sure we take as much vitamins through

out the pregnancy as possible to avoid malnutrition of the baby.

16) How is your life different now?

I have so much more to look forward to now! It's unreal!

I'm not in the funk that I seemed to be stuck in anymore. It magically

disappeared the day I walked into the hospital. I finally have a healthy and

happy life to look forward to! I think my mental outlook has changed the

most so far and this is only the beginning! I've turned into an advocate on

over weight issues. I've started throwing in my oppinion even when it's not

asked for because I do have the answers! I've lived with them all my life!

It's such a different world after surgery. It's definitely " the other side. "

17) What was your recovery time? Or at what point in time were you able to

resume your daily activities?

Because I wasn't drinking enough it took me about 5 or 6

days to feel back to normal. Dr. Rutledge and my mother both drilled it into

me that I had to drink (juice especially) so that my body was getting some

sort of nourishment. Once I did that I stopped getting dizzy and started

feeling better. So far I've followed all the directions. No driving, No

eatting, No smoking. I did of course start driving after my two weeks was

up, but I haven't started eatting yet and I haven't had a cigarette since my

surgery (don't plan to start again either). Best advice is follow the

directions and it'll work!

18) What is your intake like now? What is different about it?

Are there certain foods you have problems with now?

It's minimal at best. I've gotten to where I can finish a

whole can of chicken noodle soup in one day. Thank goodness for microwaves!

If I try to eat too much it is physically painful! Only happened once and I

don't ever want it to happen again! The amount of food I intake is

definitely the most changed of course. If I drink the same juice too many

days in a row my stomach will tell me about it. Easy solution is to change

juices every two to three days. I've only eatten some noodles and some rice

from my chicken noodle or chicken rice soup so I don't really know what foods

bother me. I guess you should ask that one again in about three weeks when I

can eat real food again.

19) Have you experienced any negative side effects you weren't warned about?

None.

20) What about negative effects you were warned about?

Not really. Haven't had any real side effects other than

the irregularity and like I said above, that's being taken care of with some

Citracel.

21) Have you had any problems with post op depression?

I don't think so. I sometimes (in the last two or three

days) get really annoyed that my clothes aren't fitting anymore and I look

like I'm wearing sacks instead of slacks. If that's the worst though I'll be

just fine!

22) What could have been improved on in your experience?

I think everything went very wel and that I was very

lucky. It would have been hard to improve upon anything. Although I

would've loved to have the MGB onelist group sooner than a week pre-op!

23) Comments about your experience that aren't covered above...?

Girl! I think you hit every nail right smack on the

head! I can't think of anything, but if I do I'll e-mail your mom and have

her pass it on to you!

24) Do you think you made the right decision? Would you do it again?

Most Definitely!!! In a heartbeat!!!

25) Is there any advice you have for me?

Research, research, research! I know some of the people

reading this are annoyed with that word because I tell everyone the

samething! It's vital to research everything in major detail before deciding

to do this. I think your mom has you headed in the right direction! Don't

let anyone make you think you're doing the wrong thing! This is your

decission and from what I can tell you have a pretty fabulous support group!

Listen to your heart and you'll do wonderfully! One more thing, your mom is

right about getting nervous/scared before surgery. It's typical! Some

people get nervous weeks before surgery and some don't. I presonally didn't

get nervous until I was laying in the pre-op area on the gurney talking to

the nurse anestistis (sp?). Luckily for me he was awesome and calmed me down

before I had a chance to really panic. Fear is normal and healthy! Don't

let it get in your way!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" , who just turned 17, is envious of my weight loss

because she too is obese. Beautiful, talented, intelligent, but a

size 22-24 in a size 3 world. My success has been hardest on her. "

P.S. I can completely understand being a 17 year old senior in HS and being

a size 22-24. It's not necessarily a happy thing! Although I'm not 17

anymore if you have any questions or just want to vent to someone close to

your age my ears are open!