RE: RE: MSG Surgery

[Guest guest]

Dorothea,

I will be glad to be a contact if you will e-mail me privately

with your questions or call me day or night at 817 577-0919.

Best Wishes,

Genz ( Genzel from Fort Worth, Texas)

MGB 5-31-00

249/193

56 pounds and 78 inches lost forever!!!!!!

Dorothea Tinsley wrote:

> Dear members,

> I am in need of 10 contacts for my package to be

> presented to Dr. Rutledge in early Nov. So far, I

> have not been able to get but 3 replys. If any of the

> members could please contact me at my e-mail address

> (justasiam159@...) I would really appreciate it.

> I was given a list of e-mail address by Dr.

> Rutledge's office and have tried to e-mail some of his

> patients. I have not gotten but 3 replys. I do not

> know if I'm doing something wrong or not.

> Thank you.

> Dorothea Tinsley

>

> __________________________________________________

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Dorthea: You're not doing anything wrong. But a more successful way to get

contacts is to write a personal email to folks on this list who reveal

themselves as post-op. There's lots of them on the list and all they need is to

be asked.

I'm always happy to be a contact if you will email me privately and ask me any

questions you may have.

Flo in land

florence@...

> ** Original Subject: RE: RE: MSG Surgery

> ** >

> ** Original Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 11:15:27 -0600

> ** Original Message follows...

>

> Dear members,

> I am in need of 10 contacts for my package to be

> presented to Dr. Rutledge in early Nov. So far, I

> have not been able to get but 3 replys. If any of the

> members could please contact me at my e-mail address

> (justasiam159@...) I would really appreciate it.

> I was given a list of e-mail address by Dr.

> Rutledge's office and have tried to e-mail some of his

> patients. I have not gotten but 3 replys. I do not

> know if I'm doing something wrong or not.

> Thank you.

> Dorothea Tinsley

>

> __________________________________________________

>

[Guest guest]

--- florence@... wrote:

> Hi Dorthea: You're not doing anything wrong. But a

> more successful way to get contacts is to write a

> personal email to folks on this list who reveal

> themselves as post-op. There's lots of them on the

> list and all they need is to be asked.

>

> I'm always happy to be a contact if you will email

> me privately and ask me any questions you may have.

>

> Flo in land

> florence@...

>

>

> > ** Original Subject: RE: RE:

Dear Flo,

I'm scheduled to see Dr. Rutledge in Nov. I will

present my package. I pray he will be willing to do

the MGB surgery. Is there information you can give me

to make my visit go smoothly? If you have had the

surgery, how did it go? I am a little nervous about

the liquid part of the diet right after surgery? I

don't want to get sick to the stomach. Do you get

" hunger headaches " from not eating solid foods? How

soon could you see lost of weight after the surgery?

How often did you go to the gym for exercises?

Thanking you in advance for answering my e-mail.

Dorothea from Fayetteville, NC.

> MSG Surgery

> > ** Original Sender: Dorothea Tinsley

>

> > ** Original Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 11:15:27 -0600

>

> > ** Original Message follows...

>

> >

> > Dear members,

> > I am in need of 10 contacts for my package to

> be

> > presented to Dr. Rutledge in early Nov. So far, I

> > have not been able to get but 3 replys. If any of

> the

> > members could please contact me at my e-mail

> address

> > (justasiam159@...) I would really appreciate

> it.

> > I was given a list of e-mail address by Dr.

> > Rutledge's office and have tried to e-mail some of

> his

> > patients. I have not gotten but 3 replys. I do

> not

> > know if I'm doing something wrong or not.

> > Thank you.

> > Dorothea Tinsley

> >

> > __________________________________________________

> >

[Guest guest]

Hi: Here is my " blurb " to use as a contact.

> Dear Flo,

> I'm scheduled to see Dr. Rutledge in Nov. I will

> present my package. I pray he will be willing to do

> the MGB surgery. Is there information you can give me

> to make my visit go smoothly?

Dr. Rutledge is just a great guy with a marvellous sense of humor. You will be

at ease with him. You may find that after clinic you will have very few

questions. He answers a lot in the group session.

