Another Side (long)

[Guest guest]

The following is my attempt to answer all the questions that have

been asked of me by both pre-ops and post-ops via email. I apologize

for not being able to answer each one of you individually. I hope

that this rather lengthy explanation of my MGB experience will shed

some light on some of the issues you may have to face and answer some

of the individual questions that were asked of me. I wish everyone

who is struggling to make the decision the best of luck with whatever

your choice may be. To all those who have already made their choice I

pray for your success and good health.

Sincerely,

Beth McFarling

MY STATS:

Name: Beth McFarling

Location: Raleigh, NC

Age: 43

Height: 5' 4

Surgery date: 06/08/00

Pre-op weight: 270

Weight 9/25/00: 232

Like most people who are members of these lists I have suffered with

a weight problem for most of my life. At the age of seven I remember

all to well my Mom having to special order my girl scout uniform

in " chubby girl " sizes. I hated the way I felt when the clerk

would

measure to determine the size and that experience has not left my

memory to this day. I'm certain we all have similar memories

… but I

digress.

The purpose of my post is not to point fingers or jump on

anyone's

bandwagon. It is my attempt to share my experience with regards to

Dr. Rutledge and the MGB. All of us should be informed consumers by

the time we make the choice as to which WLS is right for us. At the

time I was putting together my package I had a difficult time finding

10 contacts from the list provided at the MGB web site. Several dozen

addresses were invalid and I ended up relying on members of the E-

Groups site for help. Thankfully the list on the MGB site has been

updated but for some reason I'm still nowhere to be found.

My clinic visit was in May and during my brief consultation with Dr.

Rutledge I made it a point to question this surgery with regards to

MY eating habits. Unlike most obese individuals I am not a consistent

overeater. Typically I would eat one meal a day, snacking

occasionally and my caloric intake ranged between 1200 – 2000. I

knew

from experience that to lose weight my intake needed to be less than

1000. I'm also relatively active (golf, scuba, softball) so while

I

may have weighed 270, I didn't appear to weigh 270. I asked Dr.

Rutledge to consider bypassing a little more than average based on

these facts. He said we would revisit this issue the day of surgery.

My surgery was scheduled for 10:30 am on Thursday June 8. I had some

reservations about having the surgery so close to the dates that Dr.

Rutledge would be leaving for his ABSB conference. In retrospect I

should have trusted my instincts as I believe the treatment I

received from him was directly related to his overwhelming schedule.

The day of surgery I never saw Dr. Rutledge. I was told that he had

run in to some complications with the patient in front of me as I

waited in the holding area for over an hour. Suddenly and out of the

blue I found myself being wheeled into the second OR and before I

could say " BOO " I was out like a light. My last memory is of

my nurse

telling me Dr. R is coming in now.

The period of time after surgery was relatively uneventful. I'm a

wuss when it comes to pain so I took full advantage of the

medications provided. My husband tells me that there was some concern

with my BP through out the night but other than that I did fine. The

next morning Dr. R arrived and said I could go just as soon as I felt

up to it. We buzzed the nurse to unhook everything and the next thing

I knew they were tilting my bed to stand me on my head and giving me

meds for high BP. By noon I was released.

The first 2 days after surgery went well. I felt good but hungry. My

thirst was insatiable. By Sunday evening I had started to run a

fever. By Monday it was hanging around 101. I slept a lot. Tuesday we

drove to Durham to have the staples removed. I weighed in and had

gained 2 pounds. I was still running a fever and I felt pretty icky.

I went to the makeshift examining room and Dr. Rutledge proceeded to

take out the staples. I complained about my fever and my total

feeling of yuckiness. He asked how long had I had it and what was it

running. He told me to call him that afternoon if I didn't

improve.

Walking to the car it hit me what had just taken place. This doctor

just took me into a filing room, had me standing upright, removed my

staples and not at any time did he check my BP, temp, pulse, NOTHING.

He then sends me on my way and tells me to call back in a few hours

if I'm not feeling better. Now that is GREAT care.

By afternoon I was REALLY feeling bad. Everything was aching, my head

was pounding, my hair hurt. I called Dr. Rutledge and he told me to

go to the ER at Durham Regional. (I was just there 4 hours earlier;

it sure would have been nice NOT to have to drive back to Raleigh). I

spent several hours in the waiting room of the ER before finally

being called back. The nurse told me that they had been waiting to

hear from or see Dr. Rutledge and apologized for the inconvenience. I

was sent to Radiology and given chest x-rays as well as an upper GI

to rule out a leak. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning I was

told that I had an upper respiratory infection, treated with

antibiotics and sent home. Not until September 18, 2000 did I see or

hear from Dr. Rutledge. Once again, I don't consider this

to

be great care.

