Hi everyone. I found this forum a week or so ago and have spent most of the morning today sitting here and reading lots of different threads. One thing I have to say is that there seem to be SO many super friendly and supportive people on here.
I need this support now and will certainly need it as I go through surgery. Here is a little of my story...
I am 41 years old and have been morbidly obese for the past 10 years. I have had two back surgeries
(11/2006 and 8/2010.) I know that my weight has played a significant roll in my back issues. My primary motivation for WLS surgery is to prevent/lessen any recurrence of back pain and/or surgery.
I spoke with my PCP on 12/30/2010 at my annual physical about the possibility of having WLS and she referred me to Central Maine Bariatrics. When I left the office that day my PCP was going to forward a referral and they gave me a list of upcoming information sessions. The next one was only a few days away. I went to the info session on 1/5/2011. Those were two of the best hours of my life. I knew I was on the right track. After the session one of the nurses was handing out some packets at the door and asking people if they had already had a consultation. I told her that my PCP had sent my records over and she said she recognized my name. She said she would be calling me in a day or two to set up my consultation. She called my Friday 1/7/2011 and we scheduled my consultation for Monday 1/17/2011.
My consultation lasted just over three hours and I met with one of the nurses, a PA and one of the two surgeons. Everyone was amazing and I learned so much. I was told that I was most certainly a candidate for surgery and I left the office with paperwork to have my labs drawn and to have an EKG.
I had my labs drawn on 1/26/2011. There was blood and then I fainted!
I normally have no issue with having my blood drawn but apparently 13 vials of blood after fasting for 12 hours didn't agree with me. Anyway I made it through 12 vials before I got woozy and (maybe)
dry heaved a little. Once I started feeling better the nurse was all like "you can come back tomorrow for the last one" and I was all like "um, no take it now." She did and I was done! One problem, though...
When I (might have) dry heaved a little I also think I did something to my already messed up lower back. Needless to say the pain hit me about thirty minutes later as I was heading in to work. I won't go into all of the details because I have already rambled on way longer than I intended to! Friday 1/28/2011 (in a haze of excruciating pain and Hydrocodone) went to my 3 hour Nutrition Class with my amazing hubby and went straight from there to the ER bawling my eyes out
. My biggest fear? They would try to give me medicine that was on the no-no list from my WLS surgeon and somehow all of the steps I have taken would be for naught.
Between the Percoset, the 8 day course of Prednisone and resting at home I am on my way to feeling better. Had 3 appointments yesterday! First with my PCP regarding current back issue. Updated her on the WLS surgery progress and she said I was the most motivated patient she has ever referred for WLS surgery. 2nd appointment was for my Psych Eval for WLS. The NP that did the eval said that I was one of the most motivated patients she has ever had. Do you see a theme here? I am SUPER motivated!
3rd appointment was with a Dr. at a pain management and rehabilitation office to look at some nerve damage from my most recent back surgery. He feels that my situation could be vastly improved by having WLS surgery and he said that he would do anything necessary to help me get approved ASAP.
My next appointments are on 2/10/2011. I will be having my Chest X-ray, RUQ Ultrasound and EKG at 8:30 am then at 11:45 I go see the booby squisher! On Valentine's Day (my daughter's 15th birthday!) I have my one-on-one with my NUT. I am really looking forward to that appointment! The only things I don't have scheduled is my Endoscopy (EGD) and an appointment at Sports Medicine for an exercise plan. Both places are supposed to call me to set up appointments.
I am really hoping that I can get approved quicker than the average patient and have my surgery in March! Sorry for writing such a loooooong post but I really needed to get all of that written in one place! I have also started a blog so that I can keep myself accountable for all of the changes I need to make. You can check it out here at
http://iusedtobepretty.wordpress.com. I am so looking forward to getting to know some great new people and gain lots of new insight into the choices I have made! Again sorry for how long this post is, I like to talk!
Newbie Alert! Hi from Maine! 
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