If you have had the

> surgery, how did it go? See my blurb

I am a little nervous about

> the liquid part of the diet right after surgery? Don't be. You wont' feel

like food at first. It's only two weeks until you can have soft food. There's

lots of things you can have. Then after a week or two adding soft food you can

pretty much have whatever you want. I was nervous about salad and didn't have it

until two months. I had trouble with salad before surgery.

I

> don't want to get sick to the stomach. I have never vomited. And several

times I ate too fast and didn't feel great so I laid down for about 15 min. and

the feeling passed. Once I got to two months, I felt perfectly normal and

sometimes I forget I had anything done.

Do you get

> " hunger headaches " from not eating solid foods? I didn't. In fact, headaches

were a huge problem for me pre-op and they no longer are. I was not hungry for a

long time.

How

> soon could you see lost of weight after the surgery? Well the morning after

surgery I looked down and had no swelling in my feet and ankles for the first

time in 20 years. So that part was immediate. By day 6 I had lost 14 pounds and

by one month 30 something. So by the end of a month it was very noticeable. By

the end of two months, even people that I hadn't see were commenting.

> How often did you go to the gym for exercises? Never.

My name is Florence Ballengee, I'm 58 and I live in Hollywood, land. I have

been overweight since I was 7 years old and have weighed over 200 pounds since I

was 11 years old. I was 232 pounds on my wedding day in 1966 and other than a

few times (immediately after two terrible pregnancies) have been over 250 pounds

since shortly after getting married. For much of that time I have been over 300

pounds. In 1988 I lost nearly 100 pounds at Physician's Weight Loss and

regained it over a six year period.

I retired from a law enforcement agency in February, 1999. I was relieved to be

retired because my obesity was definately affecting my work performance although

I'm sure no one was aware of it but me. In February, 2000 my husband and I

left land to spend a few months in Florida. I was miserable. My acid reflux

was terrible from overeating while there and my arthritis was very painful. I

was nearly immobile because the pain of movement was too much for me. I got

depressed and I isolated myself by sitting in our camper surfing the net. I got

to the point that if I had to go to the store and absolutely couldn't send my

husband, I had him drive me and drop me at the door so that I didn't have to

walk as far.

It was on that trip, lonely and depressed, that I knew I had to do something. I

began surfing looking for the Garren- bubble that was popular about 20

years back. It was the only surgery I knew about that was something with no

incision. I knew about gastric bypass...my aunt had that done in the early 70's

and was VERY ill for many months afterward. I knew that I would not be having

that surgery. I surfed some more and ordered the Carbohydrate's Addicts Diet

and the Adkins Diet books from Amazon. I knew that I had reached the end of the

line and that I had to do something...anything....

One day I came across Dr. Rutledge's site. I saw that the age limit said

55. I wrote to him and he answered me that he had done the surgery on others

over 55. I lived on that site for at least a month. I couldn't join the egroups

mailing list that Dr. R started because everytime I tried my computer crashed.

Finally when we returned to land on April 7th, the first thing I did was get

on the list. It was the best thing to have done. I learned so much!

Meanwhile, I had been telling people (even before I left to come home from

Florida) that I was going to have this surgery. I knew I had to do something.

And this surgery seemed like what I had been looking for...low pain, low cost,

short recovery time. .I waffled for a few weeks about whether or not I should

have the surgery. Finally, I realized that I was existing, not living, and that

anything was better than the way I was feeling/looking/acting.

On April 15, I clicked the send button on my computer and sent my on line

patient information form to Dr. R. On April 25 I hadn't heard anything so I

called Dr. R's office and was told that she didn't know why, but my information

had not been sent to my insurance company (they did it back then) and she told

me she'd do it that day. And she did. On April 27th I got a copy of what Dr. R

files with the insurance company. On May 3, I got approval from the insurance

company, and then I got scared. I am a real baby about pain. I nearly changed

my mind. I emailed some of the people on the list to get my contacts. One of

the women told me that on a 1-10 scale, 10 being child birth that this surgery

was a 2. I was in! That was good enough for me.