Things moved along as expected once I was over the infection. I

stayed on liquids for two weeks and moved to soft foods at week 3. I

took all my supplements and medications as prescribed and I

didn't

weigh myself. My energy level was very low but I assumed that was to

be expected for awhile. I started water aerobics 2 nights a week. I

went to my PCP during week 6 and was discouraged that I had lost only

17 pounds … she was discouraged as well. She suggested that I

contact

Dr. Rutledge to ask for his input. Over the next several weeks I

began weighing weekly and noted that my loss was not up to par

according to his weight loss predictor. I sent several emails and

placed 2 calls. All went unanswered.

By week 9 I started having some problems along with the slow weight

loss. I noticed that I was unable to eat most solid foods without

feeling like a good belch would put them back on my plate. More often

than not I would vomit just to relieve the discomfort. I received the

email reminder to fill out my 3-month follow-up and took that

opportunity to try once again to make contact with Dr. Rutledge. I

was surprised to have a response from him although all it said

was " yikes " (in response to my not hearing from him) and a

request to

please explain my concerns once again.

About the same time posts were beginning to appear about

" failed "

surgeries. I replied to a few with my own concerns. Low and behold I

get an email from Dr. Rutledge asking me who I was, as he did not

recognize the screen name I used in the group. Once again we

exchanged emails regarding my concerns but his responses were quick

and to the point. His advice was to continue taking my vitamins and

supplements. In my opinion that advice wasn't worth his time. Fed

up

with the treatment I was receiving and feeling like he was placating

me as a form of damage control for the group, I simply told him that

no further dialogue was necessary if he didn't have any better

advice. That prompted a phone call from him to me.

The call was placed on Wednesday afternoon, September 20 to me at my

office. Admittedly I was caught off guard and not in a position to do

battle not that I would have cause I'm a wuss. We discussed my

slow

weight loss and why the MGB was a success in spite of the slow weight

loss. His argument was valid. The MGB was suppose to limit the intake

of food (and it did) and the MGB caused one to eat a healthier

selection of food (which it does since yogurt and soup are about the

only things that I can manage comfortably). The answer as to why

weight loss was slow was a mystery to him. He suggested that I wait

until I'm a year out to see if I was a candidate for a revision.

He

asked that I contact my PCP and see if she would prescribe a low dose

diuretic (by this point my weight loss had plateaued) since my weight

might be due to water retention. He also suggested that in a month or

two I might want to consider taking Xenical. I explained to him that

Xenical was out of the question because of the cost and because I

wasn't eating a high fat diet. A revision was out of the question

because insurance would not cover it nor could I afford the costs. I

expressed to him that I felt " stuck " and I do and I am. I

asked him

what might be causing the problem with the food backing up in my

throat. He suggested that I might be eating too much. By this time I

was on the verge of tears and sitting in my cubicle I was not going

to let him or anyone else in the office know how upset I was. I let

him close the conversation, hung up the phone and took a deep breath.

I was devastated.

Each day that passes I lose more hair. I now suffer with what I think

is acid reflux or possibly GERD, something I NEVER had prior to

surgery. I throw up on average of twice a day if I deviate from my

soft food diet of yogurt and soup. I am miserable and some of that

misery comes from the knowledge that I chose this hell for myself. I

feel like I'm getting my just rewards for being so willing to do

ANYTHING to be smaller.

The issue of esophageal cancer is a real issue and one that should

not be taken lightly. But if you are willing to take THAT risk ask

yourself these questions. Will you be satisfied to lose only 50

pounds? Can you afford a revision? Do you want a surgeon who uses

computer generated email reminders as a follow up to your care? Is

your PCP educated enough in the field of WLS to address any

complications that arise and is he/she willing to do so? What happens

if your weight loss in minimal and your diet is highly restrictive?

What if you do everything you're suppose to do only to find

you've

traded one health risk for another and perhaps more fatal?

One of the main reasons I chose the MGB was because it was advertised

as being easily revised. While that may be true, getting the doctor

to do the revision or getting insurance to help pay for the revision

is highly unlikely. Don't let this be a selling point for you.

Please

don't let the desire to lose weight blind you.