May 7th I overnighted my packet. On May 10, I called for a surgery date. I was

scheduled for May 31st.

I think that others describe the process better than I. Several others will

describe in detail what happens logistically at the hospital, etc.

I will say this. I was nervous. I never considered changing my mind even though

I was very nervous. I knew that I had reached bottom and that I had to find a

way to climb out of the black pit of obsession and this seemed the easiest way I

had seen. And I was right, it has been.

When I woke up I was uncomfortable. I asked for something for pain in the

recovery room. They gave it to me. I was hooked up to the pain pump in my room.

I used it a lot...even though I never experienced any real pain...I didn't want

to experience it so I took pain relief every chance I got. I had one episode of

nausea for a few minutes..I gagged but did not vomit...I asked for a shot for

nausea, they brought it to me and I was not nauseas again.

I got to my room at 12:30 and by 3:30 I was up and going to the bathroom. Later

in the evening I walked the hall. I was weak. I felt tired. But I didn't feel

all that bad and I felt that I could walk and talk and do so without much

discomfort at all. That night I slept off and on from the drugs in the pump.

The next morning I walked around visiting other patients of Dr. R, several came

to visit me. At 10:30 my husband and sister came and took me home. For the next

week or so I sipped here and there, ate very little, was tired but never did

feel any pain. A little discomfort here and there...very little. On the fourth

day I did feel nausea and took a pill but it made me sleep all day. I had

fleeting thoughts that day... " what have I done to myself " " this is so

permanent " ...but it passed.

I steadily improved. By two weeks after surgery I was experiencing awful nausea.

My daughter asked me how it felt and I told her I felt like I had felt when I

was pregnant. I got on the phone and called Amy P and we decided it was my

hormone pills. I discontinued them and have never felt nausea again. My gyn Dr.

put me on a patch.

I lost 14 pounds the first 6 days after surgery. Two months post op I was at 40

pounds down and by three months I had lost 60 pounds.To date, a little more than

four months after surgery I have lost 76 pounds. My energy came back with a

vengeance after about 8 weeks post op. I find I no longer need to sleep a long

time...my sleep apnea never returned after surgery. My blood pressure medication

went in the trash and I have not needed it since surgery. I have taken no

arthritis meds since surgery. My daily headaches are gone (I have had three in

three months which I handled with Vioxx). Life is just better. I have energy and

have gone from a size 28W to a size 18 in four months. I haven't worn that size

since high school.

On August 4th my daughter had the surgery. She has lost 56 pounds. She feels

wonderful but her energy is not up to par. Her Dr. gave her a blood test and

suspects anemia which has been a long-term problem for her anyway.

This surgery is the best thing I have ever done for myself. For the first time

in my life I had a Dr. explain to me that this was not my fault. I had been

blaming myself for being a pig for 50 years. I now know that I had no control

and that my body betrayed me...that I was not a bad person with no self control.

I got a lousy hand dealt to me and it seemed the world was willing to point its

finger at me and brand me a pig. This alone was a huge relief for me!

Dr. Rutledge is a marvelous person with a great sense of humor. He is energetic,

educational, and demanding of his patients. He is the only Dr. I have ever had

who truly cares about his patients. He is a good man, he is a nice man. He is

way competent...he exudes competence...and once I met him I knew that I had

chosen the right Dr. He was a trauma surgeon for 20 years. I knew that he could

handle any emergency that came my way.

This has truly been the best experience of my life. I have lost 76 pounds which

I will never have to regain and lose again! The pounds are gone forever.

[Guest guest]

OOOOOOOOps. Sorry. Meant to send this to the person who asked for it.

[Guest guest]

If you're talking about that long post about before and after Flo, I trully

enjoyed it..

Don't be sorry... I'd never heard all that before, and I couldn't stop reading..

I've saved it to drafts so I can read it again, incase I'm feeling low post-op.

We have so much in common, us MGBers.. Thank you again, Dr. R. for bringing us

all close together to rejoice in our new lives!

Trudy

RE: RE: MSG Surgery

OOOOOOOOps. Sorry. Meant to send this to the person who asked for it.